"Huff... the Three-tails and Six-tails, are the two Tailed Beasts of the Hidden Mist Village sealed here?"
Under the guidance of Kisame and others, Aomi and the core ninjas of the Hidden Mist arrived at a valley.
"Yes, Lord Aomi."
Kisame, carrying the Great Sword Shark Skin, was on high alert with a stern face as he dutifully guarded Aomi, his small eyes continuously scanning the surroundings, as if fearing a sudden attack from the Tailed Beasts might harm Aomi:
"In the depths of this lake, the Three-tails is hidden here..."
"And within the mountain above is the Six-tails. Due to the lack of suitable Sealing Masters and Jinchuriki in the Hidden Mist, they can only be temporarily stored here."
Aomi nodded.
After internal cleansing by Kisame and others, forming the "Surrender to Aomi faction" or "Youth faction," the remaining two to three thousand Mist Ninjas, despite being at the prime of their youth, lacked the depth.
Compared to the old faction, they lacked the inheritance and depth in Ninjutsu, and no one was proficient in high-tier Jutsu like Fuinjutsu, which requires talent, literature, and time to hone, not to mention dealing with the calamity-named Tailed Beasts.
They were essentially a bunch of unrefined brutes...
But Aomi was pleased with such a Hidden Mist, desiring those whose potential and thoughts hadn't solidified yet.
A little teaching, and they could make rapid progress in strength, talk about ideals and aspirations, and their loyalty would soar irresistibly...
In a way, Aomi was also reducing the difficulty for the final confrontation with the Heart of the Hidden Mist.
The reward of the Ocean Contract was tempting for Aomi.
In fact, Aomi had considered more extreme options, like annihilating the Hidden Mist leaving only a handful of ninjas, where loyalty could be forcibly brainwashed using Dojutsu, but for the later scenes, it would be too unsatisfactory...
"The Three-tails and Six-tails, though the Hidden Mist Village possesses two Tailed Beasts, the village's power remains at the bottom among the Five Great Hidden Villages."
Aomi objectively commented: "This is naturally related to the internal conflicts brought about by the Blood Mist, but the inability to fully utilize the power of the two Tailed Beasts is also a crucial reason."
"Like the rising Hidden Rock and Hidden Cloud, they elevated multiple levels in terms of military threat and tactical significance once they mastered allowing Jinchuriki to use the power of Tailed Beasts."
Terumi Mei sighed softly.
Indeed, the Hidden Mist did have opportunities to master the power of the Tailed Beasts...
But the Third Mizukage was unwilling to take the risk, only extracting some power from the Tailed Beasts for suppressing dissenting voices within the village, which was quite a predicament.
From this perspective, perhaps the Third Mizukage mastering the Tailed Beast Power was a more troublesome situation, likely accelerating the process in the Blood Mist Village.
Terumi Mei glanced at Kisame and Zabuza, shaking her head with a sense of emotion:
"If the Blood Mist Village persisted a bit longer, even without Lord Aomi's intervention, perhaps even those Anbu directly under the Mizukage couldn't endure any longer and might have defected..."
Zabuza silently observed the scene.
Kisame gravitated towards Aomi due to his struggle with self-identity and inner conflict.
Kaguya Kimijiro, after being beaten and having his personality shift, coupled with Aomi's pure Dead Bone Pulse, led to his allegiance.
Terumi Mei was inspired by Aomi's mastery of Boil Release and Lava Release, transcending familial boundaries, and had special ideas.
These three represented certain thoughts within the current Hidden Mist Ninjas, believing Aomi's combat prowess, combat style, and charisma suited the Hidden Mist, sincerely wanting to join his ranks.
But there were also those like Zabuza with lingering doubts.
After all, regardless of Aomi's gentle demeanor after defeating them, their internal vigilance couldn't be laid aside in a short time, which is a normal defensive mindset...
What exactly does this man intend for them?
Surely, after killing half of the Hidden Mist people, he wouldn't just feed them well without asking anything in return?
This was nerve-wracking and panic-inducing.
Even if Aomi waved them off to be a suicide squad on the front lines against Konoha, it wouldn't matter.
After all, as war prisoners, having such treatment is to be expected.
Yet, in the current situation, Zabuza and the group felt like they were being fattened in a pen, inevitably to be consumed someday, but they were clueless about Aomi's next move...
Quite a conflicting mindset.
Overall, they were desperately hoping Aomi would demand something excessive, allowing them a moment of honest comfort—"Begging you, Great Benefactor Aomi, let us do some menial labor, or else we feel guilty eating your food!"
However, today...
When Aomi expressed the desire to see the two Tailed Beasts, Zabuza internally breathed a sigh of relief.
Finally, finally planning to loot the Hidden Mist's warfare resources for Konoha, aren't they?
In this way, the Hidden Mist at least offered Aomi something begrudgingly, though as the losing side, this naturally belonged to Aomi's spoils of war. But it meant they could sleep a bit more soundly when returning home at night.
Zabuza knew well that, even if Aomi was unique, for the Hidden Mist Village to continually exist, it must hold value!
This is the brutal reality of the Ninja World.
And Aomi cared not for the twisted thoughts of some Mist Ninjas, for in his command, Aomi's principle was always to try and provide them a better ending than in the original timeline, but he'd abandon this principle if necessary...