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

Chapter 103 Speech (Please Subscribe)

Mitsui did not give up his desire to turn back the clock, but he saw the situation clearly and knew that cooperating with Ryuji was impossible, so he decisively abandoned his plan to win Ryuji over.

His only hope now is to capture Ryuji, obtain the technology through torture, and then find someone to help create a young body.

In fact, even without Mitsui issuing an order, some people had already become impatient.

Surrounded by so many people, he still dared to kill indiscriminately, showing no regard for them at all. Several hot-tempered guys had already charged towards Hong with kunai in hand.

"Kill them all."

Ryuji seemed to be talking about something trivial, his expression remained unchanged, and his tone was very relaxed.

Because this really isn't a big deal.

If we could quell this internal turmoil at the cost of the lives of the people in this house, that would be wonderful.

"learn."

A charming smile appeared on her rosy face, and she clapped her hands together in front of her chest.

[Earth Release: Fang Forest!]

bang bang bang...

Dense spikes suddenly rose up, piercing and lifting people up like skewers of meat.

No one, whether inside the building, in the corridor, or outside, escaped the ninjas who came to support the former high-ranking officials; they were all impaled by three-meter-high, thin, sharp spikes.

"You, you..."

Mitsui, who immediately retreated to the back of the crowd, also suffered the same fate of being pierced. His abdomen was pierced, and he was hung on the spikes, his eyes wide open, staring at Ryuji in disbelief.

He simply couldn't imagine it.

They had the upper hand, with almost the entire village on their side. But this man showed no fear whatsoever and attacked them directly.

Isn't this guy afraid of being torn to pieces by the villagers?

Ryuji glanced at him casually, then looked around. On the dense stone forest spikes, there were many people like Mitsui who had not been hit in vital areas and were still alive.

But they were seriously injured and unable to move at all.

"What did you just say?" Long Er turned his gaze to the former high-ranking officials and continued, "You wanted to sentence me to death?"

Hearing this mockery, the still-living high-ranking officials felt their blood rushing to their heads, wishing they could perish together with Long Er.

As a result, the wound tore open, and he couldn't help but vomit blood.

"So that's it?"

Long Er tilted his head, looking down at them as if wanting to see what their expressions would be like when they were so angry they vomited blood. Their smug, petty demeanor filled the high-ranking officials with shame, further exacerbating their wounds; some of the older ones even died on the spot from anger.

"By doing this, you are making an enemy of the entire Sand Village. The village's ninjas will not let you get away with this," Mitsui threatened loudly, unable to bear the humiliation.

"laugh…"

Ryuji couldn't help but laugh.

He slowly approached the spikes hanging from Mitsui, looked at the lifeless corpse after speaking, and shook his head. "You've oversimplified things."

By leveraging the prevailing trend, they overturned the roundtable meeting that appointed the Third Kazekage and regained power.

It looks wonderful, but only if this overwhelming force can suppress everything.

But Long Er couldn't suppress him.

At least, the power of one ninja village cannot be suppressed.

"Hang everyone outside, and then gather all the ninjas and villagers in front of the Kazekage Building." After giving the order, Ryuji straightened his clothes and left the meeting room unhurriedly.

……

noon.

The sun was blazing down, and on the open ground in front of the Fengying Building, dense stone spikes stood upright, with corpses hanging from them.

In particular, the former high-ranking officials were singled out and displayed at the front, their corpses reeking and nauseating.

In the plaza in front of the open space, the remaining Sand Village ninjas and residents endured the stench and silently watched this scene.

Suddenly, a Jonin stepped forward.

He looked up at Long Er and the others standing on the rooftop of the Fengying Building and demanded, "Long Er, what exactly are you trying to do?"

"Purge the rebels!"

He uttered those four words with unwavering conviction.

Ryuji squinted as he scanned the dense crowd in the square, then took out a megaphone. "The Round Table Council was appointed by the Third Kazekage himself. Only the Third Kazekage can personally appoint and dismiss members. Yet these guys took advantage of the Third Kazekage's death to usurp power, overturn the Round Table Council appointed by the Third Kazekage, and killed or imprisoned some of the council members. This is a capital offense."

"This is a decision made collectively by everyone."

"Do you have the right to make this kind of decision?" Ryuji chuckled coldly. "You can only decide who the Kazekage is, not who the Round Table Conference is. If you think the Round Table Conference appointed by the Third Kazekage is inadequate, you can elect the Fourth Kazekage to reappoint him, but you can't skip the Kazekage election and hold the Round Table Conference directly."

"Are you saying that everyone in the village is rebellious?"

Ryuji looked at the person who spoke... It was a middle-aged fat man, more than twice the size of Akimichi Choza.

But the ninja headband he wore indicated that he was a ninja, which puzzled Ryuji greatly.

Can a guy like that really fight?

Fortunately, Ye Cang was familiar with the people in the village and whispered in his ear about his identity: "This person is from the archives, responsible for decryption and developing new codes."

It turned out to be the case.

Long Er suddenly realized, then glanced at the others, who were all indignant because of the fat man's words.

It's infuriating that an action organized for the sake of the village's future is being seen as rebellion.

While it may have crossed some rules, it doesn't warrant such a statement!

Ryuji sneered at these guys who wore their thoughts on their sleeves, "You're right. If you hadn't been deliberately instigated to do this, every single one of you would be guilty of a capital offense."

--silence.

Faced with Ryuji's explanation, no one could find a point to refute him, so they could only remain silent.

"What, are you all shut up?" Ryuji sneered. "You guys are really stupid. You actually believed something about the Third Kazekage having brain injury aftereffects. Did you really think the medical ninja in charge of the Kazekage's health in the village was just sitting around doing nothing?"

"Then what about his strange behavior?"

Some people disagreed, arguing: "They clearly had an overwhelming advantage, yet they suffered a defeat and lost their lives; Konoha was under siege by an enemy twice their size, and we could have gained unimaginable benefits simply by launching an attack; they had more experienced high-ranking officials, yet they were all dismissed and replaced with young people. What else can explain these actions if not the aftereffects of a brain injury?"

"You don't understand because you don't stand high enough or see far enough. If you had enough information, you would find that these decisions were actually made with such profound intentions."

As Long Er spoke, he looked at everyone, taking in every change in their expressions.

"Whether you believe the Third Kazekage suffered from brain damage or think he was truly stupid, he was elected by you. By rejecting his decisions, you are rejecting yourselves; your impotent rage only makes you look shameful."

The crowd was speechless.

Although they sensed something was wrong, they couldn't pinpoint what was wrong in time and could only silently bear the blame that Long Er was trying to shift onto them.

"So, do you want us to elect you as the new Kazekage?"

Suddenly someone in the crowd spoke up, but no one stepped forward.

But Ryuji still managed to spot the person who made the sound.

It was a child of about ten years old, but he wore a Sunagakure headband and hid in the middle of the crowd.

Long Er knew this child; his name was Ma Ji.

He is the elite Jonin who led Gaara to participate in the Chunin Exams and killed the "protagonist" in the original work.

"Want to?" Ryuji deliberately raised his voice, scoffing disdainfully, "Only the weak hope that others will help them achieve their goals, while the strong will only make others help them achieve their goals."

"You mean we'll elect you as Kazekage?"

The fat man who did the archives asked a question, then scoffed, "You're way too self-important. While you are indeed an excellent ninja and have made great contributions to the village, there are other equally excellent ninjas in Sunagakure who have also made significant contributions. They are much more pleasing to the eye than you. I would vote for them rather than you."

"It's your choice to vote for whomever you want."

Ryuji didn't pay attention to the fat man's tone, nor did he ask who the excellent ninja was. He just glanced at him casually and then looked at the others, "You probably don't know yet."

"Because of the defeat in the war against Amegakure, the Land of Iron is preparing to entrust the mission to Kirigakure. The Daimyo is also very dissatisfied with this incident, questioning the village's capabilities, and even preparing to reduce military spending and entrust the national mission to other ninja villages."

"this……"

The group looked at each other in bewilderment, then began to whisper among themselves.

"Let's stop discussing it."

Ryuji roared, and the specially made megaphone broadcast his voice to every corner of Sunagakure.

"You should also know what it means if the Land of Iron transfers the mission to Kirigakure, the Daimyo reduces military spending on the village, and even delegates national missions to other ninja villages."

In the war against Amegakure, Sunagakure has already lost a Kazekage and over a thousand ninja.

If the mission cannot be completed and the corresponding reward cannot be obtained, then even without considering the compensation demanded by the enemy after the defeat, the losses this time have already reached a point of being crippling.

If the Daimyo further reduces military spending on the village, or even delegates national missions to other ninja villages, then Sunagakure will be crippled and fall into decline.

"If we can't complete the mission before the Land of Iron makes a decision, and if we can't change the Daimyo's opinion before they completely lose trust in the village, then Sunagakure will become history in less than a few decades."

Ryuji looked at everyone and said, "No matter who you want to elect as Kazekage, and no matter whether you trust me or not, I will take action to change the situation."

"...Is this even possible?"

Some people voiced their doubts.

The key to achieving this is simple: defeat Amegakure in a very short time, and win spectacularly.

But is it possible?

After the conspiracy theory about the aftereffects of brain injury was revealed, everyone was faced with the fact that the Third Kazekage, with overwhelming military superiority, was defeated by the enemy.

What does this tell us?

Is the Third Kazekage weak?

no way.

To gain the collective recognition of the village means that one's strength and contributions to the village are both top-notch. One's strength is definitely not weak, whether in terms of strategy or physical ability.

But he still lost.

This can only mean that the enemy is stronger.

but……

"Of course I can." Long Er patted his chest, full of confidence, and said, "No matter what the reason or cause, all the unfavorable factors are caused by the lack of ability of the person involved."

"The Third Kazekage died because he was too weak. The Round Table Council appointed by the Third Kazekage was overthrown because they were too weak. These guys will die because they were too weak."

"But I am strong, stronger than anyone else."

"Even if ten elite Jonin were to encounter me, only one would be lucky enough to escape."

"Even when facing an enemy ten times my size, I can make them flee in fear with just a few words."

"The infamous Yellow Flash... Even his squad can only run away with their tails between their legs when facing me, not even caring about their teammates."

"This guy, who is exceptionally intelligent and knowledgeable and is known as the strategist in Konoha, could only obediently bow his head in negotiations with me."

"I can beat the Uchiha, who is known as invincible in one-on-one combat in the ninja world, to death without even using a puppet."

"I'll say it again, I'm strong, stronger than all of you, stronger than anyone in the ninja world."

At this point, Ryuji glanced at everyone's expressions.

Seeing that they were all holding their breath and listening intently, he said with even more momentum, "No matter who the enemy is, I can defeat them; no matter how difficult the situation is, I can turn it around."

"I will save the village from disaster. I will make you elect me as the Fourth Kazekage. I will lead the village to glory. I will make you admire me wholeheartedly. I will make you willingly obey my orders, even if it means going to your deaths."

"I will do everything I say, just as you have seen."

"Ooooooooooooooooo!!!!"

Chapter Three: Correcting Typos

(End of this chapter)