6 years earlier.
He felt a sudden jolt of pain in his body. Like he was being squeezed to death but he wasn't sure what was going on. The Fourth Mizukage, Yagura Karatachi felt like he was startled awake.
When he finally opened his eyes and saw what was happening, he was sitting behind the desk in his office, not clear where he was and how he even got there. There was a collection of papers on his desk and one paper was open revealing a new initiative. A culling of Kekkei Genkai in the land of water.
What the fuck?
Yagura tried to recall what happened. He looked around his office some more to remember how he got there. He recalled he was supposed to be at a meeting somewhere but everything was blank after that. He glanced at the large map that hung in front of him. It was the map of the land of water. There were marks on the map indicating battles, victories, losses, etc. It looked similar to the map during the third shinobi war but that war ended years ago if Yagura recalls. So why is the map there? There is no war.
Isobu? Yagura called unto his tailed beast.
Yes? Isobu answered.
Do you remember how we got here?
No.Isobu answered. His tone was plagued with worry. What kind of Jutsu would affect even the bijuu? That is something to worry about.
Only one as far as I know. Isobu replied.
What? There is a jutsu that can affect you of all things? Yagura asked. This was news to him.
The Sharingan.
And Yagura almost balked at the reply. The Sharingan is a well-known and powerful dojutsu that is exclusively used by people of the Uchiha clan – a renowned clan that can only be found in Konoha.
Was Konoha behind this?
Maybe. Isobu said. Unsure. How long were we out?
Yagura looked at the calendar and almost balked the third time. FUCK!
Fuck indeed. Isobu agreed. How rare for this Bijuu to even curse.
It has been three years!
Currently, in Konoha…
Sarutobi Hiruzen sighed in his office as he continued to sign off the remaining papers in his office. It was already the middle of the night. Who said the Hokages have it easy? The number of paperwork he has to go through is insane! He missed Minato. It was sad that the man died 12 years ago and they couldn't find anyone to take over the leadership position so Sarutobi had to take over or else the only viable candidate was Danzo and that would be a disaster. The man may be his friend but he truly lacks empathy towards people so long as the goal he wants to achieve for the sake of the village. And the other viable candidates are not in the village or refused to return to the village.
He looked at the last paper he had signed. The Joint Shinobi Selection Program.
This was a shock to the village. They never really expected that this program would succeed. It took six years in the making and a lot of protests from all sides. The first-ever program where shinobi of different villages banded and worked together. This was proposed in the last Gokage summit a long time ago but it was turned down significantly so it was a surprise that this pushed through this time. It was such a big deal and everyone never thought it would work. Sarutobi is one of those people.
You see, six years ago, news from Kiri reached the shinobi villages that their Mizukage, the legendary Yagura Karatsuchi and their Yondaime Mizukage, who is known for his very harsh and terrible activities toward the village was under a genjutsu and it was discovered that the man involved has the Sharingan.
When they received this news, the village quickly went into a panic. This could lead to another war. One that Sarutobi thinks they can't have the resources available to make it. Kiri is a very elusive village with even more elusive shinobis. There is also the part where Kiri and the land of water in general has the greatest number of Kekkei Genkais out of all the villages. In fact, according to the report, the Mizukage who was under the influence of the Sharingan would have finalized the act of genocide against these Kekkei Genkai if he didn't wake up from the genjutsu.
Because of what happened, Konoha was on high alert. The already scrutinized Uchiha clan was even more ostracized in the village because of the news. Sarutobi has tried to stop it but the relationship between the Uchiha and the villagers only worsened. Unfortunately, soon after that, the Uchiha massacre happened. Worse was that some said that it was justified, others thought it was a response to avoid a war with Kiri. However, none of those statements were true.
Jiraiya arrived too late to inform that the person involved with the genjutsu of the Mizukage was someone who was a member of a group known as the Akatsuki - the same group that Orochimaru is a part of. A group of S-class missing-nin that are interfering with shinobi villages is bad news to everyone. Kiri even requested a meeting with both the Hokage and the Kazekage. This was a surprise to the Kazekage as he is not involved in any of this.
But the meeting was not what they expected.
Yondaime Karatsuchi, the Yondaime Mizukage, and Mei Terumi who will take over the position after the meeting as the new Godaime Mizukage wanted to sign a treaty with both Konoha and Suna. They thought it was a joke at first. But it was true. He was even the one who proposed the enforcement Joint Shinobi Selection program and has been the biggest supporter of it and has helped make it happen this year.
Sarutobi just hoped that this won't end up in a disaster. After all, the first host of the program is Konoha. Not like he wanted to as it was done through a draw and he got a short stick.
In Suna…
"Are you sure you wanted to send Gaara?" Baki asked the Kazekage. Surprised that the man would even let go of the red-headed child. The failed weapon as they call him. The homicidal monster from the others. But still, their Jinchuuriki and no village in their right mind would just let them go to another village where there is a potential risk for the Jinchuuriki to be discovered or taken. There is a bonus that if Gaara commits something wrong their village could also be implicated.
"I have no choice. At least this time we can have a respite from the disasters he is causing." The Kazekage said to the council. Deaths and destruction of properties cost money. Money that Suna could not afford to pay. "Just be glad we got a good deal with us accepting the program." The Kazekage was able to use the program as a negotiation tool to get Konoha to limit their acceptance of missions from the Wind nation daimyo and even give up some pieces of their land in the Wind nation to Suna giving them a little bit more resources they needed to fix their economy.
"At least when he is away, we can focus on our growth for a change," Kazekage argued. The Suna council at first was against sending Gaara to Konoha to be part of this program. Gaara is their Jinchuuriki and the last thing they needed was Konoha or another village to take their weapon.
The Kazekage sighed. The main reason he agreed was because Yagura promised to help his son in controlling the Bijuu. It was a private conversation between him and the former Mizukage. As much as he didn't want to, Suna was already at a disadvantage compared to the other great five. If they were ranked, they would be last and Gaara's instability is not helping. He didn't tell this to the council mostly because he was afraid that after all their effort, Gaara might not be able to control his bijuu. He won't say anything unless there is results.
"So, who else are we sending?" A council member asked.
In Iwa…
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU'RE VOLUNTEERING FOR THIS PROGRAM?!" Onoki, the Sandaime Tsuchikage yelled. His breathing is hard, his nostrils open and just one more tick and people's going to think he is going into a heart attack.
A few months ago, the joint forces of Konoha, Suna, and Kiri launched the Joint Shinobi Selection Program. They made this program available to all shinobi villages including Iwa and Kumo which surprised the two villages as they were the two who didn't have a good relationship with the other three, especially Konoha.
"I just said it. I would like to volunteer in this program." A large and tall man with a mask and wearing a hat and armor stood in front of the Tsuchikage and his office unfazed by the anger emanating from the old man. The man's name is Han and he is the five tails jinchuuriki.
"NO! ABSOLUTELY NOT! YOU ARE A JINCHUURIKI! YOU CANNOT GO TO KONOHA! THAT'S THE LAST THING YOU SHOULD DO!" Tsuchikage yelled.
"Alright," Han answered. "I can always do a Roshi and leave."
Another tick appeared on the old man's forehead. "Is that a threat?"
Han just shrugged. "So, you agree? Alright. I'll go pack." And the large man left the office in a hurry. Long enough to see a bright white light explode from the Tsuchikage's office. Most people below didn't even look up. They were already used to the Tsuchikage's outbursts. This is not the first time he blew up a building.
Han just sighed. He didn't care for this program but the Yondaime Mizukage sent him a letter through Roshi. Apparently, he wanted him to join and promised to teach him to control the five tails in return. He already heard that Roshi was heading somewhere to start his training. The lucky old fuck. Why didn't he just follow Roshi's example and leave?
In Kumo…
A, the Yondaime Raikage was not amused. No, he is not! What the fuck is this Joint Shinobi Selection program anyway? They had heard that Kiri, Suna, and Konoha had joined forces. A big surprise for them as they didn't expect the three of them to have such a good relationship.
These three decided to launch this program and made it available to the rest of the shinobi villages as well even the ones they are strongly hostile to. This was unusual since it is very common that even during Chuunin exams, Kumo and Iwa don't participate if it is held on Konoha or Suna. Konoha for obvious reasons. Suna hates Iwa with a passion and Kumo just doesn't like to deal with Suna because they are just way too far for them to travel. They also have a treaty with Konoha. Kiri never really hosts the chuunin exams due to obvious reasons (A/N: The Civil War).
But why would they still invite them? Yes, the idea of three powerful and large shinobi villages joining forces is a concern and the only reason they didn't bother to mess with Kiri is because of the Yondaime Mizukage. He is one of the only two Jinchuurikis whose identities are public mostly because they are not afraid to be easily beaten and the fact that they both have control over their tailed beast. The other Jinchuuriki is his brother – the one who gives him too many migraines.
So, he decided to ignore the missive altogether. Who wants to join this stupid program anyway?
"Raikage-sama here is an updated report regarding the Joint Shinobi Selection program spearheaded by the joint treaties of Suna, Konoha, and Kiri," Mabui said as she handed him another pile of papers which Ai eyed annoyingly.
"Ignore everything about that program," He muttered.
"I think you want to read it," Mabui said which raised Ai's curiosity. His secretary was never insistent before. She always just agrees.
Ai sighed and looked into the folder. "WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS?! WHY WOULD IWA JOIN? DID THAT OLD MAN GO SENILE?!"
Current time in the new Kirigakure….
"Mmmmm. Delicious!" Yagura squirmed as he ate a large place of spicy chicken curry in one of the shops. He was accompanied by Ao, who was assigned by the current Mizukage to watch out for the short, pink-eyed man. Being the only man in the village who possesses the Byakugan, he could keep an eye out for the masked man with the Sharigan.
The news from the public is that Yagura is being detained mostly for the crimes he did to the village. Even though people know that he was under a genjutsu, Yagura is still an image of the bloody past of the village and he is still a traumatic reminder to many of them. So, Yagura has been disguising himself as he walked around. To the public, he is being detained but secretly, he and Ao and the new Mizukage are working together to catch that son of a bitch who trampled over their beloved village.
Mei Terumi, the red-orange-haired Mizukage has already reinforced and added wards around the village hoping that whoever that mask man was, will not be able to penetrate the next time he tries to infiltrate the village. With many Kekkei Genkai clans moving in, the pressure is high. Only a few people know that Mei's grandmother from her mother's side was a Uzumaki, so she was familiar with many of the strong Uzumaki seals.
The patched-eyed man is watching the former Mizukage with a big sweat dropped on his head. He never knew outside that serious and rigid exterior of the former Mizukage who is known around the world for his ruthless tactics could have a childlike personality with weird quirks. It didn't help that the man himself did look like a child or a young teen at best. Despite that, Yagura is an adult. He is older than the current Mizukage.
"Another, please!" Yagura cried enthusiastically at the server causing Ao to tilt his head.
"I never knew you could eat that much curry, Yagura-sama. That is your fifteenth plate." Ao said. Where in the world did you put all that food? It's a miracle he wasn't fat.
Yagura paused and stared at Ao. "When I was being manipulated by that teme, I never got to eat as much as I like." Then he lowered his voice. "I'm also a Jinchuuriki and we happen to eat more food than the average shinobi because we need more energy due to our animal friends." Then he digs in his next plate.
Don't I know it? Ao sighed. Utakata, the other resident of Jinchuuriki has a habit of eating plate after plate of fried dumplings. The young man's status as a Jinchuuriki has been relatively unknown to most of the villagers ever since the incident with his sensei. Mei Terumi honored that one condition Utakata had so he would come back to the village. Since the young man is also attractive, he has a lot of fans in the village. Mostly girls and possibly some men out there but he remained elusive and hard to catch.
Ao who was lost in thought in the moment just remembered something. "Oh, Mizukage-sama wanted to let you know that she was able to send the missive to the Taki leader."
"Hmmm," Yagura said.
"This plan of yours is extremely risky Yagura-sama. I'm actually surprised you didn't want Utakata to participate in this program." Aoi said.
"Utakata didn't want to be a sensei," Yagura answered. "You know his last experiences. Besides, I'm sure that girl, Hotaru can bring down those walls he built up around him. She's been constantly hounding Utakata to be her sensei. I don't think she understands the word no."
Ao felt sorry for Utakata. Apparently, what happened to his own sensei was very traumatic. But Ao was still proud that for once the village children were able to act like children and form bonds that can never be broken. The Mizukage has removed the previous education system and its horrific graduation exam which was founded by the late Sandaime Mizukage and could have been removed by Yagura if he wasn't under the influence.
The Joint Shinobi Selection, huh? Ao thought. He heard that Chojuro and Suigetsu (Mangetsu's little brother), will be participating in the program with Zabuza as jounin-sensei. Ao grinned. The man didn't even know that Mizukage has chosen him for the program. He could only imagine what Zabuza's reaction would be. It would be an interesting year.
"Alright." Yagura stood up so fast it surprised Ao. "I have finished everything I needed to do. It is time to find my wife and kids."
Wife and kids? Ao thought. "Wait, WHAT? What wife and kids? Since when were you married?!" Yagura didn't answer but proceeded to jump out of the window. "Yagura-sama!" Ao tried to grab the man but the server of the restaurant stopped him.
"Sir. You need to pay the bill before you leave."
Aoi turned and saw thirty plates tack together. "HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHH?!"