41. Haku Made Friends

"If your lovey-dovey moment is finished can we continue?" Shiroken asked, embarrassing them further.

He had caught the attacker. The man wore an eyepatch on his right eye.

"Who are you?" Shiroken asked.

"That's Ao, an Anbu from the village." Mei recognised the man.

"SHISUI UCHIHA?! I-I thought you died!" But the man named Ao recognised Shisui.

Mei seemed shocked though, "Uchiha? So he's the legendary Shisui Uchiha? Didn't he..."

"Calm down you all, he's alive and standing in front of you, no need to know more than that. Now tell me, what should I do with him? Is he a good guy or a bad guy?" Shiroken asked.

"Who are you?" Shisui asked. His blindness was pretty problematic in such situations.

"I fought you once in the war. I lost to your Sharingan even though I was able to break your genjutsu..." Ao said.

Shisui remembered, "I remember now. You're the one that stole a byakugan from a Hyuga clan member."

Shiroken sighed and made the man kneel forcefully. He placed Tenken on the neck of Ao.

Tenken chuckled crazily, "Hehaha... Give me more blood. Slice him up, my lord. Your faithful Chinchinmaru is sharp."

*TING*

Shiroken immediately sheathed his sword, "I told you not to say that name again. Now stay stuck in there for a whole week."

"DON'T! Don't kill me. Hear me out first. I think Mizukage is being manipulated." Ao instantly blurted.

Everyone stopped and focused. Mei was knowledgeable about the current politics of the village, unlike Zabusa as she was still an official Shinobi of the village, and one of the more powerful ones.

"Speak in detail," Shiroken ordered him.

"I used my Byakugan, and saw what indicated that Lord Mizukage is under a genjutsu," Ao revealed.

"Are you sure about this, Ao?" Mei asked him again.

"Absolutely. I also hate the name Blood Mist. But instead of running away like some, I chose to try to solve the problem." Ao took a jab at Zabuza.

Shiroken released him, "Do you know who is controlling him?"

"No, it's a masked man, that's all I have been able to find out. The way you dealt with all of us, you can help us stop him." Ao nearly pleaded with Shiroken. He was out of options anyway and was going to try to dispel the genjutsu from Mizukage as his next move.

"Fine, let's go," Shiroken replied and walked away.

"PLEASE! CONSIDER AGAI... You agreed?" Ao wasn't able to believe it the first time.

Mei helped him up, "We were here for that in the first place. Why do you think Zabuza lured all of these shinobi here?"

"Anyway, who is the Mizukage at the moment?" Shiroken asked them.

"Yagura Karatachi, he's a very strong Kage. He was supposed to be the jinchuriki of 3 tails. But we never found the 3 tails ever since that time." Ao briefed.

Isobu was chuckling silently and talking to Shiroken in his mind, "Hehe, they won't ever know I am right in front of them."

"Take me to your Kage. We will dispel his genjutsu and talk to him. One more thing, take us through the public streets of the village, and you need to shout to all that Daimyo has sent me to investigate whether Mizukage is controlled by a foreign power or not. You will need the support of the people if one day you want to elect a new Kage." Shiroken advised them.

Ao felt confused though, "Are you? Sent by the Daimyo?"

"Huh, that spineless man wouldn't send someone even if the whole village died. I supersede the authority of Daimyo, In fact, I can order him around. I am the Supreme Daimyo. You can look at this seal if you don't believe me." Shiroken declared and showed him a document.

Ao quickly checked it and found it to be real. There was the seal of Daimyo, even the whole handprint was there.

"You... are you a Shinobi?" Ao questioned in disbelief.

Shiroken denied, "No. And do I use Chakra? No. But I won't tell you the secrets behind my powers. Just know that I am not like you all. Now, let's not waste any more time."

...

They descended from the mountain and calmly walked into the village. There wasn't anybody to stop them and even those who were left didn't come to them as Ao was there.

But at the same time, Ao kept on calling any Shinobi he could and told them Shiroken's status.

The words immediately spread and a few who longed for peace looked at him with hope. And they hoped their Lord Mizukage wouldn't do something dumb. Because if he did, it would be akin to declaring war against the Water Country. And no matter how powerful you are, you can't fight a country that can hire Shinobi from other countries who would be happy to destroy Kirigakure.

Soon, Shiroken was brought to the largest cylindrical building. Mizukage was supposed to be here.

But currently, Shiroken was looking at the whole village with his natural vision. He rarely used it to the fullest because it sucks a lot of natural energy.

~Hmm, a masked man? I wonder if it's the same person~He wondered.

But he couldn't find this masked person anywhere. So they just went to check the Mizukage. Shiroken couldn't look inside since the place was covered with some seals.

"This seems suspiciously quiet," Ao muttered and took out his kunai. Shisui and Zabuza also took out their swords. Shiroken didn't do anything.

*Door opens*

Ao entered the office first. But he stopped just after entering. Shiroken pushed him aside and looked inside.

*Sigh*

"Well, it seems your masked man didn't want to leave any strings attached. The poor child must be talented to become Mizukage." Shiroken sympathised as he looked at the body lying in a pool of blood.

"He only looked small, he was an adult in reality." Mei clarified.

Shiroken went to the body, "His mind was destroyed. Most likely the Genjutsu had been affecting him for too long, eating his mind. Now that the Genjutsu is broken, his mind's condition affected him."

"But he still died from a strike into his heart," Zabuza noted.

"We need to declare it to all. That Lord Mizukage died while protecting the village and fighting the mind control." Mei planned. They couldn't just term the Mizukage as a traitor after all.

"OH! I FORGOT HAKU IN THE TREE!" Shiroken suddenly exclaimed.

"I will be back in a second." He said and vanished.

...

Back at the mountain top. Shiroken opened the tree trunk.

Immediately, Haku looked at him with a smile. "Big brother, I made some new friends."

"Friends?" Shiroken confusedly asked.

*Chi-Chi*

Out of nowhere, a few squirrels came out from around Haku.

Shiroken chuckled, "Haha, you made new friends even in such a condition? You did well. Let's go now."

"Can I bring the squirrels?" He inquired him.

But Shiroken denied, "If you bring them you'd be taking them away from their natural home. They can't even speak about their pain later. So it's better to let them stay here."

Haku turned sad but one by one said his goodbye to the squirrels, who in response made noises but they seemed less interested in Haku and more in the food he was leaving behind.

"Bye-bye... Take care, okay?" He waved his hand as they left.

...

Shiroken brought Haku back to the Mizukage building. A few more shinobi had arrived there by then. All of them got startled by his sudden appearance and got ready to fight.

They did not want to spread the news of the Death of Mizukage too much as that would make some enemies grow a spine.

"STEP DOWN! He's the lord supreme daimyo. Show some respect." Ao scolded everyone there. He was basically the boss as he had uncovered the plot about Mizukage being controlled.

Everyone looked strangely at Shiroken. They had never heard about such a position before but they stayed silent.

"Now, your Mizukage is dead. So you should call back all your Shinobi that are on a mission. Then I will hold an exam to select a new Mizukage, whoever passes it will get the position." Shiroken declared.

But the Kiri Shinobi protested, "But the elders decide the next kage and the Daimyo just officiates it."

Shiroken authoritatively replied, "Well, I am above Daimyo. Also, your previous choices brought people like the last Mizukage in power, who were controlled and brought chaos to your village. The world hates you, you are called the Blood Mist now, you have the highest number of missing-nin. Many of your 7 ninja swordsmen have left.

"I personally rank each Shinobi village in 3 aspects and give it a score out of 5. In Population, you are 2/5. Military strength, you are 3/5. Economic strength, you are 2/5. And do you know what the worst thing about it all is? Unlike other villages, none of this was caused by war, the village's policies inflicted this damage on itself. What could have been a rich, happy and glorious village is now this depressed and pathetic remnant of what it could have been.

"Ever wondered why so many strong people leave the village? Because even strong men desire peace, that's a fact. So this time, a better, more empathic and moral Mizukage is needed to bring your village to the right path." He ended his little speech. He knew it wouldn't bring much difference as the people of Kirigakure were for generations brought up to be violent and love fighting. But even if a few of them could change, that was good.

However, just then an old man arrived. "What if we do not agree?"

[You can see Yagura and the old man on my Discord - https://discord.gg/DgHkrAn OR see them on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/mister_immortal_novel]

STONE ME TO A BLACK HOLE!

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Special thanks to *Douglas Flower* *Umar Latif* *Julian Rocamora* *Darrien Steely* *Franklin Walley*

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