[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-this-water-shadow-is-strong-but-excessively-caut":3,"chapter-this-water-shadow-is-strong-but-excessively-caut-this-mizukage-is-strong-but-excessively-cautious-chapter-137":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","This Mizukage Is Strong, but Far Too Cautious",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":20,"prevChapterSlug":21,"totalChapters":22,"novelImage":23},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":16,"volume":17,"translator":18,"content_hash":19},2194448,3774,"Chapter 137","this-mizukage-is-strong-but-excessively-cautious-chapter-137",137,"\u003Cp>Such childish behavior was not something the village’s high-level officials would do.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>According to Ryosuke’s speculation, the village should have additional means to control most of the intelligence during the mission.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>And ever since he saw the ninja cats, Ryosuke had completely confirmed this point.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>After all, many years ago, the First Mizukage, Bai Lian, had briefly established a contract relationship with the Ninja Cat clan, and ninja cats had once fought as Bai Lian’s summoning beasts.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>Therefore, it was perfectly normal for the village’s high-level officials to have connections with the Ninja Cat clan.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>Coupled with the final testimony of Meitaro, this was completely verified.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>At that time, Mizunuki Ryosuke had once thought that the so-called S-rank mission: Obtaining the “Mizukage Secret Scroll,” was just a mission set up by the village to select the next Mizukage.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>The real “Mizukage Secret Scroll” might not exist at all.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>The purpose was just to examine the three squads, or perhaps the three captains, during the mission, to determine the candidate for the next Mizukage.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>However, after a conversation with the Cat Boss later, Ryosuke rejected this conjecture.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>Because according to the Cat Boss, it seemed that a so-called “Mizukage Secret Scroll” really existed in the Cat Country.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>But because the Cat Boss’s words were vague, Ryosuke could only wait until he met the Cat King to make a final decision.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>After meeting the Cat King, Mizunuki Ryosuke had once concluded that his deduction was wrong, and perhaps the so-called “Mizukage Secret Scroll” really existed.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>But soon, the conversation between Suishi Tatsuo and the Cat King overturned Mizunuki Ryosuke’s guess once again.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>At this moment, Mizunuki Ryosuke realized that his thinking had fallen into a misconception.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>He once again re-thought the significance of this mission.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>First, as the Cat King said, the final assessment of this stage was to obtain “something” from his hands.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>And what was this thing? Was it the so-called “Mercury Scroll” mentioned in the mission?\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>Ryosuke noticed a detail.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>In fact, the Cat King had never directly said the name “Mizukage Secret Scroll,” nor had he ever admitted that he really possessed such a thing as the “Mizukage Secret Scroll.”\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>It was just that under the influence of preconceived notions, both of them subconsciously thought that the thing the Cat King referred to was the “Mizukage Secret Scroll.”\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>But in Mizunuki Ryosuke’s heart, there was always a certain doubt about this; was everything really that simple?\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>Just as Mizunuki Ryosuke continued to think through all the details of the mission, trying to find some flaws, the conversation between Suishi Tatsuo and the Cat King became the final piece of the puzzle that inspired Ryosuke.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>If it were really as Suishi Tatsuo thought, that the “Mizukage Secret Scroll” existed and was as described on the mission scroll—a secret scroll recording the secret techniques of the First Mizukage.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>Then the Cat King would have no reason to be indifferent to the price offered by Suishi Tatsuo, given that the item couldn’t be used in the Cat Country.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>Most importantly, the Cat King’s firm attitude made Mizunuki Ryosuke completely realize that something was wrong.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>The Cat King’s refusal was the kind of direct and ruthless refusal without a hint of hesitation.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>This showed that the Cat King was not moved in the slightest by the price offered by Suishi Tatsuo, or rather, the Cat King hadn’t even thought in that direction at all.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>Then what was the Cat King thinking, and did the Mizukage Secret Scroll really exist?\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>The moment he thought of this question, Mizunuki Ryosuke suddenly became enlightened and understood where the crux of the problem lay.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>According to Ryosuke’s own deduction and the intelligence provided by the Cat Boss and Meitaro.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>For the village and the three of them, the content of this mission was an assessment to decide who would succeed as Mizukage.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>Then for the Cat King and the Cat Country?\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>What significance did it have for them?\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>Throughout the entire assessment, the ninja cats of the Cat Country spent time and effort, using a large amount of manpower and material resources.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>Was it really worth it for the Cat Country to do this just because of a favor from the First Mizukage, Bai Lian, many years ago?\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>This explanation was clearly unrealistic, so there was only one final answer: the Cat Country also had its own interests and demands.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>And these interests and demands were known to the village’s high-level officials, who were not opposed to them.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>Only under this premise could the village’s high-level officials and the Cat Country hit it off.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>Then the question came back around.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>Returning to the current assessment, the Cat King’s requirement was that Ryosuke and the other two had to move the Cat King to exchange for “an item” in the Cat King’s hands.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>And only by knowing the Cat King’s interests and demands could one move the Cat King and exchange for “that thing” in the Cat King’s hands.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>As for what the Cat Country’s interests and demands were, no one could guess out of thin air; only the Cat King himself knew.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>So this question could only be answered by the Cat King himself.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>Previously, in the conversation between Suishi Tatsuo and the Cat King, he was blocked by the Cat King with the sentence, “What price can you offer?”\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>On the surface, this was just the Cat King’s pride as a king.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>But from another perspective, it could be interpreted differently.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>That was, because the matter was of great importance, the Cat King could not, and would not, be the first to put forward his own demands.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>To use a common saying, it was “not releasing the hawk until seeing the rabbit.”\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>So, how could one let the Cat King see the possibility of realizing his demands, see tangible benefits, and see the “rabbit”?\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>Suishi Tatsuo’s open and honest negotiation had already explained one thing: the status of “Mizukage candidate” was not enough to make the Cat King state his demands or trust him.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>From this perspective, Ryosuke’s status was exactly the same as Suishi Tatsuo’s.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>Since Suishi Tatsuo couldn’t do it, Ryosuke naturally couldn’t use his status to achieve all this either.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>Then, compared to Suishi Tatsuo, what did Ryosuke have that Suishi Tatsuo didn’t?\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>Ryosuke already had the answer in his heart.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>He had two things more than Suishi Tatsuo.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>The first thing: a favor.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>The second thing: strength.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>So next, Ryosuke showed these two things without reservation.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>His pressure on the Cat King’s aura was, first, to show that he had the equal status to represent Hidden Mist in listening to the Cat King’s demands.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>Second, it was to prove that he had the strength to negotiate with the Cat King.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>And the Cat King asked, “On what basis?”\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>At first glance, it was just giving Ryosuke a warning, but its deeper meaning was that these were not enough to make the Cat King open up.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>Finally, Ryosuke brought out the request he hadn’t used at the beginning, which was also his biggest trump card: a “favor” from the Cat Country, or rather, a “cat favor.”\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>And this favor came from Ryosuke’s sealing of the Fountain of Extreme Yin, which helped the Cat Country remove a hidden danger.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>Because of this, the moment he saw Mizunuki Ryosuke, the Cat King offered to satisfy one of Ryosuke’s requests, and even allowed the Cat Boss to become Ryosuke’s summoning beast.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>The reason Ryosuke chose to refuse in the end was also very simple; it wasn’t that he wanted to promote the spirit of “doing good deeds without leaving a name.”\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>It was that he wanted to save this “favor” for the most critical moment.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>Undoubtedly, when the Cat King asked the three words “On what basis,” it was the best time to use this favor.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>Sufficient strength, plus the status of Mizukage candidate, plus a “favor” the Cat King owed him.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>Were these three things enough to make the Cat King completely open up?\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>First, he told Ryosuke the answer, which was—it was already enough!\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>Next was the process of the Cat King “opening his mouth like a lion,” and then Ryosuke “biting back” and succeeding.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>Someone might ask, why not just follow the Cat King’s request from the beginning and propose wanting to know the Cat King’s demands?\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>A “favor” can be big or small.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>Undoubtedly, the Cat King’s current demands concerned the major affairs of the entire Cat Country and Hidden Mist.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>It was clearly unrealistic to have the Cat King reveal key intelligence for just a “favor.”\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>Still the same saying: strength, status, and favors—none could be missing.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>As Mizunuki Ryosuke explained everything, Suishi Tatsuo, who was on the spot, had completely run out of words, his eyes filled with complex emotions.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>Defeated by Ryosuke at this moment, he was convinced.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>He never expected that there were so many inside stories involved.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>Even the Cat King on the throne was listening to Ryosuke’s narration with great interest, not sparing his praise.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>“Brilliant, truly brilliant!”\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>“For Hidden Mist to have a successor like you.”\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>“In the future, Hidden Mist village will surely rank among the best in the ninja world.”\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>Hearing the Cat King’s praise, Mizunuki Ryosuke just smiled indifferently and didn’t say much.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>At the same time, the Jonin far away in the Hidden Mist office were also speechless; hearing all the processes and judgments narrated by Mizunuki Ryosuke, all the Hidden Mist Jonin revealed expressions of sudden realization, and couldn’t help but show looks of approval in their eyes.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>At the table, the smile on Tian Tian Yuanshi’s zombie-like, stiff face never faded.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Chr\u002F>\u003Cp>\u003Cem>— Author's Notes —\u003C\u002Fem>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>·· Seeking flowers ·· ··\u003C\u002Fp>",1618,"2026-06-17T05:01:41.164Z","2026-06-17T09:00:23.248Z",1,"Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite","8c3dce6a3b7bcdd87534242e1ec74836a8522f432ee1a03c8f52b6be7ebf635d","this-mizukage-is-strong-but-excessively-cautious-chapter-138","this-mizukage-is-strong-but-excessively-cautious-chapter-136",533,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fthis-mizukage-is-strong-but-excessively-cautious-cover.jpg"]