Who are you calling a stable boy?!

Yagura certainly understood all of this.

However, when Aizen said it, Yagura, as the Fourth Mizukage, immediately reacted.

"...Lord Aizen is quite right, but this is ultimately an internal matter of Kirigakure. I have committed so many unforgivable crimes, how can I have the face to talk about it?"

"That is incorrect!"

Inazaki's expression turned slightly solemn.

"Leaving aside the fact that you were not in control of your own destiny in the past, just look at the present. Now that a grave mistake has been made, don't you want to atone for your sins and personally make amends for everything?"

How could Yagura not perceive Aizen's intentions in his words?

Or rather, Aizen never intended to hide anything.

Yet, these candid words resonated deeply with Yagura's thoughts and feelings.

After hesitating for a while, Yagura gritted his teeth.

"...May I ask what your insightful opinion is?"

Chapter 214: Please see the next chapter, the World's Greatest Martial Arts Tournament!

Aizen's suggestion was not complicated.

Or rather, the first thing to guide is a general direction.

He suggested that Yagura's first step should be to fake his death.

Eight months is enough time for him to lose much of his previous foundation in the village. Rather than returning to the village and changing his strategy for no reason, he might as well sneak back into the village, spread the news of his death in battle, and then find a reliable successor to take over the position of Mizukage.

In this way, with the light and darkness working together, they can use open and gentle methods to eliminate the negative impact of the past eight months and allow Kirigakure to recover its strength.

As for the Three-Tails, all that's needed is for the Fifth Mizukage to arrange a scene to capture the tailed beast, and he can then disguise himself as the new Jinchūriki and secretly assist the Fifth Mizukage from behind.

If Yagura is willing to adopt this suggestion, Aizen promises that Qitianfu can provide assistance to Kirigakure at the appropriate time.

The price Yagura had to pay for this, besides his personal reputation which he no longer cared about, was to facilitate the peaceful coexistence of Kirigakure and Uzushiogakure.

Ultimately, Yagura adopted Aizen's suggestion.

He could vaguely sense that Aizen had grand ambitions.

But as Aizen said, Kirigakure is indeed in a precarious situation right now. If things aren't rectified soon, the problems will become too deep to handle.

As for establishing peaceful relations with Uzushio Village, Yagura was not concerned about that.

Even a starved camel is bigger than a horse; despite the many losses suffered by Kirigakure, it is not something that Uzushio Village can threaten.

But Yagura is afraid of [Qitianfu].

He had traveled the ninja world for so many years and had never heard of the Qitian Mansion.

But this did not stop him from worrying that Qitian Mansion would be detrimental to Wuyin Village.

—Because he knew that Zheng Jing alone from Qitian Prefecture was enough to cause Wuyin Village to fall apart!

Therefore, Yagura readily accepted the condition that they would simply not interfere with Uzushio Village.

After reaching an agreement, Yagura left the Land of Whirlpools that very night and returned to Kirigakure.

That same night, Ashina Uzumaki also swore an oath to the Qitian Palace.

Uzushio Village remains Uzushio Village, and the Land of Whirlpools remains the Land of Whirlpools, just as Aizen had promised.

The village of Whirlpools and the Kingdom of Whirlpools are under the protection of the Qitian Prefecture, and the only price they have to pay for this is to abide by the rules of the Qitian Prefecture.

-

Late at night, Itachi quietly left his bed without waking Izumi and went to the corridor.

He looked up at the moon in the sky.

These days, it hasn't rained in the Land of Whirlpools, and the bright moon in the night sky appears exceptionally round without any clouds to disturb it.

"You little rascal, can't you sleep?"

Suddenly, a slightly lowered voice came from above.

The weasel looked in the direction of the sound and saw Zheng Jing peeking out from under the eaves.

"Master? What brings you here?"

"Old Blue is still talking about serious business with Ashina, and I'm not good at that, so I just came out to look at the moon."

As he spoke, Zheng Jing shook the gourd at the weasel.

"Come up and have a couple of drinks with me, Old Zheng?"

"Yes."

Silently leaping onto the roof, Itachi sat upright beside the reclining Zheng Jing.

"Kid, I heard you have something to say about Old Lan's plan?"

"How dare I?!"

"What's the rush? I'm not going to scold you."

After taking a sip of monkey wine, Zheng Jing squinted and asked, "Tell me, what do you think about me and Lao Lan helping Konoha unify the ninja world, taking over some random, chaotic capital city?"

"this--"

Itachi stared in surprise, his mouth moving a few times before hesitantly asking, "Y-you...may I ask, why did you suddenly..."

That's not good.

Zheng Jing grinned.

"What if we could do what Hashirama Senju did, and all nations chose to coexist peacefully because of his existence, allowing the ninja world to return to the state it was in after World War I? Would that be great?"

"this......"

This time, Itachi instinctively wanted to agree.

The problem is that the current ninja world seems to have shown that the approach taken by the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju, is not feasible...

"What do you think is the difference between what Aizen and I are doing now and what Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha did back then?"

This time, Itachi didn't utter a sound.

After careful consideration, he realized... there seemed to be no difference.

"No difference, right?"

Zheng Jing took another sip.

"No, there is a difference, and it is a fundamental difference."

Upon hearing this, Itachi was stunned.

"Please enlighten me, Master!"

He quickly asked.

"It's actually very simple."

Zheng Jing laughed out loud.

"They both knew their lives were coming to an end, while Old Lan and I, one wouldn't place our hopes on the wisdom of future generations, and the other wasn't interested in establishing a new order."

"Perpetual peace is wonderful, and it's only natural for anyone to have such a vision. I had this wish when I was a child, for world peace and all that. Then, my mother told me that lasting peace is often the business of a group of people, while permanent peace is always the business of everyone."

"Permanent peace is always everyone's responsibility..."

Itachi muttered something in a daze.

"...In your view, is lasting peace impossible?"

"Huh? I didn't say that."

Zheng Jing shoved the gourd into the weasel's arms: "You're the one who thinks that way."

Itachi looked down at the gourd and remained silent for a long time before suddenly picking it up and gulping it down.

Seeing his reaction, Zheng Jing chuckled.

"Is the endless road so frightening to you?"

"...Aren't you afraid?"

Itachi's face turned bright red, as he drank an unknown amount.

"Yes."

Zheng Jing's decisive answer stunned Itachi once again.

Meeting Itachi's staring gaze, Zheng Jing waved his hand.

"Are you afraid to do it? Why not just do it?"

He pointed to the dark sky.

"My path is boundless, this is a truly wonderful thing!"

My path is boundless, and this is a truly magnificent thing.

These words echoed in Itachi's mind like a resounding bell.

His eyes were fixed on Zheng Jing's fingertips.

The next moment, orange energy began to surge from his body, as if a heavy veil was shrouding him.

Not only that, his eyes also began to change.

From ordinary black eyes to three-tomoe Sharingan, and finally settling on the appearance of Mangekyou Sharingan.

At that moment, the orange energy on Itachi's body began to return to his body, and his consciousness gradually became clear.

"Master... what am I doing...?"

He looked at himself with a mixture of surprise and uncertainty.

"The second round has begun."

Zheng Jing took his wine gourd back from him, jumped up, and stretched.

"Chashu Itachi, whenever you want to go back and see your parents, just take Izumi with you."

"master?"

Itachi called out to Zheng Jing, but when he looked up, Zheng Jing was nowhere to be seen.

-

"Old Blue".

Back in his room, Zheng Jing saw Aizen writing something alone at his desk and called out to him.

"Is something wrong with Miss Xueqing?"

Aizen stopped writing, turned his head, and smiled at Zheng Jing.

"No, that's not it. But I was thinking of bringing her along this time. What about you? Are you coming?"

Sitting down next to Lao Lan, Zheng Jing propped his elbows up on the table, rested his chin on his hand, and examined the project plan that Lao Lan was writing.

This thing is for Ashina Uzumaki, so he can use it to instruct his subordinates.

"Um......"

Aizen thought for a moment.

"No, I need to spend some more time here."

He looked at Zheng Jing and chuckled softly.

"You can go find Miss Xueqing without worry."

Chapter 215: The World's Number One Martial Arts Tournament!

"Ok?"

In the front courtyard of the old temple, Xue Qing, who was watching the scene unfold, was holding a can of chilled soda in her left hand and a mobile phone in her right. When she looked up, she saw Zheng Jing walking out of the main hall.

"You're back already? Didn't you say you wouldn't be back until almost evening?"

"The plan has changed, and coincidentally, Lao Lan has also found something to keep him busy."