The Mizukage Is Strong But Overly Cautious

As we all know, the Land of Water is an island nation, separated from the mainland and independent of the other four great nations.

Deep within its territory lies a vast inland freshwater lake known as the Lake of Fog, its surface perpetually shrouded in thick mist, much like Kirigakure itself.

On the small island at its center, the alert level had reached its highest—a security measure unseen since the height of the Bloody Mist era.

A large contingent of elite Kirigakure shinobi had been deployed to the area.

The Mizukage's Guard, an elite unit directly under the command of the Third Mizukage, had spread out in layers. Within a ten-kilometer radius, dozens of Jōnin and hundreds of Chūnin formed an impenetrable perimeter.

On the surface and beneath the lake's depths, Hidden Mist shinobi lurked in ambush, using Silent Killing tactics to ensure no enemy could approach undetected.

At the heart of the island, inside a reinforced chamber, stood Mizuki Taki, the Third Mizukage. Four elite fūinjutsu users flanked him.

Upon a stone altar inscribed with intricate sealing patterns lay two figures—one on the brink of death, the other unconscious.

The frail man with sunken eyes and withered skin was Genichiro Okubo, the current Jinchūriki of the Three-Tails.

Beside him, the unconscious boy was the chosen vessel—the next host for the Three-Tails.

"Okubo, how do you feel?"

Mizuki Taki stepped forward, gripping Okubo's skeletal arm. His voice carried a rare hint of emotion.

"Ugh…"

Okubo exhaled weakly. "Mizukage-sama… there is no need… to hesitate. If all is ready… begin…"

Even speaking seemed to exhaust him.

Taki's gaze darkened slightly.

Once the ritual begins, Okubo will die. That much is certain.

Few knew this, but Okubo had once been Taki's equal—one of the strongest contenders for the title of Third Mizukage.

But his fate had been sealed the moment he agreed to become a Jinchūriki.

Unlike Killer Bee, who had formed a perfect symbiosis with the Eight-Tails, Okubo lacked compatibility with the Three-Tails. From the beginning, the beast had resisted him, turning his existence into a constant battle for control.

Decades of suppressing its chakra had drained his vitality, reducing him to a husk of his former self.

Even so, he had fulfilled his duty.

It had been less than three decades since Hashirama Senju had distributed the tailed beasts among the Five Great Nations.

The major villages were still in the early stages of studying Jinchūriki, struggling to control these living weapons.

At this point, no village had developed a method to create a "perfect Jinchūriki." The concept was still primitive, far from the mastery that Killer Bee or Naruto Uzumaki would achieve in the future.

Instead, tailed beasts were regarded as living "nuclear deterrents"—weapons of mass destruction that secured a village's military supremacy.

This was why the Five Great Shinobi Villages remained dominant.

On the battlefield, a fully unleashed tailed beast was an apocalyptic force.

The only practical way to harness this power was to seal the beasts into human vessels—Jinchūriki.

At present, most nations treated their Jinchūriki as expendable weapons.

During the First Shinobi World War, Sunagakure, in a desperate move, had released the One-Tails by sacrificing its Jinchūriki, allowing the beast to rampage unchecked.

The moment the seal broke, the Jinchūriki perished.

This was the accepted fate of all Jinchūriki—disposable tools, used and discarded.

Of course, the uncontrollable nature of the tailed beasts made this strategy deeply flawed. Once released, a tailed beast did not distinguish friend from foe, making it as much a threat to its own village as to the enemy.

This was why the great nations were racing to develop true Jinchūriki—those who could fully control their beasts, rather than merely contain them.

But at this moment in history, being a Jinchūriki was synonymous with suffering.

—

As the Third Mizukage, Mizuki Taki bore the responsibility of maintaining Kirigakure's "nuclear deterrence."

Ensuring the stability of their Jinchūriki was an absolute priority.

The replacement ceremony had to be conducted outside the village—any failure could result in catastrophic casualties.

Given the nature of the Three-Tails, Taki had chosen the Lake of Fog as the ritual site.

If anything went wrong, the lake could serve as a temporary containment zone, delaying the beast's rampage long enough for Kirigakure to reattempt the sealing.

But Mizuki Taki was more concerned with another potential threat—Yagura Karatachi.

Yes, the real danger was Yagura's growing influence.

Even if the Three-Tails' sealing process was delayed, Taki had resolved to eliminate Yagura's threat first.

"Begin."

Suppressing his emotions, Mizuki Taki gave the order. The ritual to transfer the Three-Tails had begun—an act that marked the death of Genichiro Okubo.

At that moment, Okubo's sunken eyes glimmered with relief.

The four fūinjutsu experts moved into position, their hands glowing with chakra as they began the complex process.

The ritual consisted of three stages:

1. Extracting the tailed beast from the old Jinchūriki.

2. Subduing the tailed beast to prevent destruction.

3. Resealing it within the new vessel.

Each step carried immense risk, as the beast would inevitably resist.

And once the process began, there was no turning back.

Mizuki Taki's expression hardened.

Yagura… let's see who will have the last laugh.

At that moment, a high-stakes game of power had begun.

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