"Yubi."
After a while, the meeting concluded.
Just as Yubi stepped out of the building, he heard a voice from behind.
Turning around, he saw Rasa.
Yubi greeted him, feigning surprise. "Is there something I can help you with?"
[Writing up to here, I hope readers will remember our domain name, Taiwan Novel Network is super easy to use, enjoy at any time]
"It's nothing—just some sentimental thoughts. Thinking back to when I sent you to the border for a mission, six years have passed in the blink of an eye." Rasa's expression was stiff as he forced a thin smile.
He was clearly not very good at socializing, especially when he had to take the initiative to find a topic to break the ice.
"Indeed—"
Yubi had noticed some of Rasa's reactions during the meeting.
He continued the conversation with a relaxed demeanor.
Thinking about it—this man, who had already been internally designated by the Village as the successor to the Kazekage, must be feeling a bit of a mixed bag of emotions right now.
"Every time I see you, your growth and the surprises you bring never fail to make me marvel," Rasa said.
Yubi had heard veterans like Shimizu say that Rasa had always been iron-blooded on the battlefield, stern and unsmiling; no matter how excellently his subordinates performed their missions, he had never been heard praising anyone.
Now, he was actually praising him.
This gave Yubi a very strange feeling.
Cough—
Noticing that Yubi's gaze was a bit odd, Rasa coughed awkwardly and immediately said, "With your abilities, becoming the Kage in the future won't be a problem."
Hearing him say this, Yubi understood.
This Rasa—he really was panicked.
He was here to test him—
But clearly, Rasa's conversational skills were very poor and stiff.
As soon as he spoke, Yubi knew what was on his mind.
"I don't have much interest in becoming the Kage."
Yubi gave a light chuckle. "However, whether one can become the Kage isn't something I can decide—it's about the entire Village from top to bottom nominating someone, and all conditions must meet the qualifications of a Kage."
"Most importantly, one must have the ability to make the Village better and better."
"I think you're quite good, Big Brother Rasa."
As soon as these words were spoken, Rasa's expression immediately softened a bit, and he said politely, "Right now—I'm still far from it."
Right now?
Meaning in the future, you can take over as Kazekage?
He really wasn't beating around the bush at all.
"I'm not the only one who thinks so; I'm afraid Grandmother Chiyo and the others are considering it as well—I have high hopes for you," Yubi teased.
"Thank you."
Rasa smiled.
Afterward, the two chatted briefly, and Yubi was the first to leave.
After all, their relationship wasn't that close, and since Rasa was also a man of few words, the atmosphere during the communication was a bit uncomfortable, so they didn't talk much.
But Yubi understood that his answer should have made Rasa breathe a sigh of relief.
This guy—he was quite thirsty for power.
It wasn't that he had great ambition, but he was very much like the Third; it seemed that if someone else were to become the Kazekage, Rasa wouldn't trust them.
He only felt that he himself was up to the task.
"Whether it's his strength or his Bloodline Limit, both will be extremely important for the Village when the Third Great Ninja War breaks out later. Therefore, I must first appease him—as for who will become the Fourth Kazekage, heh—"
"That's not something just any person can decide."
On the way back, Yubi thought to himself.
For example, if at that time all the higher-ups, including the populace and the Daimyo, forcibly nominated him to become the Kazekage, then Rasa could only accept it.
Even if Yubi himself didn't want to be the Kazekage and had no intention of competing with Rasa, it would be hard to decline.
This kind of reluctant rise to power—should still be relatively acceptable to Rasa.
Because—at least it wasn't that Yubi wanted to be the Kazekage, but rather it was the trend of the times.
In Yubi's eyes, Rasa was still very important to the Hidden Sand Village—he had to find a way to ensure that after Rasa failed in the competition for Kazekage, he would still stay in the Village peacefully and work for its benefit.
Otherwise, losing such a top-tier combatant would be an unbearable loss for the currently talent-starved Hidden Sand Village.
Especially since—the Third Kazekage had also suddenly disappeared.
Saying these things to Rasa now was just giving him a heads-up.
He hadn't lied to Rasa either.
Yubi really didn't have much interest in the position of Kazekage.
Because after becoming the Kage, the work would be busy, and it would definitely be exhausting—with many troubles.
Yubi's plan was—to let Sasori become the Fourth Kazekage, and he would just help come up with ideas; it wouldn't be much different from being the Kazekage himself.
But with Sasori's personality, he probably felt the same as Yubi and had no desire for the Kage position.
The two of them were six of one and half a dozen of the other—
It was even possible—that a scene where Sasori forced him to become the Fourth Kazekage would occur.
After all, Sasori only trusted him.
Anyway—when the time came, if Sasori didn't take the throne, he would have to step up himself.
"Sigh—"
Thinking of this, Yubi sighed.
Then, he opened the System panel.
Host: Yubi.
Identity: Hidden Sand Chunin (Medical Ninja, Hidden Sand Village higher-up).
Age: 14 years old.
Currently stored Positive Experience Points (Saving people): 873.
Currently stored Negative Experience Points (Killing people): 1201.
Currently exchanged Mall items and abilities: Kuroo's Medical Notes and Insights, special scalpel (from Black Jack); Medical Ninjutsu: Mystical Palm Technique, Yin Healing Destruction, Removal of Fine Filth Jutsu, Resurrection Life Reforming Technique, Chakra Scalpel, Body Pathway Derangement.
Attachment Line: Can attach threads to a fixed target and control flying daggers for effective shooting.
Death Waltz: The user can use their fingers to control the threads, performing assassination techniques that are difficult to detect; they can also use the threads to bind with flying daggers for remote control.
(This ability comes from the character Belphegor in Reborn!, and has been assimilated into the self-created Ninjutsu Blade Intent Manipulation.)
Scarlet Blood Manipulation Technique (Full Progress): Can convert Chakra into poisonous blood for attacks; mastered all techniques including Blood Blade, Blood Meteor, Red Scale Jump, Flowing Red Scale, Slicing Exorcism and derivative skills like Piercing Blood, Supernova, Canal, Wing King, etc., and has been configured with all Cursed Womb Effects (Assimilated into the Bloodline Limit Blood Release).
Reverse Cursed Technique: Reverses Cursed Energy, which originally belongs to negative energy, and outputs it as positive energy, which can be used to heal oneself (Assimilated into hand-seal-less Ninjutsu).
There were some changes on the System panel, mainly because his skills had increased.
"Without the battlefield buff—plus the experience reduction mechanism, the gain rate of these two types of experience points in peaceful times has indeed slowed down a lot. I still need to ignite war to hunt true powerhouses and plot characters—"
"The main thing is to be able to harvest in large volumes." Yubi glanced at the panel and rubbed his chin.
Speaking of which, once the medicines he developed spread throughout the Ninja World, would the people who took the medicine and were cured count as positive experience?
Yubi was a little excited.
Although he knew it was a bit of a pipe dream—what if he found a System bug—
"As for the economy, I barely have a foundation—after the Village's overall situation stabilizes, the next thing to consider should be talent—"
"Tsk—thinking about it carefully, the Hidden Sand Village really has nothing; it can't even compare to the Hidden Mist Village. They at least have a bunch of Bloodline Limits—full of talent, it's just that their talent pool was squandered by themselves."
3
Yubi closed the System and couldn't help but complain in his heart.
Not just talent, the resources for Ninjutsu were also far from enough—one must know that a Village's combat power System not only relies on individual soldiers to support the skeleton but also on a large number of 'techniques' to enrich the flesh and blood.
These—all needed to be considered.
In addition, although his current 'arsenal' was sufficient, as a Ninja himself—his means were not yet comprehensive enough.
At the very least, because of the Water and Earth Chakra nature transformations brought by Blood Release, he could also learn some related Ninjutsu—
He also had to try and see if he still possessed the talent to transform other Chakra natures; the more Ninjutsu he could Cultivate, the better.
Abundant firepower—is the only truth.
However, he had too many things to handle—he was somewhat lacking in time and energy.
"Forget it, my brain hurts a bit. I'll take it one step at a time and finish arranging the immediate matters first."
Yubi shook his head.
Today's meeting had ended—according to the results of the discussion between the Kazekage and the others, he was to first move the laboratory from the hospital temporarily to a vacant building in the Village, and the Anbu would be responsible for protection and monitoring 24/7, verifying personnel entering and leaving.
As for the Kazekage and Chiyo, they were already preparing to set off to see the Daimyo, which showed how anxious the higher-ups were.
But Yubi estimated—it would likely be a wasted trip.
The greater the expectation, the greater the disappointment.