"So, Katsuyu-sama, you're saying a wooden man came here before?"
"Yep. I just don't remember when… but it feels like it wasn't long ago. He had just left when you all arrived."
"That's good."
Aburame Shiken let out a long sigh of relief.
Isn't this basically settled now?
A "wooden man"—that had to be Senju Hashirama. As for "not long ago," that was easy to understand. Given how long Katsuyu had lived, even a hundred years would feel like the blink of an eye.
"So, Katsuyu-sama, how do we turn him back to normal?"
"I don't know."
"…Huh???"
All five of them were stunned.
What was going on? Had they misheard earlier?
Shiken quickly followed up, "Katsuyu-sama, didn't you say that wooden man left?"
"Yeah."
"And he recovered here in Shikkotsu Forest?"
"Yep."
"Then how could you not know how he returned to normal?"
"I just don't know! He soaked in that pool for a bit, then got up, said hello, and left. I have no idea what actually happened."
Katsuyu's unspoken thought: Just because it's my territory doesn't mean I did it, right? Do I have to know everything? You need evidence, you know.
Hearing that, everyone turned to look into the distance.
A massive lake came into view.
Well… for Katsuyu-sama, it was probably just a "small pond."
"Katsuyu-sama, that pool is…?"
"Oh, that's just drool I leave behind when I snore. Isn't it pretty?"
…Uh.
No matter how you put it, that origin story doesn't make it sound pretty at all.
"Beautiful, truly beautiful. As expected of Katsuyu-sama. The lake is crystal clear, brimming with natural energy—it's obviously a priceless treasure."
Shiken said this with a straight face.
Katsuyu-sama: This human speaks so nicely. I really should invite more people to Shikkotsu Forest.
Hyūga Hiyasu, Uchiha Kamito, Inuzuka Ryoha, Namikaze Minato: Shiken, you disgust me.
Shiken felt wronged.
Sure, the origin of the lake was… questionable. But in terms of natural energy, it truly deserved that praise.
"Anyway, let's throw Hideki in first and see what happens."
"Alright."
Ryoha summoned the stone statue of Senju Hideki and slowly lowered it into the—ahem—lake.
The statue gradually sank.
"Hiyasu, keep an eye on it."
"Don't worry, I'm watching."
While Hiyasu monitored the statue, the other four suddenly found themselves with nothing to do.
Just standing around felt a bit boring.
"How about a game?"
Shiken pulled out a portable game set.
The others immediately agreed.
Uchiha Kamito: "Even if I can't see, my technique is top-tier."
Just as the four of them sat down, Shiken felt something sticky behind him.
Katsuyu-sama was staring at him pitifully—just short of outright saying, Let me join too.
"…Want to play with us?"
"Yay!"
"But there are five of us. We can't play mahjong like that."
"Then how about Three Kingdoms Kill?"
"Kamito can't see the cards, and this game isn't something you can just feel."
"But we don't have enough people for anything else either…"
"Enough? You need people? As many as you want."
Katsuyu gestured immediately.
With a single motion, her enormous body split apart, forming several human-sized slugs.
A lack of players in Shikkotsu Forest? Impossible.
...
Land of Wind — Sand Village
Rasa, now officially the Fourth Kazekage, was diligently handling village affairs.
Because the village had just lost a war—and had never been wealthy to begin with—he had canceled the inauguration ceremony outright. At the same time, due to the Sand Village's poor economy, he firmly rejected Ebizō's request to retire.
"Ebizō-sama, could you check if there are any issues with these?"
"Kazekage-sama, you're the Kazekage now. You should start making your own decisions."
"I can't, Ebizō-sama. I'm scared. Back when my teacher was alive, I never thought being Kazekage was difficult. But now that it's my turn, I finally understand what 'difficult' really means. I can't offend this side, I can't refuse that side—both options benefit the village, yet they conflict. I just can't decide."
Rasa looked utterly troubled.
Being Kazekage was far harder than mining gold.
Hearing this, Ebizō stopped declining and picked up the documents to review them.
"Pakura's plan to strengthen the Sand Village's combat power—good. Improving military strength is an urgent priority. Approved."
"The Construction Department's proposal to improve the village's infrastructure—also good. But right now, survival is the priority. Optimization can wait. Not approved."
"My sister—cough—Chiyo's request to increase funding for puppet research… give them a little, but not too much. The current focus should be improving shinobi quality. Puppets can wait, and the current level is already sufficient for the puppet corps."
...
As Ebizō spoke, Rasa took notes.
After finishing all the documents, Ebizō made another suggestion.
"Kazekage-sama, based on our two wars with the Hidden Leaf Village, our biggest weakness is the lack of a structured elite force."
"Ebizō-sama, please elaborate."
"The Hidden Leaf Village has the Inuzuka guerrilla unit, the Aburame all-purpose insect corps, the Uchiha ninjutsu brigade, the Hyūga precision strike unit, and the Akimichi heavy assault division. Each has a clear role and excels in its strengths, using them effectively in battle. Shouldn't we also play to our strengths and form a sand-release corps and a wind-release corps? At the very least, this would make the Land of Wind nearly impregnable."
Rasa thought it over.
It was a good idea.
But…
"Ebizō-sama, just tell me—how much money are we talking about?"
"Well… we don't lack sand for training sand techniques, but we'll need supporting materials. For the wind-release corps, constant jutsu use means we'll need target dummies and chakra-replenishing medicine. And since it's a full unit, we'll need a lot of people. We can't afford 3,000, but maybe 2,000… plus the ones who get eliminated during training, and the reserve forces afterward…"
With every sentence Ebizō spoke, Rasa's heart twitched violently.
This wasn't training a military unit—this was asking him to die.
"Ebizō-sama, just be direct. How many gold mines do I need to dig to make this happen?"
"At minimum, we're looking at a five-year plan—and that's assuming gold prices don't drop. If they do…"
If gold prices fell again, Rasa would probably have to stretch it into a ten-year plan.
Maintaining a structured elite force was nothing short of astronomically expensive.