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  Late iernoon, Kushina sidled up to Shin and tapped his shoulder.

  "Shin, now that you've joined Suikagakure, shouldn't we try expanding the pce a bit?"

  Kushina poked him in the side, looking rather annoyed.

  "Got some bright ideas, Kushina?"

  Shin cocked an eyebrow at her.

  "If I did, I wouldn't be b you for a pn, would I?"

  She huffed in frustration.

  "I don't have a miracle fix either,"

  Shin said, shrugging. In truth, calling this handful of people a "vilge" might be aatement.

  They did build a settlement—Shin had used Wood Release to struct houses back then—but with no inhabitants, those buildings might as well be sprouting mushrooms by now.

  "I thought you were the oh all the ideas,"

  Kushina grumbled, folding her arms. She'd finally gotten Shin on board, but so far, he seemed about as motivated as Tsunade and Mikoto—which was to say, not at all.

  "Well,"

  Shin offered, mildly exasperated,

  "if you want ordinary vilgers, I could go scoop up a bunch right now—but is that what you really want?"

  "I wae Shinobi,"

  Kushina decred, nose in the air.

  Shin gave a resigned sigh.

  "Then I guess this pce stays the same size forever. Without average civilians as a foundation, how's a vilge supposed to grow?"

  Even average townspeople are a erstone of any hidden vilge. They provide fresh blood, an ey—basically everything you o expand. Shin still had no clue what Kushina's pn was.

  He ged the subject abruptly,

  "By the way, I picked up some info: The Third Shinobi World War might spark off soon."

  "Third Shinobi World War?" Tsunade frowned. For a moment, she looked puzzled.

  "What are you talking about? The shinobi world's beey peaceful," Kushina said, eyeing him skeptically.

  "Peaceful? Only on the surface. Beh it, everything's a mess—it always is,"

  Shin answered with a small chuckle.

  Indeed, even in supposed times of "peace," hidden vilges schemed in the shadows, each w their own agenda.

  "So they spent only a few years rebuilding after the st war, and now they're eager to destroy each other all ain. Typical."

  Mikoto murmured, shaking her head in dismay.

  Konan fell silent. She was a war orphan, after all—the thought of another flict made her uneasy.

  Kushina, however, straightened her shoulders:

  "If a war does break out, maybe we should…join in. Isn't it a ake Suikagakure known?"

  She sourangely excited. After all, Suikagakure ractically unknown, so perhaps a war was the fastest way to gain notoriety.

  Tsunade gave her a withering look, and Mikoto simirly folded her arms in disapproval.

  Kushina turned back to Shin with questioning eyes, waiting for his take on the looming flict.

  "War hasn't fully erupted yet, Let's wait until it does. o rush." Shin said calmly.

  'I've got bigger fish to fry'

  He'd been finalizing a new Jutsu, something that demanded all his focus, and now it was nearly plete—especially with his mastery of Yin-Yang Release, he felt ready for the finishing touches.

  ....

  Meanwhile, In Sunagakure.

  "It's been half a month sihe Third Kazekage disappeared. We 't hide his absence much longer,"

  uttered, frowning deeply. Turning to her brother, Ebizō, she added,

  "The vilge is growiless."

  Ebizō nodded.

  "We o appoint a Fourth Kazekage soon, or things will only worsen."

  They'd mao keep word of the Kazekage's disappearance from spreading far, but more and more people had begun to suspect. And a good k of them suspected Konoha had something to do with it.

  Half a month had passed since his disappearanobody believed he'd still be alive after vanishing for so long.

  "Who in the world murdered him? Could it be Shin Uzumaki?"

  At the name, Chiyo's expression darkened. She disliked even thinking about that "Reaper" of the Shinobi world.

  Shin, after all, was the only person she kneable of casually assassinating a Kage.

  "No clue. But even if it was him—Suna 't hope to stand against Shin. He's only grown stronger over the years…"

  Chiyo gritted her teeth. Indeed, if Shin truly had do, attag him would be suicidal.

  "Then we'll simply pin the bme on Konoha. Whether it's true or not doesn't matter. As long as we accuse Konoha, we rally the vilge," Ebizō suggested.

  "You want to accuse Konoha? That'll mean another war," uttered, albeit with grim acceptance.

  "Today's Konoha isn't what it used to be—no Shin Uzumaki, no Tsunade, and no Sakumo Hatake…"

  At that, Chiyo's features hardened. Ebizō inwardly cursed himself fing up Hatake Sakumo—Chiyo's son and daughter-in-w had died at his hands.

  Unfortunately, Sakumo had taken his own life some years back, meaning Chiyo never got her revenge.

  A snarl crept over her face:

  "Fine. Let's do it. We procim that Konoha is behind the Third Kazekage's disappearand we rally for vengeance."

  ....

  Soon after, Suna appoihe Fourth Kazekage—Rasa, father of the future Gaara. For now, Gaara wasn't even born.

  Rasa had studied uhe Third Kazekage, iing Mag Release. While the Third specialized in Iron Sand, Rasa's specialty was Gold Dust.

  Once Rasa was instated, he immediately led the Sand forces in a campaign "to avehe Third Kazekage," ung a full-scale assault on the Land of Fire.

  When news reached Hiruzen Sarutobi, he was fbbergasted.

  "I expected Suna to make some noise, but to ht invade us…?"

  But Konoha's intelligence suggested Suna was dead serious. Hiruzeally cursed that inpetent Kazekage who went missing, only for Suna to bme him.

  Whatever the reason, the moment Suna's army invaded Land of Fire territory, the Third Shinobi World War officially began.

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