Rasa probably wouldn't do something that brainless. He likely didn't even dare.
But what if he did?
The Water Daimyo was attacked inside the Land of Wind's borders and even lost a hand. The Wind Daimyo didn't want to take any chances.
If he guessed right, it would just be a false alarm—no harm done.
But if he guessed wrong, he could end up dead.
Even losing a limb would be unacceptable.
You should never underestimate what a crazy person might do—they're capable of anything.
It was clear the Wind Daimyo wasn't willing to gamble on whether Rasa had really lost it or not.
So he chose to lay low somewhere safe and would only return to the Land of Wind once he was sure everything was fine.
First it was Danzo scaring the Fire Daimyo half to death, and now it's Rasa acting crazy enough to make the Wind Daimyo run away overnight?
That strange thought drifted through Jiraiya's head.
"Alright then, send two squads to escort the Wind Daimyo to the estate. Also, report the situation back to the village. The rest isn't our problem."
Since the Wind Daimyo had officially asked for protection, Jiraiya couldn't just ignore it.
Over the years, that Daimyo had supported the Hidden Leaf quite a bit—it was only right to return the favor.
He gave us support, so now it's our turn to help him out.
Two ninja squads were enough for the job. Besides, they were still within the Land of Fire, and since the war hadn't broken out yet, things were still pretty safe here. No need to send too many people.
As for the rest, Jiraiya wasn't going to get involved.
Just report it to the village and let them handle it.
How the village chose to deal with Sunagakure after that—well, that was no longer his concern.
Rasa must be really frustrated knowing that the Daimyo packed up and ran off.
Jiraiya couldn't help but laugh.
The situation in the ninja world was definitely getting more and more interesting.
And honestly, Rasa was on the verge of losing it.
They had just gathered the intel from the scene and hadn't even sorted it out yet, when suddenly their own Daimyo packed his bags and fled.
— ¶ —————————————————————
By the time they found out, he was already out of the Land of Wind and had gone to ask Konohagakure for help.
Talk about a slap in the face—it couldn't have hit harder.
Rasa really had it rough.
Looking at the scattered scrolls and supplies all over the floor, Chiyo let out a quiet sigh. For a moment, she actually felt a bit sorry for Rasa.
Being Kazekage really wasn't an easy job.
One problem after another kept piling up—just as one thing started getting handled, another fire broke out in the back.
The Land of Wind Daimyo running away was basically telling the whole world that Rasa was behind the assassination of the Land of Water's Daimyo.
Like saying, "I'm scared he's going to kill me too, so I ran off." Believe it or not—well, *he* clearly believed it.
"Kazekage-sama, since the Daimyo is already in the Land of Fire, maybe it's best to let him calm down there for a while. When I head to Konohagakure, I'll stop by the Daimyo's place and speak with him. The truth will come out sooner or later."
"There's no need. It already has."
Rasa's face was dark as he handed Chiyo a scroll from the intel department.
"We found some bodies and got a lot of information. Turns out the ones who killed the Water Daimyo were actually members of a patrol squad that never returned. But they were probably being controlled by the enemy."
He really did sound like he was in a rush now.
Chiyo opened the scroll and looked through it carefully.
"In that case, I'll leave the public announcement to you, Kazekage-sama. I'll head out to Konohagakure right away and visit the Daimyo personally. If possible, I'll try to bring Konohagakure in on this as well."
"Having people from Konohagakure involved should help rebuild some of the Daimyo's trust in us."
"Yeah."
Rasa didn't say much. His mood was terrible, and he simply gave a short reply:
"Then I'll leave the matter of supplies to you, Advisor Chiyo."
"It's all for the village. These old bones can still do a bit of work."
Leaving the Kazekage's office, Chiyo took people and money and headed straight for the Land of Fire.
She had to move quickly. Before the war broke out, she needed to buy enough supplies for the village.
Whether it was food or war materials, they had to stockpile everything in large quantities.
Otherwise, once the fighting began, transporting supplies would be hard—and prices would shoot up like crazy. Sunagakure couldn't afford to be the sucker paying extra.
Even if the war didn't happen in the end, they could just slowly use up what they bought.
That's only if you can buy it—if Konohagakure is even willing to sell.
In a time like this, even if the Daimyo's people wanted to make a quick profit, they still had to wait for Konohagakure's approval.
If the village said no, the Daimyo's people would just have to suck it up.
*Knock knock knock!*
Before Izumi could step up, the office door opened on its own. Tsunade walked in holding a scroll.
"Hokage-sama."
Izumi quickly stood at attention and greeted Tsunade politely.
"Mm, I need to talk with Yan for a bit. You can go home and rest."
Tsunade waved her hand, signaling that Izumi could leave for the day.
"Yes, Hokage-sama."
"I'll head out first, then."
Izumi quietly waved at Yan, then stepped out of the office, gently closing the door behind her.
"Here, this is from the border camp."
Tsunade casually sat on the desk and placed a scroll on top of the files in front of Yan.
Yan opened the scroll, glanced at it, and immediately burst out laughing:
"Pfft—Rasa must be losing his mind right now. He hasn't even figured out what's going on, and the Daimyo just packed up and ran. Isn't this basically confirming that Sunagakure assassinated the Daimyo of the Land of Water?"
This is seriously brilliant.
If you're wondering what a useless teammate looks like, this is it.
Anyone stuck with a teammate like that would be ready to pull their hair out.
Even if the truth comes out later, it'll still be nearly impossible for Sunagakure to shake off the blame for the assassination.
You could say that this time, Sunagakure got totally screwed over by the Daimyo of the Land of Wind.
And not just a little—it was bad.
Yan didn't know whether Rasa had ever actually planned to kill the Daimyo, but after this whole mess, he figured Rasa probably wanted to now.
To be fair, if Yan were in Rasa's shoes and the Fire Daimyo did something like this, he'd probably want to take him out too.
Completely useless at running a country, but always the first to stir up trouble—that's the Land of Wind's Daimyo.
If there's one thing he's good at, it's messing over his own people.
Look at all the stupid things he's done over the years—refusing to give Sunagakure funding, stopping them from developing properly, even turning around and demanding compensation from them. Then he started handing out missions to Konohagakure instead, doing everything he could to support the Leaf, and still found ways to make life miserable for Sunagakure.
And now? Just when everyone's starting to suspect Sunagakure, this guy bails completely—basically confirming they sent someone to kill the Daimyo of the Land of Water.
At this point, even if Rasa had ten mouths, he couldn't explain his way out of it.
It's like getting mud in your pants—people will think it's crap no matter what you say.
"Poor Rasa. Hope he can handle the pressure."
Damn, that Daimyo is something else.
Good thing the Fire Daimyo isn't like that. Otherwise, Konohagakure would be in just as much of a mess.