At the border of the Land of Wind, inside an inconspicuous teahouse.
The hot, dry wind carried sand and dust, battering the wooden window lattice with a monotonous rattle.
Kamizuki Yu held a teacup, its surface reflecting his calm, unruffled face.
Spread across the table before him was an encrypted intelligence scroll from Amegakure. The elegant yet cold handwriting on it belonged to Konan.
The contents of the scroll painted a detailed picture of decline.
Sunagakure, the Land of Wind's military pillar, was on the verge of collapse.
The daimyo of the Land of Wind had drastically cut the village's financial budget, instead assigning missions to other, more "affordable" ninja villages.
In order to keep the village running, the Fourth Kazekage, Rasa, had no choice but to personally enter the fray, frantically panning for gold with his Magnet Release Gold Dust to make up for the enormous financial deficit.
A Kage had been reduced to the village's "cash machine."
That alone was ironic enough.
But the latter half of the scroll seemed to freeze the already stifling air inside the teahouse.
[One-Tail Jinchuriki: Gaara.] [Status: Extremely unstable. Long-term insomnia, mentally on the verge of collapse. Shukaku's consciousness continues to erode him.] [Threat Level: High.] [Cause: His father, the Fourth Kazekage Rasa, sees him as an "ultimate weapon," not as a son. To test his limits, Rasa has repeatedly sent ninja to assassinate him.] [Most recent assassination operative: His uncle, Yashamaru.] [Result: Failure. Gaara's psychological trauma worsened, and he completely closed off his heart.]
Kamizuki Yu's fingers lightly tapped the tabletop.
Once, then again.
He was reminded of those failed project managers from his previous life. When their products developed problems, they did not look for the root cause or fix the defects. Instead, they subjected them to even