The next morning, on a nameless island somewhere in the Land of Water.
What was left of Kirigakure had gathered on the shore.
Under Karatachi Yagura, Terumi Mei, and Hoshigaki Kisame, they had used the open sea to slip free of the Cloud's pursuit squads. Not one of them looked relieved.
More than half the Mist's shinobi had died at Kumogakure's hands. Countless others had been scattered during the retreat. Fewer than a thousand still stood on this island.
"I've already sent an Anbu team to notify Elder Genji." Yagura's voice finally broke the silence.
"And Lord Mizukage?" Mei asked. "Has anyone been sent to look for him?"
"Every Anbu unit we have left is out searching," Yagura said. "All of them, except the one carrying word to Genji."
He had barely finished speaking when a sensor came sprinting up the beach.
Yagura's chest tightened. "Has the Cloud caught up to us?"
"No." The sensor shook his head. "We found Lord Gengetsu and Zabuza. Both critically wounded."
"What did you say?" Yagura's eyes went wide.
"Only the two of them?" Mei cut in.
"Only the two of them."
"Then bring them here — now!" Ringo Ameyuri snapped.
The sensor turned and ran.
Minutes later, Hozuki Gengetsu and Momochi Zabuza were carried in. Both men were soaked through with blood, their injuries appalling.
"How bad?" Yagura asked, frowning.
"They're stable," said the medic working over them. "Out of danger, at least."
Yagura let out a slow breath. "Can you bring one of them around? Just for a few minutes."
"I'll try."
The medic knelt.
It was a long time before Gengetsu's eyes cracked open.
"What happened out there?" Yagura leaned in, unable to keep the urgency from his voice. "Where is Lord Mizukage?"
"We... walked straight into a Cloud ambush." Gengetsu's face twisted. "The Third Raikage was waiting for us. Lord Mizukage fell. The Raikage killed him."
"What?"
"That's impossible!"
"Lord Mizukage can't be dead—"
Disbelief rippled through the shinobi crowded around them.
Yagura, Mei, Kisame — all of them stood frozen, as though lightning had come down out of a clear sky. Every one of them understood exactly what the Third Mizukage's death meant for their village.
"I don't want to believe it either." Gengetsu closed his eyes. "But I watched it happen."
Silence settled over the group, heavy with grief.
Deep down, they had already known. Kumogakure would never have committed to a full offensive otherwise.
"So what do we do now?" Kisame exhaled.
"We wait for Elder Genji. With Lord Mizukage gone, the village answers to him." Yagura paused. "And there are still squads scattered out there who need rescuing."
The impromptu council broke up.
Beyond the treeline, hidden in shadow, a shadow clone wove a single seal and dispersed.
The memories arrived in an instant, and Natsuki sifted through them.
How to put it? Roughly what he'd expected.
His gaze drifted to Uchiha Mikoto, standing a few paces from his desk. The sheer qipao she'd thrown on left almost nothing to the imagination — least of all the long line of her legs.
"What is it?" Mikoto noticed him watching and tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear.
"Get changed, then go tell the advisors and the Hokage's aides I'm calling a meeting," Natsuki said, smiling.
Mikoto slipped out of the qipao right where she stood.
Natsuki's train of thought derailed completely. Mercifully, her uniform went on fast.
She left the office.
Before long, Tsunade, Namikaze Minato, Nawaki, Uzumaki Kushina, and Nara Shikaku had all filed in.
"This many people?" Tsunade raised an eyebrow. "Has the Cloud declared war on us?"
"Kumogakure has crushed Kirigakure," Natsuki said, straight to the point. "The Third Mizukage was killed in action."
Surprise flickered across every face in the room.
He was the first Kage to die on the battlefield since the Third Great Ninja War began. The Third Kazekage didn't count — he hadn't fallen in combat, and the Sand had always maintained that he'd stepped down voluntarily and handed the hat to Pakura.
Though after so many years without a single public appearance, every village had drawn the obvious conclusion. The Third Kazekage was dead.
"Kirigakure has been gutted. Without outside intervention, they'll almost certainly sue for peace," Shikaku said.
"Knowing the Cloud, beating the Mist won't be enough to satisfy them." Tsunade's tone left no room for doubt. "Their next target is us."
"So you called us here to prepare for war, Natsuki?" Nawaki asked.
"Mm." Natsuki nodded. "Though I have another idea. We help Kirigakure drive the Cloud back."
"They'll never agree," Tsunade said after a moment's thought. "Not unless Konoha helps them for free."
"Absolutely not for free," Nawaki said instantly.
"Then from where Kirigakure is standing, suing for peace with the Cloud and buying our help amount to the same thing." Tsunade paused. "Worse, actually. Asking us for help means continuing the war — and bleeding even more."
She had a point. If the Mist called Konoha in, they couldn't simply sit back and watch; they'd be obligated to commit shinobi of their own. And after losses on that scale, they'd have no appetite for adding to the casualty lists.
"Try looking at it from another angle." Natsuki smiled. "If Kirigakure doesn't ask for our help, we declare war on them."
The room went still.
There was no getting around it — Natsuki was the first Hokage to actively pick a fight. Senju Hashirama had ended the Warring States era; that was a different thing entirely. Tobirama, Hiruzen, and Orochimaru had all fought defensive wars.
Natsuki really was something else.
Tsunade thought of the way his eyes wandered whenever anyone attractive walked past his desk. Shameless certainly fit. So did audacious.
"Waiting around for the Cloud to declare war puts us on the back foot," Natsuki explained. "Working with the Mist saves us manpower and supplies both."
"I think it could work!" Kushina said, backing him immediately.
Mikoto nodded along.
"I don't see a problem with it," Shikaku added.
"As long as it's good for Konoha." Nawaki thought it over and shrugged.
"You're the Hokage. Your call." Tsunade shot him a look and let it go.
Chasing peace for its own sake was a fool's game for a Hokage. A real one needed the carrot and the stick — and the occasional dirty trick.
"Start preparing for war." Natsuki chuckled. "When the time comes, I'll go to Kirigakure and handle the negotiations myself."
Walking into the Mist alone would be suicide for anyone else.
But Natsuki had the strength to back it up, and Space-Time Ninjutsu to escape with. The risk was minimal.
No one raised any further objections, and the room emptied out.
The sun sank toward the western horizon.
On that same island in the Land of Water, after half a day's travel, Genji finally linked up with Yagura's group.
"Elder Genji." Yagura's face was grim. "Lord Mizukage is gone."
Genji fell silent.
He had suspected as much. Hearing it out loud still made the ground feel unsteady beneath him.
"What is the Cloud doing now?" he asked, gathering himself.
"They delivered an ultimatum not long ago." Yagura's voice dropped. "The Third Raikage says we have two options. Sue for peace — or get beaten until we sue for peace."
Kumogakure's reasoning wasn't hard to follow.
First, they had already won. They could squeeze whatever they wanted out of Kirigakure at the negotiating table.
Second, pushing further would corner a wounded animal. A village fighting for its life would cost the Cloud dearly — especially with both Mist Jinchuriki still breathing.
And third, there was Konoha. The whole reason Kumogakure had moved on the Mist first was to free up every last unit for the Leaf.
"Two options, they say. In reality there's only one." Genji forced the emotion out of his voice. "As things stand, we sue for peace."
The words landed like a stone in still water, but no one argued. They all knew it was the only move left.
Kirigakure wasn't just facing Kumogakure. Sunagakure was pressing them from the other side.
After last night, they couldn't survive a two-front war. In their current state, they'd struggle against the Sand alone. The war with the Cloud had to end, and it had to end now.
"Before we negotiate with them, we need a Mizukage," Genji said after a long pause.
No village could go without a Kage for long. And a village this badly broken needed one more than ever, if only to steady its people.
Every eye in the tent sharpened.
In theory, anyone present could take the hat. They were the backbone of the village, and all of them carried some measure of reputation.
Still... Mei glanced sideways at Yagura.
He was the obvious choice. The right age, and strong enough to command respect.
Her, though? She wasn't even an adult yet. And while Kido had carried her to Jonin level, she was still a step below Yagura in raw power.
If she ever wanted the hat, she'd have to wait for the next term.
"These are extraordinary circumstances, so we'll skip the formalities. A simple vote will do," Genji continued.
The standard selection process took far too long, and the Cloud was breathing down their necks. They needed a Mizukage tonight, if only to have someone authorized to answer.
"Let's settle the candidates first. I nominate Ao and Karatachi Yagura." He looked around. "If anyone else has a name, speak up."
No one did.
Ao and Yagura were the natural picks — right age, right strength. Above them there was only Genji himself, and he was too old to stand. Below them were prodigies like Mei, Kisame, and Zabuza, all far too young.
"I nominate Terumi Mei."
The voice came out of nowhere.
Genji turned, and his eyebrows climbed.
It was Kaguya Kengo, head of the Kaguya clan.
The Kaguya hadn't been wiped out yet in those days. In terms of raw combat power, they were arguably the strongest Kekkei Genkai clan in the village. But like the Uchiha of the Leaf, they had a reputation — a temperament that kept the rest of the village at arm's length.
Otherwise Genji would have put Kengo's own name forward alongside Ao's and Yagura's.
Mei, for her part, was completely lost.
She had never so much as exchanged pleasantries with Kaguya Kengo. Not once.
So why nominate her?
She couldn't make sense of it, and neither could Genji. But a nomination was only a nomination. It settled nothing.
"I nominate Hoshigaki Kisame," a Mist Jonin said.
Kisame had been impossible to ignore during the breakout. His chakra reserves were absurd even by Kirigakure standards, and out on the water he was a monster.
His problem was the same as Mei's. Too young.
By the time the nominations closed, there were four names on the list.
"Now we vote." Genji set down a ballot box. "Write your choice and drop it in."
The tent came alive at once.
The voting was over in minutes.
Genji stepped up, emptied the box, and began counting.
Halfway through, he noticed something was wrong.
His expression hardened, but he kept counting until the final tally was in.
Then he simply stood there, staring at the result.
How?
By every reasonable expectation, Yagura should have taken it, with Ao second, and Kisame and Mei trailing far behind.
So why did Terumi Mei have the most votes?
It made no sense. Genji turned it over and over and came up empty. Every shinobi in this tent was senior leadership.
What he could never have guessed was that Natsuki had already taken ten of Kirigakure's highest-ranking shinobi under his control. Between them, those ten commanded well over half the village's loyalty — and every shinobi under their command had received their instructions before the vote.
Genji found himself in an impossible position.
He wanted Yagura to take the hat. But the votes said Mei.
Overturning the result meant making an enemy of more than half the village.
He weighed it for a long moment, then made up his mind.
Absurd as it seemed, there was only one explanation left: Terumi Mei had spent that time quietly winning over the Jonin corps. Nothing else could produce numbers like these.
Young, yes. But a girl who could pull that off would make a perfectly serviceable Mizukage. Rules could be bent.
"I hereby declare Terumi Mei the Fourth Mizukage," Genji announced, his voice heavy.
Mei's heart lurched. For one wild second she wondered if she'd been caught in a genjutsu.
Me?
Genji scanned the tent. Most of the shinobi barely reacted. Only a handful looked genuinely stunned.
That settled it in his mind.
Terrifying, really — those kinds of political instincts at her age. Perhaps it was exactly what Kirigakure needed.
"Terumi Mei." Genji collected himself. "From today, the village is in your hands."
Mei opened her mouth, then closed it again.
How had she just become Mizukage?
And could she refuse?
Obviously not.
She drew a slow breath and walked to the seat at the head of the tent.
Young as she was, she'd always been precocious, and she took to the role like a fish to water. Under her direction, Kirigakure began to function again.
Night fell.
Mei returned to her own tent.
Going back over the day, it still felt like something she'd dreamed.
What had actually happened in there? Why had the votes come to her?
And then there was the stranger part: every order she'd given since had been carried out to the letter. Normally a Mizukage this young would face a wall of quiet resistance — people nodding along and dragging their feet. Yagura most of all, the man everyone had assumed would take the hat.
He hadn't said a word.
Mei couldn't shake the sensation of an invisible hand moving the pieces.
But that was impossible.
Natsuki was the strongest shinobi alive, and with Konoha behind him he could certainly beat Kirigakure in open war. Beating a village and puppeteering one were entirely different things, though. Zabuza, Kisame, Ameyuri — men and women like that would die before letting anyone pull their strings. Pride was all some of them had.
She'd never even heard of a technique that could bring that many Jonin to heel at once.
Most damning of all: the whole thing hinged on the Third Mizukage's death, and the Third Mizukage had been killed by the Third Raikage. For anyone to have engineered this, they'd have had to set up one Kage and manipulate another.
That belonged in a children's story.
At that exact moment, the air in the tent warped.
"I hear congratulations are in order, Lady Mizukage." Natsuki stepped out of the rift, grinning.
"Thank you." Mei recovered fast. "Believe me, no one is more surprised than I am."
"With your talent it was only a matter of time," Natsuki said lightly. "This just moves the schedule up."
"It's less an honor than a weight." Mei sighed. "Kirigakure is in a very bad way."
"Would you like my help, then?"
"Your help?" She blinked. "How?"
"Kumogakure will come for Konoha sooner or later," Natsuki said. "If that's a given, Konoha would rather move first."
"Ah." Mei understood at once.
His goal was simple enough. Drag the Mist in alongside the Leaf so the Cloud had to split its attention.
"I'm sorry, Natsuki-sensei." She took a moment before answering. "As Mizukage, I can't agree to that."
"Don't turn me down so quickly." Natsuki's smile didn't waver. "I'll also drive Sunagakure off your back."
Mei's expression sharpened.
Konoha repels the Sand, then joins with the Mist against the Cloud. On paper, that was genuinely advantageous.
"What does Konoha want in return?" she asked bluntly. "If your price is lower than the Cloud's, I can bring the others around."
That was all any of this came down to. Negotiating with Kumogakure meant paying as the losing side. Buying Konoha's help meant paying too. You simply took whichever bill was smaller.
Privately, Mei leaned toward Konoha.
Mostly because she was Natsuki's student. She'd been strong-armed into it at the time, but after this long she felt she knew the man. Whatever else he was, as a teacher he'd been genuinely devoted.
"See for yourself." Natsuki produced a scroll.
"You came prepared." Mei took it and started reading.
The further she read, the more incredulous she became.
Because it was all... normal. Trade terms. Commercial arrangements. Reasonable ones.
Only the final clause made her frown.
Natsuki was demanding the title of Honorary Mizukage of Kirigakure. Equal in standing to the true Mizukage — with a written promise not to interfere in the village's internal affairs.
In other words, a demand that cost them nothing and humiliated them completely. Not a single ryo, not a single shinobi, not a single technique. Just pride.
"Natsuki-sensei." Mei looked up, genuinely baffled. "Why do you want to be Kirigakure's Honorary Mizukage?"
As far as she could tell, the title was worthless to him except as an insult to her village.
"I've never been a Mizukage before. I thought I'd try it." Natsuki blinked at her.
"...?"
Mei's expression went blank. That's it? That's the whole reason?
"Could you replace that clause with something else?" she asked.
"You've read the rest. Nothing else in there is harsh." Natsuki shook his head. "I'll guarantee you this much — Konoha's terms come to half of what the Cloud will demand."
Mei fell silent.
He was right. Every other clause sat comfortably inside what she could accept, and none of it would cripple the village.
But that was the assessment of a shinobi, thinking like a shinobi.
Natsuki was the only one in the room who understood what commerce actually was. The moment Kirigakure signed, its economy would run on Konoha's rails. And with the Three Snake Princesses' Seven Warlords of the Sea already operating across the Land of Water, bringing the Water Daimyo to heel would be trivial — which meant even the daimyo's support for the village would flow through Konoha's hands.
Looked at properly, Kirigakure was already in Konoha's pocket.
Strip away all the fine talk about the Will of Fire, and shinobi worked for money. Control the money and you controlled the shinobi.
Not that it mattered much. Kirigakure was already his. He had no intention of squeezing his own people.
"I need time to consider this," Mei said at last. "And I'll need to discuss it with Elder Genji and the others."
"Don't take too long. The Cloud won't wait, and the Sand will press its advantage the moment word spreads about your defeat," Natsuki warned.
"Understood." She thought for a moment. "Natsuki-sensei — come back at ten tomorrow morning."
"All right." He nodded. "Until tomorrow."
He turned and stepped back through the rift into Konoha.
[Congratulations, Host! Template Ability 4 unlocked — Aizen Sosuke: Kyoka Suigetsu (Shikai).]
There it is.
Natsuki's mood lifted instantly.
Anyone who saw the Shikai released fell under its hypnosis. Not one target at a time, either — it could take an entire crowd at once. And once caught, escape was nearly impossible. The effect lasted the rest of the victim's life.
The next day, inside the main tent of Kirigakure's temporary camp.
The leadership convened at eight sharp.
"These are Kumogakure's terms." Mei's voice was flat. "Thoughts?"
She'd sent Anbu to the Cloud's camp overnight to get the broad strokes. She needed something to compare against.
"This is outrageous!" Ringo Ameyuri said. "If we sign this, Kirigakure won't recover in twenty years. We might never recover."
"Agreed," Yagura said. "The clause transferring half our mission volume to them is nothing but malice."
For a shinobi village, mission income was second only to the daimyo's funding. Hand half the missions to Kumogakure and every shinobi in the Mist would watch their income collapse.
And the Water Daimyo certainly wouldn't cover the gap. After a defeat this total, they'd be lucky if next year's budget wasn't slashed outright.
It would be. That was simply the price of losing.
In the original timeline, Sunagakure had been reduced to poverty for exactly these reasons — funding cut by the Wind Daimyo, missions siphoned away by Konoha.
"And if we refuse, the Cloud won't simply walk away," Genji said, laying out the cruel arithmetic.
The tent went quiet.
"There's another road," Mei said suddenly. "Konoha sent someone to see me this morning."
"Konoha?" Genji's expression turned strange. "Why would they come to you?"
"They want to work with us." Mei produced a scroll and passed it to him. "Because the Cloud's next target is the Leaf. These are their terms. In exchange, they'll also drive Sunagakure off our southern flank."
"What?" Genji unrolled the scroll immediately.
By the time he finished reading, his face had gone uncertain. He passed it to Yagura, and it made its way around the tent.
"Konoha's terms aren't fatal. Work with them and we could be back on our feet inside ten years." Mei paused. "The only sticking point is the Honorary Mizukage clause."
"I say we take it," Ameyuri said after a moment's thought. "Trading an empty title for the village's recovery is hardly a loss."
"Agreed," Gengetsu said.
Within moments, the overwhelming majority had voiced their support.
That strange feeling crept over Mei again.
Why is this going so smoothly?
"If that's the will of this council, then we accept Konoha's offer," Genji said at last, after a long silence.
Ten o'clock.
Natsuki arrived at Mei's tent.
"Natsuki-sensei." She'd clearly been waiting a while, and wasted no time. "Kirigakure accepts."
"Excellent." Natsuki smiled. "A pleasure doing business."
He wasn't remotely surprised. Konoha's terms were generous by any standard — and besides Genji, every senior figure in Kirigakure was an Espada.
"With one adjustment. The Honorary Mizukage title isn't announced until after Kumogakure is beaten," Mei added.
"Fine by me."
He understood immediately. The Mist was hedging against Konoha losing.
"How soon can your forces arrive?" Mei asked. "The Cloud will give us one more day at the outside. If we haven't answered by tomorrow, they'll attack."
"Konoha's main force can't reach the Land of Water inside a day." Natsuki's tone was perfectly calm. "But I can go stall them."
[Congratulations, Host! Template Ability 2 unlocked — Sakazuki: Magu Magu no Mi.]
The notification flared across his vision.
Well, Natsuki thought. That's timing.
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