"Sasori..."
"Why? Did Lord Kazekage order you to do this?"
One month later, one day, within the Land of Wind.
A squad from the Hidden Sand Village was suddenly attacked; there was only one assailant.
And it was no outsider.
A Puppeteer.
Someone the three of them were all too familiar with.
Sasori of the Anbu, the Genius the Hidden Sand Village was so proud of.
When Sasori first appeared, the three thought Lord Kazekage had sent him to deliver a message... but as Sasori drew near, he attacked without warning.
The three were severely wounded before they could even prepare themselves.
In this three-man squad, two served as guards, while the captain was one of the Hidden Sand Village's high-ranking officials.
This official was gravely injured but didn't die instantly; he briefly exchanged blows with Sasori but was ultimately no match for him and collapsed to the ground.
Before dying, the man stared at the cold-faced Sasori standing before him, his pupils trembling.
His first thought was that Sasori was following the Kazekage's orders to eliminate him.
But the problem was... the recent internal unrest in the Village was targeted at the civilian factions; as for people like them, they had never gone against the Kazekage's wishes.
They had even fully supported getting rid of the "troublemakers" among the civilian class.
Why target them?
Since when had the Kazekage set his sights on him as well?
However, in response to his questioning, Sasori's only answer was a Puppet lunging forward.
A moment later, the official breathed his last, blood pooling around his body...
After destroying all evidence of the body, Sasori quickly departed.
In the letters Yubi sent back to him, he had advised Sasori to look for opportunities and not act immediately; even when eliminating high-ranking officials, he had to ensure a time gap and not do it too frequently.
Furthermore, it was best to do it outside the Village. As Lord Kazekage's "sharp blade" and the one in full charge of the matter, Sasori's status allowed him to manipulate things perfectly.
Firstly, he could wait for moments when the officials left the Village, and secondly, he could plant evidence intentionally.
Moreover, he could actually leak some intel to the outside world to lure other hostile forces into acting or participating, making the situation even more chaotic.
Of course, it had to be done with extreme secrecy.
In short, the methods used to target these officials couldn't be too repetitive.
Thus, Sasori waited for a full few dozen days before finding this opportunity.
He struck while this official was leaving the Village.
The internal situation of the Village was already very tense; civilian Ninja in various departments frequently clashed with Ninja from the Village's noble families, and not just verbally, but physically.
However, most people didn't dare let things escalate too far and remained relatively restrained.
These people didn't truly fear the Village's high-ranking officials... they simply had feelings for the Hidden Sand Village.
Yet, some did strike ruthlessly... In the past two or three months, two Rogue Ninja had emerged from the Hidden Sand Village.
Both had fled after killing other Sunagakure.
This also caused a shift in the Village's internal power structure. Previously, there were representatives of the civilian faction among the high-ranking officials, but now they had all been intentionally "reassigned" by the Kazekage, who began promoting subordinates who shared his ideology and style to fill the vacancies.
And the person Sasori just executed was one of them.
Yubi's intention was simple... first, spacing out the hits would give the Village time to process and buffer the impact, preventing a sudden massive vacuum in the management layer.
Secondly, it was to prevent Sasori from going too far and getting exposed.
Although everything was happening according to their expectations and preparations...
...there was still a possibility of exposure. Once the Village discovered they were the ones pulling the strings behind the scenes, it would be no ordinary trouble.
In any case, they had to act with caution.
...
On the other side, within the Land of Rain.
Yubi stepped through blood, walking over the corpses scattered on the ground.
This was a Stronghold for an armed organization in the Land of Rain. He had wiped out all of their men, including several dozen hired Rogue Ninja.
In this manor-like residence, he scoured for and found crates of treasure, making for a bountiful harvest.
His recent experiences in the Land of Rain had given him a better understanding of its current situation.
Why were so many Rogue Ninja or Rogue Ninjas flocking here with plenty of work to do?
If it were simply about oppressing the common people or dealing with ordinary rebel groups, such a force wouldn't be necessary.
In the Land of Rain's civilian sector, a militarized and formidable insurgent force like "Akatsuki" had not yet formed. Although there were rebel groups everywhere, they were quite scattered and difficult to manage.
They were like a heap of loose sand.
The Stronghold leader he killed was merely a Puppet; the true mastermind behind him was one of Hanzou's confidants, a high-ranking official of the Hidden Rain Village.
These representatives of the Hidden Rain Village officials extorted money from the people and gradually funneled it upward... then the official would find a way or a pretext to offer it as tribute to Hanzou.
The need for "Ninja" combat power arose because most organizations within the Land of Rain were now connected to Hanzou's confidants and almost all belonged to the Hidden Rain Village's elite.
Although they appeared to be local overlords on the surface...
...in reality, they were just a "stand-in" following the arrangements of the Village's high-ranking officials.
These people frequently engaged in internal strife and fought violently over various resources.
Even "their own people" were slaughtering one another.
Even Ninja from the Hidden Rain Village were involved...
This kind of battlefield was the true stage for Rogue Ninja or Rogue Ninjas.
"How truly dark..."
Yubi walked over to a crate and opened it, finding it filled with correspondence between the Stronghold leader and the high-ranking official.
He randomly opened a letter and scanned it.
The contents made him unable to help but sigh.
From the intelligence he had gathered, the power structure within the Hidden Rain Village had never truly solidified.
Hanzou stood high above, his position unshakable.
But the men under him, the heads of various departments in the Hidden Rain Village—the high-ranking officials—were all vying for power and profit, in a state where no one yielded to another.
It had the skeleton of a Village, but not the "soul" of a Ninja Village.
...
Time passed slowly.
Sasori eliminated a second high-ranking official from the Hidden Sand Village.
This time, it wasn't a secret assassination, but an execution ordered by the Kazekage to silence the target.
The reason was simple: as the Village's situation grew more chaotic and the waters became muddier... Sasori just had to manipulate things slightly, framing the official for being "involved" with the civilian Ninja faction, and the Third Kazekage became suspicious. Everything that followed happened naturally.
The current state of the Village was worrying, and as the Kazekage, he was anxious to stabilize the situation.
He had even developed a mindset of "rather kill an innocent by mistake than let a guilty one escape."
Once there was a first, there would be a second, a third...
Once the wrong approach was chosen, the entire matter could spiral into a cycle of repeated mistakes.
In the Village's eyes, some officials were killed because of intelligence leaks.
Others were involved with the civilian faction... and had to be eliminated.
Still others were likely officials killed by certain factions within the Village out of a desire for revenge.
In short, the deaths of all these officials seemed "reasonable" in the eyes of most.
They were seen as having been caught up in this class conflict.
An atmosphere of mutual distrust began to permeate the Village...
But because... these officials' deaths didn't happen all at once, but occurred one after another over the span of more than half a year.
Therefore, it didn't cause the Hidden Sand Village's situation to become too volatile.
At least on the surface, every department maintained basic operations.
If there was anything noticeable, it was that many Rogue Ninja had emerged from the Village during this period...
Furthermore, some Great Ninja Village had already noticed that the Hidden Sand Village had been somewhat "unsettled" lately.
But within the Village, there was one person who had become suspicious.
And that was Arai!
As a Kage Guard, Arai had also been involved in and handling the matter, but due to his status, he couldn't personally intervene in many things. Lord Kazekage could only entrust Sasori of the Anbu to handle them...
The spectator sees most clearly; Arai felt that... from his perspective, something about the whole situation was off.
The object of his suspicion was Sasori!
But for one, Sasori was now deeply trusted by Lord Kazekage, and he himself was from the Village's noble faction, the grandson of Grandmother Chiyo...
He had no reason to harm his own people, and his stance couldn't possibly lean toward the civilian faction, so... no matter what, no one would suspect him.
Moreover, Sasori was a powerful combatant the Village would rely on in the future.
Therefore, even if Arai expressed his suspicions to the Kazekage, he would need substantial evidence.
Thus, Arai had recently begun to secretly keep an eye on Sasori.
Observing his every move.
Until Sasori left the Village alone once again, and Arai stealthily followed him.