Sunagakure was unusually quiet that day.
Sweat dripped steadily down Maki’s face.
He didn’t dare raise his head and look at his Kazekage’s expression.
He had just finished chewing out his own subordinates.
Now it was his turn to get chewed out by the Kazekage.
“…The old man from Iwagakure went back on the deal?”
The low voice of the Fourth Kazekage, Rasa, finally broke the silence.
He had asked the question that was weighing on his mind.
“Probably not…”
Maki wiped the sweat from his forehead before answering.
“Judging from the traces at the scene, quite a few Iwagakure shinobi were killed as well.
We couldn’t find all the bodies, but their losses were definitely substantial.”
“…In other words, the information about our transaction had already been leaked.
This was the work of a third party?”
“That should be the case.”
The Fourth Kazekage set down the intelligence report.
His thoughts churned for a long while before he finally spoke.
“Do you think Konoha did it?”
Maki recalled the contents of the report and gave a firm answer.
“It should have been Konoha.
The traces of Fire Release at the scene were extremely obvious.
We even found evidence of Fire Release being used at other locations.”
The implication was obvious.
Of all the shinobi villages in the world, Konoha had the greatest number of shinobi skilled in Fire Release.
Of course, that didn’t mean the other villages had no Fire Release users.
It simply made Konoha the most likely suspect.
“Heh…”
“We’re supposed to be steadfast allies, after all.”
Kazekage Rasa gave an ambiguous chuckle.
But from beginning to end, he had never truly taken that alliance seriously.
Allies?
They were there to be betrayed.
Just like this incident.
Konoha wasn’t the only village scheming behind the scenes.
If Rasa obtained information about Konoha, he would also send shinobi to kill their people and seize their supplies.
That was simply how the shinobi world worked.
These conflicts always remained hidden in the shadows.
No village would openly condemn another over such matters.
You got burned this time.
Next time, it would be someone else’s turn.
The shinobi world had never known true peace.
Conflict was constantly breaking out somewhere.
Still, knowing that didn’t make Rasa’s heart ache any less.
The gold dust used in this transaction had been painstakingly extracted from underground by Rasa himself.
And now it was all gone…
Sunagakure was already struggling to survive.
This only made matters worse.
“…Send someone to make contact with Orochimaru.
Be careful.”
Rasa finally made up his mind and gave Maki his orders.
“Remember.
Stay cautious.”
Orochimaru was not someone who could be underestimated.
Rasa had actually been hesitant about cooperating with him all along.
But the current situation had left him with no choice.
“Yes!”
Maki immediately agreed.
However, there was another possibility he had not mentioned.
This incident might have been orchestrated by Orochimaru himself.
Perhaps Orochimaru had deliberately dealt a blow to Sunagakure’s economy in order to force the village into cooperation.
Still, that possibility seemed less likely.
So Maki kept the thought to himself.
“Lord Kazekage, actually… Orochimaru isn’t—”
“I know.
You may leave.”
“Yes!”
How could Rasa not know that cooperating with Orochimaru was like making a deal with a tiger?
But Sunagakure’s current situation was simply too dire.
The daimyo of the Land of Wind was providing less and less funding.
Without adequate funds, Sunagakure couldn’t train enough shinobi or take on enough missions.
And the Land of Wind itself had terrible natural conditions.
With deserts stretching across the country, there were very few resources capable of supporting its own development.
Sunagakure had no choice but to trade with other nations.
But they didn’t have much money either.
It was a vicious cycle that was extremely difficult to break.
So even though Rasa knew Orochimaru couldn’t be trusted, he had no choice but to cooperate with him.
And this incident was simply the final straw.
…
“Hmm?”
“What the hell is that?”
ShihōinNaraku had just returned to Konoha after his long journey.
He narrowed his eyes and looked toward the Hokage Rock.
“Did I see that wrong?
Is there someone jumping around up there?”
Who was bold enough to mess around on the Hokage’s statue?
But after thinking about it for a moment, Naraku immediately understood.
There was only one person in Konoha who would dare—and was capable of—doing something like this.
Uzumaki Naruto!
“Oh, right.
This is the opening scene of Naruto!”
Remembering the scene, Naraku couldn’t help laughing.
Sure enough—
After a chaotic commotion, Iruka Umino finally appeared.
“UZUMAKI NARUTO!!!”
The furious roar echoed throughout the entire village.
“Sigh…”
With a helpless sigh, Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi turned away from the window and sat back down at his desk.
After thinking for a moment, Hiruzen took out two files.
One had a photograph of ShihōinNaraku attached to it.
The other had a photograph of Hatake Kakashi.
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
Hiruzen exhaled a puff of smoke, his fingers unconsciously tapping against the armrest of his chair.
“There’s still some time before Naruto graduates.”
“I need to think carefully about who should become Naruto’s teacher…”
Hiruzen was already considering who would eventually become Naruto Uzumaki’s Jōnin instructor.
Even though Naruto was currently the dead-last student in his class and couldn’t even perform a proper Clone Jutsu, there was one thing that was certain.
He would graduate.
Couldn’t graduate?
No.
Hiruzen would never allow Naruto to fail to graduate.
Konoha couldn’t afford for Naruto Uzumaki to fail either.
That was why Hiruzen was already considering who should become the instructor of Naruto’s future genin team.
Naruto was the Nine-Tails’ jinchūriki.
Whoever became his instructor would therefore have the potential to become a candidate for the position of Hokage.
Whether through shared interests or personal bonds, the Hokage had to be capable of influencing—or controlling—the Nine-Tails’ jinchūriki.
That was the bottom line.
The other villages provided plenty of examples.
In most villages, the Kage had relatively close relationships with their jinchūriki.
The Fourth Kazekage’s own son, Gaara, was the jinchūriki of the One-Tail, Shukaku.
The Fourth Mizukage of Kirigakure, Yagura Karatachi, was himself the jinchūriki of the Three-Tails, Isobu.
As for Kumogakure, the Raikage was the adoptive brother of Killer B, the jinchūriki of the Eight-Tails, Gyūki.
And what about Hiruzen Sarutobi?
He would occasionally appear in front of Naruto, pretending to be a kind and benevolent old grandfather while subtly guiding Naruto’s personality and worldview.
Of course, there were exceptions.
But every major shinobi village pursued the same basic goal:
Their Kage needed to maintain control over their jinchūriki.
And emotional bonds were the easiest and most effective way to accomplish that.
Now, Hiruzen was considering exactly who should become the instructor of Naruto Uzumaki, the Nine-Tails’ jinchūriki, and establish a new bond with him.
Meanwhile, Naraku, who had already returned to Konoha, went to see Hiruzen as well.
Hiruzen had already received the full details of the mission from the ANBU who had returned ahead of Naraku.
So Naraku only needed to report the general details of his rear-guard operation.
They had originally been supposed to return together.
However, the chakra metal they had seized was extremely important, so Naraku had ordered the ANBU to transport the supplies back to Konoha ahead of him.
Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi puffed contentedly on his pipe.
A smile appeared beneath his deeply furrowed brow.
“The chakra metal was an unexpected bonus!”
“The village can use it to forge some specialized ninja tools.”
“You handled this mission very well.”
In reality, the most important objective of the mission had been preventing Sunagakure and Iwagakure from completing their transaction.
Iwagakure wasn’t much of a concern.
But Hiruzen understood Sunagakure’s situation very well.
Sunagakure had suffered considerable losses this time.
When Konoha conducted future transactions with them, it could use this opportunity to extract greater benefits.
After all, Sunagakure was desperately short on supplies.
If they wanted something, they would simply have to pay more.
Perhaps Konoha could even weaken Sunagakure a little further.
Of course, Hiruzen didn’t want Sunagakure to collapse completely.
But the weaker they were, the better.
An ally like that was one Konoha could trust.