Chapter 238: The Kirigakure Coup d'État
In the brightly lit laboratory, a huge floor-to-ceiling glass container was placed in the center.
Experiment personnel in white lab coats and Menma gathered around the container, watching the "firefly"-like insects continuously float within.
The container was filled with a turquoise solution, all of it essence extracted from the Gelel ore vein, containing a large amount of natural energy.
What they were doing now was attempting to apply natural energy to animals.
Just then, the laboratory door opened.
Chū walked in from outside.
"Oh, you're back from the Land of Demons so soon?"
"Mission accomplished."
Chū walked step-by-step to Menma's side and handed him the letter in his hand. "Just as you said, the Priestess had already anticipated our arrival and was very friendly towards us."
"However, she didn't say anything, just asked me to hand this letter to you personally, saying that you would understand once you read it."
With that, Chū looked at the creatures in the container with great interest. "Insects? I feel a sense of familiarity. Is this a new species you've cultivated?"
Menma took the letter but didn't rush to open it.
He had faith in Chū's ability to handle things.
Cautious and meticulous in personality, yet decisive and sharp, he was an outstanding existence among the many bounty hunter squads.
That was why Menma had entrusted him with the mission to the Land of Demons.
"Didn't you say before that information about the Explosion Bugs was leaked?"
Menma smiled and looked at the "fireflies" before him. "This is the new type of Explosion Bug I've prepared for you."
"Compared to the old Explosion Bugs that could only grow by absorbing chakra, this newly cultivated Explosion Bug uses natural energy as its energy supply. It has stronger stealth and practicality, and will also provide you with convenience in learning Sage Art in the future."
The Xuanyuan Group consisted of Yao, who specialized in Earth Release nature transformation; Yan, who specialized in Fire Release nature transformation; Miao, who specialized in Water Release nature transformation; and Xin, who specialized in using shadow secret techniques.
And then there was Chū, who came from the Kamizuru "insect user" clan of Iwagakure and had now abandoned his name and past to become a bounty hunter.
Each of them had been endowed with a system of techniques by Menma.
Individually, they were not particularly powerful ninja, but their true strength lay in their coordinated cooperation.
Against most enemies, only four of them needed to be deployed. Only when encountering a high-strength ninja would Chū use his trump card, the Explosion Bugs, to blow the enemy to bits.
It was through this kind of cooperation that the Xuanyuan Group had made a name for themselves in the black market.
A long time ago, Chū's body had been modified by Menma using a gene fusion liquid from Shin, turning it into a body that could control all kinds of insects.
He possessed abilities similar to the Aburame clan, but his adaptability far exceeded theirs.
The "Explosion Bugs" were micrometer-sized insects with the unbeatable characteristics of parasitizing human bodies and absorbing chakra. Even Konan and Kakuzu of the Akatsuki had suffered losses from them.
However, before using them, one needed to use genjutsu to obscure the opponent's vision, otherwise, the existence of the Explosion Bugs would be easily discovered.
The new type of Explosion Bug did not have this drawback.
"Hiss, this is for me?"
Chū's eyes lit up, and he smacked his lips. "Explosion Bugs that can absorb natural energy. If I'm up against enemies who can use Sage Art, wouldn't I be able to completely counter them?"
"And, it can even assist me in practicing Sage Art?"
This was the first time Chū had heard of insects that could utilize natural energy.
"Theoretically, it can be done, but it still requires your participation in experiments."
Menma also took out a scroll, handed it to Chū, and said, "If you have time, you can go and look for traces of the Tsuchigumo clan. Their clan head, 'En no Gyōja,' can use a forbidden jutsu called 'Heavenly Wrath'."
"That forbidden jutsu is said to be able to store natural energy in the body. The longer it is accumulated, the larger the area of destruction. If it is accumulated for long enough, it can erupt outwards with oneself as the center, destroying everything within a radius of several hundred kilometers."
Although Chū's understanding of scientific research was not deep, he knew what this forbidden jutsu meant.
"You mean… if I can obtain that forbidden jutsu, I might be able to develop my own insect user Sage Mode?"
Realizing this, an unconcealable excitement appeared on Chū's face.
But after a moment, he suppressed the turbulent emotions in his heart, rubbed his chin, and said thoughtfully, "In that case, perhaps I can try to accept that bounty mission."
"Hm? What bounty mission? With your strength, you still need to hesitate?"
Chū narrowed his eyes and smiled. "The mission was posted by someone from Sugigakure. Some unidentified ninja stole the secret technique passed down through the generations of Sugigakure. He wants to commission us to retrieve the secret technique, and the bounty is one hundred million ryō."
"One hundred million ryō? What secret technique is worth a small ninja village offering a bounty of one hundred million?"
Menma was also a little surprised to hear the bounty reward.
One must know, the bounty on Sarutobi Asuma, as the son of the Third Hokage, was only 35 million ryō.
One hundred million ryō…
Such a mission was extremely rare even during wartime. It must be an S-rank mission that required the cooperation of several jōnin to complete.
"It seems the secret technique lost by Sugigakure is not a simple thing…"
"Moreover, the ones who stole Sugigakure's secret technique are suspected to be Kumogakure ninja…"
Chū and Menma looked at each other, seeing the strange look in each other's eyes.
The bandit-like behavior of those guys from Kumogakure was no secret in the ninja world. They often collected secret and forbidden jutsu from all over.
Sometimes, they would even abduct ninja with Kekkei Genkai back to Kumogakure to be "breeding studs."
Before Oyashiro En surrendered to the Land of Snow, his biggest partner in human trafficking was Kumogakure.
However, on one hand, because the small country ninja villages couldn't find evidence to confirm the other party's identity, and on the other hand, out of reverence for the "Five Great Rogue Nations," most small country ninja villages would choose to swallow their anger. The other four countries, whose own hands weren't clean, also turned a blind eye to Kumogakure's actions.
In that case, it was highly likely that Kumogakure, which had always practiced hegemonism, would make a move to snatch Sugigakure's secret technique.
"Then go and investigate."
Menma nodded and said meaningfully, "Since you've accepted the mission, even if the opponent is the Raikage, you must complete the mission."
"No problem. The customer is god. That is our motto."
Chū smiled with understanding.
With that, he bid farewell to Menma and walked out of the laboratory.
To step on the Fourth Raikage's head to make a name for the Xuanyuan Group.
Such an exciting thing made even the usually calm him a little excited.
After Chū left, Menma stayed in the laboratory for a while before walking back to his office.
He happened to run into Uchiha Shisui right outside.
"Lord Menma, there is important intelligence from the Shadow Guards in Kirigakure."
The Land of Snow's intelligence department was now managed by Uchiha Shisui, and he was also the one who reported the important intelligence collected recently to Menma every week.
But for him to come in such a hurry, he must attach great importance to the intelligence about Kirigakure.
"You really can't stay idle."
Menma sighed inwardly and said, "Don't be in a hurry. Let's go inside and talk."
After calming the anxious Shisui, the two entered the office together.
"What happened in Kirigakure that's worth you paying so much attention to?"
The Land of Water, where Kirigakure was located, was a special island country. Its territory was surrounded by the sea on all four sides, and there were also many high mountain areas inland, which caused it to be covered in thick fog all year round.
Since the First Great Ninja War, the four major ninja villages of Konoha, Sunagakure, Iwagakure, and Kumogakure had been at war with each other. But the Land of Water was located off the mainland, with a vast sea area separating it, so the isolated Kirigakure did not intervene in the Great Ninja War.
In recent years, this Kirigakure, which was perennially covered in thick fog, had gradually gained the nickname "Village of the Bloody Mist."
Moreover, because Kirigakure had adopted a closed-door policy for many years, the entry of the Robin Group had met with great resistance.
Even though the monarch, Kazahana Koyuki, personally wrote a letter to the Daimyō of the Land of Water, it only allowed the Robin Group to open branches within the Land of Water and did not get the right to open branches within Kirigakure itself.
The degree of Kirigakure's xenophobia had exceeded Menma's expectations.
It was not an easy task to plant personnel within Kirigakure.
Until now, only one Shadow Guard who was originally from Kirigakure had managed to infiltrate.
And the intelligence that could be gathered was also relatively fragmented.
The only thing that could be confirmed was that Kirigakure was still under the rule of the Fourth Mizukage, the Three-Tails Jinchūriki, Karatachi Yagura.
"Lord Menma, according to that Shadow Guard's intelligence…"
Shisui considered for a moment, then said, "Some kind of conflict within Kirigakure has intensified. The atmosphere between the factions is very tense."
"And a Kirigakure jōnin named Terumī Mei seems to want to launch a coup d'état to overthrow the rule of the Fourth Mizukage."
After a pause, Shisui continued to add, "However, this is just a guess made by that Shadow Guard based on fragmented intelligence. It cannot be confirmed whether it is true, which is why I came to report to you so rashly."
Although Shisui was a little unsure about this intelligence in his heart, Menma naturally knew what this news meant.
"It seems the transfer of power between the Fourth and Fifth Mizukage is at this point in time."
Menma frowned, his fingers tapping gently on the tabletop.
Although this ninja village, which had been isolated from the mainland countries for many years, had been closed off, their strength as one of the Five Great Ninja Villages should absolutely not be underestimated.
A starved camel is still bigger than a horse.
Since the First Great Ninja War, after Kirigakure fought with Iwagakure of the Land of Earth, Kirigakure had been recuperating and building up its strength for these years. Like Kumogakure of the Land of Lightning, it had not made any moves during the previous Second Great Ninja War.
The Robin Group had also been unable to find a good way to open up the markets of the Land of Water and Kirigakure.
This was all related to Kirigakure's closed-door policy.
After all, it is the Village of the Bloody Mist.
After thinking for a moment, Menma also figured out the reason. The frown on his face slowly relaxed, and a playful smile appeared.
"Those old geezers finally can't hold back anymore."
In recent years, Kirigakure had been adopting an exam where two-person teams fought to the death, with the winner graduating from the ninja academy.
Although the number of ninja had been reduced to a certain extent, the Kirigakure ninja who successfully survived were all elites among ninja.
Fierce, brutal, bloody…
This was the impression most ninja had of Kirigakure ninja, which thus created the reputation of the "Village of the Bloody Mist."
However, this was obviously not a good thing.
Mission commissions were a major source of a ninja village's finances.
But how many people would be willing to hire a group of madmen to solve their problems?
Even those guys from Kumogakure had to care about the village's image. With Kirigakure's reputation as the "Village of the Bloody Mist," both its face and its substance were clearly not in a good state.
Not all the higher-ups liked to be branded with the title "Village of the Bloody Mist." What's more, with the Fourth Mizukage, under Obito's control, slaughtering Kekkei Genkai ninja in a frenzy, it was inevitable that the conflict would erupt further.
Now, the factions in Kirigakure were probably about to completely tear off their faces.
One side wanted to continue to implement the "Village of the Bloody Mist" policy, while the other wanted to immediately stop this unreasonable situation.
In that case, he would have to add more fuel to the fire in Kirigakure.
"Shisui."
Menma tapped on the table and looked up at Shisui. "How much do you know about Kirigakure's 'Demon,' Momochi Zabuza?"
Hearing this, Shisui pondered for a moment, then said, "Momochi Zabuza, one of the second generation of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist, the second user of the Executioner's Blade, nicknamed the Demon. He is skilled in Water Release ninjutsu and assassination techniques, and is quite famous in the ninja world for his high skill in the Silent Killing technique."
"In the graduation exam at the age of 9, he killed all the students of his graduating class. He later planned to assassinate the Mizukage, failed, and fled Kirigakure to become a rogue-nin."
"In my impression, he is a very cruel and ambitious man."
He spoke in great detail. It seems he has also collected intelligence on Zabuza.
However…
"This is not enough."
Menma, who had a partial God's-eye view, could see something deeper.
He could see some clues from the actions of Kirigakure and Zabuza.
Several years ago, Uchiha Obito used genjutsu to control the Third Mizukage, began to slaughter Kekkei Genkai ninja on a large scale, and implemented the cruel policy of the "Village of the Bloody Mist."
And at that time, Karatachi Yagura, who was a Kirigakure jōnin, with the assistance of elders like Gensui and Gonbei, as well as young people like Zabuza, Hōzuki Mangetsu, and Ringo Ameyuri, overthrew the violent rule of the Third Mizukage and ascended to the position of the Fourth Mizukage.
When everything was on the right track and they were beginning to move towards a better path of development than before, all the beautiful visions were ended by the puppet show operated by Uchiha Obito.
He once again manipulated Yagura to restart the Bloody Mist policy, changing the administrative policy Yagura had originally pursued. Kirigakure returned to the terrifying rule of before liberation overnight.
And Momochi Zabuza, as a supporter of the Fourth Mizukage, it would not be an exaggeration to say that his faith had collapsed.
The Fourth Mizukage he followed had betrayed his faith. Everything he and his comrades had done, all the innocent comrades' blood on his hands, was all for naught.
Zabuza, as the "Demon," in his anger, attempted to plan an assassination against the Fourth Mizukage, but it was discovered before the action even began.
In the end, he could only choose to defect from Kirigakure and accumulate his own strength outside.
"If I'm not mistaken, Zabuza should be in the Land of Waves right now."
Menma's eyes flickered, his tone faintly excited. "Since someone wants to support Terumī Mei to ascend to the position of the Fifth Mizukage, why can't we support someone to stir up this muddy water?"
"Someone keeps the door closed and won't let me in, so I'll find someone who is willing to let me in, to open the door for me from within Kirigakure."
(End of Chapter)
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