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A week passed in a blur.
News that the Three-Tails jinchuriki had found their lucky candidate spread through every corner of the Hidden Mist Village.
Never underestimate ninja.
When it comes to intelligence gathering, they’re professionals.
The Third Mizukage had tried to keep it quiet, but large-scale troop movements toward the northern Land of Water and the near-total mobilization of the sealing squad couldn’t be hidden.
What in the north would require that kind of deployment?
If it were an enemy invasion, the sealing squad wouldn’t make sense.
Every chunin and above in the Hidden Mist knew the Three-Tails was sealed somewhere up north.
Combined with the sealing squad’s movement, the conclusion was obvious.
There was only one truth.
The village was sealing the Three-Tails.
And this time, unlike before when it lived in the lake, they were relocating it into a jinchuriki’s body.
Mangetsu and the others picked up the gossip through their own channels, then hit the library to cram everything they could about the Three-Tails, tailed beasts, and jinchuriki.
Zabuza closed his book.
After absorbing that much new information from scratch, his eyelids felt like lead.
He tossed the book aside.
“Speaking of which, haven’t seen Yagura in a while. He’s not dead, is he?”
Mangetsu glared.
“Hey!”
“Should be alive.” Kaede Onime was still reading.
Of the three, he was the scholar type.
Mangetsu snorted, drank some water to cool his urge to punch Zabuza, then flipped his palm.
“How do you figure?”
“Ran into him two days ago.”
“Where?”
“Market. I was buying soy sauce.”
“?” Zabuza’s expression went flat.
“Why would two young masters need to buy soy sauce at the market?”
He’d thought only kids from small families like his did that kind of thing.
“Running errands is no big deal.” Kaede Onime shrugged.
“Yagura looked like he’d been sent out as punishment.”
Punishment?
Made sense.
“Hey, hey.”
Mangetsu waved them closer and dropped his voice.
“You think Yagura knows about this? The jinchuriki thing?”
Zabuza rolled his eyes.
“Did your brain fall in the toilet? Something this big, there’s no way he doesn’t.”
Mangetsu bristled.
“You’re the one with no brain!”
Kaede Onime pointed at the [No Loud Noises] sign on the nearby bookshelf.
Tch.
Mangetsu fumed.
Zabuza smirked.
Kaede Onime sighed and changed the subject.
“My family says the Three-Tails sealing is this afternoon.”
Mangetsu nodded.
“Yeah. Half my clan got pulled away today. I wanted to tag along and see what a tailed beast sealing looks like, but my old man shut that down. And also…”
He didn’t finish, but his eyes flicked toward the ceiling.
Tracking ninja.
Watching him.
Kaede Onime gave him a serious nod and flicked his own eyes upward.
Mangetsu stiffened.
You too?
Kaede Onime: Yeah.
Same boat.
Zabuza glanced between them.
Ha!
How pathetic.
Could probably start a few mahjong games on the rooftop by now.
Mangetsu didn’t deny it.
He crossed his arms, dejected.
“Woke up this morning and the house was empty as a tomb.”
Zabuza chuckled.
“The Hozuki house, a ghost house.”
“You really didn’t need to assassinate me with that terrible pun.” Mangetsu shuddered for real.
“I’m about to freeze solid.”
North of the Land of Water.
Mirror Water Lake.
Also known as the Three-Tails’ oversized swimming pool.
Yagura had no idea his three friends were thinking about him.
Right now, he was squatting by the shore, waiting for the sealing squad to finish prep work.
Looking out across the water, he couldn’t see the far shore or either edge.
Countless ninja moved across the lake’s surface.
The sealing squad was preparing to undo the existing seal and lay down the formula for the new one.
The combat squad was setting traps to weaken the Three-Tails.
“They put a sealing barrier around this whole lake?”
Yagura chatted with the six ninja watching him, clicking his tongue.
“Seriously. The Three-Tails gets a house this big in the Land of Water. For free.”
The six ninja: “…”
Yagura kept going.
“You guys bought houses in the Hidden Mist yet? How many square meters? Expensive? Your salaries cover it?”
The six ninja: “……”
“Though I guess you can afford it. Your salaries can’t be too shabby. If even high-income ninja like you can’t buy houses, what’s going to happen to the Hidden Mist’s future?” Enjoying the story? Read on at NovelPing.
Ignoring the awkward silence, Yagura rambled on, amusing himself while messing with his audience.
“You’re the Seven Ninja Swordsmen, after all.”
Executioner’s Blade, Juzo Biwa!
Thunder Blades, Raiga Kurosuki!
Longsword, Kushimaru Kuriarare!
Blastsword, Jinpachi Munashi!
Twin Swords, Jinin Hozuki!
And naturally, one of Yagura’s acquaintances, Bluntsword, Jinin Akebino!
Except for Greatsword, Fuguki Suikazan, all six other members of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen were present.
Jinpachi Munashi’s temper matched his blade.
“Shut your mouth, brat! Your constant yapping is driving me insane!”
Kushimaru Kuriarare wore a slitted Anbu mask.
“This kid’s mouth should be sewn shut.”
“No need. I’ll do it myself.”
Yagura didn’t take the threats from two notorious killers seriously.
With a joking gesture, he mimed zipping his lips shut.
Juzo Biwa glanced at him.
“How frivolous. Are the brats in the Hidden Mist really this pathetic these days?”
“Who knows.” Raiga Kurosuki picked up the thread.
“But if this brat dies later, I’m not hosting his funeral.”
Jinin Akebino stood at the back of the group.
His short stature made him easy to overlook.
He offered no comment on his colleagues’ words.
Jinin Hozuki was a natural mute, simply doing his job: protecting and monitoring Yagura Karatachi.
Yagura shut his mouth and watched the still, silent lake.
In a few hours, this place would erupt into a battle rarely seen in the long-dead quiet of the Hidden Mist.
The sudden shift from noise to silence made the talkative ones uncomfortable.
Except for Jinin Hozuki, the born mute, the other Swordsmen were all the type to get worked up easily.
Jinpachi Munashi swept his gaze around.
“Hey, where’s that fat pig Suikazan? Didn’t sleep himself to death at home, did he?”
Couldn’t rule it out.
“The Mizukage called him away.” Juzo Biwa spat into the grass.
“Probably all those shady dealings finally caught up with him. Hahahahaha!”
Now that was something to look forward to.
Raiga Kurosuki’s eyes lit up.
“Give that guy a lightning burial and the electricity will burn all the fat off his body!”
Hmm.
So.
Where was his Kisame Hoshigaki right now?
Yagura sat gazing at the Three-Tails’ lakeside villa, his thoughts drifting somewhere far away.
➤ Next: Sealing the Three-Tails (2): Operation