Chapter 529: Mei Terumi
Fifth Hokage Tsunade:
There is an emergency situation to notify your village...
Mei Terumi almost didn't think, picked up the pen and started writing.
For an emergency, she couldn't be bothered to beat around the bush or put effort into researching diction and phrasing, directly using the most straightforward language to tell Tsunade that Akatsuki also came here looking for the Three-Tails, Mist Ninja couldn't hold on, asking for support.
The Mizukage Mei Terumi was a straightforward person, and the tone of the letter was also very straightforward.
No other way.
Mist Ninja currently only had this little bit of family fortune; casually injuring one was enough to make the Mizukage's heart ache for a long time. Not to mention, given Akatsuki's strength, if Mei Terumi didn't take action personally, other Mist Ninja would just die as many as they went.
When the letter was written to the end, Mei Terumi was about to fold the paper when she caught a glimpse of Chojuro lying unconscious on the bed out of the corner of her eye. Her heart instantly softened, and she added another sentence at the end of the letter.
We have important personnel severely injured and difficult to cure. We earnestly request you to provide certain medical support...
"Let it be so."
Mei Terumi signed her name with a few flamboyant characters at the end, folded it, and handed it to Ao who was waiting aside.
The woman watched Ao take the letter and hurry away, and couldn't help but sigh.
When Mei Terumi was the only conscious person left in the ward, a bit of sorrow couldn't help but show in the eyes of this strong Mist Ninja leader.
Mei Terumi leaned against the window, looking at the setting sun outside, and fell into deep thought.
She wasn't worried about whether Konoha would send support.
Based on Mei Terumi's understanding of Tsunade, that woman still had a very good view of the big picture; she definitely wouldn't just watch Akatsuki capture the Three-Tails away just to see Mist Ninja suffer.
She would definitely send reinforcements.
What Mei Terumi worried about was only Chojuro's problem.
Konoha had no obligation to help Mist Ninja treat the wounded.
"Would Tsunade... be so kind-hearted?"
Mei Terumi held the beads on the curtain, murmuring, recalling that woman's temperament in her mind.
She had only dealt with the Fifth Hokage once.
The only meeting between the two was a few months ago, during the Chunin Exams.
Mei Terumi recalled the scene at that time.
During that month, the so-called exams were just a sideshow. The real highlight was the Kages of the three villages gathering under the pretext of the exams, seriously discussing the matter of the alliance.
When walking into Konoha Village, the first impression Tsunade left on Mei Terumi was her excessively young face that seriously mismatched her age.
As a woman about to step into her thirties, when Mei Terumi first saw Tsunade's youthful and glamorous face, her eyes almost popped out; fortunately, what made her feel very balanced was that Tsunade was already over fifty and still single.
Hmph, no matter how beautiful and good at maintenance you are, aren't you still unable to find a man?
She felt sour in her heart, thinking sourly.
Of course, as the Mizukage, Mei Terumi's understanding of Tsunade naturally wouldn't be limited to the superficial level of "an old woman who is very good at maintaining a frozen age".
In fact, Tsunade's side as a politician with clear thinking, flexible methods, and thick-skinned enough left a deeper impression on Mei Terumi.
The reason for saying this was because several requests Mei Terumi proposed at the alliance negotiation meeting were all forcefully rejected by Tsunade: especially her prompt, arguing strongly on reasonable grounds, to welcome back former Mist Ninja such as Haku Yuki and Yuzuki Terumi's family to Mist Ninja Village, was mercilessly shot down by Tsunade, leaving no room for bargaining at all.
"One Ice Release ninja per village", "The Yuki clan has been a member of Mist Ninja since ancient times"...
Mei Terumi argued strongly on reasonable grounds like this at that time.
Tsunade, however, stated very bluntly: Since your Blood Mist couldn't retain talents and let the people of the Yuki and Terumi clans join Konoha, then it's impossible to "return" them.
As for what 'since ancient times'... hmph, only a strong village has the weight to say this. A weak village should obediently "shelve disputes"!
A round of reprimands and sarcasm choked Mei Terumi so much she couldn't speak.
The Mizukage-sama still remembers Tsunade's slightly disdainful expression when speaking.
But the ignorance and darkness in the Blood Mist, and the current weakness of Mist Ninja Village's strength were also facts. Being looked down upon by the Hokage, Mei Terumi could only bite her lip hard.
Speechless.
However, Zabuza's remains, with Haku's consent, were moved back to Mist Ninja Village; along with the Kubikiribocho which was also returned—these two things had already been brought back to Konoha after Haruno Sakura and Orochimaru fought a big battle in the Land of Waves (Chapter 321). Tsunade was very sensitive about "people", but quite magnanimous about ninja swords, which could be considered an appropriate concession after forcefully rejecting the Mizukage's first two requests.
Of course, the performance of the Kubikiribocho was truly mediocre; a ninja sword with no other wonderful use except self-repair, the Hokage-sama didn't care much about it either.
Moreover, the style of the Kubikiribocho was too non-mainstream. With such a huge blade, Konoha couldn't find a ninja who could use it.
It was truly a chicken rib. (T/N: meaning something of little value or interest)
The benefits Mei Terumi took away from Konoha were not only the Kubikiribocho.
She also brought back a large amount of medical equipment, bandages, hemostatic patches, disinfectant patches, and even scrolls sealing medical jutsu formulas.
Tsunade even opened Konoha's medical ninja training institutions, spreading some advanced medical techniques; and Mist Ninja also paid an equal price, including a core technology that was almost lost—the ninja sword forging technology, which was also imparted to Konoha.
Among all the prices, the most weighty one was not these precious technologies, nor the Yuki and Terumi clan members.
But that Mist Ninja Village from then on gave up its status of being isolated overseas and relatively independent from other countries.
Choosing to join Konoha's war chariot, choosing to join the ninja village alliance, to jointly fight against the dangerous Akatsuki.
Mei Terumi didn't generate the illusion that matters on the continent had nothing to do with her just because Mist Ninja Village was easy to defend and hard to attack, and had uniquely favorable geographical conditions.
Although a woman, as the Kage of a village, she lacked none of the capacity and vision she should have.
In the long run, doing this was the most beneficial for Mist Ninja.
It's just that Mei Terumi absolutely didn't expect the benefits of the alliance to show up so quickly, to be able to borrow the allies' power so soon.
She didn't feel happy about her foresight.
—The Mizukage-sama would rather not need Konoha's support from beginning to end on the matter of capturing the Three-Tails.
"Ugh..."
While Mei Terumi was pondering, a groan from the hospital bed suddenly interrupted her deep thoughts.
"Where... am I?"
Chojuro's hoarse and weak voice came from the bed.
"You're awake."
The woman smiled with pleasant surprise, walked over, held Chojuro's scarred hand, and said softly: "Don't worry, this is the village. You are safe now."
"Mizukage... sama..." Seeing Mei Terumi, he was a bit agitated, tightly holding her hand, and said intermittently, "It's Sasori of the Red Sand... and Kisame...!"
"Choujuurou already told me those things." Mei Terumi sighed, "Since Akatsuki people have also gotten involved in the Three-Tails matter, then this matter is no longer something we can handle. I have already written to Tsunade for help."
"Juro, you can rest assured."
Chojuro breathed a long sigh of relief, and his forcefully propped-up body instantly went soft on the bed.
"That's great..."
After being silent for a while, Mei Terumi suddenly asked: "How did you escape? Moreover, Kisame should already be dead!"
A few months ago, Konoha notified an intelligence saying that when Akatsuki was recovering the Seven-Tails Jinchuriki, they had a fight with the Konoha Anbu escorting her—namely Haruno Sakura and Sasuke.
In the news shared by Konoha, it was clearly stated that Haruno Sakura had already killed Kisame Hoshigaki.
Haruno Sakura... Mei Terumi naturally still remembered this Ice Release ninja who fought side by side with her not long ago. She believed that Konoha girl wouldn't lie.
So, who was that Kisame?
"He is indeed dead." Chojuro said weakly, "So what I faced was... a puppet possessing Kisame's appearance and ninjutsu."
Mei Terumi was slightly stunned.
"A human puppet?" She quickly reacted and asked in a deep voice.
"Probably that thing..." Chojuro nodded laboriously, "That puppet had at least seventy or eighty percent of Kisame's strength."
However, a puppet is not a living person after all.
No matter how well Sasori manipulated it, it couldn't compare to Kisame's power when he was alive, let alone direct Water Release like an arm and manipulate it freely like he did when alive; a Wind Release puppet master matched with a Water Release human puppet, the offensive and defensive strength would be very strong in a frontal engagement, but facing Chojuro who was intent on delaying time and then waiting for an opportunity to slip away, it felt a bit slippery—
Actually letting Chojuro barely save a life.
"Making a teammate into a human puppet huh..."
Mei Terumi narrowed her eyes slightly, walked to the door, and snorted coldly: "Sure enough, it's Akatsuki's style."
"Alright, I understand. Next, you just rest well and recuperate well, Chojuro. Hmm?"
She waited for a moment, but didn't get a response from Chojuro.
Mei Terumi turned her head with doubt, only to see Chojuro struggling to prop up his body, looking at her stubbornly.
"Mizukage-sama." Hiding the shadow of unease in his eyes, the man asked in a low voice, "Am I... never going to be able to be a ninja again?"
Mei Terumi's gaze subconsciously fell on Chojuro's empty pant leg.
A disabled person is very hard to be a ninja again.
She lowered her eyelids, not daring to meet Chojuro's dim gaze carrying hidden hope.
"Recuperate at ease, we will cure you."
Mei Terumi turned around and left after saying this unconvincing sentence in a low voice.
The movement was actually somewhat flustered.
In the ward far from the woman, it was deadly silent, leaving only the patient's heavy panting.
Konoha Village.
The letter for help from Mist Ninja hadn't been delivered yet.
—In fact, when Haruno Sakura came to Training Ground 39 after having lunch with Naruto and Sasuke, Chojuro was still leading the Mist Ninja Anbu in their first search.
So before setting off for the Land of Water, the three of them still had a little time to conduct break-in training before the mission.
And the most basic requirement of the so-called break-in was to understand the companions' fighting styles and new ultimate moves.
For example—
"Mangekyo Sharingan, open!"
"Secret Technique: Susanoo!"
Sasuke was no longer strenuous using these two moves now, very naturally condensing the purple giant nearly a hundred meters tall.
"Wow!"
The majestic and huge body, the chakra texture full of oppressive force, made Naruto couldn't help but nervously step back, shouting in surprise.
"I told you before, right? The Sharingan evolving to the end is the Mangekyo Sharingan..." Sasuke jumped onto the giant's shoulder in two or three steps, looking down at Naruto from above, and smiled slightly, "So, this is the power of the Mangekyo."
"Amazing..." Naruto raised his head, looking at Sasuke, his heart so shocked he was a bit speechless.
"It's not just this!" Haruno Sakura patted Naruto and smiled: "Based on Susanoo, Sasuke can also perform stronger forms and ninjutsu. Even if you have mastered the Six-Tails Tailed Beast form now, you are still not his opponent yo!"
"But we'll talk about this later, I'll also show off a new power for you to see!"
"Isn't it just Sage Mode?" Naruto curled his lip.
"Hmph hmph."
The girl shook her head, took out a scroll from her bosom and shook it at Naruto, smiling mysteriously: "Wait a moment..."
"What is she going to do?"
Watching Haruno Sakura sneakily enter the dark depths of the forest, Naruto frowned, somewhat puzzled.
"You'll know immediately."
Sasuke jumped down from the purple giant's shoulder and said lightly.
His Mangekyo Sharingan had extremely strong insight, and soon caught two indistinct slender figures walking out from the dark depths of the forest.
"She's here."