Several years ago, when the Six-Tails and Three-Tails rampaged simultaneously, the Third Mizukage exhausted his strength to reseal the Six-Tails, leaving him with no energy to deal with the Three-Tails. As a result, not only was there no Three-Tails Jinchuriki at present, but they couldn't even manage to reseal the Three-Tails into a special container.
After gaining its "freedom," the Three-Tails had remained hidden in a deep lake somewhere within the Land of Water.
Kirigakure took no further action regarding this escaped "weapon of war" other than keeping it under surveillance.
It wasn't that they didn't want to do anything, but rather that they couldn't. The risk of recapturing the Three-Tails was too high. What if they lost another Mizukage in the process? The Land of Water didn't have an endless supply of talented ninjas waiting in the wings to replace them.
The Fourth Mizukage was still very young and in a period of rapid power growth. Making a move on the Three-Tails right now was unwise. It was a far better strategy to wait until the Mizukage's strength had grown over time before attempting to reclaim it.
However, uninvited guests with designs on Tailed Beasts will always exist. Even one dragging two children along posed no less of a threat.
On their way to "observe" the Three-Tails, Mirai suddenly stopped in her tracks.
"A special chakra... I found another one!"
Saying this, Mirai pointed in a certain direction.
With a rough estimation, Hagoromo realized the direction Mirai was pointing toward was actually the Hidden Mist Village itself.
"Ahem, Mirai, that one over there... how should I put this... isn't quite suitable," Hagoromo said.
He wanted to find Mirai young, impressionable girls who would listen to her, not older women whose mindsets were already set in stone. If they couldn't be molded, what was the point of snatching them?
When choosing teammates, aside from strength, they should at least be around the same age. You couldn't just grab any ninja just because they had a Kekkei Genkai or a special talent.
Therefore, Hagoromo wasn't about to go kidnap Mei Terumi to be Mirai's nanny. The Fourth Mizukage... was a hard pass.
A Kage-level chakra reserve with a dual Kekkei Genkai, shining in Mirai's perception, was probably as bright and obvious as Mio Akiyama hiding among a crowd of five hundred ugly crossdressers. Hagoromo naturally assumed she was pointing at such a massive target.
And in fact, he was right.
"Why not?"
Mirai didn't understand. She thought the person she sensed was another kid like Haku.
No matter how strong her sensory abilities were, Mirai couldn't accurately discern the target's gender, age, or measurements—only the Byakugan could do that.
"Over there should be Kirigakure. The person you're sensing is likely their village chief, who is also the country's Minister of Defense and supreme military commander. She won't willingly come with us unless we break her legs," Hagoromo elaborated.
After all, that wasn't a species of creature you could just take home on a whim. In terms of status, she was far more prestigious than Hagoromo; the title of Mizukage could easily outrank the White Yaksha.
Break her legs... Mirai couldn't bring herself to say such brutal words, so she chose to accept Hagoromo's explanation.
Silently following behind them, Haku was deeply alarmed by Hagoromo's words. Although he was only seven years old, he had lived and wandered in the Land of Water. He knew exactly what level of existence a Mizukage was. So what was this man doing contemplating breaking her legs?!
Break her legs and take her home? Can you really just kidnap people like that?
"Then what about this one over here?"
Having given up on the mature woman, Mirai adjusted her finger slightly, pointing in another direction.
"Near that most obvious chakra signature just now, there were some other special ones... But this one here is also very clear, and the people around him..."
Mirai hadn't quite figured out how to describe the "people around him." In her perception, they felt ordinary, yet somewhat unordinary. They were special, but not that special.
Some Kekkei Genkai ultimately needed to be awakened. While some might be born able to use this special power, others might never achieve it in their entire lives, even though they belonged to the exact same clan.
What Mirai was sensing was likely that "unawakened" state.
"What place is over there?" Hagoromo didn't know the area, so he asked Haku.
Haku decisively shook his head.
He naturally didn't know either. Regardless of the exact spot, the direction Mirai pointed was still close to Kirigakure. Given Haku's situation, he would run as far away from Kirigakure as possible; why would he actively seek out what was over there?
"Should we go take a look?"
Hagoromo was a bit hesitant. What if it was another old bloodline ninja? This group rejected anyone over the age of ten; they were only accepting highly malleable children.
But they might as well go take a look. He wasn't in a hurry anyway, and this was just an improvised plan. If they couldn't find anyone in the Land of Water, they could just go to the Land of Wind or something. As for Konoha... heh, could he, Kamishiro Hagoromo, just arbitrarily arrange things for Konoha ninjas? Even the most ordinary civilian ones?
The direction Mirai pointed towards was predictably the settlement of the Kaguya clan.
Although this clan nominally fell under the jurisdiction of the Mizukage, they had never lived within Kirigakure, forming a separate entity entirely... This was exactly why historical accounts would describe "the Kaguya clan attacking the Hidden Mist Village," rather than simply calling it a rebellion.
The root cause of this unique situation was the pervasive hatred towards Kekkei Genkai in the country. The village couldn't provide the Kaguya clan with a sense of security, so they preferred to live apart. For the Mizukage, letting ninjas who couldn't integrate into the village stay on their own was perhaps the most viable option.
"The war has ended now, and the new Mizukage has already begun implementing proactive policies towards us. Is the strategy we formulated years ago truly still necessary?"
"You're too naive. That's merely pacification and appeasement."
"Ultimately, the entire village and the Land of Water's attitude towards Kekkei Genkai isn't something the Mizukage can decide alone. On the contrary, she will eventually be swayed by that very attitude."
"But the Mizukage is genuinely trying to improve our situation."
"Her efforts are futile. They mean nothing."
"Exactly. If forced to choose between Kirigakure and the Kaguya clan, how could she possibly side with us?"
"In the end, everyone, including the Kage, is just looking down on us from above..."
"But we possess no power to fight against the village. Our 'weapon' still needs to grow."
The Kaguya clan seemed to be holding some sort of meeting. To rebel or to continue submitting? On such a monumental decision concerning the life and death of the entire clan, everyone's opinions constantly wavered. No matter how many discussions they held, no one could convince anyone else. Apprehensions always remained.
Thus, the discussions were meaningless, yet endless.
Did Kirigakure have no surveillance on the Kaguya clan? Impossible.
Hagoromo withdrew his listening ears and walked in a certain direction with Mirai... Haku was left outside, but Hagoromo needed Mirai to guide the way.
Tonight, the Kaguya clan would lose the "weapon" they relied upon and waited for to grow.
Or rather, could this be considered doing Kirigakure a favor? Without their fangs, the Kaguya clan would probably behave a bit better.
Treating "talent" as a weapon and locking it away—everyone knows this is an unacceptable attitude. But sometimes, the power a person possesses at a young age can make even their own clansmen feel absolute terror.
If they didn't imprison him from a young age, how could the Kaguya clan control him when he grew up? Especially when not a single person was his match.
When the weak wish to dominate the strong, they can only "manipulate" them from childhood.
Kimimaro Kaguya belonged exactly to this category of terrifying individuals. In terms of age, he was the same as Haku, but his abilities had already been thoroughly demonstrated.
Using the highly renowned combat-type Konoha ninja, Kakashi Hatake, as a unit of measurement for combat power, by the time Kimimaro was fifteen, he was roughly equivalent to 0.8841 Kakashis. In terms of strength and capability, he was indeed very powerful, and possessed the potential to coordinate with Orochimaru and jointly assassinate the Kazekage.
However, in this story, he would probably never encounter such an event again.