Sunagakure.
The air was filled with endless yellow sand, like a yellow fog.
The Kazekage stood at the highest point, with the towering rocky mountains behind him and the entire village spread out before him.
Chiyo and Ebizō stood silently behind him.
The defeat in the Land of Rivers had thrown the Sand Village into a difficult position.
For a long while, no one spoke.
"White Fang has been seriously injured and lost his combat ability," Ebizō finally said, sharing the information they had received.
"I could have killed him at that time," the Kazekage said regretfully.
He now realized that White Fang had been in no condition to continue fighting.
If he had not hesitated, he could have killed Konoha's White Fang before Tsunade arrived.
But fear had led him to retreat instead.
Regret weighed heavily on his heart.
Had they been able to cause such a devastating loss to Konoha, it would have been enough.
"At that time, none of us could do anything," Chiyo said, her voice tinged with helplessness.
Even though she had lost family members, she had not lost her sense of reason. It had indeed seemed like the perfect opportunity to kill White Fang.
But deep down, who among them had the courage to act?
That shattered mountain range was not far off.
Even Chiyo herself had not dared to strike.
This could not be blamed on the Kazekage.
"The key now is our next move. Do we retake the battlefield in the Land of Rivers?"
They had already suffered heavy losses there. But losing control of the Land of Rivers also left them unsure of whether Konoha would attack them next.
Even if they reclaimed the battlefield, they lacked the strength to invade Konoha.
The Kazekage closed his eyes in thought. After a long silence, he opened them again.
"Do we have any intelligence on the Basic Internal Energy technique that made White Fang so strong?"
The strange words White Fang had muttered during the battle had also made the Kazekage realize something crucial.
"Yes," Ebizō nodded. "It's a peculiar sealing technique created by Uchiha Jin from Konoha, designed to fully enhance reflexes and physical capabilities. It's divided into three levels."
"The first level prevents the user from using ninjutsu, though it's suspected that Konoha's Root has a way to bypass this limitation. The second level removes that restriction and allows the user to continuously accumulate chakra."
"The third level is unknown, but it's rumored to be stored in Konoha's Sealing Scroll."
"Uchiha," the Kazekage frowned deeply.
The name of this clan had been formidable since the Warring States Period.
Still...
"Another figure like Senju Tobirama?"
Konoha was truly favored by fate.
"The brat who stopped you—he was Uchiha Jin," Ebizō added.
Both Chiyo and the Kazekage widened their eyes at the mention of Uchiha Jin.
"So young?"
They had clearly seen Uchiha Jin during the battle.
He was merely a child.
"Is there any chance of capturing him?"
Since he was still young, there might be an opportunity to send people to capture him.
Ebizō shook his head. From what he had gathered about Uchiha Jin's combat performance on the battlefield against the Hidden Rock Village, it wasn't that simple.
"Uchiha Jin is currently under White Fang's command, and his personal strength is considerable. It would take at least five jonin to capture him."
This made the Kazekage abandon the idea.
Five jonin could influence the outcome of a portion of the war.
If White Fang were not involved, they might have taken the risk.
But now...
Losing five jonin would be a severe blow to the Sand Village, which was already on the verge of a major defeat.
"Let's pull back our forces from the Land of Rivers and focus entirely on the Land of Rain," the Kazekage decided.
White Fang was far more dangerous than Orochimaru.
Even though Konoha had sent White Fang, the Hidden Rock Village was also sharing the burden.
As the three of them discussed how to divide their forces...
"Kazekage-sama, where are my parents?"
A small red-haired boy appeared, demanding an answer.
"Sasori!"
Chiyo hurried over, her expression dark as she looked at her grandson.
His parents had been left on the battlefield.
The Kazekage remained silent, looking down at the village below. In the end, he had failed to protect a child's parents.
Sasori gazed at his grandmother's sorrowful face and the Kazekage's silence.
The answer was already clear to him.
Sasori's wide eyes stared at the Kazekage, filled with hope.
"Will you avenge my parents?"
Chiyo quickly pulled Sasori back.
"Sasori, don't put the Kazekage-sama in a difficult position."
White Fang was simply too dangerous. If it hadn't been for the news of his severe injury, the Sand Ninja would have already considered retreating from the battlefield.
The Kazekage walked over to Sasori, lowering his head to look at the elder's grandson.
Sasori's parents had been vital forces in the village, but they had been left behind on the battlefield.
If White Fang hadn't been so terrifying, the Kazekage would have promised Sasori to avenge his parents.
But because White Fang would later die in the village, failing to fulfill his promise, Sasori would eventually turn him into a puppet.
Now, though...
"Forgive me, Sasori," the Kazekage said, his expression sorrowful as he knelt down to Sasori's height, exposing a deep scar on his neck.
That was the wound left by White Fang's final slash—he hadn't come out of the battle unscathed.
"White Fang is far stronger than I am. Even if I rallied the entire village's forces, I still don't know if we could kill him. I don't have the power to avenge your parents. I'm not worthy of being your Kazekage."
"Kazekage-sama!"
Ebizō couldn't help but want to argue. After all, it was the Third Kazekage who was holding the Sand Village together.
"That's enough," the Kazekage interrupted, raising a hand to stop Ebizō.
He was beginning to doubt himself.
"I'm not strong enough to protect the Sand Village. So... forgive me, Sasori."
"I can't do it."
Sasori looked at the Kazekage, who had once seemed so wise and powerful, now half-kneeling before him in a somewhat pitiful state.
Then he looked at Ebizō, who wanted to refute the Kazekage's words, and finally at his grandmother, whose face was dark with sadness.
"Is it because you're too weak?"
Sasori asked bluntly.
Was it because the Kazekage was too weak that his parents hadn't come back?
"Sasori!" Chiyo tried to stop him from questioning further, but the Kazekage raised a hand to halt her.
"Forgive me."
This was the third time he had apologized.
Sasori fell silent, staring at the Kazekage.
For the first time, he realized that even the Kazekage had things he couldn't do.
The next moment.
Sasori pulled out a kunai and placed it against the Kazekage's forehead.
"Sasori! Stop!" Chiyo shouted as she rushed to pull Sasori away.
This was tantamount to an assassination attempt on the Kazekage!
But to her shock, black iron sand blocked both her and the approaching Ebizō.
The Kazekage's face remained expressionless. No one could tell what he was thinking.
"It's because you're weak!"
Sasori's voice trembled with suppressed anger and sadness.
"It's because of your uselessness!"
"I've lost everything!"
"If you're so incompetent, then give the title of Kazekage to me!"
"I won't be as weak as you!"
"I will avenge my parents! I will have my revenge on White Fang and on Konoha!"
Sasori slashed a deep cut across the Kazekage's forehead.
"I'll become stronger than all of you!"
The Kazekage felt the pain from his forehead as blood dripped into his eyes, turning his vision crimson. He looked at Sasori, whose face was twisted in rage.
Perhaps he needed to place his hopes on the next generation.
He didn't know.
But history had already shifted because he had acknowledged his weakness.
---
You can read up to 20 chpaters ahead on patreon.com/DogLeading