The Kazekage's Vision

Whoosh!

Pakura walked out of the conference room expressionlessly. The fierce wind blowing into her face made her narrow her eyes instinctively.

Ever since the Five Great Ninja Villages had been established,

Sunagakure had clashed with Konoha, Kirigakure, and Iwagakure.

It had clashed most often with Konoha, followed by Iwagakure, with Kirigakure ranking third.

But fewer conflicts with Kirigakure did not mean the two villages held the least resentment toward each other.

The village was about to bleed heavily again.

When Pakura passed by the mission office, she caught sight of a familiar figure. She froze for a moment, then turned and walked over, asking in confusion,

"Asuka, what are you doing here?"

"Posting a mission!"

Asuka replied without looking up, his head lowered as he filled out the form.

"Your village's shops won't rent to me, so I had no choice but to come here and post a mission."

???

Pakura looked at Asuka in complete confusion. Then her gaze fell on the mission form he was filling out. Seeing the large words "D-Rank Mission," the corners of her mouth twitched.

D-Rank Mission: Sales.

Mission reward: 1,000 ryo per day + commission.

After reading what Asuka had written, Pakura rubbed her chin thoughtfully.

"What's a commission?"

"A commission?"

Asuka set down his pen and handed the completed mission form to the ninja across from him for review. Then he turned to Pakura and explained simply,

"It means I hire a few genin to sell things for me, then give them a share based on a certain percentage.

The more they sell, the more they earn."

"What are you planning to sell?"

Pakura sized Asuka up curiously. This guy had actually come all the way to Sunagakure to do business.

Poof! A puff of white smoke flashed by, and two items suddenly appeared in Asuka's hands. One smelled like fried chicken, while the other had a somewhat sour, foul odor.

"What are these?"

"This is Uchiha Honey Mustard Fried Chicken.

Uchiha Madara developed it for his younger brother back then. Later, I found the secret recipe, and after years of experimentation, I finally restored this flavor.

The other is Uchiha Luosifen.

One night, Uchiha Madara deeply felt that the Uchiha Clan was the clan most capable of love, yet its ending was also the most tragic. So he developed this Luosifen, allowing his clansmen to savor the taste of 'love' and preserve that pure, original heart."

After saying that, he saw the bewilderment in Pakura's eyes and could not help shaking his head inwardly.

If there were not still Senju clansmen alive—and if they were not so troublesome—he actually wanted to make up a story using the names Hashirama Senju and Uchiha Madara.

What a pity.

For now, he could only borrow Uchiha Madara's name.

That old man probably did not have many days left to live. He probably would not come looking to cause trouble for him.

"Oh, right!"

Pakura shook her head, shaking away the image of Uchiha Madara personally making fried chicken. Then she pulled Asuka to an empty spot and asked in a low voice,

"Have you studied pregnant women?"

Pregnant women?

Asuka gave Pakura a strange look.

He had indeed studied pregnant women before, but his research had only involved prenatal education.

It was said that prenatal education could alter a fetus's intelligence, making a child smart, clever, and healthy after birth.

Yet even after the test subject reached the age of four, he had not noticed any unusual changes in their intelligence.

After that, he gave up researching pregnant women.

Pakura did not notice Asuka's expression. She cautiously looked around, her tone hesitant as she said,

"What if a pregnant woman can't give birth?"

Hearing that, Asuka answered without even thinking.

"That's easy. You can pull the child out. If that doesn't work, a C-section will do. With current medical methods, it's hard for a pregnant woman to die from a difficult birth.

What, does one of your friends have a difficult delivery?"

Pakura rolled her eyes at Asuka, then looked worriedly in a certain direction.

Did she not know about C-sections? If it were that simple, this matter would be much easier to solve.

Then she buried the matter in her heart and casually made up an excuse.

"No. I was just worried about what to do if someone close to me has a difficult delivery someday."

"Just cut her open. What's the big deal?"

Asuka shrugged, clearly not taking the matter to heart.

Medical methods in the ninja world were simply more fantastical than those of later generations. A difficult delivery was not quite like catching a cold, but it was close enough.

They could even treat the dead back to life, much less deliver a baby.

Four nights later.

A round moon hung in the night sky as a breeze pushed Dark Clouds slowly onward.

It was a rare windless night, yet every corner of it carried a trace of strange unease.

Sunagakure, outside a safe house.

Several elite Sunagakure ninja stood guard outside, their unblinking eyes fixed on the sturdy safe house before them.

"Rasa!"

At that moment, a Sunagakure ninja hurried up to Rasa, grabbed him by the collar with both hands, and demanded angrily,

"Why didn't you tell me about something this huge beforehand? Why didn't you tell me earlier?"

Huff!

Rasa let out a heavy breath. With his arms folded, he gazed at the safe house ahead. A hint of worry showed through his gloomy face as he said coldly,

"Iwagakure has been making frequent moves. This was a temporary decision made to protect the village from invasion.

And this matter is highly classified. Given your status, you were not qualified to know.

Yashamaru, I only told you today because your sister may die. There is no longer any need to keep it secret."

Yashamaru released him and staggered back two steps, staring at the indifferent Rasa in disbelief.

"My sister... my sister is going to die?"

Two trails of tears slid down his cheeks and fell to the ground. His shoulders trembled, his teeth clenched tightly, and his voice shook as he said,

"Why... why is my sister going to die? She's your wife... Why did you put that monster inside her? Did you ever ask how she felt?"

At those words, pain flashed through Rasa's eyes before vanishing. He looked at Yashamaru, who had crouched on the ground and begun to cry, and said evenly,

"She agreed to it for the sake of protecting the village.

I was the one who sealed the tailed beast inside Karura while she was pregnant.

If you want to hate someone, hate me, not the village.

But as a ninja, Yashamaru, you should understand what a tailed beast means to the village."

"B-but she's my sister."

"She is also my wife, and the child in her belly is my son. I personally sealed the tailed beast inside my own son.

You should know the fates of the previous three Jinchuriki after they went berserk."

Of course he knew the fates of the previous three Jinchuriki.

Rasa had scattered even their ashes.

Looking up at Rasa's cold expression, Yashamaru parted his lips, wanting to say something, yet unable to utter a single word.

Clearly... clearly, he had not been like this before becoming Kazekage.

When he had entrusted his sister to him, he had clearly promised to protect her.

Whoosh~

A gentle breeze swept past as Dark Clouds gradually covered the moon.

At that moment,

the wind in Sunagakure suddenly stopped.

Asuka, who had been lying on the sofa dreaming, abruptly opened his eyes. The Sharingan in his eye sockets spun wildly.

He sat upright and glanced over the sofa, which was comparable to a large bed. After confirming that he had not somehow traveled elsewhere and was still at Pakura's home, Asuka cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted upstairs,

"Pakura, something huge has happened in your village."

"The tanuki is about to tear the house apart."

He shouted for a long time without receiving any response from Pakura. When he went up to the top floor and found the room empty, Asuka knew that she must have kept something from him.

Then he quickly packed up his own belongings, while also gathering the valuable things in Pakura's home.

The tailed beast's massive Chakra was already spilling out.

This was the prelude to a rampage...