"It's not about having courage. If the Kazekage hadn't gone missing, it was long planned. If the Kazekage accidentally went missing, then it was a helpless act."
"Helpless?"
"Rather than have the people of their own village fight each other to the death for the position of the Fourth Kazekage, it's better to deflect internal conflicts and use the merit of attacking Konoha to determine the candidate for Fourth Kazekage. This avoids internal strife and makes previous plans worthwhile. Even if they lost the Third Kazekage, the Hidden Sand's equipment surpasses Konoha's in their hasty response."
Hakushi marveled at the Hidden Sand's talent.
For such a quick response, the ninja leaders of the Five Great Nations clearly have their standards on war sensitivity and trend prediction.
It's essential not to underestimate these people.
Even Hakushi didn't much like the Third Hokage Sarutobi Hiruzen. While not commenting on other aspects, he did stabilize Konoha's situation by balancing the situation, even if that balance was achieved at the cost of other ninjas.
The Hidden Sand's thinking is, rather than die from internal strife, let these people perish together with Konoha ninja, securing the Fourth Kazekage candidate while weakening Konoha and gaining the necessary benefits.
It was probably a decision made by Chiyo and her brother from the Hidden Sand.
These two had been the right hands of the Kazekage since the Second Kazekage Shamon's era, and they worked tirelessly to support the Third Kazekage and expand the Hidden Sand's power.
Now that the Third Kazekage has gone missing, Chiyo and her brother, who are nearly fifty years old, have missed the best age to compete for the Kazekage position, and naturally won't compete with the younger generation.
Using war merits as a path to the Fourth Kazekage is also reasonable.
"Now who are the candidates for the Fourth Kazekage?"
Hakushi asked.
"Based on uncertain information, it seems to be the Hidden Sand Jonin Rasa."
"Rasa? That Sand Jonin who controls Magnet Style: Gold Sand? Quite strong, and he has special ninja techniques to suppress the One-tailed Shukaku. If nothing unexpected happens, he will be the Fourth Kazekage."
To become one of the Five Kage, a tailed beast is a hurdle one must overcome.
Rasa has formidable strength, and his ninja techniques have a significant restraining effect on the One-tailed Shukaku. He is also a Jonin highly valued and trusted by the Third Kazekage. As long as he gains enough war merit in this war, there should be no obstacles to becoming the Fourth Kazekage.
While Hakushi is not entirely familiar with famous ninjas from other countries, he has heard about some of them.
Hidden Sand's Rasa and the Scorch Style Ninja Pakura, among others.
The Seven-sworded Ninja of Hidden Mist.
Kitsuchi, son of the Tsuchikage of Hidden Rock, and the Explosion Style Ninja Gari.
Killer Bee, son of the Third Raikage of Hidden Cloud, also a rap enthusiast.
These people are all powerful ninjas who have recently become famous in the Ninja Realm.
They are in a different league from someone like Hakushi, who had previously been an unknown Konoha Chunin.
But since becoming an S-Class Renegade Ninja from Konoha, Hakushi reckoned his own fame must have grown quite a bit too.
Though the Chunin rank seems a bit of an eyesore.
"Speaking of the Hidden Sand, I plan to visit the Land of Wind sometime later,"
Hakushi pondered for a moment and said to Ruri and Ayane.
"The Land of Wind?"
"Under Roran, there is a Dragon Vein, abundant with Chakra, and I intend to make that power my own."
Hakushi explained.
"Roran? The place within a country?"
Ruri, having heard of Roran, responded accordingly.
Located deep within the desert of the Land of Wind, many knew little about it, and the fact that it was rarely paid attention to was also true.
"It's said that even the Hidden Sand Ninja, familiar with the terrain, could get lost and die of thirst there if caught in a sandstorm. Hakushi-kun, I'll go with you; my Byakugan might come in very handy."
Ayane volunteered to accompany him.
Ruri's eyes narrowed, revealing a dangerous glint.
"Uh... We'll discuss this later. I'm not very familiar with Roran yet. I'll send investigators there first to understand the situation of that place before making a decision."
Hakushi sensed tension filling the air again and decided to calm the two for now.
Finally, Hakushi pointed out the window at the distant mountain with its peak sliced off and asked, "By the way, what's up with that mountain? Do you know?"
Ayane touched her lower lip with her finger, tilted her head to think for a moment, then smiled slightly, "I don't know, maybe a meteor fell from the sky and just happened to hit there. Hakushi-kun, don't worry about these things; it shouldn't matter much, right."
"Could be an earthquake,"
Ruri added.
"..."
Hakushi was sure that the mountain with its peak sliced off was undoubtedly the work of these two.
But speaking of which, what ninja technique could have caused that? Hakushi looked at the peakless mountain with a puzzled expression.
Even if Ayane used the Divine Sky Strike continuously, it wouldn't reach that level in such a short time.
It didn't seem like the damage caused by Ruri's Sage Art-type Great Fire Extinguishing.
Was it caused by a fight between the two? Hakushi couldn't think of any other possibilities.
◎
"Jiraiya-sama, the support troops sent from the village have arrived."
In the main tent of the Konoha Camp, Jiraiya was stationed there.