Chapter 189: Another Year, and a Brand New Sand Village
Akasuna no Sasori and the Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi ignited a great Kage-level clash in the Land of Rivers. This news spread rapidly throughout every major ninja village.
While Yuji was occupied managing various village affairs and simultaneously advancing his cellular research program, a large-scale war between the Sand Village and Konoha erupted on the front lines and lasted three full days.
Hiruzen, who had originally been directing operations against the Hidden Mist Village, urgently summoned Minato Namikaze back from the Land of Rice Fields to take over the Hidden Mist engagement. Hiruzen himself then returned to the Land of Rivers and personally led Konoha’s forces against the Sand Village army.
After receiving their orders, the Sand Village army launched a coordinated series of attacks against Konoha with Sasori serving as the spearhead. The results were devastating for Konoha, inflicting heavy losses and forcing Hiruzen to commit personally to the campaign.
Once the Third Hokage entered the battlefield directly, an inevitable clash between Sasori and Hiruzen followed.
This time, Sasori chose not to retreat.
Because beyond Sasori himself, the Sand Village’s main army also had Rasa, whose individual combat power was equally capable of shaping the battlefield.
What Sasori needed to do was simply restrain the Third Hokage and prevent him from freely deploying his full capabilities against the broader Sand Village forces.
The result lived up to the expectations the Sand Village had held going into the engagement. The Hidden Sand Village achieved victory.
It was worth noting that although the Sand Village army had engaged Konoha in what appeared to be a full-scale confrontation, it was not a purely direct clash across a single front.
Throughout the extended battle, centered around the main battlefield, numerous smaller teams carried out individual targeted missions simultaneously. Even without being physically present on the front lines, Yuji had provided tactical guidance before the battle began.
Most importantly, before withdrawing from the battlefield months earlier, he had left Shimizu with the mass healing jutsu scroll.
That scroll proved its worth entirely. At the critical turning point of the battle, its mass healing properties allowed the Sand Village’s forces to recover and push through, ultimately tipping the outcome in their favor.
After returning to the village, although experience points were accumulating more slowly than in earlier stages of the war, as long as sufficient points could be exchanged for Senzu Beans, he could purchase them regularly and send them to Sasori and the frontline forces.
Doing so helped prevent the loss of the Sand Village’s most valuable senior fighters. The scroll he had given Shimizu had served its specific purpose, primarily aimed at preserving the village’s core vitality through the most dangerous phase of the engagement.
The Sand Village had suffered casualties. This battle was the most costly since the outbreak of the Third Great Ninja War. But the results were still within acceptable limits.
Looking at the battle reports from the Land of Rivers that had arrived after the fighting concluded, nearly a year into the war, Sasori was without question the village’s foremost hero. Especially after the Third Raikage’s modified corpse had been deployed on the battlefield, his dominance had become even more pronounced.
In this confrontation with the Third Hokage, although there was no decisive winner between the two, for a fighter of Sasori’s generation to engage Hiruzen to a standstill was an achievement that made his name resound throughout the entire ninja world. His prestige had reached a level comparable to Konoha’s Yellow Flash, Minato Namikaze.
But the Sand Village’s strength was not limited to Sasori alone. Rasa’s performance had also been formidable. His bloodline and combat capabilities allowed enemies to sense echoes of the great Kazekage generations before him.
His destructive power on the battlefield was genuinely immense and impossible to dismiss. Although his individual brilliance had been somewhat overshadowed by Sasori’s more dramatic rise, this battle had made Rasa a fully recognized figure in the wider ninja world as well.
Unlike before, when only the Hidden Stone Village had a thorough understanding of the Sand Village’s actual combat potential, the village’s great victory on the Land of Rivers front had announced itself to everyone watching.
The victory also carried a deep emotional resonance. The Second Great Ninja War had brought tremendous humiliation to the Hidden Sand Village. Now, this outcome felt like a long-awaited answer to that history.
When the news reached the Sand Village, every villager felt a surge of exhilaration and joy.
The village’s construction was progressing smoothly, its transformation visible day by day. At this point in time, the Hidden Sand Village was experiencing both external military victories and internal reform simultaneously.
The atmosphere throughout the village was one of genuine prosperity and forward momentum.
"Contact the Hidden Mist Village. We can begin."
Upon receiving the battle news, Yuji immediately instructed his subordinates to set the next phase of the operation in motion. Before the Sand Village army and Konoha had gone to war, he had already sent word ahead to Yagura Karatachi to coordinate timing.
Half a month later, the Hidden Mist Village released information to the outside world. Their operatives had infiltrated Konoha’s territory and discovered the remains of the Third Kazekage. The Hidden Mist Village declared with certainty that Konoha was the party responsible for the Third Kazekage’s disappearance and death.
This intelligence sent a shock through the ninja world. Some perceptive individuals felt something was not quite right about the whole affair, and the evidence seemed somewhat convenient. But amidst the fierce fighting consuming every village’s attention, no one had the capacity to investigate further. Konoha was entirely powerless to deny the accusation effectively given the circumstances.
Throughout the Sand Village, both the general population and the uninformed portions of the army erupted with genuine anger and indignation at the news.
Following this, several senior officials including Chiyo convened to discuss how to handle the Third Kazekage’s remains now that they had been officially acknowledged. The situation was exceptional and required exceptional treatment.
Furthermore, the discussion turned to Sasori’s puppet technique and the possibility that if the Third Kazekage’s remains could be properly utilized, the Sand Village’s overall combat power would receive a meaningful enhancement.
In their view, although they had achieved a significant victory against Konoha, the war was far from conclusively resolved. Konoha was still Konoha, and what trump cards or hidden reserves they might still have available remained unknown. For the sake of future security, all available options had to be considered.
From the village’s perspective, allowing a degree of sacrifice to the Third Kazekage’s remains and reputation was acceptable under the circumstances.
The village was at a crucial juncture in its development, and if this critical period were negatively impacted by front line setbacks, the losses would far outweigh any gains.
Furthermore, under the deliberate framing that had been constructed and the emotional atmosphere surrounding the battlefield context, all the senior officials, despite their mixed feelings, ultimately agreed to hand the Third Kazekage’s remains over to Sasori to manage.
From the Hidden Mist Village’s perspective, they were essentially colluding with the Sand Village to smear Konoha’s reputation. Beyond that, this Fourth Kazekage was clearly using this method to ignite the Sand Village army’s fighting spirit even further.
Konoha, as the wronged party, saw through the manipulation perfectly. But everyone’s attention was focused on the war itself and on internal village concerns.
No one could imagine that the Third Kazekage’s death involved personal factors of this nature, and no one had the energy to investigate further regardless. War had already broken out, and the deaths of the Kazekage served as just one more accelerant to flames that were already burning everywhere.
Compared to the risks the plan carried, the particular window of time it was being executed in meant that even if some flaws showed, the chaos of the moment would bury them naturally.
Time drifted by, swept along by the current of events.
The situation was too complex and everyone’s focus was too consumed by the war for deeper investigation to occur.
Given his current standing and prestige within the village, others would not suspect him regardless. And even if the truth somehow emerged, the food had already been cooked. Senior figures like Chiyo and Ebizo, while they might feel something emotionally, could not undo what had already been done. They would simply have to look the other way.
To avoid disturbing the village’s atmosphere, they decided to keep the truth concealed. Discussion of how to handle and transport the remains would happen quietly and separately.
It was especially important to entrust the management of this matter to Shimizu specifically. After all, besides Yuji and Sasori, Shimizu was the only other person who knew the full truth. He would keep it secret without question.
Several months later, the fighting in the Land of Rivers stabilized somewhat. Under Shimizu’s leadership, the village’s senior officials and main fighting force began returning to the Sand Village in stages for reorganization.
Some of them had not set foot in the village since the Great Ninja War began. This time, they returned specifically to participate in the Third Kazekage’s memorial ceremony and the erection of a monument in his honor.
Each group that returned was given a solemn and heartfelt welcome by the entire village. They were genuine heroes, and the Sand Village treated them as such. Among those returning, the most prominent figure was without question Sasori. But compared to the glory and recognition they received, what shocked Shimizu and the others far more deeply was the sheer transformation of the Sand Village itself.
This series of events, which had felt brief while living through it, had actually spanned nearly a full year. From the outbreak of the Great Ninja War until this moment, two years had passed in what felt like a flash. Many of those returning had not seen the village for two years, and their mental image of it was still of sandstorms and old crumbling buildings.
Now, looking around, the newly built village was unrecognizable.
Tall stone-paved guard posts along the village walls acted like a natural shield, deflecting the worst of the sandstorms before they could enter. Even during strong winds, some yellow sand still drifted in, but it no longer significantly affected daily life.
The previously exposed sandy ground had been paved with bricks and stone, creating a more spacious and stable village landscape. Construction continued in multiple directions simultaneously.
The architecture was no longer the monotonous sand-yellow of the past but incorporated various materials and colors. Building shapes were no longer the simple rounded forms that had defined the old village.
The orphanage had been renovated. The school had expanded into several distinct districts. The hospital had been substantially upgraded. Two additional pharmaceutical factories had been constructed.
All of these completed facilities and buildings made the Sand Village feel genuinely unfamiliar to those returning after two years away. It radiated a prosperity that none of them had ever associated with this place before.
The village had become a genuine village in the fullest sense.
A dedicated commercial thoroughfare had developed around the pharmaceutical trade, with the entire street lined with pharmacies and related businesses. People moved through it in a constant stream. The population had clearly grown, completely erasing the impoverished and barren appearance that had defined the Sand Village for years.
Shimizu and the others had known the village had been generating substantial revenue over the past two years. The Daimyo’s Mansion had been investing heavily, not to mention the significant ongoing purchases from the Hidden Stone Village and the Hidden Mist Village.
But those who had been fighting continuously on the front lines had not fully grasped the scale of what had accumulated. It was not until this return that they truly understood how much money the village had actually earned.
Without massive financial backing, the Sand Village simply could not have achieved growth of this magnitude. When Chiyo and the others briefed them on the various reforms that had been implemented throughout this period, they were astonished all over again.
In the ninja world, the conventional path to building reputation and status was through overwhelming strength demonstrated on the battlefield. But this approach, working quietly and systematically in the background while others exhausted themselves fighting, allowing the village to transform and redirect resources and decisions without anyone noticing until it was already done, was something else entirely.
And here they had been, spending every day fighting enemies at the front, competing with figures like the Raikage, pouring everything into the battlefield.
The contrast was genuinely difficult to process.
