~ Every 100 Power Stones = Bonus Chapter! Your votes keep this climbing. Thanks!
The moment Yagura completed his full transformation, becoming the complete Three-Tails, Isobu, he was caught.
Obito Uchiha used his Genjutsu: Sharingan to seize control of the Three-Tails' mind.
Pain followed immediately. Dozens of black chakra rods stabbed into the beast's massive form.
The rods disrupted the chakra of both the Tailed Beast and its Jinchuriki, cutting off Yagura's ability to help the beast break the illusion.
Working with the rods' effects, Obito forced the Three-Tails to retreat. The colossal form shrank, dissolved.
In the exact instant Yagura reverted to human form—vulnerable, disoriented—Obito struck again.
Genjutsu: Sharingan.
Yagura's eyes swirled, morphing into the pattern of the crimson wheel.
That was Obito's solution.
If the Jinchuriki and the Tailed Beast could break each other's genjutsu, then just hit them both at the same time.
Yagura stood rigid, his gaze empty and dull.
The fight was over.
Obito, Pain, and Konan stood before the motionless Fourth Mizukage.
"You used your Sharingan to control Yagura," Pain stated, his voice flat. "Your plan is to enter Kirigakure with him, correct?"
Obito nodded. "Correct. If we're scouting for new members, we need to go to the village. Let's move."
Pain's gaze shifted to the entranced Mizukage. "Unnecessary. With the Fourth Mizukage as your guide, you can proceed alone. Konan and I will not accompany you."
Obito's masked head tilted. "Oh? Not going to keep an eye on me?"
Pain's Rinnegan stared deep into the single Sharingan. "I trust you."
Bullshit, Obito sneered internally.
But this was good. Pain and Konan not tagging along made things simpler.
"Since you trust me," Obito replied, his tone obliging, "I won't betray that trust. Leave the rest to me."
Pain turned. "Let's go, Konan."
Obito watched them disappear into the distance. Then, he activated Kamui, phasing into his pocket dimension. From there, he guided Yagura like a puppet on strings, marching him back towards the Hidden Mist.
Once they were far from the coastline, Konan finally spoke. "Nagato, is it wise to let that man go alone? What if he—"
Pain cut her off with a cold laugh. "Konan, there's no need to worry about the one calling himself Madara Uchiha. Not yet. Our goals align, for now. He wants the Tailed Beasts. We want the Tailed Beasts. Until that objective is met, we have little reason for conflict."
He continued, his logic methodical. "Therefore, his next actions will benefit us, benefit the Akatsuki. A stronger Akatsuki is better equipped to hunt Bijuu. We don't need to trust the man. We can trust his current actions."
"Besides," Pain added, "we have our own tasks. We cannot spend our time as his babysitters. We will simply be cautious of any members he recruits from now on."
Konan nodded slowly. "You're right, Nagato. So, what is our task?"
"I've heard rumors," Pain began. "In Takigakure, there is a missing-nin. In the Warring States era, he attempted to assassinate the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju. He later betrayed his village, stole their treasured secret technique, used it to tear the hearts from all of Takigakure's elders… and has survived to this day."
"We, too, must recruit members we can trust. We cannot leave all the recruiting to him. We will go and recruit this missing-nin from Takigakure. I have intelligence on his location. We go directly."
The missing-nin Pain spoke of was Kakuzu.
Together, Pain and Konan left the Land of Water behind, setting out to recruit the immortal bounty hunter.
Before Yagura reached the village outskirts, a large contingent of Kiri ninja found him.
The battle's aftershocks had been impossible to miss.
"Mizukage-sama! What happened?"
The puppet-Yagura, under Obito's control, answered with practiced calm. "Nothing of consequence. Three trespassers seeking to invade Kiri. I dealt with them. Let us return."
The Kiri ninja looked past him, at the scarred, shattered landscape where titans had clashed. Awed whispers rippled through the group. "As expected of the Mizukage…"
Surrounded by his loyal shinobi, Yagura returned to Kirigakure.
And with his return, the village teetered on the brink of its darkest age.
Obito's first act was systematic control. A single Kage was not enough to fully command one of the Five Great Shinobi Villages. He needed puppets in the upper echelons.
One by one, key figures in Kiri's administration fell under his Genjutsu: Sharingan.
But it still wasn't enough.
Obito needed to cripple the village's power.
Kirigakure was unique. It was a village rich with Kekkei Genkai, much like Konoha, built upon powerful clans wielding unique bloodline limits. These clans held significant sway. To truly control the Mist, they had to be removed.
Eliminate the clans, and you eliminate most major opposition. Strip Kiri of its bloodline elites, and its power would plummet, leaving no one brave enough to defy Yagura's—Obito's—will.
Control would become absolute.
Five days after the Mizukage's return, a council was convened.
The Bloody Mist policy, suspended after the Third Mizukage's death, was back on the table.
The puppet-Yagura proposed its revival, but his version was more vicious, more cruel than anything before.
In the council chamber, he declared Kekkei Genkai users the village's greatest internal instability. He ordered the immediate, secret mobilization of special forces for a purge—a wholesale cleansing of the bloodline clans.
He also reinstated the "graduation exam." The final test: a death match. Two students enter. One leaves alive. Only the survivor graduates.
The council meeting was a formality. Nearly half the attendees were already Obito's thralls. He would have taken them all if not for the risk of exposure.
There were objections, of course. Weak, sputtering protests. They changed nothing.
The resurrection of the Bloody Mist was decided.
That very night, the entranced Yagura led the secretly assembled forces into the quiet districts of the clans.
The most brutal era of the Village Hidden in the Bloody Mist had begun.
~~~~❃❃~~~~~~~~❃❃~~~~
Read up to (100+ ) advanced chapters on Patre\on
Visit us here: patreon.com/GoldenLong
Happy reading, everyone!