After Ao left his field of vision and closed the door, Yagura leaned back in his chair, propping himself up on the desk as he turned halfway around to face outward, gazing at the village of Mist.
Throughout the Shinobi World, every major Hidden Village shares a common feature—the Kage's office always contains a grand window or open space directly behind the Kage's seat.
The benefit is simple: it allows the Kage to gaze out over his village during idle moments, filling his heart with renewed strength and purpose!
This is similar to how Pain often stands atop his secret base, looking down upon Amegakure—both are acts of surveying their accomplishments, triggering dopamine release and a sense of fulfillment.
Sigh… I have a feeling something big is about to happen... Yagura folded his hands across his abdomen, sensing the warmth radiating from his body.
Yagura was a rare perfect jinchuriki, enjoying an unusually good relationship with the Three-Tails. He could communicate telepathically, just as B does with the Eight-Tails.
Soon enough, Isobu, the Three-Tails, responded. A smile spread across Yagura's face.
Just now, the Three-Tails had said to him: "Don't worry, I'm here."
Because the Three-Tails was naturally lazy by nature and resembled a turtle with three tails, even after being sealed inside Yagura's body, it spent most of its time asleep.
It only stirred when Yagura needed it, always answering without fail—and Isobu had never once let him down.
Looking out over the village, Yagura slowly lowered his eyelids as his fingers interlaced and rubbed against each other repeatedly.
This was just a small habit he unconsciously developed whenever deep in thought.
Creak! From behind, the office door was pushed open directly without knocking. Yagura didn't turn around.
Within the Mizukage's Office in Mist Village, there was only one person who could enter without knocking and wouldn't be stopped by Anbu ninja...
"Back already? Any results?" After asking about Ao, Yagura suddenly recalled what Terumi Mei had told him yesterday—that she might take the day off today to search for traces left by Ephemeral.
Terumi Mei didn't speak, her expression cold. Upon hearing Yagura's question, she merely glanced at him before walking straight toward her own seat.
"What's wrong?"
Yagura could sense Terumi Mei's mood wasn't good—and he already knew the reason yet still chose to ask further.
After all, she'd skipped work specifically to look into Ephemeral, the Six-Tails jinchuriki, which concerned the tailed beasts within the village—an especially critical period right now.
With the war ending just a few years ago and the village still recovering from its wounds, the presence of tailed beasts remains our strongest deterrent against rival villages.
"Hmph!" Terumi Mei plopped down onto her chair, pressing her back tightly against the headrest while crossing her arms over her chest.
Due to both outfit and physique, her current posture highlighted her figure quite impressively.
"No useful clues were found. We can safely assume he has left the Land of Water, but his exact movements remain unclear!"
Terumi Mei exhaled heavily after a long moment, lowering her head and looking down at herself, clearly disheartened.
"It was expected. He'd naturally head out of the Land of Water first after leaving the village—otherwise, we would've tracked him down in no time."
However, once we set foot on that continent, searching such a vast area will be no easy task!"
Yagura showed no surprise at all. When Terumi Mei suggested searching within the Land of Water, he already expected this result. Still, unable to change her mind, he simply allowed this young apprentice to give it a try.
"I've already sent Anbu to search the continent. The Six-Tails Jinchuriki Ephemeral has never left the Land of Water before, so we should find him soon enough."
Terumi Mei clearly looked unconvinced. Her left hand gripped a cup on the table, slowly running her fingers along its rim.
"Still, secrecy is essential! After all, this concerns the Tailed Beasts. The upper echelons of other villages wouldn't mind having another potential strategic weapon in their possession."
Yagura nodded, agreeing with Terumi Mei's approach while also sharing his own thoughts.
"I know," Terumi Mei replied with wide eyes, visibly displeased at being treated like a child. She had already considered everything Yagura was reminding her of—it only made her feel like he was talking down to her.
"In that case, good."
Yagura narrowed his eyes. Recently, a series of events had occurred in the village. First came the rebellion of the Takehaya Clan, followed by the sudden departure of a Jinchuriki—these affairs truly drained his energy.
Furthermore, the news of the Six-Tails Jinchuriki Ephemeral abandoning the village had not yet been officially disclosed. Due to its gravity, this matter remained confined to a small group of high-ranking officials.
"This quarter, the funding allocated by the Daimyo has been further reduced, and the number of missions assigned has decreased again as well! The village's finances have turned into a deficit!"
Yagura continued speaking while looking at Terumi Mei. As the Mizukage, he always needed to maintain an image of strength and determination in front of the public and lower-level ninja, suppressing every negative feeling deep inside himself and bearing it silently.
Fortunately, Terumi Mei, who had grown up with him since childhood, stood by his side, offering assistance when needed.
And at times of pressure, he could confide in Terumi Mei a bit, relieving some stress.
"I really don't understand what the Daimyo is thinking, indulging in luxuries every day without supporting our ninja village at all!"
Terumi Mei had heard this from Yagura long ago and was somewhat prepared mentally, but she hadn't expected matters to get worse over time.
"He's probably still waiting for us to yield. Having suffered humiliation at Konoha's hands during the last war, he wants to remind us who truly rules the Land of Water!"
Yagura gave a bitter smile, easily deciphering the Daimyo's intentions.
"Fine, come with me to the Daimyo's mansion after some time," Yagura said, sighing inwardly.
The "one nation, one village" system had brought many problems. One major issue was the Daimyo controlling the economy.
The concept of "Tama" (a symbolic jewel representing authority) continually caused sharp conflicts between the Kage and the Daimyo.
Lifting her head slightly, Terumi Mei locked eyes with Yagura, lips pressed into a thin line, but said nothing.
"Other than this, things should be fine, right? By the way, I heard something has recently happened in several other ninja villages, but our Anbu haven't confirmed any specific details yet. You should follow up on that from your end!"
"We may be far away from the mainland here in Mist Village, safe from invasion for now, but we still need to obtain first-hand intelligence on them."
"And precisely because of our distance, once we have the intelligence, we'll gain a strategic advantage!"
Just as Yagura was about to call Terumi Mei to begin their work for the day, he recalled the message received earlier from the Anbu scouting team sent to the mainland.
He kept talking as he looked into Terumi Mei's eyes, deep in thought.
This was also one of those troubling omens that disturbed him. However, the Anbu operatives he had dispatched had yet to report concrete details, leaving him feeling like a blind man. No matter how strong his instincts were, he couldn't grasp anything solid to confirm them—and it made him uneasy.
"Understood!" Terumi Mei nodded in agreement. As head of Anbu operations, she knew exactly what needed to be done.
After a bit of light chatter, the office sank back into silence. Soon, both resumed their work. As Mizukage, Yagura faced an endless stream of documents and reports daily; it was no small task.
Especially today, when Mei had been out busily half the day, all the work had piled up directly in front of him.
Both Yagura and Mei had their own understanding of the current situation in the Shinobi World. They could both sense an invisible hand seemingly stirring things up behind the scenes, manipulating storms.
With no clear idea of what was going on, all they could do was focus on their duties and prepare for whatever threats might come next.
If even this wouldn't save the situation, then no other methods would be effective either.
If you can't even clean your own room, how can you hope to change the world?
...
After deciding to return to the village together with Kakashi's squad, Jiraiya waited at the spot for them to clarify matters with the shinobi from the other two villages before heading toward Konoha.
The Iwa ninja had been running around here for quite a long time without spotting even a single enemy hair, and their patience had finally worn thin. They too decided to return to their village to regroup.
Only Suna, under orders from Rasa, continued searching within River Country.
In his battle against Saitama, Rasa had lost an arm—the most severe injury he had sustained in years—and it was a deeply humiliating event for him.
A revered leader of an entire village, famous throughout the ninja world, defeated by a mere junior!
Though disgraceful, Rasa clearly recognized the vast gap between himself and Saitama. Back then, had Shisui Uchiha not arrived in time, he would undoubtedly have died. Even if he had escaped those eerie flames, subsequent attacks would have finished him off.
His order to continue the search wasn't just because Gaara—Rasa's son—was his son—it was also because Gaara was the village's sole jinchuriki, housing the last tailed beast within Suna.
The longer Gaara remained missing, the fainter the hope grew of ever finding him again, signaling a growing vulnerability for Suna against hostile hidden villages due to losing its One-Tail deterrent.
Of course, Rasa had also given the search teams a time limit. Once that period expired, they would be allowed to return to the village to report completion.
Continuing the search indefinitely would be irrational, wasting both effort and resources.
...
"Kakashi, what are you looking at?"
Might Guy approached Kakashi and noticed a book in his hand. The cover had been carefully concealed under a sheet of gray paper, obscuring its title, though the volume itself looked quite old.
"Oh nothing, is the food ready?" Kakashi showed no sign of abnormality, calmly closing the book and tucking it into his ninja vest pocket.
Since they had departed from River Country around four or five in the afternoon, Jiraiya and Kakashi's team didn't reach Konoha that day, instead stopping at a forest near the southern part of Land of Fire.
"That... could it possibly be the hidden scroll that gives Kakashi his strength and lets him stay ahead of me?"
Although Kakashi refused to let Guy see the book, he only became more curious.
As Kakashi's longtime rival, Guy had already become obsessed with constantly challenging him throughout this period.
However, in this timeline without the burden of the Sharingan, Kakashi was actually able to firmly suppress Might Guy using regular taijutsu alone.
Therefore, Guy always took Kakashi as his role model, constantly trying to surpass him.
"Uh..." Kakashi hesitated momentarily. Though Kakashi and Might Guy were around the same age, Guy often came off as earnest and refreshingly simple-minded — especially when it came to anything remotely emotional. Kakashi wasn't exactly sure how to explain just how important that book was to him.
Fortunately, Might Guy had already started drawing his own conclusions. Seeing Kakashi nod slightly, confirming his guess, Might Guy happily continued.
"I knew it! Kakashi never stops training — even *right now*, when most people would be resting!"
Seeing Kakashi's slight nod, Might Guy quickly increased the distance between them and straightened his back.
"If Kakashi can push himself this hard, I won't let him outpace me either — starting now, I'll do ten thousand headstands before tonight's dinner!"
Guy's expression turned excited, burning with passionate fire in his eyes.
He raised his right hand in front of his chest, clenched it tightly into a fist, placed his left hand on his waist, and squatted down slowly, bending both legs as if performing horse stance training.
Then, he suddenly jumped up in place, flipping midair, falling downward headfirst. Just before hitting the ground, he extended his right hand outward, balancing his entire body weight effortlessly on just one middle finger.
"Alright then — here we go! Keep going too, Kakashi! Don't let me overtake you!"
Might Guy began his unique training routine using only his middle finger, never forgetting to remind Kakashi at the same time.
"Oh!" Watching Might Guy's series of movements, Kakashi felt his brain buzzing.
Still, after spending so much time together, Kakashi fully understood his personality — once he made up his mind, he would immediately take action.
"Well then, I'll continue too!" During this resting moment, Kakashi's eyes returned to their usual dead-fish appearance, looking rather listless.
Pulling out the book he'd been reading earlier from his pocket, Kakashi's eyes gradually lit up.
Opening the first page, there appeared in bold large font an ancient-looking title: Make Out Paradise 2.
This book was the second installment in the series, recently released. Due to its content, Kakashi had no choice but to wrap the cover with a piece of cardboard to hide it from others.
Though the book's themes made it somewhat inappropriate for younger readers, Kakashi believed the author must be someone who deeply understood life's great truths—an enlightened sage who had seen through everything.
Every line and word radiated noble attitudes toward life and deep wisdom.
That was also one of the reasons Kakashi loved this book—it let him pick up useful techniques while learning life lessons at the same time.
Leaning against a tree trunk, Kakashi flipped through the pages, savoring the peaceful moment.
Meanwhile, Guy stood several meters away, drenched in sweat and flushed red in the face.
Not far away, Ebisu was cooking over a roaring fire, constantly flipping ingredients around. Since he knew quite a bit, Kakashi had entrusted him with the important task of preparing dinner for the whole squad.
As for Jiraiya, he was sitting with Kurenai on a cloth spread across the ground, chatting casually about life.
Of course, there was still some distance between them—just a normal catch-up conversation between old acquaintances.
Jiraiya had known Kurenai Yuhi's father, Yuhi Manaka, for quite some time since they'd worked together before.
In the original storyline, Yuhi Manaka would have died during the Nine-Tails attack, but in this timeline, there was no such incident, so he remained alive in Konoha Village, guiding Genin and Chunin as a highly respected ninja instructor.
Judging from the way Kurenai kept covering her mouth when she smiled, Jiraiya truly deserved his reputation for having natural charm—he could strike up a cheerful conversation even with someone as unfamiliar as Kurenai.
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