In this manner, Yubi earned money abroad while staying informed about the progress of the Village's 'conflict' through Sasori's messages.
It had to be said... money came incredibly fast in the underground black market, and for many targets on the registry, the prices were clearly 'inflated' for him.
Consequently, for a time, many nobles from small nations mysteriously 'disappeared'.
However, Yubi acted with great stealth, never staying to fleece a single small nation; he would basically complete one or two jobs in a country before moving on, with time intervals in between, so it didn't cause much of a stir.
The Great Ninja Villages did indeed accept commissions to track him down, but they never succeeded and failed to find any clues.
Every once in a while, Yubi would return to Sunagakure to hand over the earned money to Saori and follow up on research results.
At the same time, he would check the 'wind direction' within the Village.
Following Rasa's intentional difficulty for the heirs of two commoner families during military drills... next, in a high-level meeting, the Third Kazekage'singled out' the heads of the Nohara Clan and Fukushima Clan, suggesting they put more heart into cultivating their descendants, especially Fukushima Taki and Nohara Sakamoto, as these two youngsters had shown impressive talent while following Yubi on missions.
The meaning here was obvious; the Kazekage didn't mention the eldest sons, Fukushima Oka and Murashi, but instead pointed to the two younger children, undoubtedly signaling a certain stance.
That is... Rasa's judgment regarding Murashi and Fukushima Oka was correct.
Although these two had already become Jonin and possessed a certain Aptitude... their abilities remained average.
They simply couldn't reach the standard of 'excellence'.
Of course, this 'excellence' was defined by the evaluation standards of the Kazekage and Rasa.
This was also an 'attitude' of the Third Kazekage supporting Rasa.
In other words, Sunagakure could do without Murashi and Fukushima Oka, but it absolutely could not do without Rasa.
As the Kazekage, the Third was no fool; he saw the situation within the Village clearly.
However, he seemed to believe that the 'public opinion' regarding Murashi and his peer was something the two families had secretly drummed up intentionally.
Therefore, he deliberately suppressed them during the meeting.
Rasa and the Third Kazekage's personalities were essentially cut from the same cloth; thus, such an action from the Kazekage was not surprising.
In the Kazekage's eyes, no one could currently match Rasa's value to the Village.
Including the current Yubi and Sasori.
But the consequence of his actions was undoubtedly making the heads of the two families, as well as those representing the commoner Ninja forces in the Village, feel 'disheartened'.
When Yubi returned to the Village, he clearly noticed that the atmosphere was off.
Topics regarding Murashi and Fukushima Oka had suddenly vanished... it seemed the Village was consciously preventing discussion and forbidding comparisons between the two and Rasa.
Although done under the banner of unity and prohibiting the provocation of internal conflicts, the intent was self-evident.
By the time Yubi returned to the Village again, the situation had deteriorated further.
Some commoner Ninja serving in Village institutions began to intentionally'slack off'... becoming lax.
This negativity wasn't truly about not working or abandoning responsibilities... it was about deliberately sending a signal.
A signal of dissatisfaction with the high-level governance and decision-making of the Village.
Of course, such things wouldn't be brought to the surface; everything was manifested very subtly... and it wasn't serious enough to actually affect the Village's operations.
It was nothing more than the 'petty schemes' of some commoner Ninja.
But in the eyes of the Third Kazekage, it was impossible not to know.
Then... the classic drama of forcing power and abdication played out.
With the Third Kazekage's personality, which couldn't tolerate a single grain of sand in his eye, he soon stripped the two heads of the Fukushima and Nohara families of their power, intentionally transferring them to other departments where they had no real authority.
On the surface, their ranks hadn't been lowered... but everyone knew what was going on.
Later... when Yubi, who was working hard outside, received Sasori's letter and saw its contents, he was moved.
The Kazekage personally dispatched Sasori to lead Anbu members to 'quietly' deal with certain personnel, starting with the two families.
One must know that for the Kage of a Village, it's too easy to deal with subordinates; simply assigning a mission or operation means the subordinates must execute it... otherwise, it's equivalent to publicly defying the Village's will, which is an indelible stain for a Ninja.
This behavior was practically identical to Pakura's future fate.
Except... Pakura was ignorant of everything before her death, whereas now, the heads of the Nohara and Fukushima families likely already had a premonition.
Yubi stared at the contents of the letter, falling silent for a moment.
The Third Kazekage's mindset was very similar to Danzo's style, including Hanzou's... one could only say that as decision-makers of a Village and heroes of the Ninja World, these people all shared common traits in their nature; those who could climb to their positions were naturally not simple.
Ruthless when necessary, merciful when necessary.
When Yubi first implemented the plan, he had anticipated it would evolve this way.
Because if placed in other Villages, such intense conflict might not necessarily arise; after all, some families didn't have the same history or rift with their Village as the Uchiha did with Konoha.
But Yubi was certain that given the Kazekage's personality and Rasa's value to the Village, once the fire was stoked, it might become uncontrollable.
The fundamental reason was the Kazekage's overly dominant personality... of course, if this happened in the Hidden Mist Village, it would likely cause an even bigger scene.
In Sunagakure, at least it was better; the forces of some commoner families wouldn't openly rebel or defect.
One can only say... every Village has its dark side.
"But this way, the current leading high-level officials are still very likely to lose the people's hearts, and it might even cause some to leave the Village and become Rogue Ninja... but there's no choice, you have to give something to get something. To completely cure the disease, the rotten flesh must be cut away first."
Yubi sighed inwardly.
Everyone was no fool, even if the Kazekage only wanted to quietly eliminate a few individuals rather than move against an entire Family.
But for these people to die suddenly at such a sensitive time...
Even if the Village later posthumously awarded them honors, and the Kazekage himself delivered a eulogy at their graves, thanking them for their contributions to the Village.
Others could probably guess what was really going on.
And these individuals to be purged were, without exception, former supporters of the Kazekage whose strategic thinking was similar to his.
Yubi was essentially using the Kazekage's hand to eliminate certain targets.
It was just that previously, the reason these high-level officials maintained a surface 'harmony' was because no point of conflict had been found between them.
"The muddier the water, the better... only when it's muddy can one make a move."
No matter who died or who rose to power.
At least, it provided the 'opportunity' to strike.
Some high-level officials could now be cleared out.
To outsiders, it would mostly look like a counterattack by the Village's 'commoner power'.
And Sasori, who was already in the Anbu and knew everything about the Village's movements, would naturally find it more convenient to act.
Right now, since he wasn't in the Village, this aspect... could only be left to Sasori.
It should... not be a big problem.
...
A month later, there were no surprises.
Everything went exactly as Yubi had predicted.
He also hurried back specifically after receiving the news.
At this moment, he was like most of the Sunagakure in the Village, dressed in black and standing in the cemetery.
Watching several former high-level officials of the Village being buried.
Today's wind and sand... were very heavy.
The explanation given by the Village was simple... information had leaked, and they were ambushed by the enemy.
The Ninja World War had ended long ago, and the other side had no intention of provoking a war, so they made careful combat arrangements and disguises; currently, the identity of the culprit could not be determined.
But it was likely done by one of the other Great Ninja Villages.
And the person personally attending the coffin burial was the Third Kazekage, with a serious expression and a look of slight grief.
Yubi was well aware of everything.
Standing beside him was the 'murderer', Sasori.
Yubi looked at the indifferent Rasa not far away.
And... the eyes of some commoner Ninja present, feeling the strange atmosphere lingering over the cemetery.
He knew... the reshuffle was about to begin!