Chapter 123: The Puppet's Civil War!

Genji's eyes were practically popping out of their sockets.

"You, what did you say?"

"The Fourth Mizukage, Karatachi Yagura... is being controlled by Genjutsu..."

"That's impossible!"

"He is..."

Yamanaka Chujiu took over the conversation: "Karatachi Yagura is the Three-Tails Jinchuriki. It's common knowledge that jinchuriki are immune to Genjutsu, right?"

Genji: "..."

Yamanaka Chujiu smiled: "But have you ever thought about why jinchuriki are immune to Genjutsu? Is it because they are completely unaffected by it?"

"Of course not!"

"It's because a jinchuriki has two souls in one body. When a ninja is controlled by Genjutsu, the Tailed Beast can instantly wake them up through a chakra disturbance."

"To put it plainly, a jinchuriki is an inseparable duo. Through the most direct mutual assistance, they can dispel Genjutsu control at any time, resulting in immunity to Genjutsu."

"You see, jinchuriki can be caught in Genjutsu."

"Especially... before the Tailed Beast and the ninja have merged, before they become a jinchuriki, if you cast Genjutsu on them separately—the kind that has no immediate effect and is impossible to detect, a long-term Genjutsu."

"Then, when the two merge into a jinchuriki, at the very last moment of the sealing process, when both the Tailed Beast and the ninja are exhausted to the extreme, the two complementary long-term Genjutsu begin to take effect."

Yamanaka Chujiu grabbed with both hands, clenched them into fists, and grinned hideously: "A jinchuriki puppet controlled by Genjutsu is yours."

"Eh—!"

"Don't look at me like that; I didn't do it, I just know about it."

Genji's eyes were spitting fire: "Then who did it?"

Yamanaka Chujiu smiled and shook his head: "Tsk, haven't I already made it very clear?"

"Who in the entire history of the Ninja World can you think of who is capable of casting Genjutsu on a Shadow-level ninja and also on a Tailed Beast?"

"Madara Uchiha!"

Genji didn't even think; the correct name blurted out of his mouth.

Then he frowned and refuted himself: "Impossible!"

"He is already dead!"

Yamanaka Chujiu laughed heartily: "Genji, oh Genji, I have to say, you really are a traditional ninja."

"Since I've already helped you rule out all the impossibilities and pointed out the most concrete and reliable evidence, you should have considered—whether there is a problem with Madara Uchiha's death."

"How can you immediately deny the correct answer you guessed yourself?"

Genji said coldly: "Because this so-called Fourth Mizukage being controlled by Genjutsu is just empty talk from a Konoha ninja who just conquered and destroyed Kirigakure."

"From beginning to end, you haven't even produced a single piece of solid evidence, only unreliable speculation."

"If you think this is enough to make me believe what you say, aren't you underestimating me, Genji?"

Yamanaka Chujiu raised an eyebrow: "No, I'm not underestimating you, Genji. I'm just using this real intelligence to disrupt your train of thought."

Genji was truly shocked this time: "Everything you said is real intelligence?"

"And, why are you disrupting my train of thought?"

"I'm just an old man who can no longer participate in battle..."

Yamanaka Chujiu snapped his fingers casually. A tall figure pushed the door open, reached out to press down on the agitated Genji, and forced him back into his soft seat.

Genji looked at the newcomer in horror: "Suikazan Fuguki, you betrayed Kirigakure?!"

Suikazan Fuguki smiled honestly: "Yes, now I am the master's slave."

Genji: "You are not Fuguki. Fuguki wouldn't smile like that!"

"Who are you? A disguised Konoha ninja?"

Suikazan Fuguki smiled even more honestly, just like a ninja from the Akimichi Clan: "Of course I am Fuguki, the leader of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist, the only ninja who escaped from Orochimaru."

"Look, I can even wield Samehada!"

As he spoke, he actually drew the great sword Samehada from his back. His chakra erupted, shattering the cloth wrappings and revealing the blade covered in barbs.

Samehada moved very cooperatively, opening its large mouth to interact with Suikazan Fuguki.

Genji, on the contrary, became completely convinced that this was not Fuguki; Fuguki was not capable of this level of loyalty.

He suddenly remembered what Yamanaka Chujiu had just said: using Genjutsu to control the Tailed Beast and the ninja separately, then activating the Genjutsu when the two merged to complete the final long-term control.

Genji had lived long enough to know that people cannot imagine things they have never seen.

So in his view, since this Konoha ninja spoke so realistically about the Fourth Mizukage, it was nine times out of ten because he had done exactly that himself!

Genji was so furious that his sparse hair stood on end, and his head throbbed with pain!

He pointed angrily at Yamanaka Chujiu: "It's you, you are the one controlling Suikazan Fuguki!"

"You did such a despicable thing yourself, and yet you want to frame a dead man just to deceive me?"

"What exactly is your conspiracy?"

Genji's roaring voice suddenly cut off, turning into painful gasps.

He clutched his temples and slowly bent over, then sat back into the soft seat bit by bit, his breathing erratic, as if he had been angered into a stroke.

All expression vanished from Yamanaka Chujiu's face. He rested his elbows on the desk, hands clasped to block his nose, revealing a pair of extremely calm eyes.

All that was missing was a pair of gloves and a pair of glasses...

Genji looked at Yamanaka Chujiu's appearance and felt waves of fear for no reason: "You, what are you doing?"

Yamanaka Chujiu spoke: "I am waiting, waiting for the last bit of your soul to be extinguished."

"What?" Genji was stunned, then interrupted by a headache so intense it was extreme: "Ah—!"

The surrounding environment twisted, but after the illusory parts peeled away, it was still the original Mizukage's office.

Only, Yamanaka Chujiu was not sitting in the Mizukage's seat, but right in front of Genji, leaning in very close, their foreheads almost touching.

It turned out that the moment Yamanaka Chujiu entered the door, he had launched countless Thought Threads to initiate a Soul-Extinguishing Attack on Genji.

Due to his successful practice on Suikazan Fuguki, Yamanaka Chujiu adopted a method combining Genjutsu with reality, using information that would shock the old man to divert his attention.

He utilized the common knowledge that anger causes headaches to mislead Genji's perception of the pain caused by his soul being extinguished.

To reinforce these various deceptions, Yamanaka Chujiu actually called Suikazan Fuguki in to prove to Genji that ninjas turned into puppets truly existed.

At the same time, Suikazan Fuguki was responsible for holding Genji down to prevent his body from instinctively struggling and disrupting Yamanaka Chujiu's actions, ensuring the progress of the Living Puppet's creation.

Now that it had reached the final stage and could no longer be hidden, he simply laid it all out, revealing the cruel truth to Genji to make him lose his last chance to struggle amidst the shock.

Genji understood everything and despairingly asked the final question: "The Fourth Mizukage you spoke of..."

Yamanaka Chujiu: "I, Yamanaka Chujiu, only speak the truth."

A faint glimmer of hope flashed in Genji's eyes before his soul fell completely silent.

Only then did Yamanaka Chujiu smile: "But I didn't say I would tell the whole truth."

"The future Land of Water will be very interesting: Suikazan Fuguki and Genji, controlled by me, leading Terumi Mei and Zabuza, who possess independent thoughts, to oppose the Fourth Mizukage controlled by Obito."

A civil war of puppets!