Uchiha's personal opinion

"The historical burden of Sunagakure is too heavy... There's no way to avoid it without reducing it."

Ebizo said, "I'll take on this villain role."

"After all, just like the Hokage of Konoha, Lord Kazekage is always right and righteous."

After saying that, Ebizo pushed open the door and left.

The two people inside the room remained silent.

"...Tomorrow I will lead the Inspectorate's ninjas to patrol the border."

After a while, Ye Cang sighed softly, stood up and said.

She also used this to show that she would no longer participate in the civil war.

Similarly, after the Wind Shadow Faction and the Meritorious Faction quelled the Elder Faction's rebellion, if the Inspectorate wanted to get a share of the spoils, it could only hope that these factions that quelled the rebellion wouldn't act so greedily.

"Don't get into a conflict with Konoha."

The Third Kazekage agreed to Yekura's request.

There's nothing I can do even if I disagree. Although this girl is quite young, she possesses incredibly powerful Scorching Release techniques and is already a leading figure among the lower-level ninjas. I might not be able to stop her from doing whatever she wants.

"I know! I'm not stupid!"

Ye Cang snorted coldly and prepared to leave.

"Also, do not enter the oasis area contracted by the joint venture!"

The Third Kazekage added again.

Even if the joint venture company doesn't give them face, the oasis they contract to operate is still the only stable source of tax revenue for Sunagakure in the Land of Wind. Before the two sides completely break off relations, the Third Kazekage doesn't want to cause any unnecessary trouble.

"……knew!"

Yekura slammed the door and left.

"……well!"

After sitting indoors for a while, the Third Kazekage sighed, changed his clothes, and decided to go outside for some fresh air.

When he arrived at the shore of an oasis lake outside the capital, he suddenly saw an unexpected person resting with his eyes closed in the embrace of two puppets.

"scorpion?"

The Third Kazekage exclaimed in surprise.

Sasori immediately opened his eyes, then quickly put away the two puppets, "Father" and "Mother," and coldly stared at the Third Kazekage who was walking towards him.

"...Missing your family, is that right?"

The Third Kazekage reached out and tried to ruffle Sasori's red hair.

"..."

Sasori took a step back, avoiding the Third Kazekage's hand.

"Puppetry is just a minor technique; the strongest element of Sunagakure is still Magnet Release..."

The Third Kazekage didn't seem to mind, and said with a kind expression, "Want to learn? If you do, come find me tomorrow..."

"...Do you want to die?"

Suddenly, Scorpion said coldly.

"what?!"

The Third Kazekage was stunned.

Chapter 367 Seeking Suicide

As everyone expected, the Sunagakure elders' "National Protection Army" neither protected the country nor had the necessary fighting power, and they also failed to gain the support of the separatist regions. Apart from their arrogance stemming from their status and the abundant resources they had plundered, they had nothing.

Not only were they outnumbered, but they also lacked the various new ninja tools developed by the shogunate, and their fighting style remained the traditional three-person squad raid. Therefore, although they were all full of confidence, in the eyes of the Third Kazekage and Ebizo, these vassals of the elders were already "dead men waiting to die."

Therefore, after the Kazekage faction and the veteran faction launched a joint attack, the elder faction suffered repeated defeats, and the original Sand Village ninjas who formed the "National Protection Army" suffered heavy casualties.

Neither Konoha nor the Shogunate took advantage of the chaos as the Third Kazekage had initially feared.

Yekura led his troops to garrison the border of the Land of Wind, maintaining a sit-in standoff with the western border army led by Uchiha Fugaku. Although the atmosphere between the two sides was tense, there were no signs of war breaking out.

The Iwagakure and Kumogakure members of the Northern Alliance breathed a sigh of relief, but were also somewhat disappointed.

Once a war breaks out, it is not so easy to end.

Moreover, even Onoki couldn't guarantee that his village wouldn't be drawn into the war.

In this internal strife in Sunagakure, Rasa reaped the greatest rewards.

Just as Uchiha Tokumitsu had envisioned.

As internal conflicts in Sunagakure intensified and a civil war was about to break out, the middle-class Sunagakure ninjas finally made up their minds to unite around Rasa to fight against the other three forces in the Land of Wind—the elders were already dead, so naturally no one would count them as a faction in their own country.

As a result, Rasayo, who was originally controversial due to her rising through the ranks of the Joint Anti-Terrorist Force, naturally became a representative of a faction within Sunagakure.

For Uchiha Tokumitsu, this one leverage point was enough.

……

"scorpion!"

The Third Kazekage frowned, maneuvering sand to deflect the poisoned needles shot by the puppet. "Are you courting death?!"

Ever since that day when he spoke with Sasori by the lake, for some reason, Sasori began launching all sorts of childish attacks against the Third Kazekage.

Of course, the Third Kazekage was initially furious, feeling it was an offense against him, but he soon realized that Sasori's attack was utterly ridiculous, like a child's game.

Therefore, the Third Kazekage believed that this was Sasori's powerless revenge after he saw him using puppets to pretend to be his parents.

However, although the Third Kazekage was willing to be tolerant of his juniors, he began to get impatient with Sasori's childish methods after they happened so many times.

"...You mustn't tell anyone!"

"Ok?"

"You mustn't tell anyone what you saw last time!"

Scorpion said coldly.

"Okay, okay, I won't tell anyone..."

The Third Kazekage found it both amusing and exasperating, and said repeatedly, "Don't worry! As the Kazekage, my mouth is the most secure."

Scorpion didn't speak, but instead stepped forward and picked up the two poisonous stingers that had fallen to the ground.

Poor child...

The Third Kazekage sighed inexplicably.

Although in his eyes, Scorpion was just a pitiful child who, despite his noble birth, had an extremely tragic life.

Although Sasori is highly skilled in puppetry, judging from his recent actions, his true mental age may still be that of a child.

"...Do you want to learn Magnet Release?"

The Third Kazekage said with a smile.

"miss you!"

His tone was completely flat.

"Then wait for me at the training ground tomorrow!"

"it is good!"

Scorpion, who was sparing with words, turned and left after finishing his sentence.

"Really..."

The Third Kazekage shook his head, giving himself a thumbs-up for his great achievement in actively saving younger ninjas from going astray.

He just didn't see it—

After leaving, Scorpion took out the two poison needles he had picked up from the ground and examined them closely.

"Penetration depth 20 centimeters..."

The scorpion meticulously recorded and summarized the traces left after using its distinctive stinger.

His attempts to test the Third Kazekage's combat and defensive capabilities using various childish methods were surprisingly effective, especially in figuring out the Third Kazekage's reaction speed and habitual starting ninjutsu.

As for the Magnetism Training starting tomorrow...

Scorpion snorted coldly.

Whether he can learn Magnet Release is one thing, but understanding its characteristics and applying its countermeasures to his puppets is extremely important!

Moreover, Scorpion had an even more outrageous idea...

……

"Is he trying to kill himself?"

Uchiha Tokumitsu frowned as he reviewed the intelligence sent back by the joint counter-terrorism force.

Two days ago, the land of swamps, which is rich in snakes, suddenly experienced a riot of venomous snakes.

Countless venomous snakes emerged from all sorts of unexpected places, including jungles, swamps, rock crevices, wells, and even piles of debris, launching a frenzied attack on the civilians of the Swamp Country.

Even the snake catchers of the Swamp Country were helpless when faced with these ferocious snakes—because their snake medicine suddenly lost its snake-repelling effect!

Fortunately, a caravan from the Land of Swamps was temporarily stationed there to purchase live snakes. After the snake rampage, the ninjas accompanying the caravan took the initiative to participate in the clearing and counterattack against the snakes, and the snake rampage was finally quelled.

Immediately, this message was relayed by the United Company to the United Counter-Terrorism Force, followed by the arrival of the reconnaissance ninjas.

Most importantly, the Byakugan ninjas of the joint counter-terrorism force actually discovered a huge snake nest in the swamp that was showing signs of chakra activity!

—It's the chakra of Ryuchi Cave!

The Byakugan ninja who had participated in the Akatsuki's purge was very familiar with the smell of this special mixture of poison and stench.

As Uchiha Shiina immediately began to mobilize his troops in a tense manner, intelligence was also sent back to Konoha.

Almost immediately, another intelligence report arrived at him in a flurry of activity.

"A joint counter-terrorism unit's reconnaissance team discovered Jiraiya's trail in the jungles of the Swamp Country?"