Chapter 543: Itachi Finally Gets It

Uchiha Itachi knew perfectly well that Kisame had not come here to slaughter everyone.

Kisame was here to solve a problem.

According to the intelligence Terumī Mei had provided, the part of the island inhabited by the Hoshigaki clan showed clear signs of rebellion and nostalgia for the old Bloody Mist era.

What Mei wanted was for Kisame to identify the person responsible, eliminate the real instigator, and allow everyone else to return to normal.

As for why Mei had not come personally?

Naturally, because she had other things to do.

Other troublemakers to deal with.

People should not assume the opposition was some perfectly unified bloc.

Quite the opposite.

The reason these anti-Mei factions remained weak and were forced to operate from the shadows was precisely because they all acted independently and trusted nobody else.

If they were genuinely capable of uniting, they might as well go somewhere else and build their own village.

And one could not forget what Kirigakure's opposition actually wanted.

They wanted the Bloody Mist back.

What did the Bloody Mist represent?

At its most basic level? Killing your own comrades was completely normal.

With that foundation alone, the various anti-Mei factions were naturally incapable of trusting each other.

It was practically a paradox.

If another person was a true, uncompromising opponent of Terumī Mei, then they should naturally embrace Bloody Mist principles—

Which meant they should betray their allies without hesitation.

Why would anyone form an alliance with someone guaranteed to sell them out?

Were they looking for suffering?

On the other hand, if that person wouldn't betray them, then they clearly weren't following one of the Bloody Mist's core principles.

Which meant they weren't truly one of their own, were probably leaning toward Mei's side, and would eventually betray them anyway.

Of course, the opposition themselves did not sit around analyzing all that logic.

They simply did not trust one another.

So in an environment like this, Mei's strategy was straightforward:

Remove the instigators one at a time and reduce their influence.

Kirigakure itself was steadily improving under her leadership.

Unfortunately, no matter how much better the village became, there were always people constantly throwing mud at her and spreading rumors.

If you did not occupy the high ground of public opinion, someone else would.

Mei had poured enormous effort into opening the Land of Water to the outside world and improving ordinary people's lives.

Yet if the opposition spent every few days badmouthing her, then to anyone who only heard their side, all her accomplishments might as well not exist.

Worse, because development necessarily happened in stages, those same people could use the uneven progress to create new conflicts.

Why did the island near your home get a tourist district first?

Why not ours?

And so on.

Mei's reputation among these scattered groups rose and fell constantly, like filling a pool while someone kept opening a drain at the bottom.

If she wanted to solve the problem, she first had to plug the leaks.

Kisame was currently responsible for finding one of those leaks.

His task was to seal it.

As for everyone else, Mei had made her orders clear:

If the mission required Kisame to injure or kill them, that was acceptable.

But there was no need to actively wipe them out.

Those ordinary people were merely mobs being led around by the nose.

Once their leader disappeared, they would quickly become like headless flies.

At that point, Mei only needed to send in her own people, establish a new center of influence, and gradually guide them back without them even noticing.

So Kisame truly had not come here to massacre his clan.

He had come here to play detective.

"Itachi-san, thinking things through has never really been my specialty."

After explaining the mission in detail, Kisame politely complimented his partner.

"So I'll probably need to rely on you quite a bit this time."

Kisame's intelligence and combat instincts were certainly not poor.

But compared with the absolute top tier, he did fall somewhat short.

After all, his official databook intelligence score was only seven.

Itachi, however, did not immediately answer.

His mind was completely occupied by the method Kisame had just described.

Remove the leader… and the rest naturally settle down.

Itachi had originally been wondering what he could do to prevent Kisame from experiencing the same fate he once had.

Instead, Kisame—or rather, the current Mizukage, Terumī Mei—had just taught him a lesson.

For the first time, Itachi began genuinely doubting himself.

Had he really possessed the mindset of a Hokage at seven years old?

If that were true, then regardless of whether Kirigakure's current method would have worked on the Uchiha clan…

Why had the possibility never even crossed his mind?

Even if he could not identify the true instigators within the clan, why had he killed the children and elderly people who had never participated at all?

If he had already decided to bear the guilt of destroying the clan so Sasuke would hate him instead of Konoha…

Then why not spare the other children too?

There had even been infants.

They could have been raised by the village from childhood and taught the Will of Fire.

Whatever their eventual strength, their personalities would likely have resembled Uchiha Kagami or Uchiha Shisui.

So why had he killed every Uchiha?

Had he simply gotten into the rhythm and been unable to stop?

Uchiha Itachi finally became enlightened.

And the moment of enlightenment came when he realized that, up until now, he had never truly been enlightened at all.

Itachi suddenly remembered his previous meeting with the Second Hokage.

Tobirama had criticized him too, though he had not gone very far into it.

Itachi had never known whether Tobirama thought he was beyond saving or whether the First Hokage standing nearby made it awkward to say anything too harsh.

Now, Itachi understood it himself.

At last, everything had become clear.

Unfortunately, that clarity had come far too late.

His mind back then had been like a foggy swamp.

As someone trapped inside the situation, he had been completely unable to recognize how absurd his own actions were.

Only today, after watching Kisame's situation from the perspective of an outsider, did Itachi finally understand just how ridiculous he had been.

So in the end…

He had been the biggest lunatic in the entire Uchiha clan.

"Kisame."

Itachi hesitated before changing his mind.

"This time, I'll help with the fighting, but I won't give you any strategic advice.

"You should make your own judgments."

"Hm?"

Kisame looked confused.

Then he shrugged.

"Alright."

He did not press the matter.

Around Itachi, Kisame had always been remarkably straightforward.

Itachi, meanwhile, had developed a touch of PTSD after his realization.

He was genuinely afraid that if he started offering advice and got carried away again, he might somehow help Kisame wipe out his clan too.

And so, the two of them entered the village.

As members of the Hoshigaki clan, their familiar shark-like features immediately attracted the attention of the locals.

…

Elsewhere, Kakashi and the others arrived at the vacation island, where a large development site sat beside the tourist district.

First came the routine explanation of the Sage Mode shortcut.

That was the actual mission, after all.

Afterward, Ao, Chōjūrō, and Kurosuki Raiga split up and each found a place to begin training.

Privacy was hardly a concern.

There was water and sand everywhere.

Even without using Water Release or Earth Release, throwing together a simple sand shelter by hand would have been easy.

Then there was Shira's breathing-method project.

Kakashi had no real solution, so for now he told Shira and Guy to find somewhere and discuss it between themselves.

Once Kakashi finished handling everything else, he would join them.

After nearly everyone had gone their separate ways, Kakashi finally turned his attention toward the special kunoichi Mei had personally assigned to accompany them—Hoshigaki Nanami.

"Could you give me the more detailed intelligence?"

Kakashi's expression became serious.