In the Sand Village, the clones are everywhere, and the Arkham game begins

Chapter 327: The Strength of Sand Village

"You are right. If you go against the trend and start a war when it is not appropriate, then being the initiator of the war will definitely be the most thankless task."

The Third Kazekage nodded and continued:

"Karotachi Yagura can sit in the position of Kage, he should not be a short-sighted mediocre person. From the relevant information collected from the past villages, Karatachi Yagura is determined to change the blood mist policy of the Hidden Mist Village. He is quite skillful and powerful, he should not be that kind of person.

Even if he doesn't understand, the Master of the Hidden Mist Village is a man of great wisdom and for sure he will be able to see this clearly."

Qing Shui agreed with the second half of the Third Kazekage's words, but as for the first half...

not necessarily.

It is possible that the person who can sit in the position of Shadow is a mediocre person, just relatively good at fighting, and the others are even worse, and there is no one more capable in the village.

However, the Third Kazekage said that Karajima Yagura was quite capable and did not seem like someone who would do such a thing. Even if he did, there would be wise men like Yuanshi who would come forward to dissuade him.

But Karuji Yagura still wanted to do this.

Could it be...

Qingshui frowned slightly.

It should be the work of that person.

In the entire ninja world, if we count back a hundred years, the only ones who could truly make Shimizu feel fearful and think that he is not their match were Hashirama Senju and Uchiha Madara.

They have gone beyond the dimension that regular ninjas exist in.

Now that Karutagi Yagura has just ascended to the position of the Fourth Mizukage, has he already fallen into the control of Uchiha Madara?
This guy is quite pitiful. He worked hard for half his life and finally got the position of Mizukage. But before he had the chance to do anything, he became a puppet of others. It is no exaggeration to say that all his hard work for half his life was used to benefit others.

Now, the Hidden Mist Village, one of the five strongest forces in the ninja world, has become a tool for Uchiha Madara to use at will.

However, his ultimate goal is to realize the Moon Eye Project. His current goal should be to select an agent from the Uchiha clan. Since he has already controlled the Hidden Mist Village, he should not be able to interfere too much with the Hidden Sand Village.

As for whether he would choose someone else as his agent, Qingshui believed that the possibility was very small, almost impossible.

He has already controlled such a powerful force as the Hidden Mist Village through Karuta Yagura. If he really wanted to choose, why would he bother looking for Uchiha Obito in the original time and space?

It can only be said that Uchiha Madara never took other people seriously. Apart from his younger brother Izuna, the only people he cared about were Senju Hashirama. The only powers he valued were the Sharingan and Wood Release.

The Thousand Hands have withered, the Wood Release has disappeared, and Uchiha Madara is the person who understands the power of the Sharingan best and understands the Uchiha people best.

A conceited person like Madara only believes in himself, and when he gets old, he will only believe in people who have the same blood as him and who were raised by him.

In the short term, as long as I don't show off too much and make Uchiha Madara feel that it will hinder the Moon Eye Project, I shouldn't attract his attention.

Only when he possesses strength that even Uchiha Madara cannot defeat when he returns to his prime, will it be the time for him to truly realize his ambitions.

"What are you thinking about?"

The Sandaime Kazekage interrupted, looking at the dazed Shimizu.

"Nothing. Perhaps Yagura's ascension to power was not smooth, or perhaps the existence of Yuanshi and others made him feel constrained, so he wanted to provoke a war, use victory to bring prestige, and consolidate his position and power."

Qingshui shook his head, threw away the distracting thoughts in his mind, and said to the Third Kazekage.

"This explanation is quite reasonable."

The Third Kazekage nodded in agreement.

He also felt that there was no other explanation.

"So what do you think? Should we get involved, or shouldn't we?"

The Third Kazekage asked Shimizu again.

"I think……"

"Don't rush to answer."

The Third Kazekage knocked on the table and interrupted:
"Let me first tell you about the overall situation of the village today, and then you can make your own judgment. This is the statistics at the end of this year."

"There are a total of more than 14,600 active ninjas in the village, of which more than 8,300 are Genin. Of these, 2,600 graduated from the Ninja School after the Ninja World War and have been officially serving as ninjas for no more than three years. There are more than 5,200 Chunin, 733 special Jonin, and 144 Jonin..."

"Among them, the puppet troop..., the medical troop..., and the sealing squad..."

Qingshui lowered his eyes and quickly wrote down the data told by the Third Kazekage.

In the outside world, even the middle and lower level ninjas in the Sand Village would speculate and assess the overall strength of the major ninja villages, but they could only make a rough judgment.

However, some of the data mentioned by the Third Kazekage are only known by the village's top leaders, because they include detailed information about the Anbu secret forces, as well as specific overviews of various war preparedness materials and other things.

"In general, with the rapid growth of the village's puppeteer team and the benefits of breathing techniques on elite ninjas, the village's middle and lower-level combat power is not much weaker than at the beginning of the Second Ninja World War. Although the number of jonin is slightly less, their quality is much higher."

Shimizu knew that the jonin that the Third Kazekage was referring to were not just ordinary jonin, but also the top combat forces in the village.

During the Second Ninja World War, in addition to the Third Kazekage, there were four other top-level fighters in the Sand Village, namely Chiyo and his sister, and Scorpion's parents.

The latter two are relatively weaker, and they were only in their twenties when they died. Their strength is probably similar to that of a weaker Kage-level warrior like Luo Sha.

Coupled with the restraint in their abilities, they both fell under Hatake Sakumo's sword.

As for now, this vacancy can be replaced by Luo Sha and Jialulu, whose strength is close to that of a complete form.

In addition to myself, there is also Ye Cang, who has now mastered Scorch Release and is almost at the level of Kage.

All in all, there are seven top-level combat forces. Apart from Konoha, the Sand Village is almost as powerful as two or three large ninja villages in this regard.

"Our current strength is no worse than before, and we won the Second Ninja World War. What about Konoha? White Fang was killed by themselves, Tsunade was disabled, and Kato Dan also died. If we really have to fight again, our chances of winning are much greater than before."

Shimizu remained silent. In the Second Ninja World War, the Sand Village's victory was actually a fluke.

According to the original trajectory, the Sand Village was actually going to lose, but because of his existence, some changes occurred. He happened to catch the top spy, Nono Yakushi, and at the right time, Tsunade was diagnosed with hemophobia. This information was learned by the Sand Village, which led to the Sand Village's correct judgment of the battle situation and caused Hanzo to waver.

So what now?
"Does the village have an accurate assessment of Konoha's current strength?"

"The intelligence department has compiled an assessment based on the known ninjas who died in battle or retired in recent years in Konoha, as well as the intelligence sent back by spies stationed in Konoha. The total number of ninjas is about 17,000. The number of jonins should fluctuate between 170 and 180 based on the known intelligence statistics and normal proportions.

Apart from the Third Hokage and his old classmates, the only ones worth being vigilant about are Jiraiya and Orochimaru, the rest... are nothing to be afraid of!"

Shimizu looked at a document that the Sandaime Kazekage had produced and did some quick calculations in his mind.

In terms of conventional combat power, the judgments of these intelligence personnel of the Sand Village should be roughly the same, and their assessment of the Uchiha clan's combat power may even be too conservative.

After being kept in captivity by Konoha's police force for many years, the Uchiha clan is now in its most decadent period in history. Even though some members will go to the battlefield, only a few will be able to receive training.

Especially those Uchiha with higher talent and stronger strength, the Konoha high-level officials are on high alert, fearing that one day they will awaken a pair of Mangekyō Sharingan and give birth to a second Uchiha Madara, who will drive them off the throne of Hokage and seize their interests.

The current Uchiha clan has not undergone much training. Although it is still the most powerful family in the ninja world, it is much weaker than in the Warring States Period when everyone was a soldier.

It is precisely because of this that the entire ninja world misjudged the strength of the Uchiha clan, thinking that Konoha regarded the Uchiha as a trump card like the tailed beasts.

If this is really the case, the chances of winning or losing between Konoha and the Sand Village are about fifty-fifty, and with the Mist Village acting as a pawn, based on these data, Konoha will definitely lose.

only……

Shimizu flipped through the document and turned to the page that contained information about Minato Namikaze.

As Jiraiya's disciple, the grandson of the Third Hokage, and Konoha's new generation of talented ninja, the Intelligence Department of the Sand Village must have information about him.

According to the Sand Village's assessment, Namikaze Minato is just an ordinary elite jonin who is good at using wind escape and instant body movement techniques.

Was the evaluation wrong?

Qingshui closed the file calmly.

Before he developed the Rasengan and possessed the ability to launch instant high-damage attacks, Namikaze Minato's absolute hard power should not have grown to the peak of his strength, but he must have mastered Flying Thunder God and definitely possessed the strength of a Kage.

Moreover, if a war breaks out and three of the five major ninja villages are mobilized, what about the remaining two?
"Sir, I still hold my previous opinion that now is not a good time to start a war.

We may be able to defeat Konoha, but just defeating Konoha is useless. What we want is to replace Konoha and become the new overlord of the ninja world. The Hidden Mist Village will cooperate with us, but how much effort are they willing to put in?
What about other ninja villages? Kumogakure and us have no territorial borders, no conflicts of interest, and we all have a common enemy, Konoha. What about Tsuchigakure?
Third-sama, I dare to assert that once the war breaks out, Iwagakure will attack us directly, and if we show any possibility of falling into a disadvantage, the attitude of Hanzo and the Hidden Rain Village will waver.

Now we may have the ability to defeat any ninja village including Konoha, but once there is another Iwagakure Village in the battle with Konoha, our chances of winning will drop sharply.

Not to mention, what we are seeing now is just the strength that Konoha has shown. The foundation left by the first and second Hokage is too rich. No one knows whether Konoha will suddenly have a figure like the three ninjas. "

Shimizu shook his head slowly at the Third Kazekage.

It’s not a question of whether or not we can win, but rather that there is no need to fight at all.

The Sand Village is now in an unprecedented stage of rapid development.

Shimizu believed that with his ability to continuously transfer all kinds of knowledge and technology from other worlds, the speed of improvement of the Sand Village in terms of strength and foundation would far surpass the other four ninja villages in the future.

As long as we can stabilize the current situation, as the Sand Village becomes stronger and stronger, we will have everything in the future.

"Well, Iwagakure and Hanzo are indeed a force that cannot be ignored. You are right."

The Third Kazekage knew that with Shimizu's intelligence and vision, he could see these things.

He wanted to hear Qingshui's opinion, not for this purpose, nor was it because he could not see this level.

What he wanted to see was whether Shimizu was the kind of person who was willing to start a war just for the sake of war, for the sake of power.

You know, the Third Kazekage is not young anymore. In a few years, he will almost decline from his peak.

If Shimizu could lead the Sand Village to a great victory at that time, or even if he performed better than Rasa in the war, then the position of Kazekage would undoubtedly belong to him.

He didn't believe that Qingshui couldn't see this.

The Third Kazekage believed that this was the fastest way for Shimizu to become Kazekage and gain the greatest benefits.

But Shimizu still told him that it would be best for the Sand Village not to start a war now.

What does this mean?
This shows that Qingshui puts the interests of the village above his own!

The Third Kazekage was very satisfied.

If you want to become a qualified shadow, you must put the village above your own life and death and interests.

Shimizu didn't know that his speech received full marks from the Third Kazekage.

Because in his opinion, the position of Fengying is already his, and it is only a matter of time before he sits on that position.

Maybe the Third Kazekage felt that everything was still under his control?

But that was just what he felt.

Even if the Third Kazekage suddenly had a brain storm and wanted to choose Rasa to be the Fourth Kazekage, Shimizu could still easily snatch him away.

What is Luo Sha's strength and skills?
Thanks to his contribution in creating new puppetry, Shimizu is like the reincarnation of Monzaemon in the eyes of the puppeteers in the Sand Village. By teaching breathing techniques, building the Sand and Rain Canal, manufacturing energy vehicles, and creating production lines, he has already raised his reputation to a very high level.

With the support of Chiyo and Ebizo, even the Third Kazekage would have to agree.

Of course, Shimizu now believes that he only needs to follow the steps and he will be able to smoothly take over the banner of the Kazekage and the power of the Sand Village in the future.

(End of this chapter)