Hiruzen had to persuade Kushina at length before she finally agreed to go back. But just as he sent Kushina away, Mitsuki arrived. He was shouting that he wanted to go to the battlefield in the Land of Hot Water. These two kids… they really had no idea how to show a little consideration for an old man.
He needed to finish this damn was fast as possible and pass the Hokage seat to Minato.
Rubbing his nose, Hiruzen continued reading the scroll in his hand, intelligence that Orochimaru had just sent back from the Iwagakure front. The general message was that on the Iwa side, after Onoki used dirty tricks to kill the Third Raikage, that old bastard had started acting up again and had even mobilized their jinchuriki. And on their side, not only did Konoha have fewer ninjas than Iwa, they also had Jiraiya dragging things down. Orochimaru hoped Hiruzen could send some actual capable fighters to assist.
At the end of the scroll, Orochimaru especially mentioned Mitsuki's name.
"Hiruzen-sensei, I've heard that Mitsuki's performance on the battlefield has been extremely outstanding. If he can come to the Grass Country side, I'm sure he'll also bring great changes to the Iwa front."
Hiruzen had no doubts about Mitsuki's abilities. The problem was: Mitsuki himself wanted to go to the Hot Water Country to help against Cloud.
Hiruzen could use his authority as Hokage to force Mitsuki to the Grass front, but he didn't want to damage the good relationship he'd built with the boy over time.
Even though Hiruzen didn't know how much strength the elderly Madara still had left, Mitsuki plus the One-Tail — a duo that could treat Tailed Beast Bombs like pinpoint artillery — no commander would ignore their wishes.
Besides, Mitsuki only wanted to go support the Hot Water front because he was worried about his friends.
See? What a good kid. A perfect successor of the Will of Fire.
Nothing to do — Orochimaru would have to think of another solution. As his most brilliant student, Hiruzen believed he could handle it.
But normal reinforcements… that Hiruzen could gather. All thanks to Mitsuki. After he destroyed Kirigakure and killed the Third Mizukage, the Mist front had seen no invaders for a long time.
According to the spies, Kirigakure had been holding the succession ceremony for their new Mizukage these past days.
And inside Kirigakure, two opinions had formed.
One group demanded that Konoha hand over the culprit who destroyed their village — Shimizu Mitsuki — or they would fight Konoha to the end. But those voices came only from a small portion of Kirigakure's mid- and lower-class individuals. Most of them had deep grudges against Konoha, or straight-up personal grudges against Mitsuki.
The second group — the vast majority — were much more realistic. They knew they couldn't win. Better to surrender.
Worth mentioning: the newly appointed Fourth Mizukage, Yagura, was part of the surrender faction. Maybe he'd realized Konoha was unbeatable, or maybe Kirigakure simply couldn't keep fighting.
After taking office, Yagura immediately formed a diplomatic delegation to travel to Konoha for peace negotiations.
Hiruzen held the official document sent by the Land of Water. It was the reason he'd been holding Mitsuki back in the village.
After all — what could create more pressure than having the one who personally destroyed Kirigakure sitting in front of the Mist delegation during the talks?
He didn't even need Mitsuki to do anything. Just sit there and act as an intimidation omen — a walking warning.
"Elephant."
Hiruzen called softly, and an ANBU member appeared instantly.
"Yes."
Hiruzen handed him a scroll. "Send this to, Mitsuki."
"Yes, Lord Hokage."
The ANBU vanished.
"Ha? They kept me in the village this long for this small shit?" Mitsuki turned the scroll left and right, questioning reality. Kirigakure was in such a pathetic state — Konoha could bully them whenever they wanted. Why would they need him to sit around as support?
If they dared act up, Konoha could just message him and he'd fly over to drop a few Tailed Beast Bombs on them.
The ANBU guy had already fled the scene once his job was done.
Mitsuki waited a bit, expecting Rin to come calm him down, but she didn't show up. He looked around:
Rin was sitting in the yard, holding Shukaku in her lap, quietly refining chakra to store in the Yin Seal on her forehead.
With Tsunade's help, Rin had already completed carving the Yin Seal's formula a week ago. But the space inside the seal was still empty — only after filling the reservoir would the technique be complete.
Once fully charged, she'd be able to open and close it freely, and future recharges would be much faster.
Rin was strong-willed and trained hard. Whenever she had free time, she would slowly refine chakra to fill the Yin Seal.
Mitsuki actually wished she wouldn't push herself so much. After all, his mother Chiyoko had worked herself too hard trying to keep up with Kento's pace — and died early because of it.
He tiptoed over and sat beside her, enjoying a rare moment of peace.
Once he dealt with the Mist delegation, he'd head to the Hot Water front. After Kumo, there was still Iwa.
Thinking about it… he hadn't felt it when he was in the Academy, but now, after being on the battlefield — war really was a huge waste of energy and time.
Two days later
A group of more than ten Mist emissaries walked slowly through the forest paths of the Land of Fire. Their silhouettes were hidden beneath the towering trees, sunlight filtering through the leaves in patches.
They all wore Kirigakure forehead protectors, dressed in traditional Water Country clothing, their faces serious.
These emissaries carried an extremely important mission for Kirigakure. They had to cross this forest and reach Konoha to negotiate peace with the Third Hokage.
Although Konoha was known for valuing peace — especially under the leadership of the Third Hokage — Kirigakure was at an overwhelming disadvantage, and sending a diplomatic group first was already showing sincerity.
At the front of the group walked a shark-faced man — the one who had fought Mitsuki: Kisame.
Yagura had witnessed that fight and promoted him to leader of the new Mizukage's personal guard.
As they neared Konoha's gate, a small-statured girl in the group lifted her wrist and muttered softly:
"Shimizu Mitsuki…"