Chapter 426: The One in His Heart Can Only Be Granny Chiyo
Not only was Gaara stunned, but downstairs in the Kazekage building, Pakura, who had been revived by the Impure World Reincarnation and returned to the village, was also dumbfounded. Temari, standing beside her, wore an expression as if questioning life itself.
After returning to the village, aside from casually taking on a daily mission just for form's sake, Pakura spent most of her time wandering around the Kazekage building, gathering information.
She wanted to confirm whether the current Kazekage truly had the qualifications for the position.
As the son of Rasa, Gaara was someone Pakura instinctively distrusted.
Pakura's three little followers, including Matsuri, who was nominally Gaara's disciple, were all rather naïve and hadn't noticed her lack of trust.
But now, instead of three people following behind Pakura every day, there were four.
To ensure that Pakura, this unstable factor, wouldn't do something like assassinate Gaara, Temari had temporarily joined them.
In any case, aside from their once-a-day mission, the group simply wandered around the Kazekage building, so it wasn't boring.
And under these circumstances, they had personally witnessed who knew how many people coming to the Kazekage building to ask about Granny Chiyo's whereabouts, then rushing off impatiently.
Seriously—while the Sunagakure Village did produce many beauties, and each of them could be considered attractive in their own right, why was it always Granny Chiyo?
Anyone unaware might think Granny Chiyo was Gilgamesh, declaring that from now on, every man in the ninja world could only have her as the one in his heart.
"Temari, since when did Granny Chiyo become our village's must-visit… uh, must-see figure?"
Yukata poked Temari with her finger and asked in a low voice.
"How would I know?"
Temari rolled her eyes, then stroked her chin thoughtfully. "I remember there's a saying… something about wine getting better with age? It's from some questionable novel."
"Wine makes old heroes braver the more they drink?"
Maki tried to answer.
"That's not it."
Temari's face was filled with black lines.
"You mean, 'women are like fine wine, the older they get, the richer they become,' right?"
Pakura suddenly spoke up.
"Yeah… huh? How do you know that?"
Temari looked confused.
Pakura hadn't been revived for long, how did she even know this?
"Ah—nothing, nothing, just a coincidence! Temari, don't worry about the details."
The three girls suddenly panicked, standing in front of Pakura and giving a clumsy explanation.
The more they tried to cover it up, the more obvious it became.
Under Temari's interrogation, the truth finally came out: the three girls had been curious about the "Strong Man" series and the Limited Tsukuyomi series, but those could only be purchased by adults.
After reviving Pakura in the Amegakure Village, they had taken her around for food and fun, and along the way, casually had her buy the complete set for them.
Since she'd already bought them, Pakura had also taken a look at the contents.
"You girls really have no shame at all."
Temari sighed helplessly.
"If anyone should be ashamed, it's Granny Chiyo! When the upper beam is crooked, the lower beam will be crooked too. If Granny Chiyo is allowed to have a harem, why can't we read some weird adult books?"
The three girls, now stubborn, started talking back.
"What do you mean Granny Chiyo has a harem? Don't spread nonsense without evidence! There must be some misunderstanding here. Granny Chiyo is a highly respected elder of the Sunagakure Village…"
Temari's face darkened instantly.
"We don't believe it."
"Unless we see it with our own eyes."
"…Fine! Then we'll go check it out!"
Gritting her teeth, Temari decided to investigate with them.
Just what exactly were all these people planning with Granny Chiyo?!
Pakura didn't say anything but quietly followed along.
After all, she didn't know the younger generation of ninja, but as a shinobi of the Sunagakure Village, she naturally knew Granny Chiyo.
And as a female ninja, Granny Chiyo had undoubtedly once been her goal and idol.
"That's actually a pretty good excuse."
A man wearing a conical hat stood not far away, having overheard their entire conversation. He pondered for a moment, then walked toward them.
"Who's there?"
Pakura looked at him vigilantly.
"Don't be nervous. I'm actually one of Granny Chiyo's admirers too."
The man removed his hat, revealing his face.
"You are…?"
The group looked at each other. Clearly, none of them recognized him.
"…Damn it, I said back then we should've done something like the Konohagakure Village and carved my face into a rock or something!"
The man had been stroking his small moustache with a smile, ready to bask in admiration, but upon hearing this, his expression twitched.
That's right—this man was none other than the Second Mizukage, Hōzuki Gengetsu.
Due to the Bloody Mist policy, many Bloodline Limit clans in the Kirigakure Village had been wiped out on a large scale.
Fortunately, the Land of Water's geography naturally lent itself to hiding, if necessary, one could simply flee to a remote island.
So in reality, quite a few Bloodline Limit ninja were still scattered and hidden across various regions.
However, if the village wanted them to trust it again, it would need to rebuild credibility step by step, it wasn't something that could be accomplished overnight.
Terumi Mei's reforms alone weren't enough to eliminate the fear and hesitation in their hearts.
So she decided to find a suitable representative to handle matters concerning the Bloodline Limit clans.
With the Kirigakure lacking talent, the only option was to look to the past.
Thus, Hōzuki Gengetsu was revived through Impure World Reincarnation.
The Hōzuki clan wasn't actually a Bloodline Limit clan, their Hydrification Technique was more akin to a secret technique like those of the Nara, Akimichi, and Yamanaka clans.
But just like how indiscriminate persecution doesn't spare anyone, the Hōzuki clan couldn't avoid being affected during the Bloody Mist era, otherwise, Suigetsu wouldn't have fled to Orochimaru.
To the Bloodline Limit clans, the Hōzuki clan were fellow victims, and that was enough.
With Hōzuki Gengetsu stepping forward, they could be reassured.
Moreover, the source of the Bloody Mist policy was the Third Mizukage.
Regardless of his original intentions, or whether they were later twisted and amplified by the masked man, the Third Mizukage would always be seen as a sinner in the eyes of the victims.
That made the Second Mizukage the best candidate.
Besides, his little moustache naturally gave him a certain approachable charm.
So why had he come to the Sunagakure Village?
Once again, it was all because of Senju Hashirama.
During his travels across the Five Great Ninja Villages, Hashirama had naturally visited the Kirigakure Village.
After learning that the village had been influenced by "Uchiha Madara", Hashirama, wanting to atone for his old friend, personally shot a promotional advertisement for the Kirigakure's tourism industry.
During the filming, he casually mentioned that Madara had also been revived and was currently in the Sunagakure Village, trying to pursue Granny Chiyo.
Hōzuki Gengetsu, being from the same era as Uchiha Madara and having met him before, immediately put aside the matter of the Bloodline Limit clans upon hearing this and decided to deal with this major crisis in the ninja world first.
He had left in such a hurry that Terumi Mei didn't even get the chance to tell him—so he didn't use the Flying Thunder God technique and instead ran all the way to the Sunagakure Village using his reanimated body.
Now, after hearing Temari and the others' conversation, he had found a reasonable excuse to approach them.
As for what Uchiha Madara was actually planning—He didn't know.
But whatever Madara intended to do, he would simply stop it.
(End of this chapter)