The aftermath of this incident was far from over.
At this moment, Sunagakure was in the midst of a major crisis.
The Kazekage's office—a spherical structure made of sand—stood quietly under heavy tension.
Inside, the top figures of the village had gathered: the advisors Chiyo and Rasa, along with several Elite Jōnin of the Sand.
Since the mysterious disappearance of the Third Kazekage, the one currently holding the highest authority was Chiyo.
Her expression was tired and worn.
First, her younger brother died in battle.
Then, the man praised as the strongest Kazekage in Sunagakure's history—Sāramon—was suddenly gone.
But even in such a critical moment, with the village hanging by a thread, Chiyo couldn't allow herself to show a hint of weakness.
Those present didn't yet know the truth about the Third Kazekage.
But the heavy silence in the room made it obvious that something was wrong.
After all, none of the troops led deep into Konoha by the Kazekage had returned.
Everyone was already imagining the worst possible outcome in their hearts.
And Chiyo didn't bother to hide it.
"Everyone here is a pillar of Sunagakure. I won't keep anything from you."
"Lord Third Kazekage…"
"…has fallen in battle."
Not a single Jōnin in the room could believe what they were hearing.
"Fallen…? Dead?!"
That was the most powerful Kazekage in Sunagakure's history!
And now he was just… dead?
Chiyo scanned the room slowly and said in a low voice:
"As much as this pains me… it is the truth."
"Third Kazekage was killed in battle yesterday—by Hanyu Simu."
The room fell into a deathly silence.
"…Hanyu Simu?"
Ye Cang murmured in disbelief.
Rasa, who had been silent until now, finally asked:
"What about Hanyu Simu? What's his condition?"
Chiyo replied without hesitation, "Seriously injured."
Because if the people of Sunagakure learned that Simu had killed the Kazekage while fighting thousands of ninja and even beheaded the Cloud veteran Yutai…
Then this war might be over before it even continued.
Rasa clenched his fists tightly.
Ye Cang and Baki's expressions were complicated.
They still remembered taking the joint Jōnin exam with that kid.
He was younger than all of them.
And now… he had personally killed the Kazekage they admired most?
If they found out the full truth of what happened on that battlefield, they might very well lose their minds.
Ye Cang suddenly stepped forward and raised her arm.
"Senior Chiyo, I request permission to go to the front lines. I want to avenge the Kazekage and strike back at Konoha!"
As soon as she said this, several Sand Jōnin also stepped forward, requesting to join the counterattack.
Baki remained silent.
So did Rasa.
Compared to Ye Cang, the two of them were more composed.
Now that the Kazekage was dead and the political situation unstable, this was absolutely not the time to go head-on against Konoha.
Konoha had factions—so did Sunagakure.
If someone took this opportunity to seize power…
…Sunagakure might fall apart from the inside before any outside war even resumed.
Not to mention, Simu had destroyed Black Iron Town—the Wind Country's main weapon manufacturing hub.
Several supply lines running to the borders had also been cut off by a Konoha ninja who came out of nowhere.
That guy's name…
was Namikaze Minato.
If things kept going this way…
Forget winning the war—Sunagakure might not even survive.
Right now, the most important priority was to stabilize the internal situation and elect a new Kazekage.
Only then could they unify the people and control the battlefield.
Chiyo thought the same.
"For now, we must choose a new Kazekage."
With no time for political maneuvering, she said bluntly:
"I propose Rasa as the Fifth Kazekage."
As a senior figure, Chiyo had her own faction.
Her words not only carried personal weight, but also represented the support of all Jōnin aligned with her camp.
Now that Ebizō was also dead, the Jōnin who had originally supported him began aligning themselves with Chiyo as well.
If she wanted the Kazekage seat for herself, no one could have stopped her.
But she didn't.
Because she knew—only the younger generation could carry Sunagakure's future forward.
And Rasa, who had inherited the Magnet Release, was the best candidate for that task.
Thanks to Sunagakure's inner chaos, Konoha finally had a chance to catch its breath on the border.
In this battle, Sunagakure had lost four thousand ninjas and one Kazekage.
But Konoha hadn't come away unscathed either.
The few hundred ninja who survived were all severely wounded and wouldn't be able to return to battle any time soon.
Even the Frontier Commander Akamichi had lost an arm.
He was so gravely injured that he had to withdraw from the battlefield entirely.
To prevent the Land of Wind from launching a surprise counterattack, the Third Hokage had no choice but to assign Orochimaru to lead a garrison of 5,000 ninjas at the border.
But Konoha had another pressing threat to worry about.
Mount Kikyo.
Right now, a 6,000-strong ninja force from Cloud Village had entrenched themselves there, watching Konoha like tigers eyeing prey.
They could break through and invade the heart of the Land of Fire at any time.
The Third Hokage sat in his office, worn down by stress and exhaustion.
He silently read the intelligence report in his hand.
The contents were compiled from the testimonies of survivors—
—describing the terrifying power Simu had displayed in this battle.
At this time, the special Kazekage hat was still on his desk.
"Teacher, Hanyu Simu over there..."
Tsunade asked, standing opposite the Third Hokage.
After all, he had made such an exaggerated military exploit. If he wasn't rewarded, it wouldn't be justifiable, right?
The Third Hokage certainly knew this.
"Reward Hanyu Simu with 5 million taels in my name."
"5 million taels?"
Tsunade didn't think it was too much, but she felt it was a little too little.
This is the Kazekage!
Known as the strongest Third Kazekage!
Even the reward offered by the underground gold exchange is more than this price, right?
The Third Hokage sighed.
"I don't know why, but this amount feels a bit stingy."
"I don't know why, but this time the daimyo's supplies have been coming very slowly, and Konoha's next funds must be used to support the war..."
Simply put, Hokage's family has run out of resources.
Tsunade frowned.
"I'm afraid the daimyo is dissatisfied with the way we saved Simu."
"But there is no way to directly attack, so they can only vent their frustration through delayed supplies."
The Third Hokage rubbed his eyebrows, looking a little tired.
Tsunade asked again, "What about the Mito family..."
The Third Hokage's eyes instantly turned sharp as he said coldly:
"The matter has been resolved. The Mito family resold military supplies. When the war broke out suddenly, the goods couldn't be replenished, so they bought a batch of goods from the underground exchange."
"I've already dealt with all relevant personnel."
There was one more thing the Third Hokage didn't say.
Through this wave of cleansing, all of Konoha's arsenals have been replaced with personnel from the Sarutobi family.
"What about Mitokado Homura?"
Tsunade was most concerned about this.
Neither she nor Jiraiya had any affection for Konoha's two advisors and Danzo.
The Third Hokage lit his own pipe and said softly:
"I've stripped him of all his positions, leaving only the title of consultant. He has no real power now."
He obviously didn't want to continue discussing the topic.
"Who do you think is better to send to support Mount Kikyo?"
"I'll go."
Tsunade didn't refuse this time.
After all, Kato Dan was not dead at this point, nor was she suffering from hemophobia.
She wasn't so opposed to war now.
Now that Konoha was in trouble, it was time for her to stand up.
Not to mention that the person in charge of defending Mount Kikyo at this time was her friend.
Jiraiya, also one of the Konoha Sannin.
The Third Hokage exhaled a puff of smoke.
He slowly said: "Let Simu go."
"Simu?"
Tsunade was puzzled for a moment.
Then she immediately understood the Third Hokage's intention.
This time, Cloud Shinobi was led by the Fourth Raikage, a candidate for the position of Raikage.
Moreover, Konoha's Anbu had also discovered an important person during the battles of the past few days.
That was the Eight-Tails Jinchūriki from Cloud Shinobi, Killer Bee!
His strength was also extremely powerful, and he and the Fourth Raikage formed a near-invincible duo.
This new generation of Cloud Shinobi's AB combination was extremely fast.
They could freely navigate the battlefield, and even Jiraiya, one of the Sannin, couldn't keep up with them.
It's not that Jiraiya couldn't defeat them.
It's that they avoided fighting Jiraiya altogether.
They specialized in guerrilla warfare on Mount Kikyo.
This caused Konoha's ninja forces a lot of trouble.
If Simu were there, it might really be able to limit Cloud Shinobi's AB combination.
So Simu, who had just been resting at home for five days, received another transfer order.
Go to reclaim Mount Kikyo.
"It's really troublesome. Why does this old man keep pulling me into his schemes?"
Simu muttered to Tsunade in displeasure.
After what happened last time, Ling Yi and Kushina had finally accepted that the three of them were living together.
And now this old man came to disturb him.
Tsunade looked at Simu with black lines all over her face.
Although this guy's talent and strength were both impressive.
His temperament was really bad!
She had no choice but to hand him a check.
Simu's eyes lit up, and in a flash of light, he snatched the check.
He examined it carefully in the sunlight.
It was true!
Tsunade covered her forehead speechlessly.
A true Konoha Shinobi should strive for the Will of Fire throughout their life.
Why was this guy only interested in money?
"Don't worry, it's real, five million taels!"
Simu suppressed his inner excitement.
He said lightly: "It's still a Kazekage... Why is it only five million taels..."
Tsunade had no choice but to explain:
"Mr. Sarutobi said that Konoha has no money right now, but I will make it up to you later."
"That's fine."
Simu smiled again.
This guy...
"Clean up, and then head to Mount Kikyo."
"Got it."
Driven by five million taels, Simu was filled with energy.
He went back to the house and said to Ling Yi:
"I just destroyed Black Iron Town in the Land of Wind half a month ago. The Land of Wind must be extremely short of weapons now."
"You ask Hyuga Tokumitsu's Aster Flower Merchant to immediately transport the batch of weapons I sent to him last time to the Land of Winds and sell them to the ninjas of Sunagakure."
Kushina frowned.
"It's wartime now, if you sell your weapons to the Land of Wind..."
Simu smiled slightly.
"Don't worry, those weapons are not ordinary weapons.
Those were the low-quality weapons I had looted from Black Iron Town..."
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