After bidding farewell to Nagato and Akatsuki, Rei Kaguya no longer concealed his movements. He crossed straight through the borders of the Land of Fire and headed toward the front line where Kirigakure and Konoha were clashing.
When he left the foremost front line of Konoha and Kirigakure's confrontation to search for Ryuchi Cave and senjutsu, it had still been autumn, with bleak winds blowing.
And now, many areas within the Land of Fire had already begun to drift with goose-feather-like snow. There were only a few days left before the arrival of the new year.
Unlike Kirigakure, where the atmosphere was cold and filled with killing intent, and where almost no one would celebrate the arrival of the new year or festivals, the residents of the Land of Fire were quite enthusiastic about celebrating the new year.
Along the way, Rei Kaguya had already seen many households preparing the supplies needed for their entire family to spend the new year together. He had seen professional performers rehearsing for new year performances. He had seen brightly decorated shops selling rare goods that were hard to find on normal days…
It was as if the smoke of war between Konoha and Kirigakure, which had yet to completely fade, had nothing to do with their lively noise.
"Don't you think this atmosphere is rather enviable, Mei Terumi?"
"I don't. Because all their happiness is built on our constant defeats."
After nearly three months apart, Mei Terumi's temperament had clearly become much more mature than before. Her entire person had begun transforming into the image of a capable and reliable strong woman.
But in exchange, her body had grown noticeably thinner. The dark circles beneath her eyes were also particularly obvious.
She looked as if she had gone from a carefree thirteen- or fourteen-year-old young girl to an oppressed, overworked office worker bitterly waiting to be married.
"…You've worked hard."
Rei Kaguya, who knew perfectly well why Mei Terumi had become like this, took out the apology gifts he had bought for her on the road and carefully placed them on her desk, which was piled full of logistics information and frontline intelligence.
Mei Terumi glanced at the pretty clothes among the gifts, then at the sweets that looked very appetizing. She slowly sighed, then slumped forward onto the desk, her eyes lifeless as she quietly complained,
"You never told me you would be gone for this long, Rei…"
"Sorry, sorry. I didn't expect myself to stay in Ryuchi Cave for that long either…"
Rei Kaguya held Mei Terumi's somewhat cold hand and apologized very sincerely.
"This kind of thing will not happen again."
"It would have been one thing if only you ran off. At least Konoha really did scatter a lot of intelligence personnel in order to search for your traces, and the pressure on the front line dropped quite a bit…
"But can someone tell me why such important frontline commanders as the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist were suddenly called up to carry out a mission together, only to almost get wiped out in one battle?"
Mei Terumi slammed the desk in front of her, somewhat furious as she shouted,
"Not only did five of them die without accomplishing anything, but they also exposed to Konoha the true intelligence that our front line lacked commanders and combat strength. If not for the several batches of secret medicine you left behind, we would have been driven all the way back into the sea by Konoha in one go."
"There is no helping it. If we compare terrible leadership, our side is obviously a little worse."
Rei Kaguya sighed and said helplessly,
"Konoha's higher-ups are at most greedy for power and unwilling to make progress. Our Third, on the other hand, is governing with the clear purpose of completely destroying Kirigakure's future…"
"So are you ready, Rei?"
"Ready in what sense?"
"Ready to defeat the Third."
Mei Terumi lowered her voice and stared directly into Rei Kaguya's snake-like vertical pupils as she whispered,
"Because Juzo Biwa and Fuguki Suikazan both returned to the village to recover, I have basically been in charge of frontline command during this period due to having the most outstanding battle record.
"Although I cannot crush Konoha's people and drive them all back like when you were here, at least I did not allow our battle line to continue retreating.
"On top of that, relying on the secret medicine you gave me, I severely wounded several elite jonin on Konoha's side. The Mist shinobi on the front line are already quite convinced by me now.
"Add to that the series of wrong decisions the Third has made since the war began, and their dissatisfaction with the Third is accumulating constantly.
"So… you understand, right, Rei?"
"With you commanding the front line, they may not necessarily support me, someone far too young, in a coup. But they may not continue supporting that absurd Third's rule either, right?"
Rei Kaguya narrowed his eyes and asked thoughtfully.
"No. The probability that they support you taking power is actually higher than you expect."
Mei Terumi shook her head and corrected Rei Kaguya's overly conservative judgment.
"The Third's last public move was already many, many years ago. For the village, this helps protect the Kage's intelligence and sense of mystery. It also prevents enemy villages from clearly judging the current strength of the Kage, forcing them to remain cautious when taking action against the village…"
"But at the same time, it also prevents the village's new generation of shinobi from directly feeling the power of the Kage. Because of that, they start to question the Kage's strength. Especially when a powerful figure with a battle record that can only be described as exaggerated appears among the new generation."
Mei Terumi pointed at Rei Kaguya and said with some emotion,
"You defeated and heavily injured Konoha's Yellow Flash twice. You defeated Orochimaru, one of Konoha's Sannin, one-on-one. You wiped out Root's elites despite Orochimaru and Danzo Shimura holding the line for them. You forced Orochimaru to abandon his companions and flee in disgrace. Then you openly took the corpse of Danzo Shimura, known as the Darkness of the Shinobi, to the black market and exchanged it for money…"
"Even children who grew up listening to all kinds of rumors about the Third would naturally think you are the stronger side, Rei."
"That makes sense."
After Rei Kaguya nodded in agreement, the two of them fell into a short silence.
Looking at Mei Terumi's thinner figure and the exhaustion around her eyes that would not fade, Rei Kaguya took a deep breath and asked in a low voice,
"Do you really not need me to help deal with the situation on the front line a bit more, Mei Terumi?"
"I have held on for this long. Holding on for a few more days won't be a problem."
Mei Terumi shook her head, her gaze firm.
"Even if we can win a few battles with your help, our current manpower can no longer control more territory… It has already reached the point where we cannot allow the Third to continue sitting in that position, Rei."
"No. If possible, I would actually hope he can remain Mizukage for a while longer."
Rei Kaguya shook his head and gave that answer.
"Why!?"
Mei Terumi's gaze and tone instantly sharpened.
"Our number of shinobi is already insufficient to support a larger defensive zone. You don't think we can still win this war, do you, Mei Terumi?"
Rei Kaguya rolled his eyes and spread his hands at her helplessly.
"Since we cannot win, peace talks with Konoha are inevitable. I don't want the first major thing I do after becoming Mizukage to be signing a 'peace agreement' with Konoha…"
"That is true… We need to let the Third bear the humiliation he brought upon himself."
Mei Terumi nodded in approval.
"Then I'll return to the village first. Although the moment I came back, the Third's intelligence personnel probably already sent the news of my return back to him, I should still be able to start moving before the Third finishes making all his preparations."
"Be careful, Rei. The Third is ultimately the village's Kage, and he has operated in the Mizukage's position for such a long time. No one knows how many trump cards he has in his hands. Even if you are already a sage now, you still have to be ca—"
"Lady Mei Terumi! Bad news!"
Before Mei Terumi could finish her parting warning, a chunin responsible for delivering intelligence pushed the door open in panic and shouted at her,
"The Uchiha clan has brought Konoha shinobi to attack again… Fugaku Uchiha is with them, and so is Shisui of the Body Flicker, who has recently become famous!"
"I'll be right—"
Mei Terumi instinctively reached for her jonin uniform, preparing to go out and take over the difficult opponent that was Fugaku Uchiha.
But before she could pick up her clothes, Rei Kaguya reached out and caught her thin, pale wrist, then gently shook his head at her.
"I'll go. Consider it a warm-up before the main match."
"Hmph. It's all because you were gone for too long. I nearly forgot what it felt like to hide behind you in peace when a troublesome enemy appeared."
"Well, I'm back now."
The chunin delivering the information widened his eyes and stared at the battlefield legend inside the room, whom he had not seen for so long. In shock and joy, he cried out the other party's name.
"Lord Rei Kaguya!? You… you've returned?!"
"Yeah. I'm back."