Chapter 5: ...I'll only say it once

Mizunuki Ryosuke, or "Zhang Wei," a reincarnator from the Great Celestial Empire.

That's right!

Mizunuki Ryosuke was indeed one of the vast army of transmigrators.

He was reincarnated into the world of ninjas! And he was born into the Mizunuki clan of the Hidden Mist Village, which possessed the Ice Release bloodline.

When Mizunuki Ryosuke was born, the Hidden Mist Village was in the era of the Second Mizukage; this period was exactly the end of the First Ninja World War, on the eve of the fall of the Second Mizukage, Hozuki Gengetsu.

Since he was here, he would make the best of it. Mizunuki Ryosuke, who had arrived in the Naruto world in a daze, had no intention of returning to his original world.

He had already made up his mind to survive well under the name "Mizunuki."

His death in his previous life had taught Mizunuki Ryosuke a principle.

If you want to live safely, you must first know how to "stay away from danger."

Not to mention that he was currently in the crisis-ridden Naruto world!

Thinking of the combat power of the Senju and Uchiha that could "nuke" the Ninja World at any moment, Mizunuki Ryosuke felt a faint chill in his heart.

In the eyes of the strong, killing the weak is as simple as crushing a bug.

Fortunately, although Mizunuki Ryosuke himself had not awakened a so-called "golden finger," he was a genuine "genius."

Any ninjutsu, he could learn as soon as it was taught, and he could draw inferences from one instance after learning a little.

Even for some secret techniques, without anyone teaching him, as long as Mizunuki Ryosuke watched a few more times, he could grasp the basics.

However, Mizunuki Ryosuke had never revealed such talent within the Hidden Mist.

There were many reasons, but they could be summarized in one point.

Too dangerous, not steady enough.

Once Mizunuki Ryosuke revealed his talent, he would definitely be treated as a potential asset by the clan and even the village, and they would spare no effort to cultivate him.

What would be the result of this?

The title of "peerless genius" would bring endless danger to Mizunuki Ryosuke.

For example: infighting within the village, assassinations by hostile villages, the prying eyes of perverts (Orochimaru), and countless other troubles.

At the same time, the "benefits" that could be brought after revealing his talent also looked exceptionally fatal at this moment.

After accepting the vigorous cultivation of the ninja village, he might become the head of the Mizunuki clan, or even the Mizukage of the Hidden Mist Village.

At the thought of becoming "Mizukage," Mizunuki Ryosuke's head went "buzz," and he was instantly scared into a cold sweat.

You must know that being a ninja is already a "high-risk profession."

And the Kage is the highest risk among the high-risk.

Famous unlucky ones include the Third Kazekage (killed by a traitor in his own village), the Fourth Kazekage (killed by Orochimaru), and the Fourth Hokage (killed by Danzo and his own disciple).

In other words, once you become a Kage, you not only have to face external enemies.

You also have to constantly guard against traitors in your own village, your own disciples, and some ambitious people who are always looking to cause trouble.

Unless Mizunuki Ryosuke had the strength to suppress the contemporary era like Senju Hashirama, letting him become the Kage of a village? That was absolutely impossible.

Not to mention the distant, let's talk about the near.

Where is this? You must know this is the Hidden Mist!

Looking at the original work, almost all the Mizukage of past generations were tragic existences second only to the Kazekage.

Starting from the era of the Third Mizukage, the entire Hidden Mist Village had long since sunk into the shadow of Uchiha Madara.

The Fourth Mizukage was even directly manipulated by Uchiha Obito, becoming a puppet to drive the war.

Ever since the Battle of the Valley of the End, Uchiha Madara had been lurking in the dark of the Ninja World, plotting for his own rebirth.

From the fact that Uchiha Madara single-handedly manipulated Obito's corruption in the original work, it can be seen that the Hidden Mist Village at that time had long been under Uchiha Madara's control, becoming a tool to attract Obito's hatred.

In the incident of Obito's corruption, Uchiha Madara could not only mobilize the Anbu directly under the Mizukage's jurisdiction, but even the Three-Tails Isobu could be distributed at will.

You must know that for a ninja village, Tailed Beasts are no less important than nuclear bombs.

And Uchiha Madara easily mobilized the Three-Tails Isobu and sealed it in Rin Nohara's body through the hands of the Mist Anbu; one can imagine how much authority Madara had within the Hidden Mist at that time.

Just for this point, Mizunuki Ryosuke had to temporarily lie low to avoid being brought into Uchiha Madara's field of vision due to his own talent, becoming a pawn or even a discarded piece.

And starting from the Third Mizukage's rule over the Hidden Mist Village, the Hidden Mist began the process of the "Bloody Mist Village," going downhill.

Coupled with the current situation of the Hidden Mist Village, it really couldn't be said to be very good.

And all of this had to start from the succession of the Third Mizukage.

The Third Mizukage, Mizunuki Taki.

That's right, the contemporary Mizukage also served as the head of the Mizunuki clan. If you really want to count the generation, he was Mizunuki Ryosuke's uncle, and the blood relationship was not too distant.

The Third Mizukage had served as the bodyguard of the First Mizukage and had also served as the Anbu Minister during the Second Mizukage's era, having a good personal relationship with the previous two Mizukage.

Whether from seniority or status, Mizunuki Taki's succession as the Third Mizukage could be said to be a matter of course.

But even with such a "matter of course" succession, Mizunuki Taki still spent a full two years after the Second Mizukage's death.

On one hand, Mizunuki Taki himself was in poor health; he was a complete invalid who often needed rest and recuperation.

On the other hand, the Second Mizukage, Hozuki Gengetsu, had an extremely high reputation within the Hidden Mist Village, even exceeding the First Mizukage, Byakuren, to a certain extent.

It was precisely because of the Second Kage's high prestige that many of his loyalists resisted the Third Kage's ascension.

After Hozuki Gengetsu died, some of his loyalists still refused to submit to Mizunuki Taki's command, holding an exclusionary attitude toward Mizunuki Taki's ascension.

They were even in a state of "listening to orders but not declaring allegiance," which included the famous Kaguya clan and Hozuki Gengetsu's own clan—the Hozuki clan.

Among them, the Kaguya clan, who possessed the Shikotsumyaku, and the Mizunuki clan were originally mortal enemies.

Seeing that someone from the Mizunuki clan was about to ascend, the Kaguya clan was naturally unconvinced.

Under various reasons, Mizunuki Taki dragged it out for two years before becoming the Third Mizukage.

And after his succession, Mizunuki Taki's voice and influence within the Hidden Mist remained limited.

Perhaps Uchiha Madara saw this point in the Hidden Mist Village and took the opportunity to intervene and control the lifeline of the Hidden Mist Village.

The fatigue shown by the Third Mizukage and the lack of authority and majesty also made many Hidden Mist elites lack awe for the Third Kage.

The entire Hidden Mist was filled with chaos.

Over the past ten years, the Hidden Mist had been in constant infighting.

Since the fall of the Second Kage, the Hidden Mist's vitality had not only not recovered, but had even declined compared to its strength at that time.

Analyzing the current form of the Hidden Mist from an objective perspective, it was simply a mess.

From the outside, the other four major ninja villages had all recovered their vitality from the losses of the First Ninja World War and were in a stage of restless expansion.

And from the inside, there were contradictions between the major ninja clans in the Hidden Mist Village, and the Mizukage could not control the overall situation, so he could only let things be.

The Hidden Mist Village had reached a quite dangerous situation.