Rasa stood upon his sand platform, gently rising and falling with the high-altitude winds.
His emotions were in turmoil, so much so that he didn't notice much of the sand from the platform beneath his feet being blown away by the strong winds.
His confusion lay in the fact that Ōnoki and the Third Raikage had clashed fiercely as elite representatives of their villages during the First Great Ninja War. Their enmity deepened further during the Second Great Ninja War. Each held the other's blood debt for kin and comrades. Yet now, they had allied and, lowering their stature, came to negotiate with him.
According to Ōnoki, it seemed another Great Ninja War was imminent.
Rasa said, "I can indeed represent Sunagakure. There are dissenting voices within the village, but I have ways to silence them. As for the Great Ninja War, I won't hide my thoughts. Without my teacher, the Third-sama, Sunagakure will not wade into muddy waters. I will only manage affairs within the Land of Wind. As long as we don't leave the desert, even Konoha can't march deep into the desert to deal with us, can they?"
Ōnoki shook his head. "A foolish young man. You are far inferior to your teacher, both in strength and judgment."
Rasa didn't argue, merely frowning deeply, wondering what these two were truly scheming.
Ōnoki said, "However, at least you recognize Konoha's strength. That's not entirely hopeless. What I need to tell you is that you and Sunagakure cannot remain aloof and untouched."
Rasa suddenly turned his head. On the distant horizon, at least a thousand ninja appeared! Rasa's heart tightened.
He immediately judged that the thousand Suna-nin he brought could never defeat the allied forces brought by the Tsuchikage and Raikage.
The Third Raikage shouted sternly, "Ōnoki! Why waste words with this brat? If he's unwilling to cooperate, our alliance will eliminate Sunagakure first! Then we'll deal with Konoha together!"
Facing the murderous Third Raikage, the gold sand beneath Rasa rapidly increased. He somewhat regretted coming into the sky; his Gold Dust was stronger on the ground.
"Don't be rash, Raikage," Ōnoki stopped the Raikage and continued speaking to Rasa. Sunagakure to profit from the chaos. Rasa, I admire your ninjutsu talent, hence I'm giving you this chance to negotiate. If you are willing to join us against Konoha, that's excellent. If you are unwilling to join us against Konoha, then before we move against Konoha, the Iwa-Kumo Alliance will spare no expense to erase Sunagakure first. The war with Konoha is not the small-scale skirmishes over vassal states like previous Great Ninja Wars. It's a war of life and death! Before the war, before the mantis stalks the cicada, we must deal with the oriole behind first."
Rasa was taken aback. What kind of logic was this? Because the war with Konoha would be devastating, they must eliminate all bystanders? Before the top two fight, they must kill off numbers three through five?
Rasa suddenly thought of how his conflict with Chiyo began with a tacit alliance to deal with the civilian Jonin faction. Both he and Chiyo detested uncertainty, excluding those civilian Jonin who didn't pledge allegiance to either of them from Sunagakure's power center.
Thinking of this, Rasa could roughly understand Ōnoki and the Raikage's meaning.
Rasa said, "I understand your determination. Once you ally to wage war against Konoha, you will definitely eliminate other forces first to prevent a third party from rising on your corpses. I know Konoha is strong, but strong enough to make you two, with such deep-seated hatred, ally... that still surprises me greatly."
"Surprised?" Ōnoki said. "Rasa, your use of Tailed Beasts is too conservative, so you don't truly understand their power. You only use Shukaku's Sand Release body to research Magnet Release, Sand Release, and other secret techniques, rarely deploying Shukaku on the battlefield. A Tailed Beast's combat power is far few beyond a secret techniques. Iwagakure and Kumogakure excel at utilizing Jinchūriki, so we know how powerful Tailed Beasts are. Yet, the Two-Tails was killed by Konoha's Fox. On the day the Two-Tails died, the Raikage lowered his proud head and discussed with me about jointly dealing with Konoha. We waited years for the Two-Tails to finally revive, and now we can finally ally."
Rasa nodded. So that was it. It was Konoha's Fox being able to kill a Tailed Beast that had struck a nerve with these old foxes.
Ōnoki continued, "Fox already possesses several aspects, perhaps even half, of Senju Hashirama's strength. During these four years of peace, who knows how much more he has grown. Rasa, you are too young. You don't know the heights Senju Hashirama's power reached at the end of the Warring States Period. That man was a monster, a monster who could single-handedly suppress all ninja villages. At the same time, that man had an extremely strong moral sense, gathering all ninja clans and ninja within the Land of Fire into Konoha Village. To allow Konoha to recuperate, he did not wage war on other countries. He naively devised a plan: give each village a Tailed Beast to achieve a deterrence balance, so there would be no more war. What Senju Hashirama didn't know was that the true deterrent balance wasn't each village's Tailed Beast—it was himself! After his death, the First Great Ninja War erupted swiftly. We feared Senju Hashirama, but we did not fear Senju Tobirama. The war's intensity was even more brutal than the Warring States Period. Now, Konoha has produced another ninja whose strength approaches Senju Hashirama's: Fox. Senju Hashirama had a clear philosophy, grand dreams, and an extremely strong moral sense. The problem is, Fox has none of these. Fox is the Konoha Anbu Commander. He honed his strength through Anbu missions. Hiruzen's desk before midnight, no questions asked. Fox has no grand dream of restoring peace to the ninja world. The impression he gives me is that of a terrifying weapon who will stop at nothing for Konoha. For the past four years, the Raikage and I have been waiting for the Two-Tails to revive, waiting in trepidation, not knowing when Fox might assassinate someone from our villages. Fortunately, after Sarutobi Hiruzen lost his son, he lost his ambition for expansion and gave Fox no such missions. But peace is an illusion. There are only interludes between wars; there is no true peace. Your Kazekage's disappearance shattered the fragile calm of the ninja world. Have no doubt; Konoha's Anbu must be gathering intelligence all over the Land of Wind, even within Sunagakure. Before Konoha makes a move, we must establish a solid alliance. This is also why I lured you away from Sunagakure to negotiate. Fox is too strong. Konoha is too strong. We must unite to deal with this terrifying enemy, Konoha."
Rasa nodded. He had read records of Tailed Beast rampages. Such terrifying colossal beasts could actually be killed by a single ninja. The legend of the God of Shinobi had become reality. No wonder Ōnoki and the Raikage were so tense.
Rasa said, "I will swiftly resolve the dissenting voices within Sunagakure, become the Fourth Kazekage, and join your alliance to deal with Konoha."
"Good!" the Raikage said. "Although the Third Kazekage's strength was lacking, your judgment is sound. You are a qualified successor, worthy of being a Kage of a village."
Ōnoki corrected the Raikage, "The Third Kazekage's strength was not lacking, Raikage. Don't measure other Kage by your standards." He turned back to Rasa. meet with Genji, I hope you can show goodwill and not escalate the conflict with Kirigakure."
Rasa nodded. He immediately made a decision in his heart: upon returning, he would offer Pakura to Kirigakure to vent their anger. That should resolve the dispute with Kirigakure.
Returning to the ground, Rasa's expression was grave as he watched the distant Iwa-nin and Kumo-nin allied forces withdraw.
He never imagined the Third Great Ninja War would begin with four great ninja villages forming a Shinobi Alliance.
***
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(End of Chapter)