It's been over ten hours since the Mist Village coup.
The battle within the Mist Village is not yet completely finished, with occasional sounds of fighting still echoing from certain areas.
Although the main forces of the Blood Mist Faction have been extinguished, there are still some stubborn elements refusing to surrender, intending to resist to the end.
However, the upcoming battles do not require Yagura to personally lead the extermination teams, as the end of the Blood Mist Faction is imminent; the most pressing issue now is the village's reconstruction work.
Previously, much of the Mist Village area was shrouded in the smoke of battle, with many places tragically destroyed, including key facilities like the Mizukage Building.
The area where he fought with the Third Mizukage was the worst disaster zone, with successive large-scale destructive Water Style Jutsu and the bombardment of Tailed Beast Balls, leaving the entire cluster of buildings and streets thoroughly destroyed, remaining only as debris-like ruins.
On a small reef island to the north of Mist Village, a gentle sea breeze lightly swept through.
Yagura gently waved his left arm, which had previously been severed by the Third Mizukage with the Blade of Water, now fully reattached to his shoulder, as good as new.
"I didn't expect your medical ninjutsu to have reached such a level; I was already prepared to use a prosthetic limb."
He looked at Hakushi, who performed medical ninjutsu to reattach his severed left arm, his tone filled with genuine admiration.
He believed that even the likes of Tsunade, one of the Konoha Sannin, might not be able to achieve this.
Compared to Konoha's medical techniques, the Mist Village's medical techniques were even less likely to reach this level.
Recalling how Ringo Ameyuri's previously daunting injuries were also healed by Hakushi, Yagura now had a more direct understanding of Hakushi's medical capabilities.
Hakushi watched Yagura shake his newly restored left arm and offered a warning, "I advise you not to move that arm too much over the next half month, or else I can't guarantee it won't fall off again. Besides, the technique I just used is fundamentally different from medical ninjutsu; it's the Immortal Technique of life transference from Shikkotsu Forest."
"The legendary Katsuyu Sage? I didn't expect you to have signed a contract with Shikkotsu Forest."
Yagura was quite surprised.
But considering Hakushi was once a student of Tsunade, it's not inconceivable that the contract with Shikkotsu Forest was introduced by Tsunade, thus he let it go.
Hakushi didn't intend to offer more explanations, as this matter was irrelevant to his subsequent cooperation with Yagura.
"Compared to this, you are what truly took me by surprise."
"What?"
"Your ability to control the Three-tailed Beast."
Hakushi was indeed unexpected by Yagura's control of the Three-tailed Beast, becoming a perfect Jinchuriki.
Because, as far as he knew, Hidden Cloud Village in the Land of Lightning was the ninja village with the most comprehensive research on tailed beasts; traditionally, Hidden Cloud's development of tailed beast power was the most complete.
He didn't expect Yagura to perfectly control the Three-tailed Beast's power under Mist Village's imperfect research conditions.
One must admit, this indeed greatly surprised Hakushi.
This also signifies that Yagura, as a human, has become a confidant who has connected minds with the tailed beast, which is hostile to humans and views them as despicable.
"I don't want the Mist Village's intelligence system to be penetrated entirely clean by you, like Konoha."
Yagura glanced at Hakushi speechlessly.
No matter how much he had been lurking for the position of Fourth Mizukage and the extermination of the Blood Mist Faction, if everything was known by Hakushi, he would indeed be too inept as the future Fourth Mizukage.
"I'm just symbolically collecting some intelligence to prevent potential threats."
Hakushi shrugged, as he was once a Konoha Ninja, and thus knows Konoha's power better than Yagura.
The internal problems of that village were many, but its strengths outweigh its flaws, making Konoha truly formidable.
Whether it's top-tier ninjas or mid-level ninjas, Konoha exceeds other ninja villages.
Along with abundant resources from the Land of Fire, sufficient development funds, and good cooperative relations with significant figures such as the Daimyo of the Land of Fire, Konoha's military might generally rises steadily rather than regresses.
"By the way, I've never had the chance to ask: what is the current situation over in Konoha?"
Yagura suddenly remembered something and inquired Hakushi about this.
Due to internal conflicts, Mist Village's power had drastically reduced, making it hard to recover without several years of development.
For this reason, he needed a scapegoat to attract attention and reduce Mist Village's presence.
Konoha was the most suitable option.
"The Fourth Hokage, Namikaze Minato, has sacrificed himself. If Hidden Cloud doesn't change their strategy, I believe they'll make a move against Konoha within the next month."
"Even the Hokage himself has been sacrificed? You've caused quite a stir this time."
Yagura was slightly taken aback, not expecting Hakushi to have such a big hand.
Under such great fame comes no false reputation; the Yellow Flash was arguably the most prominent ninja in the Ninja Realm in recent years.
With his power alone, he ended the battle in Hidden Rock.
Then, with lightning speed, he intercepted Hidden Cloud in the Land of Hot Water, preventing them from setting foot in the Land of Fire, resulting in heavy casualties.
Such a legendary ninja, dreaded by nations, unexpectedly sacrificed himself, which Yagura did not foresee.
"I was always looking for an opportunity to deal with him but couldn't find the right timing; I didn't expect to accomplish the task due to a series of coincidences this time."
Being able to master Space-Time Ninjutsu to such a refined degree, Minato was indeed one of his formidable foes for the future.