Inside a top-secret meeting room in the Kazekage's Office Building of Sunagakure.
All the high-ranking officials of Sunagakure were seated around the round table. As a confidant of the Fourth Kazekage and Gaara's teacher, Baki was naturally qualified to be present.
However, after returning to Sunagakure, Baki was relieved of his assigned Jonin Gaara, and Gaara was reassigned to another department.
The Jinchuriki of a ninja village can only be controlled by the 'Kage'.
The methods used by the 'Shadow' to control Jinchuriki are also extremely dark.
The 'Shadow' will reveal the Jinchuriki's identity when Jinchuriki, causing the entire village to be hostile towards Jinchuriki.
At the same time, in order to protect the secrets of Jinchuriki, the 'Kage' would also issue a gag order, forbidding anyone from mentioning the matter of Jinchuriki.
When Jinchuriki faces ostracism from the entire village and falls into endless loneliness and pain, the 'Kage' will appear before the Jinchuriki as a family member, Jinchuriki.
The Team AB in Kumogakure is like this, and so is Naruto and the Third in Konoha.
When the Fourth Kazekage Rasa, discovered the bond between Gaara and Yashamaru, he ordered Yashamaru to assassinate Gaara, ensuring that Gaara remained in the Kazekage's hands and using their father- Gaara relationship to continue controlling Gaara.
Despite the Third's seemingly kind and gentle demeanor towards Naruto, he never actually offered Naruto much help in his daily life.
Even the legacies of Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki seem to have been confiscated by Konoha.
Before graduation, Naruto could only drink expired milk, and due to malnutrition, he was even a few centimeters shorter than Hinata.
Because the more difficult the situation, the more important the Third Hokage's warmth became to Naruto.
"Why give Konoha so much war compensation... If this money were used to develop the village, the village would recover in a short time."
Baki slammed his fist on the table and sternly questioned everyone.
Even though the negotiations with Konoha had ended several days ago, Baki still couldn't understand it all.
Upon hearing this, an elder calmly said, "After the war with Konoha ended, we received news that Iwagakure was making trouble on the border of the Land of Wind, and even Kumogakure was summoning ninjas back to the village."
"If we don't ally with Konoha, Sunagakure will immediately be in crisis."
"Baki, you know what this means."
"If not handled properly, the Konoha Crush Plan could be the start of the Fourth Shinobi World War!"
The Third Shinobi World War Shinobi World War can be considered a pivotal battle that marked the decline of Sunagakure from its peak.
At the beginning of the war, Sunagakure was still able to fight Konoha with great success despite losing the Third Kazekage.
After being defeated by Konoha, Sunagakure went on to fight against Kirigakure and Iwagakure.
In order to fight Iwagakure with all his might, the Fourth Kazekage Rasa even sacrificed Elite Jonin Pakura from Sunagakure who possessed the Scorching Release Kekkei Genkai.
Rasa sent Pakura to Kirigakure to his death, which ended the war between Sand Village and Kirigakure.
The Third Shinobi World War was undoubtedly a disgrace for Sunagakure.
Sunagakure suffered a series of defeats, becoming the weakest village in the Shinobi World. To this day, it can't even select a qualified Kage.
After the Konoha Crush Plan, Sunagakure was forced to go from being an ally of Konoha to being a subordinate of Konoha, barely maintaining its influence as one of the Five Great Shinobi Villages.
In Sunagakure, which has no "Kage," all major decisions must be made by the village's higher-ups.
However, in the Ninja World, democracy is not a good thing.
For ninjas, intelligence is king. If everything needs to be discussed, then opportunities will be fleeting.
A middle-aged executive said, "Let's leave this matter aside for now..."
"What are your opinions regarding the personnel sent to Konoha for training?"
Upon hearing this, Baki sneered, "Do our opinions matter? Konoha sending people to Sunagakure to retrieve war reparations might also be a way of observing us..."
The middle-aged man retorted, "Konoha has its Konoha stance, and we have our own ideas."
"Sunagakure is our territory, and everything that the people of Konoha see is what we want them to see."
"Learning from Konoha's talent development system and medical-nin training system would be beneficial to our Sunagakure ..."
"This is also the main reason why we are willing to compensate Konoha with a large sum of money."
Baki scoffed, "What an excuse you've been making for your incompetence!"
Someone rebuked, "Baki, your attitude is not conducive to the unity between Sand Village and Konoha... Trust needs to be built gradually. We have made such a big concession this time, and Konoha is also willing to let us learn their advanced system."
"We do this so that the outside world can see that our Sunagakure and Konoha are still allies who trust each other."
"Only in this way can the Shinobi World maintain the hard-won peace and buy time for the development of our Sunagakure..."
Baki's face was gloomy, so somber it was almost as if water could drip from it.
However, the Sand Village's higher-ups didn't even lift their eyelids, remaining expressionless and completely disregarding Baki's attitude.
Someone said calmly, "A misjudgment of the situation could plunge the village into utter ruin."
"We in Sunagakure have experienced this kind of suffering, so... Baki, put down your pride. Sand Village needs now is not strength, but survival!"
Baki's expression changed several times. After a long while, as if he had lost all his strength, he sat in his seat without saying a word.
Baki was a close confidant of Rasa and was deeply influenced by Rasa.
Undeniably, Rasa loved his village very much. In order to protect Sunagakure, Rasa even went so far as to make his son Jinchuriki.
However, Sunagakure also bears undeniable responsibility for Rasa's current state.
Someone said, "The envoys from Konoha are arriving soon... Baki, you are familiar with them, so you will be in charge of leading Kankuro and Temari welcome them."
"You're a veteran Jonin of the village, you should know what to do!"
Baki said expressionlessly, "Understood!"
An old man suddenly suggested, "Since the village is in such a predicament, why don't we invite those two to come out and take charge?"
"..."
After a moment of silence in the meeting room, a slightly younger-looking senior member of the leadership said, "Elder Chiyo and Ebizo have been out of the public eye for many years. The village's situation is not yet at its most dangerous point. It's better if we handle it ourselves."
"We can't keep bothering the elderly in the village with everything!"
"If that happens, wouldn't we young people seem like we've accomplished nothing?"
Baki has seen through these so-called high-ranking officials; they are only after their own interests.
Anyway, the Shinobi World is relatively peaceful, Sunagakure may not need the Kage's leadership now.
Baki had already secretly resolved that after the people from Konoha left, he would ask Chiyo and Ebizo to come out of seclusion and take charge of the overall situation in Sunagakure.
In any case, at least Fifth Kazekage must be chosen so that Kazekage can lead the village to continue its development.
While the current decision-making process may seem democratic, the differing interests of each party mean that few people are able to consider issues from the village's perspective.
Position determines thought.
These people are not like the Kazekage; all their decisions are based on their own interests.
Just like the war compensation paid to Konoha this time.
Although Baki didn't know exactly how much money the Daimyo of the Land of Wind had contributed, he knew that besides compensating Konoha for its losses, the majority of the money was used for the development of Sunagakure itself.
But this money has probably already been divided among the people in front of us!