Inside the Kazekage Building.
Ebizo proposed using war to solve the problems of Sunagakure.
After Ebizo put forward the suggestion, the entire meeting room fell silent instantly.
Everyone stared at Ebizo in astonishment, including Chiyo.
After a moment of silence, Chiyo asked gravely, "Right now, the ninja world only needs a trigger for a full - scale war. If we start it, we'll be that trigger. Can we do it?"
The other high - level officials shared Chiyo's concerns. Everyone knew the situation of Sunagakure. It was short of ryo, and neither the quantity nor the quality of its ninjas could compare with those of the other four big ninja villages.
Whoever started this war would have to face the greatest pressure first.
Everyone was worried that Sunagakure couldn't handle this pressure.
Ebizo analyzed to everyone, "If we don't start the war, searching for the missing Third Hokage will waste a lot of our manpower and resources. Our village's situation will worsen, and even the new Kazekage may not be able to change it.
Rather than letting things slide, we might as well take a gamble. We can start the war under the pretext of the Third Hokage's disappearance. This way, we can unite everyone so that we won't be disunited like we are now, because everyone will be united against external threats!
And the newly appointed Kazekage won't face dissatisfaction from the villagers. Since everyone has the same goal, the villagers will surely follow the new Kazekage's orders.
As for the pressure of starting the war, we can shift it onto other ninja villages to relieve our own pressure, and then the problem will be solved."
After a moment of deep thought, Chiyo said, "Shift it onto other ninja villages... Konoha and Iwagakure?"
Ebizo nodded and said, "That's right, it's Konoha and Iwagakure. Although we don't know exactly what's going on between Konoha and Iwagakure, the fact that Konoha snatched the Magnet Release Kekkei Genkai ninjas that were supposed to go to Iwagakure from us is undeniable. Maybe we can use this incident to stir up a dispute between Konoha and Iwagakure and force them to fight each other.
Our village is now in a very urgent situation. Conventional methods can no longer solve the village's problems. We have to take drastic measures. So, do you all agree with my proposal?"
Chiyo was the first to agree. After carefully considering Ebizo's proposal, the other advisors felt that this was the only option at present, so they also agreed one after another.
One of the advisors asked, "Then, who will be the candidate for the Fourth Kazekage?"
Ebizo replied, "At present, there's only one candidate for the Fourth Kazekage, Rasa, who is from the same clan as the Third Hokage and also his trusted aide."
Chiyo agreed, "Indeed, only Rasa is qualified to take the position of Kazekage. Compared to Rasa, the others are still a bit lacking."
After a show - of - hands vote, Rasa was selected as the new Kazekage.
Ebizo sent a ninja to fetch Rasa.
Rasa entered the meeting room. Seeing all the high - level officials of Sunagakure were present, he already guessed what was going on.
After all, so many days had passed and the Third Kazekage hadn't been found. The situation in Sunagakure was getting worse day by day. Now, it was definitely necessary to select a new Kazekage to lead the village.
It's not an exaggeration to say that in the entire Sunagakure, apart from him, no one else could take on this position.
Because the Third Kazekage had also been grooming Rasa to become the Kazekage.
In his spare time, the Third Kazekage had mentioned the deeds of various ninja villages to Rasa many times, enabling Rasa to have a clear understanding of the overall situation in the ninja world.
Ebizo told Rasa what had just been discussed.
After listening, Rasa looked very serious.
Although he guessed correctly that they called him here to make him the Kazekage, he didn't expect to start in a hellish situation.
However, after careful consideration, the situation was indeed as Ebizo described.
After all, he didn't succeed to the position of Kazekage in the normal order but after the disappearance of the Third Kazekage. There would definitely be some people who wouldn't accept him and still hoped to find the Third Kazekage.
To solve this problem, Ebizo's proposal was indeed the most feasible one. Start a war and shift everyone's attention to the outside world, so that they would no longer focus on the missing Third Kazekage.
In this way, people wouldn't refuse to obey his orders.
Rasa promised, "Since the Third Kazekage is missing and the village is in a very critical situation, I have no excuse to decline. After taking over as the Kazekage, I'll follow the advice of you advisors. After taking office, I'll prepare to start a war."
Ebizo nodded. "Then let's announce your assumption of the position of Kazekage right after this meeting. Now, let's discuss on what grounds we should start the war."
After discussing for a while, they came up with several plans, but they couldn't reach an agreement on one plan.
At this time, Rasa proposed, "Since we want to stir up a dispute between Iwagakure and Konoha and force them to go to war, let's start with Iwagakure first. Last time, Iwagakure sent a batch of military supplies and wanted to ally with our village to attack Konoha. The Third Kazekage accepted the supplies but didn't form an alliance with Iwagakure. Ōnoki has been sending messages to the Third Kazekage, asking him to return the supplies.
We can use this as a reason, fabricate some evidence casually, and announce that Iwagakure is the most suspected in the disappearance of the Third Kazekage, and directly declare war on Iwagakure.
After the war starts, we'll spread a rumor. We'll say that Konoha has Ubau the Magnet Release Kekkei Genkai ninjas that were supposed to go to Iwagakure. Because of this, Ōnoki of Iwagakure wanted to Unite with Sunagakure to start a war against Konoha. Konoha harbored a grudge against Iwagakure because of this and, in order to retaliate, attacked the Third Kazekage and framed Iwagakure.
As long as the rumor spreads smoothly, we can tell Ōnoki that it was a misunderstanding and that we were deceived by Konoha. Moreover, since the war has already started, Ōnoki surely knows that it's useless to fight us to the bitter end. It'd be better for him to join us in attacking Konoha.
After we attacked Konoha together with Iwagakure, we Sunagakure ninjas gradually withdrew and let them continue the fight. We could watch from the side and look for a suitable opportunity to snatch resources."
After discussions among Ebizo and other high - level officials, Rasa's proposal was passed.
After all, those with nothing to lose are not afraid of those with something to protect. It doesn't make any sense for ōnoki to fight Konoha to the death. With ōnoki's profit - driven nature, he would never do something without benefits, but he would definitely do things that are profitable, and attacking Konoha is profitable.
So, Rasa's plan was sound in the general direction. As long as there's a good reason to start the war and we control the big picture, we can gradually fix the minor details later.
After the meeting, Chiyo, Ebizo, and a group of high - level officials gathered the villagers in Sunagakure. They officially announced the disappearance of the Third Kazekage. At the same time, they announced that Rasa had assumed the position of the Fourth Kazekage and would thoroughly investigate the disappearance of the Third Kazekage.