Chapter 186: Observations of the Legacy Kages in Kirigakure, Jiraiya and the Power of the Pen
Kitori—that was the exact designation of the Third Mizukage.
However, as the generation of shinobi that operated alongside him gradually faced natural or operational termination, and with the brutal implementation of the 'Blood Mist Village' policy...
Zero personnel within Kirigakure possessed the clearance or audacity to utter his actual name. They universally defaulted to the respectful corporate titles "Third Mizukage-sama" or simply "That Person."
His name had become a restricted, un-auditable system error.
But Gengetsu Hozuki evidently logged zero compliance regarding this defeated asset.
"How has this subsidiary's development roadmap actually regressed in an infinite loop?"
"Even back during the era of that obsolete fossil, Byakuren, the village's networking policy constantly flip-flopped between isolationism and open-market trading. It generated catastrophic operational friction for the workforce. It was functionally psychotic."
Gengetsu Hozuki's facial rendering was pitch black. "When I occupied the Mizukage executive seat, I mandated external comms with the global market! Even if we didn't finalize formal SLAs or corporate mergers, we were required to continuously audit the developmental metrics of rival subsidiaries, correct?"
"Isolating yourselves on this depreciated island server, running closed-loop echo chambers... They don't even possess the telemetry to know what new jutsu architectures rival factions are compiling via active PvP! Once that information asymmetry hardens, if a global shinobi market war initiates, aren't they just idling, waiting for a kinetic wipe?"
Gengetsu Hozuki was experiencing a severe spike in internal heat metrics.
Admittedly, during his executive tenure, Kirigakure's external PR brand wasn't exactly premium.
The lethal kinetic exchange between him and Mu was triggered entirely by a dispute over looting post-battle assets.
But unless your brand reputation scales to Hashirama's tier—prior to achieving a qualitative mutation—what is the actual market valuation of 'reputation'?
The primary objective was 'war-funding-war'. Through close-quarters kinetic engagements, a subsidiary acquires zero-day intel on the R&D vectors and operational trends of rival factions. This allows the village to accurately benchmark its own market positioning and execute agile strategic pivots.
"Kitori is objectively a defective unit."
Mu outputted a low-volume audio stream. "He attended the inaugural Five Kage Summit alongside the First Mizukage as a premium asset, yet he suffered a catastrophic PR defeat and allowed you to hostile-takeover the Mizukage position."
"With such a low-tier operative occupying the CEO seat, Kirigakure's current depreciation is an expected outcome."
"If Kirigakure had run this isolationist protocol during our active cycle, I would have successfully liquidated you ages ago. How could I have possibly succumbed to your stealth gank?"
Gengetsu Hozuki subconsciously nodded.
If there hadn't been supplementary Kirigakure operatives providing suppressive fire on the frontlines, Mu's proprietary 'Particle Style' architecture could have remained permanently encrypted. Engaging him in a direct PvP duel under those parameters would have been incredibly hazardous.
But a microsecond later, Gengetsu's logic circuits caught the syntax error. He grabbed Mu by the collar. "You bandage-wrapped griefer! What is your intended output? Are you implying YOU didn't initiate a stealth gank on ME?"
"Furthermore, if Kitori is a defective unit because he lost the Mizukage seat to me, what classification applies to YOU, the unit I successfully terminated?"
Mu offered a corporate chuckle, spreading his manipulators. "Insufficient data. However, I can verify that Iwagakure's architectural framework is vastly superior to Kirigakure's. The transfer of the 'Kage' executive seat has historically followed a rigorous, sequential protocol. We have never utilized raw kinetic output as the sole KPI for promotion."
"You are intimately aware of your own liability regarding Kirigakure's current degradation, you little-mustachioed defect."
Debating raw combat metrics was a deprecated loop. Mu and Gengetsu had engaged in verbal PvP over that topic for so many fiscal cycles they were mutually exhausted by the dialogue.
They were statistically perfectly matched; otherwise, their final engagement wouldn't have resulted in a MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction) event.
But after bridging a thirty-year offline gap and logging back into the shinobi market, the comparative vectors had expanded exponentially.
Both were former Kages. Both terminated in the exact same fiscal cycle. Therefore, the ultimate metric was a comparative audit of their respective villages' post-mortem developmental roadmaps.
"You!"
Gengetsu Hozuki flared his nostrils and widened his optics. He absolutely despised unauthorized audits of his facial hair rendering.
However, since the audio originated from Mu, Gengetsu's system barely registered the friction.
He had been entangled with this bastard for so many cycles that he had practically developed immunity to his verbal flame attacks.
"Sigh..."
Gengetsu released his grip on Mu's sleeve, shaking his head in profound corporate depression. "I possessed the analytics indicating Kirigakure had structural vulnerabilities. Following the conclusion of the First Shinobi World War, I had drafted the roadmap to initiate a comprehensive restructuring..."
"It is entirely your liability!"
"Initiating a lethal, zero-sum PvP engagement over a minor fraction of loot. Are your logic circuits malfunctioning?"
"Could you not simply transfer the assets to my account?"
Mu's non-existent brow twitched. As a highly rational R&D operative, his algorithms couldn't even process the audacity of that query. "I wouldn't transfer those assets to a stray dog on the server, let alone you!"
"If you hadn't executed that hostile operation, I could have actively mentored Onoki, stabilizing his transition into the Tsuchikage executive seat and ensuring a smoother operational roadmap!"
Although Mu hadn't physically routed himself to Iwagakure yet, he possessed zero anxiety regarding Onoki's operational status.
After all, Onoki—much like Hiruzen Sarutobi—was the cross-generational successor personally selected by the First Tsuchikage, Ishikawa.
He had been downloading the 'Will of Stone' proprietary software since boot-up, and his talent and operational metrics were absolutely top-tier.
However, Mu still harbored residual concerns regarding his own subsidiary. Iwagakure suffered from an unpatched architectural vulnerability.
"During my tenure, we established Konoha as the primary market competitor. To rapidly scale our aggregate combat metrics, we mandated rigorous, synchronized training for large-scale, cooperative ninjutsu deployment. However, this protocol severely throttled the creative R&D potential of the workforce. Excluding Onoki, my queries failed to identify a single viable candidate for the Tsuchikage succession pipeline."
"That was the active operational state when I was terminated. If this institutional inertia isn't subjected to an agile pivot, the village has a high probability of experiencing a severe deficit in premium, top-tier talent..."
While Iwagakure operatives boasted exceptional compliance and synchronization metrics, the spawn rate for anomalous prodigies was statistically low—much like the barren, resource-poor terrain of the Land of Earth itself.
Variable one: A low density of legacy shinobi clans. Variable two: An over-optimization for absolute compliance.
Absolute, rigid compliance is fundamentally incompatible with the chaotic innovation required to spawn a 'genius'. At least, within the shinobi market physics engine, that correlation is verified.
Mu's facial rendering lost its mocking edge as he initiated deep processing regarding his own village's architecture.
Gengetsu Hozuki's expression remained incredibly grim. Utilizing the White Zetsu spore attached to his chassis, he transmitted a B2B ping to Madara Uchiha: "Tobirama Senju, I require authorization to infiltrate Kirigakure's internal servers for a visual audit!"
The response was a non-committal 'Proceed'. Madara authorized the operation, completely unconcerned.
Madara possessed absolute confidence that his Rinnegan Genjutsu firewall could not be bypassed.
Moments later, Gengetsu Hozuki and Mu, leveraging Mu's proprietary 'Dustless Bewildering Cover' stealth protocol, successfully infiltrated the Kirigakure perimeter.
"The Blood Mist Village..."
"My analytics confirm this is a purge protocol engineered by that defective unit Kitori post-succession, designed to liquidate internal dissenters and rival factions."
"But why introduce a thirty-year latency period before execution?!" Gengetsu Hozuki rapidly downloaded ambient data, his internal systems crashing completely.
To be transparent, he could theoretically comprehend the Third Mizukage initiating a massive purge upon acquiring the executive seat. Their operational factions were historically hostile.
But why idle for decades?
Waiting until Gengetsu's legacy faction had scaled, deeply rooted themselves in the corporate infrastructure, and possessed the bandwidth to actively challenge his authority before initiating the purge?
In Gengetsu's risk assessment, the Third Mizukage functioned identically to an embedded hostile intelligence asset. He seemed mathematically determined to generate maximum, catastrophic volatility within Kirigakure's network.
If he had executed the purge immediately following the First Shinobi World War, the operational cost would have been the liquidation of a few faction leaders, and market stability would have quickly returned.
Gengetsu didn't care if the Third Mizukage terminated a few of his clansmen to stabilize Kirigakure.
But this current operational model—functionally identical to a localized 'Battle Royale' (Gu蛊) cannibalization protocol—triggered genuine fury within Gengetsu. Whether audited from the perspective of a Mizukage or the Hozuki Clan Head, the Third Mizukage's performance metrics were catastrophically defective!
"My assessment: Kirigakure is approaching a critical system failure."
Mu outputted a flat audio stream. "The Blood Mist Village? It is staggering that Kitori could compile such a defective algorithm. The internal hostility and attrition generated by this closed-door cannibalization will instantly collapse the moment they engage a properly trained, unified workforce."
Shinobi are fundamentally a militarized kinetic organization.
Reckless, individualized aggression is merely a low-tier hardware stat. The premium variables are absolute compliance, synchronized execution, and unified corporate morale.
"Affirmative."
Gengetsu Hozuki nodded heavily. "My intercepted comms indicate they are actively planning to initiate a global market war? This is sheer, unadulterated psychosis."
While routing past a local consumable vendor (tavern), Gengetsu had audited the audio logs of active Kirigakure operatives.
Their internal consensus projected that the current iteration of Konoha was severely depreciated and irrelevant—incapable of even maintaining administrative control over their low-tier and mid-tier workforce.
Their roadmap: isolate an optimal window to execute a hostile pivot, terminate the SLA (alliance), and launch a raid. They calculated that a single successful kinetic strike would yield sufficient ROI to offset the massive resource deficit generated by the Blood Mist policy.
"Redirecting intense internal systemic contradictions outward via kinetic expansion is a highly documented catalyst for global warfare."
Mu shrugged his shoulders. "I am actually highly intrigued to run a diagnostic on Konoha: does their current market cap actually align with the depreciated metrics these Kirigakure operatives are broadcasting?"
"Probability suggests affirmative."
Gengetsu pondered deeply. "I initially hypothesized that Tobirama Senju's directive for us to lead a Soragakure raid against Konoha was a spoofed objective."
"But if Konoha's infrastructure has genuinely degraded to this extent, his logic might be to deploy a controlled, external kinetic shock. A stress test designed to forcefully reboot the village's algorithms and trigger a fundamental, architectural restructuring."
Mu nodded. This was a highly standardized operational methodology during the Warring States era.
Leveraging external threat pressure to force internal corporate evolution.
"But why wouldn't he simply bypass the proxy and directly command us to execute a kinetic strike for Konoha?"
Gengetsu Hozuki experienced another logic error.
His current combat metrics were functionally 1:1 with his peak living specs. Even if Konoha was currently running on deprecated hardware, if you aggregated Konoha's forces with his, Mu's, and these anomalous 'Hashirama Homunculi' ('Tobirama's' assets)...
Kirigakure's defense grid would be instantly, catastrophically shattered!
"That is a premium query."
Mu narrowed his optics, processing the data for a prolonged cycle.
While he unequivocally classified Tobirama Senju as a despicable, scheming griefer, as a fellow R&D engineer, he did not project Tobirama possessing the requisite psychosis to actively liquidate the very corporate entity he had architected.
"He likely calculated that..."
After a significant latency, Mu outputted a hesitant hypothesis: "If a subsidiary perpetually relies on the kinetic output of legacy executives to mitigate market crises, while failing to compile a robust, self-sustaining internal core architecture... it is mathematically guaranteed to face eventual bankruptcy."
"After all, this unit historically networked with Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha. Although I loathe to authenticate it, those entities rarely optimized their strategies for the short-term ROI of one or two kinetic engagements. Their processing power was constantly allocated to theoretical vaporware like 'Permanent Global Peace'."
"They literally engineered the One-Village-One-State architecture! Konoha operatives natively run highly anomalous logic circuits. When Madara Uchiha and Hashirama Senju finalized their merger, every rival subsidiary escalated their threat levels, anticipating a unified global acquisition campaign. No one simulated the scenario where those two specific nodes would initiate a mutually destructive PvP engagement..."
Mu had visually authenticated Hashirama, had visually authenticated Madara, and possessed deep B2B logs with Tobirama.
Benchmarking raw talent metrics, Mu firmly believed his hardware was equal to Tobirama's. However, regarding macro-strategic vision, Tobirama possessed significantly wider bandwidth.
But a massive 'vision' isn't inherently an optimized asset. Ultimately, only actionable, tangible ROI possesses true market value. Unattainable goals are merely classified as 'over-scoping'.
Gengetsu Hozuki nodded in profound agreement. "Verified. Konoha operatives possess fundamentally corrupted root directories. They are universally classified as psychopaths."
"Extremely radical algorithms!"
Gengetsu shook his head. "Let's extract. I actually possess a marginal comprehension of Tobirama Senju's logic now. I currently harbor a strong desire for Kirigakure to be the target of the Soragakure raid. Allowing this subsidiary to continue rotting in this closed-loop isolation... an immediate kinetic termination would be vastly superior."
After executing a comprehensive perimeter sweep of Kirigakure, Gengetsu Hozuki was massively disappointed to verify that absolutely zero personnel had detected his and Mu's presence!
It wasn't that he expected junior associates to instantly trigger alarms upon their zone entry.
Mu's stealth algorithms and combat metrics were undeniably Tier-1 globally. But after such a prolonged patrol, they should have triggered some form of baseline security ping!
Even if they couldn't establish a hard lock on the coordinates, the perimeter defense should have registered an anomaly!
Thirty fiscal years ago, Kirigakure suffered from a severe deficit of Sensory-type operatives. Thirty years later, this critical vulnerability remained unpatched!
If a corporate entity maintains zero iterative progression—or worse, executes a rollback of its capabilities—what is the justification for its continued market existence?
Not to mention the implementation of the Blood Mist Village, a policy that even these two hardened Warring States veterans classified as excessively extreme.
Mu shot a side-eye at Gengetsu Hozuki, the corners of his mouth twitching in disdain.
He still retained the audio logs where Gengetsu demanded: 'As long as the target vector is not Kirigakure, I will execute any command.'
And now, following a brief audit, he is actively soliciting a kinetic strike against his own village to force a system reboot?!
"This aligns perfectly with your user persona. Weak assets addicted to vaporware delusions must eventually face the catastrophic pain of a market crash."
"An early, brutal awakening offers a higher probability of survival."
If Iwagakure's talent pipeline had genuinely collapsed, Mu could also authorize a non-lethal, highly pressurized military defeat as an acceptable operating cost to force a structural pivot.
This wasn't an indicator that he lacked brand loyalty to Iwagakure. But as the Tsuchikage, Mu's processing algorithms were mandated to operate from a macro-level, long-term strategic perspective.
Mu couldn't resist casting a glance at Gengetsu Hozuki.
His legacy rival remained as ruthlessly decisive as ever, capable of executing agonizing pivots with zero latency.
But Mu hadn't calculated that Gengetsu Hozuki was also monitoring his visual output. Gengetsu smirked, outputting audio: "As expected of the operative branded as the 'Non-Person', possessing an encryption level rivaling Tobirama Senju. You decrypted his operational logic flawlessly."
Mu's facial rendering darkened. "Mutual authentication. Aren't you also globally branded as a combat-obsessed fanatic on par with Izuna Uchiha?"
The two units locked optics for a cycle, then simultaneously terminated the visual connection.
It was functionally the dynamic of Senju Mu and Uchiha Gengetsu.
Or rather, the networking architecture between the Senju and Uchiha functioned as a universal template, widely instantiated across the entire shinobi ecosystem.
"To what extent has Konoha's infrastructure actually depreciated?"
Following Mu's logic chain, both legacy executives entered a state of deep processing.
Meanwhile, deep within the Kirigakure servers.
Internal Affairs Division.
Kimimaro—who had already processed the permanent liquidation of the most extreme, un-patchable Kaguya clan assets, transferring their data to the Third Mizukage—
Was now recognized as the Mizukage's most highly optimized, premium executive asset!
His brand loyalty was mathematically beyond query!
Kimimaro had expended maximum processing power to salvage what he could.
But the market reality was undeniable. Certain Kaguya operatives—perhaps due to corrupted genetic code—outputted behavioral metrics suggesting their cognitive algorithms were less sophisticated than a standard banana.
Leveraging this absolute executive trust, Kimimaro's corporate ranking skyrocketed like a ballistic missile.
He currently occupied the Director seat of the Internal Affairs Division. While he lacked a formal designation on the supreme executive board, he possessed the clearance to log into high-level C-suite summits.
Over the recent fiscal periods.
Utilizing Kimimaro as the central node, and routing operations through Kisame and Yuki as proxy extensions, a significant volume of innocent shinobi—previously flagged for collateral liquidation—were covertly extracted, patched, and onboarded as allied assets.
They had successfully compiled a highly encrypted, shadow subsidiary within Kirigakure's core infrastructure.
"Mangetsu, your Hozuki genetic payload is highly sensitive under the current TOS (Terms of Service)."
"But disregard the friction. This is the Kirigakure Internal Affairs Division! I possess absolute admin privileges to dictate whether your account is flagged! I will guarantee your operational security."
Kimimaro patted the shoulder of a juvenile unit sporting shark-like dental rendering, basking in the kid's optic stream of pure reverence.
This was another high-potential asset Kimimaro had successfully acquired.
Mangetsu Hozuki. The Hozuki clan's prodigy, the operative 'favored by the Seven Ninja Swords.'
His Kenjutsu (Sword Technique) talent metrics were Tier-1. However, due to his shared genetic lineage with the Second Mizukage, despite his juvenile status, his account was heavily monitored.
Kimimaro had executed a minor administrative override to seamlessly scrub the threat flags.
"Data received, Kimimaro-sama!"
Mangetsu Hozuki gazed at Kimimaro with absolute idolization. "I will execute all your directives!"
Kimimaro smiled and nodded.
"Milestone achieved. My trajectory toward acquiring the 'Konoha High Commissioner' designation is marginally closer."
"Third Mizukage..."
"No, Kitori. You brainless, defective asset. I am actively running a countdown timer for you to initiate a kinetic conflict with Konoha."
"I am mathematically obligated to utilize your rendered blood to execute a memorial protocol for my liquidated clansmen, even if their logic circuits were as degraded as yours!" Kimimaro's core throbbed with immense ambition and vengeance algorithms.
The closer he navigated to the Third Mizukage's orbit, the more intensely he longed for Konoha and Tenzo Hyuga. Consequently, his reverence and idolization of Hiruzen Sarutobi scaled exponentially. He aggressively desired to dock his chassis near the Hokage to download his premium operational logic.
Two fiscal months later.
On the opposite perimeter of the shinobi market.
Madara Uchiha transmitted the executive execution command to Gengetsu Hozuki and Mu, mobilizing the Soragakure subsidiary to initiate a massive aerial raid against Konoha!
Konoha.
Jiraiya, his facial rendering displaying a highly anomalous, trance-like state, routed himself to Hiruzen Sarutobi.
"Sensei, 'Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Shinobi' has generated a catastrophic market boom! It's a verified bestseller!"
"I have officially achieved 'Bestselling Author' status!"
"Please advise: what is the optimal protocol for transferring these massive royalty dividends into the village's fiscal treasury?"
Hiruzen Sarutobi raised his optics in mild system shock.
This unit actually possesses legitimate literary algorithms?
While Hiruzen had provided the core architectural outline, compiling a narrative that successfully generated massive user engagement required genuine, high-tier linguistic processing power.
"Jiraiya. Query: Do you possess the bandwidth and interest to pivot your career track? To serve as the village's primary PR copywriter? To achieve the designation of 'Literary Titan'?"
Hiruzen extracted his signature pipe, outputting the audio stream with slow, calculated precision.
His internal database was rapidly querying historical archives, searching for classic literary architectures—specifically those optimized for aggressive shinobi market propaganda.
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