Chapter 264

The Jonin understood in their hearts that after several 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 much nonsense."

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

"Your votes will decide the future of the village, so please be cautious."

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

Afterwards, he spoke again.

"I, Maeda Yuanshi, will also cast the first vote."

"The ideal Mizukage candidate in my heart is Mizunuki Ryosuke!"

As Maeda Yuanshi read out this name, the eyes of the Jonin revealed an "as expected" look.

Afterwards, during the candidate voting period, the Jonin who chose to follow Maeda Yuanshi in abstaining 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 47 votes.

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

"For the performance of Jonin Mizunuki Ryosuke, I, Jiang Zhishu, am convinced!"

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

The ninja named Jiang Zhishu said slowly, with a hint of admiration and firmness in his tone.

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

He has a good reputation among the civilian Jonin of Kirigakure Village and belongs to the type of "civilian genius" ninja.

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

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

As soon as 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 70 mark!

Such a vote count basically announced that he had secured the top spot; the only suspense left was whether Ryosuke's vote count could break 50% of the total number of Jonin, as in a normal Mizukage succession.

Ryosuke's votes were still increasing sporadically; suddenly, a Jonin from the Mizunuki clan stood up slowly, came to the ballot box with the name "Mizunuki Ryosuke" written on it, and cast his vote.

"You!"

Another Mizunuki Jonin was somewhat shocked by this Jonin's sudden change of formation, and there was even a hint of hidden anger in his eyes.

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

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

They were not blind, let alone stupid; when Mizunuki Yinglang's trend was clearly gone, they didn't have to stay on Mizunuki Yinglang's broken ship and perish together.

Plus, when Ryosuke was clearly ten times more excellent than Mizunuki Yinglang, why did they have to hold on to Mizunuki Yinglang?

You must know that Mizunuki Ryosuke is also a member of the Mizunuki clan; becoming Mizukage might not be worse for the Mizunuki clan than Mizunuki Yinglang...

Previously, these high-ranking ninjas stood firmly on Mizunuki Yinglang'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 could only play with fire and burn themselves with Mizunuki Yinglang.

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

Most of them cast their votes for Ryosuke, and a small number cast their votes for Hozuki Mangetsu.

Finally, almost all the Jonin present 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 squads performing the mission will be counted towards their respective captains."

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

But unfortunately, the three teammates in Mizunuki Ryosuke's squad had obviously not reached the Jonin level yet.

Next, Maeda Yuanshi read the votes one by one.

"Mizunuki Ryosuke"

"Mizunuki Ryosuke"

"Mizunuki Ryosuke"

"Hozuki Mangetsu"

"..."

The result of the vote was self-evident, but everyone had different expressions; as Maeda Yuanshi counted the votes, they all began to look forward to what the new era that Kirigakure was about to enter would look like.

The current result was still acceptable for Hozuki Mangetsu's support.

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

A Mizunuki clan high-ranking ninja who still supported Mizunuki Yinglang had a face like a black pot.

Finally, the vote counting ended.

Maeda Yuanshi announced the result of the vote counting.

"Mizunuki Yinglang, a total of..."

"Four votes."

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

A total of four votes; combined with the rules Maeda Yuanshi just announced, it was clear that this included the votes of the three high-ranking ninjas who teamed up with Mizunuki Yinglang, which means...

Among all the high-ranking ninjas present, only one person voted for Mizunuki Yinglang.

As for who that big sucker was, it goes without saying.

The Mizunuki high-ranking ninja who voted for Mizunuki Yinglang slowly covered his face with his hand; it was shameful, truly shameful!

"Hozuki Mangetsu, a total of twenty votes!"

Maeda Yuanshi then announced Hozuki Mangetsu's vote count.

This vote count was five votes lower than when Hozuki Mangetsu was in the candidate period; clearly, five Jonin saw that the trend was gone and chose to change their allegiance.

Even so, this vote count was much better than Hozuki Mangetsu's.

Finally, at the most critical moment, Maeda Yuanshi took a deep breath, revealed a hint of 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 audience gasped; even though they knew Ryosuke was outstanding enough, they never expected that Ryosuke would actually receive one hundred and twenty-one votes!

Converting it into a percentage, it meant that Ryosuke received a full 81% support rate!

This number probably broke the new high for Mizukage succession support rates.

You must know that when the Third Mizukage, Mizunuki Taki, succeeded as Mizukage, he only just broke 50%.

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

At present, there are several forces in Kirigakure.

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

The conservative and elder forces of Kirigakure represented by Maeda Yuanshi have 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 Hozuki 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 already been subdued by Ryosuke.

And in fact, the Hozuki clan would not become a stumbling block for Ryosuke, because of the "Gentleman's Agreement" previously concluded between Mizunuki Ryosuke and Hozuki Mangetsu.

It is almost certain that the Hozuki clan's forces will not become a stumbling block for Ryosuke after he ascends to power.

Thus, the entire Kirigakure has reached unprecedented unity; it can be expected that when Ryosuke succeeds as Mizukage, he will receive an incomparably united Kirigakure Village.

Even though Kirigakure had previously fallen into an absolute period of decline due to the internal chaos caused by Anbu Chief Hozuki Suigetsu.

But in a sense, it can be considered as removing the residual lesions of Kirigakure Village, leaving Ryosuke with a complete Kirigakure.

"I announce that Mizunuki Ryosuke will become the Fourth Mizukage of Kirigakure Ninja Village!"

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

As Maeda Yuanshi's voice fell, it officially marked Kirigakure's entry into a new era. ===== CHAPTER 266 =====