Baki followed Teizawa's line of sight.
He could only see the shinobi loading crates onto wagons one by one.
Each wagon was assigned two drivers and four guard shinobi.
The drivers checked the reins and harnesses.
The guard shinobi were already on alert.
Every one of them had a hand resting on a ninja tool pouch, eyes sharp as they swept the surroundings.
The loading was painfully slow.
There were simply too many crates. There was no way to speed it up.
"At this pace, it'll be loaded soon enough," Baki estimated. "But escorting a convoy this big, our speed is guaranteed to be slow."
Teizawa nodded.
He turned around and, at last, looked Baki in the eye.
"You stay."
Baki's body stiffened. Before he could speak, Teizawa continued.
"I'm leaving two thousand elite Sand shinobi behind, under your command. Five hundred samurai will also answer to you."
As he spoke, Teizawa walked to the edge of the viewing platform and rested his hand on the stone railing.
"Baki, the daimyo's palace must be completely under our control."
"That Tarō, the new daimyo, stays alive, but he gets no real authority."
"Every decree goes through your inspection. Any noble or official who refuses to comply… eliminate them."
His tone was casual.
As if he were commenting on how nice the weather was.
Baki drew a deep breath. "Kazekage-sama, stationing two thousand shinobi here long-term… won't that draw the attention of other countries, especially the Land of Fire and the Land of Earth?"
"They're already on alert."
The corner of Teizawa's mouth lifted in a faint, almost invisible curve.
"Konoha has probably convened a high-level meeting by now, analyzing intelligence, guessing our intent. Let them guess."
He paused, then went on. "Your job is to build an administrative system here that obeys Sunagakure completely."
"Remember this: the daimyo is a puppet, the nobles are decoration."
"The real power has to stay firmly in Sunagakure's hands. In my hands."
A feverish light rose in Baki's eyes as he bowed deeply.
"Yes!"
"Heh. Deploy your forces however you want, but there are a few key points."
Teizawa raised a finger. "First, control every passage in and out, especially the border routes connected to the Land of Fire and the Land of Earth."
"Second, keep every noble estate under surveillance. No nobles, no ministers leave the daimyo's palace boundaries."
"And every letter they send, every visitor they receive, I want to know."
"Third…"
He turned, and his gaze pressed down on Baki like something with weight.
"Train a group of local officials loyal to us."
"Use money, use power, use fear. Use whatever it takes."
"In three months, I want to see a daimyo's palace that can run by our will even without a Sand garrison."
Baki felt his back soak through with cold sweat.
He wasn't a soft-hearted man.
He'd carried out countless brutal missions in his years as a shinobi.
But overturning a nation's regime this systematically…
It was his first time.
This young Kazekage had clearly prepared a plan to hollow out the daimyo's authority completely.
The precision of his thinking…
It surpassed even the Third and Fourth Kazekage Baki had once known.
"Do you understand?" Teizawa asked.
"I understand completely," Baki answered in a low voice.
Teizawa nodded with satisfaction and returned his gaze below.
The loading was nearing its end.
The final crate of valuables was being hoisted onto a wagon, slowly.
On the plaza, the one thousand shinobi assigned to escort duty were already forming up.
They split into three formations: front, middle, and rear.
The front was a light unit for scouting and clearing the way. The middle was heavy protection. The rear was a mobile force to cover their backs.
Everyone checked their gear…
Ninja tool pouches, water skins, rations, signal flares…
In the desert, escorting a convoy this massive across long distances…
Any lapse in detail could be fatal.
"Kazekage-sama, you're really planning to escort it personally?" Baki finally couldn't hold it in. "This fortune is important, sure, but the route is long, the risks…"
"Precisely because the risk is enormous, I have to escort it myself."
Teizawa stepped down from the viewing platform, his ceremonial robe brushing the stone steps with a soft rasp.
"Twenty-three billion ryō is enough that Sunagakure won't have to watch anyone's face for the next five years."
"It's enough to build new defenses, develop new jutsu, train a new generation of shinobi."
"Even… to build a whole new Sunagakure!"
There were still things Teizawa didn't say out loud.
Once Sunagakure had this money, he could open a large number of seawater distillation plants along the southeast coast of the Land of Wind.
He could even lay pipelines and bring seawater inland.
And the armor and mechanized suit research he'd mentioned to Kankurō could finally be put on the agenda.
So those twenty-three billion…
Had to return to Sunagakure safely. No matter what.
Reining in his thoughts, Teizawa stopped halfway down the stairs and looked back at Baki.
"And it's also enough to make certain people… take desperate chances."
Teizawa understood.
There was no such thing as a perfectly sealed wall.
Even if he'd locked the daimyo's palace down tight, some intelligence was bound to leak.
If it weren't for the twenty-three billion, fine.
But now…
Some flies were guaranteed to catch the scent.
Two hundred thirty billion… no, twenty-three billion. If it were him, he'd rob it too.
Baki understood instantly.
A fortune of this size on the move was like a slab of bleeding meat passing through a wolf pack.
Sure, the Land of Wind was basically under Sand control now.
But outside the borders?
Bands of rogue shinobi. Nukenin groups.
Even secret units from other villages…
"That's why I need to be there personally," Teizawa said, stepping off the last stair. "And why the entire shinobi world needs to know… Sand's property isn't something you touch."
His voice was calm when he said it.
But a chill crawled up Baki's spine.
Just then, a jōnin in charge of loading jogged over and dropped to one knee.
"Kazekage-sama, loading is complete!"
"A total of two hundred seventeen wagons. Each wagon staffed with six men, for a total of one thousand three hundred two personnel."
"The front team has already sent scouts to recon the planned route. Rear security has been fully deployed!"
Teizawa nodded.
He walked to the very front of the convoy, toward a specially modified wagon…
It was larger than all the others.
Six horses pulled it, and the carriage had been rebuilt into a semi-open command platform.
A brand-new Sunagakure banner was mounted on it.
It snapped in the hot wind.
Teizawa climbed up and stood on the platform.
His eyes swept across the convoy, across every shinobi.
In that moment, everyone straightened their backs.
"Move out."
Two words, clear, echoing across the plaza.
The order passed down in waves.
A horn sounded from the front, its low note reverberating through the palace complex.
The drivers cracked their whips, and the horses started dragging the heavy loads forward.
Wheels rumbled over stone.
The convoy began to crawl.
Out of the daimyo's palace. Into the main street.
And finally onto the official road leading toward Sunagakure.
Teizawa stood on the command wagon.
One last time, he looked back at the daimyo's palace shrinking in the distance.
Baki and Ameno stood on the viewing platform.
They watched the convoy vanish beyond the desert horizon.
Behind them, two thousand Sand shinobi were already moving according to the new deployment…
Taking over city defenses, controlling key routes, occupying government offices.
The sky over the Land of Wind had changed completely…
And as the convoy departed—
Several silhouettes hidden in the shadows began to follow, one after another…
(End of Chapter)
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