A few minutes later.
The operating room door slowly opened.
Rasa, still feeling a bit weak both physically and mentally, slowly walked out.
Karura heard the movement, looked up, and quickly went forward to help him.
Following closely behind were Qingshui and Chiyo, who was holding a sealed box.
"Lord Qingshui, Lord Chiyo, thank you!"
Karura said crisply, looking at them with slightly reddened eyes.
Hearing Karura's address for Qingshui, Rasa paused, then turned around and also spoke:
"Lord Chiyo, and Lord... Qingshui, Rasa thanks you for saving my life this time."
Rasa's tone was hesitant and a little faltering, but he eventually managed to say it completely.
The moment he said that, it signified his capitulation to Qingshui.
Even if he was unwilling, he had ultimately yielded.
His life had been saved by them; not only was his body unharmed, but his strength could also be fully recovered.
Moreover, he was saved in front of the Sand Village's most central figures, meaning that the entire upper echelon of the Sand Village would know about this.
"It's fine. For the next few days, focus on nutritional supplements. Don't rush to recover your strength by overtraining. Come back for a follow-up examination in two days. If there's no rejection reaction during that time, your body should be almost back to its pre-injury level."
Qingshui said with a slight smile, looking at Rasa's expression.
Rasa had essentially lost any chance of competing with him.
From today onwards, Qingshui could be considered the true "heir apparent" of the Sand Village, rather than just a candidate as before.
Even if he was the top-ranked candidate.
It was like the difference between a crown prince and an adult imperial son before a crown prince had been formally established.
After leaving the Sand Village Hospital, the Third Kazekage called Qingshui and Chiyo to join him at the Kazekage's office.
Just now, Ebizo had sent a message saying that he had gathered all the overall intelligence about the people the Daimyo was recruiting and was waiting at the Kazekage's office after organizing it.
"The number of these people is quite large. Under the allure of wealth, many rogue ninja and missing-nin go to the Capital City every day to try their luck. And while the Daimyo doesn't exactly accept everyone, as long as they're not just trying to scam people and have some actual skill, no matter their background, the Daimyo wants them. In a short time, they've already gathered an army of several hundred people, stationed outside the Capital City. At the current rate of growth, it's estimated that they'll exceed a thousand within this month.
The Daimyo has already given this force a name: the Daimyo Guard Corps."
Ebizo took out stacks of documents, filling the Third Kazekage's desk, and explained.
"Hundreds, even a thousand people... this scale, hmph. Is the Daimyo worried that if he recruits too few people, we'll wipe them out too easily?"
Chiyo casually picked up a document, glanced at it, and snorted coldly.
With the victories achieved in the Second Great Ninja War and the rapid growth of the village's economic and military power in the years after the war, Chiyo had recently become very confident in the village's strength and completely disdained these "rotten fish and shrimp."
In her opinion, only Konoha was worth taking seriously, and the other four great ninja villages and a few individuals like Hanzo deserved proper attention. The rest were all characters the Sand Village could directly sweep aside.
"After all, this is the village's entire annual military budget. Such a large sum of money, no one in the Ninja World wouldn't be tempted. I think these people are a mixed bag; perhaps other great ninja villages have secretly infiltrated them. Not to mention troublemakers like Tsuruya Kyuichi, who even Rasa fell victim to."
Ebizo pulled out a few pages from these documents.
"Tsuruya Kyuichi, our intelligence on him is limited. Besides his name, we only have the records from Rasa's encounter with him. As for the village's database and information about the Tsuruya clan collected from various ninja clans, they're all from before the village's founding. There's no mention of this kind of cell-level insect manipulation technique. It's likely something Tsuruya Kyuichi developed during his decades of reclusion, so it's not very relevant."
"Aside from the most troublesome Tsuruya Kyuichi, these few individuals are also noteworthy: Kiriha, a rogue ninja from the Land of Iron, who once killed Jonin Zotei of the Cloud Hidden Village. He was issued a gold bounty by Cloud Hidden Village and has been hunted ever since. In recent years, he's been hiding in small countries like the Land of Gold, the Land of Birds, and the Land of Tea, known as a top-tier bounty ninja in the underworld, second only to Kakuzu."
"Konoha A-rank wanted missing-nin, Torii Shuichi, twenty-four years old. He was once a Konoha Special Jonin. Seven years ago, he defected seemingly after offending Elder Utatane Koharu. He has repeatedly escaped capture by Konoha's Anbu. He has at least Jonin-level combat ability. The authenticity of his defection cannot be confirmed."
"Nozawa, a renegade monk from the Fire Temple, who defected after stealing secret techniques from the temple..."
"Stone Hidden A-rank missing-nin, Ishihara Jin, bounty of seventeen million ryo on the underground black market..."
Including Tsuruya Kyuichi, among the intelligence gathered by Ebizo, there were five individuals who possessed at least Jonin-level abilities, and over thirty individuals were explicitly recorded as having Special Jonin or higher combat capabilities.
Considering Tsuruya Kyuichi's combat power, this force was already stronger than small ninja villages like the Grass Village.
"We cannot allow the Daimyo to act so recklessly any longer. This group of people cannot continue to exist."
The Third Kazekage said coldly.
This group was created by the Daimyo to spite them; their existence was a huge blow to the Sand Village's prestige.
The stronger they became, the more difficult it would be for the Sand Village to eliminate them, and they might also seize mission quotas from the Sand Village.
"Under what pretext do we eliminate this group called the Daimyo Guard Corps? After all, this is practically declaring war on the Daimyo. If handled improperly, would it attract the attention of other Daimyo, leading to interference from other ninja villages?"
Chiyo pulled up a chair and sat down, her voice grave.
This was the trickiest part.
The Third Kazekage turned his gaze to Qingshui.
"Qingshui, what do you say?"
"Don't worry so much, just fight!"
Qingshui said decisively.
"Currently, every Daimyo and all ninja villages are watching. This is no longer just a conflict between the Daimyo and the Sand Village; it's a conflict between the ninja village system and the Daimyo system. In the past, the two checked each other. The Daimyo worried that the ninja forces would become too strong and uncontrollable, using their money to restrict the ninja villages, and the ninja villages absolutely did not want to become the Daimyo's dogs."
"Now, the other ninja villages are probably hoping Sand Village wins, because they're more afraid their own Daimyo will follow suit. So, at least until we win, they won't intervene. Even if their Daimyo force them to send troops, they'll definitely find all sorts of excuses to drag their feet."
"And after we win? Do you think they'll kick us while we're down? You're right, that would be a perfect opportunity to unite the great ninja villages against Sand Village."
Ebizo raised his brows slightly, chuckling.
Sand Village was a little too strong now. The Stone Village in the Land of Earth and Konoha Village in the Land of Fire, located on either side of the Land of Wind, would certainly not pass up any opportunity to weaken Sand Village.
Cloud Hidden Village and Mist Hidden Village might also take advantage of the situation.
"If they want to come, let them. Once we've dealt with the Daimyo, with the village's current strength, I don't think we'll fear any challenge!"
Qingshui stated decisively.
He knew that if Sand Village had more time to develop, it would become even stronger.
But that required a sufficiently stable environment for development.
Strike once to prevent a hundred blows.
First, deal with the troublesome Daimyo and stabilize the internal situation. Then, take down the other ninja villages to secure a peaceful external environment. By then, with the resources gained from the Daimyo, Sand Village's development speed might even accelerate.
"Then I'll leave the handling of this entire incident to you. I'll arrange as many people as you need. There's only one requirement: deal with the Daimyo Guard Corps as quickly as possible."
The Third Kazekage said earnestly to Qingshui.
"Not enough."
Qingshui shook his head.
The Third Kazekage's brows furrowed slightly.
"Besides dealing with the Daimyo Guard Corps, I'll need another group of people to manage the Capital City and control the Daimyo and related nobles."
Qingshui explained.
"Don't rush the latter part. Wait two days for Rasa to recover, then handle it. This will also give him a chance to redeem himself. Once you've dealt with the Daimyo Guard Corps, I'll convene a Jonin meeting and establish you as the Kazekage candidate."
The Third Kazekage said to Qingshui.
Let Rasa handle the dirty work.
Qingshui paused for a moment, then nodded heavily.
Of course, among the ninja villages that had the custom of establishing a Kage candidate in the Ninja World, only Cloud Hidden Village did.
The Raikage lineage was passed down from father to son for four generations.
This family had excellent genes; every generation of A possessed the talent to serve as a Kage of a great nation. Coupled with the father-son relationship, successive A's often became Raikage candidates in their early twenties.
When the Second Raikage died in the rebellion of Kinkaku and Ginkaku, the Third Raikage ascended directly without the need for Jonin votes or similar procedures. The current Raikage candidate was Fourth Raikage A. If the Third Raikage were to die in battle or announce his retirement, he could directly succeed as Raikage.
Now, for the Third Kazekage to offer the Kazekage candidate position to Qingshui was tantamount to directly declaring that Qingshui would become the Fourth Kazekage.
The process of becoming a Kazekage candidate was essentially the same as the Kazekage selection: it required a vote of confidence from the Jonin Council. One could only be elected with the approval of the majority of the village's Jonin.
Such a thing could be done in Cloud Hidden Village, where power was highly centralized within the village. It could also be done in Stone Village, but Onoki had yet to find someone suitable to succeed him as Tsuchikage. His son Kitsuchi's strength was barely adequate, but Onoki clearly wasn't satisfied with him in other aspects.
As for the remaining three ninja villages—Konoha and Mist Hidden Village, which were constantly embroiled in internal strife—if they were to try and establish a Kage candidate, it's not a question of whether they could even pick one, but that severe internal conflicts would certainly erupt.
That would just make their internal situation even messier.
Now, Sand Village's internal political environment was basically stable enough for this operation.
The Third Kazekage supported it himself. Chiyo and Ebizo were Qingshui's teachers. The combination of Rasa and Karura was basically confirmed to have lost to Qingshui. The Puppet Force, Intelligence Unit, Sealing Squad, and Medical Squad—these four important departments—could all be considered Qingshui's core faction. The other major ninja clans and Jonin had also shown goodwill towards Qingshui from the moment he established his advantage, and even some small and medium-sized ninja clans had completely pledged their allegiance.
Although the Deputy Head of the Anbu was Rasa, the Head was Ebizo, who had held the position for nearly twenty years. Not to mention that as the Kazekage's direct subordinate force, the Third Kazekage actually had absolute control over the Anbu.
The same applied to the Political Affairs Department, Finance Department, Logistics Department, and several major combat departments, as well as other departments directly overseen by the Kazekage.
This was enough to ensure that the majority of Sand Village's Jonin would vote for Qingshui in the Jonin vote of confidence.
The remaining neutral parties who were still observing would not be so unwise at that point.
Later on, he might not clearly remember who voted for him, but he would definitely remember who didn't.
Some ninja clans and Jonin who were still hesitating were likely to pledge their allegiance even more thoroughly.
No one wanted to become a marginalized figure in the future, or a casualty in the politics and wars of the great nations.
However, there weren't many neutral factions left now. After all, almost all active Special Jonin and above in Sand Village had learned Qingshui's Breathing Style, and owed him a favor for it. Only a few old-timers, who had been at odds with the Third Kazekage for a long time, remained.
Though they held the title of elders, they had long since lost power and influence, unable to affect others.
As for the mid- and lower-level ninja and civilians, that was even simpler.
The canal, new puppet techniques, and other initiatives had brought them considerable benefits over the years. As long as the propaganda about Qingshui's past achievements was intensified, they would know who to choose.
Their influence on the Kazekage election wasn't as great as the Jonin class, but it couldn't be ignored either.
And what Qingshui had to do was lead Sand Village's ninja to achieve victory in this military operation with overwhelming dominance!
Troops and horses move, provisions come first.
Since it was a domestic operation, the logistical pressure wasn't significant.
What was important was the deployment of personnel, aiming to achieve success in a single stroke.
Therefore, this time, Sand Village mobilized over a thousand elite ninja.
Such a commotion couldn't escape the notice of the spies, so the very next day, the Daimyo of the Land of Wind sent an order, stating that everything was negotiable. As long as both sides made certain concessions and exchanged benefits, the relationship between the Daimyo and the Sand Village could return to what it once was.
The high-ranking officials of the Sand Village initially had no intention of responding.
However, after Qingshui put forward a suggestion, the Sand Village still dispatched an elite team, led by Ebizo and consisting of over twenty Special Jonin at minimum, to act as an envoy and head to the Capital City.
They would first stabilize the Daimyo. Once Rasa arrived with his team in the Capital City, they would work from both inside and out to directly seize control of the capital.
Rasa's recovery was also remarkably swift. His heart, rebuilt using the Creation Rebirth Technique, was strong and powerful, no different from before.
Thus, on the third day, over a thousand elite Sand Village ninja, led by Qingshui, swiftly set out and surrounded the camp where the Daimyo Guard Corps was stationed.
Meanwhile, in the Capital City of the Land of Wind, Rasa and Karura, with cold expressions, led a group of Sand Village ninja, and with Ebizo's cooperation from within, they stormed the city gates.
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