[Activation successful!]
Ebizo's efficiency was extremely high.
By the next day, shinobi had already been sent toward the Land of Water, prepared to spread the rumor.
Kirigakure.
Yagura Karatachi looked at the intelligence in his hand, and a regretful expression appeared on his face.
"What a pity!"
The intelligence concerned the tournament between Sunagakure, Iwagakure, and Konoha.
What Yagura found regrettable was that the three shinobi villages had not fought because of that conflict.
If the three villages had truly started fighting and a large-scale war had broken out, Yagura would have been very pleased.
In that case, Kirigakure might have been able to find an opportunity.
An opportunity to profit from the chaos.
But the three villages had no intention of fighting at all.
They had merely arranged a tournament between young shinobi.
They had given no opening to other shinobi villages.
And they had even helped the young shinobi of their three villages make a name for themselves.
Kakashi, Konoha's genius shinobi.
Asuma, son of the Hokage.
Might Guy, the pinnacle of taijutsu.
Akatsuchi, firm as stone.
Gari, the explosion expert.
Bunya, steady as earth.
Kisame Hoshigaki, the ninjutsu killer.
Maki, the child of wind.
Hyena, the genius puppet master.
Among these nine names, Kisame Hoshigaki and Hyena were especially glaring to Yagura.
One had originally been a shinobi of Kirigakure.
Now, he was fighting for Sunagakure.
"Kisame Hoshigaki. As someone from Kirigakure, even if the village sold you out, it was still a choice we had no choice but to make. Sunagakure deliberately named you."
"Everything was for the village."
"But now you fight for Sunagakure instead. That is truly improper. You have betrayed the village!"
"An unforgivable crime!"
Anger appeared in Yagura's eyes.
"Before this, I didn't know why Sunagakure specifically demanded Kisame Hoshigaki by name. But now, it seems they already knew his potential?"
"They wanted to take Kisame Hoshigaki for themselves?"
"If that's the case, were those claims that I targeted the Hoshigaki clan also manipulated by Sunagakure?"
"But Kisame Hoshigaki's chakra absorption technique is actually that strong? Strong enough to render the ninjutsu used by Akatsuchi, the Tsuchikage's disciple, ineffective?"
"Why did he perform so ordinarily on the battlefield before?"
Yagura frowned.
"Could it be that Kisame Hoshigaki wasn't fighting seriously before?"
"When fighting for Kirigakure, he hid his strength and slacked off."
"When fighting for Sunagakure, he gave everything?"
Yagura felt intense dissatisfaction toward Kisame Hoshigaki, and even toward the Hoshigaki clan as a whole.
After that, Yagura's gaze shifted toward Hyena.
Yagura did not care about Hyena himself.
What he cared about were the two puppets Hyena had used.
They had been made from the corpses of Akebino Jinin and Kuriarare Kushimaru.
"Playing with corpses! Turning Kirigakure's Seven Ninja Swordsmen into puppets… Sunagakure is disgusting!"
"Such behavior is shameful."
"They are bullying Kirigakure too far!"
"When there is a chance, I will definitely take revenge on Sunagakure and make them pay the price."
"And Raiga Kurosuki and Hozuki Unmu may also have been turned into puppets by Sunagakure."
Yagura's expression was ugly.
"Elder Harusame is far too uncooperative. For the sake of that so-called disciple of his, he keeps refusing to let me act and insists that I give him more time to find a perfect method of extracting a Tailed Beast."
"But such a method does not exist."
"I cannot keep waiting."
"Kirigakure cannot wait either."
At that moment, a figure rushed into the Mizukage Building.
"Mizukage-sama, something terrible has happened!"
"What is it?"
"A rumor has appeared within the Land of Water. It is related to you, Mizukage-sama."
Yagura frowned.
"What rumor?"
The shinobi below quickly answered.
"Reporting to Mizukage-sama. The rumor says that the Seven Ninja Swordsmen were all framed by you, Mizukage-sama. It says Fuguki Suikazan was falsely accused by you."
"It says Akebino Jinin and the other three were betrayed and framed by you, that you deliberately designed a trap, secretly passed information to Sunagakure, and cut off their support."
"It also says Sunagakure originally wrote only Elder Genji and Jinpachi Munashi's names on the list, and that you, Mizukage-sama, were the one who added the others."
In an instant, Yagura was enraged.
"Who?"
"Who is spouting such nonsense?"
"This is too much!"
"Slander! This is pure slander!"
Yagura was furious.
"Sunagakure! It must be Sunagakure!"
"They're the ones who love doing things like this! Bewitching people with lies, killing without spilling blood through rumors."
"If they are dissatisfied with Kirigakure, fine. But using such despicable methods to stain my reputation is unforgivable!"
"I have worked tirelessly for the village and dedicated everything to it."
"What does the matter of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen have to do with me?"
Yagura was beyond angry.
Things had already been going badly.
Yagura had not agreed with Elder Genji's proposal at first, but Genji insisted on it. In order to make Genji willingly die and satisfy Sunagakure's conditions, Yagura had not stopped him.
But he had never expected Genji's self-destruction to fail to cause much damage to Sunagakure.
Instead, it had made Kirigakure's situation even more difficult.
It had harmed Kirigakure.
As for the hundreds of Sunagakure casualties Sunagakure claimed, Yagura knew very well that they were fake.
Those were all numbers fabricated by Sunagakure.
There was also the serialization of One Piece.
Yagura was one hundred percent certain that Sunagakure was using that story to allude to Kirigakure and the Land of Water, using words to stir conflict between the Land of Water and Kirigakure.
Because of it, a large number of sailing fleets had appeared near the Land of Water's borders in a short period of time.
The Land of Water's daimyo was overwhelmed.
And all the daimyo could do was blame Yagura, the Mizukage.
But Yagura was just as overwhelmed.
Fuguki Suikazan and Jinpachi Munashi had seized the opportunity and created the Samehada Sailing Fleet and the Blast Sword Sailing Fleet.
In a very short time, they had attracted large numbers of people to join them.
Among them were even certain active Kirigakure shinobi.
Those Kirigakure shinobi had already been dissatisfied with the village. After hearing news of Fuguki Suikazan and Jinpachi Munashi, they immediately left the village and joined the two of them.
Yagura walked out of the Mizukage Building, wanting to see what kind of influence the rumor had caused inside Kirigakure.
The moment he reached the bottom floor, he heard it.
"The Seven Ninja Swordsmen are the true orthodoxy of Kirigakure!"
Yagura's expression stiffened sharply.
He turned and saw two young figures arguing.
The two also saw Yagura.
Their faces changed dramatically.
They did not even call out Mizukage-sama. They immediately ran in the other direction, terrified that Yagura would remember their faces and make trouble for them later.
"I have done so much for the village. I have given so much."
"And now, they're still thinking about the Seven Ninja Swordsmen."
"If the Seven Ninja Swordsmen were truly useful, Kirigakure would never have lost!"