"What kind of world was it during the Warring States era?"
"What exactly did the Third Mizukage see? What did he go through?"
"Why is it that the witnesses of that era, whether it's the Third Tsuchikage or the Third Mizukage, are all so humble before Lord Garp?"
Before the eyes of everyone present, the Third Mizukage held a blood-written surrender letter in both hands.
The moment he knelt, Orochimaru, Tsunade, Might Duy, Fugaku, and the others were all stunned, and terrified.
They could not imagine what this unwavering, steel-willed man had experienced.
This was the very Third Mizukage who turned Kirigakure into a village of blood and mist, who bore countless accusations and infamy, and who protected the village in his own way.
What kind of horrors had he lived through, that even when forced into signing a surrender in blood, he remained calm and indifferent?
Especially Tsunade, Shikaku, Inoichi, and Choza, they had all once witnessed the Third Raikage, Chiyo, and Ebizo surrender to Garp.
But none of those people had remained composed. They had gritted their teeth, simmered with anger they dared not voice, or fallen into the despair of hearts completely broken.
Compared to them, the Third Mizukage writing a blood surrender letter with a blank expression, then kneeling calmly before the shinobi of two villages, was completely different.
His eyes, his expression, even his tone resembled a bottomless, frozen pool, dead still, utterly calm.
What he did didn't look like kneeling… nor surrendering… but simply completing some trivial, mundane task.
As casually as kicking aside a pebble at his feet.
"Let's go."
Garp glanced at the Third Mizukage kneeling at his feet, then reached out to take the letter, its blood still not dry. His voice was faint, indifferent.
He vaguely remembered that years ago, he had stood right here. Before the witnesses of the Senju, Uchiha, Yuki, and Kaguya clans, he had accepted Byakuren's surrender letter.
Only, at that time, Byakuren had not yet founded Kirigakure and was not a Mizukage. He was merely the leader of a coalition formed by the Yuki, Kaguya, Hozuki, and other clans.
"Thank you."
The Third Mizukage slowly rose. His face remained as still as a placid lake, showing no hint of emotion.
"Yagura, take all the ninja of Kirigakure and return to the village."
He turned and addressed Yagura.
"Lord Mizukage… What about you?"
Yagura stared at the motionless figure of the Third Mizukage. The unease in his heart only grew stronger.
"Me? Naturally, I will walk the final stretch of the road… as the Third Mizukage."
The moment he spoke, Yagura, Mei, and the others felt as if they were struck by lightning.
Even though they had suspected as much earlier, even though they had tried to prepare themselves mentally, hearing the Third Mizukage calmly speak of his own death still tore at their hearts.
Once, each of them had harbored resentment toward this man who had driven the Hidden in the Mist into the infamous era of the Bloody Mist.
But the Third Mizukage was powerful, widely respected, and, like Hiruzen, was raised and taught by the First and Second Mizukage themselves.
Whether it was Yagura, Mei, Ao, or even the Seven Ninja Swordsmen who had died by Garp's hand, not one of them could shake his authority.
Seizing the title of Mizukage had always been an impossible dream.
Yet now…
Seeing this man bear everything, shoulder everything, and even choose to walk the final road of the Mizukage for the sake of Kirigakure, the resentment, the dissatisfaction, the grudges accumulated over the years all vanished in an instant.
"Don't be naive, Yagura.
You were unaware, uninvolved, and you never fought Lord Garp. He won't hold anything against you. In his eyes, all of you were just a bunch of kids fooled and used by me and Lord Byakuren.
But I am different. I knew. I participated. I planned."
The Third Mizukage sighed.
"Even if, in Lord Garp's eyes, I am just a half-grown brat… this kind of thing, I already survived once alongside the First and Second Mizukage. I won't get a second chance."
Yagura opened his mouth, wanting to plead to Garp, but the Third Mizukage spoke first.
"Lord Mizukage…"
Yagura's voice trembled. In the end, all he could utter was a single, painfully complex address, Lord Mizukage.
"You are already the Fourth Mizukage. I shouldn't interfere.
But since you still call me 'Lord Mizukage', since you still see me as the Third, I will give you one last piece of advice."
The Third Mizukage hesitated, just for a moment. Then he continued.
In his eyes, Yagura was a rare talent for the shinobi village era. Among the new generation of Kirigakure, only the young Mei, who possessed two Kekkei Genkai, might surpass him.
This was the reason he had thrown Mei into the battlefield, to show his chosen Fifth Mizukage just how vast the ninja world truly was.
To show how small the five great nations and five great villages really were.
"Please… tell me."
Yagura took a deep breath, pushing down the heaviness in his chest.
"In a hero's lifetime… Kirigakure… must stay in the village."
The Third Mizukage stared deeply into Yagura's eyes, then spoke each word slowly and clearly.
.........
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