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In the blink of an eye, Three days passed. Watanabe, in the Advisor's office of the Kazekage Tower, was growing anxious. "Still no news
In the blink of an eye,
Three days passed.
Watanabe, in the Advisor's office of the Kazekage Tower, was growing anxious.
"Still no news from the Third Kazekage?"
Watanabe's face was gloomy, and a hint of fear could be seen in his eyes.
The Sand Anbu standing before Watanabe replied, "The Anbu haven't received any word from the Third Kazekage."
The Third Kazekage had left the village for the Daimyo's mansion ten days ago.
Logically, he should have arrived at the Daimyo's mansion five days ago. Even if something had delayed him on the way, he should have arrived two days ago.
Upon arriving at the Daimyo's mansion, the Third Kazekage would send a message back to the village to report his safety, so that if something happened, they wouldn't be completely unaware.
This was pre-arranged.
However, five days had passed since the scheduled arrival time, and they still hadn't received any word from the Third Kazekage.
Especially now, with the powerful Clay Release: Explosion Release ninja who had killed the Third Mizukage, as mentioned by Kazeyuki, in the Land of Wind.
With the Third Kazekage's disappearance, Watanabe couldn't help but think of a possibility he didn't want to see.
"Quickly, notify all Anbu members. Centered on the route from the village to the Daimyo's mansion, expand the search in both directions. Search until we find the Third Kazekage."
Watanabe's expression tightened. He couldn't wait any longer. He immediately made a decision to dispatch all Anbu members to search for the Third Kazekage.
"Yes, sir."
The Anbu ninja received the order and withdrew.
Soon, all Anbu members, including those on missions, would receive the order to search for the Third Kazekage with all their might.
"Three days!"
After returning to his desk, Watanabe tapped his index finger on the desktop, his brows furrowed.
The Anbu only had three days.
If three days passed, and there was still no news of the Third Kazekage, he would have to announce the Third Kazekage's disappearance to all the ninjas in the village and mobilize everyone to search for him.
By then… damn it!
Why didn't Nanjiro and the others act sooner? Even if they didn't kill Kazeyuki, they could have forced him to defect.
Now, it's likely that he was killed by that mysterious powerhouse beforehand.
Now, the Third Kazekage is missing. If they can't find him, the village will inevitably re-elect the Fourth Kazekage.
By then, Kazeyuki, who is still alive, will inevitably be the only candidate for the Fourth Kazekage.
Because Sasori, the most likely threat to Kazeyuki's candidacy, and Chiyo's grandson, have also disappeared along with the Third Kazekage.
Among the three great clans, only Rasa, who has recently mastered Magnet Release, has some reputation. He is still far too weak to pose a threat to Kazeyuki.
"Damn it!"
Thinking of this, Watanabe felt a surge of frustration.
"Could it be that we can only watch that little devil Kazeyuki take the Kazekage's position?"
"No, I will never allow a civilian ninja to stand above the clans."
"Shinji."
After his face contorted in anger, Watanabe immediately called for Shinji, who was outside the door.
"Sir." Shinji entered and respectfully replied.
"What has Kazeyuki been doing these three days? Has anything unusual happened?" Watanabe asked.
"Reporting, sir." Shinji said, "These three days, Kazeyuki has been meeting with his supporters every night. Among them, there are as many as twenty Jonin."
"What! Twenty Jonin!" Watanabe was shocked, then felt a strong sense of apprehension.
The number of Jonin is a basic standard for measuring the strength of a ninja village. Twenty Jonin is a number that most small hidden villages in the ninja world couldn't possibly gather.
This shows the weight of twenty Jonin.
Moreover, these twenty Jonin have some close ninja associates. If all these people are added together, Kazeyuki has already gathered a terrifying force in Sunagakure.
No.
They can't let this guy continue. They must force him to defect from the village immediately.
It just so happens that the Third Kazekage is missing. This can be linked to Kazeyuki, blaming him for attacking the Third Kazekage in collaboration with that mysterious Clay Release: Explosion Release ninja to become the Fourth Kazekage sooner.
If Kazeyuki refutes it, let him undergo memory extraction.
Kazeyuki will definitely not dare to accept memory extraction.
In this way, they will have a reason to act, and others will also blame Kazeyuki for the Third Kazekage's disappearance and the deaths of Nanjiro and the others.
"Perfect, why didn't I think of this earlier?"
Watanabe secretly rejoiced. Although Chiyo and Ebizō were not here, forcing Kazeyuki like this would inevitably lead to chaos in Sunagakure, and many people would die.
But so what?
Kazeyuki, however strong, is not as strong as all the ninjas of the ten clans combined.
As long as they kill Kazeyuki, and the Kazekage position returns to the three great clans, then everything will be worth it.
Just as Watanabe was about to reveal his plan, Shinji added, "By the way, sir, among those twenty Jonin, five are from three clans among the seven clans outside the three great clans."
Ah… Watanabe's pupils constricted at this news. He opened his mouth but couldn't speak, his shocked gaze fixed on Shinji.
"Impossible!"
"How could they…"
Watanabe suddenly couldn't speak. He had originally wanted to say that the ten clans were of one mind, ruling Sunagakure together, and that they had no reason to support Kazeyuki, a commoner.
But he suddenly thought.
The position of Kazekage has always been held by the three great clans. Even without Sasori, Rasa is from the three great clans.
From beginning to end, the seven clans outside the three great clans have never had the possibility of becoming Kazekage.
It seemed that the seven clans had long harbored resentment towards the three great clans, or perhaps they also wanted to covet the position of Kazekage.
Thinking this way, it wasn't strange that some of the seven clans would support Kazeyuki.
"This is troublesome!"
Those guys might not dare to help Kazeyuki attack the three great clans, but they clearly wouldn't help them deal with Kazeyuki either.
This would instantly reverse the balance of power. Even if Kazeyuki's supporters weren't as strong as the three great clans combined, the three great clans couldn't afford the consequences of an open conflict.
"This…"
After pondering for a while, Watanabe slumped back into his chair, his earlier ferocity extinguished. His plan to force Kazeyuki to defect was instantly shattered.
"Go, keep an eye out for messages from the Third Kazekage and Chiyo." Watanabe waved his hand, dismissing Shinji.
For now, they could only find the Third Kazekage.
As long as the Third Kazekage returned, with his age, he could still suppress Kazeyuki for at least ten years.
A lot could happen in ten years.
However, the first unexpected event sent a chill down Watanabe's spine.
Three days later.
Chiyo and Ebizō, along with two Anbu squads, returned, bringing news that the Third Kazekage was highly likely to have been killed.
Of course, this was just speculation.
Chiyo reported that the Third Kazekage was missing and that all the ninjas in the village needed to search for him.
But Watanabe knew that the Third Kazekage was most likely dead.
He had already obtained relevant information from the Anbu ninjas accompanying Chiyo.
Chiyo and her group followed the Third Kazekage's route and finally found traces of a battle at a small oasis.
Although the battlefield had been cleaned up,
The Third Kazekage's large-scale use of Iron Sand Control wasn't so easy to completely erase.
It was clear that the Third Kazekage had fought a powerful shinobi at that small oasis.
The enemy must have been incredibly powerful to force the Third Kazekage to use Magnet Release: Iron Sand Control, covering a two-kilometer radius.
Combining this with Kazeyuki's words, Watanabe guessed that the one who fought the Third Kazekage was the mysterious Clay Release: Explosion Release ninja who had killed the Third Mizukage, as Kazeyuki had mentioned.
Chiyo and her group searched the surrounding area for a long time but couldn't find the Third Kazekage's body.
This could be good news, but it was also bad news.
Because Chiyo's grandson was also missing.
Later, news came from the village that the Third Kazekage hadn't reached the Daimyo's mansion.
After gathering all the information, a heartbreaking reality appeared in Chiyo's mind.
But she refused to accept this reality. Upon returning to the village, her first thought was to mobilize all the ninjas in the village to search for the Third Kazekage and her grandson.
Now, the entire village was in an uproar because of the Third Kazekage's disappearance.
"There's no need to search. Your Third Kazekage is dead. I killed him."
Just as everyone in the village was excitedly going to search for the Third Kazekage, a voice echoed through Sunagakure via a loudspeaker.
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