After saying this, a grimace that looked like crying and laughing at the same time appeared on Aoki's face.
It seemed he both expected his inner guess to be correct and hoped it was wrong.
"It is just as you think."
Li Fan ruthlessly shattered Aoki's fantasy.
"Ha? Ha! Hahahaha! Haha!!"
Knowing the answer, Aoki laughed strangely to the sky, his laughter containing a mix of emotions.
After laughing, he grinned at Li Fan:
"Heh! Truly worthy of being the Third Kazekage's only personal disciple. You actually mastered Iron Sand! I didn't lose unjustly! I didn't lose unjustly!"
Li Fan watched Aoki's manic expression quietly and shook his head slowly:
"Do you think my Master's Iron Sand could control iron weapons and puppets to such a degree?"
Aoki was stunned for a moment. He stared blankly at Li Fan, pursed his lips, and then laughed again, laughing until tears came out.
The crowd on the sand dunes looked at each other in dismay. They never expected...
That a forty-year-old burly man who had experienced two Ninja World Wars, collected corpses on the battlefield at age five, and survived numerous life-and-death battles would lose his composure like this.
As the saying goes, men do not shed tears easily. As a ninja, he actually laughed until he cried?
After laughing for a dozen seconds, because his whole body was bound by the sand cocoon, Aoki could only blink his eyes to desperately squeeze the tears out.
After doing all this, Aoki curled his lips with a complex expression, a smile that wasn't a smile on his face.
"Heh, you kid! Yes, the Third could only control Iron Sand, but you can freely control weapons and puppets. You far surpass the Third—the student surpasses the master!"
"No wonder you are so confident!"
"Hehe, what sin did I commit? First, he suppressed me for decades. Now that I finally waited until he died, it's your turn, an even more outstanding guy!"
The dozens of ninjas who had approached Li Fan heard the conversation between Aoki and Li Fan.
They were stunned for a moment, and then ecstatic in unison!
The people on the sand dunes heard these conversations only a second later.
Their reactions were also invariably stunned first, then joyful. Some ninjas even shed tears of excitement!
The Sand Village had never been a ninja village favored by heaven.
Although these ninjas often fantasized in their dreams that an existence who could save the Sand Village would appear, they never saw one.
Now, they thought the Third's disappearance would be the end of the Sand Village.
But unexpectedly, it seemed that heaven finally heard their heart's voice and responded to them.
Here, they witnessed with their own eyes the birth of a super genius surpassing the Third Kazekage!
Pakura looked at Li Fan with infatuated eyes. Her red lips opened and closed, and she laughed:
"Hmph, this is more like it. Worthy of being my, Pakura's, best friend!"
Yasha Lian hugged Karura excitedly, practically hanging her whole body on her sister.
Karura gently stroked her sister's hair with her fair right hand. She looked at Li Fan with gentle eyes, tears faintly shining in them.
"I said it long ago! Lord Li Fan is the savior of the Sand Village! You just wouldn't believe it!"
Karuman put her hands on her slender waist, turning her head to lecture the Anbu members beside her.
The Anbu members looked at each other, then looked at Li Fan in unison, their only exposed eyes behind the masks filled with extreme excitement.
Huff, huff, huff!
Akatsuki looked at Li Fan with rapid breathing, her huge breasts rising and falling continuously even under layers of binding.
She was so excited she couldn't speak, her mind completely blank.
After Aoki finished sighing, a look of incomprehension appeared on his face as he probed:
"Then why didn't you use Iron Sand from the beginning? If you used it from the start, I would have lost instantly, and you wouldn't have had to tangle with me for so long."
"Winning quickly would make everyone submit to you more. Don't you know that?"
Li Fan smiled. He looked up at the sky, raising his right hand to his brow to block the direct sunlight slightly.
"The arrival of the Great Ninja War is only a matter of time. And once the war intensifies, as the Kazekage, I must personally go to the battlefield to face the strong from other villages."
"So I wanted to know, using only half my strength, how many moves would it take me to defeat an Elite Jonin?"
"As for face and whether others will submit to me? My defeating you is the proof."
After saying this, Li Fan moved his fingers slightly, and the sand cocoon tightly binding Aoki immediately dispersed.
Aoki ignored the numbness in his hands and feet from being bound tightly for a long time.
He just stood straight, looking at Li Fan with a frown.
This was the first time Aoki seriously scrutinized this young man.
Li Fan met Aoki's scrutinizing gaze without dodging, his face full of calmness.
Aoki looked at Li Fan silently. He suddenly discovered that this usually silent, wooden young man in his memory was now so steady, hiding many things in his eyes that Aoki couldn't understand.
He had only seen this expression on the former Second and Third Kazekage.
But there was more or less a lack of confidence in the Sand Village's future in their eyes; this young man had none!
As for the First Kazekage, he passed away not long after Aoki was born, so he had no relevant memory.
"Li... Li Fan, I take back what I said to you earlier. You are indeed the most suitable person to lead the Sand Village and continue on in the not-too-distant great war."
After saying this, Aoki's brows relaxed. Shame appeared on his face, and he continued:
"I am indeed far inferior to you."
After saying this, Aoki turned his head away and said no more. His eyes fixed straight on the sand on the ground, seemingly thinking about something, or perhaps brewing something.
After a long time, or perhaps just a moment.
Aoki steadied himself. He turned his head to look at Li Fan with a very solemn and serious expression. After a few seconds of silent pause, Aoki slowly and firmly knelt on one knee toward Li Fan.
His head, which had never bowed before, was pressed low until his forehead touched the sand.
"Jonin Aoki pays respects to the Fourth Kazekage!"
Seeing his action, Li Fan's face showed no fluctuation, as if he had expected it.
Li Fan calmly looked at the respectful Aoki kneeling on one knee. He nodded, then put his hands behind his back, slowly observing the people on the surrounding sand dunes.
The ninjas on the sand dunes had recovered from the shock just now.
Soon, they reacted in unison—slowly kneeling on one knee toward Li Fan.
"Jonin Pakura pays respects to the Fourth Kazekage!"
"Jonin Karura pays respects to the Fourth Kazekage!"
"Jonin Akatsuki pays respects to the Fourth Kazekage!"
"Jonin Suine pays respects to the Fourth Kazekage!"
...
"Chunin Yasha Lian pays respects to the Fourth Kazekage!"
"Chunin Karuman..."
...
Although not perfectly synchronized, the firm voices echoed around the sand dunes, lingering for a long time.
Li Fan took a deep breath, trying hard to suppress the excitement in his heart. His fingernails dug tightly into his palms behind his back.
Yes, Li Fan was not as calm as he appeared on the surface, but he knew he had to hide his emotions at this time.
Li Fan put his hands behind his back and slowly looked into the distance. The breeze blew, and his black robe fluttered behind him.
"Rest assured. As long as I am here, the Sand Village will absolutely not fall, and it will far surpass the past!"