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

Chapter 439 The Arrangement of the Tailed Beasts

With Karyu's assistance, it wasn't long before Rōshi, the Four-Tails Jinchūriki, also collapsed unconscious on the ground.

The army of Iwagakure had long since been routed by the army of Sunagakure.

Even though Huang Tu may have already run away, Iwagakure has suffered a major blow.

The fact that the most important tailed beast, which is the foundation of a village's heritage, has fallen into the hands of others is unacceptable to any ninja village.

Hanzo is currently fighting to the death with Kumogakure in Takigakure, but his main goal is not the land there, but the Seven-Tails.

With the tailed beasts around, even if there's a talent gap and new Kage-level shinobi can't be cultivated through normal means, a Jinchuriki can still step in and serve as a figurehead. Just like in the original timeline, when Rasa, the Fourth Kazekage, died, the Sand Village, which was suffering from a talent shortage, could still have Gaara, who was only fifteen years old, step in.

The core reason is that Gaara, as the Jinchūriki of Shukaku, could at least become a qualified Jinchūriki and possess combat power at the Kage level.

Losing a tailed beast would be an unbearable loss for any ninja village; losing all tailed beasts would mean that the village's status had been shaken.

None of the five great ninja villages are without a Jinchūriki. This is the foundation for the stability of a large ninja village's lineage and the most important guarantee for ensuring the village's strength.

Unsurprisingly, Onoki panicked.

"Old Zi and Han have both been arrested?"

The short old man suddenly jumped from the chair onto the table, pointed at the yellow earth that was taller than him standing on the table, and shouted.

It's hard to imagine how powerful the genes of Mother Loess must have been to allow Onoki, who was only 1.3 meters tall, to give birth to a giant who was 2.2 meters tall.

"I'm sorry, Dad, I..."

Huang Tu scratched his head and honestly said:
“I wanted to go and rescue them too, but I felt that even if I joined forces with the three of us, we still couldn’t defeat Sunagakure. So I thought I’d take my men and run away first. Brother Roshi and Han can’t leave now, and we can’t leave the rest of us there too.”

"Is it really that powerful?"

"Ah."

The loess nodded.

"To be specific, I was being suppressed by Chiyo at that time and didn't have time to look at the other side."

"How long did it take Shimizu to take down Lao Zi and Han? Was it easy?"

"Um... probably, for a while? Brother Zi and Han must have caused him some trouble, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to lead the rest of the people out."

"That's good. It means he wasn't as powerful as Madara Uchiha, and the First Hokage resurrected by Edo Tensei wasn't the First Hokage at his peak."

Onoki floated back to his seat and breathed a sigh of relief.

If someone truly possessed the strength of Madara Uchiha, he couldn't imagine how Iwagakure could possibly counter them.

"Dad, is this considered good? We still can't beat them."

A single sentence from Huang Tu brought Ōnoki back to reality from his memories of Madara.

Now he faces the situation where Iwagakure is utterly defeated by Sunagakure, and two Jinchuriki of Tailed Beasts are captured alive.

"Sigh... Let's negotiate. Send someone to Konoha and ask them to help. The First Hokage will stop this war from continuing."

Ohnoki said helplessly.

He didn't want things to be this way, but at this point, he could only rely on Konoha.

Fortunately, the Second Tsuchikage had told him about the details of the first Five Kage Summit, which gave Onoki a general idea of ​​what kind of person Hashirama Senju was.

He will definitely demand to intervene and facilitate peace. If Iwagakure is willing to pay a sufficient price, then a successful peace negotiation is not impossible.

But getting back the two Tailed Beast Jinchuriki might not be so easy.

The Third Kazekage and Kazekage candidates of Sunagakure are not like Hashirama Senju; they are not easy to talk to.

Even if they wanted to stop the war, Iwagakure would have to bleed a lot of money to satisfy Sunagakure's appetite, let alone the two tailed beast jinchūriki.

They, the Hidden Stone Village, were willing to sell everything they owned to redeem it, but the Hidden Sand Village certainly wouldn't be like the Hidden Leaf Village during the first Five Kage Summit, willing to sell it to them for a sum of money.

"Sunagakure Village... Sigh!"

After instructing Huang Tu to arrange matters related to contacting Konoha, Ōnoki locked himself in the Tsuchikage's office and let out a long sigh.

Now that Iwagakure has lost two Jinchūriki, Sunagakure, which is adjacent to the Land of Earth, is powerful, and on the other side, Amegakure, led by Hanzo, has risen to prominence and is now Sunagakure's staunch ally.

Once the Land of Waterfall is conquered by Hanzo, it will become the sixth largest ninja village.

Then Iwagakure will be firmly locked in the northwest of the Ninja World by the Wind and Rain Alliance, which will probably be even more dangerous.

Even knowing this, what could he do?

Hanzo was able to stop Kumogakure, Kirigakure was defeated by Konoha's Fugaku Uchiha, and Konoha was forced to cede territory and sue for peace by Sunagakure. Iwagakure was no match for Sunagakure either, so what could he do?
If they had known it would turn out this way, they should have united during this Third Shinobi World War and suppressed Sunagakure just like they did during the previous two Shinobi World Wars.

Onoki was filled with regret, but he did not regret it.

After all, he had been doing this from the very beginning, working with Konoha, the established overlord, to suppress the newly emerging challenger, Sunagakure.

Konoha indeed demonstrated its formidable strength during this process. After the death of the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, several outstanding ninjas emerged to support the situation, much to Onoki's envy.

Whether it's the Legendary Sannin or Minato Namikaze, if they were in Iwagakure, Onoki would consider them excellent successors to the Tsuchikage. But in Konoha, there are plenty of them.

Even with Konoha's strength, including the resurrected First and Second Hokage, they were still no match for Sunagakure.

So it's a pity that Onoki couldn't win over forces like Kumogakure and Kirigakure at the beginning to attack Sunagakure together.

Unfortunately, there is no if in reality.

Let's turn our attention back to the hidden sand dunes.

The two unconscious Jinchūriki of the Tailed Beasts lay side by side on the ground, their bodies covered by sealing jutsu and bound tightly to each other by iron chains.

"These two tailed beasts will belong to our Sunagakure Village from now on."

Shimizu stood with one hand behind his back, looking at the two Jinchūriki imprisoned in the cell, and said softly.

From the moment he captured the two Jinchūriki, he had no intention of letting these two tailed beasts go.

No matter what those behind-the-scenes manipulators are planning, whether it's reviving Kaguya or reviving the Ten-Tails, the Tailed Beasts are always an unavoidable factor.

Therefore, the best course of action is to keep the Tailed Beasts under one's own control and keep them under one's own nose.

Chiyo also agreed with Shimizu's idea.

"Then bring the Jinchuriki back to the village as soon as possible, separate the Tailed Beasts from these two, and place them in new containers. Also, Monk Bunpuku's time is almost up. After returning to the village, you will be in charge of his and Ayane Uzumaki's Tailed Beast transfer ceremony. The sealing team has records of the last Tailed Beast transfer; you can take a look yourself, it's not very useful anyway." The last time the Tailed Beasts were transferred was during the early years of the Second Kazekage's rule. At that time, Sunagakure's sealing techniques were not very strong, and the transfer even caused a Tailed Beast riot, which took a lot of effort to quell. Therefore, the transfer records from that time are not of much reference value to Sunagakure now.

Not to mention that Sunagakure's sealing techniques have made great progress, even if the tailed beasts really went berserk, Shimizu could easily suppress them.

"Oh, right, Chiyo-sensei, the deployment was so sudden that I didn't have time to tell you something."

"what's up?"

"Before I set off, the Third Hokage told me that once the war here was over, the succession ceremony for the Fourth Kazekage could begin."

Chiyo's expression froze upon hearing this.

"Is the Third Hokage retiring?"

"Well, I think we need to make preliminary arrangements for the village's post-war affairs first. It will be a suitable time after things have settled down inside and outside the village. It will probably take another two or three months."

Shimizu nodded slightly.

"That would be around the end of the year."

Chiyo responded, still somewhat unsettled.

When she took on her disciple five years ago, she never imagined that this talented puppeteer would one day have the opportunity to reach the throne of the Wind Shadow, but she didn't expect it to happen so soon.

How old is Shimizu now?
"Since the establishment of the Five Great Ninja Villages, there has never been a Kage under the age of twenty. At your age, it is unlikely that anyone will ever be able to break that record."

Chiyo couldn't help but sigh.

Who can predict the future?

Shimizu shrugged and laughed.

If it weren't for the changes he brought, following the original trajectory, the Kazekage of Sunagakure would be younger than him in twenty years.

Shimizu achieved this through genuine merit and strength, while Gaara's choice was made out of necessity due to the downfall of Sunagakure.

"Indeed, who can know what the future holds? But if that day truly comes, I fear I will not live to see it."

Chiyo shook her head, then laughed as she rushed towards the clear water.

"Alright, Fourth Hokage, go about your business."

……

……

The next morning, an envoy from Iwagakure came to request peace talks and to ransom the Iwagakure ninjas who had been captured by Sunagakure.

Shimizu did not meet the messenger sent by Iwagakure, because he had already set off with a group of several hundred Iwagakure soldiers on his way back to Sunagakure.

Because this group of Iwagakure soldiers were wounded in the previous war, their movement was slow, and it took them a whole week to return to Sunagakure.

Meanwhile, Minato Namikaze, the envoy sent by Konoha to the border between Kaze and Todo, had already arrived three days earlier.

Minato Namikaze was an extremely intelligent person. Because he was relatively young, Orochimaru sent the old head of the Nara clan as his deputy to help him.

However, Shimizu believed that Chiyo could handle the people from Konoha and Iwagakure, since the latter two were the ones who requested peace talks.

The old lady has lived for so many years, fought for most of her life, and held real power. She was a high-ranking member of the village, second only to the Kazekage for a long time. Her vision and ability are still intact, so Shimizu doesn't need to worry about this kind of thing.

After being away on military missions for more than half a year, Sunagakure Village continued to develop according to the strategies left by Shimizu. Although the pace of development slowed down slightly due to the war, there were still many changes.

After Sunagakure defeated Konoha, the long-established overlord, its development speed will only be faster than before.

Even now, after hearing that Sunagakure defeated Konoha, many of those who commissioned missions are more willing to entrust them to Sunagakure.

Previously, Konoha was the strongest, so naturally Konoha had the most missions. Now that Sunagakure is the strongest, it's Sunagakure's turn.

The closer Shimizu's team got to Sunagakure, the more numerous the people coming and going became.

The group continued until they reached a few kilometers outside the outer city of Sunagakure.

The roads here have been temporarily closed to traffic.

Only the team led by Shimizu was allowed to pass.

Two days ago, a similar event had already taken place in front of the gates of Sunagakure. At that time, it was to welcome the first batch of two thousand ninjas who had returned from the eastern front. This time, in addition to welcoming these hundreds of people, the most important thing was to welcome Shimizu.

If Sasori and Pakura were the war heroes of Sunagakure who made their names in the ninja world during this Fourth Shinobi World War, then Shimizu, the Kazekage candidate, has seen his prestige rise again with each victory.

Defeating someone or killing many enemies are certainly commendable achievements, but the most important thing is how much benefit you bring to the people.

During the three Shinobi World Wars, Sunagakure and Konoha fought three times, resulting in countless deaths and expending an immeasurable amount of time and resources before finally, under Shimizu's leadership, they managed to seize a large tract of fertile land from the Land of Fire.

This is the greatest achievement!

In addition to Shimizu's past achievements and deeds, his current reputation among the people of Sunagakure is no less than that of the Third Kazekage who led them for many years, and may even surpass it.

"You've made such a big fuss, Mr. Ebizo."

Shimizu looked at the villagers lining the road behind the gate and the merchants watching, and said to Ebizo, who was leading the crowd in front of the gate.

"I merely announced your impending return; the villagers' welcome was spontaneous."

Ebizo, with one hand behind his back, patted Shimizu's shoulder with a smile.

Shimizu smiled too.

"Let's send people into the village first, otherwise it's not good to have so many people blocking the gate."

"Then you should greet the villagers first."

"Too."

Shimizu nodded, then looked at Yekura and Sasori on either side of Ebizo.

They returned to the village two days ago, along with two thousand Sunagakure ninja.

The Third Kazekage and Rasa remained on the western side of the former Land of Fire, now the eastern side of the Land of Wind, continuing to negotiate the remaining details with Konoha while leading the remaining four thousand-plus Sunagakure troops to stabilize this newly occupied territory.

This is, after all, the former territory of the Land of Fire, and it is closer to Konoha. The Third Kazekage must first implement and arrange the existing system of Sunagakure, including taxation and local administration, and also build defensive outposts facing the Land of Fire.

After all, this place is relatively close to Konoha. If Konoha were to break the agreement and attack, we would at least be able to send the message back to Sunagakure to establish the most basic defense system, if not stop Konoha's army.

(End of this chapter)