Chapter 283 Kage's Death
After returning to the Mizukage's office, Kaito and Ao followed the Third Mizukage all the way, acting like a guard.
The Third Mizukage first gave an order to the Anbu, and Kushimaru personally led people to thoroughly investigate Yagura's subordinates.
Anyone who was deeply involved in this rebellion will be arrested and executed, while ordinary ninjas who were unaware will be ignored.
After giving the order, the Third Mizukage prepared to continue dealing with other incidents after Kushimaru and his men left.
It seemed as if the rebellion that almost overthrew the Kirigakure Village was just a trivial matter and was passed over lightly.
However, the Third Mizukage seemed to notice that Kaito on the side was a little confused about his order, so he asked directly in return.
"You can't figure out why I'm dealing with it so polarized, right?"
Kaito scratched his head subconsciously and answered honestly.
"Yes, a little bit. Some of those who were deeply involved may have been forced into it. It seems too severe to execute them all. And most of those who were unaware of it also made mistakes. It seems too lenient to not punish them at all."
The Third Mizukage just smiled when he heard this, but he didn't show any impatience at all. He started to explain to Kaito.
"The ten people that Yagura brought with him must be his most loyal and most powerful men. The rest are either not strong enough or are in key positions and cannot leave easily. The former can be killed, and the latter cannot be kept alive."
"Similarly, Yagura's actions are also helping me to screen and judge. Since those participants who are not aware of this matter have been kept in the dark, I will simply treat them equally and ignore their mistakes."
"Now is the time to use people. Only by treating them with care can they feel guilty and grateful."
Afterwards, the Third Mizukage took this opportunity to tell Kaito a few things to pay attention to when employing people.
Kaito was nodding and listening attentively throughout the lecture, while Ao, who was standing beside him, followed and listened with a sense of envy and satisfaction.
Next, the Third Mizukage dealt with the backlog of work during this period with great efficiency, and Kaito accompanied him throughout the process.
This old man is like a ruthless office machine. He handles problems efficiently and keeps everything in order.
At the same time, although the Third Mizukage did not seem to care much about his remaining life, he was very eager to pass on some of his experience to Kaito. From time to time, he would stop to ask Kaito questions and give explanations.
It was not until he saw a scroll of important information that the Third Mizukage stopped his work and suddenly spoke.
"The Third Raikage is dead."
The first words he spoke were earth-shattering.
Kaito and Ao both looked at each other in shock. The Third Mizukage himself was holding the information with a very serious expression.
"On the day you raided the Kumogakure Village, the Kumogakure Village's AB team received the news and left the front line."
The Third Mizukage paused slightly when he said this.
In fact, they all know without thinking that the so-called AB combination must have received the news because of Uchiha Madara behind the scenes.
However, the Third Mizukage didn't want to dwell on this matter any longer and continued to speak.
"After the AB team left the front line, the Iwagakure Village suddenly turned against them on the battlefield and attacked the Kumogakure Village, causing the Kumogakure Village to be completely defeated. The Third Raikage Ai was eventually besieged by the Iwagakure Village while trying to cover the retreat of the troops, and died at the hands of Ōnoki."
Kaito and Ao were both dumbfounded after hearing this, and Ao blurted out the answer directly.
"Aren't Iwagakure and Kumogakure allies? What are they after?"
The Third Mizukage did not answer, but just looked at Ao with some disgust.
Then he turned to look at Kaito, with a look of expectation and examination in his eyes.
Kaito scratched his head and thought about it, then answered with some uncertainty.
"The alliance of Iwagakure and Kumogakure has been fighting Konoha for a long time but has not been able to take it down. Onoki believes that if he continues to attack Konoha, his own losses may be too great. So he chose to take advantage of Kumogakure's weakness and launch a surprise attack on his allies, preparing to reap enough benefits from Kumogakure?"
Upon hearing this, the Third Mizukage nodded with satisfaction.
"Yes, I know Onoki. That brat is the best at judging the situation. When he thought Konoha was in decline, he immediately chose to form an alliance with Kumogakure and drove the Sunagakure Village and us, who he thought were no longer important, out of the battlefield in order to gain greater gains from victory."
"And now, when he finds that Konoha's resilience is far stronger than he imagined, and that it will be difficult for Iwagakure and Kumogakure to defeat Konoha in a short period of time, and even if they win in the end, it may be a pyrrhic victory, he will choose to stop the loss in time and launch a surprise attack on his allies in the hope of earning enough benefits from the Land of Lightning."
Kaito and Ao nodded thoughtfully.
To put it nicely, it's called assessing the situation; to put it bluntly, it's called being a fence-sitter.
However, unlike the small country like Kusagakure, where fence-sitting is done to ensure survival, every decision is a matter of life and death.
The Iwagakure Village is a large fence-sitter, whose slightest movement can influence the situation in the ninja world, but it itself remains standing and is always reaping the benefits.
Even Kaito suspected that before the Iwagakure Village attacked the Kumogakure Village, it might have reached some kind of agreement with Konoha and obtained certain benefits in advance.
The Third Mizukage gave the two a moment to think and then continued to ask.
"Then what do you think the betrayal of the Iwagakure Village and the death of the Third Raikage will have on us?"
Kaito and Ao looked at each other and said in unison.
"Konoha's peace talks!"x2
"That's right." The Third Mizukage gave a direct affirmative answer.
Before, Konoha was able to accept all kinds of outrageous conditions from the Kirigakure Village, although this was because of the deterrence of the Kirigakure Village's Flying Unit stationed on the Land of Whirlpool.
However, it was more because of the continuous large-scale battles between the Iwagakure, Kumogakure and Konohagakure, which led to Konohagakure not wanting to let the Kirigakure Village, which had half-withdrawn from this Ninja War, return and expose Konohagakure to attacks from both sides.
The current feud between Iwagakure and Kumogakure will not allow Konohagakure to immediately escape from the quagmire of the northern battlefield of the Land of Fire.
But the change in the priority of hatred between the two villages was enough to allow Konohagakure to breathe a sigh of relief.
Konohagakure, which can spare enough energy, will definitely want to regain more say at the negotiating table.
"It all came down to the timing of the attack on Kumogakure."
Kaito didn't know that Uchiha Madara had chosen to die, and he kept a note of him in his heart.
If the original plan of the Third Mizukage was followed, the attack on Kumogakure would definitely be used as a bargaining chip, and would only be carried out after sufficient benefits were obtained and the negotiations were over.
This will ensure the smooth progress of the peace talks and will not delay the Kirigakure Village's revenge on Kumogakure Village. But now everything is in chaos.
But it's no use thinking about things that have already happened.
The Third Mizukage waved his hand to call over an Anbu and gave instructions.
"Send a message to Konoha and ask them to send someone to the Kirigakure Village within ten days for the final peace talks."
(End of this Chapter)