Sunagakure.
Kazekage Office.
A middle-aged man stood by the window, looking down at the village shrouded in blowing sand.
He was Sunagakure's Third Kazekage, hailed as the strongest Kazekage in history.
Under his leadership, Sunagakure had developed for over a decade, and its overall strength had improved tremendously.
That was also an important reason why Sunagakure had been able to challenge Konoha, the hegemon of the Shinobi World, in the Third Shinobi World War.
If their positions were reversed, if he were the Third Hokage with Konoha's superior innate advantages, he would even dare launch a war to unify the Shinobi World outright!
Bang!
The office door was shoved open forcefully, and a woman in her forties, still graceful and charming, stormed in with an imposing air.
The moment she entered, she demanded, "Third Hokage, what exactly are you thinking? Are you really going to make peace with Konoha?!"
"Chiyo, I knew you would come." The Third Kazekage sounded somewhat helpless.
The only person who could barge into his office without knocking and point a finger at him while speaking was Chiyo.
Chiyo had trained a great many Puppet Masters for Sunagakure, and the Third Kazekage held her in great respect.
"I originally intended to use the alliance proposal to provoke Konoha, then join forces with Ōnoki to pressure them. I never expected the Third Hokage to endure even that! Now, we can only go with the flow and agree to a ceasefire and alliance with Konoha first." Faced with Chiyo's questioning, the Third Kazekage explained.
"So you're determined to cease hostilities?! Then what about Akayu and Hakusa's deaths? How am I supposed to explain this to Sasori!?"
Chiyo snapped.
The Third Kazekage sighed. "There is no other way. Our people were attacked as well. I suspect it was that