Irrespective of the rumors and politics, the Kazekage was still the leader of Sunagakure. He was one of the five people who stood at the top of the ninja world!
As such, he was looked at with awe and reverence throughout the Land of Wind. Immediately people flocked over to the place the Kazekage was walking through.
Most threw the rumors to the back of their minds. However, a few became alert. If the rumors were true, then it could mean trouble. After all, the Kazekage himself had to come to the Wind Capital city to clear up the matter.
Rasa continued walking through the streets slowly. He was followed by two advisors and two sensors. The Anbu had stopped outside the city. As soon as the news of his arrival spread, people began rushing towards him. At first, only a few people were on the side of the street. However, in a few minutes, both sides of the streets were jam-packed!
Rasa looked at the people surrounding the streets with a smile. He could have hurried through to the Daimyo's estate. However, he didn't as this was a good opportunity to show that he had public support and make the Daimyo think twice about alienating him any further.
Among the numerous people watching him was Fujin. Unlike his previously relaxed state of mind, he was very tense. He thought, 'Shit! Why the fuck did he show up? Granted I created a mess, but that shouldn't have been enough to call a Kage here, right?'
Fujin wasn't concerned when Baki arrived as he was confident of escaping even if Baki somehow discovered him. However, if Rasa was to find him, Fujin didn't have much confidence in his ability to run away. The resultant fight was sure to give away his identity as well.
However, despite being tense, Fujin wasn't panicking as he knew, 'He won't go around looking for the culprits. That would be unbecoming of a Kage. I just have to avoid making any moves while he is in the city.'
His expression hardened as he decided, 'Of course. Once he leaves, I will create a mess and leave this city for good.'
In the Wind Capital, Fujin wasn't the only one who was on alert. There were four more people whose expressions were ugly. One of them cursed, 'Which bastard is acting so brazenly? How can I do my promotion mission when the Kazekage is in the city? Shit! I should have left when the Samurais and the Suna ninjas had calmed down.'
A few Konoha Anbu were in this city as well for the promotion mission. However, they all had to stop acting after Fujin killed 10 nobles. Most of them had escaped the city in the week before Fujin made his second move. Only four had decided to continue their mission in this city. However, Fujin's actions endangered all of them. Just like Fujin, they decided to maintain a low profile as well.
Along with Konoha Anbu, there were dozens of other spies and undercover ninjas operating in the Land of Wind from every other village. They too cursed the bastard who operated in such a high-profile manner.
Rasa continued his journey towards the Daimyo's estate. Baki had met up with him mid-route and informed him about the rumors. Rasa maintained a smile on his face, however, his mood was gloomy. He was extremely upset with the Daimyo. Under everyone's gaze, he entered the Daimyo's estate.
Fujin sighed, 'I really need an inside man. How am I supposed to act when I have no idea what deal is taking place between them?'
Of course, Fujin could try to have his clones infiltrate the estate, but it would be very risky. If alerted, the Daimyo would know that someone other than Rasa is active in the Wind Capital city. That would be counterproductive for Fujin and would cause his previous efforts to go to waste.
Fujin entered a restaurant and waited for Rasa to leave the estate. However, he didn't expect to gain much, 'Though he is younger and probably much more foolish, he is still a Kage like that old fox. I doubt I'd see anything from his expression. But, since there are so many people here, one additional guy staring at him shouldn't alarm him. I might as well wait and see.'
Inside Daimyo's office, Rasa and the Wind Daimyo entered an intense debate. Rasa was upset at how the Daimyo had consistently cut his budget and placed his ninjas under house arrest. Meanwhile, the Daimyo was upset at the blatant killings of his Nobles.
After a couple of hours of intense discussion, both finally reached a consensus. The Daimyo said, "Alright. For the next twelve months, I won't lower your budget any further. However, you will have to ensure the safety of the Nobles in the Wind Capital."
Rasa noticed an opportunity and immediately said, "Alright, you can issue missions for protection in Sunagakure. I will reserve up to one thousand ninjas who will be ready to move out on notice."
Unlike Konoha which was suffering from a shortage of manpower, Suna had plenty of spare manpower. Though their total number of ninjas was far lesser than Konoha, the number of missions they received was very less compared to Konoha. So many ninjas didn't have any work to do. Rasa wanted to use this opportunity to alleviate some of that problem.
However, the Daimyo shook his head and said, "No. That won't work. You will have to deploy the ninjas by yourself to ensure their safety. You won't receive any payments for this."
Rasa frowned. He said, "How can that work? How will I even be able to afford that?"
The Daimyo replied, "Your budget has sufficient funds to be diverted here. Besides, most people in this city think that Sunagakure was behind the recent wave of murders. The nobles all think that you were behind the murders as well. So how can they even be willing to hire Sunagakure ninjas for protection?
You will have to deploy ninjas in this city without any missions and ensure the safety of all the Nobles. In time, they will forget about this event and their trust in Sunagakure will increase. If you don't, then don't expect a single mission from the Wind City. And if any more Nobles or their families die and you are the suspect, then they will put pressure on me to reduce your budget."
Rasa's frown kept deepening. He wasn't sure how to respond. After all, both options were bad for Sunagakure. One of the old advisors sitting next to him said, "Lord Daimyo, just like you, we also have to answer to public pressure. I understand your point of view, but please also understand our troubles. How about we find a common ground and you pay us an annual fee to deploy our ninjas in the Wind City permanently."
The Daimyo thought for a bit and nodded. After haggling for a bit, the old advisor managed to get 1.5 million Ryo per month from the Daimyo. However, Rasa wasn't happy. The amount was in no way even comparable to the amount of money that Sunagakure would have received if the Nobles had issued missions.
Unfortunately, he had no other choice. He nodded and said, "Alright. However, I have another condition. If there are no more incidents, then I want you to increase this amount next year by a huge amount."
The Daimyo nodded and said, "That is fair. We will renegotiate the terms next year."
The two talked for a bit before leaving. The thirteen ninjas that were kept under house arrest were allowed to leave with the Kazekage. However, instead of returning to Suna, Rasa stayed in the city. He looked at two sensors and commanded, "Roam around the city in disguises. Check if there are any spies or troublemakers and eliminate them."
They nodded and left. The news that the Kazekage has decided to stay in the city spread like wildfire. Every spy in the city, no matter from which village they were, immediately went into hiding. They employed every means they had to suppress their chakra levels to civilian levels and stayed hidden within the houses.
Fujin stayed in his hotel as well. He had no intention to try his luck against Rasa. However, he began analyzing, 'I made a Kage move. Will this make my mission a success? After all, a mere Chunin forced a Kage to make a move.'
Fujin thought for a bit and realized, 'No, there are two ways to see this. If I was being tested on my ability to make an impact, then this feat would be a very good one. However, my mission is to create a divide between the Wind Daimyo and the Kazekage. If this meeting results in their differences being resolved, then my mission would be a failure.'
Fujin sighed and muttered, "What a mess."
He decided, 'No more undercover missions for me. Though playing the game of chess is fun, I'd much rather just kill all my targets and return to training. Now that I think about it, it's been almost 2 months since I used the elemental training rooms. Hiruzen for sure would suspect that I was the one who kept draining the Wind crystals. Oh well. It's not like he can complain. Even if he discovers, he will stay quiet so that I don't begin using them openly and without any restraints.'
The two sensors Rasa brought with him kept roaming in the city for three days. Fujin felt chakra fields sensing him several times. In these three days, the two sensors found 13 spies and undercover agents. However, they were all from smaller villages. No one from the other major villages was caught by them.
The Sunagakure ninjas quickly made a move on them and neutralized them one by one. Their fights caused some property damage to the city. Unfortunately, none of them were wind users. So Sunagakure couldn't pin the blame on them.
After three days, the two sensors met Rasa and said, "Apologies, Lord Kazekage. We couldn't sense the culprits who did the assassinations."
Rasa replied, "It's fine. If they didn't have the confidence to hide, they wouldn't have done something so outrageous in the first place. Anyways, begin preparations to leave. You and Baki will stay back here. I'll send some Anbu to coordinate with you in secret."
At that instant, a group of twelve ninjas approached the city. The Samurais guarding the city were already on full alert due to the recent events. They immediately noticed them. The group wasn't aware of the recent events in the city and approached the guards.
Hayashi Ryota put one hand on the hilt of his sword and said loudly, "Halt. State your name and purpose."
The ninjas immediately stopped. One of them said, "I am Oda Seiji. I come from Kurogane no Sensen mercenary group. Around a couple of months ago, a squad of our mercenaries was hired to escort a trading group to this city. But since then, we haven't heard anything from them. So we came here to investigate."
