"What did you say? Li Fan defeated Aoki within five minutes?"
In the Kazekage's office, Chiyo, who was sitting nearby, widened her eyes slightly.
She tapped her ear, as if suspecting she had misheard.
"Lord Fourth indeed defeated Jonin Aoki within five minutes, and he did it with ease."
"Moreover, Lord Fourth has successfully mastered Lord Third's Iron Sand, and he has surpassed his master."
Standing not far away in the office, the voluptuous woman wearing an eagle mask tried hard to suppress the excitement in her heart, speaking as calmly as possible.
A strange middle-aged man's voice rang out in the office.
"Lord Fourth? Addressing him like that so soon?"
Sitting in the Kazekage's seat was a middle-aged man with blue hair and yellow eyes, wearing the white Kazekage robe over a blue ninja outfit.
Karuman immediately nodded slightly:
"Yes. Everyone present at the time knelt before Lord Li Fan, acknowledging him as the Fourth Kazekage."
The middle-aged man nodded slightly and said with some regret:
"Is that so? It's a pity I couldn't be there. Just hearing your description, I know the scene must have been shocking."
Chiyo tapped her ear to confirm she hadn't suddenly gone deaf or hallucinated. Suppressing the excitement in her heart, she rolled her eyes at the middle-aged man:
"Brother, stop chatting. There's a pile of documents on your desk waiting for you to process. Finish these quickly, then go for a walk in the village this afternoon."
This middle-aged man was naturally Ebizo, who had used the Transformation Jutsu to disguise himself as the Third Kazekage.
Ebizo shook his head helplessly. At his age, he should have retired long ago, yet he still had to do this.
He wanted to say something else, but seeing Chiyo's expression as if she was about to get angry, he shivered instantly and buried his head in the documents on the desk.
Seeing Ebizo obediently bury his head in processing documents, Chiyo pondered for a moment and said to Karuman:
"Go tell Akatsuki to inform all the ninjas who were on the sand dune at that time to address Li Fan however they addressed him before. Don't mention the title 'Fourth' for now."
"We still need the Third Kazekage on the surface to stabilize the situation. When we really can't hide it anymore in a few months, we will immediately let Li Fan succeed as the Fourth Kazekage."
"Call Li Fan over by the way."
Hearing this, Karuman breathed a sigh of relief. She bowed her head slightly and replied:
"Yes."
Ebizo, who had finished writing a document with his head buried, suddenly asked:
"Sister, why do so many people suddenly know about the Third's disappearance?"
Chiyo picked up the teacup next to her, took a sip, and snorted coldly:
"Hmph, isn't it because of that smart-ass Aoki? To let more people watch his spar with Li Fan, he spread the news secretly."
"Fortunately, he isn't stupid beyond cure. He knew not to spread the news too widely and only informed the Jonin and veteran Chunin."
Ebizo's hand holding the document paused slightly, then he continued to pick up the next document to read, saying as he read:
"That guy Aoki is really a fool who only knows how to play petty tricks. It's not wrong to say he has no foresight."
"What if among these ninjas who know the news of the Third's disappearance, there are a few well-hidden spies, or people bought by other ninja villages? What should we do then?"
Chiyo was silent for a while, then said meaningfully:
"Let's wait until Li Fan comes."
"You're right, Sister. Listening to that kid's opinion wouldn't be bad."
By now, the Third had been missing for two days.
The Chiyo siblings had long lost any hope that the Third was still alive.
Speaking of this, Chiyo suddenly thought of her only grandson.
Obviously, he was also a highly talented puppet master, and surpassing her was only a matter of time.
But for some reason, he suddenly defected.
Thinking of this, Chiyo fell into depression. That child had always been very obedient since childhood.
In a deserted underground cave somewhere in the Land of Wind.
A person wearing a black robe, revealing only red hair on top, stood deep in the cave. Their posture was very elegant, showing at a glance that they were a child who had received strict and good education since childhood.
The black-robed person looked at two lifelike puppets in front of them, constantly releasing Wind and Fire Chakra ninjutsu.
Those two puppets looked very much like humans at first glance. If one looked closely, they would find that these were puppets made entirely from humans!
"Oh my, worthy of being the Kazekage's personal guards. The human puppets made from the two of them are indeed good. Their quality is enough to rank in the top tier!"
The red-haired black-robed person admired the beautiful scenery in front of them and spoke slowly. Their voice was neutral, indistinguishable between male and female.
After saying this, the black-robed person's left index finger moved slightly.
The two human puppets floating in mid-air, constantly releasing ninjutsu, immediately landed on the ground.
Then the black-robed person looked at the person lying on the stone bed not far away.
The person lying on the stone bed opened their eyes, staring expressionlessly at the cave ceiling, blinking mechanically only once every dozen seconds.
The man lying on the stone bed wore thin underwear. He was slender and strong, looking about thirty years old.
Although the black-robed person knew very well that this man could no longer hear any external sounds...
Because the nerves in his brain had long been severed by them, and he was now nothing but a vegetable.
But the black-robed person still habitually spoke to the man in that neutral voice:
"Lord Third, rest assured. In a few days, I will let you reunite with your left and right guards."
"For such excellent material like you, I must prepare the best human puppet manufacturing materials. Only then will I not disgrace you."
Speaking of this, the black-robed person extended a fair, slender left hand, took out two scrolls from their pocket, and threw them directly over the heads of the two human puppets behind them.
As soon as the scrolls touched the heads of the two human puppets, they opened automatically, and the two human puppets instantly turned into a puff of smoke and disappeared.
Then the two scrolls seemed to be controlled by something invisible, flying quickly into the black-robed person's hand.
The black-robed person quickly wrote the numbers "30" and "31" on the two scrolls.
The handwriting was delicate and clean. Seeing this handwriting alone, many people might think its owner must be a person who loved cleanliness and was kind to others.
After doing this, the black-robed person habitually looked at the middle-aged man lying on the stone bed again.
"Don't worry, Lord Third. I will definitely make you into my proudest and most perfect work. I will absolutely not disgrace your reputation as the strongest Kazekage."
The black-robed person suddenly clapped their hands, picked up a syringe glowing green, and walked elegantly to the Third Kazekage.
"Oh dear, it's time to replenish nutrition every afternoon again. Before collecting all the necessary materials, I must ensure your health."
"Speaking of which, it's already the second day of your disappearance. Given the Sand Village's usual temperament, it must be in chaos by now."
"Hehe, the ninja world has been peaceful for eleven years. This terrible world is almost ready to start the Third Great Ninja War. So you won't see the miserable state of the Sand Village then..."
"I will make you into a human puppet as soon as possible while maintaining perfection. As your former subordinate, I'm pretty nice, right!"
...
"Indeed nice. Li Fan agreed yesterday to eat with me today!"
An angry, cool, mature female voice echoed in the corridor of the Sand Village's outer wall.
Yasha Lian looked at Pakura strangely:
"Then can't you eat at night? Li Fan is going to our house this afternoon."
"No! Li Fan must go to my house this afternoon!"
After saying this angrily, Pakura walked quickly to Li Fan's side and directly hugged Li Fan's left arm into her bosom.
Li Fan felt Pakura's two bouncy, soft breasts tightly clamping his left arm and smelled the body fragrance constantly drifting from Pakura.
Li Fan wore a helpless smile on his face but didn't speak proactively.
In this scenario, he thought it was better not to speak first.
But was this a legendary jealous battlefield (Shuraba)?
Thinking of this term, Li Fan denied it in his heart.
In his opinion, Pakura's behavior didn't look like jealousy over a lover; instead, it felt like setting up a dinner date with a good buddy.
Seeing this situation, Yasha Lian, who had her sister backing her up today, wouldn't show weakness proactively like yesterday. She said unceremoniously:
"Why are you so domineering?"
Pakura herself was close to a mixture of cool and hot-tempered personalities. She retorted without showing weakness:
"So what if I'm domineering! Anyway, I agreed with Li Fan yesterday!"
Yasha Lian never expected Pakura to be so unreasonable. Her face flushed red instantly, and she said angrily:
"You... you are being unreasonable!"
"Anyway, I don't care what you say. I agreed with Li Fan yesterday to go to my house this afternoon!"
Yasha Lian immediately pouted and stared at Pakura.
However, Pakura didn't buy it.
She hugged Li Fan's arm tightly, her full breasts completely enveloping Li Fan's arm.
"Sister, don't be angry."
Karura, who had been silently watching from the side, suddenly spoke to comfort her sister.
After comforting her sister, she looked at Pakura.
Seeing Pakura hugging Li Fan's arm tightly, even burying it in her chest, Karura raised an eyebrow.
But when Karura moved her gaze to Pakura's puffy, angry expression...
Karura involuntarily widened her eyes slightly, seemingly surprised.
Then her gentle smile seemed to become even gentler, and her tone was affectionate:
"Jonin Pakura, hmm, you are a year older than me. I'll call you Big Sister Pakura, is that okay?"
Seeing Karura being so polite and easy to talk to, although Pakura instinctively felt something was wrong...
After all, it was just a matter of address, and one shouldn't hit a smiling person.
Moreover, she didn't want Li Fan to see her acting too petty, so Pakura could only nod alertly:
"Okay."
Seeing Pakura agree, Karura's smile became brighter. She pondered for a few seconds, seeming to think, and finally clapped her hands lightly, smiling:
"Since you had an agreement with Li Fan first, it is indeed our fault. Then how about Li Fan visits our home tomorrow?"
After saying this, Karura shifted her gaze from Pakura's face to Li Fan's face.
A smile also appeared on Li Fan's face. He looked directly at Karura.
But within a few seconds, Li Fan turned his head slightly, shifting his gaze elsewhere.
Simply because Karura's gaze watching him was too gentle, tender like water.
Li Fan even had an illusion that there seemed to be a thought in her eyes of wanting to wrap him up completely?
And when did Karura change how she addressed him?
Obviously, she still called him "Lord Li Fan" in the morning, but now she directly changed it to "Li Fan" without even asking politely.
But Li Fan himself was somewhat indifferent to this, so he didn't refute.
"Lord Li Fan, Lady Chiyo invites you to the Kazekage's office."
Suddenly, a woman wearing a yellow trench coat and an eagle mask appeared in front of Li Fan.
She was about to kneel on one knee but remembered something and immediately bowed slightly instead.
"Okay. Thanks for your hard work, Karuman."
Li Fan first thanked the voluptuous woman politely, then turned to Pakura:
"Then Pakura, you go back first. I'll go to your house after I finish my business in a while."
Pakura raised her heroic thin eyebrows:
"Do you know where my house is?"
"I know. It's the third house in the first row on the eastern edge of the village center."
A happy smile appeared on Pakura's beautiful face. She chuckled:
"Hehe, how did you know? I thought you didn't know."
Li Fan casually used some excuses to gloss over it. He wouldn't say that Akatsuki told him secretly before.