Konoha: Unable to learn ninjutsu, they had to develop their own.

Tsunade sighed softly.

She stepped forward and healed Luo Sha's injuries, but even she had no way to heal him on a soul level.

"Chiba-kun, could you transfer your life force to Rasa so that he can regain his life?"

"impossible."

Chiba shook his head.

He explained the situation.

simply say.

The current Luo Sha is soulless.

No matter how much chakra or life force you have, it's all for nothing. Just like Hashirama Senju, who probably still had a lot of life force left before he died.

But Hashirama Senju still died.

Death is often unstoppable.

At least Luo Sha is not suitable.

Ebizo sat down in his seat with a thud.

It doesn't matter that Luo Sha is dead.

The issue is.

In the current Sunagakure, he simply cannot find a second person who can be the Kazekage.

"Lord Kazekage is..."

The others also had complicated expressions.

Thankfully, Temari and Kankuro weren't there, otherwise the ward would probably have been filled with deafening cries.

Chiba looked around and finally couldn't help but say, "Actually, there's a rather...you know..."

"what?"

"Rasa is now soul dead, but his body still has considerable vitality thanks to some of your ninjutsu. If you replace his soul while it's still hot, he can still be used."

Chiba was a little embarrassed.

This was Orochimaru's research, but it's actually quite useful in the present situation.

Ebizo was extremely old.

Even if they survive, they might only live for a few years or a decade. In a sense, exchanging a few years of their lives for the opportunity to maintain Sunagakure is quite worthwhile.

Just a little bit...

That's rather unethical.

Ebizo and the others were stunned. Tsunade covered her face and then scolded, "Chiba, don't talk nonsense! How can you use such a forbidden technique!"

"That's true. I really can't do anything else. Why don't you choose another Kazekage?"

Chiba said, "Gaara is quite good, or you could temporarily take over. I'll transfer Rasa's life force and some of his special cells to you, and you should be able to hold on for a while longer."

"..."

Ebizo sighed.

Should I take the position myself?

This……

"Lord Ebizo, it seems that this is the only way now, otherwise there will be no one left in our Sunagakure."

Gaara is indeed a suitable candidate.

but.

In the current situation, Sunagakure cannot even protect the Kazekage, so how could it possibly protect the Jinchūriki?

Let Gaara be safest on Turtle Island.

Ebizo understood this very well—

The Sand Village is really too weak right now.

After a few seconds of silence, he sighed and said, "There's no other way. Please do it."

Tsunade breathed a slight sigh of relief.

If Chiba really wanted to swap Ebizo's and Rasa's souls...

One concern was that this incident would become a pretext for the ninja world to attack Chiba in the future; the other was that Ebizo, who possessed Rasa's strength, was not an easy opponent.

Although Konoha and Sunagakure are now cooperating closely and forming an alliance, Ebizo is not a peaceful person.

During his reign, Sunagakure made frequent clandestine actions, which significantly boosted the village's strength, bringing it close to or even surpassing Kirigakure.

Thankfully, Luo Sha is an idiot.

Tsunade thought to herself.

She witnessed Chiba transferring Rasa's life force, and then taking out White Zetsu's cells and transferring the White Zetsu's life force to Ebizo.

Ebizo appears to have aged noticeably.

His white hair wasn't as much as before, and he looked more like he was sixty years old than seventy.

This physical condition...

I estimate that it can last for another ten years or so, and even with high-intensity work, it can hold on until Gaara returns.

Ebizo breathed a sigh of relief.

He bowed deeply to Chiba and Tsunade to express his gratitude.

"Hokage, Jonin Chiba, thank you for your support. Otherwise, we in Sunagakure would really not know what to do."

"To be honest, your village's model should be changed. Although the puppet technique is powerful, its wear and tear and irreplaceability are very limiting. Instead of studying that, you should study ninjutsu such as wind release and magnet release."

Chiba earnestly offered his advice.

He genuinely felt that puppetry was not a legitimate path.

It's okay for the early stages, but if you still rely on this when you reach Jonin or Kage level, you'll just be easy prey for others.

Especially when encountering highly mobile ninjas—

For people like Sakumo, Obito, and Chiba, puppetry was completely meaningless.

Ebizo nodded silently.

Loyalty is offensive.

Chiba's words were truly from the bottom of his heart.

He knows right from wrong.

but.

Development requires a foundation, and the foundation of Sunagakure is currently too weak.

The environmental improvement plan has been partially implemented, and the Land of Rivers has agreed to it, but it's currently difficult to continue.

Konoha is also short-handed.

Currently, most of our manpower is devoted to supplying Turtle Island, leaving us with no spare capacity.

Perhaps things will turn around if we can get through this period.

and.

The study of ninjutsu is not something that can be accomplished overnight.

Just as Ebizo was thinking about this, he couldn't help but look up at Chiba.

If there were such a genius...

Perhaps it could transform Sunagakure in a few years, but unfortunately Sunagakure doesn't have such a genius.

The most outstanding talent right now is still Zi Luo.

Another point.

After Rasa's death, Sunagakure lost a significant portion of its income.

Ebizo took stock of the current difficulties facing Sunagakure, feeling overwhelmed by them.

After completing his ninjutsu with Tsunade, Chiba returned to Konoha.

He also has his own things to do.

Four tails, five tails.

The Anbu, the Sound Village, and Kabuto's side have been searching for the whereabouts of the two Jinchuriki, who are Tailed Beasts.

but.

There's still no news from them; if all else fails, I'll have to go there myself.

……

"Our losses so far are mainly concentrated on the few from Konoha who made the move, followed by Deidara, who lost an arm and almost died."

"How's Nagato doing?"

"very smooth."

Black Zetsu said, "There's one thing I'm worried about. I'm concerned that if he gets replenished with the flesh and blood of White Zetsu's clone, his body can completely separate, and he'll slowly slip out of our control."

Obito remained silent for a few seconds.

Finally, he said calmly, "We have suffered too many losses, and the strength of Konoha has exceeded my expectations. They are already studying how to deal with me."

"Ok?"

Black Zetsu was somewhat surprised.

How to deal with Obito?

How is that even possible!