"Will the Fourth Mizukage's arrival change Kirigakure's tactics?" Akimichi Chōza asked.
"I think it will," Hyūga Hiashi said after a moment's thought. "As a Kage, his power and influence are enough to swing the war."
"Even if the Fourth Mizukage is strong, we're no slouches. Tsunade-sama is every bit his equal," Uchiha Yashiro said confidently. "His arrival won't change anything."
Standing off to the side listening, Kitazawa realized something: they didn't know that Yagura Karatachi, the Fourth Mizukage, was the Three-Tails' jinchūriki. That was normal—every village tries to hide a jinchūriki's identity. First, it protects them better in peacetime. Second, a jinchūriki on the battlefield can be a nasty surprise.
Of course, there are exceptions. Kumogakure's two jinchūriki this generation aren't kept under wraps at all; they're completely aboveboard. Compared to the other villages, the Fourth Raikage has extra confidence—he trusts both Kumo's strength and its hosts, so he doesn't care if they're exposed.
"I think there's one more thing we should account for," Kitazawa said, clearing his throat. "If the Fourth Mizukage is here… what about the jinchūriki?"
He didn't say outright that Yagura himself was the Three-Tails' host—he couldn't explain where that intel came from.
"What Kitazawa said is definitely possible," Nara Shikaku replied, face growing grave. "If the Fourth Mizukage brought a jinchūriki, we wouldn't be able to match them."
In most shinobi's minds, only a jinchūriki can deal with a jinchūriki. That's not wrong; a host cloaked in tailed-beast power is terrifying. Only a handful in the entire ninja world can suppress a jinchūriki—or a tailed beast at all.
Kitazawa fell silent, thinking. A jinchūriki was a real headache—especially with Tsunade still dealing with hemophobia. In Konoha's forward base, the only thing that might matter most was Uchiha Itachi's Mangekyō Sharingan.
Then a thought struck him—he'd been aiming at the wrong target. Beating Yagura wasn't the goal; breaking Uchiha Obito's control was. In that case, once the fighting started, he could simply point out that Yagura was being controlled. Kirigakure's nin probably wouldn't believe Kitazawa—but they would believe Ao.
Ao had a Byakugan. The reason he hadn't noticed Yagura's condition before was that he hadn't dared probe him—he was the Mizukage, after all. Likewise, no Hyūga in Konoha would casually use the Byakugan to peek at Sarutobi Hiruzen.
In fact, Konoha has a rule: Hyūga shinobi are not to use the Byakugan inside the village unless under special circumstances. No one can stand a ninja with x-ray vision snooping around. Kitazawa even suspected that this was why, in the original story, Hinata could be kidnapped at home by a Kumo ninja.
"To guard against a possible jinchūriki, I'll have the old man send over the sealing corps," Tsunade said after a brief think.
Konoha's Nine-Tails host is Uzumaki Naruto. He's still a kid, and this isn't Konoha's most desperate hour—there's no way they'd bring him to the front. Calling in the sealing squad is the best option.
"Everyone make your preparations. Once the Fourth Mizukage arrives, we'll respond based on what Kirigakure does," Tsunade concluded.
The meeting ended, and everyone filed out of the command tent.
Kitazawa stayed where he was. "Kitazawa, anything else?" Tsunade asked.
"I want to ask Itachi about the academy," Kitazawa answered honestly.
"You really are a dedicated teacher," Tsunade laughed, then said, "Shizune, go fetch Itachi."
Shizune nodded.
"Do you have confidence against the Fourth Mizukage?" Kitazawa asked while they waited.
"No," Tsunade leaned back until her hips touched the table, giving a bit of bounce, and teased, "I'll have to rely on you."
"That's the first time I've heard Tsunade-sama say something like that," Kitazawa chuckled.
Tsunade blinked, then realized he was right—that didn't sound like her at all. "You're my student," she drawled, relaxed again. "If I don't rely on you, who should I rely on?"
She'd never been shy—she'd even run all over the ninja world to dodge creditors.
"And if I can't beat him?"
"Then we run for our lives together," Tsunade shot him a look. "If you can't win, you run. Standing there to die is for idiots."
"As expected of Tsunade-sama," Kitazawa gave a thumbs-up.
"That said, if the Mist do bring a jinchūriki, even running gets tricky." Tsunade rubbed her brow, clearly vexed. As she moved, a swath of fair skin rose and fell, and Kitazawa's gaze promptly sank into the abyss.
"What are you looking at?" Tsunade nudged his arm with her elbow.
"Sorry," Kitazawa said quickly. "Human instinct."
"You're frank, I'll give you that," Tsunade wasn't angry. "Too bad Rina still hasn't learned the Adamantine Sealing Chains."
In the original story, even right after giving birth, Uzumaki Kushina could restrain the Nine-Tails with those chains.
"She hasn't studied sealing long enough. Nothing to be done," Kitazawa shook his head. After coming back to Konoha, Uzumaki Rina had been recuperating; back in the Grass she'd barely had a chance to study.
"Mm." Tsunade waved it off. "Don't worry—the sealing corps' techniques aren't bad either."
"Tsunade-sama," Shizune's voice sounded from outside the tent. "Itachi's here."
"Go find him," Tsunade tipped her chin.
"Call me if you need anything," Kitazawa said as he left the main tent.
Watching his back, Tsunade drifted for a moment. The way she and Kitazawa interacted felt strange—less like teacher and student.
"I'll leave you two to talk," Shizune didn't interrupt and slipped away hugging Tonton.
"Itachi," Kitazawa said first, "I'd like a favor from the Anbu—the final exam rankings for the Advanced Class."
"That's easy," Uchiha Itachi agreed at once. "I'll head back to Konoha tomorrow."
"Don't. Stay here—you'll be more useful," Kitazawa shook his head.
"Then I'll send someone," Itachi amended, a bit surprised. As Anbu, he knew the Fourth Mizukage was about to arrive. Did Kitazawa really have that much faith in his strength? Itachi wondered—he'd never revealed his Mangekyō.
"Thanks," Kitazawa didn't keep him. After a few words he returned to his own tent.
Kurenai and Kabuto were still there after dinner.
"Yagura Karatachi, the Fourth Mizukage, will probably arrive tomorrow," Kitazawa said as he sat beside Kurenai.
"Even the Mizukage himself?" Kurenai was visibly surprised; Kabuto and the others were as well.
"Don't worry. We just do our jobs," Kitazawa said, then asked, "Kabuto, Izumi—how's your ninjutsu training going?"
"Combined Ninjutsu: Fire Wind Wild Blade is really hard. We'll probably need another half month," Uchiha Izumi admitted, embarrassed.
Wind Release: Pressure Damage and Fire Release: Intelligent Hard Work were both B-rank. Learning while fighting for a month, they could barely manage them. But the combined technique was different—together it was A-rank, and the two of them had to sync perfectly.
"With Izumi's Sharingan, maybe it won't take that long," Kabuto added.
"The Sharingan really is handy," Kurenai sighed. "I'm much slower on Wind Release: Rasengan than you two."
Kabuto and Izumi were Kitazawa's students and Kurenai's kouhais. Learning roughly the same set of techniques, she was the slowest—Kurenai felt the gap in talent keenly.
"Kurenai-sensei, you're learning an A-rank jutsu. We're only doing B-rank," Kabuto said with a smile. "If we tried an A-rank, we definitely wouldn't keep up with you."
"You do have a way with words," Kurenai couldn't help laughing.
"Everyone get some rest," Kitazawa stood. "I'll ping you if there's a mission."
"Yes, Kitazawa-sensei," the three answered together.
Kitazawa and Kurenai went into the tent.
"I wonder if I can master Wind Release: Rasengan before the war ends," Kurenai stretched, her clothes shifting in a rather alarming way. Kitazawa glanced—compared to Tsunade, she still had a ways to go. Not that it was Kurenai's fault; in the whole shinobi world, only Samui and Hyūga Hinata could rival Tsunade.
"Do your best; don't force it," Kitazawa sat cross-legged and took out brush and paper. He hadn't learned many new jutsu lately; at most he'd used his three-tomoe Sharingan to copy Mist techniques.
He hadn't been idle, though—he'd mainly been reworking a limb-regeneration medical technique. Thanks to sustained effort and the foundation of the forbidden Medical Technique: Body Revival, progress was pretty good. Kitazawa figured he could finish it within the month.
Seeing that, Kurenai didn't disturb him and continued practicing Wind Release: Rasengan.
Konoha's forward base stayed fairly calm about Yagura's arrival. In the Mist's main camp, however, plenty of people couldn't sleep.
In Ao's tent, Mei Terumi and the other jōnin aligned with Elder Genshi hurried in after receiving the summons.
"What did Elder Genshi say?" a young shinobi asked impatiently.
Only jōnin from Genshi's faction were present; someone like Momochi Zabuza wasn't there—arrogant prodigy that he was, he disdained joining any faction. In the original story, he even tried to assassinate Yagura and take his place.
"Elder Genshi doesn't know the exact reason either," Ao shook his head.
"Then what do we do?" Mei frowned slightly. "Once the Mizukage arrives, he'll take command, and we'll have to follow his arrangements."
"The Mizukage will most likely lead us in a full-scale assault on Konoha," another middle-aged shinobi said. "I can't imagine how many casualties that means." He didn't think highly of the Mist's odds; the gap with Konoha was obvious, and one Yagura wouldn't bridge it.
"In recent years the Mizukage has grown more and more erratic. Declaring war on Konoha is downright irrational," the middle-aged ninja beside Ao said crisply. "Is Elder Genshi really going to let him run wild?"
"Of course not," Ao took a deep breath. "But with the Mizukage just arrived and no battle yet, we can't persuade him."
"So… wait for him to lose and then talk?" Mei caught his implication.
"It's the only way," Ao said helplessly. Yagura was powerful and highly respected in the village. Even if they wanted to overthrow him, they had to wait until he stumbled.
Night finally gave way to dawn.
The new day. Kitazawa didn't take any missions, staying at Konoha's forward base. Kabuto and Kurenai kept training as usual. The morning flew by. Around noon, Kitazawa saw Uchiha Itachi.
"These are the Advanced Class final rankings," Itachi said, handing him a scroll.
"Thanks," Kitazawa replied, taking it.
"There's one more thing," Itachi added as he remembered. "Half an hour ago, the Fourth Mizukage reached the Mist's main camp."
Kitazawa nodded and unrolled the scroll—then let out a soft "huh." The scroll didn't just list rankings; it also detailed the students' training statuses. Definitely above and beyond—and exactly what Kitazawa liked. As expected of Uchiha Itachi; he handled everything thoroughly. In the original story, even Sasuke had been arranged down to the last detail.
After reading, Kitazawa rolled the scroll back up.
The final rankings were about the same as the last monthly exam. Uzumaki Naruto was still first in the practicals. With Wind Release: Gale Palm and Wind Release: Great Breakthrough, plus Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu, he was basically unstoppable.
Uchiha Sasuke had learned Leaf-style: Willow, but it didn't help much against Naruto; that style was genjutsu plus swordplay. If he wanted to beat Naruto, he'd have to pivot to Lightning Release.
The biggest leap was Yamanaka Ino—she'd learned Demonic Illusion: Hell Viewing Technique. Genjutsu didn't always shine in the original story, but against non-Uchiha, illusions are extremely effective—especially when your opponents are students who haven't even graduated.
Besides that, Aburame Shino's waterborne kikaichū had made initial progress. With help from Maruboshi Kosuke and Haruno Sakura's Water Release, a strain of kikaichū with resistance to Water Release had appeared. It was early days, though; their duration was still too short to satisfy Kitazawa's "system mission."
After lunch, Tsunade called another meeting—one topic: the Mist's tactical shift.
Mist units had left their islands and were preparing to establish bases and outposts on shore. The situation flipped abruptly. When they'd hunkered down on the islands, Konoha had held the initiative; now it reverted to the war's opening state—but fiercer thanks to Yagura's presence. Many Mist shinobi had adopted reckless, death-seeking tactics.
A week flashed by. By mid-May, the weather had warmed.
In Konoha's command tent, Shikaku reported, "Over the past week, Kirigakure's casualties have been more than double ours. But they've paid to set up quite a few fortified depots and outposts on shore."
Tsunade had expected as much and didn't look surprised.
"Tsunade-sama, we should organize a counterattack," Uchiha Yashiro said in a deep voice. "We can't let them strut around like this."
"That's exactly why I called you here," Tsunade nodded. "Three days ago, I sent three squads—Anbu and Hyūga—deep behind enemy lines."
"Any results yet?" Yashiro's eyes lit up.
"These are the maps they drew," Tsunade said, opening a scroll. "The red dots are Mist positions with heavy garrisons."
Kitazawa looked up reflexively. Four red dots: the center was the Mist's current main camp; the other three were two supply depots and a medical-nin outpost.
"I'm planning to send three teams to knock out those three points—everything except their main camp," Tsunade said after a moment. "Yashiro, Chōza, and Kitazawa—you three will lead."
"Yes, Tsunade-sama," Kitazawa answered after a brief start.
They moved on to the details. Kitazawa's target was a supply depot on an island. In addition to his squad, Hyūga Homon's squad would join—eight in total, five jōnin. A loaded lineup.
"Kitazawa-sama, I didn't expect we'd fight side by side again," Homon said happily. With Kitazawa's strength, anyone's odds went up.
"Meet at the camp gate in five minutes," Kitazawa smiled.
"Roger," Homon ran to rally his team.
Kitazawa brought Kurenai, Kabuto, and the others to the gate. Five minutes later, the two squads linked up and moved out.
With Aburame Torune's nano-poison bugs and Hyūga Homon's Byakugan, they reached the Mist's offshore supply point smoothly. Night had fallen.
"The intel checks out," Homon said, Byakugan bulging. "This depot has four jōnin and sixteen chūnin and genin."
"Then we stick to the plan," Kitazawa nodded. "I'll use Water Release to neutralize their traps and sow chaos; you move in afterwards."
"With Kitazawa-sama's Water Release, we'll get twice the results for half the effort," Homon grinned. He'd seen Kitazawa's world-shaking water techniques in a previous raid.
Kitazawa had just started weaving signs when four plumes of water erupted from the sea. Four Mist shinobi burst up from beneath the surface, surrounding them.
"The Fourth Mizukage?!" Homon went wide-eyed when he recognized one of them.
Kitazawa's gaze hardened. They'd walked straight into a trap.
~~~
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