Chapter 140 - The Three-Tails Jinchūriki, Yagura Karatachi
The moment Kazane opened the final gate—the Gate of Death—streams of crimson steam erupted from his pores. His muscles visibly swelled, and his silver-white hair shot up in jagged spikes.
An overwhelming pressure burst forth from his body. Even the pebbles on the ground began to float upward, defying gravity.
Orochimaru and Tsunade's monitors began flashing erratically, their numbers changing at high speed. The two of them immediately got to work, recording the shifting data.
A full minute passed.
Then, Orochimaru signaled that it was enough.
With a slight twitch of his body, Kazane closed the Gate of Death.
He peeled off the array of sensor wires from his torso and walked over to Orochimaru.
"How was it, Orochimaru-sensei?"
Before Orochimaru could reply, Tsunade came up from behind and looped an arm around Kazane's neck in a loose chokehold.
"Congratulations, brat," she said with a grin. "With the data from this run, the Eight Gates Formation is finally complete after a full year's effort—you did it."
Kazane, feeling the… tactile elasticity pressing against his back, decided not to struggle free just yet.
"Great," he said. "Tsunade-sis, when you have time, send it over to Uncle Duy."
The newly improved Eight Gates Formation significantly reduced the physical damage after opening the Fifth Gate and beyond.
Even opening the Eighth Gate, the Gate of Death, no longer guaranteed death—so long as it was deactivated within one minute.
However, the trade-off was clear: the revised version slightly lowered the raw boost in power.
Previously, opening all Eight Gates yielded nearly a hundredfold increase in strength.
Now? About fiftyfold. Half the original.
But Kazane didn't need the revised version anymore.
Over the past year, after enduring countless cycles of heart rupture → regeneration → rupture → regeneration, his heart had become unimaginably resilient. His blood production rate had also increased dramatically.
Now, Kazane could withstand the technique's backlash with his heart alone.
As long as he didn't keep the Death Gate open for more than five minutes, the worst he'd suffer would be a few days of pallor and fatigue.
Only if he exceeded that threshold would the blood loss outpace his heart's recovery, leading to real damage.
Whoosh!
Just then, an ANBU appeared beside Kazane.
Times had changed.
Back then, performing experiments like this would've required total secrecy to avoid suspicion of human experimentation.
But now that Orochimaru was Hokage, even forbidden techniques were openly researched under ANBU guard.
At this point, who in the village dared question them?
"Lord Kazane," the ANBU said respectfully, holding out a document. "Lord Minato instructed me to deliver this intel to you."
Kazane took the paper and scanned it. A smirk crossed his lips before he handed it to Orochimaru.
There was only one line of text:
"Yagura Karatachi, the Fourth Mizukage, has become the new Three-Tails Jinchūriki."
Back before the Third Great Ninja War began, the previous Three-Tails host had died when he couldn't withstand Isobu's violent chakra. His body had torn itself apart.
At the time, Kirigakure had no suitable replacement, so they kept Isobu sealed in a lake near the village. As a result, the Three-Tails never appeared in the Third Shinobi War.
While Isobu was generally regarded as a milder tailed beast, becoming its host was still no simple feat.
First, the candidate needed an extremely rare constitution—one capable of withstanding a tailed beast's inherently malicious and overwhelming chakra.
Second, they required a complete and precise sealing technique. Without it, the beast could easily escape at any time.
A host without a proper seal wasn't a secret weapon—they were a ticking time bomb.
Third, the host needed immense willpower. They had to dominate the beast's chakra and consciousness—or risk becoming a mindless puppet.
Few in the shinobi world had ever achieved that final condition. Most tailed beasts hated being sealed and would instinctively rebel.
Yet Isobu, the Three-Tails of Kirigakure, was unique. He had never once lashed out at his hosts.
He had lived peacefully in the lake for several years now.
So… why had Yagura suddenly decided to seal Isobu inside himself?
---
Half a Month Earlier
Land of Water – Near Kirigakure
Yagura stood beside the lake, accompanied by the head of the Kirigakure ANBU (we'll just call him "ANBU Commander" from here on—his name is too long).
Dark currents swirled ominously through the water—caused by Isobu's movements below.
"Lord Mizukage, preparations are complete," a masked ANBU reported, kneeling beside him.
Yagura nodded.
"Begin."
Just as he turned to leave, the ANBU Commander voiced his concern:
"Lord Mizukage… this is too dangerous. If anything happens to you, what will become of the village?"
Yagura paused, then gave a bitter smile.
"You know how the village talks about me. They say I'm the weakest Mizukage in history. That I'm the shame of Kirigakure. Even now, many of the major clans ignore my orders. If this continues, it's only a matter of time before there's a coup."
"So why not gamble everything? If I succeed, the power balance resets—and the disobedient clans won't need to exist anymore. And if I fail… then I simply make way for the next Mizukage. It's what they want anyway."
The bitter smile faded, replaced by resolve.
He had no path but forward.
If he died here, his clan wouldn't survive the fallout.
Behind him, the ANBU Commander silently offered a prayer.
A new ruler meant new purges. If Yagura fell, the next Mizukage wouldn't spare the old regime.
But if Yagura succeeded, power in the village would be reshuffled—and his clan might even gain from it.
One should never underestimate a tailed beast's power. In every village, they remained a critical military asset—especially in places like Kirigakure and Sunagakure.
Sunagakure was a strange case. Once considered equal to Konoha, their power had dwindled mysteriously.
Most of their elite ninja had died inexplicably.
Take the Third Kazekage—praised as the strongest in the village's history. He didn't die on a battlefield. He was assassinated by Sasori… a child.
If not for Kazane's intervention in ending the Third War early, heroes like Pakura—wielder of Scorch Release—would've died in political purges within their own village.
And then there was Rasa, the Fourth Kazekage. He'd sacrificed everything for his village—even using his own son as a weapon.
Just when he finally took control, Orochimaru eliminated him en route to the Chūnin Exams and impersonated him to launch a failed ambush on Konoha.
Sunagakure's numbers were already dwindling. They were further humiliated when Kumogakure steamrolled them during the war.
A small desert village with a sparse population, they had become one of the weakest Hidden Villages.
Whenever Shukaku went berserk, Rasa himself had to lead the sealing teams.
Even so, every rampage left Sand crippled.
And Kirigakure's elite? Their deaths were more… straightforward. When they destroyed Uzushiogakure, they paid dearly. Half of their elite forces were lost in the process.
The Uzumaki clan may not have had raw power on par with Kirigakure—but every single member could use sealing techniques.
They couldn't win face-to-face… but they could always go down in a one-for-one trade.
That's why, despite having only a dozen Jōnin and a clan head ranked as an Elite Jōnin, the Uzumaki had held off the Mist time and again.
Even though Konoha, under Hiruzen Sarutobi and Danzo, didn't send reinforcements…
Uzushiogakure still managed to kill dozens of Mist Jōnin and Chūnin.
Then, two years ago, Kirigakure attempted a surprise attack on Konoha—only to lose much of their remaining strength to Kazane.
Now, they couldn't even assemble a full Seven Ninja Swordsmen lineup. Add in the fact that the Land of Water was an island nation with low population density—and Kirigakure's brutal survival policies?
Among every ten Genin that trained together… it was a miracle if even one lived to become a Chūnin.
Today, Kirigakure was at its weakest point in history.
Even many of the clan heads in the village were no stronger than average Jōnin.
And across the entire village, they could barely scrape together five Elite Jōnin.
Yagura Karatachi—was a top-tier ninja who excelled at ninjutsu. But powerful jutsu took time to cast…