This puppeteer is a bit... well...

Chapter 100 The Sand Village Incident

Sunagakure Village.

Round table conference room.

boom!

The door was flung open roughly, and a Sand Village ninja rushed in.

"Mitsui-sama..."

The ninja reported to an old man sitting in the center of the round table: "We spotted Lady Ayaki's mechanical bird in the sky 300 kilometers away from the village, and it is rapidly heading towards the village."

"I understand, you can go now."

"Yes."

As the ninja left the meeting room, the old man named Mitsui looked at the councilors on either side of the round table...

These people generally looked to be in their forties or fifties, with only two people close to thirty standing out.

They were not young councilors promoted by the Third Kazekage, but rather former high-ranking councilors who had been dismissed by the Third Kazekage.

The Sand Village's defeat in the war against the Rain Village... They seized on this topic and spread it widely, attributing all the reasons to the brain injury left by the Third Kazekage after being assassinated by Sasori. They incited the villagers' and ordinary ninjas' love for the village with various seemingly absurd but actually strategic decisions, making them firmly believe that the Third Kazekage had brain injury aftereffects and denying every decision he made after his brain injury.

The elderly with rich experience in war and administration were collectively dismissed and replaced by inexperienced young people... This seemed absurd to those who were unaware of the situation, and was naturally overthrown by ordinary villagers and ninjas.

These former high-ranking officials, wielding considerable influence, forced the young roundtable members to step down.

Some people refused to obey and were suppressed by force, while others were pragmatic and began to cooperate with these old guys.

Although the process was not smooth, they eventually regained power and returned to their seats at the round table.

"Based on the data we've gathered so far, Ryuji Ayaki will be back in the village in about ten minutes. What do you suggest we do?" Mitsui glanced around the round table and said, "We're currently in a position of power, so forcing him to relinquish his authority would be easy. But if we do that, we'll inevitably be on the opposite side, and then he won't be able to produce young bodies for us anymore."

They crave power, but even more so, they yearn to rejuvenate and even achieve immortality.

This is why they held a separate discussion meeting specifically targeting Ryuji.

If their only goal is to seize power from the puppet army leader and members of parliament, given the overwhelming influence they wield, they could even overthrow the Kazekage's regime.

"But I heard he doesn't care about power?" said an elderly man in an Arabic-style robe. "Ryuji Ayaki is usually quite casual and carefree, and he doesn't really care about important decisions for the village. I heard from people in the puppet army that he hasn't even questioned it once since he took over. A person like him doesn't care about power at all; he wouldn't care even if his position and power were taken away!"

"It's one thing to not care, but it's another to have something taken away for no reason. I think everyone has things they don't care about, but it would still make you angry if someone you don't care about took them away!"

That makes sense.

The crowd nodded slightly, agreeing with the man's statement.

A middle-aged man in his forties said, "I suggest keeping his original position, cooperating with him, and giving him considerable convenience. Once he's integrated into our circle, it will be easy to get his help again."

"That's right. The puppeteers are all very arrogant. Even if we remove Ayaki Ryuji from his position, we still won't be able to bring this unit under our control. We might as well use him to bring this unit under our own command."

"Putting aside the issue of lack of experience, Ryuji Ayaki is indeed an excellent ninja."

"There's even less to worry about at the roundtable meeting. With so many of us members of parliament, why would we be afraid of just one person?"

"..."

Everyone was engaged in a lively discussion, each offering their own opinion.

Mitsui glanced at the time, raised his hand to quiet everyone down, and said, "Ryuji will be back in Sunagakure in five minutes. I'll summarize based on everyone's opinions, so let's not argue any further."

Upon hearing this, everyone waited quietly for what would happen next.

"We need Long Er's help, so we can't afford to antagonize him. We should try our best to bring him into our circle."

"But to prevent him from taking advantage of us, a show of force or something like that is necessary."

……

The clouds on the eastern horizon were tinged with rosy hues, and as time passed, the sun gradually peeked out, illuminating the entire sky.

Under the rising sun, the silhouette of a mechanical bird carrying a person flying in the air is clearly visible.

"How much longer until we arrive?"

The girl asked.

But because of the wind, the sound was very faint, and the boy who was crouching in front driving did not hear it.

"Ryuji..."

The girl, dressed lightly and revealing her smooth, white back, tugged at the reddish-brown-haired boy's clothes.

Seeing the boy turn around with a questioning look, he shouted again, "How much longer until we reach the village?"

"Oh, we've arrived."

Long Er turned around and pointed into the distance.

At the edge of the horizon, a village nestled in the Grand Canyon comes into view.

The machine bird was extremely fast. Before Yekura could even see clearly, the distance had already closed, and the familiar architectural environment was clearly imprinted in her eyes.

The ninjas of Sunagakure all knew about the mechanical bird, so Ryuji drove people directly into the village and landed on the rooftop of the Kazekage Building.

As soon as the mechanical bird landed, before it had even come to a complete stop, Red jumped down, turned around and stretched out her right hand to Ryuji, "Master, be careful."

"Um!"

Long Er nodded, grabbed her hand and jumped down, then turned around and extended his right hand to Ye Cang, "You be careful too."

Ye Cang, who had just been jealous and angry about the two's intimate actions, immediately smiled and reached out her hand.

"Thanks."

Ok?

Ryuji glanced at Yekura with surprise, feeling something was off.

When did this girl become so polite to me?

Have we grown distant just because we haven't seen each other for a while?

Ha! Women, so heartless!

As Long Er thought to himself, he activated the mechanism and stored the contents in his personal space.

Yekura didn't find it strange either.

She and Hong boarded the bus midway through the Great Rift Valley. Long Er had already shown them when he came to pick them up, and she even went inside for a stroll.

I don't know if it's because of the red color, or because the enemy is too cautious.

That group of unknown forces from the opposite continent, who were eyeing the Grell Stone... After initially ambushing Yekura, they had been hiding in the shadows, only setting up traps near the Great Rift Valley to test the waters and hinder Sunagakure's investigation of the Grell Stone mine.

That group seemed to have the ability to evade or counter the detection of sensory ninjas, and their cautious actions made it impossible for Yekura and the others to find them.

This is why, despite having a trump card like Red, the problem has dragged on for so long without being solved.

……

"Lord Auki!"

"Lord Auki!"

"Lord Auki!"

The three of them entered the Fengying Building. In the corridor, they were greeted by other staff members from time to time.

However, everyone hesitated to speak, looking as if they had something on their mind.

Many people also winked at him as a signal.

Long Er understood, but didn't say much. He simply nodded and walked straight toward the round table meeting.

A short while later, the three arrived at the entrance to the round table meeting room.

Two guards stood watch outside the door. When they saw Long Er arrive, they not only did not make way for him, but instead blocked his way.

This is the last free chapter. It will be available for purchase tomorrow at 12:05 PM. There may be a slight delay, but it won't be long. I hope you can continue to support me.

Enough said, time to get back to writing. I only have a little over three thousand words saved up right now, but I'll try to write ten thousand when it goes live tomorrow.

(End of this chapter)