1 DAY LATER
Mei was relieved, while things were still a mess in Kirigakure itself, she had nominal control of the Village, for now at least.
It involved much less fighting than she had expected, if she was being honest, she wasn't facing a unified village under Yagura's control, she was facing half a dozen factions who hated each other, every person with a modicum of power threw their hat into the ring.
Which, with her 300 Shinobi and another good chunk of supporters in Kirigakure itself meant she held the largest force in the village.
It would take months for things to stabilize, and she was sure the ceremony of her ascension to 5th Mizukage would involve at least a few assassination attempts.
But it was a better outcome than she had expected when she had been given that ultimatum by the burned man.
"So... what should I tell the emissary?" Chojuro asked awkwardly. "He won't leave until he gets an answer."
That was a more delicate situation, she couldn't just say to the Daimyo's messenger that she would be rushing to install herself as Mizukage as soon as possible, this would have to be handled delicately.
"Tell him that I will meet with the Daimyo as soon as possible." She said after a few moments of thinking. "But emphasize that the disappearance of the Mizukage and the ongoing situation with Wave means that Kirigakure is in a state of emergency, so it may be a while."
Chojuro nodded quickly before dashing off, she just needed a few weeks...
"And the situation with the warmonger faction?" Ao asked calmly.
"We'll leave them alone for now." Mei replied firmly. "There will be no purges, our focus right now needs to be on gathering the rest of the defectors and any of the neutral factions we can."
"That might anger the burned man." Ao pointed out. "He did demand their deaths."
Mei held back her urge to snap at Ao, because he was not wrong.
He had been very clear that any person involved in the invasion of Wave was to be killed.
But the invasion of Wave was supported by most of the council, meaning that if she killed everyone who had a hand in it, then the Village would collapse into a full out civil war.
And while she was fully prepared to destroy the remnants of Yagura's regime, she didn't want to waste her good fortune of having the seat of Mizukage basically handed to her by triggering the civil war she narrowly managed to avoid.
"I'm aware." She said tersely. "But we still don't know how the Invasion ended, so we will wait until we receive news before I make any decisions."
"How fortunate." A voice called out behind her.
Both Mei and Ao spun around, coming face to face with a very familiar burned man.
He was looking out the window, his posture relaxed, it almost looked like he had always been standing there.
"All you need to keep your end of the bargain is news of the invasion?" He asked rhetorically. "Every single person who participated in it is dead."
Mei wasn't surprised by that revelation, but she was still filled with unease at hearing it said aloud.
There was a moment of silence.
"Well? I believe that means you can fulfill your end of the bargain." The burned man said expectantly, still facing away from them.
Mei's thoughts were racing through her mind, she had not expected to get her own words thrown back in her face.
"It isn't that simple, if I just start killing them, then it will lead to a lot of unrest." She argued hesitantly. "And many innocents will be caught up in it."
The burned man didn't answer, which made her anxiety worse, two seconds after she said that, she realized it might come across as a threat.
"You know, it really is a fortunate day for you, Terumi Mei." The man said, still with that infuriatingly blank tone.
She waited for him to elaborate.
He didn't.
"What are you talking about?" She asked wearily.
"In another universe, you would have died." He finally turned to look at her, his eyes were fully gold this time around, and they made her shiver. "So be grateful that I have given you a chance."
Behind the burned man, through the window, she saw a single bright light fall from the sky.
It grew brighter and brighter, soon outshining even the Sun, before it hit the ground somewhere in the distance.
A massive explosion erupted where the object landed, throwing up dirt and debris high into the air, soon followed by a visible shockwave.
It raced across the land, weakening just enough that by the time it reached Kirigakure, it only shook the windows and rattled Mei's bones.
"How very lucky that no one died from that, imagine what would have happened if it was a little closer?"
Mei gulped nervously as she realized what had almost happened.
Then the burned man turned back towards the window, looking over the city as people started to panic.
"6 months to keep your end of the bargain, and you will be receiving an offer from The Order for a ceasefire, part of the terms will be an advisor being sent to Kirigakure." He explained matter-of-factly. "I trust I don't need to explain that his words are to be closely listened to."
She nodded quickly, any thoughts of resistance were gone after that display of power, whatever this thing was, it had shown twice now that she could not fight it.
"Then, I wish you luck, Mizukage-sama." The burned man said simply. "Oh, and don't worry about Yagura, he will not be returning."
And with that, from one moment to the next, the man was gone.
***
I catalogued every member of the so-called Warmonger Faction, and a few others besides that.
Mei had a good point about the inevitable civil war that would happen if they were purged, and I had calmed down enough with the death of everyone who was involved in the Invasion.
But if she thought that I would be willing to wait years until they all died of old age, then she had another thing coming.
Kiri is really lucky that I am trying to not be an absolute asshole, the more I saw of this world the more I refused to become like everyone else.
On that note, if I ever saw Madara again, I would thank him for the idea of redirecting a meteor from orbit, it was quite a discount compared to just making one, with this Kirigakure should be a nice neighbor.
I didn't know if the fear of my retaliation would hold forever, but I didn't need it too, just a decade or two until I had gathered enough strength to utterly crush anything in my path.
If this world didn't want to change, then I would drag it kicking and screaming into the future, with as little innocent deaths as possible.
I kept a few bodies in Kiri, simple animals and bugs, and focused back on Wave, there was family drama going on which I didn't want to miss.
***
Itachi was stalling, he knew he was stalling, Kisame had gotten over his moping a couple of days ago, and had noticed he was stalling.
The innkeeper knew he was stalling, she hadn't said anything, but her knowing look whenever he asked for an extension told him all he needed to know.
But he still did not know how he was going to approach Sasuke, what words could he say to his little brother, after everything that he did?
As he walked down the streets of Wave, he told himself that he would be seeing him today, there was no more time to waste.
But...
He hesitated, maybe he should give Sasuke some more time.
"Wow! I sure love dealing with my problems!" A voice yelled from nearby, Itachi turned to it and saw two men chatting excitedly. "Wouldn't you agree, buddy?"
It was two copies of Ayumu, one was wearing an obviously fake mustache, but otherwise they were identical.
"Oh yes!" The other Ayumu responded brightly. "I could not imagine letting them fester for years until I died regretting everything."
"It sure is lucky that we are so emotionally stable." They high-fived each other, disappearing immediately after.
Itachi glanced around to see if anyone else had noticed that, but no one reacted in any way.
His finger twitched, annoyance flooding through his veins.
Fine.
He turned towards the restaurant, determination flooding him, he would explain himself to Sasuke, and then let Sasuke decide his fate.