The next day.
When Teizawa's figure appeared on Sunagakure's main road, the entire village erupted in an instant.
After all, the news had already spread everywhere.
The new Kazekage had wiped out the enemy with earthshaking methods, and he had escorted back the two hundred and thirty billion in funds that could remake Sunagakure from the ground up, returning safely to the village.
For Sunagakure, a place that had struggled for years in poverty and suffocating pressure, this was not merely victory.
It was a shot of adrenaline straight to the heart.
A long-lost, head-held-high kind of hope.
"Kazekage-sama!"
"Sunagakure will win…"
"As expected of Teizawa-sama, the moment he moves, five thousand shinobi are erased!"
"You're full of it. It was clearly ten thousand! I heard they were all Iwagakure elites!"
"Ten thousand? That's too insane!"
"…!"
The story had already split into so many versions no one could count them anymore.
One thousand? Five thousand?
Ten thousand?
Who cared?
All Sunagakure shinobi knew one thing: Kazekage-sama was unbelievably badass.
Both sides of the road were packed with villagers and shinobi who had come on their own to greet him. Cheers rose and fell like waves.
People stood on tiptoe, arms raised, faces overflowing with near-fanatical devotion and excitement.
Children sat on their fathers' shoulders, eyes wide as they stared at the legendary new Kazekage.
"Kid, remember this. This is the strongest Kazekage Sunagakure has ever had!"
"I… I want to become someone like Kazekage-sama when I grow up!"
"That's the spirit!"
Elderly shinobi had tears in their eyes, as if they were finally seeing the dawn of Sunagakure's rise.
Young shinobi clenched their fists, blood boiling.
Teizawa's steps remained calm and unhurried.
His dark Kazekage cloak was spotless, making his posture look even straighter, even more commanding. To the cheers along the way, he only gave a slight nod, his eyes quietly sweeping over one excited face after another.
Temari followed close behind.
She kept a respectful distance, but the subtle lift of her chin and the straightness of her back still betrayed the pride she could not hide.
This was her man.
However…
In stark contrast to the village's blazing heat was the near-frozen atmosphere inside the Kazekage's office.
When Teizawa pushed open the heavy wooden door, an uncanny silence hit him in the face.
Sunagakure's upper leadership had already gathered.
But the cheers he expected never came.
Every expression in the room was complicated, tangled with shock, hesitation…
And a thread of something harder to name.
Unease.
Chiyo sat in the left seat of honor. The sharpness she used to carry had dulled, and her eyes flickered in their deep sockets.
Ebizo sat beside her, fingers unconsciously rolling his beard as his brows knotted tight.
The others, including several jōnin responsible for administration and defense, all stared at their noses and pretended to stare at their hearts, refusing to meet anyone's eyes.
The air was so thick it felt like water.
Strangely…
No one jumped up to accuse Teizawa.
That almost made Teizawa uncomfortable.
With what he'd done at the daimyo's estate, Chiyo should have been pointing at his nose and screaming by now.
Teizawa slowly swept his gaze over the room, then stopped on Chiyo and Ebizo.
He paused for a few seconds, then sighed softly, sounding almost amused.
"Elders…"
He walked to the main seat, but didn't sit right away. Instead, he turned to face them.
"I have to say… I kind of preferred you two back when you were all arrogant and couldn't stand the sight of me."
Chiyo's mouth twitched.
In the past, she would have slammed the table and barked "Insolence."
But now, the words stuck in her throat.
Whether it was the terrifying battle record or the two hundred and thirty billion in funds, both pressed down so hard that every ounce of her elder's authority felt crushed flat.
"Ahem." Chiyo coughed, stiffly changing the subject. "That two hundred and thirty billion… how do you plan to handle it?"
The moment she said it, every dodging gaze in the office snapped onto Teizawa.
A subtle heat spread through the air.
The kind of heat that came from standing in front of a fortune so enormous it made everyone's eyes burn.
Teizawa acted as if he hadn't noticed a thing.
He casually pulled out the chair and sat, posture relaxed.
"Spend money? That's not hard."
He curled his lips in a teasing smile and slowly let his eyes drift across everyone present.
"How about… I give each of you one hundred million as pocket money first? Everybody gets a share, right?"
"Gulp."
The sound of someone swallowing rang out in the pin-drop silence.
And it wasn't just one person.
Several leaders' throats bobbed, eyes flashing, breathing quickening.
Pretending they weren't tempted was a lie.
One hundred million ryo.
That was enough for a shinobi clan to live comfortably for decades.
"Nonsense!" Chiyo slammed her hand against the armrest, voice shooting up. "You're the Kazekage now! You carry the village's future on your shoulders! How can you treat this like a joke?"
"This is a fortune tied to the fate of the nation. You can't just—"
Teizawa shrugged. The smile faded, and his tone turned serious.
"Dividing the spoils… no, allocating resources, can be planned properly in detail later."
"Right now, there's something more urgent we need to respond to immediately."
He paused, then spoke clearly enough for every person in the room to hear.
"Next, we must prepare for one thing."
"The anger of Iwagakure."
"Iwagakure?" Chiyo's brows snapped together. "What do you mean? The ones who attacked you weren't…"
"Not some wandering rogue shinobi?" Teizawa finished for her, sounding almost tired. "Elders, and everyone here, don't tell me you truly believed…"
"That an attack with that scale, that tactical discipline, could be nothing but scattered rabble."
He watched their faces shift, then said each word slowly, like hammer blows.
"The ones we buried in that canyon were Iwagakure regular forces."
"Well equipped. Well trained. And the commander… if I didn't misread it, it was an Iwa elite jōnin detachment."
"Iwa shinobi?" Ebizo blurted, his hand freezing mid-motion against his beard. "T-that's impossible. Why would they…"
"Being Iwa is one thing," Teizawa spread his hands, voice full of mock helplessness. "The problem is, those thousand-plus Iwa shinobi, along with their commander…"
"…are now buried in the canyon, fused into the middle of two mountains."
He tilted his head slightly.
"How many do you think survived?"
A chorus of sharp inhales filled the office.
Ebizo's face twitched violently. He turned to Chiyo, voice dry.
"Elder sister… this is big."
Chiyo's expression sank completely.
All the earlier confusion and mixed emotions were swallowed by heavy dread.
War with Iwagakure?
Sunagakure had only just seen a hint of dawn, and now it would face a conflict of this scale?
She stared at Teizawa, voice tight.
"You… you knew they were Iwa?"
Teizawa nodded without hesitation.
"Then why did you strike so ruthlessly?" Chiyo demanded, voice sharpening. "That's the same as declaring war on Iwagakure!"
"And what else was I supposed to do?" Teizawa shot back. "Let them kill us all?"
"Or respectfully hand over the money and add, 'Thank you, honored Iwagakure-sama, please take care on your way out'?"
"I…" Chiyo choked on the words.
Because he was right.
They had come to kill and rob.
Sunagakure couldn't exactly stretch out its neck and wait for the blade.
Retaliation was justified, in every sense.
But the consequences of that retaliation…
Were unbearably heavy.
The Kazekage's office fell into a long, suffocating silence.
Everyone was forced to swallow the explosive news.
And the shadow of war that now hung over them like a storm front rolling in.
(End of Chapter)
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