In the Sand Village, the clones are everywhere, and the Arkham game begins

Chapter 436 The Third Kazekage: I Want to Abdicate

Shimizu, however, didn't seem to care at all.

Despite Amegakure's current formidable power, having unified several small countries and holding its own against Kumogakure in direct confrontations, and seemingly poised to become the sixth greatest ninja village, it is still poorer than Sunagakure in the past.

How much wealth does Rain Village actually have?

If it weren't for Sunagakure's funding, Hanzo wouldn't have been able to start such a war.

From the Land of Rain to the Land of Waterfalls, Hanzo had only just taken over this section of territory. Even with the integration of some resources and manpower, it was only just enough for his needs.

Once Sunagakure cuts off its support, Amegakure will definitely be the first to give up.

The Hidden Cloud Village has accumulated a much larger fortune, and these barbarians are definitely the side that suffered the fewest losses in this Third Shinobi World War.

Amegakure cannot quickly defeat the Cloud Village forces led by the Fourth Hokage, A. Under these circumstances, once they lose the support of Sunagakure, it will be difficult for them to obtain what they want, and they may not even be able to maintain their current situation.

The Sand Village was willing to support the Amegakure because they needed this ally to help restrain some of Konoha's forces. In addition, they were also worried about the Cloud Village, which had previously remained inactive and had not participated in the war, so they allowed the Amegakure to fight the Cloud Village.

With four of the five great ninja villages involved in the Fourth Shinobi World War, it's not fair that only Kumogakure is preserving its strength there.

This is not only what Sunagakure hopes for, but also the consensus of several other major ninja villages.

Now that Sunagakure has temporarily ended its war with Konoha, it is no longer necessary for Amegakure to restrain Kumogakure.

Amegakure still needs the dominant power of Sunagakure to support its ambition to become the sixth great ninja village and establish a powerful nation.

Of course, the two sides remain allies, and Sunagakure will not deliberately antagonize Amegakure. With its enemies in Iwagakure to the north and Konoha to the east, Sunagakure needs a neighbor of sufficient weight as an ally.

But that would have to be based on Amegakure's reasonable demands, since Hanzo's previous asking price was clearly too high.

"Our conflict with Konoha is over, and this Shinobi World War will probably end this year as well. Unfortunately, I did not expect Konoha to have such strong trump cards, nor did I expect Kirigakure to be so useless. Yagura led the entire village's elite forces out, how could they be killed so badly by Uchiha Fugaku?"
Otherwise, we could have taken even more flesh from Konoha this time.

Could it be that after awakening the Mangekyou Sharingan, his strength is also progressing towards the level of Madara Uchiha?

The Third Kazekage spoke with a mixture of regret and sigh.

But Shimizu shook his head and said:
"Uchiha Fugaku shouldn't be that exaggerated. Judging from the information sent by the secret agents stationed there, although he defeated Yagura, who is the Jinchuriki of the Three-Tails, several times, the battles were quite difficult and took a long time. The strength of the two sides should be on the same level."

The Hidden Mist Village's crushing defeat was likely due to spies or an inside agent. Fugaku Uchiha repeatedly appeared at crucial moments to save the day and reverse the situation; I suspect he must have access to a vital intelligence network.

Shimizu recalled the intelligence reports from his undercover agents and made a judgment.

What supported his judgment was not only that Fugaku Uchiha always came to the rescue in a timely manner, but also that he discovered that Fugaku Uchiha's Mangekyou Sharingan was too resilient.

Over the course of a year, he activated Susanoo several times. During each battle against the Fourth Mizukage, he activated the fully armored Susanoo and fought head-on with the Fourth Mizukage in his fully tailed beast form.

How long did it take Uchiha Sasuke to go from awakening the Mangekyou Sharingan to exhausting his eye power and becoming blind?
It's impossible for Shimizu to believe that Fugaku Uchiha could use his eye power so recklessly and without restraint without encountering any problems.

Given the special nature of Kirigakure, Shimizu had no reason not to suspect that Madara Uchiha chose Fugaku as his successor before Obito reached the required age, providing him with White Zetsu to supplement his eye power.

While it is too early to draw a conclusion, Uchiha Fugaku is undoubtedly a suspect.

The Third Kazekage nodded slightly, then said:

"That's possible, but ultimately, that's Kirigakure's business, not ours. We need to shift our strategic focus. We can't cut off Hanzo's support yet. If war breaks out again, we'll need Hanzo to share some of the burden. Only when the village's power grows to the point where it can truly crush the enemy will it be time for us to take action and truly dominate the ninja world."

"Then we only have Iwagakure left. Ōnoki wants to negotiate now, but it's not up to him. After we withdraw, I'll leave the village's affairs to you, Third Hokage. I've already made plans for the development of various professional fields. Let Sasori handle the preliminary preparations. When I return, it will be time to further accelerate the village's development."

After placing all the files on the desktop into the sealing scroll, Shimizu stood up and addressed the Third Kazekage.

"It can be improved further? You've discovered something new again?"

The Third Kazekage put down his teacup and exclaimed in surprise.

"Yes, next time, we can bring an even greater shock to Konoha and the ninja world."

Shimizu nodded slightly.

The village of Sunagakure already has a sufficient foundation, so there's no need to worry too much about forcing things to grow too fast. It can also provide the basic requirements for the technologies he needs, it just takes a little more time.

Creating more shadow clones will always speed things up considerably.

"That's it..."

The Third Kazekage stroked the teacup in his hand, pondered for a few seconds, made a decision, and spoke:

"Then when you return from Iwagakure, prepare to take over the position of the Fourth Hokage."

Shimizu raised an eyebrow, looking rather surprised.

Old Deng is acting a bit strange today.

"Why so suddenly? Your health is quite good right now, why are you thinking of..."

The Third Kazekage is a few years older than Hiruzen Sarutobi, and the same age as the Third Tsuchikage, Onoki. He is fifty-seven years old this year and is in good physical condition, at the very end of his prime. As a ninjutsu-type ninja, no matter how much their physical abilities decline, as long as they can still be ninjutsu artillery, their strength will have a basic foundation, and the overall decline in strength will be much slower.

If the Third Kazekage wanted to remain Kazekage for another two or three years, no one would gossip.

"If I can maintain my peak performance until I'm eighty, can I still sit in the position of Kazekage until I'm eighty?"

The Third Kazekage chuckled, then solemnly said:
"I know my own physical condition. Whether it's physical fitness, chakra levels, or energy, they have all started to decline compared to last year. Some are obvious, some are not. Although it doesn't seem like there's much change, I can feel that I'm getting older."

As the body ages, so does the mind.

The ninja world is changing too fast these days, and I don't know if I can still adapt. The village is also in a period of rapid development and needs a leader who is energetic, decisive and capable.

Now is the perfect time, and I cannot let my actions slow down the village's progress.

"The village's interests are paramount. When you, as the Kazekage, can bring greater benefits to the village, then it's time for me to step down."

The Third Kazekage brewed another pot of tea, his face calm, his eyes serious.

"So you're planning to retire?"

"It's up to you to decide. You'll be the Wind Shadow then." "Then I definitely won't let you be idle."

Shimizu also smiled and said.

Both of them voluntarily abdicated. The Third Kazekage certainly wouldn't have clung to power like Hiruzen Sarutobi in the original timeline after abdicating.

As a fellow young ninja, Shimizu was not without any foundation like Minato Namikaze.

Because he was widely considered a strong candidate to become the next Kazekage, many people placed their bets early on. After becoming a Kazekage candidate, this early base of support became even larger and more stable.

Chiyo and Ebizo, who are Shimizu's teachers, are respectively the heads of the Puppet Department and the Medical Department, as well as the head of the Sealing Squad. Chiyo is the head of the Anbu Department and the head of the Intelligence Department. Both are powerful elders in Sunagakure.

Especially the puppet troops, which are the most elite of Shimizu's inner circle.

Among the top young masters, Yekura and Shimizu have a close relationship, and Sasori is also a close friend and old teammate since childhood. Not to mention that Shimizu's current strength is enough to be equivalent to two or three Kage-level powerhouses.

To put it bluntly, if Shimizu and the Third Kazekage were to have a major disagreement that leads the former to rise up and remove the title of Kazekage candidate, the Third Kazekage would be powerless to stop it.

Once Shimizu becomes the Fourth Kazekage, the transfer of power will be completed in a very short time, in a way that even the Third Kazekage couldn't snatch back.

When he desires power, the source of that power will only be the new Kazekage.

The Third Kazekage could definitely have thought of these things, and everyone else could definitely have seen them too.

Did he really not want to continue sitting in this position? Of course he did, but the fact that the Third Kazekage was willing to bring this up at this time shows that he was truly able to let go and could see the situation clearly.

Shimizu grew stronger and more powerful, while the Third Kazekage aged. The Third Kazekage himself was certainly aware that as time went by, if he continued to remain in his position, the likelihood of conflict between the two sides would increase.

Taking advantage of the fact that the Fourth Shinobi World War has just ended, one's reputation is still intact, and one's condition is still at the tail end of its peak, retiring at the height of one's power is actually the best choice.

The Third Kazekage also knew that if he wouldn't pose a threat to Shimizu's power after stepping down, Shimizu would definitely not let someone as capable, prestigious, and experienced as him be idle. In fact, he might still have to lead the maintenance of most of the village's administrative work, because Shimizu needed to do more.

However, even if the Third Kazekage says so now, Shimizu won't immediately take over.

The Third Shinobi World War, which lasted for just over a year, may have come to an end after the war and peace talks between Sunagakure and Konoha, but it is not over yet.

At least for Sunagakure, after having their fill in the Land of Fire, they wanted to have a dessert in Iwagakure.

You can't just send people to attack me. Now that you see Konoha is no longer holding me back, you know you can't win. So you want to negotiate?
Konoha has so many skilled fighters and so many hidden cards, but what about Iwagakure?
If they don't spit something out, Sand Village can really take down Iwa Village.

Shimizu plans to set off again under the cover of night, heading towards the northern border of the Land of Wind.

With the Blood Demon Art version of Flying Thunder God, he could arrive in less than an hour if he set off now.

This matter can wait; before setting off, Shimizu has one more thing to do.

After parting ways with the Third Kazekage, Shimizu returned to his room.

Current Luck Value: 12.53%

[Worlds unlocked: 6]

The black vortex reappeared.

This time, Shimizu had to observe and perceive the black vortex that could split his consciousness and take him to another world more carefully than ever before.

He had no idea how the black vortex worked; he hadn't been able to figure it out in his previous observations.

His avatar in the Marvel universe brought him many insights into the realm of space, allowing him to take a preliminary step on the path of space exploration.

This black vortex is definitely related to space, otherwise it wouldn't be able to bring his separated consciousness to another world, but it's definitely more than that.

A wisp of consciousness separated and probed into the black vortex, where it was subsequently drawn in.

He didn't see anything at all.

……

……

In a certain unnamed modern city.

Inside an apartment suite that was fairly clean, but not exactly tidy.

The embodiment of pure water in this world rubbed its eyes, touched its kidneys, got up, and habitually observed its surroundings.

On the messy floor beside the bed, several wads of waste paper rolled out of the overflowing trash can, and a cup of cold instant noodles sat on the table.

The label is written in Japanese, but it's not any brand that Shimizu is familiar with.

Is it set in a modern neon-lit world, or a similar setting?

On the bedside table was a cell phone still charging, the kind of old-fashioned flip phone with buttons. On the opposite wall hung two posters.

Both posters depict beautiful young girls.

The one on the left has a sweet smile, is dressed up, and looks like a girl group singer, but her chest is unremarkable.

The woman on the right is a mature and beautiful woman with short green hair. She has a cold face and a broad mind. Although she is covered up in a black trench coat, you can still tell that this woman is very skilled in using her charm.

Shimizu looked at the details of the text on the poster, while related information kept popping into his mind.

The girl named Xiao Lei is named Vivijasa, a world-renowned idol and singer. She recently announced a temporary retirement for six months of training. This poster is from her last farewell concert before her temporary retirement.

As for the girl on the right...

"The Blizzard of Hell, the number one B-class hero in the Hero Association, the Blizzard Group's promotional poster... So this is the world..."

Shimizu looked as if he had just realized something.

(End of this chapter)