Sunagakure was dressed entirely in mourning clothes.
The village's high-ranking officials decided that since the Third Kazekage had been missing for too long, he would be declared dead, and the search would end.
Together with the Fourth Kazekage's death in Windbird City, Sunagakure held funerals for two Kazekage at once.
With two Kazekage dead in succession, Sunagakure no longer had the spirit to wage war.
Pakura wore the Kazekage's imperial robe and stood before Rasa's grave with Karura.
On the back of Pakura's robe were the words "Fifth Kazekage."
Knowing that Fox was paying attention to Karura, Pakura had immediately learned more about her.
Karura had originally planned to marry Rasa this year, but after Rasa became Kazekage, he had been busy consolidating power and pushing the war forward, so the wedding had been delayed again and again.
Karura had mastered the Sand Release secret technique and, amid the chaos, had become the representative of the secret-technique faction.
Karura's eyes were full of grief. She could not understand why a man so important to her life had died at Shukaku's hands.
Her grandfather, The Second Kazekage, had developed Sand Release from Shukaku. Her grandfather's disciple, the Third Kazekage, had built upon Sand Release and developed Magnet Release.
Rasa had inherited the Third Kazekage's Magnet Release and developed a gold dust version suited to himself.
When they had just graduated from the ninja academy, the Third Kazekage had guided both Rasa and Karura. Back then, Rasa had been full of spirit, learning secret techniques far faster than Karura.
She had once thought that Rasa would one day receive a title like "the strongest Kazekage."
All that former brilliance had become passing smoke.
Karura asked, "Kazekage-sama, will Konoha really honor the peace agreement with Sunagakure?"
"They will," Pakura said. "Konoha can barely look after itself right now. As long as we do not provoke Konoha, Konoha will not do anything to us.
"Among the five great ninja villages, Konoha stands alone at the top. Iwagakure and Kumogakure follow closely behind.
"Iwagakure and Kumogakure have hope of opposing Konoha and gaining greater benefits, so they will risk everything to find a way to defeat Konoha.
"But Sunagakure cannot be compared with Konoha. Rather than allying with Iwagakure and Kumogakure, it is better to ally with Konoha.
"Konoha will value us as an ally. With us, Konoha will no longer be standing alone against the entire ninja world."
Karura wanted the Fifth Kazekage to continue Rasa's policy. She did not want Rasa's influence on Sunagakure to disappear just like that.
But the Fifth Kazekage insisted on allying with Konoha, and Karura could do nothing about it.
Pakura asked, "Karura, Rasa's disciple Ōkura was dissatisfied with my policy and defected from Sunagakure with some people. Do you know where he is?"
Karura said, "Kazekage-sama, I have no intention of hiding anything. Although I was Rasa's fiancée, I have always placed the village first.
"I do not know Ōkura's whereabouts.
"However…
"The Land of Wind is vast. If Ōkura and the others hide themselves, it will be difficult to find them."
Karura did not approve of Ōkura's actions, but she had known him well and hoped he could survive.
She was conflicted. She wanted the village to improve, but she also wanted Rasa's influence to continue. It left her torn.
Pakura said, "If Ōkura and the others had told me they held different opinions, I would not have done anything to them.
"The village is so large. Tens of thousands of people will naturally have tens of thousands of thoughts.
"Rasa-sama was a firm pro-war faction member. He wanted to take a share of the benefits from the ninja war. That is also the thinking of many ambitious Sand ninja.
"My strategy is conservative, so many people are dissatisfied. But I absolutely will not allow defection.
"As for the Land of Wind being vast and making it difficult to find rogue ninja… I do not think the Land of Wind is really that vast."
Pakura left the memorial stone and returned to the Kazekage Building.
After entering the side room beside the Kazekage's office, Pakura formed hand seals and used the Illusory Blood Shadow Technique.
Soon, the bloody silhouette of the leader, Fox, appeared above the divine hall.
Pakura said, "Leader, after I became Kazekage, some rogue ninja were dissatisfied with my policy and defected from Sunagakure.
"I want to hunt them down as soon as possible, but finding them will be difficult. Can I borrow the Three Gods Sect's Flying Shrine technique to let the pursuit unit quickly move between multiple towns and hunt down the rogue ninja?"
Hidan had used sacrifices to create many shrines within the Land of Wind. Hidan and the others could use the Flying Shrine Technique to travel between the shrines in different towns.
After Pakura asked, she realized Fox did not answer. He seemed to have fallen into thought.
She knew Fox was not trying to refuse her. He was thinking about something important.
After a long while, Yako slowly said, "Fire Disaster, you have given me great inspiration. Inspiration important enough to change the ninja world!"
Pakura did not understand what Fox meant.
Yako said, "When Konoha was founded, it had Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara.
"At the time, the two of them could have beaten the other ninja villages as if they were hanging them up and thrashing them. But in the end, they did not have Konoha unify the ninja world.
"Konoha could have launched an expedition against Iwagakure and killed Iwagakure's high-ranking officials, but it could not effectively rule Iwagakure, because Iwagakure is too far from Konoha.
"Konoha's effective sphere of control is the border of the Land of Fire.
"Even several vassal countries are difficult for Konoha to control.
"For example, the daimyō's guardian ninja in the Land of Grass were killed three times. Each time, after they were killed, Konoha hurriedly sent reinforcements, and each time, it was too late.
"Konoha cannot assign a Kage-level ninja to the capital of the Land of Grass. Konoha does not have that many Kage-level ninja.
"Even if it assigned a Kage-level ninja there, that Kage-level ninja would become a target for the other great ninja villages to surround and hunt.
"That is also why there are so many vassal countries between the five great nations.
"Fire Disaster, your suggestion reminded me.
"If the Three Gods Sect places shrines in every town, then with the Flying Shrine Technique, large numbers of ninja can be deployed instantly around those shrines.
"The shrines become teleportation points for ninja.
"In that case, ninja villages no longer have the issue of control range.
"Whether it is Iwagakure or the capital of the Land of Fire, as long as I am willing, I can immediately use shrines to deploy thousands of ninja…"
Yako thought of the Fourth Ninja War in the original story, where Namikaze Minato had transferred the Allied Shinobi Forces elsewhere.
With the Flying Thunder God Technique as a foundation, it was completely possible to deploy troops across the entire ninja world.
That was true deterrence.
The tailed beast terror-balance deterrence created by the First Hokage, Senju Hashirama, had now proven unable to guarantee peace in the ninja world.
Yako believed that Flying Thunder God troop-deployment deterrence was what would make the other ninja villages truly feel fear.
Peace could not be produced by begging. Peace was won through fighting.
The Third Ninja War should not become a rotten, drawn-out war. It should not end only after countless ninja died. It had to be used to create a peace that could last a long time.
Yako did not understand love or justice. What he wanted was a new peace through deterrence.
Seek peace through struggle, and peace will endure.
Inside the Three Gods Sect's shrines were Flying Thunder God formulas set up by Yako.
Hidan, Sail, and the others had sacrificed their souls to the Evil God, meaning they had sacrificed them to Yako. Their souls were special, and Yako allowed them to borrow a tiny bit of his power to transfer instantly through the shrines.
But he could not demand that all ninja sacrifice their souls to him.
If he could develop a technique that allowed ordinary ninja to borrow the shrines for instant transfer as well, then Yako's envisioned balance through deterrence could be realized.
Once the war ended and Iwagakure was defeated, if Ōnoki still had any ideas, Yako could immediately deploy several thousand ninja into Iwagakure.
That would achieve true balance through deterrence and reduce the risk of war to the lowest possible level.
Yako nodded repeatedly.
Who said peace through deterrence did not count as peace?