[CH-304: Hidden Sound Village]
At this point, Deidara was in some ways very similar to the original Naruto. Even their appearances shared certain qualities, both having blond hair, though Deidara's was somewhat longer.
But where Naruto had deliberately played pranks in the village to attract attention and be acknowledged, Deidara genuinely found the Sand Village somewhat distasteful and indirectly looked down on it. That was why he refused to attend school.
Deidara's talent for Earth Release was truly outstanding. Even without having become a proper ninja yet, he had a clear-eyed judgment of the skill level of those teaching him Earth Release techniques. Unlike other children his age, he simply could not respect teachers whose mastery he found insufficient.
The Sand Village now possessed no shortage of Earth Release resources, but the gap in skill level between their practitioners and the Hidden Stone Village's remained vast. For Deidara, who had spent time training alongside Kitsuchi's group, it was natural that he found his current teachers uninspiring and refused to attend their classes.
But these were only the surface issues.
The core problem was that this child had suddenly realized he was not originally from the Sand Village and had immediately lost his sense of belonging, coming to see himself as an outsider. That was why he kept clamoring to return to the Stone Village. His attitude had undergone a complete reversal.
Resolving Deidara's problem would require the help of someone specific.
Because what Deidara's behavior ultimately sought was simple. Acknowledgment. Acknowledgment that he was a Sand Village person. The knot in the small boy's heart needed to be untangled.
Previously, Deidara and Yuji had maintained a good relationship, partly because of the added connection between them, and partly because Yuji had frequently brought food to the orphanage children and had guided them from a young age, teaching them how to become outstanding Sand Village ninja.
After all, these children were the talented individuals included in the village's core cultivation plan, and they were story characters with genuine future potential. To say Yuji held no particular investment in them would be impossible.
So in the eyes of these children, the Kazekage could be considered something of a teacher figure. His Earth Release skill level, while not at the absolute top tier, was still far superior to the academy's regular instructors.
However, as Kazekage he had too many important matters demanding his attention and could not devote himself to these young ones as much as he might have liked. The frequency of his visits had decreased considerably compared to the orphanage days. And several of them were already approaching the age of entering more advanced training. He did not need to worry about them as much anymore.
Do not be fooled by Deidara's insistence on returning to the Hidden Stone Village or his claims of belonging there. The truth was that even if Yuji truly ignored him completely, Deidara would at most leave the village briefly before returning on his own.
It was not that Deidara could not let go of the Sand Village or of the Kazekage.
Rather, within the Sand Village there was someone Deidara missed more than anyone.
Karura.
In the orphanage, all the children had essentially been raised by Karura, who had served as a mother figure to all of them. Including Deidara, and like Kimimaro and Jugo, almost every one of them had been shaped in some way by Karura's influence. Their personalities had all undergone subtle transformations because of her.
It could be said that these characters, in this version of events, might one day clash with each other over various things, but they would absolutely never oppose Karura. For them, she was the most important person.
"I really am still not good at handling children's problems," Yuji shook his head and turned to leave.
He planned to tell Karura about Deidara's situation and see if she had any ideas.
For the period that followed, Deidara was relatively quiet.
After informing Karura about the situation, Yuji temporarily set the matter aside.
The Sand Village members who had been away on missions gradually returned to the village and received their gene-modifying medicine injections. Any surplus supply was distributed in large quantities to each partner nation and village.
Next, the major hidden villages sent out their second groups of students to study in the Sand Village, and this time the numbers were even greater than the first round. This was because in addition to medical knowledge, they now also wanted to study medical techniques directly.
Furthermore, there were quite a few ordinary civilians and professional staff who wanted to make use of the Sand Village's specialized vocational school to cultivate talent across various trades. Other hidden villages' educational institutions simply lacked this kind of human and professional resource depth.
The Sand Village's specialized school, which trained instructors across various trades, was something the village had intentionally invested heavily in, using connections to invite skilled teachers from across the ninja world.
It had gathered not only the Sand Village's top talent but some of the most capable individuals in the entire ninja world across their respective fields. Looking across the entire ninja world, the Sand Village was unique in possessing an educational system this financially robust and comprehensive.
Therefore, unlike Konoha, other villages did not need to invest beyond the standard study fee. They only needed to temporarily cooperate with the Sand Village to cultivate their own talent.
And this time, it also provided another opportunity for Deidara to interact with Hidden Stone Village representatives and learn from them. Yuji was not concerned about this. Since the problem had already emerged, avoiding it was useless anyway.
This time, the representatives from the various villages did not carry quite the same weight as the previous round's delegation leaders. The Hidden Stone Village was led by an elite Jonin.
Konoha sent the new generation Ino-Shika-Cho trio, led by Nara Shikamaru's mother. The original group leader Yamanaka Inoichi had passed away, and a new face had taken his place. Sending her here indicated that Minato had ulterior motives. Because with her intelligence, after personally visiting the Sand Village she could more intuitively analyze and feel the Sand Village's powerful management mechanisms firsthand.
From there she could conduct analysis and combine it with Konoha's current situation to make improvements. To put it plainly, she could better understand the Sand Village's underlying framework.
Yuji understood all of this perfectly and did not particularly care. The Sand Village was now operating as an open institution. Naturally he was not afraid of being observed or learned from.
Meanwhile, the representatives from the Hidden Mist Village were Ao and Terumi Mei. This was Terumi Mei's second visit to the Sand Village.
Upon meeting Yuji again, Terumi Mei's reaction was noticeably different from before. The particular quality of admiration she had shown previously was no longer present in the same way. Because Yuji had become Pakura's husband. He was no longer the unattached figure Terumi Mei had once considered.
Although she still greatly admired him as a ninja and as the Kazekage, the romantic dimension of those feelings no longer applied.
Furthermore, the woman he had married was Pakura, the strongest female ninja in the Sand Village's history. Terumi Mei had personally witnessed Pakura's performance at the previous exchange gathering.
Because of this, Terumi Mei found herself somewhat at a loss for words on the matter.
If it had been any other woman, she might have entertained some competitive thoughts. But this particular situation left little room for that.
While all of this was progressing steadily, in the blink of an eye the year drew to a close.
During this period, one significant event occurred.
Pakura gave birth to a child.
The Fourth Kazekage's son. A boy. Yuji named him Ryuu.
Born in year fifty-five of the Hokage era, he was the same age as Sarutobi Konohamaru and his companions in Konoha.
Having a descendant did not change how Yuji felt about things in any dramatically emotional sense. The only real change was perhaps the addition of another layer to his identity. He had gained the status of a father.
Shortly after, in the fifty-sixth year of the Hokage era, news spread throughout the ninja world.
The establishment of a new hidden village in the Land of Rice. The Hidden Sound Village.
...
[CH-305: Provocation?]
"Although the Blood Release and eye technique abilities were acquired through the system, they have been assimilated into the power of this world. Unless something unexpected happens, he will likely inherit them."
Inside the house, Yuji looked at his son lying in his swaddling clothes, a thought flashing through his mind.
Theoretically, Ryuu would surely inherit both bloodline limits. But heredity only meant that the bloodline carried these two powers. Whether they would awaken, and to what level they could be cultivated, depended entirely on the child himself.
From the time of the Third Kazekage's era, Yuji had wanted to ensure this lineage could continue, creating a formidable fighting force within the Sand Village across generations. Now he had finally succeeded.
And not only him. The child's mother was also a Scorch Release ninja. In other words, Ryuu might potentially awaken three distinct powers in the future.
"I will head back to work now," Yuji said, regaining his composure and smiling at Pakura, who had only recently given birth.
"Alright," Pakura nodded, cradling Ryuu in her arms, her face full of warmth and affection. After becoming a mother, the mature and formidable air she usually carried had softened considerably, replaced by something gentler and more luminous.
After giving a few instructions to the two Anbu guards stationed outside the door, both of whom were female and specifically assigned to look after Pakura, Yuji made his way to the Kazekage building.
Although Pakura had said the guards were unnecessary, he remained somewhat uneasy about leaving her without protection.
Along the way, Yuji turned his thoughts to the recent discussion surrounding the Hidden Sound Village.
The Land of Rice's Daimyo had already formally notified several major hidden villages of its establishment. But the outside world did not yet understand the situation regarding the mastermind behind the Hidden Sound Village, namely Orochimaru. The Daimyo had not gone into detail. After all, it was an internal matter, and other countries and villages had no right to interfere.
However, what seemed rather strange to outside observers was this. Following the relocation of certain clans to the Sand Village, there were almost no significant ninja clans remaining within the Land of Rice. Where had Orochimaru obtained the manpower to establish a hidden village?
Establishing a hidden village was not something a Daimyo alone could accomplish. There had to be a powerful supporting figure behind it. Otherwise the Hidden Sound Village could not have appeared so suddenly.
The more Yuji considered the situation, the more the inner workings became clear.
Nothing unexpected had happened with Orochimaru in the end. He had still founded the Hidden Sound Village. The continuous butterfly effect had profoundly impacted Konoha, but it had not fundamentally altered Orochimaru's personal trajectory.
His choice of the Land of Rice had clearly been carefully considered. First, the Land of Rice was close to the Land of Fire and several smaller countries, a relatively favorable geographical position. Being inland, it allowed constant awareness of changes in the ninja world. It was also further from the Land of Wind, currently home to the most powerful hidden village.
Furthermore, the Land of Rice did not have a dependent government relationship with any of the Five Great Hidden Villages, allowing the Hidden Sound Village to have independent administrative power, unlike some smaller countries that were more or less tied to one of the major villages.
What made this even more significant was that even Orochimaru could not establish a hidden village with words alone. Establishing a hidden village required skilled personnel at minimum. Ever since Orochimaru's betrayal of Konoha, and perhaps even while he was still within Konoha, he had likely already been aware that one day he would turn against the village's senior leadership and leave for foreign territory.
Therefore he must have been quietly recruiting talent for a long time.
The problem was that all the characters connected to Orochimaru in the original story had already been recruited by Yuji to the Sand Village. Therefore, to establish a complete hidden village organization, Orochimaru had needed to find entirely different people. And this kind of thing could not be done overnight.
The current establishment of the Hidden Sound Village seemed relatively fast given these constraints.
"The Hidden Sound Village has been created, which means he must still have usable people under his command. To find subordinates in such a short time requires strong intelligence support. Only someone with a thorough understanding of the ninja world could locate such specific types of talent with this degree of precision."
"It seems Black Zetsu's hand is behind this," Yuji thought, a slight tremor running through his heart.
He knew that in order to expand the organization's membership for Madara and Obito, White Zetsu had been carefully monitoring the ninja world for a very long time.
This included a few rogue ninjas. But now, understanding that the plan had already taken root gave him pause.
Using Black Zetsu's connections to help Orochimaru gain leverage and allow the Hidden Sound Village to establish a foothold in the ninja world, it was highly likely that some of the people previously targeted by Akatsuki for recruitment had been redirected toward Orochimaru's Hidden Sound Village instead.
Although rogue ninja who took refuge in a hidden village would certainly be targeted by the major villages once discovered, a slight disguise was still relatively easy to maintain. At least in the short term they would not be detected.
Moreover, this would give the Hidden Sound Village a considerable fighting force rather than a ragtag collection of nobodies.
"Who are they?" Yuji considered carefully.
Although he did not have full intelligence on the Hidden Sound Village's current situation, through his analysis of the overall circumstances combined with his understanding of both Black Zetsu and Orochimaru, he had deduced the likely truth.
"Sasori and Deidara are both in the Sand Village and cannot be recruited. That eliminates the three main original story members."
"What remains then. Hidan has not yet been discovered at this stage. So currently, the most likely candidates to have teamed up with Orochimaru are Juzo Biwa and Raiga Kurosuki, both of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen. Both are rogue ninja possibilities."
"For a newly established small hidden village, having those two plus Orochimaru and a handful of other capable individuals is more than sufficient. In fact, the village's combat strength already surpasses that of many small nations."
The corners of his mouth curled slightly.
During the Third Great Ninja War, the ninjas who in the original story had died at Might Dai's hands had undergone a slight transformation in this timeline. Juzo Biwa and Raiga Kurosuki had both survived.
Furthermore, in the original story the characters connected to Orochimaru had been prominently portrayed, but that did not mean Orochimaru was limited to finding talent like Kimimaro and the others. With Orochimaru's discerning eye and exceptional ability, locating a few capable confidants was still quite achievable.
After all, as one of Konoha's Three Legendary Sannin and a Kage-level expert, Orochimaru had single-handedly trained countless outstanding ninja in his time. It was simply a matter of time.
"Interesting. There appears to be a pattern here," Yuji took a quiet breath.
Black Zetsu helping Orochimaru was not something done out of fear of Orochimaru's hidden identity being exposed. Black Zetsu was almost certainly harboring ulterior motives.
Orochimaru's previous attack on Sasori had not been without reason. Sasori was a high-ranking Sand Village member and a representative figure of its strength.
The fact that the Land of Wind had conquered the Land of Rain had caused widespread alarm across the ninja world several years ago, arousing significant vigilance in every other hidden village. If under these circumstances either the Sand Village or the Hidden Sound Village were to launch attacks, it would undoubtedly ignite a massive conflict, directly shattering the years of peace that had prevailed.
This would instantly worsen the Sand Village's relations with every other village.
Attacking the Land of Rain had been possible because it lacked a clearly defined governmental system, functioning as a semi-independent entity. Furthermore, the Sand Village had been able to exploit internal conflicts within the Land of Rain and simultaneously place the blame on Shimura Danzo.
However, attacking the Land of Rice was an entirely different matter.
Although Yuji knew Orochimaru had founded the Hidden Sound Village, the Land of Rice had not officially announced this to the outside world. Under these circumstances, if the Sand Village were to instigate military action it would appear as a legitimate military offensive.
Combined with the previous Land of Rain conflict as a precedent, the other four great hidden villages would likely be immediately alarmed.
Furthermore, the Land of Rice's geographical position was extremely sensitive. When attacking the Land of Rain, the other villages had been unable to intervene effectively. Now things were different. Although the major villages were still developing, their strength had almost fully recovered and they had the ability to intervene in any new conflict.
"Black Zetsu wants to trigger the Fourth Great Ninja War soon," Yuji thought as the picture became clearer.
Orochimaru might not fully understand the larger scheme at play. Or Orochimaru might also be aware of it and simply want to drag the Sand Village down alongside himself.
One should not underestimate Orochimaru just because he was operating in a junior capacity here. In terms of intelligence and scheming, he could be compared to Uchiha Madara himself.
Black Zetsu wanted to deceive Yuji. But it would not be that easy.
In short, given the current situation, the more Yuji analyzed it, the more clearly he could read the two men's ulterior motives.
"I thought you two would pull off something genuinely impressive," Yuji sighed quietly.
"But this is all you have managed? Rather disappointing."