Compared to the Second Shinobi World War, the Third Shinobi World War engulfed more factions. All Five Great Shinobi Villages joined the fighting, and numerous remarkable figures emerged.
Many events that unfolded in the official Naruto story began with the Third Shinobi World War.
Orochimaru's defection, Obito's descent into darkness and his plan to create a world where Rin was alive, and Sunagakure's further decline until it became Konohagakure's lackey...
The Third Shinobi World War began when the Third Kazekage, hailed as the strongest Kazekage in history, was assassinated by Sasori of the Red Sands.
With Sunagakure leaderless, the expansionist Land of Lightning took advantage of the chaos and launched a powerful invasion of the Land of Wind.
I'd just crossed over, and before I'd even met my future wife, you were telling me there was going to be a war?
Rasa finally put the pieces together. Before he could take the Kazekage's seat, he still had one more hurdle to overcome.
Hearing Elder Chiyo's words, the beautiful Shamate Hairdresser Pakura froze for a moment, then replied, "If he's gone, of course we should go look for him."
It was a perfectly reasonable answer.
Chiyo nodded slightly. She had the same thought. Then she turned to Rasa and asked, "You were Lord Kazekage's student. What do you think?"
"No. We absolutely can't look for him!"
Rasa spoke in a low, urgent voice, his expression grave. "At the very least, we can't make a big show of it.
"Elder Chiyo, that must be what you're thinking too. But have you considered the worst-case scenario?"
A flicker of surprise stirred in Chiyo's heart. She exchanged a glance with Ebizo. How had Rasa known? She approved of him even more.
"Lord Kazekage has gone missing. Of course we should look for him. Otherwise, who'll handle the village's affairs? You?"
Pakura sneered. She and Rasa had never gotten along. They were close in age and both were gifted shinobi; two tigers couldn't share one mountain.
"Hmph. Long hair, short sense." Rasa curled his lip, not bothering to argue.
Pakura wasn't exactly a clever woman. Otherwise, in the original story, she wouldn't have been tricked by the original Rasa into walking straight into Kirigakure's trap.
"You..."
Long hair, short sense—he was calling her stupid! Pakura bristled with anger and was about to argue with Rasa when Chiyo cut her off.
"No fooling around in the Kazekage Office!"
Chiyo sharply rebuked Pakura, then turned to Rasa and asked calmly, "Tell us what you think. You can say whatever you like."
Rasa forced a few traces of sorrow into his expression. "I think... my teacher may already have been killed."
Pakura immediately objected. "Impossible! Lord Kazekage is the strongest Kazekage in history. How could he have been killed?"
"Why is it impossible?" Rasa countered. Then he said, "Lord Kazekage was my teacher. I shouldn't say some of this, but for Sunagakure's safety, I have no choice.
"Let me ask you, Elders. Lord Kazekage was hailed as the strongest Kazekage. But how did he compare to the Third Raikage?"
The two fell silent for a moment before Chiyo calmly answered, "He was inferior."
Rasa asked again, "And how did he compare to the God of Shinobi, Hashirama Senju, or Madara Uchiha?"
"Not remotely close."
This wasn't about praising others at their own expense. The gap in strength was real, and Chiyo and Ebizo had to admit it.
"Exactly. Let's set the Third Raikage aside for now.
"What sort of prodigies were Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha? They dominated the Shinobi World for decades and brought an end to the era of chaos, yet both still died after their battle at the Valley of the End.
"Even if my teacher was hailed as the strongest Kazekage, claiming he was invincible in the Shinobi World, with no equal, would just be self-deception!
"Shinobi dance on the edge of a blade. Life and death are part of the job. No matter how powerful a shinobi is, even a single shuriken can take his life."
Pakura had been about to keep picking apart Rasa's argument. Lord Kazekage had Magnet Release, so a shuriken couldn't possibly kill him. But seeing the grief on Chiyo and Ebizo's faces, she let it go.
The Third Kazekage wasn't a child. He'd been missing for three days without any explanation. It wasn't as if he'd gone to Konohagakure to play cards with Hiruzen Sarutobi.
Chiyo and Ebizo had suspected as much themselves. They just hadn't wanted to admit it—not dared to admit it. The Kazekage had gone missing near Sunagakure, and that was nothing short of a disaster for the village.
If even the boss could get taken out on his own turf, how could he expect his underlings to believe they had a future in the gang?
People would lose faith.
Rasa's words mercilessly crushed Chiyo and Ebizo's last hope, their final attempt to deny the truth. In the Shinobi World, no one was in control of their own fate. All sorts of unexpected things happened.
"Then why can't we look for Lord Kazekage?" Chiyo asked again. She seemed to age several more years in an instant. The boss was gone; at the very least, they had to avenge him.
Don't look. You won't find him. Your grandson never leaves a body behind. The Third Kazekage has probably already been pickled in formalin!
Of course, Rasa couldn't say that aloud. Instead, he explained, "Everyone in the Shinobi World knows how cruel reality can be and how tense things are right now.
"It's been a long time since the Second Shinobi World War. Konohagakure has had nearly ten years to recover, and its strength is now at its peak.
"Kirigakure, Kumogakure, and Iwagakure haven't even been directly involved in the war. They're all flourishing, at the height of their power.
"I can already smell the smoke of war. It'll only take one spark for the flames to sweep across the Shinobi World.
"By contrast, Sunagakure fought the Land of Rain and Konohagakure at the same time over a decade ago. We suffered heavy losses and still haven't recovered.
"Tell me, what do you think would happen if we made a big show of it and sent the whole village out to look for my teacher?"
Chiyo and Ebizo fell into thought. Even the Shamate beauty Pakura understood how serious the situation was.
Konohagakure's boss, Hiruzen Sarutobi, preferred to let others make the first move. But he was in his prime, and there was bad blood between the two villages. It was hard to say that Konohagakure wouldn't act.
Even if the Land of Wind was poor in resources and offered little to covet, who wouldn't take advantage of someone down?
The Land of Lightning favored military expansion, and Kumogakure's shinobi were domineering even when carrying out missions abroad, always provoking trouble. Once they learned the Kazekage was gone, they would surely launch a major invasion.
The Land of Earth—Two Scales Onoki had always been aggressive. The only reason they might not attack the Land of Wind was if they had something more valuable in mind.
Rasa had memories from his past life. He knew that if Sunagakure launched a large-scale search for the Third Kazekage, the Land of Lightning would invade.
Working backward from the answer to find the reasoning, he easily convinced the two elders, Chiyo and Ebizo.
Chiyo had naturally considered the possibility that the Kazekage had been killed, but she still held on to a sliver of hope. That was why she'd summoned Pakura and Rasa, the two most outstanding shinobi of the younger generation, to ask their opinions.
On the one hand, she wanted to reassure herself: if both of them supported searching, Sunagakure would mobilize the entire village to find the Kazekage.
On the other, she was testing them. Whoever could clearly analyze the situation and convince her would be the better choice to succeed as Kazekage.
Without a doubt, Rasa had convinced Chiyo and won the battle to become the Fourth Kazekage ahead of time!
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