Chiyo had been watching Sunagakure's recent changes with her own eyes.
Every morning, she would lean on her cane and wander through the village.
She watched old mud-brick houses being torn down one after another.
Watched rows of brand-new stone houses rise in their place.
Watched the uneven dirt roads get leveled and widened.
Watched the smiles on the villagers' faces as they walked over them...
And every time, it made her feel deeply at ease.
She had lived more than seventy years.
She had seen Sunagakure rise and fall, weathered countless storms.
And in the dead of night, she had often worried about the village's future.
There was no one to carry things forward.
That had always been her greatest heartache.
Gaara was a good child.
But he was too quiet. Too lonely.
It was hard for someone like that to truly rally people's hearts.
Temari and Kankuro were still too young, too inexperienced.
As for the jōnin, each one had their own thoughts.
No one could say what was really in their hearts.
She had once thought she would have to worry about the village until the day she died.
But now...
Chiyo looked toward the distant construction site.
A faint smile rose to her lips.
That young man, Teizawa, was overbearing and ruthless in the way he handled things.
But she had to admit it...
He had pulled the village back to its feet.
Maybe I really can rest a little now, she thought quietly to herself.
Spend each day chatting with her younger brother, Ebizo.
Look at the new houses. Stroll through the newly repaired streets.
Maybe offer a little guidance to the younger puppet masters now and then...
A life like that was pretty good.
Today, as usual, she left the house leaning on her cane.
She was planning to wander over to the Kazekage building.
To see what that brat was stirring up this time.
But just as she reached the corner of the street...
"Hey, hey, hey, did you hear?!"
"I did, I did! Lord Kazekage captured the Four-Tails Jinchuriki and brought him back!"
"No way! That's a Jinchuriki we're talking about!"
"Of course it's true! My cousin's stationed at the border outpost. He saw it with his own eyes! When they dragged that guy back, he was covered in wounds and looked like a dead dog!"
"Holy shit! Lord Kazekage is insane!"
Chiyo's steps came to an abrupt stop.
She looked at the young shinobi hurrying past her.
Every one of them was flushed with excitement, eyes blazing with fanatic fervor.
Like they had all been pumped full of something.
The last time she had seen a scene like this was when Teizawa became Kazekage.
Here it comes again.
She let out a silent sigh.
Then she lifted a hand and stopped the two shinobi running the hardest.
"Stop."
The two shinobi froze.
When they realized it was Chiyo, they immediately bowed respectfully.
"Elder Chiyo!"
Chiyo waved a hand and asked,
"What's going on? Why are you all acting like lunatics?"
The two exchanged a glance, their excitement impossible to hide.
"Elder Chiyo, you haven't heard? Lord Kazekage captured the Four-Tails Jinchuriki and brought him back!"
"What?"
Chiyo's voice suddenly rose.
The two shinobi jumped, but kept speaking excitedly anyway.
"It's true! Roshi, Iwagakure's Four-Tails Jinchuriki, stormed our border alone and wiped out seven or eight outposts."
"In the end, Lord Kazekage personally stepped in and captured him alive!"
"They've already brought him into the village. Everyone's rushing over there right now!"
The muscles in Chiyo's face twitched.
The Four-Tails Jinchuriki?
From Iwagakure?
Captured alive?
She drew in a deep breath and forced down the anger rising inside her.
Then...
"That damned brat..."
She ground out the words through clenched teeth.
"Can't he stay quiet for even a few days?"
With that, she ignored the two dumbstruck shinobi.
Leaning on her cane, she strode toward the Kazekage building.
Behind her, the two shinobi stared at each other.
"Uh... am I imagining things?"
"Hm?"
"Why do I feel like... Elder Chiyo doesn't seem very happy?"
"..."
The other shinobi scratched his head.
"Don't ask me. I have no idea."
The two looked at each other, then shrugged at the same time.
Who cares?
As long as Lord Kazekage is amazing, that's all that matters!
The two of them took off running too.
They sprinted straight toward the Kazekage building.
...
The front of the Kazekage building was already packed with people.
Leaning on her cane, Chiyo struggled her way through the crowd.
By the time she finally reached the entrance, she looked up just in time to see several Suna shinobi carrying a heavily wounded, unconscious man past her.
The man had red hair and a face full of stubble.
Even in a coma, a scorching aura still radiated from his body.
Chiyo's eyelid twitched.
It really was the Four-Tails Jinchuriki.
Alive.
She took a deep breath and walked straight inside.
Pushing open the door to the Kazekage's office, she found Teizawa reclining against his chair, leisurely sipping tea.
When he saw Chiyo come in, he looked up and flashed her a casual smile.
"Oh? Elder Chiyo. What brings you here today?"
Chiyo looked at him in silence for three seconds.
Then...
"You brat..."
She bit the words out one by one.
"Can't you settle down for a few days?"
Chiyo's mood was heavy.
She was even a little rattled.
That feeling was unfamiliar to her.
She had lived more than seventy years, survived three great shinobi wars, and seen storms beyond counting.
Long ago, she had learned how to hide every emotion behind that wrinkled old face.
But right now, she really was unsettled.
The younger shinobi did not understand.
All they saw was that Lord Kazekage had won another victory, captured another prisoner, and brought more glory to the village...
So they cheered. They celebrated. They were beside themselves with excitement.
Like they had all been injected with pure adrenaline.
But they did not understand.
They did not understand what a Tailed Beast meant.
Chiyo drew in a deep breath and forced herself to calm down.
She knew it too well.
Ever since the First Hokage, Hashirama, had brought the warring era to an end and signed the Five Great Nations' non-aggression pact with the five great shinobi villages, the Tailed Beasts had become each village's strategic weapon and final trump card.
No one actually used them often.
Because those things were too dangerous.
Use one badly, and you would be digging your own grave.
But they were like nuclear weapons...
You might never use them, but you could not afford not to have them.
The very existence of a Tailed Beast was itself a deterrent.
If you had one, others would not dare move against you lightly.
If you did not, then in others' eyes, you were meat on the table.
That was why no village would ever casually allow its Tailed Beast to be taken.
A village's Kage could die. Could be replaced.
The village could even go without one for a time...
It was not as if history had never seen eras without a Kage.
But a Tailed Beast could not be lost.
If a Tailed Beast was lost, that village's standing in the shinobi world would collapse overnight.
In other words...
Onoki could swallow the loss of a thousand elite shinobi because he could afford to.
But he would never tolerate losing a Tailed Beast.
That was Iwagakure's lifeline.
For that alone, he would fight to the death.
And not just fight. He would go all in, consequences be damned.
Thinking of that, Chiyo raised her head.
She glared furiously at the young man still lounging back in his chair, calmly drinking tea.
"You..."
She bit out each word.
"You've caused a disaster."
(End of Chapter)
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