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Mei Terumi wasn't worried that Kazuki and the Leaf Village would try any underhanded tricks against her. Completely composed, she took the scroll and opened it.
"Impossible!!!" Mere seconds later, Mei Terumi's composure shattered into sheer astonishment. The Mist Village ninja accompanying her were utterly baffled – what had happened to their commander? What was in that intelligence scroll to make her lose her poise to such a degree?
"Suspend the mission. Return to camp. Furthermore, issue an order under my name: temporarily halt the offensive against the Sand Village." The intelligence was staggeringly explosive. Mei Terumi believed that the Leaf Village and Kazuki wouldn't joke about something of this magnitude. The intelligence had to be genuine. If that was the case... then this entire war had been orchestrated under the Akatsuki's direction. The Akatsuki had been pulling the strings all along. The Mizukage had been under their control. The implications... Mei Terumi felt a chill run down her spine. If this wasn't dealt with swiftly, the Mist Village would be in catastrophic trouble.
Pocketing the scroll, Mei Terumi immediately rushed back to camp to seek out her father, who was serving as the battlefield commander. A matter of this magnitude was far too vast for her to decide alone.
In the Sand Village, Rasa's reaction was similar to Onoki's. After a single glance at the scroll, he leaped up in shock. "???" Chiyo stared at him in incomprehension. What kind of intelligence could make Rasa lose his composure like this? After all, Rasa had always been meticulous about maintaining his dignified behavior within the village.
"Elder Chiyo, see for yourself," Rasa said after a long while, his mouth still twitching. He handed the scroll to Chiyo, and in his eyes, one could glimpse a flicker of barely restrained excitement. This scroll gave Rasa a glimpse of hope that the war might finally end. After all the fighting, the Mist Village couldn't hold on much longer, and the Sand Village was in no better shape. The village's already strained finances had been pushed to the breaking point, and on top of that, they owed the Leaf Village a mountain of debt. Rasa wanted to put a definitive end to this war more desperately than anyone.
How strange. Chiyo took the scroll and cast a peculiar glance at Rasa, whose emotions were visibly churning. Then, with a questioning look, she turned her attention to the scroll itself. "..." Compared to Rasa, Chiyo's outward reaction was far calmer. But the hand holding the scroll unconsciously tightened its grip, nearly tearing the scroll apart. The Mizukage, Yagura, had been controlled by the Akatsuki. The war itself had been manipulated by the Akatsuki from behind the scenes. This was... an earth-shattering revelation. Chiyo had just unwittingly swallowed a mouthful of the most explosive gossip imaginable. What was truly maddening was that the Sand Village had been the victim of the Akatsuki's conspiracy.
In the Cloud Village, the Raikage was stunned into a prolonged silence by this bombshell. Standing beside him, Mabui could only peer curiously at the scroll in A's hands from the corner of her eye, though she could see none of its contents.
"A bunch of absolute fools! They didn't even know their own Mizukage was being controlled, and they still had the nerve to strut around barking!" Recalling the Mist Village's various bizarre and erratic operations since the war began, A's old face twitched. Why were the people of the Mist Village all so unbelievably stupid?
"???" The Mizukage was controlled? Mabui, having inadvertently caught a piece of this explosive revelation, felt a jolt in her heart. Where had the Leaf Village unearthed this intelligence? Before she could even begin to puzzle it out, A was already slamming the table and roaring furiously: "Damn it! That bastard Hoshigaki Kisame actually defected to the Leaf Village! Has that scumbag forgotten what he did?!"
Kisame had defected to the Leaf Village, and Kazuki had accepted him. This meant that if A wanted to avenge Dodai, he would first have to get past the Leaf Village. Although Kazuki had explained in the scroll that Obito was the mastermind and Kisame had merely been forced to carry out the mission, A simply couldn't swallow this bitter pill. Dodai held an exceedingly high status in the Cloud Village, having practically accompanied the Fourth Raikage throughout his entire journey. He was one of the village's few remaining veteran pillars and the official judge of the Lightning Release Chakra Mode's Double Lariat technique. This alone demonstrated how deeply the Fourth Raikage valued Dodai. Now, this meritorious elder of the village was gone – erased senselessly. And just when they had finally identified the culprits, one of them had defected to the Leaf Village, making it impossible for the Cloud Village to retaliate without taking direct aim at the Leaf. Whether the Raikage would explode with fury or not, Kazuki couldn't care less. In any case, the man was now one of ours. The Cloud Village could forget about revenge. If you've got the guts, go after Uchiha Obito. As for Hoshigaki Kisame – your chance is gone. If you do have the capability, go ahead and eliminate Kisame covertly. I won't have any objections – provided, of course, that your Cloud Village can actually pull it off.
Judging by Kisame's current situation and assignment, it would be impossible for him to operate alone for quite a long time. For the foreseeable future, he would remain obediently under Kazuki's watchful eye. A would need an opportunity even to attempt his revenge.
Mabui picked up the scroll from the floor and carefully read through its contents. Without regard for whether A was still in the grip of fury, she proactively offered her counsel: "Lord Raikage, the most pressing issue at hand is not Kisame as an individual, but rather the Akatsuki. The village cannot afford to fall out with the Leaf Village over a single rogue ninja from the Mist."
A and Dodai had been extremely close, and this was precisely what worried Mabui – that A might let personal feelings cloud his judgment and take actions that were extreme or detrimental to the village's interests. After all, he was the Raikage, the leader of the village. In this position, every action he took had to be weighed against the welfare of the village. He couldn't afford to be overly willful.
"I know that. You don't need to remind me," A replied, slapping the desk in intense displeasure. Because of his father's influence and his upbringing since childhood, A's bond with Dodai ran deep. But as the Raikage, he couldn't afford to be too self-indulgent. At the very least, he couldn't go picking a fight with the Leaf Village over this. The village's higher-ups wouldn't permit it either. That was the painful constraint of being Raikage. Even as Raikage, he couldn't simply act on his whims.
"After all, in this affair, Uchiha Obito is the true mastermind. That detestable Hoshigaki Kisame – the fact that he chose to defect to the Leaf Village proves he was coerced. Otherwise, he wouldn't have fled to the Leaf to surrender. That Mizukage is truly a waste of space. The entire Mist Village is useless. They didn't even realize their own Mizukage was being controlled, and they foolishly went to war on the Akatsuki's behalf."
"Useless. A pack of useless fools."
Unable to vent his fury at the Leaf Village, A could only redirect the full force of his rage toward the Mist Village and Yagura.
Sigh... Watching A rage without restraint, Mabui sighed inwardly. Rage on, rage on. It was better to let off steam than to keep it bottled up, far better than going off to cause trouble for the Leaf Village. At this juncture, the Cloud Village was in no position to fall out with the Leaf. The war with the Stone Village was at a critical stage. What if alienating the Leaf caused them to openly side with the Stone Village? This wasn't mere paranoia on Mabui's part. Knowing Kazuki's vindictive nature, he was entirely capable of doing exactly that. He might even take the opportunity to plunder the Cloud Village on top of it, just as he had done to the Stone Village. If the Leaf Village approached the Stone Village and proposed joining forces to stab the Cloud Village in the back, the Stone Village would be absolutely delighted to cooperate. Even if they couldn't reap any benefits for themselves, they would throw their full support behind the Leaf just to twist the knife.