Fuguki Suikazan and Kushimaru Kuriarare stood side by side.
Both had their heads lowered slightly, their posture subtly bent—nothing like the domineering arrogance they displayed before ordinary Kiri ninja.
Because the man standing before them now held an extremely high status within Kirigakure.
Elder Genji.
Second only to the Third Mizukage.
If one had to compare him to someone else, he was similar to Chiyo of Sunagakure, Danzo of Konoha, or the B of Kumogakure's A-B duo.
In fact, his standing was arguably even higher than theirs.
After all, Chiyo had already retired into seclusion.
Danzo styled himself as Konoha's second-in-command, but that had never truly been acknowledged by others. And now even Root had been taken from him in name by Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane.
As for Kumogakure's B, he was still too young.
"Elder Genji!"
Genji glanced at the two men.
"The Mizukage-sama is very dissatisfied with the progress on the front lines."
"Kirigakure is far stronger than Sunagakure. Crushing them should never have taken this long."
"I do not want excuses. I have only one question for you."
"How long will it take to break Sunagakure?"
Fuguki Suikazan spoke first.
"Elder Genji, if we go all out without regard for cost, then within one month, Kirigakure's forces will definitely reach Sunagakure's gates."
Kushimaru Kuriarare gave a cold snort.
"Elder Genji, if you put me in command, I won't need a month. Twenty days will be enough for me to completely crush Sunagakure."
Fuguki shot him a glance, then gritted his teeth.
"Elder Genji, give me half a month."
Ever since Kirigakure's proposal—demanding Pakura's life in exchange for a ceasefire—had been rejected by Sunagakure, Fuguki had felt as though everything had begun to go wrong.
Sunagakure had clearly seemed close to agreeing.
And yet, all of a sudden, they had refused in the strongest terms.
To Fuguki, it felt like mockery.
Enraged, he had immediately gathered the ninja army and launched a fierce offensive against Sunagakure.
At first, the results had been excellent.
The Suna army had been forced back again and again.
Then, hoping to crush Sunagakure while minimizing Kirigakure's losses, Fuguki had also noticed Konoha's intentions and deliberately slowed the offensive, intending to pressure Konoha into taking action.
But to his surprise, Konoha proved far more patient than he was.
They simply refused to move.
So both sides waited.
And as they waited, things began to go wrong.
Konoha's internal situation suddenly exploded into chaos.
With the rumor surrounding Uchiha Kagami, the Uchiha clan had practically gone down the path of rebellion. They had not succeeded, but the upheaval still forced Konoha to withdraw the shinobi stationed nearby.
That meant Kirigakure could no longer expect any assistance from Konoha.
In other words, all that waiting had been for nothing.
Fuguki cursed Konoha as useless trash—
Then, determined to recover the lost time, he contacted Sunagakure's traitors and spent an enormous amount of effort preparing an ambush meant to eliminate Pakura.
But just as the ambush was about to succeed, Hozuki Gengetsu's interference ruined the entire plan.
Not only had Pakura survived, Kirigakure had lost quite a few elite ninja in the process.
That failure had cost him half of his command authority—
Which had been handed over to Kushimaru Kuriarare.
But Fuguki looked down on Kushimaru.
In his eyes, Kushimaru was painfully mediocre.
Fuguki believed that so long as he performed normally, regaining command was only a matter of time.
Yet what he had never expected was that just as he was focused wholly on preparing a devastating blow against Sunagakure, Kushimaru had tried to kill him from behind.
If his wife had not seen a prophetic dream in advance, then he would probably already be dead.
That forced Fuguki to stop once again.
And that brief delay had been enough for Kirigakure to strip him even of the title of commander.
He understood clearly now—
If he failed to prove himself this time, then forget advancement. He might lose even his place among Kirigakure's future upper ranks.
Forget becoming Mizukage.
The Third is too cold-blooded, Fuguki thought bitterly.
Not a shred of sentiment.
A flicker of dissatisfaction rose in his heart toward the Third Mizukage.
He had worked tirelessly for Kirigakure, done so much for the village, and yet because of a few setbacks—setbacks that all had understandable causes—he had been punished this harshly.
It was unfair.
Kushimaru felt the same.
He had done nothing wrong at all. The mistakes had been Fuguki's, yet he had been punished alongside him.
"Half a month…"
Genji turned toward Fuguki.
"Explain your plan. The command position will be held by Hozuki Kumogiri, but Kumogiri will only be responsible for leading the army into battle. If your plan is sound, I will make your contribution clear to Mizukage-sama."
"The village has never been stingy toward its meritorious men."
Hearing that promise, Fuguki's eyes lit up.
"Elder Genji, this is what I have in mind…"
He explained slowly, painstakingly, even taking out a battlefield map and walking through the strategy in detail.
These plans had already been refined in his mind for a long time.
He had considered every detail.
It could be said that with this plan in hand, even if Hozuki Kumogiri did nothing but rigidly execute it exactly as written, defeating the Suna army was inevitable.
Crushing Sunagakure was only a matter of time.
Genji smiled and nodded.
"Excellent, Fuguki. I did not misjudge you."
"Your talent in this area surpasses mine."
"Very well. We proceed according to your plan."
Receiving praise from Genji, Fuguki could not suppress a smile.
Beside him, Kushimaru's eyes flickered.
No matter how unwilling he was to acknowledge Fuguki, he had to admit it—
He could not devise a plan like this.
Still, he offered one suggestion.
"Elder Genji, I don't think we need to wait until tomorrow like Fuguki said. We can start tonight."
Genji hesitated.
Fuguki said at once, "Tonight would be too rushed. There wouldn't be enough time."
Genji glanced at Kushimaru.
"Then we begin tomorrow."
Then he turned toward Hozuki Kumogiri.
"Hozuki Kumogiri."
Kumogiri stepped forward with Hiramekarei slung over his shoulder.
"Elder Genji."
"Your task is clear?"
Kumogiri nodded.
"It is. I charge from the front. Whoever stands in my way dies."
Genji nodded, then added,
"As for Pakura…"
Fuguki replied, "Leave her to me and Juzo Biwa. The two of us are enough to keep Pakura pinned down. Aside from her, Sunagakure has no one else capable of stepping forward."
"Tomorrow…"
A cruel smile spread across his face.
"Sunagakure will be defeated."
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