Inside the Kirigakure army, the remaining officers' moods had sunk to the lowest point imaginable.
Within the village's ninja army, below the Mizukage himself stood the Seven Ninja Swordsmen.
Veteran elders like Genji coming personally to the front lines to command as true overall leaders was actually very rare.
Kirigakure had never worried about that before.
Under the Bloody Mist policy, the village had no shortage of talent.
And with the ninja swords as well, Kirigakure could always ensure the existence of multiple top-tier elite jonin.
Even after Fuguki Suikazan's defection, there had still been six left.
Even after Jinin Akebino's death, there had still been Kushimaru, Raiga, and Hozuki Kumo.
But this time was different.
Four members of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen had died at once.
And all at Rasa's hands.
Sunagakure would learn of this before the Mizukage did.
When that happened, what would Sunagakure decide to do?
And what was the Kirigakure army supposed to do now?
"What do we do?"
At that moment, a figure stepped forward.
"From here on, I will assume command of the army."
The officers all turned to look.
What they saw was a short young man with cropped green hair.
"Karatachi Yagura?"
Yagura produced a document.
"This is a secret letter Mizukage-sama entrusted to me earlier. If the front line were to suffer a major crisis, then I am to become the commander of the ninja army. From this moment on, the entire army will obey my orders."
The officers were doubtful.
Yagura had indeed shown talent.
But compared to the Seven Ninja Swordsmen, his reputation still fell short by quite a lot.
And beyond that, Yagura had no experience leading an army.
Still, his relationship with the Third Mizukage really was close.
Yagura handed over the secret letter, and the officers passed it around one after another.
When they were done, they exchanged glances, then all looked back at Yagura.
"We greet Commander-sama."
In truth, they could all tell that the so-called handwritten letter from the Third Mizukage was not quite right.
But in the current state of the Kirigakure army, Yagura stepping forward to claim command meant that he was also taking all responsibility onto himself.
If the army ran into trouble, then the blame would fall on Yagura.
The guilt would be Yagura's.
These officers did not possess such ambition.
Nor did they possess that much courage.
So after realizing that, even though they knew Yagura had most likely forged the letter, they were still willing to cooperate.
No one would reject a scapegoat.
Compared to the possible benefits of taking the post, the punishment that might come with it was far greater.
Becoming the commander of the ninja army at a time like this was not a good thing.
But for Yagura, it was a gamble.
An opportunity like this was once in a lifetime.
If he succeeded, he would rise in fame and status in a single leap.
And Yagura had confidence in his own ability.
In personal combat, he was no weakling.
With his Water Mirror Technique alone, he could force a stalemate against most shinobi.
And when it came to commanding, he had confidence there as well.
"Commander-sama, what should we do next?"
The officers raised the question, but their true purpose was simple: force Yagura to make the first major decision as quickly as possible.
Once he did, if the Kirigakure army later ran into problems, it would truly have little to do with them anymore.
Everything would rest on Yagura.
"Withdraw first."
"We fall back into the Land of Fire."
…
…
After returning to Sunagakure, Rasa first tossed Maki back into the village, then went home.
He pulled out a one-eyed eyepatch and covered his Byakugan.
Then he put the four ninja swords away.
Only after that did he take the four corpses of Jinin Akebino and the others and head for Chiyo's residence.
"Kazekage-sama!"
It was the same maidservant as before.
The moment she saw Rasa, she hurriedly bowed, opened the door, and stepped to the side to let him pass.
Rasa gave a slight nod.
Chiyo was sitting by a pond, fishing.
"Senior Chiyo."
"Kazekage-sama."
Rasa raised a hand.
Immediately, the mass of gold dust floating high above dropped rapidly toward the ground.
Boom!
It landed.
The gold dust scattered, revealing four corpses.
Or rather, three and a half.
Black Hoe Raiga's body had been reduced to charred black ruin by Yatagarasu's explosive egg. It could barely be called complete.
Chiyo's pupils contracted sharply.
"The Seven Ninja Swordsmen?"
"Kazekage-sama… what is the meaning of this?"
Rasa replied evenly, "Not long ago, I received Maki's distress signal. He said Kirigakure shinobi were pursuing him, so I rode Yatagarasu to rescue him."
"The ones surrounding him were these four."
"So I killed them."
"The reason I brought their corpses back… is because I want you, Senior Chiyo, to use them as materials and turn them into puppets. You should be capable of that, yes?"
"These four count as exceptional materials. The puppets made from them surely won't be weak."
"They can add to Sunagakure's strength."
Sunagakure lacked puppet masters.
And even more than that, it lacked excellent puppet materials.
But Chiyo was still stuck on the fact that four members of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen had been killed.
These were not ordinary shinobi.
Even among elite jonin, the Seven Ninja Swordsmen were considered outstanding. And because they had fought together for so long, the coordination between them was tremendous, allowing them to display even greater power.
Rasa had fought four of them alone.
Defeated them alone.
Killed every last one of them alone.
And he did not even appear injured.
How had he done it?
Even with the Hongshan Clan incident already forcing her to reevaluate him, Chiyo now found that Rasa's strength once again exceeded her expectations.
"Senior Chiyo, can it be done?"
Rasa asked again.
Only then did Chiyo finally come back to herself.
"Yes… it can. But Kazekage-sama, if these four corpses are turned into puppets, who do you intend to have use them?"
"Do you have anyone in mind, Senior Chiyo?"
Chiyo thought for a moment.
"Among the younger generation of Sunagakure's puppet masters… only Mukade is fairly decent."
Rasa's brow lifted slightly.
He remembered the name Mukade.
And not favorably.
In the original storyline, the man had used the power of the Dragon Vein to travel to ancient Roran…
That was not the important part.
The important part was this: before going to the Dragon Vein, Mukade had been a missing-nin of Sunagakure.
And after the Hongshan Clan incident, Rasa's disgust for traitors had only deepened.
"Is there anyone else?"
"Other than Mukade, the rest are fairly ordinary in talent…"
Suddenly, Chiyo seemed to think of something.
"There is one more."
"Who?"
"Hongshan Lie."
Chiyo said, "Back then, Hongshan Lie once took the puppet master aptitude test. His talent was on the same level as Mukade's—possibly even better. But because his clan did not support it, he gave up."
"But talent like that doesn't simply disappear."
"Give him a little time, and he'll catch up quickly."
This time, Rasa did not hesitate.
After all, Hongshan Lie was as loyal to Sunagakure as Uchiha Itachi had been to Konoha.
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