章 140: Chapter 26
I stood in front of the teams we'd be sending to Konoha with a smile on my face. The smile brightened as my siblings caught it and sent theirs in return. Well, Temari did. Kankuro was careful not to do anything with his face that might distort the war paint he'd spent the better part of the morning putting on painstakingly. The fact that Temari had refused to help because she thought it was stupid, and my clone had been little help because he'd ruined it on his first three attempts and gave up to continue practising meditation. It was actually impressive that he could get that much paint applied all on his lonesome.
Impressive and fucking stupid. He was still going to have to spend a few days of travel before even getting to Konoha. Sure, it was paint that would survive the journey but he still had days to spend in Konoha before the first stage of the exams would begin. What was the point in applying it now when he'd have to reapply later?
I turned to the last two members of his genin team, and my smile bellied the depths of the pride I felt in staring at Shira as he stood near their sensei, Ebizo. His ase had crossed my desk after I revised the Academy's requirements and I'd been quick to approve both his admission and graduation as they occurred months after each other. My record of one day at the academy remained undisturbed, but his three months there was something else. And I'd even looked in on a few of his training sessions, and he was good. Probably better than what Rock Lee was at this point. Unlike Lee, he was an actual genius. A genius of Taijutsu only, but still a genius nonetheless. In three months under Ebizo, he'd become better at taijutsu than I was. Better than everyone I'd ever seen. Technically, at least.
The other teams heading to Konoha also caught my eyes as I stood in front of them. We'd be sending around 11 teams this time to avoid drawing undue attention to ourselves by sending too little or too many. All of them were more than strong enough to survive the exams. I'd watched a few of their training sessions personally to make sure no Suna lives were being wasted by being tossed into the meat grinder that chunin exams could be, needlessly. There was also the fact that this would be the last chunin exams till I unleashed the hounds of war on Ta no Kuni and sent my elite jounin and anbu tearing apart the countryside in search of Orochimaru's hideouts. I'd spent months coming up with a war plan, having anbu teams scout the areas to point out probable sites of bases, and getting the approval of the council. They hadn't needed much convincing to get to my side of things, especially after Chiyo had gotten some success in transplanting the cells of the Dead bone pulse into a few foetuses at the hospital. We had a while to wait till we'd know if we succeeded, but they were hopeful. Luckily, Chiyo hadn't managed to infect them with her unnecessary paranoia.
When the last team arrived, looking shocked to already see me waiting for them, I coughed to get everyone's attention as I walked closer to them. Most of them were older than me, but they all still stared at me with a mixture of fear, awe, and reverence. All except my siblings, that is. The most devoted of them seemed to be a toss up between Shira and the white haired girl from team 17. "My ninja." I said in greeting to all of them
"Genin of Sunagakure, I stand before you as proud as any Kage can be. A greater gathering of potential than this one has never been seen before, and might never be seen before again. Standing before me are the creme of the crop. The brightest candles of Sunagakure. Go forth and show the world our strength. Don't let the winds snuff you out, and make me proud" I said before disappearing in a shunshin I was sure none of them could track.
One benefit of being kage was that I never needed to go on missions, so I'd had months to work on my skills. Mostly the subtle stuff that could be trained in the Kazekage's private training grounds, but I'd still gotten a few city busters under my belt. They weren't perfect but they were a work in progress.
Speaking of works in progress, I checked in on the clone working on meditation only to receive a feeling of disappointment. After six months, it was time for me to give up on that avenue of attack. My inner world seemed to be inaccessible without turning off Gamer's mind which wasn't even an option to consider. It seemed the mission to subdue Shukaku was going to take a while to be completed.
I had another appointment for now, so I moved the responsibility of thinking through the conundrum to that clone. When I arrived at the training ground, I found Dragon waiting for me, tanto in hand. "Are you ready, Kazekage-sama?" He asked, and I nodded.
He disappeared in a blur and it was all I could do to block his attack with the sword I took out of my inventory. Dark Sister, the Valyrian steel blade of Visenya Targaryen, and her great great grandson Daemon sang through the air as I pushed his attack back and tried to retaliate with one of my own. The blade had been left without use until four months ago when I'd gotten the idea to pick up kenjutsu as a hobby. I mentioned it idly to one of my guards, and the very next day, Dragon, the anbu commander, was waiting for me at my private training grounds.
The spellforged steel sang as it clashed against Dragon's own chakra steel. The blade, enhanced with fire type chakra as it was, was barely enough to keep me in the fight. Without it, I'd be bleeding on the floor dead already. Why fire nature chakra? The blade refused to accept anything less. It took it in droves and rewarded me by giving me a blade that could cut through anything if given enough leverage.
I'd returned Orochimaru's sword of Kusanagi to a noble in the Land of Grass that offered to pay millions for it, so I couldn't know for sure, but I still theorised that the Valyrian steel would come out the better in that encounter. Even now, Dragon was careful to avoid prolonged contact between our blades and stuck to parries instead of blocks. The first time I'd cut his sword in two, he'd looked about to burst in tears. Of course, I had seven identical copies sent to him the very next month, specially ordered from the Land of Iron. It had cost a pretty penny, but since I became Kazekage, Grandfather seemed keen on tossing money at me like there was no tomorrow, and the bounty from Orochimaru had been a healthy addition to my personal coffers.
Speaking of bounties, I had another idea on the backburner that was supposed to come into fruition today. The meeting should have been set for an hour or two from now, but I put it out of mind. Mebuki would remain on top of everything. It was what she'd proven to be an absolute goddess with. The same organisational talents that let her graduate top of her class from the med nin training division made her hilariously overqualified for managing what was essentially an entire village. We'd both underestimated the job I was signing her up for, but hiring her still proved to be the right course of action.
I leaned backwards, dodging out of the way of a wide slash that had been aimed at my head before I transitioned the movement into a backflip. My agility stat governed things like this, and the higher I pumped it, the more my body seemed to ignore the laws of basic common sense and things like leverage and body weight. At this point, the bullshit the Uchiha fuckers could pull off in the anime was possible for me. Jump in the air and twirl between two flying shuriken? Sure. Easy peasy.
With the second's respite I got, I bent towards the ground and shunshined forward till our blades met again. The higher perception went, the more usable the jutsu became in close combat. If I got it high enough, could I become the second coming of Shisui the Teleporter? Maybe. Who knew? We'd find out when my level got high enough. That was just it.
Dragon spun around my thrust before sending his blade at my neck. Dark sister lashed up like a snake and sent his blade flying backwards and I held it at the ready in both hands as I waited for his retaliation. Instead, he just sheathed his blade and said, "Our session is over, Kazekage-sama" I nodded and returned my blade to my inventory.
I'd started using it publicly after becoming Kage, and so far no one had asked any questions. Chiyo had stared at me suspiciously for a while but just gave up without ever asking. The others hadn't even done that much. It had helped me understand the aura of mysticism that powerful ninja enjoyed even from their fellow ninja. I did strange shit, and everyone just ignored it, assuming it was beyond their level, or a secret jutsu only Kage could know or something equally ridiculous. I nodded as I received a message from the clone I'd left in the office. It was time for the meeting.
XXXX
The gathered Jounin and special jounin of Sunagakure were enough to fill up a whole hall in the Kage building, so I'd chosen to use a public training ground for this meetup. The fact that there was sand right at their feet should deter anyone stupid from living up to their nature. I wasn't expecting betrayal at this point, but that didn't stop me from realising that this was the best time for anyone who'd gotten most of the jounin on their side to spring a trap.
Civil war wasn't coming to the best of my knowledge, but leaders rarely ever knew when they were going to be deposed. I thought my policies were popular but how would I ever truly know? Everyone could have been lying to my face. It was more likely that they were than they weren't, if I was being honest.
"Is everyone here?" I asked Mebuki and she nodded after consulting with our clipboard.
"Yes, Kazekage-sama. Every Jounin and Tokubetsu Jounin of Sunagakure within the village. Even the ones that had been on leave" I nodded, staring at them for a few seconds as I contemplated what my approach was going to be.
"Welcome Everyone. I will be straight to the point. Today, I am announcing a new division of Suna's military and a change in how we operate. The bounty hunting office will be headed by Yura, Jounin of Sunagakure, and staffed by a team of Chunin handpicked by me, and their functions are why I have gathered you here today" Nothing greeted my words but dead silence. They were all experienced shinobi. Hiding their reactions and emotions was child's play to them.
Besides, nothing I'd said really concerned them.
"The part that concerns you is that Suna will now back all bounty hunting activities. In fact, we will do more than that. Each of you is encouraged to form teams at will and seek out targets on the bingo book. Any ninja with bounties you capture or kill can be turned in at the Bounty office and you will receive 70% of the bounties as yours to keep" This one sent a hush through the crowd. They'd been silent before, but the feeling of the silence was beginning to change. This one tasted of anticipation as they hung on to my every word.
"How will that work?" One of the Jounin asked when I opened the floor for questions.
"Good question. First of all, Suna will distribute copies of the latest Bingo Book to each of you with a revised threat rating created and maintained by the intelligence division. Instead of just letters with vague lower and upper bounds, we will recommend strategies and numbers needed for each target. For those targets too dangerous to be approached by any of you, they will be marked as 'Flee on Sight'. When you defeat any of them, you will turn over the body or captive to Yura-san's office, and then you will be instantly paid with 70% of the bounty while Suna works to clear the amount from the nearest Bingo office." I said to them as I tried to be as specific as I could about what was coming their way and how the policy would work.
"Is this compulsory? Are we no longer getting missions? Becoming full time bounty hunters? That isn't what I signed on for." One of them said, causing a hush to spread across the crowd. I fixed the brave idiot with a stare and a blast of focused killing intent.
"I am your Kage. You signed on for whatever I tell you to do. But to answer your question, no. You can take missions as you normally would. This is just open to those who seek to earn some additional income for themselves or who spot opportunity in the middle of another mission. Now, in the absence of further questions. I will outline the structure of a bounty hunting team- Each team is to have two jounin; One ninjutsu, and one taijutsu specialist, one chunin, who must have medical training, and one member of the sealing corps."
XXXX
After fielding even more questions about the chosen team structure, I was finally making my way back to the office with Mebuki by my side. "Have you done it?" I asked her, and she nodded before speaking.
"I still don't understand the rationale behind removing all our bounties, Gaara. The elders might be right that it makes us look weak to others."
"Like I told them, I believe it will accomplish the exact opposite of that. Suna will now deal with her problems on her own. All our missing nin are to be hunted down exclusively by Suna nin, and those we'd see eliminated in the other villages will be done in by our own hands." I told her with a smile on my face.
"And the real reason? I asked no questions when you gave the order, but I admit curiosity"
"That's fine. I like curiosity. The real reason is that we don't have the money to pay off all those bounties we put up."
"There is enough in the village coffers to satisfy the total sum put up in bounties" Mebuki objected.
"Being able to afford something isn't the same as having enough money for it. The truth of it is that while we could pay all our bounties off, we'd have to wear a really tight belt for the next couple years if we did. Besides, with our ninja going out and hunting bounties from other villages to force them to put up the cash for us, we have to be wary of another village repeating our technique and robbing us blind."
"I see. I don't completely understand, but I see, "she finally said after a few minutes of silence.
"Good." I told her as a platform of sand lifted us into the air and took us straight into my office through the open window that I'd had installed. Unlike virtually every other Kazekage, I had nothing to fear from the sandstorms that often plagued the desert. I was the desert itself at this point.
"What do you think about our teams?" I asked her as I walked towards my desk and dissolved the clone sitting within it before sealing the sand that made him up into my inventory.
"The ones at the Chunin exams? They'll do well. I don't know much about fighting but you have faith in them so I'll do the same." She said, beginning to walk towards her desk outside the office.
"Thanks for the reminder. Please report to Squad Zero's training by 0500 hours tomorrow." I said, smiling as she whirled around on her heels to face me.
"What?"
"You just said it yourself. You don't know much about fighting. We need to fix that. As key as you are to Suna's future, we can't have you being easily killed, can we?" I asked and she scowled before biting out.
"My time is too valuable to Suna for me to invest so much in Anbu training" She bit out in reply.
"Your life is more valuable to me than your time, Mebuki. Report to their training tomorrow. That's an order" I said and she scowled at me before turning around and marching right out of the office.
"Have a good night's rest, Sweetheart. You have a big day coming tomorrow" I called out to her as she left the office and slammed my door behind her.
I reached into my inventory the moment she left and took out a scroll before beginning to study. I had the clone that had previously been working on meditation begin fuinjutsu practice and chose to join him, working on a different aspect of the art. Fuinjutsu was one of the few great equalisers out there, and masters of the art were both valuable and dangerous.
As a Jinchuriki, fuinjutsu would always be dangerous to me so it did me well to learn it. Besides, I had a seal I wanted to recreate for my own use. What seal is it, I hear you ask. Tsunade's Strength of a Hundred seal. The ability to seal away vast amounts of chakra within myself to use whenever I needed some extra oomph was just what I needed as my next trump card.
Natural energy wasn't going anywhere anymore so I had to go for the next available mega move. After I got the ability to sense the chakra that made up the world, I hadn't managed to do more with it and was beginning to suspect that I'd need to find a summoning contract capable of teaching me senjutsu before I'd manage to get that particular card added to my deck. And when I did, the thought of making another strength of a hundred seal for nature chakra only gave me shivers just from thinking about it. Sage mode anywhere and everywhere, on demand. That was the goal.
XXXXXX ONE MONTH LATER
I stared at the crowd as they returned, all downtrodden and despondent. As they saw me, their faces fell even further. The chunin exams had been a veritable disaster. The messenger hawk that had been sent to me had had me squeezing my fist in anger at the thought. For some reason, Iwa had shown up to the exams being held in Konoha and had targeted the teams from Suna with unusual viciousness.
Only Temari's team had been able to scale through the two stages of the exam and the preliminaries. The reports I'd received told me they'd basically repeated Kumo's stunt at my own exams. Except instead of sending a jounin level ninja under the auspice of being a genin, they'd sent multiple teams of chunin level ninja that had run roughshod through the exams. Iwa hadn't been on my list before this, but they'd done a good job of adding themselves.
Still, I did my best to put an expression of pride on my face as the teams began to walk through the gates. Some of them slumped further upon seeing me, but that changed once they registered the look on my face and the parade waiting for them. Gathering the citizenry for a welcome like this one had been easier than expected. I'd just told Mebuki what I intended and had come out to find them all waiting for the teams along with me. They didn't even flinch upon seeing me. My strategy of taking walks through the village whenever I could to acclimatise them to my presence seemed to be yielding some dividends.
"Welcome, Genin of Sunagakure. You have done your motherland proud" The shock on their faces was delicious to see.
"HYou drove such fear into the cowards of Iwa that they had to send their chunin hounds after you in great numbers and you still prevailed. Each and every one of you is worth three of theirs, and you proved it at the exams. My pride knows no bounds." I said to them, fudging the truth a lot but still being broadly accurate.
"Thank you for your service" I told them before dropping into a waist level bow. The villagers behind me followed my example as we welcomed the genin back to the village. When I straightened up, I wasn't surprised to see some of them already crying and others looking noticeably cheered up. Even the effects on the villagers were noticeable. This hadn't just been about the genin. Sure, cheering them up was important, but they weren't the main goal. The main goal had been confronting whatever preconceptions the villagers had had in their minds and replacing it with a different one. I needed them to believe in my love for Suna and her citizens. That was the only way to get their support in the long term.
With that bit of drama complete, I was able to return to my office after an hour of mingling with the crowd and joining the impromptu welcome festival the villagers had started. The fact that my presence hadn't put a noticeable dampener on things was a victory. A sign that what I was doing was working, even if only a little bit.
Mebuki welcomed me with a smile and a new stack of paperwork. I looked through the steel orders, adjusting them where I felt was necessary before putting them in the outbox to be sent back to Mebuki for confirmation before being sent to the Land of Iron. The next document told me our water usage was going up noticeably. Dropping the prices each household paid for water had led to an increase in year over year consumption, apparently. When compared to this time last year, we were consuming as much as 1.5x the amount of water. The utility department had flagged it as a red, but Mebuki had changed it to a yellow as she added a note saying that most of the increase had come from people no longer treating water as a luxury and actually using as much as they needed.
I agreed with her and signed off on her request to monitor the situation but do nothing about it. Sometimes I felt pity for the other Kage who were forced to do this job without having Mebuki by their sides. But then I remembered that each of them would put my head on a spike if they could, and the pity quickly disappeared. The next piece of paper had the report from the bounty hunting department for the last month. Apparently only two bounties had been turned in and Yura was already writing about it being a failure. I signed off on Mebuki's return letter politely asking him to be patient and maintain his post. I had no idea what the foolish man had been expecting. For seventy bounties to be turned in on the first month? These things took time.
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