บท 138: Ch138. Kazekage's return
Rasa returned from the Kage Summit where he signed the worthless piece of paper called the Peace Treaty. Honestly, he didn't really know what actually was the purpose of the document except for being an agreement for the official end of the war.
Sure, it had a few stipulations here and there but frankly, Rasa didn't even remember what exactly these stated since nobody really could enforce them, hence they were not worth remembering. He was sure that Kumo would breach it in three to five years tops without even knowing they did it. After all, the new Raikage looked young and brash, and worse yet, he looked driven to strengthen Kumo at all cost.
Rasa secretly heard him yelling threats at the Mizukage while asking for the heads of every ninja who participated in the mission that resulted in the death of his fiancee. Needless to say, the Mizukage just smiled with amusement at the young brute.
Rasa was just glad Suna was far away from Kumo so he would not be forced to deal with the man much.
Crossing the last sand dune, Rasa finally spotted his beloved Sunagakure... and promptly froze.
"Oi, Baki... is that mist?" He asked in disbelief.
"That is mist, my Lord." Baki nodded, not knowing what else to add.
"But... shit!" Rasa cursed and instantly sped up towards the village. 'Did the water-fucker breach the treaty already!?'
Fortunately for Suna, the Mizukage had no interest in them.
The visit from Yozora happened two days ago but there was still an enormous amount of water all around constantly in the process of vaporizing. The entire Sunagakure was veiled in a thin cover of water vapor.
Rasa didn't even look at the guards standing at the sides of the corridor in the sand wall. He just ran forward, passing the bewildered chunins at a speed they could not follow.
'Why are chunin guarding the gate when they can't even intercept someone at jonin level speed?' Rasa idly thought but it was quickly squashed as he finally entered Sunagakure.
He stared in bewilderment at the houses made of hardened sand soaked in water, some of them partially dissolved. The buildings in Suna depended on the environment where rain never happened. This new... flood or whatever it was, destroyed quite a bit of building and the damages... oh the damage! Suna looked half-buried in sand and half-flooded by water! Even now the Kazekage was actually ankle-deep in the water.
"What the heck happened to my village!?" He screamed with wide eyes.
"Oh, Lord Kazekage," One passing jonin saw him and jumped in front of him, taking a kneeling position before slightly frowning due to having to kneel in the water. "Er... we survived a storm? I have no idea but the sensor ninjas are saying it was natural. Pakura however says it was not and that she briefly fought the enemy. She was found passed out on the top of the Kazekage Tower with what the Council believes is a 'message' from those who attacked us."
'Pakura?' Rasa's eyes narrowed but nodded the ninja to lead the way.
He really didn't like that woman. Always criticizing his decisions, saying what she thought would be a better decision. Worse yet, since she became the 'Hero of Suna' in the war, she actually had some support in the Council and that was that. Maybe her advice had merit but couldn't she give them in private so he won't be publically undermined? Nope, he really didn't like that woman.
The Kazekage arrived at Pakura's room in the hospital and saw her sitting in the bed, giving orders to a few jonin which only soured his mood.
"Jonin Pakura, who gave you the right to command my forces?" He coldly asked the bedridden woman.
"Oh, Lord Kazekage," Pakura smiled. "Councilor Saruna gave me the command since this situation is non-standard." She informed him indifferently. "I started with having our ninjas help with getting rid of the water and the repairs of the half-collapsed buildings."
'Our forces? Fucking Saruna! I gave her the command because I knew she would not under any circumstances pass it to someone else!' Rasa inwardly cursed while his face stayed impassive. He clearly miscalculated and the second there was a problem, Saruna passed the command to someone else in order to not be blamed if she did anything wrong.
"I see..." He jerked his head down, trying to pass it as a nod. "Then could you describe what exactly happened?"
"Yes, sir. Two days ago, a heavy storm impacted Sunagakure. I quickly asked for the help of our sensor ninjas who assured me it was natural. There wasn't much I could do about it in that case so I started trying to vaporize the water with my Scorch in order to prevent the village from being completely flooded. Sometime during this action, I realized that if this was not really a natural occurrence, the enemy would most likely aim for the treasury. The rain was too thick and the communication with others was completely cut so I risked it and went alone." Pakura stopped her droning out how the events happened and grimaced. "I... it was the guy who was hired by you to help us get past the Iwa border outpost. The Yozora..." She trailed off, knowing this information didn't look well for the Kazekage. It might not mean much but it has certainly shown a bit of incompetence on his part.
Rasa bristled at that. The political situation in Suna didn't look all that well for him. He and Pakura's supporters were in direct opposition. Funnily enough, Pakura herself didn't give any indication of being interested in the position but that didn't mean anything since she was the only ninja capable of facing him in the village. This entire thing just proved she was more competent than him and he didn't like it. He could already see some councilmen harping at him for months, uncaring he was not present during the attack.
"What of the Biri-Biri representatives?" He asked. It was them who recommended Yozora so...
"I have had them interrogated. There was no real need for anything serious in that regard since they were very cooperative. We have information of what exactly Yozora is," Pakura gestured towards the table where the report lied. "I must say... I was taken down by one Jutsu. I... I have no idea how to even start thinking of fighting that monster." She quietly added, lowering her head.
The room suddenly descended into silence as the Kazekage took the document and read through it. The present ninjas were all jonin-ranked and seeing one of their strongest say she had no chance... it didn't bode well for them.
'Rei of Kiri? SS-rank? What the fuck is somebody like that attacking Suna for? According to this report, nothing was stolen too despite him being in the treasury.' Rasa read through the document and sighed in relief, 'At least the seals in the treasury worked and nothing was destroyed despite the snow covering everything... Seriously, snow? In the desert? What the fuck is that guy? At this rate, we can write him off as a natural disaster instead of a ninja!'
Rasa glanced at Pakura and his eyes gleamed. 'Maybe I could?'
"I see... this is troubling. Jonin Pakura, what is the extent of your injuries?" He asked.
Pakura shook herself from her sullen mood and raised her head to look at the Kazekage. "I have many cracked bones, torn muscles, and... I was half-frozen when they brought me to the hospital. According to the medics, I will stay in bed at least for a half-year followed by another half-year of retraining myself to get back into shape."
"Very well. Job well done, Jonin Pakura." Rasa nodded before turning around and walking away with the report on Yozora. Despite his stern face, he was inwardly grinning.
'Looks like luck is on my side! I was talking with the Mizukage about how we could help each other out but to think a Kiri nuke-nin would attack Suna...!'
Rasa was almost skipping with elation. He couldn't just assassinate Pakura. He needed a good reason to get rid of her. After all, the Daimyo liked the woman. Rasa even tried to find out if she pulled kunoichi on the old decrepit fool but apparently there was no hanky-panky between the two. But because of this connexion, Rasa needed to get rid of Pakura quietly and legally. He was aware it would considerably weaken Suna but the woman was too dangerous to him. Daimyo's support, many supporters in the council and among clans, moreover fame and being liked by the general populace and non-clan shinobi? It was as if the woman was aiming to become the Kazekage.
The saddest part was, she didn't even realize her actions were threatening Rasa, causing him to think of a way to be rid of her.
'I thought it would take years to send her on her way but this... this made it all so much easier! I have to send somebody competent to Kiri, after all. I just hope the Mizukage won't ask for too much for this help since I will be providing him with a quality bloodline breeding sow.'
As such, Pakura's fate as an 'emissary' to Kirigakure was already sealed, a year before she even recovered.
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