Yes, the Hokage

He glanced at the photos of several water features above his desk, sighed, and then grabbed the scroll he had already packed up without hesitation, heading straight for the new waterway.

But Yagura didn't even run out of the office window...

"Boom—!"

A series of bird-shaped bombs exploded directly outside the Hokage's office window. The enormous impact sent Yagura flying backward, crashing heavily onto his desk and smashing it to pieces.

At the same time, the ceiling suddenly shattered, and countless black tentacles surged in, tightly binding his body. Scorpion also shot out a large number of poisonous hidden weapons, all of which hit Yagura.

Yagura screamed in agony after being afflicted by the Earth Grudge and the deadly poison. Without hesitation, he activated his Tailed Beast Transformation, transforming into a giant Three-Tails. He attempted to escape by turning into a rolling wheel again, but at that moment, an incredibly fierce laser beam, far more powerful than before, suddenly shot out, turning the entire Mizukage's office into ashes.

The exploding bird bombs were not only used to injure the enemy, but also provided Nagato with location coordinates. At this moment, a red-haired boy with dark purple eyes rode on the summoning beast rhinoceros and sped over, his voice as cold as iron.

"It's time for you to fall here, Three-Tails!"

Although he took a solid hit, Yagura's tailed beast transformation was finally complete. Rough tortoise shell patterns formed on his body, shattering the black tentacles that bound him. The toxins in his body were still taking effect, but as a perfect Jinchuriki, Isobu's will could assist him in the battle, so there wouldn't be any problems for a while.

"Looks like Plan One failed, and he still managed to transform successfully." Scorpion manipulated two ordinary human puppets, making three in total including himself. "Next, should we go for Plan Two and just go all out against this big guy?"

Although he said that, his gaze was not entirely fixed on Yagura; he was also observing the positions of Kakuzu and Bakuto.

Kakuzu took a small half-step back and stood to Sasori's left rear, his black tentacles slowly swirling around his shoulder. He didn't even summon his Earth Grudge Mask, clearly not wanting to lose even a single heart.

Bakuto, perched on the back of the exploding bird, hovered high in the sky. He was even more comfortable there, since even if Yagura launched an attack, his primary target wouldn't be him.

Nagato's eyes narrowed slightly. He knew that these three cunning guys would only add insult to injury. It was impossible to expect them to fight as desperately as he did to kill Yagura. And now, the tailed beast-transformed enemy clearly had only one goal: to escape.

Therefore... we have to go all out.

He raised the cannon barrel again, but was momentarily distracted by observing his "good teammates," while Yagura had already made his move.

The three tails slammed down simultaneously, not targeting Nagato, but covering the entire ruins area. Bakuto immediately increased his height to dodge, and Kakuzu and Sasori also dodged at the same time. Although they launched attacks to retaliate while hiding, given the Three-Tails' current shell hardness, the latter two's attacks were completely ineffective. Only Bakuto's bombs, which had the ability to act independently and specifically targeted the Three-Tails' weak point, caused a small impact.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Nagato's second laser cannon roared in. Its enormous size made it impossible for Yagura to dodge. A sharp explosion rang out, and a wound was blasted open on the huge tortoise shell. Blood rain mixed with the smell of gunpowder dripped down.

Is this the true power of the Rinnegan...?

All three of them focused their gazes. As Nagato's mastery of the Rinnegan became more and more refined, his various abilities were also greatly enhanced. This shot would have been almost impossible to break through his defenses when he first arrived in Kirigakure.

Seeing that the attack was effective, the giant rhinoceros charged forward headfirst, its sharp horn slamming into the belly of the three-tailed beast with tremendous force. Although the three-tailed beast roared and slammed its tail into the beast, the summoned beasts summoned by the Rinnegan would not truly die. Give it some time, and it could be summoned again in no time.

Kakuzu and Sasori, not wanting to completely slack off, each unleashed their full power, bombarding the Three-Tails' vulnerable abdomen. Bakuto, living up to his reputation as Deidara's master, deliberately targeted the opponent's eyes with his bombs, striking while the iron was hot.

"Roar--!"

The three-tailed creature let out a huge hiss and its body suddenly curled up. It was about to use its escape technique, Rolling Wheel, again. The three lazy old men who were slacking off immediately stopped when they saw this. None of them wanted to be hit and run over by this great luck.

But at that moment, two figures rushed in from the direction of the village entrance. Seeing that the Three-Tails was trying to run away, Mei Terumi twisted her slender waist, and the orange-yellow acid exploded directly at the window on the Three-Tails' back, making a piercing sizzling sound. Flesh and bones were melting at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Pakula unleashed over a dozen fireballs in quick succession, employing the Prince's Battle Technique. Combined with Mei Terumi's full-force attack, they were actually blasted to the ground by the curled-up Three-Tails.

As we all know, turtles have a hard time getting up on their own after their shells have been flipped over. Yagura felt a dizzying sensation and was about to use his tail to propel himself up when he saw Nagato leap up and appear above him.

Facing the relatively weak abdomen of the three-tailed beast, he spread his arms wide, striking a pose reminiscent of Brother Chao carrying a bag of rice up several flights of stairs, gathering his strength slightly, and then...

"Shinra Tensei—!"

Chapter 168 The Death of Yagura

The immense repulsive force exploded at extremely close range, causing the three-tailed fox's abdomen to cave inward, its bones to shatter, and blood and flesh to splatter. Several layers of defense were simultaneously pierced by this attack.

Yagura's consciousness blurred for a moment during the impact. He felt Isobu's chakra being forcibly stripped away, as if something was breaking the connection between him and the tailed beast one by one inside his body.

At the same time, more attacks rained down on him. He could no longer see who was attacking him, but he knew he had lost.

The Three-Tails' chakra was dissipating, and Yagura's body was detaching from the Tailed Beast form. He collapsed in the ruins of the Mizukage Building, breathing rapidly. The wound on his chest, pierced by the laser cannon, was bleeding, and the poison was spreading. His eyes were not yet completely unfocused, but he was not far from that state.

"Is it... over...?"

Blood began to flow into his eyes, blurring his vision. Yagura lay on the ground, a bitter smile on his face: "The Blood Mist Village that all the Mizukage have upheld... has been destroyed by my own hand. So be it, the future of Kirigakure is now in your hands, the Fifth Mizukage."

As he spoke, he tossed the scrolls containing the money and resources he had prepared in advance for his comeback to Mei Terumi.

"I will not become the Fifth Mizukage." Mei Terumi caught the scroll and said calmly, "The Fifth Mizukage is Kisame Hoshigaki, but you... must die here."

Her earlier words were in response to Yagura, but her subsequent words were meant for Pakura to hear, to show that she was not making any more moves and was obediently following Fenglan's instructions to prevent the resistance from being further suppressed.

At this moment, Bakuto, high in the sky, narrowed his eyes slightly. This was a great opportunity. Yagura was powerless to resist but was still alive. If he could bring him back to the village, Iwagakure would have one more Jinchūriki.

At the moment, no one else seemed to have noticed him. With his top speed, which gave him an aerial advantage, it would only take him three seconds to go in and out. As long as he grabbed the person and quickly took off, he could avoid most of the attacks.

As for the most troublesome Rinnegan ability, especially the gravitational repulsion which has a cooldown, Kakashi learned this information after fighting Pain once, and Bakuto fought alongside Nagato for nearly two months, so there's no reason he wouldn't have noticed it.

His intelligence was even more detailed: if the opponent used a strong gravitational repulsion overclocking output, the cooldown time would exceed five seconds, and the stronger the overclocking power, the longer the cooldown time.

Although the attack I just gave the Three-Tails wasn't as exaggerated as the Shinra attack that destroyed Konoha, it was still enough to severely injure a tailed beast in one blow. It was definitely not an ordinary Shinra. I estimate the cooldown time is around ten seconds, so I have a great chance!

His hand was already on the clay bomb in his pocket, ready to create an explosion as cover, but just as the clay bomb was about to launch a surprise attack, a chilling aura suddenly came from behind him.

His pupils suddenly contracted, and he felt the hairs on his neck stand up. He stiffly and slowly turned around, only to see a person who hadn't been there before standing at the tail of the flying bird bomb.

Obito Uchiha appeared behind Bakuto at some point, without saying a word or making a move, but his bright red Sharingan had already locked onto Bakuto's location.

【when?!】

Bao Tu broke out in a cold sweat. He hadn't even noticed the other person's presence before the other party deliberately revealed his killing intent. In other words, if the other party had actually made a move, he would have been killed.

He hesitated for a few seconds, put the bomb back in its place, and even slowly raised his hands to show that he had no hostile intentions. Then, after Obito did not make any further statement, he lowered the Asuka bomb and it landed on the ground.

This is undoubtedly a way of showing that she won't act recklessly and to discourage the other party from acting impulsively.

Then Obito's figure flickered and disappeared from Bakuto's sight. What terrified him the most was that he still couldn't sense any trace of the other party's presence.

[This guy... will definitely become a major threat to Iwagakure.] Bakuto pretended to be nonchalant, but in his heart he had already decided to send a secret message to Onoki as soon as he had the chance, telling him to pay more attention to this rising star.

The air returned to calm, leaving only the shattered stone slabs, the spreading mist, the still-burning embers, and the dying Yagura.

“If he has no other use, I want to give him a quick death.” Nagato flicked his arm, summoning a black chakra rod, and looked at Pakula.

“Hmm.” Pakula nodded.

After obtaining the other party's consent, Nagato flicked his wrist, and the black chakra rod pierced directly through Yagura's heart, taking the life of the Fourth Mizukage.

"Is it over...?" Obito reappeared beside Pakura without anyone noticing.

"No." But the people who had been fighting for a long time in the Land of Water did not relax. "The ninjas from the Village of Blood Mist will never surrender or run away. We cannot be considered victorious until we kill them all."

"I see." Obito frowned. "Then good luck to you guys."

After speaking, he vanished into thin air once again, but everyone knew he was secretly protecting Pakula.

【Lord Fenglan...】

Pakula felt a warmth in his heart again, then his face turned cold once more: "Then, everyone, let's wipe out the Blood Mist Village!"

The bloody battle lasted all night, only ending when the sun rose. The sunlight dispelled the fog surrounding the village, but Kirigakure remained shrouded in a gray haze—the thick layer of blood, almost covering the entire floor, was visible to everyone, giving the impression that the village was still enveloped in a blood mist.

"The war is over..." Kisame glanced at the thick layer of blood and sighed, "But our battle for Kirigakure has only just begun."

“That’s right.” Mei Terumi said calmly, “Time is running out, so let’s take this opportunity to explain all the key things. Ao, come with me.”

Qing's gaze dimmed, and she said in a low voice, "Yes."

Kisame gripped Samehada tightly, but ultimately said nothing.

Instead, Pakula turned her head and glanced at Mei Terumi a few more times: "Then, I must report the victory to Lady Fenglan."

She quickly completed the detailed and meticulous secret report, carefully tied it to the leg of the ninja hawk, and gently tossed it into the air: "Fly, bring everything about Kirigakure to Lord Fenglan!"

……

A day later, Feng Lan, sitting in the advisor's office, took the secret letter from the ninja hawk's leg, read it carefully, and immediately got up and walked towards the Hokage's office: "Minato, the situation in Kirigakure has been settled. It's time for us to set off."

He was so eager to set off. Recently, encouraged by Kushina and Mikoto Uchiha, Momo Uchiha's advances became increasingly exaggerated. She would try to jump on him all the time. If it weren't for his sensory abilities and the Flying Thunder God Technique, he might have actually been hugged by her.

Although Feng Lan didn't know that the other party's goal wasn't simply to hug him but to pounce on him, it didn't stop him from wanting to make a million-dollar escape. Now that things were clear in Kirigakure, he couldn't wait to leave.

“Yes, it’s definitely time to make that trip.” Minato looked through the letters and nodded. “Let’s set off first thing tomorrow morning.”

"Well, when we're not in the village, we'll leave the office matters to Shikaku. The Third Hokage shouldn't cause any trouble before I hand over the reins to Orochimaru. The main concern is Kushina..."

Feng Lan blurted out, showing that he had already started thinking about going to Kirigakure: "Although Black Zetsu can't cause any trouble in the short term, if you're not by her side and Obito is in Kirigakure, we still need to strengthen our daily protection."

"The entire Hokage Guard is necessary, and it would be best if a Kage-level shinobi accompanied them. I'll go and talk to Lady Tsunade about it later."

“Although you’re concerned about Kushina, it’s not good for me to make sarcastic remarks, but…” Minato gave a wry smile, “Isn’t that a bit too much?”

“It’s not an exaggeration at all,” Feng Lan said decisively. “Kushina is not only the Hokage’s wife, but also the Nine-Tails’ Jinchuriki. Moreover, Fuya has now been officially adopted. If the enemy successfully infiltrates, they could very well wipe them both out, and even the newborn Naruto wouldn’t be spared. So I even think that one Kage-level fighter isn’t quite enough. It would be best to add Jiraiya-sama as well…”

"You're always so cautious," Minato said with a wry smile.

“That’s your wife, so you can’t be too careful. But since the village has a lot of manpower, we don’t need to guard the Hidden Mist Village.” Feng Lan said calmly, “It’s just you and me. The two of us are enough. Even if the Hidden Mist Village does something strange, we can use the Flying Thunder God Technique and Obito has Kamui. We can definitely escape if we want to.”

"Your subordinates have already taken care of everything, so there won't be any problems." Minato was relatively optimistic, and his strength supported his optimism about many things.

"Yes, to be honest, Pakula's performance has indeed exceeded my expectations. Her growth rate is extremely fast, and she can already stand on her own as a chess player." Feng Lan smiled. "With a little more training, becoming a Kazekage in the future is not a problem."

"You're really planning to do this?" Minato had overheard Fenglan and Pakura's conversation, but he hadn't expected them to keep pushing things forward.

"Whether I really intend to take this step depends on Pakura's final positioning. Now that she has shown good potential, I naturally want to nurture her further." Feng Lan chuckled. "However, Sunagakure is different from Kirigakure. We can only proceed gradually. You don't need to worry about it for now. Tonight, you should go home and spend time with Kushina."

"Speaking of which, how about Kushina and I, plus you and Momo Uchiha, have a duo date? I saw that restaurant next to the Akimichi family's house... Hey, hey? Why did you run away with the Flying Thunder God Technique?!"

Chapter 169 Zhishui Returns to the Team

Soon, a powerful message swept across the entire ninja world, even more explosive than the sudden attack on Konoha by mysterious aerial ninjas, attracting the attention of all forces, large and small.

That is, Kirigakure has quietly changed its Mizukage. The newly appointed Fifth Mizukage has publicly stated that he will abolish the Blood Mist Village policy. From now on, Kirigakure will no longer be closed off, but will actively engage in friendly exchanges with various countries. The first country invited to visit Kirigakure was Konoha.

Actually, saying it happened without a sound isn't quite accurate. The smaller countries might not know the specifics yet, but Kumogakure, Iwagakure, and Sunagakure already knew that within the Land of Water, the Fourth Mizukage, Yagura, was locked in a fierce battle with the rebels. However, according to their estimates, even if Yagura held Kirigakure to the death, he could hold out for a year or two. How could it just disappear like that?

It's not fair to blame their intelligence for being inadequate. In fact, even Yagura himself didn't expect that the village's barrier would fail to provide any warning, allowing three Kage-level figures to get right up to the Mizukage Building. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been taken down so quickly.

Ultimately, it all comes down to Shenwei Taiyin.

Because the change of Mizukage was so sudden, even Onoki, who dispatched Bakuto, was unable to react in time. During this period, Bakuto was closely watched by Obito and had no chance to contact the village.

Meanwhile, on Konoha's side, thanks to Pakura's advance notice, Kaze and Minato were already halfway there when Kisame invited them to visit.

However, at Fenglan's suggestion, the two did not head straight for Kirigakure, but instead took a detour to Takumi-nin Village.

"Master Yondaime! Master Fenglan!"

Shisui's reaction was quite interesting; he was as excited as a prisoner being visited. During this time, he had been guarding Orochimaru in Takumi Village and knew nothing about the affairs of the village, which must have been incredibly boring for him.

"Hey, you've been working hard lately." Feng Lan waved with a smile. "How have you been these days? Have you been eating and sleeping well? Orochimaru hasn't been causing any trouble, has he?"

"To be honest, it's quite leisurely, so leisurely that I feel like I'm on vacation." Shisui smiled wryly. "There's not much to do every day, so I can only practice the Eight Gates to pass the time. Orochimaru has been quite obedient and successfully injected me with Wood Release cells... not as many as Obito, but enough to alleviate the side effects of the Mangekyou Sharingan."

"That's good. This level of Wood Release cells is enough for you. You're not the kind of ninja who charges into battle like Obito." Feng Lan patted his shoulder. "However, your 'vacation' is over. I came here to see the new scientific research results of Takumi Village and to take you and Orochimaru away."

After all, he had already made an agreement with the Third Hokage. There was still more than a month left. He would take Orochimaru to Kirigakure, publicly dispel the Impure World Reincarnation, and then bring him back to the Third Hokage. That would complete the deal.

"Really!" Shisui's eyes lit up, and even though he was usually calm, he couldn't help but show his excitement.

"Okay, you should go pack your things. I have something to discuss with these people."

"Yes!" Shisui bowed excitedly to Fenglan and Minato, then immediately set off back to his temporary room.

At this moment, Feng Lan turned around. He was standing next to Shui Men, while Shui Men was sitting at the table, opposite the Four Heavenly Elephants.

"Fourth Hokage..." Upon seeing Minato's arrival in person, the Four Celestial Beings were clearly even more nervous. "The ninja tools that Lord Fenglan requested have been prepared."

Then the tallest of them, Shuihu, came over and placed a ninja umbrella on the table with both hands.

"Hmm..." Feng Lan picked it up and swung it around, finding it even heavier than the previous one. "You guys successfully added the iron sand?"

"That's right. Although iron sand is incompatible with most metals, according to our research, it can..."

"Stop, stop. I'm not interested in all that technology stuff. It's too complicated and makes me sleepy. Let's just try it out." With that, Feng Lan carried the ninja umbrella straight to the only training ground in Takumi Ninja Village.

Although it is a new ninja tool, it actually has the additional function of manipulating iron sand compared to the old ninja umbrella. Feng Lan had already mastered the abilities of the ninja umbrella during his previous free time, so testing it now was naturally smooth and effortless.

"Not bad, not bad." After the test, Feng Lan was quite satisfied. "Since you have fulfilled my requirements, I will return this to you."

He took out the scroll containing the Peacock Twin Swords from his bosom and tossed it over. The Treasure Turtle, as the leader, caught it, summoned the twin swords from it, examined them carefully, and then handed them to the Peacock.

"Finally back." Peacock breathed a sigh of relief as he picked up the two swords. These two swords were not just simple ninja tools, but also necessary materials for reviving the progenitor, Lord Seimei.

Now that everything has returned, the Four Elephant Men's ambitions have naturally resurfaced, but after glancing at Minato, they ultimately dared not speak.

The reasoning is quite simple. Fenglan promised them the Nine-Tails' chakra, and the Nine-Tails' jinchūriki is Minato's wife. You're trying to drool over someone else's wife's chakra in front of your husband, like you want to play with a minotaur, right? You'd probably get a hundred Rasengans slapped in the face by Pure Love Flash in no time.

Feng Lan knew exactly what these people were thinking, and had already prepared: "Besides, considering your recent good performance, you can have this to study."