The remnants of the battlefield were a mess.
Fires burned, smoke filled the air.
Broken debris and corpses were everywhere; blood flowed, converging into rivers. Even the pouring rain couldn't wash it all away in a short time.
The Sunagakure's Shinobi were cleaning up the battlefield. No one spoke, lacking any sense of celebration after victory.
Such a scene, unless one was inherently bloodthirsty, would only weigh heavily on anyone who saw it.
Ryuji felt the same.
During the last war defending Sunagakure, he hadn't participated in the most intense gate defense battle, nor had he fought to the end, so he hadn't experienced the brutality of war.
But he experienced it now.
The shocking sight of severed limbs and shattered remains repeatedly made him question himself inside.
Was doing this really okay?
No, of course not.
Anyone sensing the atmosphere here would give that answer immediately.
But if given the choice again, he would still do it.
Ultimately, differences between people cause conflicts, from arguing over novels and movies to disagreements over social ideologies.
As long as people maintain their individuality, war won't disappear.
Rather than being a victim, he preferred to be the perpetrator.
Because he was a Shinobi.
And Shinobi lived by fighting; the Shinobi World was about kill or be killed.
Akatsuki could block Sunagakure's mission for their ideals. As part of Sunagakure, Ryuji naturally wouldn't go easy on them either.
Otherwise, they would become the victims.
"I didn't expect you to be the one bringing reinforcements." Rasa walked over from the opposite side, somewhat emotional.
Based on his assessment of the situation, the village's internal had likely encountered problems, and reinforcements wouldn't come.
Even if reinforcements came, it was more likely to be Chiyo, who is busy setting up the Infinite Water Circulation System outside, rushing back.
He never expected it to be Ryuji, the delegation's leader stationed in Konoha.
Ryuji looked up at him, a trace of a smile forced onto his heavy expression. "At this time, only I could come. So naturally, it's me."
"Indeed, thanks to you; otherwise, the village would have been in huge trouble this time."
Saying this, Rasa's expression turned serious.
"I just spoke with the Land of Iron's representatives. Because we won this victory, they've decided to give us another chance."
"There must be conditions, right?"
"Naturally, after all, we messed things up."
"What conditions?"
"Force Hanzo to withdraw his troops within ten days."
"That's simple enough."
Originally, the Land of Iron's mission was to pressure Amegakure, without a clause about Hanzo withdrawing troops.
But in reality, applying enough pressure on Amegakure would make it hard for Hanzo not to withdraw.
After all, Amegakure was his foundation.
If Amegakure were finished, any victories abroad would be useless.
Meaning, the Land of Iron essentially just added a ten-day time limit to the mission before handing it back to Sunagakure.
This was the importance of a village's reputation.
If not for this impressive turnaround battle, Sunagakure would have lost all reputation due to the Third Kazekage's death in this war.
Not only would they lose the Land of Iron's mission, but the Daimyo might cut military funds, and future clients would find it hard to trust Sunagakure's strength, turning to other villages.
"Any thoughts?"
Facing Rasa's inquiry, Ryuji smiled slightly. "Advance slowly towards Amegakure, while having our men spread the rumor: Sunagakure, seeking revenge for the Third Kazekage-sama, will raze every town we see along the way."
Rasa's eyes widened. "Doing that would cause public outrage."
"What are you thinking? Of course, we'd wait for the civilians to flee before acting!"
"Ah!"
Rasa was stunned, then understood the purpose of spreading the news early and smiled. "Not a bad move."
This was an open scheme.
Even if Hanzo knew Ryuji's true intent, it would be useless.
The Daimyo of the Land of Rain wouldn't dare take the risk and wouldn't want too much damage to towns and buildings, definitely ordering Hanzo back to fulfill the Shinobi Village's duty of protecting the country.
"What about the Akatsuki's leader, Yahiko?" Ryuji changed the topic.
"Dead."
"Dead?"
Ryuji was taken aback, somewhat surprised.
Yahiko, after all, had a protagonist template. Without a mastermind plotting, dying was quite difficult.
"In the negotiation canyon, hearing the situation here, we fought..." Rasa explained slowly.
At the time, they're seeking a counterattack opportunity.
Yahiko, chased by golden sand, hid behind a stone pillar. Using the brief loss of vision, he used Shadow Clone Technique, having the clone run out to draw attention while his real body hid behind the pillar, waiting for a chance.
When the golden sand chased the clone away from the caster, Yahiko jumped out.
But Rasa still had a guard beside him.
This guard was a puppeteer. While not necessarily able to defeat Yahiko, he could delay him.
The key was, Yahiko, unwilling to give up this hard-found opportunity, risked being attacked by the puppeteer to charge at Rasa.
As a result: a senbon hit his arm.
As everyone knows, puppeteers are poison masters; every weapon is coated with deadly poison.
A senbon hitting the arm was a minor injury, but the poison was the real killer.
"So he died from poison?"
Hearing Rasa's account, Ryuji felt strange.
How to put it? It was completely logical.
But precisely because it was logical, he felt strange.
After all, this wasn't some bizarre parallel world; illogical things were normal.
"Anything strange?"
"No, nothing." Ryuji shook his head, continuing to ask, "What about Third Kazekage-sama's situation?"
"Died from a greatsword through the chest."
Saying this, Rasa was puzzled. "I fought that Yahiko several times; I know his strength well. I don't understand how Third Kazekage-sama could be killed by someone of that level."
"Who knows?" Ryuji shrugged. "Maybe he got careless, maybe Yahiko's conviction erupted. Anyway, it's all possible."
"This... alright."
Rasa was still puzzled but didn't dwell on it.
After all, Shinobi were like that.
No matter how strong, without body regeneration abilities, a kunai to a vital spot would kill you.
"By the way, I heard you gave a speech in the village, running for Fourth Kazekage?" Rasa changed the topic to this question.
"Yeah, you want to be Fourth Kazekage too?"
"Naturally, becoming Kazekage has always been my goal."
"That's unfortunate; you can't achieve that goal now." Ryuji sighed. "Our Third Kazekage-sama will continue in office for a while longer."
Thud!
Rasa halted, expression puzzled.
Ryuji smiled. "Take me to see Third Kazekage-sama. If it's just physical death, it's nothing to me."
Hearing this, Rasa's eyes widened.
'This guy, has he reached a level transcending life and death?'
Ryuji ignored Rasa's reaction, heading straight for the Sunagakure's camp.
He was going to make another Third Kazekage.
Although he earlier said in the village he wanted villagers to actively elect him as Kazekage, that was just a plan to boost morale, gain village recognition, and get them to follow his orders.
He himself hadn't thought about becoming Kazekage now.
After all, once he became the Kazekage, he'd be entangled in various affairs.
He still had so much research and other things to do; where would he find time to be Kazekage?
Moreover, was there any difference between a puppet serving as Kazekage and himself serving as Kazekage?
Probably just a nominal issue.
…
His consciousness gradually cleared. The Third Kazekage abruptly opened his eyes and sat up.
Then, memories flooded back.
"Didn't I die?"
The Third Kazekage was somewhat bewildered.
He touched his body, feeling the solid sensation, denying this was the afterlife.
He looked around, recognizing a familiar yet unfamiliar environment.
Familiar because of the equipment and instruments placed around; unfamiliar because the setting differed from where he last woke up.
"Did Ryuji revive me?"
Space twisted, a vortex-like door opened.
Ryuji walked in with a new set of clothes. "I have no means to revive the dead. Just copied the previous generation's memories onto a new Third Kazekage."
"Like that?"
The Third Kazekage understood.
He took the clothes Ryuji handed over, dressing while saying, "My body, soul, and memories are all the Third Kazekage's. That's not much different from revival, right?"
"That depends on how you think about it."
Ryuji couldn't answer this question.
The new Third Kazekage's body was nurtured from the original Third Kazekage's cells. The soul and consciousness were made from the original's Chakra, plus copied memories. Calling him the same person wasn't wrong.
Like when a person gets injured, cells divide to heal. Can you say the new divided cells aren't part of your body?
But ultimately, the previous Third Kazekage and the current one were separate individuals. Whether they were the same person depended on how one viewed it.
Just like Aozaki Touko.
She could create puppets with souls identical to her own, so she'd make a spare body while alive.
When the living her died, memories would back up and awaken in the new puppet.
She considered this her own revival, not a new Aozaki Touko being born. But some questioned whether it was the old Aozaki Touko dying and a new one being born.
She couldn't prove it herself; she just believed it.
"How is the village's situation now?"
The Third Kazekage didn't dwell on that issue, asking about the outside situation instead.
As a village leader, he clearly knew the impact his death in battle would bring. He had prepared for the worst.
"Very chaotic, but mostly resolved."
"That's good."
...
When the new Third Kazekage appeared before everyone, all were shocked.
This wasn't like last time.
Last time, since he was assassinated by Sasori, no one knew about his condition.
Ryuji could talk about mysterious technical principles, saying the Third Kazekage wasn't dead, so he could be saved.
But this time, the Third Kazekage was killed in front of everyone, his body cold for a week and a half.
Could you still say he wasn't dead?
Yes, Ryuji's excuse was still 'not dead'.
Just pretending to be dead for strategic reasons.
Honestly, this reason was somewhat insulting to intelligence.
But with Ryuji not telling the truth, and the Third Kazekage showing no detectable issues, they couldn't refute it. They just believed internally that Ryuji had developed a resurrection technique to revive the dead, using this clumsy excuse for secrecy.