As soon as Yagura completely transformed into the Three-Tails, he was immediately subjected to a coordinated attack.
Uchiha Obito used his Sharingan genjutsu to control the consciousness of the Three-Tails.
Pain quickly followed by inserting dozens of chakra receiver rods into the Three-Tails' body.
The chakra receivers disrupted the flow of chakra between the Three-Tails and Yagura, preventing Yagura from helping the tailed beast dispel the illusion.
With Obito controlling the Three-Tails and the effect of the chakra receivers in place, Yagura was forced to exit the complete tailed beast transformation.
The moment Yagura returned to his human form, Obito immediately cast another Sharingan genjutsu on him.
Yagura's eyes took on the pattern of the Sharingan.
This was the solution Obito had devised.
Since a Jinchūriki and its tailed beast could normally cancel each other's genjutsu, Obito simply made sure both Yagura and the Three-Tails were caught in the illusion simultaneously.
Under the spell of the genjutsu, Yagura stood motionless with dull eyes.
The battle was over. Obito, Pain, and Konan stood before the entranced Yagura.
"Since you've used the Sharingan to control Yagura," Pain asked, "I assume you plan to enter Kirigakure with him, correct?"
Obito nodded. "Yes. Since we're looking for new members, we naturally need to enter Kirigakure. Let's go."
Pain looked at the genjutsu-controlled Yagura, the Fourth Mizukage of Kirigakure. "There's no need for all of us to go. With the Mizukage leading the way, you can go alone. Konan and I will not accompany you."
"Oh?" Obito replied with surprise. "Aren't you going to keep an eye on me?"
Pain gave Obito a long look. "I trust you."
Inwardly, Obito sneered.
What a liar!
Still, it was better this way if Pain and Konan weren't following him.
So Obito responded, "Since you trust me, I naturally won't betray that trust. Leave the rest to me."
Pain turned to Konan and said, "Let's go, Konan."
After watching Pain and Konan leave, Obito used Kamui to enter his time-space dimension and commanded Yagura to return to Kirigakure.
After Pain and Konan had departed...
"Nagato," Konan asked with confusion, "is it really okay to let that man go to Kirigakure alone? What if..."
Pain let out a small sneer. "Konan, there's no need to worry about the man who calls himself Uchiha Madara for now. Our immediate goals happen to align."
"His goal is the tailed beasts, and our goal is also the tailed beasts. So before we achieve our objectives, we're unlikely to have conflicts."
"Therefore, his next actions will definitely benefit both us and the Akatsuki organization. As the Akatsuki grows stronger, we'll be better positioned to capture the tailed beasts."
"We may not trust him as a person, but we can trust his current actions."
"Besides, we have our own tasks to attend to. We can't constantly follow and monitor him."
"But in the future, we should be cautious about the members he recruits for the organization."
Konan nodded. "You're right, Nagato. So what should we do next?"
Pain explained: "I've heard about a rogue ninja from Takigakure."
"During troubled times, he attempted to assassinate Hashirama Senju, the First Hokage of Konohagakure."
"Later, he rebelled against Takigakure."
"He stole a forbidden technique that the village treasured."
"Using this secret technique, he's taken the hearts of high-ranking shinobi from Takigakure and has survived to this day."
"Next, we need to recruit members we can trust. We can't let him recruit everyone. So our next target is this rogue ninja from Takigakure."
"I already have information on his whereabouts, so we can head there directly."
The rogue ninja from Takigakure that Pain was talking about was Kakuzu.
Pain and Konan left the Land of Water to recruit Kakuzu.
...
Before Yagura returned to Kirigakure, a large group of Kirigakure shinobi had already set out looking for him.
After all, the battle had been so loud that it would have been strange if Kirigakure's ninjas hadn't noticed.
"Lord Mizukage, may I ask what happened?" one of them inquired.
Yagura, controlled by Obito, replied, "It's nothing. I encountered three ninjas trying to invade Kirigakure. I've already dealt with them. Let's return to the village."
The Kirigakure shinobi looked at the devastated battlefield in the distance and exclaimed in awe, "As expected of Lord Mizukage!"
Surrounded by Kirigakure shinobi, Yagura returned to the village.
With Yagura's return to Kirigakure, the village was about to enter a period of unprecedented cruelty.
After returning to Kirigakure, the first thing Obito did was use genjutsu to control several high-ranking officials of the village.
Because Kirigakure was one of the Five Great Shinobi Villages, controlling just the Kage wasn't enough to fully master the village.
Therefore, Obito needed several of Kirigakure's senior officials to become his puppets.
But even this wasn't enough.
Obito also planned to significantly weaken Kirigakure's military strength.
The nature of Kirigakure was quite special, as many of its shinobi possessed kekkei genkai, or bloodline limits.
In this way, Kirigakure was actually similar to Konoha, as it was largely composed of shinobi with bloodline abilities.
These ninjas held considerable influence in Kirigakure.
To better control the village, these shinobi would have to be eliminated.
By removing these ninjas, most potential opposition would be neutralized. Without these kekkei genkai users, Kirigakure's strength would plummet to a low point, and no one would dare to disobey Yagura.
This would allow Obito to better control the village.
Five days after returning to Kirigakure...
Obito, controlling Yagura, called a meeting with Kirigakure's senior officials.
Originally, after the death of the Third Mizukage, the Blood Mist policy had been temporarily suspended.
Now in the conference room, the manipulated Yagura proposed restarting the Blood Mist policy.
The Blood Mist policy proposed by Yagura was even more brutal and sinister than that of the Third Mizukage.
During the meeting, Yagura claimed that shinobi with kekkei genkai were the greatest source of instability in the village. He proposed assembling ninja squads to secretly eliminate all clans with bloodline limits.
He also suggested changes to the graduation exam, making it a fight to the death. If students wanted to pass the graduation test, they would need to battle in pairs, with only the survivors passing.
Yagura's proposal to restart the Blood Mist policy was just a formality. After all, nearly half the people in the conference room were already under Obito's control.
If not for the fear of being discovered, Obito would have controlled all of them with genjutsu.
Although some officials objected, their protests were futile.
The plan to restart the Blood Mist policy was now certain.
That night, the manipulated Yagura led secretly assembled ninja squads and began purging the families with kekkei genkai.
Kirigakure's bloodiest era of the Blood Mist had officially begun.
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