The scent of fresh flowers hung in the air of the Supreme Leader's private lounge.
Chiyo's emotions had come like a storm—and now they ebbed just as quickly.
Realizing how spectacularly she'd just embarrassed herself in front of everyone, the young former Sand kunoichi wanted nothing more than to dig a hole in the floor and bury her head in it.
Even if her butt were sticking out, that would be fine.
No one could recognize her by her backside anyway.
"Feeling a bit better now?"
A gentle voice sounded by her ear, warm and soft like a kindly neighborly big sister.
"Here, use these to wipe your face. We can't let a pretty girl like you turn into a blotchy little raccoon."
Chiyo accepted the tissues from Uzumaki Minako, stealing a quick glance at her gentle, elegant features—then immediately dropped her gaze in embarrassment.
Because they were both seated on a low sofa, Chiyo was just a little shorter than Minako.
Her line of sight fell naturally right on the other woman's thighs—long, full, wrapped in black stockings and a tight skirt, an effortless blend of elegance and seduction.
Following the slim, flat line of Minako's waist upward, she spotted two sudden, majestic "peaks" straining the white blouse and neatly tailored jacket, the top two buttons undone.
"They're so big…"
The awed sigh slipped out before she could stop it.
Chiyo slapped a hand over her mouth at once, burying her head even lower. Red flooded from her cheeks all the way up to her ears, half-hidden by her hair.
"Minako-sama, I—I didn't mean it like that—I just, um, I… uh…"
"You can grow into yours too, one day."
Minako watched the flustered girl twist her hands over her stomach and trip over her own words, eyes full of warmth.
"But if you want to talk about… development issues, we can save that for another time."
"The Supreme Leader is still waiting for you outside."
"Think over what you want to say to him. Once you're ready, we'll go back out."
"Ugh…"
The moment she remembered she'd have to face the evil man who had filmed her ugly crying from every angle, Chiyo's face crumpled again.
But compared to her own humiliation, the future of Sand mattered far more.
"Minako-sama, please—please help me!"
She grabbed Minako's smooth, cool hand like a drowning person clutching a lifeline.
Alone, she couldn't do anything.
"I want to save Sunagakure!"
"I'll give anything! Do anything!"
"Ah…"
Minako looked at Chiyo's tear-streaked face, then gently wiped the corners of her red, swollen eyes.
Her tone remained soft—but her words slammed into Chiyo like a bucket of ice water.
"Chiyo, Sunagakure no Sato is already gone. The title of Kazekage is gone as well."
"All that's left is Sand Ninja Village… and its village chief."
"Names and power must never be taken lightly."
"That's for your own good—and for the village's."
Minako's thumb brushed away a fresh line of tears.
The girl who'd grown up in the desert trembled in her hands like something made of water, tears flowing down her cheeks in an endless stream.
This time, Minako's tone sharpened slightly.
"If you truly are willing to give everything for Sand Ninja Village, then crying is not what you should be doing right now."
"You should be using every tool, every trick, every scrap of leverage to carve out a future for your people."
"Minako-sama, I… I really don't know what else to do…"
"And yet… this crying of yours is one of your 'methods' too, isn't it, Chiyo?"
The warmth of her palm left Chiyo's face. The temperature in her words dropped along with it.
Chiyo's tears stopped abruptly.
Her ploy—to use tears and apparent frailty to tug at their sympathies—had fizzled out.
Any leader worth the title, no matter how sensitive of heart, always had at least one eye on the scales of benefit and loss.
Chiyo had run Sand Ninja Village for over three years.
Underneath her girlish earnestness, there was already a budding edge of calculation.
Minako had walked that same road once.
She could tell when the tears were genuine, and when other things had seeped into them.
If not for the way the girl had broken down sobbing in the office—stirring up Minako's old memories of that night when she was drugged and trapped by Senju Moriki through Tsunade, with no one to pull her out—Minako might not have softened even this much.
But emotional resonance came fast and left quickly.
As one of Konoha's top leaders, she didn't indulge her feelings for anyone outside the family.
"Minako-sama, I just…"
"That's enough, Chiyo."
Minako cut cleanly across her fumbling attempt at an explanation.
"Focus on what matters: how you're going to face the Supreme Leader."
As for what she might squeeze out of a desperate Chiyo, Minako wasn't remotely interested.
The authority she held now was on a scale the girl simply couldn't comprehend.
Every word and gesture of hers could ripple outward to affect the food, clothing, shelter, and travel of not only Konoha, but the entire shinobi world—and now the New World as well.
Seeing the coolness returning to Minako's expression, Chiyo suddenly felt she'd let the best chance slip through her fingers.
Her thoughts churned.
Minako was one of Soren's most trusted secretaries. Her stance was almost certainly a reflection of his.
If Minako was that blunt, then any dream of restoring things to the way they used to be… was dead.
With illusions finally stripped away, only two paths remained before Chiyo.
One: pretend none of this had happened. Turn and leave Konoha. Go back to Sand Ninja Village and rebuild alongside everyone else through normal means.
Two: attach themselves to Konoha. Become part of the cheering crowd at its back, surrendering a portion of their autonomy.
(Autonomy? Ever since the Supreme Leader placed all shinobi under the authority of Konoha's General Staff, just how much "autonomy" do the other villages really have?)
(This world will belong to him completely, sooner or later. Right now, we're just caretakers.)
From Hidden Sand to Sand Ninja Village, Chiyo could already glimpse the outline of a future Sand Ninja City.
(Still… as long as I sit in the chief's seat for even one more day, I have to win one more day of advantage for Sand.)
(Even if I sacrifice myself, I can't betray the trust my people put in me.)
Resolve hardened, and new color returned to Chiyo's face.
Minako noticed and gave a faint nod.
She took Chiyo's hand and smiled.
"Let's go."
They stepped out of the lounge together.
Minako had just started toward her own desk when the newly appointed head of the Construction Bureau, Hyūga Ashisa, arrived from what had once been the Civil Affairs Bureau.
He'd come asking her to attend a meeting—Kaori Minamoto, who held the purse strings, would be there too.
"Darling, I believe in you."
As the office door swung shut, Soren caught the look in Kaori's eyes just before she left.
All her trust, laid bare.
It landed on his shoulders like an extra weight.
"Ahem."
He cleared his throat and focused his gaze on Chiyo.
Her face was like an oasis bloom in the desert—delicate, fine-boned, quietly beautiful.
Now, with her eyes still red and her cheeks flushed from crying, she looked all the more fragile and pitiable.
(Kaori really has a talent for bringing up the worst possible topic at the worst possible time… now even I'm starting to feel an itch.)
Soren steadied himself and spoke gently.
"Chiyo. Say what you came here to say."
With only the two of them in the office, under his direct, unshielded gaze, her heart trembled between panic and a strange, guilty thrill.
The old, half-joking thought she'd once had—"If I could marry the Supreme Leader…"—bubbled up unbidden.
Reality made that impossible now.
But perhaps… being like the shrine maiden in Oni Ninja Village, becoming just a lover, would still be a step up from nothing.
She dropped to one knee.
"Supreme Leader."
"So long as you grant Sand Ninja Village a chance to keep growing… Chiyo is willing to give everything and obey your orders unconditionally."
(The meat's already in the pot. No need to rush the fire.)
Soren's eyes slid briefly to the teacup at his elbow.
He reminded himself to be patient.
He watched her quietly for a moment, then asked in a mild tone,
"Unconditionally?"
"Then if I order all of Sand Ninja Village to relocate to the New World… you have no objection?"
Chiyo's chest clenched.
The question blindsided her.
Everyone in the shinobi world knew of the Supreme Leader's legendary romantic exploits.
She'd expected him to show interest in her, a living beauty, not in the entire Sand Village.
(Could it be… all those stories about his lechery were a façade?)
(If that's true, he's been plotting this since three years ago. What a terrifying mind…)
(And now I've walked straight into the trap myself.)
Crushed by his strength, his intellect, and now his inscrutable schemes, Chiyo swallowed, her voice rough as she bowed her head.
"I will follow your orders… in all things."
"Neither I nor Sand Ninja Village will ever disappoint you, Supreme Leader."
"Only… I beg the Supreme Leader to show mercy."
The soft plea lingered in the room like a thin thread of incense smoke.
Soren reached out with his chakra and gently lifted her chin, studying the tear-streaked face before him.
"I've got plenty of flaws."
"But when it comes to people who've chosen to stand on my side and submit…"
"I treat my own very well."
Seeing the shyness in her eyes, he had no intention of teasing or taking advantage of her here in the office.
For one thing, this wasn't the time—someone could walk in at any moment.
For another… there really were too many women already, and he had to "turn in his taxes" almost every day.
Even an iron kidney needed occasional maintenance.
He picked up his health tea and took a small sip.
The bitter, pungent flavor burned away the little stray thoughts in his mind.
"I won't make things harder for you."
"Go back to Sand Ninja Village and take some time to stabilize."
He felt a warm current seep through his body and nodded inwardly, setting the cup down.
His tone turned calm and matter-of-fact.
"Once the land division is complete, gather a dozen or so trusted people and head to the New World city of Re-Estize."
"Accompany my clone there and take a good, long look."
"Once you've seen how vast and rich that world is, you'll understand that everything Sand has clung to up till now… really is nothing but sand grains."
"See the world first, Chiyo."
"Then come back and give me your answer."
Relocating people from the shinobi continent to the New World wasn't just about easier governance.
Soren was genuinely curious about what kind of offspring would be born from crossing chakra-based shinobi with the New World's martial and magical races.
Would there be reproductive isolation—no viable children at all?
Would their children inherit the strengths of both sides, becoming a new, superior strain of humanity?
Or would they end up as powerless ordinary mortals?
If he left the question entirely to the scientists, the experiments would be inhuman and narrowly focused.
Only with a base population in the hundreds of thousands, or even millions, could a real answer emerge.
"As you command, Supreme Leader."
Unable to refute him, Chiyo bowed deeply and backed out of the office.
Just outside the door, her black eyes met the anxious face of her younger brother Emina.
His heart twisted the moment he saw how pale she looked.
His sister had already sacrificed so much for Sand.
This time… he was certain she'd even sold her dignity.
"Ka—"
"Address me as chief from now on."
In the solemn corridor of the towering Supreme Leader's building, Chiyo's expression hardened with authority.
Her voice dropped low and heavy, freezing Emina mid-word.
His eyes reddened.
"Chief…"
Seeing her brother like that hurt her too.
If word of her fall from Kazekage to mere village chief spread, the fragile morale they'd just managed to rekindle back home might collapse all over again.
Her tone softened.
"Let's go. We're heading home."
"There's still a mountain of work waiting for us."
"Once everything is settled, the Supreme Leader has ordered us to travel to the New World and remain at his side."
In her mind, there was no distinction between clone and original; both were equally the Supreme Leader.
If she did well there, she could still make him reevaluate the worth of Sand Ninja Village.
She remembered what he'd said at the conference: in future, there might be new villages qualified to inherit the title of Kage Village.
That was the chance she meant to seize.
"Sis, then that means…"
"We'll talk in the village. This isn't the place."
Emina nodded at once.
Hope flickered in his chest.
So long as the Supreme Leader was willing to acknowledge Sand Ninja Village, they still had a future.
Their people would have a goal worth striving toward.
"Lady Chiyo, a word, if you please."
As the siblings left the Supreme Leader's building, they found Hanzo of the Rain waiting for them.
Emina's face darkened at once.
It was because of Hanzo that Sand had fallen, in the end.
But just as he opened his mouth, Chiyo cut him off.
"Emina."
"Anything the loser says is nothing but praise for the winner."
After the battle in the Black Horn Domain and her walk through the Supreme Leader's tower, Chiyo had grown up a great deal in a very short time.
She stepped in front of her brother and met Hanzo's gaze head-on.
Her face was calm, her voice steady.
"Lord Rain Kage."
"What business do you have with me?"
"Lady Chiyo, I've come on behalf of Hidden Rain Village to propose an alliance with Sand Ninja Village—to carve out a new domain together in the New World."
Unbothered by Emina's simmering hatred, Hanzo's eyes stayed on Chiyo.
He got straight to the point.
"Of the four villages, yours and mine are the ones most urgently in need of development."
"Joining hands is the best move on the board."
"If all goes well, Lady Chiyo, there's no reason you couldn't reclaim the title of Kazekage one day."
"That won't be necessary."
The quick rejection made Hanzo's brows knot.
He studied the girl's serene expression, thoughts turning.
"I understand."
"If you change your mind, Hidden Rain will always open its doors for you."
He truly did need help.
Despite stepping on Sand to climb up, Rain's foundations were still thin.
To gather a hundred jōnin in three years would be difficult.
Mist and Stone would never lend him a hand.
His best hope had been Sand… and she'd just turned him down.
"Then I'll take my leave here."
Hanzo didn't press the issue.
He turned and walked away from the Supreme Leader's building, heading for the teleportation hall to visit the other minor villages.
"We should go too."
"Yes, Chief."
Chiyo turned back for one last look at the towering, awe-inspiring headquarters of the Supreme Leader.
Every trace of confusion in her eyes had vanished, leaving only resolve.
"Chiyo…"
High above, Soren watched her through the field of [Heaven-Standing Deity], tea cup in hand.
He took another small sip.
"The Konoha Secretariat could use another capable secretary."
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