Chiba felt a flicker of emotion stir within him.
He tightened his grip on the token in his hand. "Rasa," he said abruptly. "You understand this better than anyone. You and I—we're just pieces on the board for the Third Kazekage. Pawns to be sacrificed whenever it suits him."
Rasa gave a solemn nod. "I know. But a man can only serve a lord who recognizes his worth, and I—"
"Is that really the full extent of your value, Rasa?"
Chiba cut him off. "Ask yourself. Does the Third Kazekage truly recognize your worth? Or is he just using you because he has no one else? Will dying for a man like that really prove anything?"
"I…"
Rasa's broad frame stiffened. He was rendered speechless. He left Chiba's room in a daze, his steps heavy with confusion.
"Every action, every consequence… maybe it's all fated," Chiba murmured, watching Rasa's retreating back. If possible, he hoped "Value Bro" wouldn't get caught up and killed in the coming chaos—chaos he himself was orchestrating.
He shook his head, clearing his thoughts. He pulled out the list again, his eyes scanning the names.
Extracting the Jinchūriki without anyone noticing was incredibly difficult. So difficult that even the Kazekage, after all his preparations, didn't dare make a move yet.
But if the goal was simply to use the Jinchūriki to cause chaos? That was much simpler.
For example: pinpoint a genuine guard, plant a paper clone rigged with explosive tags on him.
Or: find a cook or a food delivery person, slip something into the monk's meal to knock him out. The lively, "lovable" Shukaku would surely be thrilled to come out for some fresh air!
Of course, none of this would be possible without Chiba's Sharingan.
"And afterwards, even if Suna investigates and finds traces of Genjutsu used by a Konoha shinobi… the only person in the entire delegation 'known' to specialize in Genjutsu is one of Danzō Shimura's men—Yamanaka Yafū!"
All he had to do was ensure Yamanaka Yafū didn't survive the chaos. The entire plan would form a perfect, closed loop.
"Hmm. Need to move quickly," Chiba muttered to himself.
The banquet was only a few days away. He had to use this time—leveraging Danzō's people, the Kazekage's people, and his own identity as "Sasori's friend"—to set the final pieces in place.
The night before the banquet.
In the Third Kazekage's private chambers, Chiba and Yamanaka Yafū appeared silently before the seemingly dozing Kage.
"Lord Kazekage," Yamanaka Yafū said, his voice low. "We have confirmed the location of the One-Tails Jinchūriki. Shall our people move to extract him?"
These were the lines Chiba had prepared for him. The goal was to influence the Kazekage's decision, to instill a sense of urgency—delay invites disaster.
See? Whether it's my Konoha people or Chiyo's faction, someone might make a move on the Jinchūriki after the banquet turmoil. Don't you want to secure it for yourself first?
"Did you alert Chiyo?" the Kazekage asked, deflecting the question.
"Of course not. The boy here used his connection with Sasori to obtain the information easily."
Yamanaka Yafū gestured smugly at Chiba, who stood stiff as a puppet behind him. As far as he was concerned, the credit was all his.
"Good."
The Kazekage nodded. "Leave the Jinchūriki to me. You only need to wait for my signal at the banquet and assault Chiyo's faction."
"Understood, Lord Kazekage."
Once they left the chambers, a thread of anxiety wound through Chiba. Would his plan work? Could he really get both sides to fight, both inside and out?
Only if Suna descended into utter chaos could the blame be squarely pinned on Danzō Shimura. Only then could he slip away clean…
"Ah, what's the point of worrying now?" he thought, shaking off the tension. "The pieces are in place. Now it's in fate's hands."
After a moment of internal debate, he let it go.
Win or lose, we roll the dice. Worst case, I help Toki and Ame kill the Kazekage and carve out a life here in Suna—or go wander the wider world.
Hmph. A village that can't recognize talent isn't worth staying in anyway.
Amidst the swirling undercurrents and hidden schemes, the banquet honoring the Konoha delegation began.
Inside the opulent palace, adorned with gold-infused sand, the Third Kazekage and Chiyo sat at the head table. The remaining Suna elders and Konoha delegates were seated to their left and right.
As arranged by the Kazekage, Chiba and the others were seated right beside Toki and Ame.
"Since everyone is present," the Kazekage began, raising his cup with a genial smile, "let us begin. A toast to our honored guests from Konoha."
Swish.
Chiba and the other Konoha envoys stood as one, giving a slight, courteous bow to the assembled crowd. And then—
"Ninja Art: Mind Disturbance Carnage!"
"Earth Style: Earth-Spear Rising!"
"Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique!"
The Root ninjas struck.
CRACK!
In the stunned silence that followed their sudden eruption of violence, several unprepared Suna elders fell, dead before they hit the floor.
"Dance of the Shikigami!"
Chiba roared with equal ferocity. His body exploded. Not into gore, but into a storm of swirling paper that engulfed the space around Toki and Ame.
The hall erupted.
Some scrambled for the exits. Others raised hasty defenses. Yet others turned on their neighbors in sudden, vicious betrayal.
"What is this? Is Konoha trying to start another war?!" a Suna elder cried out in panic.
"Idiot! Look who's dead—it's our people!" another elder roared, his face twisted in rage. "Not Konoha—it's the Third Kazekage!"
That single shout cut through the noise. The lines were drawn. Understanding dawned on many faces.
"Kazekage," Chiyo's voice was calm, almost weary, as she slowly rose from her seat. She had seen too much since the days of the First Kazekage to be flustered now. "You've been planning tonight's little feast for a long time, haven't you?"
Poof.
She unsealed a scroll with a tap. White smoke billowed, revealing ten stark white, ferociously armed puppets arrayed before her.
"Heh. So these are the legendary 'Chikamatsu's Ten Puppets,' said to take on a thousand alone?" the Kazekage's smile was gone, replaced by cold resolve. Explanations were pointless now. "I've long wished to test them."
He raised his arms. From the very walls of the palace, a dark tide surged—a wave of magnetized iron sand that howled toward Chiyo.
"Magnet Release: Iron Sand Drizzle!"
"Puppetry Technique: Defensive Light Shield!"
Their clash was immediate, brutal, a storm of black sand against whirling white wood and steel. As the two leaders engaged, the remaining Suna elders—save for a few neutrals frozen in shock—split into two clear factions and hurled themselves at each other with furious bellows.
"Our way out—it's sealed! Someone set up a Four-Sided Seal barrier outside!"
The despairing cry from one of the neutrals plunged the battling hall into a new depth of frenzy.
Kill. It's you or me.
That bastard Kazekage set up a barrier too?! Chiba's heart lurched.
The barrier had never been mentioned. Not once. The old snake planned to let the Konoha pawns fight his battle until their last drop of blood was spent.
"Thank every god I was a traitor from the start," he thought, a wave of cold relief washing over him. "Otherwise, I'd be dead meat right now."
It was true. His paper explosion had looked spectacular, but every single sheet of paper had whistled harmlessly past Toki and Ame, a masterpiece of deliberate misses. His stance was clear.
Toki and Ame met his eyes for a brief, deep moment. Then they disengaged, moving to confront other enemies. Chiba made a few token attempts to block them—half-hearted, easily dodged—before letting them pass.
BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.
Just as the fighting reached its blood-drenched peak, the ground beneath them shook. A violent, deep tremor, as if something colossal had just slammed into the earth outside.
A screeching, cackling howl tore through the air, echoing across all of Sunagakure.
"HAHAHAHA! That boring old monk Fū finally fell asleep! Lord Shukaku is FREE to play!"
Every combatant in the hall, Kage faction and Chiyo faction alike, froze mid-swing. All heads turned toward the palace entrance.
Over the "short" rooftops of the village, a titanic, sandy-yellow monster covered in sealing inscriptions, dozens of meters tall, threw back its head and laughed its wretched laugh.
The One-Tails—Shukaku!
The next second, it dropped to all fours and began to run. It barreled through the village streets like an overexcited husky set loose in a sandbox, its monstrous laughter ("Heh heh… Hahaha!") punctuating each earth-shattering step.
Beneath that laughter rose another chorus: screams. Horrified shrieks and desperate wails. Where Shukaku's bulk passed, houses crumbled into splinters and dust. Those too slow to flee were crushed instantly into red paste.
"Shukaku?! How is Shukaku out?!" a Suna elder shrieked, whirling to face his opponents from the other faction, his face purple with rage. "You monsters! How could you?! You released it! Those are our people out there! Our VILLAGE!"
"Bullshit! Why would we do that?!" an elder from the opposing side roared back, veins bulging on his neck. "It was YOU! You released the beast and now you try to pin it on us? You heartless bastards! Is there nothing in your eyes but profit?!"
They pointed fingers, hurled accusations, their voices raw with hatred. The logic was simple, brutal: if we didn't do it, then you, our despised enemies, must have.
Shing!
The blades that had paused now swung faster, fiercer, fueled by a new, righteous fury. They weren't just fighting for power now. They were fighting to purge the village of the "animals" on the other side—the ones who would unleash a tailed beast on their own home.
Perfect. My plan actually worked.
Amidst the sea of rage, one heart beat with a thrill of pure, undiluted triumph.
The architect of the chaos—Chiba.
Now I can go back and say mission accomplished!
~~~~❃❃~~~~~~~~❃❃~~~~
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