In a small forest not far from the Konoha camp in the Land of Hot Water, the following events took place.
"Oh, crap!!"
"I hit him! I hit Kamishiro!"
Obito Uchiha excitedly ran around the field two and a half times.
Just now, Kamishiro and Obito Uchiha were sparring, and Obito Uchiha successfully landed a hit on Kamishiro.
The two had sparred many times before, but basically, Obito Uchiha was always beaten to the ground by Kamishiro.
At first, in front of Lord Minato Namikaze, Kamishiro still wanted to put on an act. He didn't expect that Obito Uchiha, knowing his strength, would go so far as to give him a slap that stunned him.
Kamishiro took a long time to come to his senses.
The first thing he did after regaining his senses was to beat Obito Uchiha up, not caring whether Lord Minato Namikaze noticed or not.
Anyway, if Lord Minato Namikaze asked, he'd just say that after Lord Minato Namikaze's teachings these days, his strength had improved by leaps and bounds, and it was a piece of cake to beat Obito Uchiha.
After that, in their sparring sessions, it was always Kamishiro unilaterally beating up Obito Uchiha.
Lord Minato Namikaze couldn't bear to watch and wanted to persuade Obito Uchiha to find another opponent, like Rin Nohara.
But the single - minded Obito Uchiha had set his mind on Kamishiro and insisted on sparring with him, just taking the beating.
However, Lord Minato Namikaze noticed that Obito Uchiha's strength was actually improving rapidly from taking the beatings, so he just let it go.
If getting beaten could make Obito Uchiha stronger, then let him take more beatings.
This time, when Obito Uchiha punched Kamishiro, not only were Kakashi and Rin Nohara surprised, but even Lord Minato Namikaze was taken aback.
After a moment of surprise, Lord Minato Namikaze frowned slightly.
Although Obito Uchiha had improved, it was impossible for him to improve so quickly.
Frankly speaking, as an expert at escaping, Kamishiro's dodging ability must be quite good. There was no reason for Kamishiro to be hit by Obito Uchiha.
Moreover, Kamishiro had been acting a bit strange these days.
For example, right now, Kamishiro took Obito Uchiha's punch but didn't rush up to beat Obito Uchiha back. He just let Obito Uchiha run around the field two and a half times cheering provocatively. This was obviously not right.
Lord Minato Namikaze clapped his hands, saying, "Okay, take a short break."
Lord Minato Namikaze walked up to Kamishiro, who was sitting on the ground leaning against a tree, and asked, "Kamishiro, what's wrong? You've seemed absent - minded these days."
Kamishiro lowered his head slightly and said listlessly, "I don't know why, but I've had a really bad feeling since a few days ago. It's an indescribable feeling. If I have to describe it, it's like the feeling I had when I was framed by Teacher Jiraiya last time!"
Lord Minato Namikaze said in surprise, "The feeling of being framed by Teacher Jiraiya? You mean the time when the Puppet you made for Teacher Jiraiya was discovered by Tsunade, and then Tsunade beat both of you up?"
Kamishiro said with a gloomy face, "Lord Minato Namikaze, don't be so detailed. You know what I mean in your heart!"
After a moment of contemplation, Minato Namikaze said, "Maybe the training has been a bit too intense these days. Alright, I'll give you a day off. Kamishiro, go back to the camp and have a good rest. Take a nap. Maybe you'll feel better after a good rest."
Kamishiro silently nodded, then returned to his tent in the camp in a daze.
Lying in bed, Kamishiro kept frowning tightly. He always felt as if a huge black pot was about to fall on his head.
...
Two weeks passed in the blink of an eye.
During these two weeks, the strangeness of Sunagakure had been noticed by Konoha and Iwagakure.
Both Konoha and Iwagakure sent their respective ninjas to the Land of Wind to gather information.
However, once the sent ninjas were discovered by the Sunagakure ninjas, they would be attacked crazily.
The information gathered indicated that Sunagakure was in great chaos now.
This alerted Hiruzen Sarutobi and Ōnoki. They thought that something big must have happened inside Sunagakure to cause such chaos.
And now the high - level officials in Sunagakure were also extremely anxious.
The disappearance of the Third Kazekage left Sunagakure leaderless. Although Ebizo strictly ordered anyone not to spread the news of the Third Kazekage's disappearance, everyone knew that this matter couldn't be kept secret for long.
Since the Third Kazekage disappeared, the ninjas sent to search for him must know about it. Even though they're strictly forbidden to talk, there must be some blabbermouths who'll leak the news. It's only a matter of time before all Sunagakure villagers find out.
Now, a part of the Sunagakure villagers already knew that the Third Kazekage was missing, and this matter was spreading at a fast speed.
Once all the Sunagakure villagers knew about the Third Kazekage's disappearance, it wouldn't be long before other ninja villages found out.
In the meeting room of the Kazekage Building.
Chiyo, Ebizo, and a group of high - level officials from Sunagakure were having a meeting.
"Our ninjas have discovered ninjas from Konoha and Iwagakure within the territory of the Land of Wind. The matter of the Third Kazekage's disappearance can't be concealed for long."
"Most of the villagers already know that the Third Kazekage is missing. Everyone is very uneasy."
"If this oppressive atmosphere isn't resolved, something might happen."
"But only the appearance of the Third Kazekage can resolve this situation now."
...
The high - level officials of Sunagakure were expressing their concerns about Sunagakure one after another.
Ebizo reached out and knocked on the table, signaling everyone to be quiet.
After the meeting room fell silent, Ebizo said, "We've almost sent out all the ninjas in the village and exhausted the whole village's strength to search for the Third Kazekage's whereabouts, but we still can't find him."
Right now, we can't count on finding the Third Hokage. If we keep searching like this, not to mention whether we'll actually find him, the manpower and resources we'd consume are beyond what we can bear.
So our top priority now isn't to look for the Third Hokage, but to figure out how to solve the problems in Sunagakure.
I propose we find someone to succeed the Kazekage position first and unite this scattered village."
A counselor said with a solemn expression, "Right now, because of the Third Hokage's disappearance, the village is in a panic. Many villagers respect the Third Hokage and see him as an idol. Even after a new Kazekage takes office, they'll surely ask to keep looking for the Third Hokage.
If the new Kazekage refuses, the villagers will surely be dissatisfied and might even go against the new Kazekage's orders. If the new Kazekage agrees, then it's like we haven't solved the problem and we'll have to keep using a lot of manpower and resources to search for the Third Hokage."
Since the Third Kazekage took office, he's been dedicated to governing Sunagakure, and everyone's seen that.
So the Third Kazekage has a really high reputation in Sunagakure.
After Ebizo let out a sigh, his eyes turned sharp as he said, "That's why it's even more necessary for a new Kazekage to take office. We have to shift our attention outward. Only then can we solve the village's crisis."
Hearing Ebizo's words, Chiyo frowned deeply and asked, "Ebizo, what do you mean by shifting our attention outward?"
Ebizo said seriously, speaking slowly and clearly:
"It means... war!"