Even though such suspis had crossed his mind, when faced with an Uchiha openly stating it, Masu was momentarily stunned.

  A jinchūriki under genjutsu? Could it be true?

  Of course it could.

  Jinchūriki, due to their unstable mental states, were particurly susceptible to genjutsu. The votile chakra of their tailed beasts makes them especially vulnerable to external manipution.

  Perfect Jinchūriki fared better, but even they weren't immune. If faced with a genjutsu expert capable of subduing tailed beasts instantly, even a Perfect Jinchūriki could fall before realizing it.

  This revetion perfectly expined Yagura's abrupt personality shift. The pieces were falling into pce with terrifying crity.

  For a jinchūriki to fully master their tailed beast's power, they must gain the full approval of the beast as a partner. Cruel-hearted individuals could never earn such reition or bee a Perfect Jinchūriki.

  The bond required trust, uanding—qualities the current Yagura seemed to have fotteirely.

  "You're starting to see it, aren't you?"

  Yagura's disdain for the policies of the Bloody Mist was .

  He had been able to assume the title of Mizukage during a period when Kiri was in dee, garnering support from fresh talent like Masu, because he embodied their aspirations—sweeping reforms to overturn the oppressive policies of the Third Mizukage.

  Among his most loyal supporters was Zabuza.

  Zabuza's infamous act of sughter during the academy graduation exam wasn't born of inhumanity. It was calcuted—a step toward revolution.

  The one who icled ahis transformative movement, turning a moment of shame in Kiri's history into a symbol of ge, was her than Yagura himself.

  Otherwise, could Zabuza have graduated or joined ANBU after su act?

  All these hopes crumbled after Yagura's abrupt personality ge. He abandoned his reformist stance, reinstating the Bloody Mist policies and plunging Kiri bato terror.

  Masu didn't doubt Masashi's cim. It was the only pusible expnation for the drastic ges.

  And as fenjutsu master capable of such a feat...

  Damn Uchiha!

  "What's the big idea!?" he snapped, his anger directed at the Uchiha standing before him.

  "You call Mei paranoid, but I think you're the ie here," Masashi replied, exasperated, having already deactivated his Sharingan. "I'm on your side."

  Ba the war, his Sharingan hadn't been powerful enough to dominate Masu. Despite g multiple times, Masashi's genjutsu hadn't worked effectively due to Masu's teamwork strategies.

  The Hōzuki seemed to have unique ways to ter the Sharingan's genjutsu, indig an ih uanding of it.

  "Who knows?" Masu responded impassively. "You Uchiha always switch sides in the blink of an eye. If someone could pull this off, don't tell me it's not a Sharingan user."

  "That person is now also an enemy of the Uchiha," Masashi said. "Not long ago, he tried to stir up trouble with us. Thankfully, I prepared in advance, or things would've gotten messy."

  "Who is it?"

  "Obito," Masashi said, pulling out a scroll. "Here, take this."

  "I'm not ing near you. Throw it over," Masu insisted.

  Masashi rolled up the scroll and tossing it over.

  Masu caught the scroll, ied it, and then unfurled it to examihe tents.

  "Why is there no face? This is so half-hearted," he pined.

  "Has your brain turo water? Don't just look at the mask's pattern—think carefully. That guy has been wearing a mask since he went rogue."

  Masu pondered deeply.

  After a long moment, he suddenly remembered he hadn't seen this "traitor" since Yagura's personality shift. How could he possibly know if such a person was around Yagura?

  What was the point of rag his brain?

  "I haven't seen him. Have any of you?" Masu passed the scroll to others.

  Ameyuri gave him a g didn't take it, her expression unreadable.

  What, like she frequently visited Yagura or something?

  Instead, Zabuza snatched the scroll. After one gnce, he felt a chill run down his spine.

  Wasn't this the guy he'd seen when he went to seek an audieh Yagura? That guy who made him want to punething?

  If not for the dozen Mizukage guards present...

  "Zabuza, you've seen him?" Masu asked, noting the rage building in his rade's posture.

  "He's always at the Fourth's side, leading his personal guard," Zabuza growled through gritted teeth.

  Masu uood him well. Despite his bloodthirsty appearance, Zabuza was deeply introspective aionally intense.

  For Masu, born into a great ninja , supp reforms was more pragmatic than ideological. But Zabuza was a true idealist, following Yagura because of his belief system.

  Masu could tell—if no oopped him, Zabuza might attempt an assassination tonight.

  "So, you're the Demon?" Masashi looked at him ily.

  Zabuza returhe gaze.

  Although expressionless, he felt Zabuza's stare radiating a "what are you looking at?" vibe.

  This was the man who, in the inal timeliook on young Naruto and Sasuke.

  Tough indeed.

  "Hey, what's your name?" Masashi asked, turning to the st unfamiliar fa the group.

  Seeing the twin swords in her hands, he had a guess.

  "You're strong," the woman said with a cheeky smile, showing sharp teeth simir to Masu's. "My name is Ameyuri."

  "Oh?" Masashi blinked in surprise before turning to Masu. "I know you have a younger brother, but I didn't realize you also had a sister. She doesn't carry the Hōzuki name—already married?"

  "She's not from my family," Masu replied with a frown. "Are you here to plete a mission or flirt?"

  "I'm not ied," Masashi waved dismissively.

  The moment she mentioned her name, he realized who she was—the successor of the Kiba, and strohan the previous wielder.

  Looking at the four people standing here, they likely represehe best of Kiri's current geion.

  "Now that we've verified the information, you know I wasn't lying, right? So, how about renewing our pact?" Masashi asked, carefully gauging their reas.

  "What do you mean by 'renew'?" Mei, who had been silent so far, spoke up.

  "It's simple—an allianutual defense and cooperation," Masashi said. "Konoha and Kiri already have a friendly retionship. Why not take it a step further? Let's form an alliaween our s. It'll make colboration much easier."

  "What nonsense are you spouting?" Masu found the proposal baffling. "Are the Uchiha pnning to rebel?"

  "Masu, you still don't uand the position of s with bloodline limits in this era," Masashi replied.

  He was drawing on his knowledge from the inal timeline, where bloodline s had rapidly vanished.

  By the time of the Freat Ninja War, bloodline s in the Land of Fire and the Land of Water had mostly faded from history. Konoha had only the Hyūga remaining, while Kiri's s were presumed wiped out.

  Even with all the efforts he had made, the Uchiha still stood isoted in Konoha. The root of the issue was the itself—its internal problems were too severe. This was evident from their respoo Danzō's death.

  Although everyone uood that improviions with other ninja s was the right move, no one in the Uchiha leadership was willing to make that decision. The Uchiha remaiightly bound to the Police Force, which isoted them further.

  As long as the Police Force remained Uchiha-trolled, the could never have true allies within the vilge. Other ninja s resented and ehis fact, and every Hokage was wary of it.

  Not to mention, the Uchiha leaders were now even trying to win over members of Root. These leaders had been followers of Madara and were deeply influenced by his ideals.

  Before Madara left the vilge, he was a stauninja ationalist. That was the problem—the times had ged, but the people hadn't.

  Masashi couldn't help but think of leaving a backup pn.

  Don't be fooled by the Hyūga—they also had dōjutsu, but their has alrioritized survival over pride sihe Warring States Period. The idea of them joining forces with the Uchiha e dream.

  Other Konoha s were even less likely to align. Oher hand, Kiri's s seemed like better potential allies.

  "Alright," Mei suddenly agreed.

  Masu and the others were stuhey exged gnces before their expressions shifted to ohat seemed to say, "So that's how it is."

  "I have no objes either," Masu said, his earlier hostility seemingly dissolved.

  Masashi couldn't quite interpret their expressions or what they were imagining, but it didn't matter. He felt reassured by their agreement.

  "As long as there's sensus," he tinued, "the Uchiha will send representatives to finalize the details. Officially, it'll appear as a diplomatic exge between Konoha and Kiri, so there's no rush. We take our time."

  "Yes, we take our time to iate," Masu nodded.

  Masashi couldn't help but feel Masu's hostility toward him had suddenly lessened.

  The Hōzuki —truly an enigma.

  "Alright, let me remind you of ohing: don't think dealing with Obito will be easy. Ohe alliance is formalized, we'll take him down together," Masashi said.

  He didn't want these people ending up like Fuguki, killed and losing a valuable bde.

  "Hey, you're overstepping!" Masu protested. He felt he had been more than aodating, mainly for Mei's sake.

  "I don't care about you," Masashi said. "I'm just worried that ime I e here, you might be dead. Do I iate with ghosts instead? Have you ever heard of the Mangekyō Sharingan? You 't handle Obito's abilities alone."

  Kiri's teiques had no effective ter for Obito's unique abilities.

  Without the Flying Thunder God mark Masashi had left earlier, he would have been helpless too. But now, he had a trump card—Tandem Explosive Tags.

  If Obito didn't brira eyes for Izanagi, he'd better prepare to be blown to pieces.

  Still, Kiri's s weren't pushovers. They'd e up with strategies. Joint a, however, would give the Uchiha more leverage iiations.

  As a fellow, Obito's as iently served the by f Kiri into this situation. But Kiri's pond couldn't be allowed to be spoiled by his games.

  After finalizing the general cooperation process with the elites of Kiri, Masashi used the Flying Thunder God t Pakura over.

  Without his assistance, she wouldn't have been able to leave the Land of Water on her own. The mist-covered borders were too well guarded, even for someone of her caliber.

  The superiority of the Flying Thunder God was evident.

  Masu and Mei, who had experiehis trick many times before, merely ented, "This guy has gotten even more profit."

  However, Zabuza and Ameyuri, seeing the Flying Thunder God for the first time, were horrified.

  So this is the teique that made the Yellow Fsh legendary, Zabuza thought.

  Fighting su oppo would indeed be a headache. It was no wohe Fourth Hokage had caused nations so much trouble.

  What they didn't know was that Masashi's Flying Thunder God Teique was different from Minato's.

  In fact, it was even different from Tobirama's.

  When Tobirama ied the teique, it was far from perfect. It required high standards in many aspects and ed a signifit amount of chakra. The seal matrix was rigid, g the flexibility needed for bat applications.

  Even Tobirama himself didn't use the teique frequently.

  During his sed life, Masashi memorized the inal version of the teique and drew inspiration from the Uchiha 's interpretations and various theories. bining this with his unique uanding of chakra w, he developed a version of the Flying Thunder God tailored for himself.

  Minato's improvements focused primarily on redug chakra requirements, enhang its sustainability, and simplifying its operation. He also adapted it to his bat style, creating specialized kunai and other tools.

  In trast, Masashi's emphasis was on maximizing the effects of chakra w.

  His tailed beast-level chakra reserves enabled him to use the teique frequently. This all underscored the importance of choosing the right "major."

  In his first life, he had studied puter w and data sce.

  Setting aside lives and bloodlines, if there was something truly uo him, it was his entirely different uanding and usage of chakra w pared to anyone else in the shinobi world.

  For instance, even with something as on as shadow es, he could use them iraordinary ways. His shadow es were so lifelike that even the best Hyūga members couldn't tell the inal from the duplicates.

  He could also seamlessly bine different ninjutsu in nearly perfect harmony.

  After bringing Pakura back, he decided to make a friendly gesture before leaving.

  Though he hadn't saved any snacks as a peace since he'd eaten them all, a handshake would do the job. A smile and a handshake could dissolve grievances. After all, they were all on the same side now.

  "Masu, we're allies now. When you e to Konoha, I'll cover all your expenses," he said, extending his hand.

  Masu stared at him for a long moment before finally making what seemed like a great sacrifice, shaking his hand.

  "Don't go shaking hands with anyone else," Masu said as he withdrew his hand. "You know what you're capable ht?"

  "How could I do something like that?" Masashi could feel how hard it was to earn trust. "I'm really gd you trust me. By the way, do you like food and tea?"

  "I'm not trusting you; I'm trusting myself," Masu replied.

  Although he didn't uand why he was being asked about tea, he thought it wasn't important information, so after some sideration, he said, "I do."

  At that moment, he felt a sudden surge of camaraderie from Masashi.

  This guy was as weird as ever.

  If not for his strength, someone would have beaten him to death by now.

  "I look forward to seeing you guys again," Masashi said his goodbyes to the talents of Kiri. Grabbing the expressionless Pakura, he leapt into the water.

  Before diving, he turned bad shouted to Mei, "I swear I didn't mean to touch your clothes st time! Please believe me!"

  With that, he dragged Pakura and jumped off the cliff.

  The moment they hit the water, the Water Shockropelled them forward.

  Waves surged, carrying the two of them away in an instant. The teique transformed the sea itself into their highway.

  He vaguely heard cursing behind him, but the wind was too loud to make out the words. And it seemed someoried a water jutsu to block him, but it was slower thaer under his feet and couldn't catch up.

  In this friendly iation atmosphere, he believed Mei would sense his siy and not misuand him further.

  Masu, being a mature man, would guide her toeace.

  The journey ahead was smooth.

  Riding the waves, they carved through the dark sea like a giant fish splitting the water, leaving a trail of white foam behind. The chakra trol required recise—too much would create a tsunami, too little would drop them into the depths.

  The r wind filled the air as they sped along.

  Pakura, oher hand, was feeling flicted.

  This trip to Kiri had pletely upended her life. From hero to exile in the span of a mission.

  Thinking about the scroll she received, she realized that her farewell to Suna had almost beeernal.

  As a Suna kunoichi, her identity was effectively lost. Returning to Suna was out of the question.

  The vilge was rigid, its people fierd strength-oriented. Its harsh survival style often showed its cruel side. Where Konoha built bridges, Suna built walls.

  Pakura returning to Suna would make her a criminal. The vilge wanted her to die a hero's death. But from her perspective, dying in this manner was uable.

  Yet...should she really go to Konoha? Suna's methods were direct, but was Konoha's subtlety aer?

  She g Masashi, who seemed focused on "driving."

  This man was undeniably strong and not a bad person, though he was both cheeky and flirtatious. Since he wasn't her man, it didn't matter.

  But the animosity between the Uchiha d the Hokage fa e.

  Every vilge had its internal struggles.

  Ba Suna, she had deliberately stayed out of such flicts by creating an "apolitical" persona.

  It hadn't worked.

  When Su with individuals they deemed "uable" or "untrolble," their methods were far more straightforward and unreserved pared to Konoha. At least in Konoha, you usually got a ce to see the knife ing.

  If the Uchiha-Hokage dynamic existed in Suna, they would have openly fought by now.

  The Will of Fire wasn't uo Konoha; other vilges had simir ideals. Though differing iails, they all emphasized collective is over individual ones and prioritizing vilge needs above desires.

  Going to Konoha wasirely impossible. After all, Suna was currently allied with Konoha. While there would undoubtedly be sequeer, they couldn't openly act against her now.

  However, joining Konoha would iably align her with the Uchiha fa.

  Wait—was there even an Uchiha fa in Konoha? What if there wasn't?

  Good heavens! Would she be the first one!?