Daimyo

Madara Uchiha was already very old.

Back then, Madara Uchiha had obtained the opportunity to awaken the Rinnegan through a piece of Senju Hashirama’s flesh, but sustaining and nurturing the Rinnegan required an enormous amount of Chakra.

When Chakra was insufficient, what it consumed was life force.

That was also why Madara had transplanted the Rinnegan into Nagato.

Nagato, who possessed both Uzumaki and Senju bloodlines, had the Chakra and life force needed to bear the Rinnegan over a long period. Even so, Nagato had nearly been drained dry by the Rinnegan and the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path.

If Madara had not transplanted the Rinnegan into Nagato, how could someone his age have endured losing so much life force?

More than half of the Uchiha’s strength lay in their eyes. The rest came from Fire Release, Taijutsu, and so on.

Now that Madara had lost his original eyes, he could only make do with a pair of Three-Tomoe Sharingan for the time being. His other combat methods had also declined due to old age.

No matter how proud Madara Uchiha was, he still had to rely on White Zetsu to temporarily provide him with life force and strengthen him.

Still, for Madara, that was already enough to handle the Three-Tails.

Because he was Madara Uchiha.

Even without the Mangekyō Sharingan, a massive half-bodied Susanoo still emerged along with Madara’s Chakra.

With one slash, the waters churned and the seas overturned as the tailed beast roared.

Sunagakure, Kazekage’s Office Building.

The Third Kazekage had started work early, reviewing documents and reading the intelligence reports sent from the Land of Wind’s capital.

The old-generation Daimyo of the Land of Wind had died, and a new Daimyo had taken the throne.

The previous Daimyo had spent his days indulging in pleasure and neglecting state affairs. Even with the Land of Wind’s solid foundations, the national treasury had nearly collapsed. During his tenure, he had cut Sunagakure’s military funding twice.

The current Daimyo also seemed likely to give the Third Kazekage a headache.

During his rise to power, he had made numerous promises to secure the support of the country’s noble factions.

When the time came, those nobles would likely have to be fed first before it was Sunagakure’s turn to receive military funding.

Fortunately, the resources Sunagakure had plundered from the Ninja World War two years ago had yet to be exhausted. Moreover, the canal, new Puppet Technique Production Line, and Chakra Energy Vehicles developed by Shimizu had greatly transformed Sunagakure’s financial situation and brought in enormous profits.

The Third Kazekage glanced at the previous year’s annual financial report summary, which had just been annotated beside him.

The village’s economic productivity had now entered a positive cycle. Even without military funding from the Daimyo, Sunagakure could sustain itself.

Perhaps it was precisely because of this that the Daimyo and those nobles felt they had lost control over Sunagakure, prompting them to respond in this manner.

At that thought, the Third Kazekage recalled the Land of Wind nobles who had tried to interfere for a share of the profits after the canal was completed.

The Third Kazekage could not help but feel a headache coming on.

Forget it. He would call Chiyo and Ebizo over to discuss it later, and bring Shimizu along as well.

Rasa was not clever enough, but Shimizu possessed unique insight and ways of thinking.

Though the boy was exceptionally talented, he was still young. It was time for him to see more of the treachery of politics.

But if Shimizu was being called, then Rasa had to be called too.

Although the Third Kazekage valued Shimizu’s abilities more and preferred for Shimizu to become his successor, that did not mean Rasa was out of the running.

He was still one of the Kazekage candidates.

The Third Kazekage would not play favorites. He would give them everything they ought to have; whether they could win the competition depended on their own abilities.

"Go invite Elder Chiyo and Elder Ebizo. Call Shimizu and Rasa over as well."

The Third Kazekage tapped the bell on his desk and summoned an Anbu as he spoke.

Shimizu was the first to arrive, because he had happened to be coming to the Kazekage’s Office Building to report on the matter of Kekkei Genkai Human Puppets.

The Anbu had not even left the door before running into him.

"Oh? You came so quickly. Did you happen to have something to report?"

The Third Kazekage was somewhat surprised that Shimizu had arrived so fast, though he guessed they had simply run into each other.

"Sasori came up with something incredible."

Shimizu placed the scroll Sasori had given him yesterday before the Third Kazekage.

"This is…?"

"A new method for creating Human Puppets."

Shimizu paused before continuing.

"Human Puppets that can inherit the abilities the corpse possessed in life, including Kekkei Genkai."

The Third Kazekage looked mildly surprised, but nowhere near shocked.

Shimizu had simply brought him too many surprises over the past year or two.

He was not numb to such things, but he had developed some resistance to them.

"So you are here to request funding for further research again?"

As the Third Kazekage asked, he rapidly calculated how much funding would be appropriate.

Like Shimizu’s previous projects, this technology had enormous potential. It was absolutely necessary to invest in it.

"It will not require much funding. Sasori’s experiments are already nearing completion. We only need to capture several Kekkei Genkai shinobi for some experiments."

The Third Kazekage froze.

That was worse than asking for money.

Which shinobi village would not guard its own Kekkei Genkai closely?

"Once the meeting begins later, ask Teacher Ebizo whether there are any Kekkei Genkai users outside the Five Great Shinobi Villages who would be easier to target. The village is currently in a period of rapid development. Before we have finished absorbing the dividends from the last war, it would be best not to come into conflict with other major shinobi villages."

After considering it, the Third Kazekage spoke to Shimizu.

Ebizo’s status in Sunagakure was similar to Danzo’s in Konoha. He was responsible for intelligence work. The difference was that he did not have to take the blame for the Kazekage, nor did he possess an entire department as his private armed force like Danzo. His authority was not great enough to threaten the Kazekage’s position.

Not long after Shimizu and the Third Kazekage finished discussing these matters, Rasa, Ebizo, and Chiyo arrived at the Kazekage’s Office.

After everyone had arrived, Rasa deliberately gave Shimizu a few extra looks.

He had been digging gold in the mines lately and had rarely shown himself in the village, but he had continued following all information related to Sunagakure.

Especially news about Shimizu.

This junior, four or five years younger than him, had risen abruptly over the past few years. Ever since joining the Puppet Force, he had advanced at a startling pace, been accepted as Chiyo’s disciple, and swiftly become the youngest jonin in Sunagakure’s history.

Especially during the two years since the war ended, beginning with the canal’s construction, he had been involved in every major event in the village. More often than not, he had appeared in those events as the most indispensable person.

Thus, Rasa had gradually come to regard Shimizu as his greatest future rival in the struggle for the position of Kazekage.

But that was only in the future.

At the time, Rasa believed that no matter how outstanding Shimizu’s abilities were, his age and limited training time meant his strength could not possibly have reached the level required to serve as Kazekage.