If Ai wasn't the Raikage, Mizuki would really like to compete with him.

Mizuki and Ai's ninjutsu styles are completely at two extremes.

The outstanding Lightning Release brought extremely terrifying speed and defense, turning Ai into an extremely efficient killing machine. It was basically impossible for ninjas below the standard to cause harm to him.

Unless Ai's defense is broken head-on with a super-powerful attack, he is invincible. The only thing that limits his performance is whether he has enough physical strength to support him.

Mizuki's style is more inclined to active large-scale killing. Whether it is Fire Style, Sage Mode, various Sage Techniques, or Lava Style, they are all group damage ninjutsu.

The reason for this difference is the different imaginary enemies.

The Raikage is the leader of the warmongering Cloud Village. He must have excellent individual combat capabilities and often leads the charge in wars. His fighting style is more inclined towards that of a fierce general who charges into battle.

When Mizuki practiced ninjutsu, he never intended to take ordinary ninjas as his enemies from the beginning. The Mangekyō Sharingan, the Samsara Eye, the Wood Release and the Ten-Tails Jinchūriki were the challenges that Mizuki needed to face.

To put it simply, Ai is for killing, and Shuimu is for destruction. This is the most fundamental difference.

Unfortunately, the impact of challenging the Raikage was too great, so Mizuki could only think about it in his mind.

Mizuki wants to use Ai, a type of ninja that Mizuki is not good at dealing with, to test the extent of his basic abilities. Among the Kages of the five major ninja villages, only Ai can allow Mizuki to accurately determine his own strength.

Ōnoki's Dust Release is more difficult to deal with, this is a difference in bloodline and inheritance, so let's not discuss it for now.

Gaara now is probably no match for Mizuki.

If Mizuki and Mei Terumi fight, it will most likely end in a war of attrition, and in the end Mizuki can win by relying on his advantage in chakra.

As for Tsunade, it is impossible to estimate the amount of chakra and the increase in strength after she releases the Yin Seal. If the Seal of the Hundred Healings and Creation Regeneration are too powerful, the outcome is hard to say. Mizuki is unable to break Uchiha Madara's complete form of Susanoo with his bare hands, and can only rely on Melt Release to dissolve it.

"It would be great if Killer Bee was here. I really want to try out how powerful the legendary Jinchūriki who perfectly controls the power of the tailed beasts is!"

The combination of Lightning Release with super strong swordsmanship, plus the ability to control the Tailed Beast transformation with ease, makes him as powerful as the Five Kage, so he could be a formidable opponent. Unfortunately, he didn't see them this time. Mizuki didn't even sense the presence of the Tailed Beasts or Jinchūriki nearby, so they probably weren't nearby.

"This is so boring, shouldn't we do something?"

There has been no movement for another two days since I met the Raikage.

Mizuki naturally would not waste time. Although his main body stayed in the Hidden Cloud Village, he had already arranged several physical clones to act in secret, surveying the terrain and arranging necessary hiding places, while slowly approaching the location of Suigetsu Hozuki and Jūgo as indicated by the intelligence.

Through the spiritual practice established in Xishuixiang, Shuimu can always understand the progress of the physical clones' tasks.

"It's been going smoothly to clear out the minnows, but the key person is still missing?"

Mizuki felt a little regretful. Chougo's talent for communicating with small animals and the perception brought by the curse made him extremely sensitive to danger. Hozuki Suigetsu was also a leader who came out of the Land of Blood Mist. If he wanted to hide, it would be difficult to find him.

What's even more troublesome is that the Cloud Ninjas seem to be aware of the undercurrents in the Land of Lightning and are constantly increasing their patrols. Mizuki, with his strong mobility, won't reveal any clues, but the Anbu who were assisting him have completely gone into hiding and are no longer providing help.

However, hiding has its limits. Under Xinzhen's Byakugan investigation, it is only a matter of time before the key figure is discovered.

At least for now, it's not time to fight to the death. If the official members of the Akatsuki organization do not show up, and there are only Jūgo and Hozuki Suigetsu, the several clones will be able to surround and kill them without any suspense. No matter whether it is water transformation or curse-transformation, this level of secret techniques will basically not have much resistance to Mizuki.

If you go all the way here and only manage to kill a few small characters, it would be a bit disappointing, and you don't know if any important characters will show up.

Mizuki, who was waiting patiently in the Hidden Cloud Village, not only communicated with Darui from time to time, but also occasionally communicated with the Iron Country warriors who came with him this time - Okisuke and Rikkaku.

Judging from the information obtained from them, Mifune seemed to want to facilitate the convening of a Five Kage Conference, but it seems that he did not succeed. The Hidden Cloud Village did not feel it was necessary to have too formal exchanges with other ninja villages at this time.

"It seems that this mission has failed. Thank you for all the trouble you have made!"

The Iron Kingdom, which offered to help, came to the Hidden Cloud Village with sincerity, which was already quite proactive. However, it now seems that they still underestimated the difficulty of convincing the Raikage. Without too many unexpected events to break their established strategies, it is really unrealistic to expect them to believe with just a few words.

"Just call me Shuimu, you're welcome. This is how communication between major countries works. It's too difficult to achieve the goal with just one or two exchanges of opinions. Even if we fail this time, what we did is meaningful. Proper communication can avoid misunderstandings and is the beginning of the next good exchange."

“That would be great!”

Coming with high hopes and leaving disappointed, it is always frustrating to have your hopes dashed.

"Actually, I have some doubts. I wonder if you two can help me solve them?"

Shuimu originally didn't take this mission seriously. In comparison, other things were more concerning.

"Please speak!"

"As a private land of samurai, the Iron Country has never intervened in disputes between ninjas. I wonder why it is so actively involved in this matter this time?"

Don't use the excuse that the Akatsuki organization is going to destroy the entire ninja world. Apart from Black Zetsu and Uchiha Obito, among the people still alive in the ninja world, only Mizuki knew about this. The Iron Kingdom could not have known that this turmoil would affect them.

In the last Ninja War, the Iron Kingdom stayed completely out of it.

"It's normal for Mizuki Jonin to have this question, but the reason is very difficult to explain."

Okisuke hesitated for a moment, but decided to reveal some information.

"The Iron Nation actually knew about the Akatsuki organization a long time ago, and also understood their dangerousness..."

"Oh? This is a bit surprising!"

Konoha only knew about this group of dangerous guys after Uchiha Obito took the initiative to approach them and tried to force Uchiha Itachi to join them, so they went with the flow and let Uchiha Itachi join them as a spy.

Now the Iron Country claims that they have known these top secrets for a long time, which is really hard to believe.