Chapter 284 Leave the rest to me
The Anbu immediately took the order and retreated.
However, Kaito and Ao on the side sighed slightly at the same time.
The previous peace talks were actually held on the front line on the Land of Whirlpool.
But this time, the Third Mizukage asked Konoha to come to the Kirigakure Village for peace talks, and asked for it to be done within ten days.
It was obvious that he wanted to show up in front of the people of Konohagakure while he was still alive and maintain this deterrent effect.
After all, Yagura, an important fighting force of the Kirigakure Village, has been declared a traitor, and the village may not be able to withstand the blow of losing another Kage-level fighting force now.
Even though the Third Mizukage is bound to die now, he at least cannot disappear in public, otherwise the subsequent peace talks will be even more impossible.
In the next few days, Kaito and Ao always followed the Third Mizukage.
Watching this old man handle various things in a clear and orderly manner.
This also changed Kaito's previous prejudice that the Third Mizukage was just a mascot and the real work was done by the Elder Genji.
During this period, Ao was appointed as Jonin Commander, and he remained the front-line commander, and his position as squad leader of the Perception Unit was also still a part-time job.
Harusame resumed his position as Leader of the Flying Unit and deputy commander of the front line.
Even Kisame has been appointed as the deputy director of the Anbu. The current Anbu director, Kushimaru, has been weakened due to a broken arm, so it is possible that Kisame will be able to become the director of the Anbu in a few years.
On the contrary, Kaito, who played the biggest role this time, did not receive any new appointment from beginning to end.
Even within the Flying Unit, there was no mention of promoting him to the position of deputy leader. Instead, the reckless man Kaguya Rosso was appointed as the deputy leader of the Flying Unit.
However, regarding this matter, apart from Kaguya Rosso and Biwa Juzo who complained a little, no one else, including Kaito himself, expressed any opinion.
Kaito, who gradually came into contact with various events in the Kirigakure Village, also learned about the strange situation in the Kirigakure Village.
The three top families in the Kirigakure Village are the Yuki Clan, the Kaguya Clan, and the Hozuki Clan. Each of them has its own industries.
The Yuki Clan mainly engages in the drug trade, the Hozuki Clan controls 50% of the marine fish catch in the Kirigakure Village, and even the seemingly reckless Kaguya Clan owns several island mines.
The remaining shops and land in the village are basically controlled by other large and small ninja clans or the Land of Water nobles.
On the contrary, the Kirigakure Village itself not only has no pillar industries, but as a not-so-prosperous city, even its tax revenue is pitifully low.
The commission that ninjas take from accepting missions is the majority source of income for the Kirigakure Village.
The remaining funding gap is basically funded by the Daimyo of the Land of Water. In addition, the Daimyo of the Land of Water also controls a considerable portion of the mission share, which means that the Kirigakure Village needs to be constrained by the Daimyo in many matters.
This is also the reason why the Third Mizukage attached so much importance to the Land of Whirlpool.
All the Daimyo of the Land of Water needed was a port close to the Land of Fire for trade, and he promised that if the Kirigakure Village stationed a garrison on the Land of Whirlpool, the taxes from this new city would belong to the Kirigakure Village.
It is foreseeable that the trade in this city will be very prosperous, and the tax revenue will even exceed that of the Kirigakure Village itself.
But now all the issues come back to the peace talks.
Kirigakure Village is unable to do so now. It is unable to build a city on the Land of Whirlpool despite the pressure from Konohagakure. After all, the geographical location of the Land of Whirlpool is too close to the Land of Fire.
However, after the Third Mizukage invited Konohagakure to negotiate, Konohagakure temporarily suspended the negotiation process with the ridiculous excuse that the war was now in a stalemate.
This continued until the tenth day after Kaito and others returned to the village.
The Third Mizukage reluctantly put down the documents in his hand and dismissed everyone, including the Anbu guards, leaving only Kaito and Ao.
At this moment, both Ao and Kaito felt the heavy atmosphere. They all stood obediently in front of their desks, waiting for the Third Mizukage to speak without saying a word.
The Third Mizukage first glanced at Ao who was lowering his head, and then turned his gaze to Kaito, with a hint of gentleness in his eyes.
"Kaito, have you made up your mind?"
This question came without any preface or context, but the three people present knew what the Third Mizukage was asking.
Once in the front-line camp, the Third Mizukage asked Kaito if he wanted to become a Jinchūriki. At that time, he was actually asking Kaito if he had ever considered becoming a Mizukage.
However, Kaito declined the offer on the grounds that he was too young.
Today, Kaito's strength no longer needs the bonus of the tailed beast, and he is already the strongest in the Kirigakure Village. The Third Mizukage raised this question again.
In other words, what the Third Mizukage had been doing in the past ten days was always in anticipation of Kaito's answer.
Want to become the Fourth Mizukage?
In fact, from Kaito's perspective, there are ten thousand reasons to refuse the position of Mizukage.
In fact, it has not even been a year since the Third Mizukage asked the question, and Kaito is still very young, not even thirteen years old.
Kaito himself was a person who was afraid of trouble. Even if he was unwilling to become the Mizukage, even with the assistance of the elder Genji, he still had to deal with countless official duties.
And with Kaito's current reputation in the Kirigakure Village, he can achieve the same status as Jiraiya in Konoha without the position of Mizukage, and he can be even freer.
From the perspective of improving strength, it is difficult to trigger new achievements now. Ninja missions will be the largest source of gold coins for Kaito besides daily tasks, but becoming a Mizukage means that he can no longer do missions.
In short, Kaito could come up with all kinds of reasons to refuse the position of Mizukage.
But when he saw the expectant look in the eyes of this dying old man, this old man who always appeared serious and cold-blooded, but had no wife, no family, no children, and had dedicated his entire life to the Kirigakure Village.
Kaito's heart trembled involuntarily, then he looked at the Third Mizukage with a firm gaze and nodded heavily.
"I've made up my mind! Third Mizukage-sama!"
Hearing what Kaito said, the Third Mizukage's mouth corners suddenly curled up, and then he laughed heartily, and the laughter became louder and louder.
His heartfelt laughter was interrupted by a series of coughing fits.
Kaito and Ao hurriedly wanted to go forward to check, but were stopped by the Third Mizukage who waved his hand.
The Third Mizukage did not look at Kaito and the others. Instead, he muttered to himself, as if he was explaining to Kaito and the others, or as if he was talking to himself.
"In fact, I never thought of depriving Yagura of his inheritance rights. I want Ao to become Jinchūriki just to increase the village's combat power. If Kaito doesn't want to be the Fourth Mizukage, then he can be the Fifth Mizukage. The village's Kage has always respected strength. It's ridiculous that Yagura actually thinks he can't defeat Ao after he becomes Jinchūriki."
"Back then, whether it was the First Mizukage-sama, that bastard Gengetsu, or me, we all relied on our own strength to seize the position of Mizukage. Why does he think I will break this tradition?"
"If you haven't figured it out, I originally wanted to let Ao rely on the power of the tailed beast to become the Fourth Mizukage after Konoha agrees to the peace talks. Without that Yagura, it would be enough for Ao to be a Kage. Then Kaito would have enough time to think and grow. But now, time is running out."
The Third Mizukage suddenly sat up straight, his eyes wide open, veins bulging in his arms, and he slammed the table hard.
"Hit! You must hurt Konohagakure!"
These words seemed to have exhausted the Third Mizukage's last bit of strength. He collapsed on the seat, still mumbling, but no one could hear what he was saying.
"That bastard Gengetsu only defeated me halfway at the beginning, and still left me with such a big mess. Damn it!"
Seeing this, Kaito approached cautiously, wanting to check on the Third Mizukage's condition.
But Kaito found that the old man had stopped breathing, his hands hung weakly to the ground, and there was a smile on his face. Kaito doesn't know what good things he was thinking about.
Previously, Kaito had judged that the Third Mizukage had only eleven or twelve days left to live, but now he died before nightfall on the tenth day.
It's not that Kaito's medical level was misjudged, but that the old man knew himself better.
He worked day and night during these ten days, and was eager to teach Kaito by words and deeds, as if he wanted to pass on all his understanding and experience of the position of Mizukage to Kaito.
With such consumption, if he wasn't worried that Konoha would send someone to negotiate within ten days, he wouldn't have been able to hold on until now.
Even until the moment before his death, the Third Mizukage did not show any signs of fatigue or weakness.
Kaito walked forward, gently stroked the old man's eyes with his palm, and slowly closed his eyes, as if the old man who usually had his eyes squinted was just temporarily asleep.
Then he whispered beside him.
"Leave the rest to me."
(End of this chapter)