Chapter 139

The Jonin knew in their hearts that after days of waiting, the most critical moment had finally arrived.

“Everyone, I think you are already clear about the process of the assessment.”

“I won’t say any more nonsense.”

“Starting now, everyone can cast your votes based on the performance of the three Mizukage candidates.”

“Your votes will determine the future of the village, so please be cautious.”

Saying this, Tian Tian Yuanshi once again took out the three familiar ballot boxes.

Afterward, he spoke again.

“I, Tian Tian Yuanshi, will also cast the first vote.”

“The ideal Mizukage candidate in my heart is Mizunuki Ryosuke!”

As Tian Tian Yuanshi read this name, looks of “as expected” appeared in the eyes of the Jonin.

Afterward, during the candidate voting period, the Jonin who chose to follow Tian Tian Yuanshi and abstain also cast their votes for Mizunuki Ryosuke.

Added to the Jonin like Kuroshima Morita who supported Ryosuke during the candidate period, Ryosuke now already had forty-seven votes.

At the same time, a young Jonin stood up from the crowd and said slowly.

“Regarding the performance of Jonin Mizunuki Ryosuke, I, Jiang Jiang Zhishu, am convinced!”

“I am willing to cast a vote for Jonin Mizunuki Ryosuke!”

The ninja named Jiang Jiang Zhishu said slowly, his tone carrying a bit of admiration and firmness.

This Jiang Jiang Zhishu was the civilian ninja who took the Jonin exam with Ryosuke.

He had a good reputation among the civilian Jonin of Hidden Mist village and belonged to the “civilian genius” type of ninja.

And as a civilian ninja, Jiang Jiang Zhishu also chose to abstain during the candidate selection stage.

At this moment, Jiang Jiang Zhishu was clearly convinced by Ryosuke’s performance and chose to cast a vote for Ryosuke.

As soon as Jiang Jiang Zhishu expressed his stance, twenty more civilian Jonin chose to stand on Ryosuke’s side.

Before long, Ryosuke’s votes were about to break the seventy mark!

Such a vote count basically announced that he had secured the top spot; what remained to be seen was whether Ryosuke’s vote count could break fifty percent of the total number of Jonin, as it usually did when a Mizukage succeeded.

Ryosuke’s votes were still increasing sporadically; suddenly, a Jonin of the Mizunuki clan slowly stood up, came to the ballot box with the name “Mizunuki Ryosuke,” and cast his vote.

“You!”

Another Mizunuki Jonin was shocked by this Jonin’s sudden change of stance, and there was even a hint of anger in his eyes.

Clearly, he was a die-hard loyalist of Mizunuki Eiro.

But suddenly, three more Mizunuki Jonin chose to cast their votes for Mizunuki Ryosuke.

They were not blind, nor were they fools; when it was clear that Mizunuki Eiro’s trend was gone, they didn’t have to stay on Mizunuki Eiro’s broken ship and perish together.

Furthermore, when Ryosuke was clearly ten times more excellent than Mizunuki Eiro, why insist on clinging to Mizunuki Eiro?

One must know that Mizunuki Ryosuke was also a member of the Mizunuki clan; becoming Mizukage might not be worse for the Mizunuki clan than Mizunuki Eiro.

Previously, these Jonin stood firmly on Mizunuki Eiro’s side, nothing more than because of some minor interest entanglements.

Under the current situation, if they didn’t choose to protect themselves and still couldn’t bear to abandon those minor interests, then they would only end up burning themselves with Mizunuki Eiro.

And the other ninjas who originally chose to support Mizunuki Eiro, seeing that the ninjas of the Mizunuki clan had already defected, had even less reason to go all the way to the dark with Mizunuki Eiro.

Most cast their votes for Ryosuke, and a small number cast their votes for Suishi Tatsuo.

Finally, almost all the Jonin present had cast their votes.

It was also time for the exciting vote counting session.

“For the sake of fairness, the votes of the Jonin in the three mission squads will be counted toward their respective captains.”

Tian Tian Yuanshi said slowly to everyone, and no one had any objections to his words, because this was clearly a very fair proposal.

But unfortunately, the three teammates in Mizunuki Ryosuke’s squad clearly hadn’t reached the Jonin level yet.

Next, Tian Tian Yuanshi read the votes one by one.

“Mizunuki Ryosuke”

“Mizunuki Ryosuke”

“Mizunuki Ryosuke”

“Suishi Tatsuo”

“”

The result of the vote was already needless to say, but everyone had different expressions; as Tian Tian Yuanshi counted the votes, they all began to look forward to what the new era that Hidden Mist was about to enter would look like.

The current result was still acceptable for Suishi Tatsuo’s supporters.

But for the remaining forces of Mizunuki Eiro, it was a fatal blow.

A Mizunuki clan Jonin who still supported Mizunuki Eiro had a face as dark as a pot.

Finally, the vote counting ended.

Tian Tian Yuanshi announced the results of the vote count.

“Mizunuki Eiro, a total of”

“Four votes.”

As soon as Tian Tian Yuanshi said this, two Jonin who didn’t give face laughed out loud.

A total of four votes; combined with the rules Tian Tian Yuanshi just announced, it was clear that this included the votes of the three Jonin who teamed up with Mizunuki Eiro, which meant

Of all the Jonin present, only one person voted for Mizunuki Eiro.

As for who that big loser was, it naturally went without saying.

The Mizunuki Jonin who voted for Mizunuki Eiro slowly covered his face with his hand; shameful, truly shameful!

“Suishi Tatsuo, a total of twenty votes!”

Tian Tian Yuanshi then announced Suishi Tatsuo’s vote count.

This vote count was five votes lower than Suishi Tatsuo’s during the candidate period; clearly, five Jonin saw that the trend was gone and chose to change sides.

Even so, this vote count was much better than Mizunuki Eiro’s.

Finally, at the most critical moment, Tian Tian Yuanshi took a deep breath, revealed a smile when he saw the vote count in his hand, and then said slowly.

“Mizunuki Ryosuke, a total of one hundred and twenty-one votes!”

As soon as this was said, all the Jonin in the room gasped; even though they knew Ryosuke was excellent enough, they never expected that Ryosuke would receive one hundred and twenty-one votes!

Converted into a percentage, it meant that Ryosuke had received a full eighty-one percent support rate!

This number probably broke the new high for the support rate of a Mizukage succession.

One must know that when the Third Mizukage, Mizunuki Taki, succeeded as Mizukage, he barely broke fifty percent.

This also meant that after Ryosuke succeeded as Mizukage, his position would be incredibly stable.

At the moment, there were several forces within Hidden Mist.

The remaining forces of the Third Mizukage, Mizunuki Taki, had mostly chosen to support Ryosuke.

The conservative and elder forces of Hidden Mist, represented by Tian Tian Yuanshi, had also all chosen to support Mizunuki Ryosuke.

The civilian ninja forces were mostly convinced by Ryosuke’s actions.

And among the remaining ninja clan forces, except for the Suishi clan’s forces.

The Mizunuki clan chose to defect at the last minute and turned to support Ryosuke, while the orphans left behind by the Kaguya clan had long been won over by Ryosuke.

And in fact, the Suishi clan would not become Ryosuke’s obstacle, because of the “gentleman’s agreement” previously concluded between Mizunuki Ryosuke and Suishi Tatsuo.

It was almost certain that the Suishi clan’s forces would not become Ryosuke’s stumbling block after he took office.

Thus, the entire Hidden Mist reached an unprecedented unity; it could be expected that when Ryosuke succeeded as Mizukage, what he would get would be an incredibly united Hidden Mist village.

Even if Hidden Mist had fallen into an absolute period of weakness due to the internal strife caused by Mist Anbu Chief Hozuki Mangetsu.

But in a sense, it could be considered as having removed the residual lesions of Hidden Mist village, leaving Ryosuke with a complete Hidden Mist.

“I announce that Mizunuki Ryosuke will become the Fourth Mizukage of Hidden Mist Ninja Village!”

“The succession ceremony will officially begin after the Fourth returns to the village.”

As Tian Tian Yuanshi’s voice fell, it officially marked that Hidden Mist had entered a new era.