"What a naive thought..."
The Fourth Kazekage Rasa shook his head and said solemnly, "Even I have a hard time suppressing the rampaging Shukaku. Every time Shukaku goes on a rampage, if it's not contained in time, it will bring devastating damage to the village..."
However...
The Jinchuriki is of great significance to the Ninja Village.
No Ninja Village dares to leave an immature Jinchuriki outside easily. They can only keep them within the village for protection, bearing the damage caused by the Tailed Beast's rampage.
"Seems quite simple, doesn't it?"
Akihara Kagura rubbed his nose and glanced at Jiraiya, "Jiraiya-sensei, should we stay in the Land of Wind for a while to prevent anyone from assassinating the Kazekage..."
"..."
Jiraiya nodded.
If Orochimaru's assassination attempt on the Fourth Kazekage isn't resolved, Jiraiya might really need to stay longer in the Land of Wind to investigate Orochimaru's whereabouts.
After speaking with his teacher, Akihara Kagura then looked at the Fourth Kazekage Rasa, "Jiraiya-sensei won't let me kill you, but your son trying to kill me is an account that needs settling. How about letting me use him for an experiment first?"
"If Kazekage-sama thinks I'm trying to take revenge on your son, you could release Shukaku directly and kill your son to spare him further suffering..."
"Don't talk nonsense!"
Jiraiya knocked on Akihara Kagura's head.
What you're saying, kid, is it something a normal person would say? No village would ever release a tailed beast and kill the Jinchuriki! Especially when that Jinchuriki is the Kazekage's son!
Akihara Kagura grumbled discontentedly, "I can't just let this account slide. The Kazekage's son can't just kill people randomly either. I'm merely seeking justice, using this to reluctantly gain experience in dealing with Tailed Beasts..."
When he said this, Akihara Kagura stared at the Fourth Kazekage Rasa, "Is Kazekage-sama thinking of waging war against us, worried that Konoha might learn how to deal with the Hidden Sand's Tailed Beast in advance?"
"..."
The Fourth Kazekage Rasa felt as if his thoughts were exposed.
In fact, Rasa indeed had this idea lately. To solve the fiscal issues of the Hidden Sand Village could only be done through war. Reliance solely on gold mining couldn't improve finances at all.
But...
How could such a thing be said out loud!
The Fourth Kazekage Rasa gritted his teeth and coldly snorted, "I'm more worried that Konoha intends to attack the Hidden Sand Village and annex the Land of Wind..."
"..."
Jiraiya was at a loss for words.
Akihara Kagura glanced at Rasa and reminded him, "The Land of Wind is all desert, the land isn't as fertile as the Land of Fire. Konoha attacking the Hidden Sand Village... just to sell sand to other countries?"
"..."
This is too insulting!
The Fourth Kazekage Rasa was shaking with anger.
This brat is too rude. If it weren't for the fact that this kid allegedly defeated the Hidden Mist Village single-handedly and captured the Fourth Mizukage Karatachi Yagura, the Fourth Kazekage Rasa would have wanted to challenge this brat to a ninja duel!
"Kazekage-sama is aware of what happened in the Hidden Mist Village, right?"
Akihara Kagura looked at the Fourth Kazekage Rasa, "Your son wanting to kill us can't just be ignored. We must make a symbolic attack on the Hidden Sand Village, first relieve Kazekage-sama, and then capture that boy and conduct experiments on him?"
After saying this, Akihara Kagura glanced at Jiraiya, "That way, we can kill the Kazekage without staying here, worrying about the Kazekage being assassinated..."
"Calm down!"
Jiraiya quickly pulled Akihara Kagura.
"Konoha and the Hidden Sand Village are allies..."
The Fourth Kazekage Rasa gritted his teeth, insisting on their alliance, "If Konoha Ninjas attack their allies, it would make other Ninja Villages trust Konoha's credibility even less."
"Your son started it by attacking me first..."
"Let Gaara sleep for now."
The Fourth Kazekage Rasa glanced at his son, reluctantly speaking, "Tomorrow, when he wakes up, I will talk to him about this matter, but this must be kept absolutely confidential. For every one of your experiments, I must be present..."
"Alright."
Akihara Kagura nodded in agreement.
Night.
Akihara Kagura and Jiraiya found an inn in the Hidden Sand Village.
The Fourth Kazekage Rasa sent someone to inquire if they had seen the ninja who left with Gaara, as someone discovered that ninja went missing.
Apparently.
Everyone thought that the ninja had fled in fear.
No one knew that after the chaos, the ninja had secretly entered a household, removed the human skin mask from his face, revealing Orochimaru's face.
"Did the plan fail?"
Red Sand Sasori was waiting for him here.
This household had only one person, a ninja from the Hidden Sand Village, mentally controlled by Red Sand Sasori's Memory-Concealing Manipulative Sand Jutsu, naturally wouldn't betray Scorpion's information.
"Not exactly a failure."
Orochimaru shook his head, chuckling as he continued, "Pain wanted me to act as bait to attract Jiraiya's attention, didn't he? Now that Akihara Kagura and Jiraiya have arrived at the Hidden Sand Village, my task is likely completed, right?"
"..."
Red Sand Sasori couldn't find fault with this, nodded, and continued, "But you still need to ask Pain how long we should keep them occupied here..."
"Surely not too long, right?"
Orochimaru squinted his eyes, chuckling, "I still have a lot of experiments unfinished... Does the Akatsuki Organization expect me to stay here indefinitely?"
"Of course not."
Red Sand Sasori quickly shook his head and continued, "But, would you really not consider killing the Kazekage? Your human skin mask is excellent, perhaps you could use the Erasing Face Jutsu to impersonate the Fourth Kazekage Rasa..."
"The Hidden Sand Village isn't particularly wealthy."
Orochimaru shook his head, unimpressed with impersonating such a village leader, not to mention it being too dangerous, with low returns, and possibly even losing money.
Indeed.
The Kazekage of the Hidden Sand Village really did have to subsidize from his own pocket.
The gold diligently collected by the Fourth Kazekage Rasa all went to supplement the finances of the Hidden Sand Village, nurturing the village's ninjas.
Admittedly.
Rasa truly worked hard to be an exemplary Kazekage.
In order to keep the Hidden Sand Village standing even after the daimyo of the Land of Wind cut military funding, the Fourth Kazekage Rasa gave everything he had, and even though his wife instructed him before her death to take good care of Gaara, he chose to make Gaara the village's Jinchuriki.
The next day.
Early morning.
A red-haired boy woke up.
Ever since Shukaku was sealed inside him by his father, becoming the One-Tailed Jinchuriki, this was Gaara's first good night's sleep in years.
Even...
Gaara had a dream.
In that long dream, Gaara dreamt of growing up, encountering the person he met during the day, yet no matter what, he couldn't defeat him, and could only call for Shukaku to help, but Shukaku just refused to come out and get hit.
Unfortunately...
That was just a dream...
In reality, Gaara hadn't grown up yet, and Shukaku was still inside of him, clamoring to come out and settle accounts with that guy.
"Gaara."
The Fourth Kazekage Rasa walked in, commanding coldly, "From today, you will cooperate with someone to conduct experiments, he will help you tame the Tailed Beast inside you..."
"Yes."
Gaara lowered his head with a cold expression.
"Let's go, I'll take you to him."
The Fourth Kazekage Rasa led him out of the room, speaking gravely, "Remember, don't offend the brat named Akihara Kagura, don't cause any more trouble for the Hidden Sand Village!"
"Yes."
Gaara responded coldly.
That guy...
Could he really help him control Shukaku?
What a joke, maybe only in dreams could he help control it!
Outside the Hidden Sand Village.
Akihara Kagura and Jiraiya were waiting there for the father and son.
Jiraiya looked at his disciple, seemingly understanding his thoughts, and said deliberately, "You're experimenting with the One-Tail for that kid Naruto, aren't you?"
Jiraiya had once seen Akihara Kagura take care of Naruto Uzumaki, quietly reminding him, "This might be a futile effort, your method of experimentation is still akin to taming. The intelligence of Tailed Beasts isn't low, almost equal to humans..."
"Experiments on the One-Tailed Jinchuriki can't be applied to the Nine-Tailed Jinchuriki..."
"The strength gap between the One-Tail and the Nine-Tails is large..."
"It's like the gap between a Genin and the First Hokage in the village..."