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The Third Mizukage flipped the hourglass on his desk, then returned to Yagura’s dossier, weighing the decision before him.
Age slows the mind.
Dulls efficiency.
So the Third Mizukage had developed a habit—an hourglass on his desk.
When a problem required thought, he flipped it over.
A fixed window to think.
Master Yuan sat motionless, silent as stone.
He might have been asleep.
Sand trickled down grain by grain.
The lower chamber filled.
Until the countdown ran out.
The Third Mizukage set down the documents and rubbed the bridge of his nose.
“Elder, your thoughts?”
“Ninja matters are not my place to decide, Mizukage.”
Master Yuan picked up the thread without missing a beat, his authority boundaries clear.
“From my perspective, if the Three-Tails finds a suitable jinchuriki, we can eliminate the Sealing Squad expenses.”
The Three-Tails wasn’t swimming free in the Land of Water’s lakes.
No hidden village would tolerate a tailed beast or its jinchuriki having anything to do with freedom.
Too much freedom meant trouble.
If a jinchuriki got careless and another village captured them along with their beast, there’d be no one to cry to.
Without a jinchuriki to bind it, the Hidden Mist was even less likely to let the Three-Tails roam.
If it swam out to sea while no one was watching, who would they cry to then?
At the lake where the Three-Tails currently resided, the village had stationed a permanent sealing squad.
Several hundred people at an outpost near the shore, maintaining a massive barrier over the water.
A single sealing tag wasn’t cheap.
The tags for the Three-Tails weren’t counted one by one.
Money flowing like water.
Who could sustain that?
Why buy them at all?
Because the Hidden Mist lacked strong sealing techniques.
In tailed beast jinchuriki development, they lagged far behind the other four villages.
Right now, the village and the Three-Tails had reached a kind of terrifying peace.
Neither side provoked the other, nothing went wrong.
But still.
The permanent sealing squad guarding the Three-Tails, plus other combat and support ninja, totaled nearly a thousand people.
Every day at that lake, they spent money without producing anything.
Not small money, either.
The Three-Tails wasn’t alone.
The Six-Tails received the same treatment.
The enormous figure at the bottom made the scales in his mind tip.
In two years, once that boy Utakata’s body and chakra could handle being a jinchuriki, the Six-Tails expenses would end.
If the Karatachi child could serve as a jinchuriki, the Three-Tails could be sealed immediately.
Withdraw that manpower and funding.
Gain two controllable tailed beast jinchuriki.
War preparations for the next Great Ninja War could be far more strong.
The Third Mizukage tapped his fingers on the desk.
Three figures materialized in the office.
The Hidden Mist’s Anbu.
The masked ninja knelt.
“Mizukage-sama, your orders?”
“Go to the Karatachi residence. Bring Karatachi Yagura here. I’ll personally confirm whether he has the aptitude to serve as a jinchuriki.”
“Yes, Mizukage-sama.”
No questions.
No hesitation.
The Anbu at the Third Mizukage’s side answered directly to him, separate from the forces under Suikazan Fuguki’s command.
They protected the Mizukage.
Obeyed only his orders.
Executed them with maximum speed and efficiency, lives be damned.
The three Anbu vanished.
So that child had the potential to become a jinchuriki.
Master Yuan chuckled.
“Excellent, Mizukage. If the Three-Tails finds a suitable jinchuriki, we can save a large sum and redirect it to more urgent needs.”
The Third Mizukage grunted acknowledgment.
Nothing more.
Master Yuan wasn’t put off by the cold response.
The old man had always been like that.
Aloof, distant.
Decades as partners meant they knew each other’s personalities well.
“Construction, Agriculture… so many departments have come asking for funds. But with the treasury as it is, I have nothing to allocate. I’ve had to avoid them.”
“……”
The Third Mizukage stayed silent for a moment, unwilling to dampen his old friend’s spirits.
“Elder, I have other uses for those funds.”
The smile on Master Yuan’s face stiffened.
Seconds passed.
His tone sank.
“Is that so… very well.”
He didn’t ask what the Third Mizukage intended to do with the money.
As the Hidden Mist’s head steward, he knew where every coin flowed.
Most of the money went to the Land of Craftsmen, purchasing war supplies.
…
Yagura hadn’t expected to meet the Third Mizukage so suddenly.
Grandfather Karatachi shifted to shield Yagura behind him, expression grave as he faced the three Anbu.
“Only Yagura goes alone?”
“Yes. Direct orders from Mizukage-sama.”
“We’re only following orders. Please don’t make this difficult, Karatachi Clan Head.”
Grandfather Karatachi’s heart sank.
He turned to check his grandson’s reaction, only to find Yagura eyeing the Anbu masks with open curiosity.
Exasperation surged.
His fist came down.
BANG.
On Yagura’s head.
“Can’t you show a little tension, you brat!”
“Ow, Grandpa.”
Yagura clutched his head and ducked low, slipping past his grandfather to stand before the three Anbu.
“Don’t worry, Grandpa. Our family has no grudge against the Third-sama. It’s just a meeting. He’s not going to do anything to me.”
Compared to clans like the Hozuki and Kaguya, the Karatachi had relatively good relations with the Third Mizukage.
Yagura didn’t believe the Third Mizukage would stoop to scheming against a child.
Robbery or worse, both impossible.
“Maybe if he likes me, I can even score a meal at the Mizukage’s table.”
The three Anbu: “……”
Masks hid their expressions, but they had to be utterly speechless.
This little brat really dared say that.
Even they had never scored a meal off the Mizukage.
No wonder the Karatachi Clan Head had looked so pained talking about his grandson back in the office.
A problem child indeed.
Grandfather Karatachi didn’t even have the energy to be angry.
“You little…”
Yagura’s words were crude but not wrong.
A trip to the Mizukage Building held no real danger.
He sighed and waved his hand.
Permission granted.
Yagura lit up.
He patted the shoulder of the Anbu wearing a cat-faced mask.
“Well then, well then, well then, let’s move out!”
The three Anbu could no longer maintain their poker faces beneath the masks.
Why do you look so eager!
➤ Next: The Third and the Fourth (Part 2)