After resting for a while, Scorpion sealed the Third Kazekage's corpse into a scroll with an excited smile, erased the traces of battle around him, and finally vanished into the swirling sandstorm.
At first, the Third Kazekage's disappearance did not cause much of a stir in Sunagakure. It was not until three days later, when the Third Kazekage still had not appeared, that the village's higher-ups sensed something was wrong. Logically, no matter how urgent a matter was, the leader of a village should not have disappeared without a trace for three days. The only explanation was that the Third Kazekage could not return because something had happened to him.
Large numbers of Sand Ninja began pouring out of Sunagakure, conducting a carpet search centered around the village. Yet as time passed, there was still no trace of the Third Kazekage. The hearts of all the Sand Ninja sank as they realized their Kazekage was likely doomed.
As the saying went, "A country cannot go a day without a ruler!" The same was true for a ninja village. Half a month later, after an internal struggle for power within Sunagakure, Rasa, a Kekkei Genkai ninja famed for fighting with Gold Dust, ultimately ascended to the position of Fourth Kazekage.
Although a new Kazekage had taken office, the Third Kazekage's inexplicable disappearance remained an everlasting pain in Sunagakure's heart. Because of this, Sunagakure became the laughingstock of the Ninja World, a topic for others to discuss over tea and meals.
Someone had to take the blame for the Third Kazekage's disappearance. Sunagakure's higher-ups suspected Konoha was behind it. After all, Konoha was the strongest force in the Ninja World and was not too far from Sunagakure. Furthermore, many years had passed since the Second Shinobi World War. The major ninja villages