Chapter 245: Kazekage Candidate... Gaara
"And even if we objected to Konoha sending personnel to check for security loopholes, the village doesn't have enough manpower to complete this task," the middle-aged advisor who had spoken earlier added. "The Third Kazekage was attacked on his way to Konoha. Orochimaru actually knew the Kazekage's route. This shows that the route from the Sand to Konoha has been seriously infiltrated by other forces. This time, we can just use Konoha's power to uproot these external forces..."
"This kind of thing should have been done by ourselves, but the village's heart is willing, but the strength is weak. All our strength is concentrated on restoring our strength and vitality. Since Konoha has the spare strength to do this kind of thing, let them do it. It just so happens that it will also dispel their lingering worries!"
From a self-deceiving point of view, this could also be considered using Konoha.
However, Baki clearly did not agree with this explanation.
Listening to his speech, Baki just clenched his hands tightly, grit his teeth, and remained silent with his eyes closed.
His agitated emotions left him unable to say a word.
The Sand Village in his heart should not be like this.
However, the bloody reality had forced the Sand to bow their heads to Konoha at every turn. As long as their most core interests were not touched by Konoha, they no longer cared about losing face or dignity.
Bowing one's head to the strong was a kind of survival wisdom for the weak.
It was just that this current situation, how could Baki, who was cold and ruthless on the outside but was more loyal to the village than anyone on the inside, accept it?
The expressions on Baki's face were seen by the several high-ranking Sand-nin present. Chiyo and Ebizō exchanged a look, and both sighed silently in their hearts.
He really is not suitable to be the Kazekage. In this instant, the several elders and advisors had reached a consensus.
Setting aside the issue of strength, just the fact that he was too rigid and his mind couldn't make the turn made it impossible for others to rest assured and hand the village over to him.
If the Sand Village had the strength and the surrounding environment of the Cloud Village, then for the position of Kazekage to be held by a strong-willed person like Baki, that would not be a problem.
However, the problem was that the current Sand, let alone comparing themselves to the Cloud Village, was probably not even a match for the Mist Village, which was publicly recognized as the weakest among the five great nations... To have another strong-willed Kazekage who had no strength but was unwilling to submit, they were afraid that the little bit of foundation the Sand Village had left would soon be squandered.
"Baki, after you're done with this period, you should step down and go back to being a Jonin Squad Leader," Ebizō said. "The position of Kazekage is still too difficult for you."
Politics... requires compromise.
A person like Baki was more suitable as an executor, not a decision-maker.
Hearing Ebizō's verdict, Baki opened his eyes, somewhat lost. He sighed. A look of regret and relief appeared in the resolute man's eyes.
"I am indeed not suitable to sit in the position of Kazekage..." he said, taking off his hat and placing it on the table with a wry smile.
"But if Baki is not suitable to be the Kazekage, then who else can be?" the middle-aged man asked hesitantly.
Several of the high-ranking Sand-nin who were already old were first excluded.
In Baki's generation, he was already a standout. There were not many whose strength was stronger than his, and their personalities were even colder and more rigid than the next. They were really not suitable to be the Kage of a village.
After thinking it over and over, they couldn't find a suitable person!
The great Sand Village had fallen into the predicament of a talent gap, with no one to be the Kazekage!
The several advisors looked at each other in dismay.
"If the older generation won't do, then let's choose from the new generation of ninja!" Chiyo said, tapping her hand on the table. "Haven't we started to introduce Konoha's talent training model?"
"Lady Chiyo, although the Konoha model is indeed very effective and more popular than the old model, it has, after all, only been implemented for less than a year..." After Baki's mood had calmed down, he had also regained his composure and mentioned, "I'm afraid there are no new talents who are outstanding enough to take on the heavy responsibility of a Kage!"
"Who said so?" Granny Chiyo glanced at Baki. "In the new generation of ninja, there are also many outstanding talents!"
She looked around the meeting room and said, word by word, "For example... Gaara, isn't he an excellent candidate for the future Kazekage?"
"Gaara?"
Hearing this name, the entire room was in an uproar.
Gaara, that infamous Jinchuriki.
He can also be the Kazekage?
Haruno Sakura was strolling down the street of a city in the Land of Wind.
Although the area of the Land of Wind was the largest among the five great nations, most of its territory was desert or desolate gobi. The area of land that was productive and could support its people was not large.
In this country, oases were scattered like stars on the vast desert, dotting the endless yellow sand with a verdant green, like countless bright and beautiful emeralds set in a yellow carpet.
Although the climate was dry, the water resources here were not particularly scarce. The groundwater content was rich, and thus it could support the Land of Wind as one of the five great nations.
People built villages and even cities in the oases. From the Gold Dust City, which bordered the Land of Rivers, to the Sand Village in the core, cities with a unique style stood in the oases, like a string of pearls with a broken chain, scattered on this land.
Squad 14's mission was to inspect the terrain and cities on the new route to ensure that the Hokage and the candidates would not be ambushed by other forces on their way to and from the Sand Village. This was also a lesson learned from the assassination and replacement of the Fourth Kazekage.
The reconnaissance mission in the wild was actually very simple, it could be called simple and crude—if they found a terrain that was suitable for an ambush, they would just use ninjutsu to change it, widen the narrow path, and level the high hills. Even in a place where there was no road, with chakra, it was not difficult to temporarily open up a new path in the wilderness.
On the contrary, the cities on the route were a bit tricky.
It was not convenient for them to inspect the entire city in a high-profile manner. After all, this was still the territory of the Land of Wind. The Sand-nin could probably tolerate the Konoha ninja opening up roads and building bridges, but if they were to openly investigate the citizens of the Land of Wind, it might cause a diplomatic incident...
Who knows, it might even provoke the Sand-nin to betray Konoha again?
So they could only investigate in secret...
Therefore, after stepping into this city, the three members of Squad 14 had split up, disguising themselves as passing travelers and shuttling through the city.
"The targets are any people with a clear chakra texture." Sakura reminded herself repeatedly as she observed the pedestrians on the road.
This kind of mission was not difficult. Although she was not good at long-range sensing, at a close distance, Sakura's senses were still very sharp—this was a sensory ability that was forcefully propped up by her powerful spiritual energy.
Therefore, for every passerby who brushed past her, she could clearly sense whether the other person was a ninja or a samurai with a chakra reaction.
However, in this kind of ordinary city, it was clear that the majority were ordinary people who had not trained their chakra.
Strictly speaking, ordinary people also have chakra—chakra, in a broad sense, can be defined as all physical and spiritual energy, and ordinary people, of course, also possess this energy.
It was just that this so-called chakra, which had not been condensed into actual energy through training, was a world apart from the chakra used by ninja.
The difference between the two could be compared to graphite and diamond.
What could attract Sakura's attention was, of course, only the kind of chakra that had been condensed through training. Unfortunately, she had walked from one end of the street to the other, and had not found a single chakra source that was even slightly decent.
Naturally.
There was also no target that was enough to arouse the girl's vigilance.
The streets and alleys, the flow of people, the shops stationed there, were all harmless, ordinary people.
"Clear!" Sakura said, shrugging her shoulders as she passed the street, throwing out a long-unused English word.
After saying this, Haruno Sakura herself also laughed.
Sometimes, she also quite missed Earth, that peaceful world, the cities where she could leisurely go shopping.
Not a world where she had to walk on the street with a kunai in her pocket, carefully identifying whether the passersby were a threat.
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