Hidden Mist Village, Water Shadow Office.
"How is the personnel recall going?"
"Reporting to Lord Water Shadow, some have immediately abandoned their missions upon receiving orders and returned to the village. Some are still in the middle of their tasks and cannot leave at the moment. Others don't understand the true meaning of this order and suspect that Lord Water Shadow wants to abandon the suffering villagers, only thinking of self-preservation."
"So, currently, only about one-fifth of the personnel have been truly recalled, and the remaining two-fifths will arrive gradually within three days."
Mizukage Mei listened expressionlessly, showing no reaction.
"Hm? What about the other two-fifths?"
"Maybe… it will be a bit later."
"Or they might just refuse to come back altogether. Anyway, this country seems hopeless now. Might as well defect and go somewhere else, right?"
The ANBU ninja kneeling and reporting the situation broke out in cold sweat and hurriedly said, "Absolutely not! They just haven't realized Lord Water Shadow's good intentions for a moment."
Mizukage Mei tiredly massaged her temples but didn't bother to argue further.
Or perhaps, when she took over the Hokage's authority and issued this urgent order, she had already prepared herself mentally.
Some people are unwilling to come back, which is fine. If the Mist Hidden Village really can't hold out, perhaps some sparks can be kept alive outside.
Mei suddenly paused, puzzled as to why she felt so pessimistic.
"Could it be influenced by that bastard?"
If it weren't for that bastard constantly emphasizing that he didn't believe in Mist Hidden, she wouldn't feel such pressure.
"People say what they want, but the results are just like that."
It's been days, and that bastard hasn't appeared in Mist Hidden Village. No one knows where he went—obviously ran away.
Although Mizukage Mei had never placed hope in those unknown guys, she still felt annoyed.
It was as if her previous goal was just to be fooled into that so-called Jashin Cult, and then they'd just abandon her.
"How are the guards in each unit?"
"So far, no abnormalities have been detected."
"Good. Continue to stay vigilant. Reinforce patrols and expand the range. I want not even a water mosquito to fly in."
"Huh? But—"
"Execute the order!"
"Yes, Lord Mizukage!"
...
"What the hell is going on? Everything was fine, so why suddenly get so tense? Are the other great nations sending troops?"
"Ha, we've already gone through several Ninja World Wars—three times! Have you ever seen anyone come to attack us? It's not worth mentioning!"
"Exactly, you have a point. But since no one's attacking, why are we in a state of high alert, with all personnel on standby, and conducting 24-hour patrols?"
"You don't understand, huh? I heard from my neighbor's grandma's third grandson's older brother that this entire operation was personally planned by Lord Water Shadow. The reason is that intelligence shows those curse spirits have united and are preparing to wipe us out in one go!"
"What?! That's too ridiculous! Pfft—those weird-shaped things? And they dare to come to their deaths voluntarily?"
"Who said otherwise? They really think we can't handle them. If we had enough manpower and weren't forced to save those villagers, why would we run around every day begging for help? Now a bunch of wandering ninjas are even trembling—I spit! Honestly, I don't know what Lord Water Shadow is thinking."
"Shh, keep your voice down! Don't drag me down if you want to die."
"Why be afraid? It's not like back in the Blood Mist Village days. They probably won't kill me just for telling the truth."
Although he said that, he was clearly scared.
The other person shook his head in response, no longer chatting idly, and started serious patrols.
In their view, these curse spirits were like cockroaches running around in their own home—insignificant but impossible to ignore.
And because there were too many cockroaches, they couldn't handle them all.
To prevent their food and hygiene from being ruined, they had no choice but to ask others for help. But as a result, even the neighbors' homes suffered disasters, and no one wanted to bother.
So they ended up inviting homeless beggars into their homes to help deal with the cockroaches.
But after that, they even looked down on the homeless as dirty and treated them badly.
Finally, they suddenly heard that these cockroaches were planning to launch an attack to kill the master of this house—too ridiculous!
Chirp chirp chirp.
While patrolling, the two suddenly heard a rustling sound and immediately became alert, walking over to investigate.
"What? Just some mice."
Their expressions relaxed, and they turned to leave.
But just as they turned around, those mice's eyes suddenly glowed red, and they bared their sharp, saliva-covered teeth, lunging toward them.
"Whoa!"
"Damn mice!"
In their moment of carelessness, the mice crawling on their bodies bit them several times. Furious, they immediately drew shurikens and stabbed all the mice to death.
"I hate mice more than anything in my life!"
"Me too. What's wrong with your face?"
"Face? Now you mention it, my face feels so itchy."
Almost instantly, red rashes covered his entire face. He desperately scratched, quickly tearing his face apart.
The other person was in a similar situation, constantly wailing, soon attracting others over.
"What's wrong with them?"
"Ugh, so disgusting!"
"Are they poisoned?"
"Doesn't look like poisoning. More like some skin disease. Be careful not to get infected. I'll go call someone."
"Huh? What's that on your shoulder?"
"Mice?!"
"Ah! My nose!"
"Hahaha, a Chūnin ninja actually got his nose attacked by mice. No way, I'll tell the squad leader when I get back."
"Look behind you, mice! So many mice!"
The man turned around, eyes widening instantly.
A dark, surging wave of mice rushed toward him!
That wasn't ordinary mice—these were mutated rats harboring terrifying diseases.
No one expected that the curse spirits' attack would come so suddenly and so unexpectedly!
Even with numerous patrols, how many would care about the mice scurrying around their feet?
Suddenly, loud roars and piercing screams erupted simultaneously.
Every Mist Ninja who successfully cast their jutsu could drive away a large swarm of mice, but the problem was, these mice appeared too many, too suddenly, and too fast!
They scrambled to respond, but any bite could cause a terrifying disease to erupt within seconds, causing victims to collapse and be overwhelmed by the rat tide.
Within just a few minutes, the ten-man patrol team was wiped out!
The black tide rapidly surged toward the next location!
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