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

Chapter 461 Succession of the Wind Shadow
Rasa, the exceptionally intelligent deputy head of the Sunagakure ANBU, the future elder and the right-hand man of the soon-to-be Fourth Kazekage, only fully understood Shimizu's intentions after returning home that night and having been sorted out by Karu-ra.

This is both a conspiracy and an open scheme.

Before Amegakure can secure its position as a major power, it needs Sunagakure to provide it with resources.

If it were another ninja village, such as Konoha, even if it lost nearly one-fifth of the Land of Fire's territory, it would still be incredibly wealthy. If it were to receive aid from Amegakure, it certainly wouldn't be a problem.

However, Sunagakure not only provided aid but also gave it the ability to generate its own blood, and an extremely high-quality one at that. This allowed Amegakure, which had been in post-war reconstruction and impoverished for countless years, to develop rapidly. However, it also made all aspects of the Land of Rain dependent on Sunagakure and strengthen their ties with it.

If the relationship between the two sides continues, it will actually be good for both sides. However, if the relationship between Amegakure and Sunagakure breaks down, the better the Land of Rain has developed, the greater the blow it will suffer when the relationship breaks down.

This is a sweet and thirst-quenching medicine, but it also harbors hidden poison and can turn into a deadly poison at any time.

Is there anyone in Yu Yin who can see these things?
The high-ranking officials of Sunagakure were unaware of this. After all, for so many years, ninjas had only cared about missions and interests, and were simply characters who fought to the death. Such things may have happened in the ninja world, but whether they were recorded in history for future generations to learn from, and whether the ninja class who made a living by killing could learn from this history and understand these economic means between countries, is probably hard to say.

If someone were to see through these things and inform Hanzo, Hanzo would most likely just accept it for now, thinking of getting the benefits first, using the situation to his advantage, and then slowly disengaging once Amegakure has truly become powerful.

The Land of Rain became a major power more than forty years late. If it wants to catch up with other ninja villages that started many years earlier and are still developing, it must have an open and inclusive environment to absorb external resources and seize the opportunity for rapid development. Only then can it try to complete in ten or twenty years what others took thirty or sixty years to do.

Before truly stabilizing its position among the major powers, the Land of Rain currently needs the support of the newly emerging overlord, Sunagakure, in order to have enough power to counter other major powers and thus secure a stable external environment for development.

As for whether Amegakure can truly become strong, how dependent its economy will be on Sunagakure, and whether it can successfully decouple in the future, that depends on the situation in the ninja world for a long time to come, whether Amegakure will be given such an opportunity, and how capable the leaders of Amegakure and Sunagakure are.

Hanzo was very confident in Amegakure's future successor because with Nagato, who possessed the Rinnegan, he only needed to hold on until Nagato was capable of taking over the position of Amegakure and supporting this newly established great nation.

Given Nagato's current strength, that day is not far off.

As for Sunagakure, from top to bottom, everyone had unprecedented confidence in the soon-to-be-appointed Fourth Kazekage.

At the same time, in addition to Yahiko, more people from various places arrived at Sunagakure, including the Queen of Loulan, as well as daimyo and lords of other small countries that were subordinate to the Land of Wind, and some officials stationed in various parts of the Land of Wind.

Some of these officials were former noble ministers, while many others were talents cultivated and selected by Sunagakure itself.

Unfortunately, most of the common people in this world are illiterate farmers. To consolidate their rule, collect taxes, get things done, and extend their power to the local level, they must utilize these elite classes who have some education and management skills to maintain their rule.

Fortunately, this is a ninja world. Among these officials, whether they are opportunistic nobles from the Land of Wind or talents cultivated and selected by the Sand Village itself, they can all be screened using genjutsu to ensure that they have no ulterior motives.

As for those selfish motives that want to profit themselves, Sunagakure will use them as long as they don't cause harm.

In fact, many officials were originally from Sunagakure. Sunagakure has such a large population, and not all of them are ninjas. There are many ordinary people, and even more people whose families once had ninjas, but whose descendants did not have the talent to be ninjas.

These people are highly loyal to Sunagakure. They are from Sunagakure and have more experience than many local officials who have not seen much of the world. A significant proportion of them are educated. All that is needed is to select them from within the village and promise them enough benefits, including allowing their descendants to participate in the selection process for the Ninja Academy, lowering the entrance score requirements, and allowing them to participate in summer camps for early assessment. A limited number of places will be allocated to them, thus completely binding their family interests to Sunagakure.

By the afternoon, even the current Daimyo of the Land of Wind had come from the capital.

Even if the current name is just a mascot, a mascot still has some meaning.

Moreover, the current Daimyo of the Land of Wind urgently needs to cultivate good relations with Shimizu and the future high-ranking officials of Sunagakure. This is related to his life, his quality of life for the rest of his life, and even whether his descendants can continue to inherit the position of Daimyo.

This is the opposite of the past. In the past, the Kage needed to maintain a good relationship with the Daimyo in order to ensure that he could get a considerable amount of military funds from the Daimyo to develop the village.

The night passed quickly in a hurried yet orderly manner of preparation.

early morning.

As the first rays of sunlight rose from the horizon, the plaza outside the Fengying Building was already packed with people.

Countless people, filled with excitement, exhilaration, and elation, awaited that moment.

The two Kazekage involved, however, did not seem very nervous at the moment, and even seemed to be in the mood to talk about other things.

In Fengying's office.

"Third Hokage, how did your talks with Shinya go?"

While letting Yekura adjust the Kazekage's robes, Shimizu asked the Third Kazekage a question.

The Third Kazekage, dressed in an old-fashioned Kazekage robe, stood with his hands behind his back, watching the lively scene outside the window.

"It's alright, things have been explained clearly. Next time I go, I'll bring some of its favorite livestock and a few large vats of good wine. We'll take it slow from there."

"Snakes drink alcohol?"

"The wine is made by mixing houttuynia cordata with lizard blood. Some snakes love to prey on fish and small reptiles and are very sensitive to the smell of fish and lizard blood, just like we love the smell of barbecue."

The Third Kazekage explained.

"The wine made by soaking animal blood will probably take at least a month to prepare, right?"

"Yes, but I still have quite a few left over from back then in my cellar. If they are preserved properly, there should be some that are thirty years old."

"Snakes lack the enzyme to metabolize alcohol, so they must get drunk very easily, right?"

“Snakes like Xinya, which are huge and have over a thousand years of cultivation, are not so easily intoxicated.”

……

Time passed quickly as the two generations of Kazekage chatted.

Shimizu felt that it would be a good thing if the Third Kazekage could restore his relationship with Shinya.

Old Fengying is now in his fifties and has begun to decline from his peak.

Even if he is a ninjutsu-type ninja whose strength declines relatively slowly, and even if he falls further, his foundation would not allow him to fall below the Kage level, he is still weakening nonetheless.

Having another top-tier large summoning beast that excels in close combat and can protect the Third Kazekage can greatly compensate for the decline in strength caused by aging.

"It's time, let's go upstairs." The Third Kazekage glanced at the clock on the wall and said.

Soon, the group arrived at the open-air grandstand on the Fengying Building.

Chiyo, Ebizo, Rasa, Yokura, Sasori, and several other high-ranking members, along with Maki and Ayane Uzumaki, and seven or eight other important members from various departments, stood behind as a backdrop, watching the two figures in the shrine robes in front of them.

The cameras faithfully captured the two figures and transmitted the images to the large screens in front of the square.

"Fourth Generation Leader, the future of the village is in your hands."

The Third Kazekage removed the Kazekage hat from his head and handed it to Shimizu.

This represents the legitimacy of Sunagakure and the succession of the Kazekage position.

"I will make Sunagakure even greater."

Shimizu put on the Kazekage hat and solemnly addressed the Third Kazekage before him.

The latter smiled faintly and waved to the clear water.

Shimizu nodded slightly, turned and walked to the railing, waving to the crowd below.

In an instant, cheers erupted and applause thundered. Countless people looked up at the figure on the high platform, clad in a divine robe and wearing a wind-shadow hat.

Their eyes held envy, excitement, and longing.

Regardless of the circumstances, all the major events that occurred that year—whether it was the end of the Ninja World War, the stabilization of the Land of Rain as a major power, or the appointment of the Fourth Kazekage of Sunagakure—seemed to herald a new era for the ninja world.

……

……

[Current luck value: 71.48%]

One punch the world.

Shimizu held a barbell in one hand, using it like a dumbbell to train his arm strength, and took out his phone with the other hand to open the Hero Association's official app.

He recently teamed up with Rai Genji to carry out several high-level missions, killing several wolf-level monsters and three tiger-level monsters, and his hero rank has already risen to A-rank.

After that, he stopped teaming up with Rai Genji and instead carried out missions on his own.

Therefore, the current surge in luck from over 20% to over 70% is mostly due to his succession as the Wind Shadow, but about 10% is also due to the improvement in his hero level and ranking.

There are currently 35 A-level heroes, including Shimizu. Last time, Shimizu's ranking jumped to 21st.

The 35th ranked hero is a monk named Heavy Iron Man. As for Toad Chain and Snake Biting Fist Snake, they haven't reached A-rank yet, but they have already broken into the top ten of B-rank. Currently, one is second in B-rank and the other is fourth. It is estimated that they will be promoted to A-rank in the next month or two.

The two-ton barbell was gently placed on the ground, and Shimizu let out a long breath, feeling the full power flowing through his body.

The physical talents of humans in this world are truly absurdly high.

When his physical strength reached about 700 kilograms, which exceeded the limits of ordinary humans to a certain extent, he felt that he was close to the upper limit of his current physical body. So he spent some time exploring the limits of his physical body through a long period of high-intensity training.

And then the accident happened.

Just when he felt his body was on the verge of collapse and was in considerable pain, he realized that his strength had reached its limit. So he used medical ninjutsu to soothe his over-damaged body and then went to rest.

When he trained again, he found that his strength had increased slightly, and his previous limit had disappeared.

It's likely that he broke a limiter.

It's not that breaking through the limiter makes you Saitama, but rather that Saitama broke through too many limiters, perhaps even all of them, to gain the terrifying power to defeat almost any enemy with just one punch.

Normally, one should break their limiter countless times, like Garou, to gradually increase their strength.

Perhaps many people unknowingly break through one or two limiters during high-intensity battles or training, gradually becoming stronger. The only difference lies in their individual talents and willpower, and how far they can go.

For example, Chogokin Kuroko is a typical example.

In terms of willpower, he wasn't particularly strong. On the contrary, his extreme inferiority complex and fragility drove him to work out like crazy, pushing his limits and giving him a super-strong physique that even a Dragon-level monster couldn't damage in the slightest.

As for the cultivation of martial arts and swordsmanship...

Shimizu reached into the package beside him and took out the advanced kendo manual given to him by Fukiri, and casually flipped through it.

This book does contain information about limiters, but it doesn't use the word "limiter." Instead, it says that after a swordsman reaches their limit, there are two ways to break through it.

One way is to rely on external forces, and the other is through self-cultivation.

The former is like a hungry wolf, pushing itself to its limits in battle and achieving ultimate purification.

Doing this seems simple and convenient, but it's actually quite complicated because you often don't know when you've been pushed to your limit, and you might not break through even after a hundred tries.

And it's easy to fail.

A safer approach is to challenge enemies who are much stronger than yourself, which will give you a greater chance of being pushed to the brink and reaching your limits. As for those who are evenly matched with you or only slightly stronger, it is unlikely that they will push you to a truly desperate situation.

This method is too risky and you'll likely die. Without a health-locking ability, I really don't recommend trying it.

The latter type of self is one that martial artists in this world have developed over many years through scientific training of their bodies and will, gradually pushing themselves to their limits.

(End of this chapter)