Yagura's words demonstrate that the Five Kage were indeed ninjas with the most intelligen this world.

  Information was one of the most powerful forces a ninja could have. There were far too few people who could disregard intelligend rely solely on raw bat power.

  Masashi's smooth jourhus far owed much to the power of information.

  On the flip side, any individual who exhibited enough uability had to be treated with caution.

  Yagura was currently the most uable person he had entered in this life.

  "Mizukage-sama, wasn't it you who wiped out the Yuki ?" he asked. "Taking trol of someone from the Yuki doesn't seem like something you would do."

  "At the time, I was under trol. This was the only insignifit thing I could do as the Mizukage." Yagura spoke seriously. "After all, it was the genjutsu of the Mangekyō Sharingan. I only mao break free with great effort."

  After saying this, he felt it wasn't ving enough, so he added more.

  "That power is truly overwhelming. I 't believe there is such a powerful for this world. The Uchiha truly deserve to be called the stro the ninja world."

  Masashi and Shisui remained expressionless. Both of them had their Sharingan activated at this moment.

  Masashi didn't o say anything, but Shisui possessed a pair of Mangekyō Sharingan himself.

  "Mizukage-sama."

  "What is it, Shisui?"

  "Please show a little more siy. The way you're ag right now reminds me of Masashi-nii, and I'm not enjoying this experience."

  "..."

  "..."

  Shisui snorted, his Sharingan staring ily at Yagura.

  Despite the banter, he wasn't sg off on his duties.

  "Let's get to the point. Stop wasting time with meaningless fttery." Masashi sighed.

  This marked the beginning of the tdown to the end of the Hōzuki .

  Anreat was about to face destru.

  "I'm afraid we ot fulfill your request," he said to Yagura. "As Konoha's ninjas, Shisui and I ot and will not intervene iernal affairs of Kiri."

  "It's not an internal matter," Yagura said without ging his expression. "The missing-nin from Kiri, led by the Hōzuki , have been colborating with Uchiha traitor, attempting to seize trol of the vilge. Konoha discovered this and assisted me, the Mizukage, in eradig them to maintain our amicable retionship."

  "That's rough, don't you think so?"

  "Yes, it's a bit crude. But as long as it works, that's all that matters," Yagura replied. "Perhaps you think I'm lying, but I was indeed trolled at first, and their goal was to strike at Konoha's power."

  "Oh?" Masashi grew ied. "And how did you break free?"

  Since Obito's pn for the Eye of the Moon required weakening Konoha as a key step, it was worth probing whether Yagura's words were true or just a lucky guess.

  "It's embarrassing to say, but when the enemy trolled me to attack the Yuki , attempting to kill every member of the , I was so impacted by the tragedy that I broke free of their genjutsu." Yagura wore a sorrowful expression. "Seeing my panions die at my hands caused me immense pain."

  Liar! Masashi watched him expressionlessly as Yagura delivered his performance.

  "Mizukage-sama."

  "Hmm?"

  "That's enough. How many times have you used that excuse? you take it down a notch?"

  From the side, Shisui shot Yagura a schadenfreude-filled look.

  "My apologies. I might have gotten a bit carried away." Yagura immediately dropped the sorrowful act, returning to normal. "But that's basically what happened. Retly, the enemy modified his teique, but it's not perfected. I found an opportunity to ect with the Three-Tails' spirit and broke free of his genjutsu together."

  That's better.

  In the inal timeline, Yagura was indeed trolled, but he was such a minor character iory that even his death wasn't eborated upon. He didn't get the attention he deserved, uher mine who were killed off early.

  Even during the Five Kage Summit, Yagura was mentioned only briefly, as the vilges were still scheming against each other. Even half-truths had ulterior motives behind them.

  It never made sehat Yagura, the first person since Hashirama and Madara to perfectly trol a tailed beast, would go down so easily.

  For someoo achieve such a feat, their chakra would have to be incredibly strong. In the end, genjutsu was just a battle of chakra, and Obito's current chakra shouldn't have been enough to crush Yagura.

  The portrayal of Kiri in the inal timeline never added up. It was as though, once Yagura's trol was discovered, all the vilge's problems were miraculously resolved. The previous bloodshed suddenly seemed like a path to the vilge's rebirth.

  Now, this sario felt far more reasonable.

  And very much like Obito.

  He always enjoyed showing off his "innovations" to Masashi—only for them to backfire spectacurly.

  Surprisingly, Masashi almost sympathized with Bck Zetsu for a moment. Even though Bck Zetsu was a vilin, his work ethic was endable.

  It must have been exhausting to partner with someone like Obito, whose is often took prece over their pns.

  Still, vilins were vilins. When they messed up, Masashi beed.

  If he couldn't stop the vilins, he might as well ence Obito to develop more "hobbies" like these.

  "I still hope you and Shisui will sider my proposal carefully." Yagura said. "From Konoha's perspective, you wouldn't want Kiri to remain in chaos for too long."

  Masashi looked at him, whose expressiorayed nothing. His poker face was impressive.

  "I'm sorry, but your reasoning is still insuffit," Masashi replied. "The risks of getting involved are too great. If it's to deal with traitors, her you nor the Hōzuki will hold back. Why should we step in and bring trouble upon ourselves?"

  "If the flict drags on, Kiri might resolve it by deg war on Konoha."

  "That's fine. Ninjas who don't fight will bee obsolete."

  "You're truly greedy, Masashi." Yagura sighed, relutly another bargaining chip. "You take Hikari and her brother."

  "I'm sorry. That's still not enough, Mizukage-sama. It's not greed—it's caution. Times have ged. Any a Shisui and I take will be tied to the Uchiha name. Now, the Uchiha must be particurly careful."

  "A Kage Advisor deed o be cautious." Yagura nodded. "But what if Kiri provided the Association with access to the Land of Water?"

  "What do you mean?"

  "The Land of Water is isoted by the sea but ri resources. Its nobles also wish to fier opportuo grow their wealth. I know a little about how the Kage Assistant's ele was won. If Kiri shows its siy and vihe Water daimyō to allow the Association to act as a special trading partner with the Land of Fire, then, sidering the challehe Association faces, we will protect the Association's personnel and help solve any problems within the Land of Water."

  "You sound like you're trying to take trol."

  "I think no one atch you in this area. As long as you're alive, the Association belongs to the Uchiha."

  Huh? The Mizukage is fttering me now?

  "Masashi, think about it. As a show of siy, I'll give the Hōzuki other day. After all, I don't want to kill my rades either."

  Yagura pced the Mizukage's ceremonial hat ba his head.

  "I've eoday's versation with both of you. But now, I should return. After all…" he smiled faintly, "I am a 'useless man' who was trolled, after all."

  ---

  After returning to the Mizukage building, Yagura once again seemed like the rumored puppet Mizukage, trolled by outsiders.

  The three of them returo the cil chamber and, following the protocol, performed a formal py of "This agreement isn't great. Let's reiate it and talk again."

  After that, each persoheir separate ways.

  Outside the building, Masashi and Shisui returo their guesthouse, heading straight to Shisui's room.

  His room had a small bed, but the sofa was wide and long—good for discussions.

  Sitting on the sofa, the two began to digest what they had gaioday at the Mizukage building.

  Yagura had already presented his terms on the rooftop; it was now up to the two of them to decide.

  from the sidelines posed no risk, while getting involved promised high returns but with signifit risks.

  From a risk perspective, the two should have chosen the former.

  That was Shisui's view—he believed the Uchiha eeded to proceed cautiously during this critical period.

  However, being someone who knew about Kaguya sealed on the moon, Masashi had to sider more.

  On the surface, killing Obito and Nagato would allow Kaguya to tinue sleeping. But in truth, Bck Zetsu—the prime instigator—possessed limitless possibilities, and the current shinobi world had no jutsu capable of eliminating or sealing it.

  The only choice before Masashi was to prevent everything with sheer, overwhelming strength.

  Striving to master Yin-Yang Release was also for tering Nagato's Rinnegan—a set of troublesome eyes left behind by Madara.

  Yet, no matter how powerful the Rinnegan was, without the Ten-Tails, it was meaningless.

  Engaging Nagato head-on wasn't particurly signifit; the tailed beasts were the real focus.

  tinuously eliminating jinchūriki was oion, but it was a stopgap measure. F an alliah strong jinchūriki for mutual defense was much better.

  The olive braended by Yagura had undeniably tempted Masashi.

  Not only was he a perfect jinchūriki who trolled his tailed beast fwlessly, but he was also the Mizukage—helping him would be immensely beneficial.

  If Kiri could bee a normal vilge, it could serve as a fallback option for the Uchiha.

  After sidering it carefully, Masashi shared his thoughts with Shisui.

  "Masashi-nii, why do you have so little fiden the vilge?" Shisui instinctively rejected any suggestion that would isote the Uchiha from Konoha.

  He had grown up in Konoha, after all—it was his home.

  "This isn't about the vilge. People's hearts are uable; you always o prepare multiple paths," Masashi replied. "Even if it's not useful now, it might help someone iure."

  "Fine, but if anything goes wrong, the Uchiha might end up being bmed for starting a war." Though Shisui trusted Masashi's judgment, he felt obligated to point this out.

  "I know that," Masashi nodded. "But Obito's existence is very sensitive. In truth, we're the ones forced to act."

  As a member of the Uchiha d a Mangekyō Sharingan wielder, Obito naturally cast a shadow over the Uchiha name.

  If the Uchiha weren't present during his as, that would be ohing. But if any Uchiha resent, they would be forced to act—or else the would bear responsibility for his as.

  Much of the chaos caused by Obito would easily be framed as a spiracy by the Uchiha.

  That was likely why he used his Mangekyō Sharingan so often.

  The Uchiha was the greatest obstacle to the Eye of the Moon Pn.

  While his as could be absurd at times, his logic was clear.

  Eliminating the Uchiha took prece athering the tailed beasts.

  For now, this pitfall had been temporarily buried. But as for the future, Masashi wasn't optimistic.

  Besides Kiri, there truly weren't many other viable options...

  "Alright, since you have so much fiden Kiri, I have no objes," Shisui said after a moment's thought. He, too, was frustrated with Obito's stant efforts to smear the Uchiha name.

  "Don't look so relut." Masashi grinned, pulling out a sealing scroll arag its tents.

  It was two sets of ANBU uniforms—Kiri's ANBU, to be precise.

  "Masashi-nii, where did you get these?" Shisui asked in surprise.

  "I replicated them when we were in the vilge," Masashi replied. "How do they look? Identical to Kiri's ANBU, right?"

  He picked up a mask and tossed oo Shisui, putting the other one on himself.

  With the mask on, he became emotionless.

  Later, he could simply burfit, and no matter what happened, it wouldn't him.

  It would be Masked Man vs. Masked Man.

  "You're really well-prepared…" Shisui muttered, fiddling with the mask in his hand, speechless.

  On the rooftop earlier, Masashi and the Mizukage had gone bad forth with seemingly no choice but to accept the situation. The act had been fwless.

  Shisui was skilled in bat strategies and tricks but couldn't pull off something like this.

  Sometimes, he tried to be a bit shameless, but it never worked—people could always tell he was faking it.

  Masashi had once mocked him for being "form without spirit."

  Who kneirit eve?

  Looking at the Kiri ANBU outfit, though, Shisui felt like he uood a bit.

  Leaving Shisui to his thoughts, Masashi sealed his outfit bato the scroll auro his room.

  Wheered, he saw Hikari sitting on the bed, gazing out the window.

  The current state of Kiri and its ninja were well reflected in her.

  Seeing him return, Hikari quickly climbed off the bed to bow.

  "No need, just rest," Masashi said.

  He took out the unifaiered the dressing room, and ged into it.

  When he emerged, he stood before Hikari in full Kiri ANBU gear.

  "Masashi?" Hikari stiffe the familiar image.

  She had a feeling her beor was about to cause trouble.

  "What do you think? Does it fit well? Does it look like the Kiri ANBU?" Masashi asked casually.

  "It… it looks very simir…"

  Back when her still existed, she had been to the Mizukage building and was familiar with the ANBU there.

  Masashi's outfit was identical to the Mizukage Guard—the elite of the Kiri ANBU.

  "As long as it looks ving." Masashi nodded with satisfa. "Feel free to pass the time however you like. I'm going out to take a look around."

  "Where are you going?"

  "Kiri is a big vilge; I want to see more of it," Masashi said with a smile. He formed hand seals and created a shadow e.

  The e, however, still wore Konoha's ninja attire.

  After pg a special Flying Thunder God Seal on his e, Masashi disappeared from the room.