Chapter 299: Ao and Mei Terumi
"Elder Genji, what do you mean?" Mei Terumi looked respectfully at the old man before her. He was already advanced in years, yet he was still tirelessly working for Kirigakure. That alone earned her sincere admiration.
"The Bloody Mist policy may appear to temper ninja through hardship, but in truth, it has dealt enormous damage to the village." Genji coughed lightly. His aged, clouded eyes narrowed, and his voice sank low.
He had never approved of the Bloody Mist policy. On the surface, it did produce stronger ninja, but Genji had personally witnessed what Kirigakure had become since its implementation. He knew very well whether the village had grown stronger or merely been hollowed out from within.
Even the Seven Ninja Swordsmen had defected because they could no longer tolerate the current Bloody Mist system. And yet the present Mizukage remained stubborn to the end. Genji had advised him many times, both openly and subtly, but each time the Mizukage had refuted him and shut him down so thoroughly that Genji had been left with nothing to say.
That was what troubled him most.
The child who had once become Mizukage had not been like this.
"Moreover, the current Mizukage ignores everyone else's opinions and listens only to himself. That is completely different from his former personality." Genji slowly rubbed the cane in his hand.
At this point, he suspected something was wrong with the Mizukage.
But suspicion was only suspicion. Yagura was still the Mizukage, and his strength was beyond question. Moving against him would not be easy, and the Mizukage's physical examinations had all come back normal. There were no abnormalities at all.
That only made Genji more uneasy.
He suspected something was wrong, but he had no proof and no way to confirm it. After all, the Mizukage was not only the leader of the village, but also Kirigakure's jinchuriki.
What did that mean?
It meant he was the village's greatest military asset.
If anything happened to Yagura and the tailed beast within him broke loose, it would become a disaster for the current Kirigakure. And beyond that, Yagura had originally stepped forward to become a jinchuriki for the sake of the village's safety. In that regard, Kirigakure owed him greatly.
That gave the Mizukage an extremely special position. Even Genji had to speak to him with care. Even if he discovered a problem, he could not react rashly. He could only keep probing, little by little.
And even that probing had to remain subtle.
"Elder Genji, are you saying the Mizukage might have been..." Mei's pupils shrank.
She was no fool. She naturally understood what his words implied. Was Yagura being controlled? Was he being influenced by someone? But how could that be? He was the Mizukage, and a jinchuriki on top of that.
"It is possible." Genji nodded.
He had watched Mei grow up. She was strong, possessed a special bloodline limit, and more importantly, she had fully grown into her talent. He greatly approved of the idea of her becoming the next Mizukage one day.
"Then we..." Mei hesitated, then carefully looked at Genji.
This involved the Mizukage. Even if she was someone Genji valued highly, she could not speak carelessly. One wrong sentence could invite serious trouble.
"Have you and Ao not been going out for barbecue together quite often lately?" Genji changed the subject abruptly.
He did not say anything directly, but Mei instantly understood his meaning.
Ao. Her close friend. The man who possessed a Byakugan from Konoha, and the only ninja outside Konoha to wield one.
And that eye was perfectly suited for this.
If Ao could quietly observe the Mizukage, they could determine whether Yagura had truly been placed under some form of control. If he had, the matter would at least become easier to resolve.
If he had not, then things would become far more troublesome. Because the moment that was confirmed, it would mean the higher ups of Kirigakure truly had become dissatisfied with the Mizukage. And once conflict erupted between both sides, the village would inevitably descend into internal chaos.
"Continue your training." Genji said no more and saw her out.
Mei walked out of Genji's house with a heavy expression. When she looked back, an indescribable feeling rose in her chest.
She knew that, given Genji's position and status, some things simply could not be said openly. But this way of pushing others to act while keeping himself at arm's length still left her uncomfortable. After all, if something went wrong, she would be the one bearing the consequences.
"What a pain..." Mei sighed, but still decided to find Ao first and discuss the matter with him. Then, when the opportunity came, she would have him use the Byakugan to inspect the Mizukage.
That would complete the task.
Truthfully, Mei herself was already dissatisfied with the Bloody Mist policy.
How many disasters had it caused by now?
The ninja and civilians of the village lived in constant fear. Some clans had rebelled overnight, only to be wiped out by the Mizukage's forces, leaving no one alive.
Even now, whenever Mei walked through the streets of Kirigakure, she could feel the caution in everyone around her. The entire village felt diseased.
"Ao, are you... hm? Taking a bath?" Mei knocked on his door, only to hear his voice answer from inside.
So she waited.
After some time, Ao finally opened the door. He was wiping the moisture from his hair and looked at her helplessly.
"Is something wrong?" Amemiya Kenichi looked at the woman before him and felt a headache coming on.
He had never expected that right after killing Ao and peeling off his face with the Face Stealing Technique, Mei Terumi would come knocking on the door.
To deal with that, he had immediately put on Ao's Byakugan as well.
Handling Ao himself had not been difficult. Though Ao's strength was decent, he was no match for Amemiya Kenichi after entering Sage Mode and opening his three tomoe Sharingan. To make things quicker, Kenichi had even set up a simple soundproof barrier.
As a result, Ao, one of Konoha's wanted criminals, had fallen just like that.
His head had been preserved by Kenichi, who planned to bring it to a bounty station near Konoha later and exchange it for money. If Konoha offered a better price, he might even return the Byakugan. He had no particular greed for it.
Kenichi had always had a very clear roadmap for his own eyes. Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan, then Rinnegan, and then eventually the eye level of Otsutsuki Kaguya. By then, he would have effectively reached the peak of ocular power in the ninja world. Anything beyond that would depend on whatever the Otsutsuki clan still had hidden away.
"Come on. Let's go eat barbecue," Mei said casually.
She had no need to hide anything from Ao. He knew her very well.
"Alright." Kenichi nodded.
His purpose in infiltrating Kirigakure as Ao this time was to get close to Mei and subtly reinforce the suspicion that something was wrong with the Mizukage, so that Kirigakure's own people would deal with Yagura themselves.
That way, Kenichi could cut off one of Obito's hands.
If Obito appeared, even better. Kenichi could ambush him directly. If Obito did not appear, that was fine too. Losing Kirigakure would still drag Akatsuki's development into trouble and buy Kenichi precious time.
And time was what he needed most.
When they arrived at the barbecue restaurant, Kenichi let Mei sit down first before taking the seat opposite her and ordering meat.
"...Ao, what do you think about the Bloody Mist policy?" Mei hesitated for a moment, then finally asked. The Byakugan on his face was especially conspicuous. It was his greatest symbol and his pride.
"I can't really say." Kenichi licked his lips.
Mei was clearly distracted, and she had even taken the initiative to bring up the Bloody Mist policy. Could it be that he had arrived at the perfect moment? Had the higher ups of Kirigakure only just begun suspecting Yagura?
That would make things absurdly smooth.
"...Don't you think the current Bloody Mist policy has become a bit..." Mei frowned, her dissatisfaction obvious.
At this table, it was only the two of them. Whatever she said here would stay between them.
"Watch what you say. Be careful of eavesdroppers." Kenichi lowered his voice and pretended to be cautious. He waved a hand and opened the Byakugan to scan the surroundings, then let out a false sigh of relief.
Of course he wanted to talk to Mei about this, but there was one problem. He did not truly know how Ao normally spoke with her or interacted with her. Right now Mei's mind was unsettled, so she might not notice anything, but if she calmed down later, his disguise might start to crack.
So Kenichi could only imitate Ao based on the limited impression he had gathered from the anime.
"Do you suspect there's something wrong with the Mizukage?" Kenichi asked.
Opening the Byakugan just now was also meant to reduce suspicion. Even if Mei had not started doubting him, there was no harm in making the act more convincing.
He had scanned underground as well. There was nothing there. Of course, even if Black Zetsu were present, Kenichi still would not have seen him. Mayfly Technique was simply too difficult to track.
"Yes. The Mizukage was not like this before. His ideas about the village used to be very different. But now he's cold, ruthless... it's really..." Mei sighed.
She had heard Genji talk about Yagura's earlier years. Back then, he had been gentle and had many unique ideas about the future of Kirigakure. That was precisely why he had been nominated as Mizukage in the first place.
But after becoming Mizukage, his temperament had changed completely.
Now, he did not even listen to Genji anymore. He had forced the Bloody Mist policy into full implementation and never abandoned it, even after the Seven Ninja Swordsmen defected.
The contrast between his past self and his current self was simply too great.
Genji therefore suspected only two possibilities.
Either Yagura had always been that good at hiding his real nature and had fooled everyone before becoming Mizukage, or there was something wrong with him now.
The first possibility would be troublesome.
The second would also be troublesome.
But at least the second could potentially be resolved.
"So what do you want from me?" Kenichi asked.
Inside, he was delighted.
Perfect. Wonderful. He didn't even need to make the first move. Mei was already suspicious of the Mizukage. All he needed to do now was play along.
"I want you to use your Byakugan at the next meeting and observe the Mizukage. I want to know whether Lord Yagura is being controlled." Mei's expression turned serious.
Kenichi nearly agreed on the spot. But to avoid raising suspicion, he forced himself to pause, pretended to consider it, and only then gave a reluctant nod.
Still, to avoid saying too much and exposing himself during the barbecue, he quickly made an excuse that he needed to prepare first and left.
"Ao is nervous too after all." Mei smiled to herself and picked up a piece of meat. "That's normal. When you share your worries with someone else, they start worrying with you, and somehow your own burden feels a little lighter."
Meanwhile, Kenichi hurried back to Ao's house.
Though he had already cleaned up most of the aftermath, he still needed to check everything once more. A single missed detail could lead to disaster.
Fortunately, after another inspection, he found no oversight. Only then did he relax.
Ao's body had been dealt with very cleanly. Even if ninja hounds were brought in right now, they still would not find anything suspicious.
"Next, I just need to follow the plan," Kenichi muttered. "The only problem is that I know too little about Kirigakure, and Mei Terumi is clearly very close to Ao..."
He scratched his head.
Impersonating someone was an extremely annoying job, especially when he didn't know the target particularly well. The risk of slipping up was very real. If his cover broke, the situation would become extremely dangerous.
With that in mind, he rummaged through Ao's house, gathered up some valuables, counted the money, and left.
He still had preparatory work to do. For example, he needed to buy materials for thermobaric bombs, assemble one, and place it at a designated position where a Shadow Clone could guard it. If anything went wrong, he could simply signal the clone to detonate it and create an escape window.
"The biggest issue this time is making sure my identity doesn't get exposed," Kenichi muttered as he walked. "All Mei Terumi and the upper ranks of Kirigakure need to focus on is Yagura."
If not for the risk of exposure, Kenichi would even have preferred to use Edo Tensei on Ao and directly interrogate him for information. That would have made the disguise much easier.
Soon enough, Mei dragged him along to attend a meeting.
Under normal circumstances, Ao's status did not truly qualify him to attend these meetings. Though he was a jonin, ever since he obtained the Byakugan, he often accompanied Mei to such gatherings. Still, out of respect, he could not ordinarily activate the eye whenever he pleased.
But this time was different.
With Genji's tacit approval and Mei's cover, Ao could use the Byakugan during the meeting.
He just had to be careful and keep it hidden.
"Obito..." Kenichi licked his lips, feeling a flicker of excitement. "Will you notice?"
.....
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