Since Mei Terumi needed to report back to Yagura Karatachi, the negotiations were temporarily brought to a close.
Seeing that Fugaku was already busy again, Uchiha Yuzuru left the Hokage Building directly.
Not long after, Mei's voice called out from behind him, "Lord Yuzuru, wait for me!"
Yuzuru stopped and looked at her with curiosity. "What is it? You need something from me?"
"Lord Yuzuru, I'd like to treat you to a meal."
Hearing that, Yuzuru chuckled and glanced at her. "Trying to buy me off with a single meal?"
"I've already laid out my conditions. I won't be changing them so easily."
"We're not talking about that." A faint smile appeared on Mei's face. "I've just arrived in Konoha. Would Lord Yuzuru be willing to show me around properly?"
Yuzuru raised an eyebrow, a little speechless. "You've got guts, asking me to accompany you. You think you're that important?"
Mei clasped her hands behind her back and leaned forward slightly. "Oh come on~ I really don't know anyone in Konoha."
Yuzuru happened to want to gather some intelligence on the Hidden Mist as well, so he didn't refuse and nodded in agreement.
The two walked side by side through Konoha's streets. Mei couldn't help but sigh with emotion. "Konoha really is prosperous. In my next life, let me be a beautiful woman born in Konoha!"
Seeing her expression, Yuzuru laughed. "No need to wait for the next life. If you're willing, I can make you a Konoha ninja right now."
Mei waved her hands quickly. "I'm just joking. My greatest dream is to let the people of the Hidden Mist live happy, prosperous lives!"
As a child, Mei had lived a very harsh life.
She often went hungry, lacked warm clothes, and at her worst, even rummaged through trash bins…
Only after she showed considerable talent as a ninja did her life gradually improve.
But having experienced life at the very bottom, Mei had always harbored an ambition—
To build the Hidden Mist into a village as prosperous as Konoha, so that its people could all live happy, well-fed lives.
Hearing this, Yuzuru's heart stirred. He feigned curiosity and said, "I've heard that the Hidden Mist once enforced the Blood Mist policy, earning the title of the Village of the Bloody Mist."
"It's said that each graduating class at the Ninja Academy had to kill one another, and only the survivors could become ninja."
"That Chōjūrō guy looks kind of slow. He actually passed the graduation exam?"
Mei glanced at Yuzuru and sighed. "That rule was abolished long ago."
"Back then, there was a graduate named Zabuza Momochi. During the graduation exam, he killed everyone else in his class. After that, graduating from the academy no longer required mutual slaughter."
Yuzuru asked curiously, "Zabuza… I've read his file. He's a rogue ninja now, right?"
"Judging from his face, he looks cold and vicious."
Mei shook her head. "Actually, he's quite warm at heart. He slaughtered his classmates to force the village to make concessions—and the results proved that he succeeded."
"Later, dissatisfied with the Fourth Mizukage's policies, he gathered some subordinates and launched a coup. After failing to assassinate the Fourth Mizukage, he was branded a rogue ninja and hunted down…"
As they chatted, they passed by a sweets shop.
After Yuzuru bought Mei ten skewers of tricolor dango, he continued, "Zabuza is a rogue ninja of the Hidden Mist. Why does it seem like you actually approve of him?"
Mei gave a bitter smile. "The incident caused such a stir back then that the truth would spread sooner or later anyway. So there's no harm in telling you."
"Not long ago, Ao from our village discovered the truth—that the Fourth Mizukage had been under genjutsu control. Only then did we understand why his personality changed so drastically over the years."
"Many of the harsh policies he enacted were the result of that genjutsu."
Hearing such a secret, Yuzuru wasn't surprised at all.
During the Third Shinobi World War, part of the legacy he inherited from Madara Uchiha included the Fourth Mizukage, Yagura Karatachi.
Not long after ascending to the position, Yagura had already been placed under Madara's genjutsu.
In Madara's plans, Yuzuru could have replaced him entirely—using control over Yagura to exploit the Hidden Mist for intelligence gathering and tailed beasts.
However, Yuzuru was confident in his own strength and, unlike Obito Uchiha in the original history, didn't harbor hatred toward the Hidden Mist. So he ignored the matter and let things run their course.
With Black Zetsu exiled to the Kamui Space, it wasn't surprising that Yagura's genjutsu control was eventually discovered.
After studying Yuzuru carefully for a while, Mei found nothing unusual and could only snuff out the faint suspicion in her heart.
Yuzuru was about the same age as her. Timing-wise, it was unlikely that this had been orchestrated by him.
Thinking this through, Mei felt relieved and smiled. "Yuzuru-kun, do you want to get married?"
Yuzuru froze for a moment, then remembered Mei's reputation as a 'love-crazed woman.' He replied calmly, "I already have ten wives."
"Hah?!"
Mei stared at Yuzuru in disbelief and asked again, "Ten?"
"That's right."
"You really are…" Looking at Yuzuru's flawlessly handsome face, Mei muttered, "Using your gifts to do whatever you want."
When Yuzuru had bought her the tricolor dango earlier, she had already thought up names for their future children. Who would've thought he already had ten wives?!
Thinking about how she hadn't even been in a relationship yet, Mei couldn't help but feel dejected.
Some people die of drought, while others drown in abundance.
————
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Over the next few days, Yuzuru accompanied Mei as she wandered around Konoha.
He even took her on a tour of the Uchiha clan grounds, which left her utterly amazed. Handsome men passed by one after another, leaving Mei dazzled to the point that she was practically drooling.
Taking advantage of the opportunity, Yuzuru also gained a general understanding of the Hidden Mist's situation from Mei.
Because he hadn't interfered much with the Hidden Mist, its current state was completely different from the devastation it suffered under Obito Uchiha in the original history.
Although ninja clans possessing kekkei genkai were still suppressed, many had at least escaped total annihilation.
The Hidden Mist hadn't sealed itself off entirely either. It continuously dispatched ninja to gather intelligence from the outside world—it was just that ninja from other villages found it difficult to enter.
However, after the Three-Tails jinchuriki passed away from old age, Yagura still sealed the Three-Tails into his own body.
Half a month later, a response from the Hidden Mist finally arrived.