Another day passed, and night was falling.
Byakuya chewed on a chakra-restoring soldier pill, silently formulating a new plan.
He couldn't afford a single misstep.
Every move had to land exactly right.
Otherwise, one wrong step would lead to another, and the benefits he could secure for himself would be drastically reduced.
"Attempting to subjugate the blue-black giant snake as a summoning beast has two benefits. Against Pakura, who possesses Kage-level strength, I'd gain another trump card: a new Storm Style jutsu, the Flying Thunder God, and a summoning beast.
Additionally, I'd find out if the snake is from Ryuchi Cave. If it is, I've hit the jackpot.
However, the snake's power cannot be underestimated. To defeat it and sign a contract, I need to go all out—100% of my strength, no holding back.
This creates a new problem: if I fail, I'll have to retreat far away from Pakura to recover my body and chakra, wasting time."
"Another choice is to wait for Pakura to show up and use a Shadow Clone to make contact. She will definitely force my main body to appear for negotiations. With the Flying Thunder God, I'm not afraid of her turning hostile."
"There's also the option of continuing to assassinate Sand ninja, but that will only increase Pakura's hatred towards me. After all, right now, she is fiercely loyal to the Sand Village. This is actually the worst strategy."
Byakuya sighed.
He was helpless against the fact that his own power was still too weak.
Whether it was chakra, jutsu, or his influence within the Leaf.
In this rotten ninja world, even Kage-level strength didn't guarantee safety.
"It's really hard."
"Wait... I could also convince Pakura to help me subdue the blue-black snake."
"But what can I use to move her?"
Byakuya closed his eyes and combed through the intelligence Root had given him once more.
"I know that in the future, the Sand Village will betray Pakura—who rendered great service resisting the Mist invasion—to make peace with the Mist."
"I also know that Rasa becomes the Fourth Kazekage. Although Rasa doesn't appear much in the original story, as the father of Gaara, the Fifth Kazekage, his influence in the Sand is huge. Heh, in a severely weakened Sand Village, the Rasa faction holds real power."
Regardless of whether Gaara hated his father or not.
The result was that his son became the Fifth Kazekage, and his other son Kankuro and daughter Temari both held significant power.
---
By the time Pakura received the intelligence, it was already the third day.
She looked travel-worn and extremely exhausted.
To retaliate against the Rock Village, the Sand had provoked conflicts on the border, assassinating several Rock ninja. Although the targets weren't particularly powerful, it was enough to temporarily appease the boiling anger within the village.
"Lady Pakura, what should we do next?"
"What about the intel on the Leaf Village?"
"Uh, I don't know."
Pakura leaned against a tree, chewing on a soldier pill, and mumbled, "Let me rest for a bit, then I'll think."
"Yes."
It was that Leaf ninja in the Shuten-doji mask again!
Pakura had been filled with regret ever since he escaped her last time. As expected, he had brought trouble to the Sand.
After a long while.
A Sand ninja arrived via Body Flicker, kneeling before Pakura and handing over a scroll. "Lady Pakura, this is the latest intelligence from the village."
She broke the seal.
The intel stated that a young ninja codenamed Shuten-doji had recently joined Root, led by Danzo Shimura of the Leaf high command.
His identity was extremely mysterious. Sand spies embedded in the Leaf couldn't find any information about Shuten-doji's true identity.
All they knew was that he was a rising star, highly valued by Danzo.
Pakura scoffed. "Since Sansan Kaoru died, the quality of our spies in the Leaf has been abysmal. The fact that they 'discovered' this intel means Danzo wanted you to know it."
"Wearing a Shuten-doji mask and codenamed Shuten-doji? How lazy. He couldn't even be bothered to come up with a decent code name."
The rest of the intel was just rumors circulating in the Leaf, all impossible to verify.
Ever since the Third Kazekage disappeared, the Sand's strength had been continuously bleeding out. Even in this sorry state, the village was still engaged in internal power struggles. If not for the sudden attack by Kitsuchi's Rock ninja, Rasa's faction and their opponents probably would have been fighting to the death by now.
She originally thought the opposition to Rasa was a small minority. But when she returned to the village to report Sansan Kaoru's death, she was shocked to find that wasn't the case. The opposition controlled nearly half of the high command, and who knew how many mid-to-low-level ninja supported them.
The situation had deteriorated to the point where everyone suspected everyone else.
Even the way Rasa looked at her was full of suspicion.
"Suspecting me of what? Suspecting that I'll compete with you for the title of Kazekage?"
"The opposition wants to nominate the highly respected Lady Chiyo to stabilize the village first, and then have Rasa take over as the next Kazekage."
"But Rasa can't wait to become Kazekage. That desperate look in his eyes... it's as if he wouldn't hesitate to push the Sand Village into the abyss just to become the Fourth."
"Heh. The Rock invasion might actually be a good thing in disguise."
It was the One-Tail Jinchuriki, Bunpuku, who had repelled the Rock ninja.
Pakura didn't know the Jinchuriki's name. Many in the village didn't either. They just called the old man, who was near death from old age, "Shukaku," after the One-Tail's name.
"Sensei."
Pakura composed herself and smiled. "It's Maki. What is it?"
Maki was very young, but she had cried and begged Pakura to bring her to the Land of Rivers for training.
"I made these rice balls. Sensei, stop eating those nasty soldier pills!"
She stood on tiptoes and handed two rice balls to Pakura.
Pakura looked at the eager expression in Maki's eyes, took a rice ball, and took a bite. "Maki makes delicious rice balls."
Since the Sand Village was in a desert, rice wasn't a staple food.
The rice had been "bought" from the civilians here after they arrived in the Land of Rivers.
Stroking Maki's small head with her other hand, Pakura imagined what life would be like for Maki in a peaceful future.
Perhaps the Sand would have conquered a large territory from the Land of Fire, and everyone in the village could eat rice balls.
Maki had great talent and would likely become a Jonin. At that time, would she be guarding the new territories, or serving as a Kazekage guard in the village?
"Sensei, actually... actually..."
Maki whispered very, very softly, "Actually, everyone hopes you can become the Kazekage."
"Me? Why?" Pakura was dumbfounded.
"Because everyone understands that only you love peace and cherish the Sand Village. Lord Rasa is full of fighting spirit, obsessed with achieving great deeds. Lady Chiyo is filled with hatred for the Leaf; she wouldn't blink an eye at sacrificing anyone for revenge."
Pakura immediately asked sternly, "Who told you to say these things to me?"
"Sensei, I... I... these are my own thoughts."
Seeing her teacher suddenly become so serious, Maki was scared to the point of tears. In her memory, her teacher always had a good temper.
Pakura crouched down in front of Maki.
She finished one rice ball and carefully placed the remaining one back into Maki's hand.
Life for the common people of the Sand was too bitter—so bitter that everyone had forgotten they were suffering.
The desert was just sand. Endless sand. When the wind blew harder, the sand covered the sky and earth, threatening to bury the entire world.
"Child, don't lie to Sensei. Tell me, who said these things to you?"
"It... it was... everyone asked me to memorize it and say it to you," Maki sobbed.
Pakura felt a suffocating pressure in her chest. She looked around.
The eyes of every Sand ninja in the camp were fixed on her.
"Lady Pakura... Repelling the Cloud invasion, the Rock invasion, quelling the rebellions in the Land of Wind, even killing the Rock ninja on the border—you did it all personally. Your merit is no less than Rasa's. How can you bear to watch Rasa bury your achievements and do nothing?"
"Yes, Lady Pakura. Even if the Leaf's interior is empty... that's still the renowned Hidden Leaf Village! Everyone has heard of Minato Namikaze's reputation! Are we really their match?"
"We just want peace, Lady Pakura. We beg you, lead us to peace! I don't want to die. They don't want to die either."
The gazes of these Sand ninja were like the gravel of the desert at noon—densely pelting her body, carrying scorching heat and heavy expectations. They were like invisible ropes, binding her limbs and bones, suffocating her.