The letters from Fuguki Suikazan and Jinpachi Munashi were passed around one after another.
"So this is why Kirigakure's offensive against Sunagakure has made no progress?"
"What are those two doing?"
"They let personal conflict turn into internal infighting, costing the village this much. How can they possibly answer to the village? How can they answer for the positions they hold?"
The upper ranks of Kirigakure had no interest whatsoever in determining who was right or wrong between Fuguki Suikazan and Jinpachi Munashi.
Once it was confirmed that their conflict had delayed the offensive, all that remained was anger and blame.
Both of them had to answer for it.
"Mizukage-sama, could Fuguki Suikazan be unhappy about the punishment you handed down to him before?"
One man rose and voiced the thought.
Another added, "That's not impossible. Fuguki Suikazan is extremely arrogant, and his temperament is notoriously unstable. Doing something like this would fit his character well enough."
The Third Mizukage swept his gaze over the room.
"I gave them the position of commanders of Kirigakure's army."
"They failed to do the job. Whatever the reason, that is their dereliction of duty. It proves they are unfit for the role."
"In that case, remove them directly."
"The new commander of Kirigakure's army will be Hozuki Kumogiri."
A doubtful voice sounded immediately.
"Mizukage-sama, Hozuki Kumogiri isn't suited to command, is he? That man knows nothing except killing."
The Third Mizukage cast him a flat glance.
"Knowing how to kill is enough."
"Our Kirigakure is far stronger than Sunagakure to begin with. Once Hozuki Kumogiri reaches the battlefield, all he needs to do is kill, and victory will come to Kirigakure."
"And besides, he won't be alone."
"Genji. This time, you'll go together with Hozuki Kumogiri."
An old man rose and nodded.
"Yes, Mizukage-sama."
When Fuguki Suikazan and Jinpachi Munashi received the news, both of them were stunned.
"What is this?"
"Mizukage-sama just removed us like that?"
Fuguki Suikazan had always been desperate to advance.
Everything he did was for one purpose—to climb higher, gain more power, and hold greater authority.
That was why he had been so displeased with Jinpachi Munashi, who had cut into his authority.
And after the dream shown by Fuguki Choucho, Fuguki Suikazan's hatred for Jinpachi Munashi had only deepened to its peak.
"He wants my power, my achievements… and now he wants me dead too?"
"There can't be room in this world for both of us."
The complaint Fuguki Suikazan had sent back to Kirigakure contained only one small request—
That Jinpachi Munashi be placed in charge of the main offensive while he himself handled support.
He had argued that Jinpachi lacked experience in support roles and that frontal assault would be simpler for him.
After Fuguki Choucho's dream, Fuguki Suikazan simply no longer dared to expose his back to Jinpachi Munashi.
In fact, before writing to Kirigakure, Fuguki Suikazan had first proposed this arrangement directly to Jinpachi.
And he had been refused.
That refusal only convinced Fuguki Suikazan further—
Jinpachi Munashi wanted to kill him from behind.
That was why he wrote the complaint letter.
From Jinpachi Munashi's perspective, however, the matter looked entirely different.
First, the information about Pakura's changed position had not been shared with him, resulting in Sunagakure catching him completely off guard and inflicting heavy losses.
Then afterward, Fuguki Suikazan had proposed that he take charge of the main assault.
To Jinpachi Munashi, that smelled wrong immediately.
"With Fuguki Suikazan's personality, would he ever willingly hand over a chance to earn merit to me? Impossible. There has to be a scheme behind it."
"Not telling me about Pakura last time was probably deliberate."
"And now he wants me to lead the main offensive? More likely he wants me dead."
Thus, the two commanders of Kirigakure had each grown suspicious of the other.
And so the battlefield had ground to a halt.
Jinpachi Munashi's complaint letter focused heavily on Fuguki Suikazan's failure to share intelligence—a major taboo in Kirigakure, and in fact in any shinobi village.
Jinpachi had assumed Fuguki Suikazan would be punished.
And that he himself would not.
After all, he had done nothing.
What Jinpachi Munashi had not expected was this—
In the eyes of the village, doing nothing was also a fault.
Both he and Fuguki Suikazan had been stripped of command.
"So the village higher-ups are like this?"
Before now, Jinpachi Munashi had never climbed to such a position. There had always been a layer separating him from the village's upper ranks.
He had once thought the higher-ups—and the Third Mizukage in particular—were decent enough.
Now, he had changed his mind.
"This is far too unfair!"
Moreover, both men were equally baffled by the choice of Hozuki Kumogiri as the new commander.
That confusion lasted only until Kirigakure's squad actually arrived at the front.
Then understanding dawned.
Hozuki Kumogiri stood there with Hiramekarei slung over his shoulder, his gaze fixed entirely on the blade.
He cared for nothing else. Not other people. Not affairs of command.
To wield his sword and kill—that was Hozuki Kumogiri's greatest passion.
A man like that was obviously unfit to command.
If he had been given the title, then that was all it was—a title.
The true decision-maker was the man standing behind him now.
Genji.
Beside Genji stood two young figures.
One was a young man with short blue hair, dressed in green, with one eye covered by an eyepatch.
The other was a girl even younger than him.
She had long orange-red hair, wore blue clothing, and kept looking around with curious light flickering in her eyes.
"Elder Genji."
"Elder Genji."
Fuguki Suikazan and Jinpachi Munashi stepped forward at the same time.
As for Hozuki Kumogiri, both of them ignored him completely.
But Hozuki Kumogiri did not care in the slightest.
…
…
"We're here."
Rasa stood high in the sky, supported by a mass of gold dust beneath him.
Below lay the border region where Konoha's forces and Iwagakure's forces were clashing.
But from where Rasa was, he could no longer see the people below.
He was too high up.
So high that even the mountains beneath him looked like mere mounds of earth.
"This will do."
Rasa checked the direction of the wind.
Then he took out a storage scroll.
He opened it.
In an instant, a vast flood of leaflets poured downward.
Dragged by gravity, they dropped violently toward the earth.
To prevent them from being blown away by the wind, Rasa had deliberately tied stones to them as weights. And those stones had specifically been collected from the Land of Earth.
As the leaflets fell, Rasa moved from directly above Konoha's forces toward the airspace above Iwagakure's army.
The countless cards drifted downward like snow.
One Konoha shinobi looked up.
"What's that?"
Rasa watched as the number on his system panel began climbing at astonishing speed.
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