novelraw Chapter 482: Deterrence Peace
Chapter 482: Deterrence Peace
Sunagakure. The entire village wore mourning clothes.
The village's high-ranking officials decided that the Third Kazekage had been missing too long, declared him dead, and stopped searching.
Adding the Fourth Kazekage's death in Tori Castle, Sunagakure held a funeral for two Kazekages consecutively.
With two consecutive Kazekages dead, Sunagakure lost all heart for war.
Pakura, wearing the Kazekage's ceremonial robe, stood before Rasa's grave marker alongside Karura.
On the back of Pakura's robe were the characters 'Fifth'.
Knowing Fox was interested in Karura, Pakura immediately looked into Karura's information.
Karura was originally supposed to marry Rasa this year, but after Rasa became Kazekage, he was constantly busy consolidating power and pushing for war, repeatedly postponing the wedding date.
Karura mastered Sand Release secret techniques and, amidst the chaos, became the representative of the Secret Technique faction.
Karura's eyes were sorrowful, unable to understand why such an important man in her life died by Shukaku's hand.
Her grandfather Shamon developed the Sand Release secret techniques from studying Shukaku. The Third Kazekage, her grandfather's disciple, developed Magnet Release based on Sand Release.
Rasa inherited the Third Kazekage's Magnet Release, developing his own Gold Dust Magnet Release.
When they first graduated from the Ninja Academy, the Third Kazekage instructed both Rasa and Karura. Back then, Rasa was full of ambition, learning secret techniques much faster than Karura.
She once thought Rasa would also earn a title like 'Strongest Kazekage' or similar.
All that ambition had turned to fleeting smoke.
Karura asked softly, "Kazekage-sama, will Konoha truly abide by the peace agreement with Sunagakure?"
"Yes." Pakura said. "Konoha has its own troubles. As long as we don't provoke Konoha, they won't do anything to us.
Among the five great ninja villages, Konoha stands alone at the top, with Iwagakure and Kumogakure closely following.
Iwagakure and Kumogakure have hope of gaining more benefits by opposing Konoha. They will stake everything to find ways to crush Konoha.
Our Sunagakure cannot compare to Konoha. Rather than allying with Iwagakure and Kumogakure, it's better to ally with Konoha.
Konoha will value us as an ally. With us, Konoha is not alone against the entire shinobi world."
Karura very much wanted the Fifth Kazekage to continue Rasa's policies. She didn't want Rasa's influence on Sunagakure to vanish just like that.
However, the Fifth Kazekage insisted on allying with Konoha. Karura had no recourse.
Pakura asked, "Karura, Rasa's disciple Daikura is dissatisfied with my policies and betrayed Sunagakure with some others. Do you know his whereabouts?"
Karura said, "Kazekage-sama, I don't mean to hide anything deliberately. Although I was Rasa's fiancée, I always prioritized the village.
I don't know Daikura and the others' whereabouts.
However...
The Land of Wind is vast. If Daikura and the others hide, they'd be hard to find."
Karura didn't approve of Daikura's actions, but she was acquainted with him and hoped he could survive.
She was conflicted, wanting the village to improve yet also wanting Rasa's influence to continue, leaving her torn.
Pakura said, "If Daikura and the others told me they had differing opinions, I wouldn't have done anything to them.
The village is so large; with tens of thousands of people come tens of thousands of thoughts.
Kazekage Rasa-sama was a staunch pro-war advocate, wanting a share in the Great Shinobi War. That's also the thinking of many ambitious Suna-nin.
My strategy is conservative, displeasing many. But I absolutely will not tolerate village betrayal.
As for the Land of Wind being vast, making it hard to find rogue ninja... I don't think the Land of Wind is that large."
Pakura left the memorial stone and returned to the Kazekage Building.
Entering a side room next to the Kazekage's office, Pakura formed seals and used the Phantom Blood Shadow Technique.
Soon, the Leader Fox's blood silhouette appeared on the Divine Hall altar.
Pakura said, "Leader, after I became Kazekage, some rogue ninja dissatisfied with my policies defected from Sunagakure.
I want to hunt them down quickly, but finding them is difficult. I wonder if I can use the Three Gods Religion's Flying Altar Technique to allow pursuit squads to quickly move between multiple towns, chasing the rogue ninja?"
Hidan, through sacrifices, had created many altars throughout the Land of Wind. Hidan and others could use the Flying Altar Technique to move between altars in different towns.
After asking, Pakura found Fox didn't reply immediately, seeming lost in thought.
She knew Fox wasn't about to refuse her but was pondering something important.
After a long while, Yōkō slowly said, "Fire, you've given me a huge inspiration. An extremely important one, important enough to change the shinobi world!"
Pakura was puzzled, not understanding what Fox meant.
Yōkō said, "When Konoha was founded, it had Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara.
At that time, the two could dominate other ninja villages, but ultimately didn't let Konoha unify the shinobi world.
Konoha could launch expeditions to Iwagakure, kill Iwagakure's high-ranking officials, but couldn't effectively rule Iwagakure because Iwagakure was too far from Konoha.
Konoha's effective control range was the Land of Fire's borders.
Even several vassal states were difficult for Konoha to control.
For example, the Guardian Ninja of the Land of Grass Daimyō were killed in three rounds. Each time, it was only after they were all dead that Konoha hastily dispatched support, always too late.
Konoha couldn't assign a Kage-level ninja to the Land of Grass capital. Konoha didn't have that many Kage-level ninja.
Even if a Kage-level ninja were assigned, that ninja would become a target for other great villages to besiege and assassinate.
That's also why there are so many vassal states between the five great nations.
Fire, your suggestion reminded me.
If the Three Gods Religion sets up altars in various towns, using the Flying Altar Technique, large numbers of ninja could be instantly deployed around the altars.
The altars become ninja teleportation points.
Thus, the problem of a ninja village's control range disappears.
Whether it's Iwagakure or the Land of Fire's capital, if I wish, I could immediately deploy thousands of ninja using the altars..."
Yōkō recalled the Fourth Great Shinobi War in the original story, where Namikaze Minato transferred the Allied Shinobi Forces elsewhere.
Based on on the Flying Thunder God Technique, deploying forces across the entire shinobi world was entirely possible.
That was true deterrence.
The First Hokage Senju Hashirama's Tailed Beast terror balance deterrence had proven unable to guarantee peace in the shinobi world.
Yōkō believed that Flying Thunder God deployment deterrence could make other villages truly feel fear.
Peace couldn't be achieved through talk; peace was achieved through fighting.
The Third Great Shinobi War shouldn't be fought as a messy, protracted conflict ending with countless ninja deaths. It must achieve a peace that lasts a long time.
Yōkō didn't understand love and justice. What he wanted was a new Deterrence Peace.
Seek peace through struggle, and peace will endure.
The Three Gods Religion's altars had Flying Thunder God formulas set up by Yōkō.
Hidan, Black Sail, and others had offered their souls to the Evil God—that is, to himself. Their souls were special; Yōkō allowed them to borrow a bit of his power to teleport instantly via the altars.
He couldn't ask all ninja to offer their souls to him. If he could develop a allowing ordinary ninja to also teleport using the altars, he could achieve the deterrence balance he envisioned.
After the war ended, defeating Iwagakure, if Ōnoki still had any ideas, Yōkō could immediately deploy thousands of ninja to Iwagakure, achieving true deterrence balance and minimizing the risk of war.
Yōkō nodded repeatedly. Who said Deterrence Peace didn't count as peace?
(End of Chapter)