Chapter 24: Suna council
The next day, Captain Canteen gave the three of them their reward for an A-rank mission.
The total reward was 700,000 Ryo, and the three of them received 150,000 each, while the rest of the money went to the team captain.
Nomad nodded in satisfaction with the amount of money.
Custus was also happy to receive her payment, they had been several weeks without being able to do a mission that would generate money for them so she could use the money.
Rasa wasn't interested in the money for now, if he wanted money he could get plenty of money in a matter of minutes, and he would, but the first thing was to improve his strength.
"This... captain, is more than I expected," Custus said confused by the amount she was given, not that she was complaining, but she knew it wasn't that much money.
While Nomad looked at her like she was the devil, if there had been a mistake with the amount of Ryo they were given, it was the superiors problem, not his.
"No Custus, Since there has been a Jonin on this mission along with three elite Chunin and some junior chunin, the Kazekage decided to raise the reward from 550,000 to 700,000" explained Canteen calmly.
Making Nomad smile happy to know that.
Custus was also calmer to know the reason, but she couldn't help but look at Rasa.
Now she knew that he was the Kazekage's apprentice, so for a few moments, it crossed her mind that it could come to be due to that that they raised the reward, but she willed those bad thoughts from her head.
'The Kazekage wouldn't do something like that' Custus nodded to herself.
Rasa noticed the look Custus gave her and he guessed what she suspected, and indeed he thought the same as her, but he had no proof of that.
Custus didn't mention to Nomad or Canteen Gold's true identity as Rasa, and Rasa didn't feel the need to do so either, when the time came they would find out.
Of course, Rasa supposed the captain must have already known since Nomad kept talking on the trip to Sunagakure about how envious he was of Rasa's ability to manipulate gold.
Canteen hadn't said anything, but it didn't take him saying anything to know that he had come to the logical conclusion that the ability Nomad talked so much about was none other than the release of dust gold that only the Kazekage's apprentice had.
"Captain Do you know if anything is going to happen with that village?" asked Nomad.
Canteen did not answer this question directly:
"In fact, it seems that the village chief was working with the bandits."
"Now I understand. The village and the bandits were getting rich together, that's why they were so prosperous" nodded Nomad in understanding.
"Right, several merchants are passing through that village and others nearby to get to Sunagakure, they must have taken advantage of that to make a lot of profit" analyzed Custus.
"So the village chief gathers information and tells these bandits about the merchants or traders along with the strength of the guards they have" Rasa finished the analysis.
"That's right, the reason the bandits had not been completely discovered was because they convinced the village chief to trade with them. While the bandits were making money for the village and themselves, the village chief was in charge of keeping their location and information secret" said Canteen.
"You took out the village chief, didn't you?" said Nomad to Canteen as if it was a no-brainer.
Canteen nodded without saying anything.
Rasa couldn't help but think that this village shouldn't be the only one to ally with bandits to progress or just keep themselves safe.
He has yet to get to know this ninja world well, he has yet to learn many things.
"Are they going to do something about the village now that it is known that they allied with bandits?" asked Custus this time.
"No need to think about that, Lord Kazekage will decide, maybe it will become a new Sunagakure base or maybe they will just leave the decision to Wind Daimyō," Canteen said lightly, obviously he didn't care what they decided to do with that village.
The three just nodded and left that topic aside, they didn't care that much either, they were just intrigued to know what would happen to the place where their first official mission as Anbu was.
...
...
Four months had passed since the first official mission that Rasa's Anbu group had done.
So far their group had done a total of 14 A-ranked, 9 B-ranked, and 7 C-ranked missions.
And currently, they maintain a 100% mission completion rate which means that no matter what situation they found themselves in, they always completed the mission.
For a group new to Anbu, it was pretty amazing, especially since most of their missions were A-ranked.
On the other hand, Rasa did not go unnoticed in the village despite being in Anbu.
This is because he always uses his gold dust in all the missions he does, being the only one publicly recognized in his group.
Everyone in Sunagakure now knew that Rasa the apprentice of the Kazekage being only 9 years old was part of Anbu and also that his strength was already at the level of a Chunin.
Even Rasa felt it sounded pretty incredible when others said it, but he would never admit it.
This was all part of the Third Kazekage's plan, if it wasn't for him pretending this whole thing happened, Rasa's identity as Anbu would have been kept secret by eliminating all those who had seen his use of gold dust on missions.
But the Third Kazekage arranged for Rasa not to bother hiding his identity, in fact, he arranged for Rasa to show off his gold dust skills on more than one occasion on his missions for others to see so that they would talk about him within the Windy Land and even outside of it.
Rasa knew that the Kazekage did this for many reasons such as gaining more support and power within the Suna council and the higher-ups in the village.
As well as promoting him as the young genius of Sunagakure and thus letting other villages know that the hidden village of the Wind Country also had genius and talented ninjas.
This would make the Daimyō of the Windy Country more interested in Sunagakure and thus they could also make him more willing to increase the village's manpower as well as the commissions it gives them.
Another reason is that there is currently no war, but tensions between the villages are constant and a war could happen at any time.
And until that happens, the best way for village leaders to compete without going to war is to demonstrate the strength of their villages' promising youngsters.
...
...
-Sunagakure: Suna Council Hall.
Just now, in the Kazekage Building inside the Suna Council meeting room where the large statues of the previous Kazekages are located, an important meeting was taking place with all the top leaders of the village along with some leaders of the most important clans of the village, there were also some ninjas and experts that help to make decisions concerning Sunagakure.
All those present were seated at a large round table facing the Third Kazekage who wore his Kazekage robes along with his hat with the kanji of WIND on it; to the right of him was, Captain Anbu and his right-hand man, Skull, while to the left of the Third Kazekage was the Second Kazekage now retired from his position but he still acted as the chief advisor and investigator of the village.
Then there were the elders of the council and the two Suna commanders known as the Honorable Siblings, Chiyo and Ebizo, two ninjas whose fame spread throughout the 5 great ninja nations.
And finally, the table could also highlight some of the leaders of the most important clans of Suna, the Hōki, Zensho, Jiki, Seishin, Chikamatsu, Doku, and Ningen, only the seat of the Jiki clan was empty since its leader was the Kazekage himself.
"Alright, we all gathered today to discuss the upcoming Chunin exam, but first we must know about the current situation of the rest of the 5 ninja villages" started saying the Third Kazekage as he stood up from the big round table and looked at everyone.
Ebizo stood up, requesting to speak, he was Chiyo's brother and one of the highest ranking members of the Suna council:
"I agree Kazekage. Snake, tell us everything you know..."
Chapter 25: Chunin exam
The Suna council had met to discuss the upcoming Chunin exam that would be taking place in Iwagakure.
But first, they decided to hear what the informants sent by Suna were going to say and then discuss the decisions that would be made about it.
"We received information about the villages that would have agreed to participate in these Chunin exams, sir. In addition to Konohagakure which we knew would participate, apparently both Kirigakure and Kumogakure now confirmed their presence in these exams" said quickly Snake who was wearing the common Suna Anbu attire.
He was one of the few ninjas participating in this meeting who was not part of the council or patriarch of some important clan.
"That doesn't mean..." began one of the council elders.
"That's right, as my brother Ebizo assumed it would be, all 5 major ninja villages are participating in these Chunin exams" replied Chiyo calmly.
"Impossible..., wouldn't it then be the first Chunin exam in history where all 5 great villages participate together?" asked another of the council elders in shock.
Everyone was silent for a few moments until the Third Kazekage sighed and spoke again:
"Yes and this is why this year's Chunin exams will be of crucial importance to all the villages."
"Snake, do us a favor and explain the reasons why all the villages would have an interest in participating in these Chunin exams" Ebizo again requested the Anbu to speak.
"I understand" Snake nodded.
"When we went to investigate at Ebizo-sama's request which villages would participate in the examination, we discovered the background of why all of these accepted. We know that Kumogakure has wanted to expand their territory over the years; however, after the first ninja world war they had many losses and now it would be far-fetched to take on other villages" Snake began explaining.
"That's why now they intend to use these Chunin exams to demonstrate their strength and thus gain a greater amount of commissions, besides they intend to convince the Daimyo of the Lightning Country to provide them with more economic funds and counting with the help of the Daimyo everything would be easier for them, without their support it would be impossible for them to recover from their losses unless they wait many years" Snake finished explaining.
"Maybe, still, they seem to be forgetting that they won't be the only village interested in winning these exams, their losses could be greater than the gains" added Chiyo.
"I don't think so, Sister," said Ebizo.
"To me, it looks like they are prepared to use their best ninja and eliminate the competition. We all know how the third Raikage's methods are, there are no such things as weaklings in his eyes, he will do everything to win these exams and get the support of his country's Daimyo" commented Ebizo.
"I understand what Ebizo-sama brings up, but in the case of Kirigakure, what would one of the five great hidden villages that require nothing from their Daimyo gain by participating in these examinations? Besides, they don't usually participate in these exams, so it doesn't make sense for their sudden participation" said another of the council elders.
"Well... we think they decided to participate in these exams because they intended to take on the other four big villages, but we don't know exactly" answered Snake truthfully, clarifying that it was just speculation.
"That doesn't make any sense, what would be Kirigakure's reason to do that?" said Rodro Zensho who was the patriarch of one of the most important clans inside Sunagakure, he was also Pakura's father.
"Patriarch Zensho, it is likely that Kirigakure wants to prove their position as one of the five great villages and these Chunin exams gives them the perfect opportunity to do that" explained Chiyo calmly.
"Chiyo-sama is right Patriarch Zensho, we must not forget that in the first ninja world war Kirigakure was the only one of the 5 big villages that did not participate due to the death of the Second Mizukage and it is known that there are many rumors that for this reason the small villages do not consider Kirigakure as one of the 5 big ninja villages or consider it the weakest," said Keichi Seishin another patriarch of one of the most important clans in Suna, he was Karura's father.
"But more importantly, Kirigakure may even be seeking revenge against Iwagakure by killing the talented ninja they have in the Chunin exams" added Ebizo.
Everyone knew that the first ninja world war began with a conflict between Konoha and Kumo, which was later joined by Suna attacking Konoha for fertile lands.
The tensions between then and after the death of the ninja god Hashirama Senju, everyone decided to take advantage and participate in the war to get something.
But when only a few months had passed since the beginning of the war, the news of the death of the second Mizukage and the second Tsuchikage came out.
Apparently, they killed each other after an intense battle, triggered by differences in their plan to initiate a joint siege of Kumogakure and Konohagakure.
While the newly appointed third Tsuchikage, Oonoki, continued with his preparations to besiege Konoha; the heir to the dust element held a great resentment towards Konoha after the humiliation he and his master suffered from Madara, and because Madara and Hashirama were dead, he could not waste the opportunity he had been given, with or without the help of Kirigakure, he had decided to make Konoha pay, continuing his master's wish.
And with Konoha already fighting on two fronts (Suna and Kumo), it was a great advantage for him at the time, so he decided to attack.
But the new Third Mizukage of Kirigakure had given up on his predecessor's idea of attacking Konoha, and for that very reason did not end up participating in the war, after all, they didn't really have anything against Konoha.
"That's exactly what worries us, as we originally planned to work together with Iwagakure to eliminate the new generation of talented ninja from Konoha, but now that Kirigakure is also participating, it's likely that he will prioritize other things," said the Third Kazekage with annoyance, as it was the perfect opportunity to weaken the future generation of Konoha's ninja.
The patriarch of the Chikamatsu clan stood up, asking to speak:
"Kazekage, given the participation of Kiri and Kumo, it would be wise to desist from eliminating the young ninja of Konoha, and for now only ally with Iwa to face what awaits us in the Chunin exams, they must have a desire to avenge the death of their Tsuchikage just like Kiri with the death of his Mizukage"
"I agree with Patriarch Chikamatsu, an alliance with Iwa would allow us to keep not only our ninja safe, but we would also have a potential ally for future conflicts" supported and concluded the idea the Doku clan leader, while the patriarch of the Chikamatsu clan nodded to him and took his seat again.
It was obvious to everyone that both patriarchs had a good relationship, so they always used to support the ideas that the other proposed.
To get an idea of the bond that both clans had, it can be noted that Chiyo and Ebizo's mother was part of the Doku clan, while their father was part of the Chikamatsu clan.
The third Kazekage let out an annoyed sigh at the fact that they were once again trying to ruin his plans, and turned his gaze towards Skull, who immediately proceeded to respond:
"We already sent a message to the Third Tsuchikage to formalize the alliance, however, we have recent information that in Konoha the Third Hokage has decided to make his three apprentices take part in these Chunin exams, who have already proven to be the future pillars of Konoha"
Seeing the reaction of the leaders, the Third Kazekage nodded in agreement with what his right-hand man had said and for this reason, he decided to release a little extra information, hoping to convince most of those present that it was the perfect opportunity to eliminate future talents from Konoha with or without Iwa's support:
"That's why I propose not only to ally with Iwa but also to deal with the talented young apprentices of the Hokage, it is a unique opportunity, where even Konoha won't be able to protest their deaths being present the 5 great ninja villages"
The clan leaders and council elders began to murmur.
This could benefit them greatly, eliminating three of the future pillars of Konoha was very tempting, but also risky.