In the Land of Water, Jiraiya watched in disappointment as the suspicious figure vanished without a trace. He had hoped that tracking them here would finally lead to a breakthrough, but to his frustration, they still managed to escape.
"A space-based jutsu? That really is an exasperating technique..."
Jiraiya, an expert in Summoning techniques, naturally knew just how troublesome Space–Time Ninjutsu could be. Unexpectedness during battle was only one aspect; more importantly, it caused complications beyond the battlefield—difficulty tracking their movements and maintaining control over the current state of affairs. When combined with a brilliant mind, even the strongest individuals could be easily manipulated like puppets.
Since arriving in the Land of Water several days ago, Jiraiya had navigated freely throughout this water-rich country using the Hiding in a Toad Technique. Being able to enter any location with ease made him feel completely at home. No phrase could better capture how much he was in his element during this time while gathering intelligence.
Within the isolated Land of Water, Mist—the military backbone of the country—had been enforcing cruel and bloody ninja selection policies for many years. In such an environment, despite lacking numerical or resource advantages, Mist managed to surpass Sunagakure in overall military strength through its ruthless elimination practices. Their edge especially showed in individual strength and in the essential ninja skills of stealth and assassination. Mist specialized in the Assassination Technique, which made most ninja across the ninja world reluctant to interact with Mist shinobi. Additionally, since the Land of Water lay far from the mainland separated by ocean, Mist remained even more isolated and mysterious. Even worse were the internal conflicts, particularly the hatred and exclusion directed at ninja possessing Kekkei Genkai for various reasons, effectively preventing Mist's military strength from projecting onto the mainland, limiting its influence over the broader ninja world.
All these factors contributed to Mist's relatively minor role in the ninja world compared to even the weakest among the Five Great Ninja Villages, Sand, and they lagged behind lower-tier villages like Takigakure and Amegakure. Especially after Yagura, the Fourth Mizukage, took power, unexpectedly intensifying the brutality of Mist's ninja selection system, further spreading the village's infamous "blood mist country" reputation across the ninja world. Once a talented and cheerful young man rumored capable of fully controlling the Three-Tails, Yagura surprisingly enacted bloodier policies than even those of the Third Mizukage shortly after becoming Mizukage, shocking everyone.
Under his leadership, smaller ninja clans and factions throughout the Land of Water increasingly opposed Mist's governance. Assassination attempts against the Mizukage and Daimyo became routine, rebellions frequent. Yet rather than addressing this dangerous situation, Yagura escalated it further, implementing increasingly oppressive and secretive policies, turning the Land of Water into a terrifying place feared by outsiders.
At this point, Jiraiya had only just arrived in the Land of Water a few days ago when he personally witnessed the Hidden Mist Village undergoing drastic changes. A serious rebellion revealed shocking intelligence—the Fourth Mizukage, who had remained hidden behind the scenes, had actually been controlled by someone else all along. Even more tragic was that Yagura, once freed from the genjutsu, still got killed. What someone did doesn't just disappear just because they were tricked or made a mistake. Feeling deep guilt yet offering little resistance, Yagura was slain by the enraged rebels. Afterward, a fierce and fearless female ninja—Mei Terumi—was named the Fifth Mizukage. Her boldness matched even Tsunade's. Bearing two powerful Kekkei Genkai, Mei did not disappoint, immediately shouldering the heavy responsibilities of leadership as the Fifth Mizukage.
As a Konoha ninja, Jiraiya watched all this unfold helplessly. Because of who he was, he could only watch from the sidelines. For someone at his level to interfere in the rebellion among the Five Great Ninja Villages was far too sensitive, especially when it involved a leadership transition concerning a Kage.
Still, Jiraiya didn't come away empty-handed. With the aid of the Tenka Houjin barrier, Jiraiya uncovered a few key clues and pursued what little intel he had. But when facing space-based techniques, tracking efforts were practically useless.
"Uchiha Itachi, Kisame Hoshigaki, and another unknown powerful ninja with Sharingan? The Akatsuki are hiding deeply indeed. Who knew they had silently infiltrated one of the Five Great Ninja Villages..."
The intel leaked during the brief period between Yagura being freed from genjutsu and then murdered was truly staggering. Someone who could hold the upper hand and kill an opponent even after battling both Itachi Uchiha and Momochi Zabuza, before finally falling to the Mangekyo Sharingan—this loss wasn't due to weakness in battle. It wasn't that Yagura wasn't strong—it was the overwhelming might of the Mangekyo Sharingan. As for later being controlled via Obito Uchiha's Sharingan, this humiliation became unbearable—for both Yagura himself and the entire Hidden Mist Village. If Jiraiya hadn't happened to witness all this, the rebellion that changed the Mizukage's rule might've been buried and slowly faded into obscurity.
Just as Jiraiya sighed over failing again to obtain decisive intelligence, a stern-looking man dressed in dark vintage robes with an eyepatch over his right eye appeared not far behind him—Chojuro.
"Aren't you Jiraiya, one of the Legendary Sannin? Please come for a meeting—you're invited by Mizukage herself."
"Oh? Has the new Mizukage decided to change policy—to engage with outsiders now?"
Jiraiya held clear memories of this solemn-faced man—he was the one who first noticed abnormality in the Fourth Mizikage Yagura during the rebellion, and under whose assistance the genjutsu cast by Obito Uchiha was removed. His formidable power also impressed Jiraiya greatly, particularly that Byakugan hidden beneath his eyepatch.
"Our new Mizukage is a visionary and wishes to speak with Lord Jiraiya about certain matters."
"Fine." After thinking briefly, Jiraiya agreed.
Kiri wouldn't be so foolish as to harm Jiraiya at this point. There was no bad blood between them, and since Jiraiya didn't get involved in Kiri's internal affairs, Mei probably wouldn't look for trouble either. Thanks to his amazing skills and fearless attitude, even facing an entire ninja village, Jiraiya still had a great chance of escaping—especially from Kiri, one of the Five Great Ninja Villages.
...
In a secret location, Obito Uchiha met with Kisame Hoshigaki and Itachi Uchiha, who had arrived in haste.
"Why did you call us here in such a hurry?" Kisame asked in his raspy voice. "We were searching for information on other tailed beasts in the Land of Earth and just found something..."
"This can wait temporarily," Obito interrupted Kisame with a strange tone. "Actually, all of the organization's operations must be put on hold."
"Put on hold?" Itachi questioned, puzzled.
"Yes. Because the Three-Tails has perished. I originally summoned you here to assist in capturing it, but things changed too quickly—the [Genjutsu] was broken. The rebels are too strong. Plus, Jiraiya is watching from the shadows. I can't take direct action."
"If that's the case, does it mean we arrived too late?"
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