Naruto: Multiverse Character Templates

The next day.

The Mizukage's office in Kirigakure.

A heavy atmosphere spread through the room.

The Anbu shinobi kneeling on the ground felt uneasy, and sweat had already soaked his back.

He had just reported to the Third Mizukage what had happened at the Kuja Pirates' base last night.

"What do you mean all eighteen of them disappeared?"

The one who spoke was an old man.

He was an elder of Kirigakure, Genji.

In terms of status, he was not inferior to the Third Mizukage.

In the original story, after the Fourth Mizukage, Yagura Karatachi, died, Kirigakure was temporarily managed by him.

He was also the one who supported Mei Terumī and helped her become the Fifth Mizukage.

The reason he had appeared now was because the disappearance of two members of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen was involved.

To Kirigakure, this was an unprecedented major incident.

Aside from Genji, the other high-ranking members of Kirigakure were also present.

"With their strength, it is impossible for them to disappear without a trace."

The Third Mizukage slowly said, "But since such a thing has happened, there is only one possibility. They were all captured or killed."

When everyone heard this, unrest inevitably spread among them.

"Eighteen people, including two members of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen. Unless one of the Five Kage personally came, how could they all be captured or killed?"

Kushimaru Kuriarare asked with a puzzled expression.

As one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen, he naturally understood the strength of Fuguki Suikazan and Jūzō Biwa quite well.

The others nodded in agreement.

"Perhaps there really is such a possibility."

The Third Mizukage narrowed his eyes and said.

Everyone could not help revealing surprised expressions.

"Mizukage-sama, are you saying one of the five great shinobi villages is behind the Kuja Pirates?"

Genji tightened his grip on his cane and asked thoughtfully.

"Correct. If it is truly one of the five great shinobi villages, then everything makes sense."

The Third Mizukage nodded and said.

"Why target us?"

Yagura frowned and asked, "Are they trying to start a war against us?"

Although the Second Shinobi World War had already ended, the higher-ups of the five great villages all knew that the Third Shinobi World War was inevitable.

Because ambition would not disappear.

Especially now that the shinobi world no longer had unbelievably powerful shinobi like Hashirama Senju and Uchiha Madara.

The five great shinobi villages were roughly equal. That meant war was only a matter of time.

"Which shinobi village could it be?"

After thinking for a moment, Genji asked, "Kumogakure?"

Kumogakure's style was known to everyone.

In addition, it had not participated in the Second Shinobi World War. If there truly was a Third Shinobi World War, it would definitely not miss it.

And it would most likely be the first shinobi village to join the Third Shinobi World War.

"It is possible."

The Third Mizukage agreed.

"But we have no evidence."

Yagura said in a deep voice, "Even if we confront Kumogakure, it will not have any effect."

"The Kuja Pirates have already abandoned their base, and their current whereabouts are unknown."

The Third Mizukage said expressionlessly, "If one of the five great villages is truly behind them, they will definitely make another move."

At that moment, a knock sounded on the door.

"Come in."

The Third Mizukage raised his head.

Everyone also looked toward the door of the Mizukage's office.

"I apologize for being late."

A young man walked in and explained, "I went back to retrieve the ninja sword summoning scroll, so I was delayed."

His name was Ryōgetsu Hōzuki, the current clan head of the Hōzuki clan.

The Hōzuki clan held an important position in Kirigakure.

Because the Second Mizukage was Gengetsu Hōzuki.

Aside from that, the Hōzuki clan had guarded the summoning scroll that could summon the seven ninja swords of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen for generations.

In the original story, the Hōzuki clan had already declined, leaving only Suigetsu Hōzuki.

Suigetsu was also captured by Orochimaru and used for experiments.

In the end, Sasuke saved him and had him join Team Taka.

"Summon the Broken Sword, Kubikiribōchō, and the Bluntsword, Kabutowari, now."

The Third Mizukage instructed.

"Yes, Mizukage-sama."

Ryōgetsu immediately opened the ninja sword summoning scroll.

He placed both hands on it and used the Summoning Technique.

With a puff, a burst of smoke appeared.

But what made Ryōgetsu's expression stiffen was that the two expected ninja swords did not appear.

Without hesitation, he used the Summoning Technique again.

The smoke scattered, but it was still completely empty.

"Mizukage-sama."

Ryōgetsu stood up and said in a heavy tone, "Those two ninja swords are most likely inside a seal."

"A sealing technique that can block the Summoning Technique is not simple."

The Third Mizukage analyzed, "In the current shinobi world, only the sealing techniques of the five great shinobi villages can do this."

"This is clearly looking down on Kirigakure!"

Raiga Kurosuki said fiercely, "The next time the Kuja Pirates appear, we must teach them a lesson!"

"If they dare use Kirigakure as their breakthrough point, they had better be prepared to fail!"

Kushimaru said sharply.

The others were also filled with righteous anger.

There were five great shinobi villages, yet the enemy had deliberately chosen Kirigakure. This was undoubtedly saying that they were the weakest.

"Elder Genji, I will have to trouble you to go to the Land of Water metropolis and explain the situation clearly to the daimyo."

The Third Mizukage raised his hand, stopping them, then instructed, "Kirigakure will use all its strength to search for traces of the Kuja Pirates."

"Yes, Mizukage-sama."

Genji and the others answered in unison.

At the same time, in Sunagakure, in the Land of Wind.

"What do you think?"

The Third Kazekage asked.

"Being able to make two of Kirigakure's Seven Ninja Swordsmen and four Anbu teams disappear means the Kuja Pirates are very strong."

Reki thought for a moment and said, "At least ten jonin would be needed."

"If there is a Kage-level powerhouse, one would be enough."

Rasa added.

"Whether it is ten jonin or one Kage-level powerhouse, neither is something a pirate group should possess."

Baki said in a low voice, "I suspect one of the five great shinobi villages is behind the Kuja Pirates."

"Pakura."

The Third Kazekage looked at Pakura, who had remained silent, and asked, "What do you think?"

"This may be a good opportunity for us."

Pakura came back to herself and said, "We can watch them fight each other."

"Not bad."

The Third Kazekage nodded and said, "No matter who is targeting Kirigakure, they will eventually fight. Perhaps both sides will suffer losses."

Although Sunagakure had suffered heavy losses in the Second Shinobi World War, it had recovered quite a bit by now.

This was thanks to Pakura and the rainwater business with the Land of Rain.

Of course, Sunagakure had not fully recovered yet.

But it already had the strength to join another war.

"But we must be careful of the other shinobi villages."

Chiyo reminded him, "They are likely thinking the same way we are."

The Third Kazekage acknowledged her words, then said, "We just do not know who is targeting Kirigakure. It would be best if it were Iwagakure or Konoha."

Sunagakure had Iwagakure to the north, Konoha to the east, and Kirigakure to the south.

The reason the Third Kazekage said this was because Sunagakure was close to all three of these shinobi villages.

If they fought, Sunagakure could take advantage of the situation faster.

Of course, from the perspective of grudges, he hoped it was Konoha.

Hearing this, Pakura secretly thought that he had guessed correctly.

During Akatsuki's Fourteen Moons gathering, she had met the three great snake priestesses.

At that time, their self-introduction had been that they were in charge of the Kuja Pirates.

Clearly, it was Natsuki who had killed Fuguki and Jūzō.

After all, he had Kage-level strength.

Aside from Sunagakure, Iwagakure and Kumogakure also received the related intelligence almost at the same time.

Just as Chiyo had said, Ōnoki, the Third Raikage, and the others had similar thoughts.

They all believed that one of the five great shinobi villages was backing the Kuja Pirates.

At the same time, they all felt they could quietly watch how things developed, waiting for a suitable opportunity to take advantage.

Finally, there was Konoha.

This intelligence also reached Orochimaru.

His thoughts were about the same.

But he was busy with experiments, so he ordered Natsuki to investigate the matter.

Meanwhile, Natsuki had already arrived at the daimyo's residence in the Land of Sea.

[Congratulations to the host for unlocking Ability Two of the Boa Hancock Template: Love-Love Fruit.]

Natsuki raised an eyebrow as he felt a large amount of information pouring in.

He secretly thought that it had gone as expected.

After dealing with Kirigakure's targeting, he had successfully unlocked the Love-Love Fruit.

In the shinobi world, if one wanted to quickly become famous, one had to find a way through the five great villages.

The only problem was that the risk was very high.

If the Kuja Pirates were an ordinary pirate group, there would have been only one result when facing Fuguki and Jūzō, destruction.

Natsuki quickly finished digesting the information.

Just as he had guessed, he had only obtained the Love-Love Fruit, without the corresponding abilities.

This meant he needed to develop the abilities himself.

However, it was still fine.

Hancock had displayed many ways of using it in One Piece, so he could simply copy them directly.

"Master, I feel like you suddenly became much more handsome."

Ichikishimahime's eyes lit up, and she subconsciously licked the corner of her lips.

"Although your appearance has not changed, your aura is different from before."

Tagitsuhime looked Natsuki up and down and gave her evaluation.

Natsuki froze slightly and felt somewhat surprised.

He stretched out his hand and condensed a mirror with Ice Release.

Natsuki looked at himself in the mirror and did indeed sense a change.

He could not help falling into thought.

There were traces of this kind of thing in One Piece.

The most classic example was the Smooth-Smooth Fruit.

Alvida had originally been a large woman covered in freckles, but after eating the Smooth-Smooth Fruit, she became a tall and stunning beauty.

And the Love-Love Fruit could charm men, women, the old, and the young alike.

Although Hancock herself was already very beautiful, she had not reached the point where one look could charm everyone regardless of age or gender.

The greatest possibility was that the Love-Love Fruit amplified her charm.

Natsuki casually dispersed the ice mirror.

How should he put it?

An increase in charm was not a bad thing.

In any case, his appearance had not changed.

If even his appearance had changed, it would be difficult for him to explain it to Nonō and the others.

Moreover, the Love-Love Fruit was ineffective against people with no impure thoughts, those who were not tempted by beauty, or those whose attention was not on the ability user.

In One Piece, Luffy was immune to the Love-Love Fruit because he had no interest in beauty.

In other words, anyone who felt he had changed probably had thoughts about him.

"Back to the matter at hand."

Natsuki thought for a moment and said, "From now on, the Kuja Pirates will temporarily stop robbing merchant ships."

With Fuguki and Jūzō's deaths, the Kuja Pirates and Kirigakure had already become irreconcilable.

If the Kuja Pirates showed themselves again, they would definitely face a devastating counterattack from Kirigakure.

But aside from the three great snake priestesses, the Kuja Pirates had no ability to withstand Kirigakure's retaliation.

Natsuki also could not personally act every time.

Most importantly, he had already unlocked the Love-Love Fruit. The purpose of establishing the Kuja Pirates had been achieved.

The remaining matter was liberating the slaves of the Land of Water.

Natsuki planned to do it together with another matter, which was establishing the Seven Warlords of the Sea and gaining the recognition of the daimyo of the Land of Water.

Without using genjutsu to control him, only one method remained. He had to create conflict between the daimyo of the Land of Water and Kirigakure.

He could make the Seven Warlords of the Sea into an existence similar to the daimyo's guardian shinobi, or directly replace the daimyo's guardian shinobi.

In a certain sense, it matched their role perfectly.

After all, in One Piece, the Seven Warlords of the Sea also obeyed the orders of the World Government.

Creating conflict between the daimyo of the Land of Water and Kirigakure was not especially difficult.

As a daimyo, the things he hated most would be Kirigakure disobeying his orders and failing to handle matters properly.

Starting from these two points, there were many things that could be done.

For example, after Kirigakure shinobi accepted a mission from the daimyo of the Land of Water, Natsuki could secretly interfere and make the mission fail.

After this happened several times, the daimyo of the Land of Water would naturally become dissatisfied.

It would be best if there were missions that caused great losses.

Even a powerhouse like Sakumo had been punished.

As for liberating the slaves of the Land of Water, Natsuki planned to control Kirigakure shinobi to do it.

He could also start from missions, making them fail their missions while accidentally releasing the slaves of the Land of Water.

Aside from that, there was another crucial matter.

After the daimyo of the Land of Water repeatedly reprimanded Kirigakure, Natsuki could control Kirigakure shinobi to assassinate him.

Even if Kirigakure cut ties with the matter in time and cleared its name, the daimyo of the Land of Water would definitely lose trust in Kirigakure.

At that time, the Seven Warlords of the Sea could appear.

"Go investigate the guardian shinobi of the daimyo of the Land of Water."

Natsuki looked at Tagorihime and said, "While you are at it, investigate what channels they used to become guardian shinobi."

"Yes, Master."

Tagorihime immediately said.

"Your task is to control or guide Kirigakure shinobi."

Natsuki then looked at Tagitsuhime and said, "Make sure important missions related to the daimyo of the Land of Water cannot be completed smoothly."

"Yes, Master."

Tagitsuhime puffed out her chest and said, "I guarantee the mission will be completed."

"Master, what about me?"

Ichikishimahime asked impatiently.

"You investigate what slaves there are in the Land of Water."

Natsuki said casually.

"Yes, Master!"

Ichikishimahime immediately said, "I will definitely do better than Tagitsuhime!"

"Hmph, little brat."

Tagitsuhime shot back without hesitation.

"Do not argue."

Natsuki stopped them and said, "The name Kuja Pirates is no longer suitable. Change it to the Seven Warlords of the Sea."

"Yes, Master."

The three snake priestesses answered in unison.

"Have the crew remain in the Land of Sea, and use the daimyo to take control of the Land of Sea."

Natsuki added.

The situation the Seven Warlords of the Sea would face would be even more dangerous than what the Kuja Pirates had faced.

Among the previous thirty crew members, aside from the two Tokubetsu Jonin, none of them could deal with Kirigakure shinobi.

In short, the Seven Warlords of the Sea needed to recruit more jonin.

Although he could transfer jonin from Akatsuki, Akatsuki had only recently taken control of Amegakure and also needed jonin.

Moreover, the number of jonin was already small to begin with, and they were basically concentrated among Akatsuki's upper ranks, the Fourteen Moons.

Natsuki rubbed his chin.

Where should he find jonin?

Fortunately, he had the Blood Curse, so he did not need to worry about the loyalty of these jonin.

After thinking carefully, it would be best to use shinobi outside the five great villages.

Because Kirigakure knew the shinobi of the five great villages.

However, that did not mean they were impossible to use.

Natsuki could go look for shinobi from Iwagakure and Kumogakure.

When the time came, he could sow discord.

"Go carry out your missions."

Natsuki raised his hand and opened a spatial door, then said, "If you encounter any problems, use the Reverse Summoning Technique to summon me."

After saying that, he walked into the spatial door.

Natsuki arrived in Sunagakure.

The matter of finding jonin was not urgent.

After all, it would only become useful once a crisis of trust appeared between the daimyo of the Land of Water and Kirigakure.

He still had another matter to handle.

Natsuki walked toward the sofa.

He did not wait long before Pakura returned home.

When she saw Natsuki, she paused slightly and felt that his aura had changed somewhat.

It had to be said that he was indeed the best-looking shinobi she had ever seen.

"I just finished a meeting."

Pakura suppressed the thoughts in her heart and took the initiative to speak, "It was related to the Kuja Pirates."

She then briefly explained the contents of the meeting.

"You do not need to worry about this matter."

Natsuki shook his head and said, "I have another mission for you. Help me find some precious materials."

"What materials?"

Pakura froze for a moment and asked.

"Materials that can be used to forge ninja tools."

Natsuki added, "The more precious, the better."

"I understand. I will send people to handle this matter."

Pakura nodded and said.

"It seems you have not forgotten my order."

Natsuki changed the topic, looked her over, and said, "You are not wearing that backless outfit today."

Pakura immediately fell silent.

"The next time I come, I will buy you some clothes."

Natsuki stood up and walked into the spatial door again.

He arrived at the Land of Rain metropolis.

He gave Yahiko and Kakuzu the same order.

Whether it was Sunagakure or Akatsuki, they had enough manpower and money.

Having them search for forging materials would definitely produce quite a few results.

It was worth mentioning that Yahiko and Kakuzu did not sense any change in him.

Natsuki did not stay long and turned back to the Senju clan compound.

Kushina had only just called out one word when she suddenly stopped.

She looked at Natsuki and felt her heart speed up.

"What is it?"

Natsuki walked forward, pinched her cheek, and asked.

"You feel a little different today."

Kushina raised her head, looked at him, and said.

"Did I become more handsome?"

Natsuki could not help laughing.

"A little."

Kushina said with a puzzled expression, "How strange. Your appearance clearly has not changed."

"Maybe it is your imagination."

Natsuki stroked her head and said, "All right. Do not get tangled up in something meaningless."

Kushina answered.

But during the following training, she was somewhat distracted and glanced at him from time to time.

At dusk, Tsunade and Nonō returned from Konoha Hospital.

When the two of them saw Natsuki, they both paused.

Nonō did not think much of it.

She was in the middle of a passionate relationship and thought this was normal.

Tsunade, on the other hand, became somewhat suspicious.

Had she also reached the age where her heart could be stirred?

Today, after seeing Natsuki, a faint ripple had actually appeared in her heart.

However, she was not a young girl after all and quickly returned to normal.

After all, Natsuki was not someone her age. Her reason pulled her back to reality.

(To be continued.)

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