"Captain, what do you think of the Fourth Mizukage's policies?"
In the darkness ahead, a slightly immature voice broke the silence.
A moment later, another voice, somewhat more mature yet still carrying traces of youth, responded, "They're alright, I guess."
Hearing this, another young Kirigakure shinobi chimed in, "I think they're great! This way, we can finally trust each other with our backs."
"But—"
The last member of the squad seemed to have a different opinion.
However, just as he was about to voice it, his peripheral vision caught a dark shadow. Instinctively, he reached for a kunai, ready to warn his comrades.
Unfortunately, he was a fraction of a second too slow.
The moment he was about to shout, a pair of blood-red eyes met his gaze, instantly pulling his consciousness into an illusion.
"Momozuke, what's wrong?"
The other three turned toward Fujiwara Momozuke, confused as to why he had abruptly stopped speaking.
But as soon as they saw his unmoving body and tightly shut eyes, their expressions changed in alarm.
Then, in their field of vision, a dark figure emerged.
"Watch out!"
The squad captain reacted the fastest, immediately drawing a kunai and shouting.
Yet before his words could even fully leave his mouth, everything went black.
In an instant, a darkness as smooth as silk engulfed him completely, cutting off all perception of light.
"Genjutsu?"
Without hesitation, he shifted into a defensive stance.
Now, all he could hope for was that the other two members would locate the hidden enemy and help him break free from the illusion.
Unfortunately, that was nothing more than wishful thinking.
As an A-rank illusion technique, "Genjutsu: Journey into Darkness" was not something that could be broken so easily—after all, it was a technique Senju Hashirama himself used against Uchiha Madara's Sharingan.
And now, with the technique perfected to its peak by Seimei, it could be cast upon multiple targets simultaneously.
Thus, not only was the captain trapped, but the other two were also caught in the illusion, making it impossible for them to help him.
What followed was simple—Seimei moved swiftly, knocking the three unconscious in an instant.
There was no helping it. None of them were even jonin-level shinobi, and losing their vision had already crippled most of their combat ability. They stood no chance against his ambush.
As he looked at the three unconscious bodies, Seimei finally turned toward the first one he had placed under "Genjutsu: Sharingan"—the Mist ninja Fujiwara Momozuke.
Smack!
A palm strike landed, and he too collapsed to the ground.
With that done, Seimei raised his hand and performed "Shadow Clone Jutsu."
Poof!
A cloud of chakra-infused smoke spread, revealing an identical copy of Seimei standing beside him.
Without wasting words, Seimei ordered, "Take them. We're leaving."
The shadow clone nodded, grabbing two while Seimei took the other two, and they swiftly left the scene.
The earlier fight—if it could even be called that—hadn't made much noise.
But this was still a main road leading into the heart of Kirigakure. Many Mist shinobi returning from patrols would pass through here, and someone was bound to notice if they lingered too long.
It was best to leave before that happened.
A few minutes later, Seimei and his shadow clone arrived at a secluded spot within the nearby forest, carrying the four Mist ninjas.
After setting them down, Seimei instructed his clone to stand guard while he himself began "Chakra Absorption Jutsu" to drain their chakra.
This part went quickly.
Once he confirmed that none of them had the strength to resist, he wasted no time and activated "Ninja Art: Mind Reading Jutsu," forcibly extracting their memories.
Thanks to his formidable mental strength—bolstered by a 26-point "Spirit" attribute—and the endurance developed through relentless training with shadow clones, he completed the process effortlessly.
Now, he finally had some insight into the situation unfolding within Kirigakure.
Earlier, he had been confused about why these Mist shinobi mentioned the Fourth Mizukage in their conversation.
Now, he understood.
Just a few days ago, Kirigakure's leadership had changed—the Third Mizukage officially stepped down, and Yagura Karatachi took over as the Fourth Mizukage.
As for the martial law imposed across the Land of Water, it was apparently due to rumors of an impending coup against Yagura.
Upon learning this, Seimei's first thought was the Kaguya Clan.
In another timeline, that clan had indeed launched a rebellion—one that ended in complete annihilation, leaving only Kimimaro as the sole survivor.
Kimimaro, who was later taken in by Orochimaru.
However, something didn't add up.
By his calculations, the Kaguya rebellion shouldn't be happening yet.
Based on Kimimaro's age and his eventual encounter with Orochimaru, their rebellion was still several years away. It was too early for it to be happening now.
If it wasn't the Kaguya Clan, could it be another faction?
Seimei doubted it.
At the very least, from the memories he had extracted, the rumors of a coup were nothing more than speculation—no one had openly stood against Yagura.
Besides, if a real coup was happening, it wouldn't justify sealing off the entire Land of Water.
A military coup would have meant securing key locations within Kirigakure itself, not shutting down the whole country.
If they were truly worried about an external invasion, the logical move would have been to reinforce the borders—not scatter their forces across the nation.
This move felt less like defending against a rebellion and more like suppressing an internal uprising.
What could have prompted Yagura to take such extreme measures?
Seimei pondered this carefully.
Going over the memories again, he noticed something crucial.
After taking office, Yagura abruptly abolished the "Blood Mist Policy" implemented by the Third Mizukage.
Seimei knew one thing for certain—any policy that lasts for years, no matter how cruel or flawed, will always have beneficiaries.
A leader can't sustain a policy that offends everyone—because if it did, it would never last.
And where there are beneficiaries, there will be resistance when those benefits are taken away.
Changing a person's mind is easy. Taking away their wealth? Nearly impossible.
The position of Mizukage could be fought over, but people would never willingly give up their power and influence.
With that realization, Yagura's extreme reaction made perfect sense.
In fact, Seimei suspected that the rumors of a coup were merely a warning from the old guard—the beneficiaries of the Blood Mist Policy—toward Yagura.
And just like that, the pieces clicked into place.
This... this might be the information I was looking for.
If his theory was correct, then this Kirigakure power struggle was far from over.
After all, if Kakashi's account was accurate, the Blood Mist Policy wasn't officially abolished until Zabuza killed all his classmates.
And when did Zabuza graduate?
Eleven years ago—one year after Naruto was born.
Based on the current timeline, that event was still two years away.
Meaning, this struggle between Yagura and the entrenched elites would drag on for at least another two years.
Of course, once Obito took control of Yagura, the Blood Mist Policy would be reinstated—even more brutally than before.
That would eventually lead to Zabuza's failed coup and his defection from Kirigakure.
Seimei exhaled slowly.
Things in Kirigakure were about to get very interesting.
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