"Hokage Advisor?" Everyone present showed expressions of surprise.

  In the unique enviro of the Land of Water, Kiri prioritized safeguarding its secrets above all else. Due to its ck of an intelligework on the ti, it was always oep behind in obtainiernal information.

  However, as the chaos in Kiri worsened, its ability to gather information about the outside world had not just fallen behind—it had practically colpsed.

  This artly due to some of the strategies implemented by Obito. The systematic dismantling of their informatioworks had been thh, leaving them blind to the outside world.

  In his vision, Kiri was to bee a pletely isoted pce, disected from the ti's information flow—a tool-produg ground exclusively for him.

  As a result, no one present was even aware that Konoha had appointed a new Hokage Advisor.

  "That's correct," Masashi nodded. "Therefore, the Uchiha 's position in Konoha has ged pared to before. I trust you all uand this."

  "I see," an elder said as he stroked his beard. "That is ued. I didn't think the Uchiha would regain such a position. You must have paid a signifit price."

  The elder appeared to be the spokesperson for the group; when he spoke, the others remained silent.

  "You're mistaken about that," Masashi shook his head. "It's mainly because others made us look good by parison."

  The group's expressions stiffened immediately.

  They weren't sure if he was making an insult, but they didn't believe the Uchiha could have easily gaihe advisor position. They assumed he was simply exaggerating his 's advantage.

  Still, it was undeniable that the bance of power had shifted.

  Kiri didn't have an advisor to its Mizukage, but they uood the significe of such a position. Their own situation had worsened as the internal flicts within Kiri became more public.

  "The Uchiha truly lives up to its he elder said deeply. "No doubt, the fame of the White Ghost and the Teleporter pyed an important role. But to cim it came without a price is unreasonable. Our cooperation remains mutually beneficial."

  "So you don't believe me?" Masashi ughed.

  "It's not disbelief—it's just not realistic," the elder shook his head. "We should be ho with each other."

  "What about a new pn?" Masashi said. "Iioween ninja s don't o be so plicated. Let's y everything oable."

  The group furrowed their brows, exging gnces in the silehey couldn't e up with a pn on the spot.

  inally, it was the Uchiha who had proposed building closer ties, and the Kiri s had a rough idea of their motivations. It had been a wele suggestion.

  The s had assumed that the Uchiha's future involved a plete break with Konoha and migration of their entire .

  In Kiri's initial pn, they had prepared to officially ihe Uchiha to relocate to the Land of Water wheiming was right.

  The ninja s of Kiri had always tightly baogether to safeguard their collective is. Marriage alliances were a on strategy, and in this, they were less restraihan the ninja s of Konoha.

  Their unity was rehough it came with a reputation for xenophobia.

  That said, their xenophobia depended oarget.

  For the Uchiha , they would open their arms in wele. These ninja s uood one key principle: if the pie wasn't growing, their unity would eventually fail under pressure.

  They also hoped tthen Kiri and had worked hard toward that goal.

  The Uchiha joining them would drastically transform Kiri's power.

  The person they valued most was Masashi himself. To them, he was more like a Kiri ninja than anyone else—someohey even sidered a future Mizukage didate.

  Their transparent plotting almost made him want to ugh.

  They had even beguing didates for marriage alliances within their s. Before the Yuki 's downfall, Hikari had been their chosen didate.

  The Hōzuki , however, believed Mei would be a better choice. To the Hōzuki, who admired strength and bat, Hikari—who wasn't even a ninja—seemed far inferior to the White Ghost. In their view, Hikari would be nothing more than a e if she married into the Uchiha .

  Of course, now that the Yuki was gone, Hikari had lost that status. Still, her past reputation had drawy of wolves.

  This was Kiri's way—if someone messed up their own game, they couldn't expect others to honor past alliances.

  Evesuki, who had pced Hikari in the guesthouse and hadn't acted on her, was sidered more det than the rest of the wolves.

  "We may not be able to give you an answer right away," the elder said after a long discussion. "How long will you be staying in Kiri?"

  "The vilge hasn't set aris on me," Masashi replied, pointing to the ceiling with deliberate casualness. "After all, my cousin also has an important task here."

  "The Fourth Mizukage, huh..." The elder's eyes narrowed thoughtfully, analyzing various possibilities. "Could it be that you're here to deal with your own 's traitor?"

  "The Hokage is aware of his identity," Masashi said. "He was once his student. Out of past ses, we hesitated to act. But his as—clearly betraying the vilge and attag the Hokage—leave us no choice."

  Everyone uood.

  No wonder Konoha wanted him dead.

  The major ninja s had already learned about the Fourth Mizukage being under someone's trol, though the information had been tightly guarded.

  Ea had hoped to use this as leverage wheime was right. But now, it seemed Konoha inteo eliminate all these s as obstacles.

  If it weren't for their desire to avoid an all-out civil war in Kiri, they would have leaked the information already.

  "We discuss future cooperation ter," the elder said sharply, leaning forward with more iy. "For now, why don't we join forces to resolve the Mizukage issue? Konoha likely sent you here because they're ed Kiri's chaos could affect them."

  "That's true," Masashi aowledged, keeping his face carefully ral.

  "In that case, let's finish what Zabuza failed to do. We'll help you take him out."

  "I never said I wao assassihe Mizukage," Masashi shook his head. "Our first task is simply to rehe agreement."

  "A man under trol—what's the point iing him?" The elder gestured to the group. "With us here, you eliminate your traitor easily. The Fourth Mizukage will have no choice but to step down, and we'll elect a new Mizukage to rehe agreement with Konoha."

  "If that be achieved, it's worth sidering," Masashi nodded.

  Inwardly, he almost ughed. This tedious game was nearly over.

  If he was still Muzo, he would have forced them to do what he wanted, but Muzo was already dead, and he didn't want to be that person again.

  "So, it's a deal?"

  "Yes, a deal," Masashi stood up. "You discuss the details at your leisure. I'll take my leave."

  "Since you're already here, why not stay for a meal?" The elder stroked his beard and g Hikari, his eyes glinting with self-satisfa as if he'd uncovered some gra. "Young people o take care of themselves. Speaking of which, Hikari was yours to begin with. This is quite a ce."

  Masashi paused, and said, "Is that so? We really are fated, then."

  He wasn't Obito—he had no desire to sughter ninja s like chis, especially with so many ordinary people caught up in the mess.

  But watg these Kiri elders, Masashi could only shake his head at their outdated ways. Their mi was so backward that even trying to work with them seemed pointless. The best he could hope for was avoiding direct flict.

  Ba Konoha, people often criticized the Uchiha and Hyūga for their traditional values. But at least they had evolved with the times. These Kiri traditionalists, with their arranged marriages and pames, were still living as if the Warring States Period had never ended.

  After saying everything that o be said, Masashi left.

  Being with those people made him feel extremely unfortable. pared to them, Masu and his group were far mreeable—even Zabuza's deadpan face appeared cute.

  Of course, he took Hikari with him when he left, noting the subtle way she kept close to his shadow.

  The destru of the Yuki was something he hadn't anticipated. He had thought that after his a on the beach back then, if this ninja had even a modicum of intelligehey wouldn't have been wiped out.

  Turned out, he overestimated them.

  In the inal timelihe true cause of Kiri ninja s' destru wasn't Obito, but their own arrogance, whipletely aliehe masses.

  her the civilian ninjas nor the ordinary people of the Land of Water had any sympathy for these ninja s; they were full of hatred instead.

  This wasn't something that could be swayed by mere words.

  In trast, in the inal timeline, although the Uchiha wasn't well-liked, before the ails showed up to funt its big eyes in the vilge, the vilgers didn't have much of an issue with the Uchiha.

  Even in the early days of the vilge, with Madara, people were more afraid of him than they were disgusted. In fact, he had quite a bit of popurity at the time, with many people genuinely admiring him.

  Many truly believed that being born in the same era as Hashirama was simply his misfortuherwise, he would have been invincible.

  Madara could also sehe vilgers' true opinions about him—he'd eve anxious and ruo help kids up when they fell on the road.

  Though he did scare the kids half to death.

  It couldn't be helped. He possessed the most handsome deadpan fa the world. After Izuna's death, he had hardly smiled a few times.

  Perhaps his smile was something only Hashirama had ever seen.

  But Masashi wasn't ied in the smiles of men.

  After leaving the ba hall, he returo his room.

  Once again, he felt that this room was excessively fancy. Especially that sofa—so tiny it couldn't even be fortably id on.

  The only redeemiure was the rge bed, perfect for someoless who might start sleepiically but wake up sprawled horizontally.

  His initial mission had been successfully pleted. Now, he just had to wait for the right opportunity.

  It to Shisui's genjutsu to create that opportunity.

  He was curious to see whether Obito would dare to let the Mizukage, whom he trolled, meet Shisui.

  Shisui's genjutsu was renowned within the , and his ability to break genjutsu was also top-notch.

  If they didn't allow such a meeting, then half of the pn would already be plete.

  "Go bad rest," he said to Hikari, who was following him.

  However, she showed a hesitant expression.

  " I stay here?" she asked,

  Masashi thought about it—she robably afraid of exposing the pn.

  "Alright, let's chat then," he replied, carefully her body nguage.

  Since Hikari was inally a member of the Yuki , he also wao know how the Yuki had mao destroy themselves.

  Because he was genuinely curious.

  Even if Obito trolled the Mizukage, he couldn't have wiped out a ninja for no reason.

  Otherwise, if this group rebelled, while Obito himself wouldn't have been harmed, he would definitely have had to abandon Kiri as his base.

  Masashi took off his shoes, sat cross-legged on the bed, and patted the spot in front of him, signaling for Hikari to sit down as well.

  It wasn't that he didn't want to sit on the sofa—he literally couldn't fit. It was ridiculously small, like a decoration.

  Hikari carefully climbed onto the bed and k politely, hands folded in her p.

  "Alright, tell me—how did the Yuki meet their end?" Masashi asked with a serious expression.

  "The elders..." Hikari took a deep breath, steadying herself. "They became obsessed with produg a Mizukage."

  "Pride before the fall," Masashi nodded. "tinue."

  "They believed our bloodline made us destined freatness. That we were chosen by the snow itself."

  "And the younger geion?"

  "They took a without uanding the sequehey thought our ret successes meant we were ready."

  As someone who had mahe Yuki 's business, she had access to plenty of information and had a sharp, logical mind. In the eyes of others, her only fw was her ck of talent as a ninja.

  Any anization sows the seeds of its owru during its most prosperous period.

  Ninja s were no exception.

  Even the powerful Ninshū had disappeared.

  From Hikari's at, he pieced together what had happened.

  In short: "If the Hōzuki do it, so we."

  With such a mi, it was no surprise that the new geion started ag on their own.

  The Seizukage had the ability to defeat the entire Kiri, but the Yuki clearly cked such power.

  The Yuki wasn't the first to destroy themselves for the dream of produg a Kage, and they wouldn't be the st.

  "Do you have any family left?" Masashi asked, watg her expression carefully.

  "I have a younger brother," Hikari replied, a genuine smile appearing on her face for the first time.

  "Just one younger brother? What's his name?"

  "His name is Haku."

  "Oh, Haku, huh?" Masashi nodded, finding the name oddly familiar.

  The more he thought about it, the more familiar it sounded.

  Wait—damn! That Haku? The one who figured out the Yuki 's secret teiques on his own without any guidance?

  Even though Masashi didn't think much of the teique itself, he k was impressive, showing just how solid the 's foundation was.

  A kid like Haku, who could master such abilities, was definitely on the genius tier.

  In the inal timeline, Konoha had a simir genius—Neji, the son of Hizashi, who mao learn the Palm Rotatioirely on his own.

  The Hyūga shared everything with their members, except for the Palm Rotation, which was reserved solely for the main family.

  "How old is your brother?"

  "Five."

  The age checked out.

  He made up his mind—his obsession with colleg prodigies wouldn't let him miss even a small ce.

  sidering he had already taken in Karin, and now possibly Haku...

  If he picked up one more, he could start his own little study-abroad css.

  What could be more satisfying for a collector?

  He was defiaking this one.

  "You'll stay here for now—you have the bed." Having decided, he acted quickly. Whether out of sce or his colleg tendencies, Hikari and her brother had to stay under his prote.

  Nothing could happen to them.

  "When this matter is over, I'll bring your brother too. From now on, you two will join Konoha. Don't worry, the people there are normal—none of the craziness you see here."

  Hearing this, Hikari froze.

  She uood that as long as Haku remained uhe Hōzuki 's trol, she would remain their sve—a toy to please the powerful.

  The only reason she hadn't been used yet was to maximize her value.

  Once she lost her purity, she would bee no different from the other women in this building.

  Masashi's words were like a bolt of lightning in a clear sky, promising her and Haku a new life. But after the destru of the Yuki , she had learo close herself off, never revealirue thoughts.

  The risks were too great.

  Even if this man had once been her betrothed—though it was entirely one-sided and in the past.

  She lowered her head, suppressing the turbuleions in her heart. This was the limit of what she could manage.

  "Alright, go to sleep," Masashi said.

  Having learned everything he wanted, he got out of bed and put his shoes ba.

  He left a Flying Thunder God mark in the room, carefully pg it where it wouldn't be easily noticed.

  "Take me to Shisui's room first, then e back to rest. If aops you, just say I need you to keep me pany tonight."

  I didn't want to do this, but it seems I o do some self-promotion. If you're an Are fan, check out Are: Thicker Than Blood!