Konoha Village, Hokage Tower.
"Lady Tsunade!" Shizune burst through the door, handing an urgent intelligence report to Tsunade.
"A frontline battle report." Her breathing was somewhat uneven.
"Shizune, you're lacking in exercise," Tsunade said calmly, taking a composed sip of tea.
"No, it's not that! Please look at the report first."
"With Danzo and Kakashi there, what kind of trouble can Sunagakure stir up? Besides, peace talks are already underway; a fight won't break out."
As Tsunade spoke, she casually scanned the report.
Pfft!
The tea in her mouth sprayed out directly.
Shizune, as if anticipating this, had already moved the documents from the desk.
So, it wasn't that she lacked exercise, but that the intelligence was too shocking.
"Are you kidding me?!" Tsunade slammed the desk and shot up, incredulous. "Uzumaki Naruto, together with the Three-Tails, put a stop to the war?!"
"They speculate the Three-Tails has become Uzumaki Naruto's summoning beast?!"
"Could this get any more outrageous?"
"Lady Tsunade, calm down! Calm down!" Shizune quickly interjected.
"I can't calm down at all!" Tsunade nearly went berserk.
He should have been Konoha's! All of this!
The last ninja to use a Tailed Beast as a summoning animal was Uchiha Madara.
A ninja who could have propelled Konoha to glory once more! Driven away by those bastards!
How could she possibly calm down?!
Since the inception of the Jinchuriki system, those who could perfectly master their Tailed Beast's power were few and far between. But without exception, they were all extraordinarily powerful ninja, renowned in their time.
Kirigakure's Three-Tails, Yagura Karatachi. Kumogakure's Two-Tails, Yugito Nii; and the Eight-Tails, Killer Bee. And, not widely known to the public, Uzumaki Mito, her grandmother.
Adding to that list now was the Nine-Tails, Uzumaki Naruto.
Other Jinchuriki could merely use a portion of their Tailed Beast's power.
The power of a single Tailed Beast could already sway a small to medium-scale battle.
Two Tailed Beasts, one of which was the Nine-Tails…
Tsunade seriously suspected that Uzumaki Naruto now possessed the capital to take down some smaller ninja villages single-handedly.
"That statement Uzumaki Naruto made, about not arbitrarily starting large-scale wars…?" Shizune asked cautiously, seeing Tsunade's state had stabilized somewhat.
"…" Tsunade nibbled on a pink fingernail, evidently finding this threat troublesome as well.
From a personal perspective, she felt she should agree. Having lived through two Great Ninja Wars, she knew all too well how terrifying large-scale ninja wars could be.
They were veritable bottomless pits, pits that could never be filled, no matter how many lives were thrown in!
But from the Hokage's perspective, she had to refuse. This concerned Konoha's reputation: Konoha, the leader of the Five Great Hidden Villages, yielding to a brat not even twenty years old.
Just thinking about it was humiliating!
"Let me think about it…"
Meanwhile, the other ninja villages also began to receive the relevant news.
Sunagakure Village.
In the meeting room.
Iwaji sat in the main seat. After reading the latest intelligence from the front lines, he couldn't help but rub his temples.
It wasn't just him; every Suna higher-up who finished reading the report made the same gesture.
"Um…" an elder hesitated for a moment, then said, "Are young people these days… all this wild?"
He really couldn't find a better adjective to describe that Nine-Tails Jinchuriki.
If you have that kind of power, what couldn't you do?
Establish a ninja village, pillage and plunder, abduct women, even go back to take revenge on Konoha…
Isn't any of that more practical than 'pursuing peace'?
"Commander Yura." Iwaji looked towards the only 'young person' present. "Hypothetically, just hypothetically."
"If you had the same power as the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, what would you do?"
"Think boldly, don't hold back!"
"Hmm…" Yura pondered for a moment, then said, "I would probably compete for the position of Fifth Kazekage."
Hearing this, all the elders present shared a knowing smile; it was indeed a thought typical of a young person.
Looking at Yura's youthful face, they felt as if they were seeing their younger selves.
"If you had that power, you wouldn't need to compete; the Kazekage position would have to be yours," Iwaji also smiled knowingly. Becoming Kazekage had been his youthful ambition as well.
"Ahem, esteemed elders, what we need to discuss now is what the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki said about not arbitrarily starting large-scale wars." Baki, seeing the meeting veering off-topic, quickly steered it back.
"I lean towards the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki's demand," Elder Shibo stated.
"Explain your thoughts," Iwaji said, raising his left hand slightly.
"Though it may sound a bit unpleasant, the reality is that the restriction imposed by the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki is beneficial to Sunagakure," Elder Shibo said with a sigh.
"Of the Five Great Hidden Villages, Kirigakure hasn't been in the public eye for a long time, so we'll set them aside for now."
"Kumogakure, the strongest village after Konoha: the Fourth Raikage, the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki, the Two-Tails Jinchuriki – three top-tier fighting forces."
"Iwagakure: Onoki's Kekkei Tota can still hold out for a few more years."
"And Konoha goes without saying: Fifth Hokage Tsunade, Jiraiya of the Sannin, Shimura Danzo, and Kakashi Hatake, son of the White Fang."
"Almost every village has high-level ninja they can field. Only Sunagakure…"
He didn't continue, but everyone present understood his meaning.
There wasn't much difference in the mid-to-low-tier ninja among the Five Great Hidden Villages. From the First to the Third Great Ninja War, Sunagakure had always been defeated due to a lack of high-level ninja.
They possessed neither powerful kekkei genkai nor strong inheritable jutsu.
Sunagakure's cultivation of high-level ninja relied more on luck.
Although the Puppet Technique was Sunagakure's specialty, it was, regrettably, just a specialty.
Throughout history, no Kazekage had ever risen to the position solely through the Puppet Technique.
"No, Elder Shibo, Sunagakure does have one!" Baki interjected.
All eyes focused on him. If Sunagakure truly had such a ninja, why would the Kazekage position be vacant for so long?
"We have Gaara."
Hearing this, everyone looked somewhat disappointed. Although the One-Tail Jinchuriki's power was strong, it was unstable and couldn't be considered Kage-level combat strength.
"Elder Baki, I understand your meaning, but unfortunately, our Sunagakure doesn't have a Jinchuriki training system like Kumogakure's," Shibo said, shaking his head slightly.
They were well aware of the power of a perfect Jinchuriki.
"What if Gaara could perfectly control the Tailed Beast's power, like the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki Uzumaki Naruto, or the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki Killer Bee?" Baki asked.
"If Gaara can truly perfectly control Shukaku's power, I can support his nomination for Fifth Kazekage," Iwaji said slowly, his fingers tapping lightly on the tabletop.
"Elder Iwaji, are you serious?" Baki's face lit up with joy.
He had been nurtured by the Fourth Kazekage, so his interests were naturally tied to those of Gaara and his siblings.
He had lost count of how much hair he'd pulled out worrying about gathering political capital for the three siblings' advancement.
He hadn't expected that a routine effort to secure benefits could yield such a harvest.
If he could gain Iwaji's support, coupled with Gaara's own strength, the position of Fifth Kazekage was absolutely secured.
"Elder Iwaji, isn't Gaara too young?" an elder from Iwaji's faction reminded him.
The Kage was the leader of a village; without sufficient qualifications and experience, problems could easily arise.
"The situation in the ninja world is treacherous and unpredictable. Sunagakure needs a powerful leader," Iwaji said gravely. "As for qualifications and experience, aren't we old fogeys still around for that?"
"Special times call for special measures!"
"Yes, sir!"