Hiruzen persuaded me to die

"Pakura!"

The Fourth Kazekage followed the direction Hyuga Naraku pointed toward.

The moment he saw Pakura, his expression changed drastically!

"Lord Kazekage seems surprised that I'm here."

Pakura slowly walked out of the shadow of a building.

Moonlight beamed from behind her.

The soft glow lit one side of her face.

Her beautiful features were now hardened into a freezing cold expression.

"Or…"

Emotion steadily built up in Pakura's gaze:

"In Lord Kazekage's eyes, I should be walking down the road to death right now?"

A crowd of Sunagakure shinobi blinked in disbelief as they spotted Pakura.

"It's Lady Pakura!"

"Why is Lady Pakura here? Wasn't she sent to negotiate a peace deal with Kirigakure?"

"Walking to her death—what does that mean?"

"Did Lord Kazekage do something?"

The Sunagakure shinobi began chattering restlessly.

The Fourth Kazekage listened to the rising noise around him.

But when facing Pakura's direct question, he remained silent.

His thoughts churned rapidly.

Pakura being here now—what did it imply?

Judging from what she said, she clearly already knew about the real terms of the Kirigakure "peace talks."

"Looks like Lord Kazekage isn't planning to explain anything!"

Pakura's tone grew icy, her fury bubbling to the surface!

"Fine then. I'll explain it for you!"

She had still harbored a faint hope…

That maybe the village hadn't completely betrayed her.

Maybe the Kazekage had a backup plan.

But now…

With Rasa's silence…

All of her self-deceiving hope crumbled to dust!

"You said you were sending me to lead a peace mission to Kirigakure."

"But the truth is, Kirigakure had one additional condition for peace!"

"They demanded the village hand me over as a scapegoat!"

"Because I had killed too many of them, they wanted me as reparation!"

"And you…"

Pakura's voice trembled as rage overtook her:

"Rasa—Kazekage—you chose to sacrifice me to make peace with Kirigakure!!"

Boom!

The Sunagakure shinobi were in complete uproar!

Their faces filled with disbelief!

What Pakura just said was simply too shocking!

"No way… how could Lord Kazekage do such a thing!?"

"Lady Pakura's a hero of our village! How could we hand her over to Kirigakure to die!?"

"Lord Kazekage! What do you have to say!?"

"What's the truth, Lord Kazekage?!"

But among all that noise and disbelief…

The Fourth Kazekage—Rasa—remained silent.

He said nothing to deny Pakura's words.

But…

Nobody was a fool.

At a time like this, silence was already the loudest answer.

The shinobi of Sunagakure felt like they'd been punched in the gut.

It was as if the air had been sucked out of their lungs.

The betrayal, the deception, the injustice—it all clawed at them from the inside.

A few elite Anbu who knew about the deal beforehand said nothing.

They understood Lord Kazekage's position to some degree.

In order to save Sunagakure's economy, they needed a military campaign against Iwagakure.

To do that, they had to ensure Kirigakure wouldn't stab them in the back.

And so—

The Fourth Kazekage agreed to Kirigakure's request.

Pakura was sacrificed.

To be fair…

The Anbu understood why Rasa made that call.

But!

Sacrificing a hero of their village?

That was something no one could justify.

There was no excuse he could offer that would make this right.

After a long pause, the Fourth Kazekage finally spoke.

He couldn't keep dodging Pakura's accusations.

"This past year, because of the Fifth Hokage, the Daimyō has been cutting Sunagakure's funding," Rasa said slowly.

"If our planned invasion of the Land of Earth succeeds and we seize more territory, Sunagakure's crisis will ease."

"To secure peace with Kirigakure, I had to make that decision."

Rasa closed his eyes, speaking in a heavy tone.

Clap, clap!

Hyuga Naraku applauded lightly and let out a chuckle:

"Beautiful logic!"

How should he put it…

From the Kazekage's perspective, his choice had some logic.

But still!

Hyuga Naraku simply could not understand how people like this came to such twisted conclusions!

"If Pakura had really died, wouldn't you have pinned the blame on Iwagakure?"

Naraku asked with a smile tugging at the corner of his lips.

"You might've even claimed she fought heroically until the end, huh?"

"And used her 'death' to rally the troops and stir up support for war with the Land of Earth?"

That was exactly what the Fourth Kazekage planned in the original timeline.

After all, the dead can't talk.

A dead hero can be reshaped however you want.

Rasa's face suddenly changed.

That was exactly what he had in mind.

And Hyuga Naraku had just exposed him word-for-word.

He suddenly had a realization.

This current Fifth Hokage…

He once had a similar experience as Pakura.

Back when the Third Hokage Sarutobi Hiruzen wanted to hand Hyuga Naraku over to Kumogakure.

It made sense.

This Hokage had seen this kind of betrayal before.

Pakura noticed Rasa's expression twisting, and she found it hilarious.

His humiliation was comical to her.

So was her so-called title of "hero of Sunagakure."

Hero?

What a joke.

She was just a disposable pawn.

Even after her death, they would still use her corpse for political leverage.

"Lord Fourth Kazekage, I have one more question."

Hyuga Naraku turned to look in the distance.

There, Shukaku's massive form had vanished.

Only the binding wooden dragon and the towering black Truth-Seeking Orbs remained.

After having its chakra repeatedly drained by the wooden dragon…

Shukaku couldn't stay in its full Tailed Beast form.

Eventually, after exhausting a massive amount of chakra, it reverted.

Revealing a young boy—Gaara.

With the seal broken and Shukaku rampaging, Gaara had taken serious internal damage.

Fortunately, tailed beast chakra had an incredible healing factor.

At least… his life wasn't in danger.

"This boy… Gaara, he's your son, right?"

"Why would you test whether he could remain Jinchūriki… by trying to assassinate him?"

Naraku raised an eyebrow.

"He needs to demonstrate enough killing instinct to suppress Shukaku's rampages."

"Only then can he be considered a suitable Jinchūriki."

Rasa answered as if it were obvious.

Hyuga Naraku: "…"

I'm numb.

What kind of brain logic is this?

Gaara was five years old!

And to test his control over Shukaku, you ordered his uncle—the only one who loved him—to attempt an assassination?

And when that failed, you tried again by using Gaara's dead mother's will to torment him?

Telling him no one had ever loved him?

How deranged can you get!?

Even adults would mentally break under that kind of pressure!

Not to mention a child!

The villages in this world had truly insane ideas about how to raise Jinchūriki.

Take Kumogakure, for example.

Killer Bee, Jinchūriki of the Eight Tails, used to get pelted with eggs on the street!

In Naraku's eyes, this kind of behavior deserved a special award—

"Most Delusional Thinking in the Ninja World."

If you're scared, just stay away.

Why go out of your way to torment people?

Especially Sunagakure—assassination as a "test"? What a joke.

Shaking his head, Hyuga Naraku looked down at Gaara and said calmly:

"I'm taking Shukaku with me."

That had been his goal for coming to Sunagakure all along.