"Corpses!"
Shikaku's eyes flashed sharply as he instantly caught onto a crucial detail.
"Kirigakure's Anbu Special Assassination Unit, the Corpse Processing Squad!"
Orochimaru's snake pupils narrowed slightly. Then, as if the pieces had finally snapped together, he blurted out.
"So that's how it is…."
Yagura's expression darkened as he stared at the Third Mizukage.
Not only them, more and more people began to understand the truth behind Byakuren's resurrection.
Among the Five Great Hidden Villages, none pursued and eliminated defectors as ruthlessly as Kirigakure.
They even created a dedicated Corpse Processing Squad just to retrieve the bodies of missing-nin.
Until now, no one had thought anything was wrong. No one had ever connected this to the resurrection of Byakuren.
After all, hunting down defectors was normal, retrieving their corpses was also normal.
The shinobi world had countless jutsu capable of extracting a ninja's memories from the brain after death.
To prevent intelligence leaks, secret techniques falling into enemy hands, or Kekkei Genkai spreading outside the village, retrieving corpses was absolutely necessary.
At most, people simply believed Kirigakure was more extreme about it than the other four villages.
But after hearing Garp and the Third Mizukage's words, Orochimaru and the others finally noticed the terrifying secret hidden behind all these seemingly ordinary actions.
"Just corpses, is it?"
Garp let out a cold, mirthless laugh.
If it were only about forming a Special Assassination Unit and a Corpse Processing Squad, what right would the Third Mizukage have to stand second only to Byakuren?
All the other villages had similar units, they were simply less famous.
"Blood… the Village of the Bloody Mist…."
Yagura's face turned pale. He suddenly pointed a trembling finger at the Third Mizukage.
"Your repeated refusal to abolish the Bloody Mist Policy, your insistence on maintaining that brutal rule… it was all to resurrect the First Mizukage. Isn't that right, Lord Third?"
His cold, blade-sharp gaze stabbed into the Third Mizukage. Each word was heavy with killing intent and ice-cold fury.
"..."
The Third Mizukage remained silent.
"So the Third Mizukage enforced the Bloody Mist Policy on purpose?"
"Why… why would Lord Mizukage do that?"
"Idiots! Without the Bloody Mist Policy, where would all those persecuted Kirigakure shinobi come from?
Without so many shinobi dying because of it, where would the First Mizukage get enough chakra to be revived?"
Yagura's furious interrogation, paired with the Third Mizukage's silence, made more and more Kirigakure shinobi finally understand the horrifying conspiracies hidden behind the so-called "Village of the Bloody Mist."
From academy training, to graduation, to missions, all the way up to the promotion to jonin, Kirigakure eliminated its own people at every stage.
In other ninja villages, "eliminated" didn't necessarily mean "dead."
But in Kirigakure, elimination meant death.
And where had all those corpses gone? What were they used for?
At this moment, the answer needed no explanation.
"All this… just to revive someone long dead?
For a hollow, meaningless ambition… you sacrificed countless shinobi of this village without hesitation… Is this how you 'lead' as Mizukage?!"
Seeing the Third Mizukage unmoved and silent, Yagura directly unsheathed a kunai blade, pointing it at the Mizukage's throat.
The other Kirigakure shinobi didn't try to stop him. Instead, they all fixed the Third Mizukage with burning eyes full of rage.
"The strong survive, the weak die, that is the natural law of the shinobi world. It was true in the Warring States era, and it remains true in the era of the Hidden Villages.
I merely made use of those who would've been eliminated anyway."
Facing Yagura's blade and the murderous glares of the surrounding Kirigakure shinobi, the Third Mizukage finally opened his mouth.
"And what about the Seven Ninja Swordsmen?"
Yagura grew even angrier.
In his view, the Seven Ninja Swordsmen never needed to die.
All the Third Mizukage had to do was send a letter of surrender when Garp set foot in the Land of Water.
If he had withdrawn from the Third Great Ninja War voluntarily, the village would have avoided all casualties.
But instead, the Third Mizukage had revealed the secrets of the Seven Swords to the swordsmen, provoking their ambition and bloodlust… then sent them straight to their deaths on the battlefield.
"They enjoyed the power and privilege that came with being the Seven Ninja Swordsmen.
Naturally, they had to bear the responsibilities of the Seven as well.
Yagura, why do you think I granted the Seven Ninja Swordsmen such high status?"
The Third Mizukage didn't flinch at all, as if Yagura's blade wasn't at his throat.
"Was it worth it…?"
Yagura's face twisted with conflicting emotions.
"You, born in an era of relative peace… a greenhouse flower of the Hidden Village era… you can't possibly understand.
Only those who have seen the cruelty, the coldness, the despair of the age of ceaseless war, only they understand how small, how laughably fragile the Five Great Villages and the Five Great Nations truly are.
And how utterly helpless we would be in the face of true despair."
The Third Mizukage's long-frozen expression finally cracked. Terror, sorrow, helplessness, one emotion after another surfaced, until his face twisted into pure, frenzied madness.
"I truly don't understand what you're talking about."
Yagura's heart trembled, though more with confusion than comprehension.
"Have you ever witnessed a shinobi world hero throw a punch that tore the sky apart, or unleash a kick that split the sea?
A Buddha of a Thousand Hands towering larger than the Tailed Beasts?
Have you ever seen Madara wield Susanoo, cutting down creation itself and reshaping the land of an entire nation?"
The Third Mizukage seemed lost in the past, trapped once more inside some overwhelming memory.
His expression twisted with terror and hysteria, utterly unlike the elegant statesman he once appeared to be.
"..."
Yagura opened his mouth, but the image of Garp's battle with the First Mizukage flashed through his mind. Suddenly, no words came out.
His heart, so filled with fury, hatred, and killing intent moments ago, grew inexplicably heavy.
He wasn't the only one. Every Kirigakure shinobi present felt an oppressive weight settle in their chest, suffocating and cold.
.........
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