Of course the Three-Tails was gone.
After all, it had already been taken out—and tailed beasts had always been the kind of existence that left no corpse behind.
"Gone? What do you mean by gone?"
It wasn't that the Mizukage didn't understand Ao's words. With the Byakugan, there was no room for error in reconnaissance. She simply hadn't processed it yet.
Why would a tailed beast suddenly vanish?
"I can't find any trace of the Three-Tails," Ao repeated.
"Not in the lake. Not anywhere nearby."
Had it moved?
No.
The Three-Tails had remained here for years, showing no inclination to relocate. And even if it had moved, it would have been impossible to leave behind no trace at all.
Naturally, Terumī Mei's gaze shifted to Hagoromo's group.
"So your real objective was the Three-Tails," she said.
It was the most reasonable guess—and the correct one.
From the disappearance of the surveillance teams to their arrival here, only a few dozen minutes had passed. Under normal circumstances, sealing or killing a tailed beast within that time frame would be impossible.
But the man before her wasn't normal.
At this stage, every major village had a fairly complete intelligence profile on Hagoromo.
His abnormal Lightning Release, its various extensions, and his mastery of sealing techniques were all well documented.
In a sense, calling him a weapon specifically designed to counter tailed beasts wouldn't be an exaggeration.
Mei's first suspicion was that Hagoromo had sealed the Three-Tails and created a new jinchūriki.
Her gaze swept across the group.
First—Kimimaro, the young Kaguya clan kekkei genkai user. She remembered him. His presence beside Hagoromo made the situation obvious.
Defection.
But compared to the Three-Tails, that wasn't important.
Next—Haku.
She passed over him quickly, sensing nothing particularly special.
Finally—
the red-haired girl.
The probability was high that she was from the Uzumaki clan.
Which also meant—she might be the new jinchūriki.
If that were the case, she absolutely could not be allowed to leave.
The distinctive red hair of the Uzumaki was no secret. After the fall of Uzushiogakure, the scattered survivors had been systematically hunted down.
The reason was simple.
Red hair was far too conspicuous—far more eye-catching than something like Ice Release chakra. Hostility toward them was easier to direct than even Kirigakure's persecution of Ice Release users.
"How is it?" Mei asked, tilting her head toward Ao.
Ao shook his head lightly.
With the Byakugan, he could confidently confirm that there was no jinchūriki here. As for sealing a tailed beast by other means—that would require specialized ninja tools.
Feeling uncomfortable under the gaze of the onee-san—and especially the one-eyed man—Mirai instinctively hid behind Hagoromo.
"If you came for the Three-Tails," Hagoromo said calmly,
"then I suggest you come back in a few years. For a very accidental reason… it just died."
He stated an extraordinary fact in the plainest possible manner.
There was no need to hide it—this really had been an unexpected incident.
The "accident," however, wasn't killing the Three-Tails.
It was failing to kill it completely.
"So you're saying that within just a few dozen minutes… you erased the Three-Tails?"
Mei interpreted his words in her own way.
She certainly didn't believe in accidents.
Killing a tailed beast in such a short time genuinely exceeded her expectations. Even that estimate was generous—by the time they arrived, Hagoromo had already crushed the bug and wiped his shoes clean.
"Given the situation," Mei said slowly,
"the most likely conclusion is that the Three-Tails is dead. But regardless… since you're already in the Land of Water, you don't think you can just leave, do you?"
As she spoke, she licked her lips—a subtle display of aggression.
Truthfully, this situation wasn't the worst-case scenario for her.
In fact, it was something of a relief.
Compared to being sealed away, a tailed beast dying once was acceptable. They were weapons that would eventually resurrect anyway—and Kirigakure had no way to deal with the Three-Tails at present.
"One death isn't a big loss."
"To be honest," Hagoromo said,
"I don't really have a reason to fight you."
Had he not just killed Kirigakure's Class-A protected asset, that statement would have sounded much more convincing.
Regardless of provocation or hostility, a response was inevitable.
"In fact, I do value peace," Hagoromo continued.
"But I only value it. Peace isn't something I revere. If you fight me now… it'll be over in an instant."
As his words fell, Kimimaro took Hiramekarei off his back, while Haku moved closer to Mirai.
Hagoromo would never engage Mei's squad in a prolonged battle while protecting Mirai.
Anything less than absolute protection was unacceptable.
He truly had no desire to fight—but if it came to that, it would be a single, decisive strike.
The question was simple:
If he revealed his fangs—
could he instantly kill all four of them?
"Or… we could try," someone muttered.
"No," Mei replied softly.
"There's no need to try."
If reckless drivers ever wanted to race on the spot, safe driving wouldn't even be an option—especially when the other driver was a woman.
Hagoromo had said enough.
For the four before him, pressure crashed down instantly—heavy and suffocating.
Fighting Hagoromo now would be a terrible idea.
That much was instinctively clear.
"Mizukage-sama," Ao asked quietly,
"do we engage?"
"..."
Hagoromo had his considerations—but he never acted without confidence.
As Mizukage, Mei had far more to consider. Responsibility was inseparable from her position.
"No."
So she, too, would not act without certainty.
"Kirigakure and Konoha are currently at peace," Mei said firmly.
"Whatever you intended to do with the Three-Tails has already failed, since it's dead. We can set that matter aside for now."
"I also hope that peace will continue."
"But—you must leave the Land of Water immediately."
That was diplomacy.
The truth was simpler.
She had realized something just now—
Against Hagoromo, home-field advantage didn't exist.
Four versus one—did that guarantee victory?
The aggression hidden beneath Hagoromo's calm exterior was chilling.
If she were confident of victory, the word peace wouldn't even have been spoken.
Ninja of different villages were enemies by default. Without the burden of the title Mizukage, Mei might have fought him freely.
But Mei could die.
The Mizukage could not.
The death of one or two ninja wouldn't start a war—even if one of them was Hagoromo.
But the problem was—
This man was extremely difficult to kill.
"Then that's for the best," Hagoromo said.
"Though… it's a shame."
His sentence trailed off.
A shame that his new technique couldn't be tested here after all.
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