Just as Pakura had insisted, two days later, the Third Kazekage officially appeared before the village leadership. His posture was perfectly upright, and his aura was incredibly imposing, showing absolutely no outward signs of any injury or weakness.
Chisuke and Pakura stood respectfully behind him, quietly acting as loyal background characters. Chisuke wondered what extreme, potentially life-shortening medical methods the Kazekage had used to temporarily suppress his injuries. One could only admit that the Hidden Sand truly lived up to its reputation as one of the Five Great Ninja Villages; its hidden foundations were indeed deep.
The Kazekage's public appearance was primarily to stabilize morale, and he immediately proceeded to issue strong orders.
"After the Ichibi's rampage, the other hidden villages will surely send spies and border skirmishers to probe our true strength," the Kazekage announced coldly. "Pakura, you will be responsible for the border elimination operations. You must let them know in blood that the Hidden Sand is not to be trifled with."
"Yes, Lord Kazekage!"
Conducting a large-scale encirclement and suppression of enemies gave Pakura the direct military right to mobilize many shinobi. This was equivalent to vastly strengthening her faction's political power, which made Chisuke very happy.
"Begin the reconstruction of the civilian sectors immediately! Rasa, you are in charge of this logistics effort!"
The Kazekage's voice was utterly indifferent when addressing Rasa. Clearly, because of the incident with Sasori and their 'failure' to capture him, the Kazekage was very disappointed in Chiyo's faction. Making Rasa a glorified construction foreman was a way to strip away their original military power—a blatant political suppression.
Inside the meeting room, Chiyo, Ebizo, and Rasa—who were entirely in the wrong to begin with—didn't dare to voice a single objection and simply bowed to obey the orders.
Over the past few days, everyone in the village had learned that Sasori was the traitor who released the Ichibi. The villagers and shinobi hated them to death by association. Chiyo's faction didn't even dare to go outside now; as soon as they did, they would hear all sorts of vicious insults and have garbage thrown at them.
"One last thing," the Kazekage said heavily. "We must find a suitable new Jinchuriki as soon as possible. Only with a stable Jinchuriki can we utilize the Ichibi's combat power to deter the other hidden villages from acting recklessly during this time of war."
After the meeting ended, Chisuke immediately found Pakura in private.
"Teacher, I want to volunteer to become the Jinchuriki!"
Pakura was greatly shocked, thinking Chisuke had finally gone mad. Recalling the tragic, miserable fate of the previous vessel, the monk Bunpuku, Pakura immediately refused.
"Absolutely not! Once you become a Jinchuriki, you have to constantly fight against the Ichibi's mental erosion every second of your life. You'll also be essentially imprisoned by the village, becoming a complete tool of war, loathed and feared by the very people you protect. There is no future for you in that life!"
Chisuke, however, was incredibly firm in his stance. "Teacher, you told me repeatedly to put the village's interests first. Why are you going back on your own word now?"
"This Ichibi attack caused the village to lose many elite shinobi, and our overall combat strength has dropped significantly," Chisuke argued passionately. "If I become the Jinchuriki, I can not only permanently reduce the risk of the Tailed Beast going on another rampage, but also instantly increase our frontline combat power. You have no logical reason to stop me!"
Of course, this was only the highly patriotic reason on the surface.
The real reason was that if Chisuke became the Jinchuriki, all five of the connected avatars could gain access to a terrifyingly powerful, virtually limitless Chakra source.
Moreover, if her own disciple became the ultimate weapon of the village, Pakura would have far more political leverage when competing for the position of the Fourth Kazekage.
Now that there was a chance to claim a Tailed Beast openly and legitimately, Chisuke was absolutely not going to let this golden opportunity pass.
Pakura was silent for a long moment, but she still tried to refuse. "The village's sealing technology is not perfect. In past, rushed experiments, the candidates all died horribly. Do not take this insane risk."
Chisuke showed a bright, fearless smile and laughed heartily.
"Hahaha! Teacher, a ninja will always face death one day on the battlefield; what is there to fear in a laboratory? I only hope to live to see the day you become the Kazekage."
Seeing Chisuke's unshakeable persistence and realizing she couldn't dissuade him, Pakura nodded with immense difficulty, her eyes shining with unshed tears. "I won't let you down, Chisuke. We will work together to create a prosperous Hidden Sand Village."
That night, Pakura took Chisuke to see the Kazekage and formally stated Chisuke's request. The Kazekage was also deeply surprised; he hadn't expected a promising young genius like Chisuke to willingly give up a bright, normal future to volunteer for such a cursed burden. He was incredibly moved.
"Chisuke... a ninja with your spirit is the true cornerstone of this village!"
The current Hidden Sand Village highly valued tradition and was extremely conservative; they would never imagine a Jinchuriki could one day become the Kazekage. Instead, they all treated Jinchuriki like a scourge to be avoided or a weapon to be locked in a cage. Chisuke was the very first outstanding ninja to proactively request the burden.
The village had many matters to attend to now, and creating a stable Jinchuriki required weeks of complex preparation. So, the Kazekage gave Chisuke a long, paid leave of absence, letting him eat, drink, and have fun to spend what might be his final days of a happy, normal life.
When his father, Tasaka Bussei, received this news, he almost died of sheer anger. Chisuke was in a flurry again, constantly trying to appease his furious, heartbroken cheap old man.
That night, within the shared dream space, Chisuke summarized his experiences and political maneuvering during this period, feeling very smug.
"Hahaha! Chiyo and those people are now like rats crossing the street. As long as Pakura performs well in the upcoming border skirmishes, I don't believe she can't completely outcompete Rasa for the hat."
Mishu sneered, however. "Don't overestimate their moral bottom line. There's nothing politicians won't do for their interests. Taking advantage of the chaos of war to quietly assassinate Pakura wouldn't be a difficult task for Chiyo's faction."
Chisuke waved his hand dismissively and said confidently, "I'm not some blindly selfless anime protagonist. They are hypocrites, sure, but I'm a true scoundrel. If they try to use the 'village's interests' as an excuse to force my teacher into a suicide mission, they can forget about it. At worst, I'll just intentionally make the mission fail."
Ooka Shin was far more concerned about the actual Tailed Beast matter. "The Sand's Jinchuriki sealing technology is notoriously immature. Are you actually confident you'll survive the process?"
Chisuke shook his head honestly. "Of course I don't have 100% confidence. However, the Hidden Sand is one of the Five Great Villages and has conducted decades of experiments, so there should be a decent success rate. If I'm really unlucky and die on the table... well, I'll just have to trouble you guys to rob my grave and somehow resurrect me in the future."
Kiichiro's eyes darted around, revealing a highly shrewd, calculating light. He looked at Ooka Shin and suggested smoothly, "Hehe, Shin, since you have such a good relationship with Nagato, could you perhaps discuss a favor with him? When Chisuke is undergoing the sealing, you could temporarily transplant Nagato's Rinnegan into yourself, and push its power through the network to suppress the Tailed Beast's resistance."
Hearing Kiichiro's brilliant loophole, the others' eyes lit up brightly.
Kyosuke clapped his hands and cheered, "That's a fantastic idea! Although the physical burden of channeling the Rinnegan's ocular power would be very heavy for Chisuke's body on the other side, he should be able to sustain it for a few hours. When the time comes, Chisuke can borrow the Rinnegan's suppressing abilities and easily force the Ichibi into submission!"
As the person whose life was actually on the line, Chisuke was even happier and directly hugged Shin. "You can't refuse! Even if you have to kneel on the ground and bash your head until it bleeds, you must get Nagato to agree to lend us the eyes!"
Shin nodded helplessly. "Don't worry, I know which matters are life-and-death. And given Nagato's kind personality, he probably won't refuse if I say it's to save a friend's life. It's just... if the Akatsuki Organization starts actively collecting Tailed Beasts in the future, you'll be in massive trouble."
"We'll deal with future matters when they actually arrive. Right now, we must use every single dirty trick possible to survive and get stronger; otherwise, there won't be a future at all."
Kyosuke felt like he was about to get a brand new cheat code and was in a fantastic mood. He then pondered, "Chisuke caught a traitor and gained massive political benefits and Jutsu. Orochimaru will also defect in the future. Should I do the same as Chisuke and make good use of exposing him?"
Kiichiro voiced his strong opposition. "You're in a completely different political landscape than Chisuke. By following the standard, safe path, your teacher Minato will inevitably become the Fourth Hokage. There's absolutely no need for you to take unnecessary, life-threatening risks by messing with Orochimaru."
Chisuke also agreed. "Yeah, when Orochimaru defects, all his valuable experimental data will just be confiscated by Danzo and the Anbu. If you expose him, you'll get a bit of verbal credit at most, and you're not lacking in credit anyway. Why bother painting a target on your back?"
"Exactly," Shin added. "Once we are completely strong enough, we can just find Orochimaru and collaborate with him directly."
Kyosuke was persuaded. "Alright, you guys are right."
A few days later, at the harsh desert border between the Land of Wind and the Land of Fire, Sasori dragged his broken, bleeding body along, moving agonizingly slowly.
After leaving the Hidden Sand Village behind, Sasori felt no lingering attachment or regret; instead, he felt a profound sense of liberation.
"Next, I'll find a secure place to rest and recover," Sasori muttered to the wind. "The injuries to my body are too severe; many organs are damaged beyond natural repair. It's finally time... to rid myself of this weak, decaying flesh and blood entirely."