Chapter 637

Wind Country, Sunagakure.

Kazekage Office.

"Yashamaru, are you sure there are no issues with the report you submitted initially? Does Iwagakure truly have the intention to destroy the Ninshu?" Rasa asked with a frown.

"At that meeting, the Iwa representatives at the Six Paths Castle indeed expressed that intention," Yashamaru replied.

They hadn't even used the full set of divisive plans they had prepared; as soon as they spoke, Iwa began vehemently denouncing the Ninshu's ambitions. This was clearly not the attitude a normal cooperative partner should display.

"Then why has Iwagakure been consistently avoiding the topic of joint military action?"

Initially, Rasa was delighted with Yashamaru's progress and quickly dispatched ninja to conduct formal negotiations with Iwa, but the results were unsatisfactory.

Iwa did not show any intention of refusing cooperation, but whenever Suna proposed joint military action to annihilate the Ninshu, Iwa began making all kinds of excuses.

They even indicated that they could provide Suna with material aid, but could not dispatch shinobi to the battlefield, citing the excessive damage Iwa suffered during the Great Ninja War.

Rasa would be a fool to believe that; in the final battle, Iwa surrendered so quickly that no one suffered great losses.

As for earlier, although Iwa had suffered some defeats against Konoha, it absolutely could not be described as excessive damage.

"Perhaps they want to take the opportunity to weaken Suna's power?" Yashamaru considered and replied.

Compared to joint military action, Iwa surely wants to be a quiet bystander.

"Maybe, but it's strange that Iwa is willing to provide so many resources to support us," Rasa said with his arms crossed, showing a thoughtful expression.

Although Iwa appeared to be avoiding war, it was surprisingly willing to give money, which tempted Rasa a little.

Without exaggeration, the money Iwa offered in the terms was almost enough to hire Suna to fight a campaign.

Moreover, the Ninshu truly does affect Suna's interests and is a force Suna needs to strike against.

After thinking carefully, Rasa again felt something was off; they were all ninja villages, and Iwa also needed money. Why would Iwa be willing to pay this?

Because the matter was too significant, Rasa found it difficult to decide alone and had the Suna Anbu summon the Suna higher-ups for consultation.

"Advisor Chiyo, Advisor Ebizō." Rasa, who had arrived early in the meeting room, quickly greeted them as Chiyo and Ebizō entered.

If they were ordinary higher-ups, as the Fourth Kazekage, Rasa would naturally not need to do this.

These two were indeed somewhat different.

First was seniority; Chiyo and Ebizō had already been well-known higher-ups in Sunagakure during the Second Great Ninja War, and in the current Suna, they were among the most senior veteran ninja.

Secondly, it was their strength and influence.

Chiyo was currently the strongest puppeteer in the ninja world, and her puppetry skills ranked high in the entire history of puppetry.

Although Ebizō was not as strong as Chiyo, he controlled Suna's intelligence department. During the civil war in Suna following the Third Kazekage's disappearance, the actual controller of the Suna Anbu, which was directly commanded by the Kazekage, was Ebizō.

Finally, the two were biological siblings, which was also the point Rasa feared most before.

Rasa was glad that Chiyo's grandson had left Sunagakure.

After Sasori left Sunagakure, Chiyo seemed to have lost her soul; she rarely involved herself in political affairs, instead either researching ninjutsu or fishing.

Probably because he cared about his sister, Ebizō also put down a lot of work and often accompanied Chiyo fishing.

Rasa took the opportunity to grasp a lot of power, making his voice in high-level meetings much stronger.

"Fourth Kazekage."

The two nodded in response, neither cold nor particularly concerned.

After all the higher-ups had arrived, Rasa began the meeting.

"The rapidly expanding Ninshu has affected the shared interests of Suna and Iwa, but regarding how to cooperate, Iwa has shown an anomaly."

Rasa quickly explained to the higher-ups the strange conditions offered by Iwa.

"There is indeed a problem. Could it be that Iwa, being so unwilling to directly participate in combat, possesses intelligence that we do not?"

"Or perhaps they want to conserve strength for other schemes. But on the surface, cooperating with Iwa is not a loss for us. With this sum of money, we can alleviate a lot of military funding pressure."

The higher-ups began discussing among themselves, with considerable disagreement.

Some thought they could try to earn this money, since Suna could not sit by and watch the Ninshu continue to develop.

Some felt that the money was too hot to handle, that it hid a conspiracy of Rock Village, and that cooperation was impossible.

Chiyo sat in her chair, her expression indifferent as she looked at the high-level officials, with no intention of speaking.

If not for Sand Village's poor situation and the fact that it wasn't the right time for a full retirement, Chiyo would have long since resigned from her position as Advisor.

Her son and daughter-in-law had died on the battlefield; her grandson had voluntarily left her behind. After struggling for the village for most of her life, in the end only her younger brother remained by her side.

She had already given more than enough to this village. She didn't owe Sand Village anything—it was Sand Village that owed her.

"I will activate the secret lines in Rain Country and Earth Country to investigate. Rock Village's behavior is abnormal," Ebizo spoke up.

Ebizo, who handled intelligence work, was especially sensitive to such anomalies.

"This is a major matter. Indeed, we cannot make a hasty decision. We need to investigate thoroughly. We leave it to Advisor Ebizo."

The high-level officials, who had originally been divided, one by one expressed agreement with Ebizo's idea.

Those who sat in the high positions were not fools; they could all sense something off about Rock Village, even if they didn't know what Rock Village was hiding.

And so the high-level meeting ended, to resume discussion once Ebizo's intelligence was in place.

But what Ebizo hadn't expected was that instead of uncovering Rock Village's abnormality, he would dig up some unexpected information.

After reading the intelligence, Ebizo immediately went to find Chiyo.

"I think I've found Sasori," Ebizo said.

A flicker of emotion crossed Chiyo's calm face, but then she shook her head with an expression of desolation and said, "What use would it be even if I found him?"

If Sasori had left because of persecution or harm, Chiyo would have done everything to find him. But Sasori had left Sand Village of his own accord; he had left her side by choice.

Given Chiyo's influence in Sand Village, if she truly wanted to find Sasori, unless he did nothing but hide, she would have been able to get at least some information.

But over all these years, except for the very beginning, Chiyo had never actively searched for Sasori.

Because she knew that even if she found him, it would be useless. If Sasori was unwilling to be by her side, she couldn't stop him.

"Where is he? How is he doing? Is he settling down or just staying temporarily?" Chiyo couldn't help but ask.

Sasori was still her grandson after all. Not knowing was one thing, but once she got news, she couldn't help worrying about his life.

"It's Six Paths City in Rain Country. I'm not sure if he's settling down or how he's doing; I'm just making a judgment based on the intelligence that Sasori might be there," Ebizo replied.

The puppet technique mentioned in the intelligence absolutely could not have been developed by those incompetent puppeteers outside of Sand Village.

Moreover, connecting it with the direction Sasori had been developing his puppet jutsu, even if Sasori himself wasn't in Rain Country, Ebizo was certain that the origin of the Ninja Sect's puppet prosthetics was Sasori.

"Six Paths City? Isn't that where the Ninja Sect is located?"

Chiyo was no stranger to the Ninja Sect, this rising power. Even though she hadn't been paying much attention to ninja village affairs since Sasori left, Rain Country bordered Wind Country, and all kinds of news kept coming in. It was hard for Chiyo not to know.

"Mm. Sasori may have joined the Ninja Sect, or he may have reached some kind of cooperation with them."

Ebizo nodded and told her about the puppet prosthetics.

"There's no way Sasori would join a ninja organization." Chiyo instinctively wanted to refute Ebizo's conjecture, even though Ebizo had only said "may."

Sasori hadn't even wanted to stay in Sand Village, where he grew up. Why would he go to some ninja organization inferior to Sand Village? Whether from the perspective of technical conditions for puppet research or from emotional ties, it was impossible for Sasori to join the Ninja Sect.

Ebizo said nothing, only sighed.

Chiyo remained silent, the light in her eyes dimming a little.

From the perspective of her own life journey, it had only been four or five years since Sasori left—not a long time.

But for a young man like Sasori, who was just over ten years old, this was already a quarter of his current life.

Under such circumstances, it wasn't impossible that Sasori had experienced things she didn't know about and had undergone changes she was unaware of.

"Why… why of all things the Ninja Sect…" Chiyo murmured.

Without a doubt, the Ninja Sect, with its considerable ambition and great potential, was Sand Village's next enemy.

If not for the fear of Yusuke's strength in defeating Hiruzen Sarutobi, Sand Village's ninja troops would probably have already entered Rain Country.

If Sasori truly joined the Ninja Sect, then he would become Sand Village's enemy, standing on the opposite side of Sand Village. They might even face each other with blades on the battlefield.

Just imagining it made Chiyo feel faint—that was her own grandson.

"It's just a possibility." Ebizo said comfortingly.

"I'll have my spies obtain accurate information about Sasori at any cost."

Ebizo should have devoted more energy to the Earth Country and the Rock Village, but he simply couldn't put Chiyo aside.

If he didn't quickly have the spies investigate thoroughly, what if Chiyo personally went to the Ninja Sect?

Entering Six Paths City was easy, but to leave, you had to face the Ninja Sect and Yosuke's displeasure. Ebizo couldn't let his own sister take such a risk.

In fact, Ebizo originally hadn't wanted to tell Chiyo this intelligence; it was truly bad news for her.

Mainly because the Ninja Sect's prosthetic limbs were no longer a secret, and Chiyo could at any time learn about them from other sources and deduce information about Sasori. That was why Ebizo chose to inform Chiyo.

"Mm." Chiyo nodded.

Chiyo had originally planned to go fishing today since the weather was nice, but after learning such news, she instantly lost any thought of fishing, her mind filled with matters concerning Sasori.

She desperately hoped this was a false alarm—that Ebizo's intelligence was mistaken, and Sasori was not in the Rain Country nor at the Ninja Sect.

PS:

This is 3k, and the two chapters together are exactly 8k, which counts as successfully completing the third day of burst updates.