Chapter – 395 Collapsed Order

Inside a mansion on the outskirts of Kirigakure.

With an ambitious look in his eyes, Momochi Zabuza sat in the heart of the action, the Great Sword Samehada behind his back, and he stared at the gathering of minions in front of him.

Zabuza has a large following in Kirigakure since he is one of the most accomplished Shinobi of his generation and is renowned as 'The Demon of the Hidden Mist.' These loyalists have assembled in this residence under his command and are waiting for detailed instructions.

Their number exceeds 60 on a single count, filling the entire room.

"Tonight is the night when Kirigakure will change, tonight.. is the night when we rewrite history, tonight... is the night of Revolution!" Zabuza declared after calming the unrest of all his followers and saying a few more lines.

"Yes, Zabuza-sama, we swear upon our Nindo to obey your instruction until the bitter end, we swear to follow you on your quest to change Kirigakure!" all the shinobi exclaimed in unison.

Zabuza gave a satisfied nod.

Yondaime Mizukage, Karatachi Yagura has recently become a thorn in the side of all Kirigakure shinobi, especially since Rokubi's Jinchuriki, Utakata, defected.

When the news of Utakata's desertion reached Kirigakure's upper ranks, practically everyone who had previously backed the Yondaime Mizukage despite his brutal deeds, irrational decisions, and unexplained conduct turned against Yagura's leadership.

One of the reasons Momochi Zabuza has the bravery to stage a coup against the Yondaime Mizukage is because of this.

Zabuza believes that as long as he raids the Mizukage Building and beheads the thorn in the hearts of the Kirigakure Shinobi by assassinating the Mizukage, the elder council's higher-ups will accept him as the next Mizukage in a matter of time. After all, there aren't many other candidates who are suitable for the role of Mizukage, or at least none who can compete with him right now.

"Be prepared... It could happen at any time, so spread out in all of your allotted places and act as soon as you get the signal!!!" - Zabuza remarked, commandingly.

"Yes, Zabuza-sama, by your command!" - All of the shinobi nodded and walked away to their designated locations.

Zabuza clutched the handle of Samehada hard and gazed in the direction of the Mizukage Building now that he was alone.

While Zabuza was looking in the direction of the Mizukage Building, a mansion across the street had an eye on him. Zabuza, on the other hand, was completely unaware of this eye because the person staring at him was so well veiled.

With Zabuza's subordinates dispersed over Kirigakure, the individual spying on Zabuza closed his eyes.

Terumi Mei, who was sitting next to him questioned, "Are you alright Ao-san?"

"Just a little fatigued from overusing Byakugan," Ao said as he staggered a few steps, sweat pouring through his entire body and his breath heavy due to usage of Chakra.

Although the Byakugan is not as taxing as the Sharingan, it still consumes a lot of Chakra for individuals who do not have Hyuga Clan DNA.

"Take a pause to recover your Chakra!" Mei said, nodding.

"The number of Shinobi present inside the mansion a few seconds ago equals 60, minus Momochi Zabuza," Ao stated, taking a few relieved breaths while consuming military ration pills. According to our intelligence, nearly all of the main subordinates were present. Despite the fact that I was unable to hear their exact exchange... However, based on their ardent attitude and actions, I believe they aim to act tonight or, more likely, tomorrow morning."

Mei appeared to be deep in contemplation when she heard Ao.

Although Momochi Zabuza's activities are covert and hidden, they cannot be fully hidden from those who are interested. Mei feels that if she has seen these movements, the Mizukage has as well.

But here's the thing: Yondaime Mizukage's reaction is entirely inexplicable to her... Yagura doesn't appear to be interested in stopping Zabuza.

"Is the defense of Mizukage-Office sama's still the same as yesterday?" Mei inquired after some thought.

"Basically no changes," Ao sighed, "simply three Anbu squads on the periphery protecting against the dark, and the bare minimum of guards on the bright side." There have been no modifications in the enchantments since Momochi Zabuza was in the Anbu, and our Anbu Mole has confirmed that Mizukage-sama has not given them any new instructions."

"That's what's getting me so puzzled," Mei whispered, "is it really conceivable that Mizukage-sama didn't notice Zabuza's activities at all?"

"How long has it been since Mizukage-sama made a public appearance?" Ao said, his face sad. "I have started to doubt whether the person sitting in the Mizukage-sama's seat is truly him, or someone else?"

Because, like other Kage offices, the Mizukage Office is covered in Fuinjutsu, which negates all forms of Sensing Jutsu, even the Byakugan in Ao's eye socket is unable to see past the deep Fuinjutsu network.

And Ao has a suspicion that the Mizukage in the chair isn't the genuine Mizukage, Karatachi Yagura, but someone else.

So, even if the moles claim that the Mizukage-sama spends the majority of his time at the Mizukage Office, Ao believes that there must be something wrong with him that causes him to shun any social interaction.

Mei gave Ao a contemplative glance but made no rebuke or comment on his statements.

Not only Ao, but all of Kirigakure's sober high-level authorities have begun to feel the same way, questioning Mizukage's every move and command, which is not surprising given that the Mizukage's decisions and orders to the shinobi of Kirigakure village for the past year have been very weird.

Why would the Mizukage send an elite squad consisting of Suikazan Fuguki, Momochi Zabuza, Hoshigake Kisame, and Utakata; the Jinchuriki of Rokubi to support the Akatsuki against the tri-Alliance?

Such action will elicit animosity from three major shinobi villages at the same time, but Mizukage did it nonetheless, did he not consider the consequences?

As a result of his actions, not only has Kirigakure's connection with these three villages become even more convoluted but it has also been linked to a group of criminals who have been designated the enemy of the shinobi world.

"I wonder what the future holds for our village," Mei lamented. "What would happen if Zabuza is unable to achieve much, but his acts only serve to incite additional rebellions? What will the response of the tri-Alliance to Kirigakure's past act of backing Akatsuki? They can't ignore us after what occurred in Amegakure, and I wouldn't be surprised if our village suffers the same fate as Uzushiogakure and the Land of Sky."

Even Ao was stumped.

Knock… Knock…

There was a little knock on the door at this point...

"Mei-sama!" said a voice from the other side of the door after the knock.

"Come in!" Mei replied, calming her emotions.

"Mei-sama, this is the intelligence report I was instructed to collect," a shinobi dressed in Kirigakure Anbu uniform said as the gate opened and a shinobi dressed in Kirigakure Anbu uniform entered. The Anbu kneeled respectfully in front of Mei and handed her a scroll, saying, "Mei-sama, this is the intelligence report I was instructed to collect."

Mei accepted the scroll with a nod.

Ao stared at Mei, puzzled, as though he didn't understand what intelligence report she had requested from the Anbu.

"This scroll records the information and list of all the spies who have tried to sneak inside Kirigakure but failed or managed to slip inside Kirigakure but were detected and neutralized in just the previous 1 week," Mei remarked as she studied the information on the scroll.

Ao nodded but didn't say anything else since the chilly expression on Mei's face told him everything he needed to know about the situation.

"Damn it, there are so many of them! It's as if the entire shinobi world is waiting for our home to be engulfed in civil war flames!" – Her expression conveyed her dissatisfaction.

And her dissatisfaction is understandable; the number of spies attempting to infiltrate Kirigakure since the Amegakure Summit War is excessive, and a few teams are neutralized every day. Despite this, there are no signs of a slowdown.

"These aren't all, right?" Ao scowled as he perused the scroll. "There are no records of Konoha and Suna Shinobi in this list, specifically...?"

"At the moment, the Anbu department is not running effectively, intelligence supervision is not up to standards, as a result, we are not able to pinpoint all the spies, so there is a good chance that a few of them have managed to slip through the net," Anbu said with a nod.

When Mei and Ao learned that the Anbu department was not functioning effectively, they were not surprised. Because, as he stated, the Kirigakure Anbu department is in a complete state of disarray. With the exception of a few Shinobi who still support Yondaime Mizukage.

This is one of the reasons why no hunting squad was despatched to bring Utakata back or to permanently eliminate him as a result of his betrayal of the village.

The majority of the other Anbu are either looking for someone to be devoted to or are simply unconcerned about what is going on in the village. Terumi Mei has also enlisted the help of a significant number of Anbu, who have vowed their allegiance to her.

"And are there any explanation why not a single Suna and Konoha shinobi is discovered, is it only because they have passed the net, or are there some other reasons?" Mei inquired.

"As for Sunagakure, the newly appointed Kazekage Pakura of the Scorch doesn't seem to be paying attention here; up until now, we haven't detected or received intelligence of even a single Suna shinobi attempting to sneak into the Land of Water, let alone the village; perhaps they are too preoccupied with their internal affairs following the disappearance of the previous Kazekage and the appointment of the new Kazekage.

Although there have been multiple sightings of Suna Shinobi in and around the Land of Hot Water, we believe Sunagakure is focused on finding their missing former Kazekage and has no plans to divert their attention to other villages for the time being.

In terms of Konoha, the Cipher Division and the Anbu Shinobi protecting the Cipher Division had a few encounters with a shinobi squad led by Morino Ibiki of Konoha, and there were also reports that a new Anbu squad from Konoha had arrived in the Land of Water, and a few shinobi had gone to deal with them, but there were no further updates heard from them; the specific members of that squad are not confirmed, but what's surprising is that they aren't aggressively attempting to travel deeper into the country.

We don't know for sure what they're up to, but we believe they're looking for information about the Akatsuki Organization and their possible hideout in the Land of Water." – The Anbu kept nothing to himself and told everyone what he knew.

"At least these two villages aren't so adamant," Ao observed with a relaxed sigh, "but then again, perhaps they don't expect anything of us anyhow."

"Sigh… so troublesome, at this pace I will never get to locate a suitable man whom I may marry." - Mei let out a pitiful sigh.

Only a bitter smile could be seen on Ao's face. Kirigakure's whole life is on the line, yet she wants to find someone decent enough to marry?

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