Book One: The Rise of the Blue-Haired Devil.

      - Uncle, where are we going? – Yumiko once again asked the question, who simply did not understand the logic of Moku moving towards the outskirts of the village at maximum speed.       - Niece, I ask you to follow me without questions. – once again brother Rico answered his relative. He really didn’t want to initiate the young kunoichi into his plan, because there wasn’t even a drop of righteousness in it. The gambler's plan was merciless and cruel. Michiko's bride simply would not understand the meaning of such cruelty, because the girl did not see the full picture of the tragedy that happened in the Fog... yes, exactly tragedy...       Moku wasn't a great person, he was just rapidly pursuing his dream. On this journey, he had to watch how other clans like the Yuki clan... young... small in number... weak, even with a leader of good strength... died. The reason for this was the economic situation led by the daimyo of the Land of Water. This policy of dividing the entire number of missions received, which in turn brought income to the clans, strictly eliminated small clans or clans that had insufficient ninja strength. Well, really... if it was just that the ninjas of a given clan were unable to show themselves in any way early, then they had an absolutely empty reputation, which was like a stigma for the whole clan. Without constant income from missions, any clan, no matter what reserves of resources it had, simply died out. Not in terms of the fact that the ninjas were running out of food and water... nope, they were just running out of funds for the banal purchase of weapons, which were required not only during missions, but also for simple training to maintain their skills. These are not all the reasons for the fall of young clans. Often the reason for the collapse of clans was when their leaders, young ninjas who were confident in themselves and their strengths, overestimated their capabilities, challenging someone, for example, from the Shinobi Gods. Few people survived after something like this. There’s no point in talking about victory... So what were all these statements? Yes, everything is simple to the point of banality... imagine, small clans simply disappeared from the face of the earth after the death of their leader, but what would happen then if the head of an entire village, consisting, by the way, of dozens of clans, killed a powerful and respected leader? Naive people may think that they will simply install a new leader. Yes, this is how it should be, however, at the moment, all the strong and famous Water ninjas are on the front with Sand or Lightning. What then awaits the Fog? Moku had two very unpleasant proposals. First, the village of Mist will be completely destroyed. This would be fair, because the enemies are already in it, and there is no one to protect it. Brother Riko had no doubt about Byakuren's strength, but there was one thing... The Raikage was a master of the element of lightning. This was a very unpleasant element for members of the Hozuki clan, who were famous for their special technique that allowed them to turn into water, thereby passing blows through themselves. It was a very convenient jutsu, especially for sword fighting, but it wouldn't work with the Raikage. His lightning will simply pass through the entire molecular structure of the water into which the mizukage will turn. If this doesn't kill the leader of the Mist, it will hurt him a lot. Of course, Byakuren had already fought with users of the lightning element, so he shouldn’t know how to fight them, but for some reason Moku did not believe in miracles. The Mizukage is a very experienced warrior, but even he cannot get away with it after the fight with Sanshi... Why does he need to get away with it? Yes, the problem is the number of opponents, of which there were a lot. Three hundred? This is one squad, and Moku has already noted three of them just on the way to the goal. The enemies outnumbered us tenfold. Even the power of the bijuu will not help here. Speaking of him. The Seven-Tails remained in the village all this time. The leader of the Yuki clan somehow miraculously managed to bring the majestic demon, who loves to fly, to reason. Of course, he was helped in this difficult matter by the three-tails, who for some reason decided to stand up for Michiko, but this fact simply excited the whole nature of a gambling lover. Often a painfully simple, but at the same time complex question arose in his head: “How? How did he do it?” – this is exactly what was often on the tongue of Moku, who had not yet had time to ask this question to his ward. Will he have time? That's a good question. The man glanced with one eye at his niece, who every now and then rushed to help some resident of the Fog, who was mercilessly killed by the Kumo ninja. Yumiko had mixed emotions on her face. Two feelings fought in her... a sense of justice... Michiko's bride wanted to punish the shinobi of the enemy village who attacked her house... tear her apart, cut her throats, shred her... primal rage and inexhaustible anger seethed in the girl... this was practically not reflected on her face, but her eyes... they were her gave it away with interest... another feeling that held Yuki back and did not allow him to rush thoughtlessly into battle was the desire to survive... not even for her own sake, but for his sake... yes, Yumiko was well aware of the impact her death would have on Michiko...She understood this better than Moku, so she controlled herself, constantly repeating to herself: “We will take revenge... Not today, but soon enough...”. Moku's second assumption was more justified from the point of view of global politics. It consisted in the fact that the Fog would simply bend under Kumo for ten years. How? First, the Cloud's forces will suppress all attempts to break out of the weakened village's stranglehold. Secondly, a person who will be Sanshi’s pawn will sit on the post of Mizukage, which will be simply disastrous for the Fog. This is a fate much worse than the complete destruction of the village, because then all its surviving inhabitants will experience complete despair...       - Enough. Explain everything to me immediately. I have a right to know. – the girl suddenly declared, stopping on one of the roofs of the houses.       - Eh... - the gambling lover drawled, however, having caught the firm look of his niece, he decided to explain everything. - We’re going to warehouse number twelve. – the man said in a more serious tone.       - What? I know that there are only eleven warehouses in our village. – Yumi said with incomprehension, looking at her uncle with a very penetrating gaze. - You're right. Only a few people in the village know about this warehouse. This is classified information, although I don’t care now... The twelfth warehouse is an ANBU base, as well as the place where the Seven-Tails is kept. The demon does not break free, but it must be periodically released to fly, which is why Byakuren and Ashina were able to solve this problem by creating an entire underground base on the outskirts of the village. There were many seals of the Uzumaki clan in use at the base. Without going into details, these seals compress space, allowing you to fit huge objects into a small room. This made it possible to place the gigantic seven-tailed creature in a relatively small underground cave. – Moku said in a cold voice, whose gaze dimmed.       - Don't tell me that you want to release the demon from the cage? – Yumiko clarified with caution. Panic appeared in her gaze.       - That's exactly what I want to do. – the man answered confidently, continuing to move towards warehouse number twelve.       - Are you out of your mind? – Michiko’s daughter-in-law screamed, no longer holding back her anger. – Do you even understand what will happen to the village after this? – she continued.       - Calm down. – her uncle remarked coldly, taking a cigarette from his inner pocket. - Where is she? – the man muttered in a whisper, turning more to himself. He checked all his pockets, but did not find the required item in them. - Damn, they don’t even let you smoke on Judgment Day... - he mumbled with some resentment in his voice, after which he nevertheless decided to explain the situation to his niece. - Look at the village. We lost the war... - he began to try to convey to Yumiko the full complexity of the situation in which the Fog found himself, but he was interrupted...       - We haven't lost the war yet. The village can be rebuilt, and our ninjas are still alive. We can handle this! – Michiko’s daughter-in-law said confidently, showing her determination with all her appearance.       - Eh... - Moku said. He did not like this endless optimism in his interlocutor. No matter how much he tried to convey to her, she still could not understand a simple thing... the world is not a fairy tale, a happy and wonderful ending is just a stupid hope. Michiko realized this a long time ago. Moku had seen this in the guy’s eyes many times already, but his niece still refused to believe it. - Yumiko, the village will not be destroyed. – with these words the man drew attention to himself, because all this time Riko’s daughter was furiously trying to prove her point.       - What? Why? – the girl said incomprehensibly.       - The Cloud does not benefit from the fall of the Fog. It is much more convenient to make our village your pawn. They will simply kill Byakuren and install their own man as Mizukage. This way they will have huge influence over all the other hidden villages. – the man clarified, looking blankly into the distance.       - Then we will fight for our village. – Yumiko continued to insist.       - Civil war... - Moku drawled, turning his unreadable gaze to his niece. The girls felt uneasy from such a look. – This is even worse than you can imagine. It’s one thing to slaughter ninjas from other villages, and it’s a completely different thing to slaughter your acquaintances, brothers and friends. This is a double-edged sword. This war makes even less sense than the current one. – the man expressed his point of view.       - I don't agree with you, uncle. If we win, then everything will be justified. – Yumiko tried to resist the opinion of an experienced person.       - And what will happen next? Have you thought about this? – Moku asked a completely logical question, observing the reaction of his interlocutor, who was confused by these words. - Exactly. The Cloud or some other hidden village will come to us, after which it will subjugate us again. We simply will not have the strength to fight for our independence. – the gambling enthusiast answered his own question.       - And what do you want? Destroy the village so that no one gets it? But what about its inhabitants? – after a minute of thought, Michiko’s bride spoke, breaking the oppression. When the Ninja World War ends, we will return home to win it back, but in a different way. Now I don’t know who the traitor is, but I have a sixth sense that he is somewhere nearby. I don't want to guess. It is unlikely that a figurehead will be appointed to the post of Mizukage. This is unnecessary prevention. They'll install a traitor and that's it. This is how we define our enemy. - He told his plan to Mok, who was finally able to find a lighter, and then lit a cigarette.       - But where will we go? In Uzushio? Then we will be cut off from the rest of the world, and they will get to us there sooner or later. – Yumiko noticed, listening carefully to her companion’s words.       - That's where we'll go. Believe me, Uzumaki are cunning people. They foresaw everything, even this... - the man drawled with cunning in his voice, enjoying the nicotine at the same time. It was as if he knew something that absolutely no one else knew. - Okay, enough talk. We're already there. – Moku added, stopping abruptly on one of the trees. Yumiko barely managed to stop on the same branch as her uncle. The man looked around calmly and then jumped down. The girl followed him. About three minutes ago they left the village, starting to move along the tree branches. The gambling enthusiast quickly moved the hatch, well camouflaged with a bush, after which he began to go down. Michiko's fiancée followed him. The stairs were long enough. They descended to a depth of about ten meters before it ended. Now this place was empty, because most of the ninja were sent to the front, and the remaining part, which was supposed to guard the seven-tails, fought in the village. Ten people at best...

Meanwhile in the village...

      The two kages clashed in an equal battle. One should have had a clear advantage in the battle, but the other was saved by one artifact. The Raikage struck another blow at his opponent, however, as in previous times, Byakuren easily parried the enemy's attack with his huge sword, consisting of many shark scales. Without trying to press with his power, Sanshi jumped away from the enemy. Already at his first attempt to attack the Mizukage with the help of an onslaught from the cover of lightning, he realized that this was unwise, because this artifact... this damn sword... it sucked chakra from the head of the Cloud, not allowing him to maintain his cover for a long time in close contact with this weapon. He never thought that fighting opponents from the Hozuki clan could be so difficult for him. If it weren't for Samehada, Byakuren wouldn't have lasted even a couple of minutes against the Raikage. He simply surpassed his opponent in everything. Speed, strength, reaction, elements - all this was on Sanshi’s side, but Byakuren’s experience, coupled with Samehada, balanced all the odds in the battle. The Raikage began to lose steam. The lightning cover wasted a huge amount of chakra. His body was used to it, but his chakra was also consumed by the sword. Even though the Mizukage did not come out of defense, only occasionally striking back, it was clear to Ei that at this rate he would lose this battle. Together with his men, he would have overwhelmed the enemy with numbers, but so far his men could not get through two ninjas. Two ANBU... a raccoon and a cat... who would have thought that these two could hold off several hundred jounin. How is this possible? Yes, the problem turned out to be the same swords. The raccoon skillfully used Hiramekarei. By pouring his chakra into the sword, the raccoon changed the area of effect of his sword, as well as its shape, which made his attacks difficult to predict. His weapon hit over a huge area, but some opponents still managed to sneak towards him. The cat was already taking over them, skillfully wielding another artifact. Nuibari in her hands showed some miracles of balancing act. The long needle developed an unusual speed, hitting several opponents at once, who were trying to reach her partner one by one. Thus, a couple of ANBU gave heat to several squads of Jounin, who suffered losses, making mistakes due to their desire to help their leader as quickly as possible.       However, no matter how good everything seemed at first glance for the Mist Ninja, it was only a matter of time before they were defeated. Hiramakarei was wasting quite a lot of chakra. Even in the hands of an experienced ANBU, which was a raccoon, the weapon quickly depleted the chakra reserves of a strong fighter. Another ten minutes and that’s it, the chakra will run out. The cat didn't fare any better. The girl has not yet fully gotten used to such a specific weapon as Nuibari. She occasionally made mistakes, for which she had to pay with the length of the iron fishing line that was attached to a long needle and, in fact, was the main device that allowed her to control this special weapon. As soon as the line runs out, the cat will have to enter into a very unequal battle with the Jounin of the Cloud, who had swords and tanto with them. Her sword's weakness was close combat. It is very difficult to block the blows of swords, katanas and tantos with a thin, albeit durable, needle.       Byakuren understood all this perfectly, so he practically did not waste his energy on the battle with the Raikage, conserving chakra and even accumulating its excess in Samehada. The Mizukage was ready to die for his village, but he wanted to sell his life for a very high price. As an experienced warrior, he knew that he could not cope, but, as a patriot, he believed in miracles. Where did Gengetsu go? Byakuren sent him after the seven-tails, hoping that the Mist Village would bury with it all the Cloud ninjas that invaded it. However, Hozuki did not even suspect that the Raikage also understood the entire situation. Sanshi was not as experienced a warrior as his opponent, but he could think through a battle plan several steps ahead. Ey's next attack was the same as all the previous ones. Byakuren didn't notice any trick at all, but he was... Instead of trying to break through the Mizukage's defense, the Raikage walked next to him, going at incredible speed towards the raccoon, who was very tired by this moment. And Sanshi had not attacked him until that moment, so the ANBU focused on the fight with Cloud’s jounin, but what can I say... even if the raccoon really wanted to escape from the Raikage’s attack, he would not be able to do this in his current state. Like a car flying at a speed of one hundred kilometers per hour, Sanshi swept away the poor owner of Hiramakarey, who went on a long flight, punching the walls of houses with her carcass.       - Crap. – Byakuren cursed, realizing that the situation had become even more complicated. - Cat, go away. – Hozuki gave the order, realizing that the girl was unlikely to last long in this battle. Turning his gaze to his second subordinate, the mizukage frowned even deeper. An experienced warrior caught the moment of the cat's death. One water bullet flew out from the body of the girl's chest, killing the girl instantly. Behind the cat could be seen a painfully familiar piece of blonde hair.       - Nothing personal, old man. – said Gengetsu, who appeared from behind the cat, whose body fell like a dead weight to the ground.       - I see... - the mizukage said calmly, looking calmly at this appearance of his son. This treatment slightly confused the younger Hozuki. He expected a slightly different reaction from his father.       - So you won't blame me? – Gengetsu clarified with some kind of misunderstanding, looking straight into his father’s eyes.       - Does this make sense? You just made your choice. It's not for me to judge you. – the elderly shinobi said coldly, already looking at his son with indifference.       - Little one, stop chattering. It's time to finish. – interrupted further discussions of Sanshi’s relatives, who wanted to end this battle as quickly as possible.       - Water element, Explosive wave. – Byakuren said the name of the technique, finally deciding to use his internal chakra reserve. The Head of the Mist released a huge amount of water from his mouth, creating a giant wave that moved towards all the Cloud ninjas.       - Back. – the Raikage barked, trying to neutralize at least part of the power of the wave that was ready to fall on his subordinates with a blow of his fist in the cover of lightning.       - Water element, Water Dragon technique. – Byakuren said the name of the next technique, making only three seals. Five water dragons appeared from the water at once, and with a ferocious howl they headed towards the entire Kumo army.       - Water element, Water Dragon technique. - Gengetsu tried to answer with the same technique, but he already had to put together eight seals to form ninjutsu, in addition, he could only create two water dragons. – And father lives up to his name as the Lord of Water. – the younger Hozuki suddenly thought, looking at the difference in the strength of suiton techniques between him and his father.       Meanwhile, the Raikage was able to come to his senses and even repel one of the dragons heading in his direction, and his subordinates were able to block two more water monsters using a joint lightning element technique.       - Element of water, explosive wave. – Byakuren, who did not form a single seal this time, announced the name of the new technique. A jet of simply colossal speed and pressure flew out of the mouth of the master of the elements of water. The Raikage was amazed at the speed of the attack. I have extraordinary speed from birth and bearing the title of the fastest ninja in his village, he simply did not have time to evade this ninjutsu. To Sanshi's surprise, the stream of water not only threw him a huge distance, but was also able to pierce his cover of lightning, although it must be admitted that Byakuren was also hit, because the jutsu extended from his body, which is why the element of lightning was able to hit him quite well like that . From the edge of his peripheral vision, the man could see the silhouette of the seven-tails flying away. Somewhere internally he exhaled with relief, but continued to make seals.       - Element of water, Dissolution in the fog. - Byakuren announced the new ninjutsu. The water released by one of the Mizukage's past ninjutsu began to evaporate, limiting the visibility of all ninja. Hozuki Sr. had not yet fully mastered this ninjutsu, but its use now was a very good task, allowing him to seriously reduce Cloud’s army.       - Water element, Water clone. – he already announced in a whisper the name of another ninjutsu. Appearing behind the next ninja, Byakuren made a quiet and inaudible cut, ending the life of another ordinary Cloud ninja, but at that moment he sensed danger.       - Element of water, water pistols. – said the name of the Gengetsu technique. This technique did not require seals, so, forming a pistol with the fingers of one hand, he fired several bullets at his father, who did not have time to turn around to face his son. The experienced ninja dodged some of the bullets, but he had to pass the rest through himself with the help of his clan's peculiarity, but at that moment he heard the sound of lightning chirping. The master of the element of water tried to cover himself with his sword, but the Raikage easily passed through this protection, because the elder Hozuki was very limited in movement and flight. The Raikage dealt a crushing blow to the head of the Mist in the stomach. As Sanshi expected, his hand passed through Byakuren's body, after which the Mizukage howled in pain. The body of the legendary fighter was simply automated at such moments. It reflexively tried to protect the wearer's body, but only made it worse. The Head of the Fog fell onto the water, no longer having the strength not only to fight, but simply to simply rise to his feet. His skin was charred in places. Some internal organs were severely damaged by lightning strikes. A landed on the water, dispelling his blanket of lightning to avoid catching the remaining subordinates who were still on the water. The battle was already over, and the fog that stood around Byakuren began to gradually dissipate.       - This is the end, Byakuren. You lose. – Having uttered these words, Sanshi planned to end the life of the Mizukage with one precise blow from his heavy hand. It was clear that the master of water techniques did not have the strength to resist at least some.       - Element of water, water pistol. – a voice suddenly announced from behind. The Raikage didn't have time to do anything, because Gengetsu put the tip of his index finger to the back of his head, firing a water bullet right into the head of his temporary ally. Sansha's body fell like a dead weight onto the surface of the water, gradually beginning to sink to the bottom. The great first raikage was killed by his own ally... - I never liked him. He pretended to be so cool and important. It’s annoying...” Gengetsu drawled, looking at his dying father.       - Mmmm... - Byakuren drawled, looking at his son’s actions.       - Sorry, dad, but I couldn’t do anything. This mountain of muscles did not give me a choice, giving me an ultimatum, and you would not have had time to transfer the troops, even if I had told you everything at the meeting. But don’t be afraid, I will become the second Mizukage and continue your work. – Hozuki Jr. clarified the whole situation, looking into his father’s eyes and not even planning to hide anything from him. Byakuren was a very insightful person.       - It's all on your conscience. I just did what I could. You'll have to deal with a lot more crap than I do. Don’t screw it up, Gengetsu... - the man said his didactic tirade with his last breath, after which his eyes glazed over.       - Will try. – the future second mizukage exhaled heavily, heading towards the Jounin of the Cloud, who became visible in the Fog...