Yagura's entire body was wrapped and bound by the sealing scroll, unable to move at all.
The Sunagakure shinobi stared fixedly outside.
Some Sunagakure shinobi even left the range of the village and chased after the location of the sand waves.
Even though Rasa had told them they would not be able to help.
Thud!
With a massive sound, the Solar Disc landed and returned to its previous position.
The nearby ground had originally been sand and earth, but now, a layer of green grass had already grown there.
The surrounding Sunagakure shinobi gathered around.
"Kazekage-sama!"
Rasa walked over slowly.
Beside him floated two masses of gold dust.
On one of them was Samehada.
On the other was Yagura, wrapped tightly in sealing scrolls.
Yagura was not dead yet.
But he was not much different from dead.
The only reason he was still alive was because Rasa had deliberately spared his life, intending to extract the greatest possible benefit from him.
"We knew Kazekage-sama would definitely win."
"How could Yagura possibly be Kazekage-sama's opponent? In his dreams!"
"Defeat was his only ending!"
The moment they saw Rasa appear, every Sunagakure shinobi let out a breath of relief.
Even though they believed in Rasa, Rasa had not personally acted for a very long time.
Meanwhile, Yagura had been extremely active in the shinobi world.
The identity of the Six-Tails jinchuriki.
The ability to perfectly control tailed beast chakra.
The ability to use a Tailed Beast Ball in the body of a human shinobi.
His crushing defeat of the Kaguya Clan, Fuguki Suikazan, and Jinin Akebino.
And on top of that, the special nature of the Water Mirror Technique.
It could forcibly drag every shinobi into a contest of chakra quantity.
And a jinchuriki's chakra reserves were astonishing.
Very soon, news spread across the entire shinobi world.
Yagura had led an elite Kirigakure squad to launch a surprise attack on Sunagakure.
But Rasa had defeated them.
The entire squad had been wiped out.
At that time, many people in Kirigakure did not even know Yagura had left.
When they heard the news, they were shocked to the extreme.
"What?"
"That's impossible."
"When did Mizukage-sama go to Sunagakure? Didn't he return to the village after defeating the Kaguya Sailing Group and the Seven Ninja Swordsmen Glory Sailing Group?"
"When did he go to Sunagakure?"
"And Mizukage-sama is so strong. How could he lose?"
"How could Rasa defeat Mizukage-sama? Mizukage-sama is someone who can perfectly control a tailed beast's power!"
But as time passed, Yagura still did not appear.
Even if the people of Kirigakure refused to believe it, doubts inevitably began to form in their hearts.
After all, if Yagura was really fine, why didn't he come out and explain?
"Where is Mizukage-sama?"
"Did something really happen?"
A large number of Kirigakure villagers began pressing the village's higher-ups for answers.
But even they did not know the exact situation.
Yagura had left very suddenly and very secretly.
Very few people knew about his plan.
And not a single Kirigakure shinobi had sent back any concrete information.
They knew nothing.
Until—
The new issue of Ninja Major Events Weekly.
The headline.
"Fourth Mizukage of Kirigakure, Yagura Karatachi, led dozens of Kirigakure shinobi in a surprise attack on Sunagakure. Sunagakure detected the attack in time, and Fourth Kazekage Rasa personally moved to intercept them."
"Yagura Karatachi and dozens of Kirigakure shinobi were completely annihilated."
"Sunagakure casualties: zero."
Above the headline, there was also an image.
Rasa stood above them, looking down.
Below him, dozens of Kirigakure shinobi corpses lay fallen in the yellow sand, while Yagura knelt on the ground.
This was not a photograph.
It had been drawn.
But beneath it was another image.
That one was a photograph.
Yagura's appearance could be seen clearly.
The moment the newspaper appeared, it instantly caused a huge uproar.
When the earlier news first spread, many people had not dared to confirm it.
After all, Kirigakure had made no official announcement, and a new Mizukage had not appeared either.
According to common sense, that was not quite right.
A shinobi village could not go a single day without a Kage.
Once the old one was gone, a new one had to be chosen.
Only then could the hearts of the village's people stabilize.
"Since Sunagakure dared publish it in Ninja Major Events Weekly, it should be true."
"I never expected this. The Great Ninja War has already stopped, yet a Kage has still died."
"Most likely, the success against those sailing groups caused Yagura Karatachi's confidence to swell like never before. He wanted revenge against Sunagakure, but in the end, not only did all the people he brought die, even he died too."
"A sailing group and a shinobi village are not the same thing."
Some people mocked Yagura.
"Looks like jinchuriki aren't that terrifying after all."
"This Yagura overestimated his own strength too much. Earlier, Kirigakure even spread word that Yagura was the strongest Kage in the shinobi world. And this is it? This is the strongest?"
"Looking at it now, the truly powerful one is still Fourth Kazekage Rasa."
"Not only did he lead Sunagakure's rise, even his personal strength has reached the top."
"If we're talking about the strongest in the shinobi world, then Rasa might be the true strongest right now."
Kirigakure.
Many higher-ups gathered together.
The expressions of most of them were extremely ugly.
Even though not all of these people liked Yagura, and not all of them belonged to Yagura's faction.
Yagura's death was still absolutely terrible news for Kirigakure.
Kirigakure no longer had a suitable candidate to inherit the position of Mizukage.
Were they supposed to welcome Fuguki Suikazan or Jinin Akebino back?
Leaving aside whether those two would even be willing to return like this, if they did come back, Kirigakure's current leadership would absolutely undergo a massive reshuffling.
Everyone present would lose a tremendous amount of benefit.
That was not what they wanted.
"But the village must have a Mizukage. Who is suitable?"
One name after another was brought up.
"Mei Terumi is too young. She possesses two Kekkei Genkai, and her talent is extremely high, but her talent has yet to fully mature. Her current strength is nowhere near enough to support her as a Kage."
"Her political ability is also insufficient."
"…"
"It seems the only one who can barely qualify for the Mizukage position is Chukichi."
"His performance on the battlefield before was decent. He achieved no small amount of merit. He isn't comparable to Yagura or Fuguki, but he is still fairly good. On top of that, he possesses a Kekkei Genkai, Dark Release."
"His individual strength is acceptable too."
One Kirigakure shinobi sighed.
"If only the Seven Ninja Swordsmen had never gotten into trouble."
"Do you think the Fourth really designed a scheme to sell out the Seven Ninja Swordsmen?"
One person thought for a moment.
"Before, I felt the possibility was low. But judging from the Fourth's impulsive move to go to Sunagakure this time, I feel that there really might be such a possibility."
"Then the Fourth was a sinner of Kirigakure!"
Sunagakure.
Rasa looked at the rapidly changing point numbers on the system panel and revealed a smile.
"Three thousand points."
"They're here."
"I really should thank Yagura Karatachi for delivering such a generous gift right to my door."
With a thought, Rasa began.
"Thirty draws. Start!"