When it all comes down to it, each of the great countries has something they are the best in. Konohagakure - they're the best at war. They attracted two of the strongest clans (in number and in fighting) at the beginning, and had a strong alliance with a third. They won wars and had control of all nine bijuu at one point. But all that really means is that they are the most visible. They are fire's variety and strength, cooking one moment, burning down your fields the next.
The death toll could be considered high, but at least it's nowhere near that of a war.
I contemplate that as I finish the tally of those we know for certain are dead. Those who are missing will come later. No doubt our clans are decimated, Konoha breeding our shinobi like horses to get more of the precious kekkei genkai.
Konoha was outnumbered, backed into a corner and ambushed, and they still managed to kill more of our shinobi than we could kill of theirs.
"Akria-sama!" someone calls, and I look up sharply as someone comes running towards me, her expression frantic. "Something has happened with Ryuto again!"
I swiftly stand and follow the girl as she turns on a coin, my bright haired shadow a whisper on the wind in the corner of my eye as race towards yet another person who will most likely die beneath my hands as I try frantically to keep him alive.
Konoha is also the only village to really know how to heal with chakra. They may not have recovered yet, but they are certainly no longer dealing with cases where a patient could live or die any moment. Everyone is either recovered or dead. And because they can heal, they have many less who will die in the aftermath.
I slide the brush frantically over Ryuto's skin, but I know halfway through that I am not fast enough. He dies even as I finish the last slash of the seal, and blood drains from his lungs and down his cheeks from the sides of his mouth. The girl can see it as well as I can, and she takes a deep breath before slowly and deliberately lowering her head down and burying her face into the blankets. Even as I hesitantly hug her (she turns, throwing her arms around me and sobbing into my shoulder), I nod at Gaara.
Another death to Konoha.
Iwagakure is the best village at defense. When you're fighting a war and you can't get Konoha nin, Iwa are a pretty good bet. They can build you a fortress in a day and mow down swathes of men (not that all ninja can't), and they know structural integrity in a way that even the Konoha don't seem to grasp. They are earth's solidity, and they can at east keep your forces in place and protect you from needing retreat.
I put a temporary hold on all mission not related to fixing the village and arrange a rotating roster to make sure that all ninja have free time. We are so under the amount of ninja we are used to that for the first time since our founding, I find that I am considering calling in some of the various farther out villages in order to ensure that our walls stay protected.
I'm no longer the one sitting behind the desk Kazekage's secretary, that position going to several different shinobi, but I can see the ninja through the open door of the Kazekage's office.
It's odd to have a name, and odd to be a person. Many people nod at me as they head past the office on their way to the window leading outside, and now when people want my attention the call my name.
After we've accounted for everyone withing the village, I find that I am now in charge of arranging teams out of the ragged remains. I post a notice next to the guard rotations to let people know that they should be forming their own teams, and I find Gaara-sama's help surprisingly useful in wording it. I'm sure there will be some uneven teams once all is said and done, and some who won't make the effort to make a good team, but a great deal of trouble can be dealt with this way.
Kirigakure is village you want for assassination. It seems there is something in the air there that breed caution and camouflage. The best of them can hide in the thinnest sliver of a shadow and not look out of place. And when they are sent out, they leave no trace unless they are told to. They are devious, harsh, possessive, and have committed genocide to stay alive. Should it be asked, they will leave no sign that the death was not natural though. There are many poisons that dissolve without body heat.
At some point, a movement sweeps around, and the elders start muttering about putting me up as the next Kazekage. There's something thoughtful in Gaara-sama's eyes when we leave the chamber after I finish shooting down that idea. (I remind them that while I may be current leader by popularity, I am very much so not strong enough for the position. Fragile wood remind you of anything?) I eye him, remembering what he told me had happened.
I know they approach various other Jonin, and whitle them down fairly quickly. Being strong around Rasa-sama had been a dangerous idea, and none of them were comfortable with the idea of Kazekage. Everyone knew exactly who was left by the time they got through them, and that time had been long enough for them to see that Gaara-sama really was different. (Not that the elders really cared.) There was literally no one else who would accept the job when they approached Gaara-sama to ask him.
I note down the last tea arrangement that will carry us for at least a month and place the notices for the team in my outbox as the elders file in. Gaara, sitting on the window ledge like he often had at night watches them as I stack the profiles and place them in the basket that will send them back to the filing office.
"Yes?"
"We . . . would be honored . . . if you . . . would consider . . . becoming the next . . . Kazekage."
The words are forced, but Gaara-sama says nothing as he simply turns back to the window.
"Gaara-sama, would you like to come out to get some date bars? I've heard of a new place that apparently makes them really well."
"Sure, Akira-san," Gaara-sama replies. He slides off the window ledge, and we exit, leaving the elders looking after us.
We arrive at the place, and I pay for a serving of date bars. The server's eyes are wide, but he takes my money and passes me a woven basket with the food that I hand to Gaara-sama to eat as we walk.
"Akira-sama! News for you!" a young girl calls, racing towards me. She slides to a stop before us, and extends a piece of paper. I unfold it and scan it for a moment before I squat and ruffle the girl's hair.
"Thank you for bringing this to me."
Gaara-sama, squatting next to me offers the girl the rest of his date bar silently, and she accepts it with wide eyes. We're gone almost before she has a hold of the basket, and I settle myself onto the seat as Baki turns, Gaara-sama gently closing the window and settling down on the ledge.
"Gaara-sama, Akira-sama," Baki nods to both of us before he places a pile of photos on the desk and lets us read them. I shuffle through them, identifying Rasa-sama and Daisuke, one of his guards. Their skin is wrinkled and parched like the old stories of ancient people who tried to preserve themselves beyond death, and they're covered in bugs. I let Gaara-sama take the photos and nod at Baki to start his report.
"We've determined from the insects and from the dehydration of the bodies that they have been there for over a month and a half, since before the Chunin exams began."
I nod at that, the small details, decisions that seemed off, the way he didn't go home, coming into focus.
"It isn't a Kiri job, though it it neat enough, the wound's not in any of the places that Kiri teaches to its ninja. We're reasonably sure it wasn't poison, but because of scavengers, it's hard to tell exactly which mark killed the vic- Kazekage-sama. A more thorough review is in the folder."
"Thank you Baki," I murmur, reaching forward to grab the folder and drag it towards me. I look up as Baki pauses in the door way.
"Best of luck as Kazakage, Gaara-sama."
Komogakure seems the least threatening at times because of the benign nature of their specialty, before you realize that they have to know how to cause each and every one of the disasters they divert before they are allowed out on the field. It's a safety precaution, should anyone ever ask, though they will not admit who for. Kumo specializes in natural disasters. They divert lava, hold together buildings in earthquakes, and save villages from floods. The also specialize in rebuilding villages that fall to these disasters, who pay money they were unwilling to use to prevent the disaster that they now need to spend to rebuild themselves.
In the end, I decide to leave the shinobi in the outer villages where they are. If they come back here, we won't have an early warning system.
Like my name, Gaara-sama becoming Kazekage is simply something that happens. Someone speaks of the idea, and the village likes it.
But when Konoha requests assistance in catching one of their ninja (they don't call him rouge, even though he ran away from the village), Gaara-sama goes to help them. When he finally comes back, his siblings in tow, he's even more relaxed. I shake my head as I watch him settle back into his spot at the window.
"Did you have fun?"
"I did. I got to meet with Naruto again."
"You should bring him home at some point. Let me play the overprotective family figure."
The look he gives me is bewildered, and I laugh because he's adorable in his ignorance. I have no friends, but at least I know some things.
And finally, Sunagakure. What are they best at? is a question often asked. In Konoha they will tell you wind, for our wind masters can control their wind against the greater fire and slice one through it. For Iwa it is their puppets, which can do things that even a ninja cannot or would not dare. The can crawl through cracks and sting the guard to sleep, leaving no defense in an otherwise uncrackable fort. For Kiri it is their antidotes. They are not as good at healing with chakra as the great Konoha, but when they can neutralize the killing poison before the agent uses it, interrogations are drawn out. Information slips. For Kumo, it is their sand, with it's storms and abrasiveness. Kumo still has not found the bast way to protect themselves when they visit, and it makes them uneasy because of their control over other weather. So which of these is the most powerful? In Suna, we are the village of creation. We create, and we use everything we can.
We are not big and strong, nor are we particularly good at defense. We cannot hide and strike, and we are not known for rebuilding - all of our shelters can wether the storm or will be gone in a weeks time. What is left for us, but to be an illusion, a mirage tricking any who see us.
The low number of shinobi isn't solved just because I decided to leave the shinobi in the outer villages. While one situation would have been to split the academy students into teams under jonin sensei as soon as we can get them out, we don't even have enough jonin for that plan.
It's not exactly easy to come up with a solution when I have to break through my thinking about old traditions, but going over our resources gives me a solution. We don't have enough jonin for the number of teams we would need to start truly rebuilding our population, but we we still have twice as many chunin as we have academy students - let alone students we can rush through. So, teams are to be as many genin teams as we can manage, then two chunin and two genin each.
It's not conventional, but we don't have the numbers for conventional. I also find myself finally managing to repeal several especially stupid laws restricting certain students from attending the academy.
And besides, it's rather amusing to see Gaara-sama awkwardly patting two kids on the head. The two kids are both Gaara-sama's age, but they still look up to him with wide eyes when he steps hesitantly into the classroom. They'll be good for him, and perhaps they'll help him figure out how to interact with other people.
They're almost nothing like Mai and Kurou, and I find myself glad of that fact. One pair of reminders was enough.
Gaara-sama is the Kazekage, yes, and his statue is being built, but I find that I am who he turns to for every decision, that I am the one who knows how to run the village. I am the one who knows how much the sewer budget should be, and I am the one he gives his team to when ever there are too many pieces of paper that we've already agreed to that he only need to sign. It's intoxicating and terrifying.
I am not human, I am wood and chakra. I teach seals to those who ask whenever paperwork is done, and I am important to the village. So I create.