After several months of Training and the brutal battles at Kikyo Pass, Shiraishi returned to Sunagakure in April of Sunagakure Year 43—equivalent to Konoha Year 44—together with his master, Ebizo.
Feeling the familiar heat of wind and sand, Shiraishi stepped through the village gates. The image of leaving Sunagakure the year before surfaced vividly in his mind. Now that he had returned, he was surprised to realize that he felt a genuine sense of closeness to the village.
Besides Shiraishi and Ebizo, many shinobi of all ranks were also rotating back from the Kikyo Pass frontlines—including Kitajima, the so-called "iron-bodied beauty."
As Sunagakure and Konoha entered a temporary cooling-off period, the higher-ups began preparing their next round of deployments.
Shiraishi removed his glasses, wiped them carefully with a cloth, and then looked toward Ebizo.
"Are we heading to the Kazekage's office next?"
"Of course," Ebizo replied. "The Kazekage has been looking forward to meeting you."
Inside the Kazekage's office, Rasa, the Fourth Kazekage, was reviewing reports detailing Shiraishi's battlefield performance and the various astonishing techniques he had developed.
During this period, the young man's brilliance had caused the entire village to buzz with talk of a once-in-a-generation genius.
Compared to Konoha—the so-called cradle of prodigies—how many true powerhouses had Sunagakure produced over the years?
Shiraishi's emergence made the village feel as though it had stumbled upon a priceless treasure. With subtle backing from certain factions, there were already whispers about grooming him as the hope of the new generation, even as a future Fifth Kazekage candidate.
The hope of the next generation. The Fifth Kazekage…
Rasa could not tell whether these provocative rumors were deliberate momentum-building by the Council of Elders or divisive maneuvers by the great clans. What he did know was that Shiraishi's rise, combined with the easing of pressure from Konoha, threatened to reawaken long-simmering internal conflicts within Sunagakure.
If only Baki were a few years younger…
Baki was three years older than Shiraishi. Because he had gone to the battlefield early—and for several special reasons—he had only been promoted to chūnin two years ago, yet within three months he advanced rapidly to jōnin. Powerful, capable, and one of Rasa's most trusted subordinates, Baki was already at the peak of his cohort.
However, most villagers still regarded him as belonging to the same generation as Rasa himself. Aside from their close relationship, Baki's prematurely aged appearance—he looked like a middle-aged man—did not help.
By contrast, after the crucible of Kikyo Pass, Shiraishi had become the undisputed standard-bearer of the new generation. His extraordinary talent for research and development caused many within the Council of Elders to openly proclaim him the key to Sunagakure's future revival.
With such an outstanding disciple, the elders' influence grew increasingly bold. Rasa had once relied on the Council to balance clans like the Arakawa and Yamaji families—but now the scales were clearly tipping toward the elders.
Being Kazekage was never an easy role.
Especially now, when another damaging narrative was spreading through the village:
That Rasa, in order to secure his position, had deliberately failed to retrieve the Third Kazekage—and had even steered the village's anger toward Konoha.
The malice behind such rumors was unmistakable, yet they left Rasa with little room to defend himself.
"How is Karura doing?"
The moment Ebizo entered the office with Shiraishi, he asked about Rasa's wife.
Not long ago, Karura had been ambushed during an escort mission that was never expected to involve combat. The strain of the battle was so severe that she lost her first child.
Worse still, the incident left her constitution weakened. If she insisted on bearing children again, there was a real risk of disaster.
Rasa had tried to persuade her not to obsess over producing an heir. But with his family line reduced to himself alone—and the Three Sand Lineages on the verge of becoming only two—Karura refused to yield.
"She's still recovering," Rasa replied quietly. "Yashamaru is staying with her."
Having steadied his emotions, Rasa offered Shiraishi a gentle smile. Regardless of anything else, as Kazekage, he should feel gratified that the village possessed such an outstanding young shinobi.
One evaluation document after another lay on the desk. Even the assassination of Konoha's Sensory Division—classified as an S-rank achievement—had been included in Shiraishi's merit tally.
As the accounting concluded, Shiraishi realized he had earned a surprisingly large sum.
Feeling his throat go dry, Rasa took a sip of water, then handed Shiraishi a scroll.
"This is an appointment."
Shiraishi's duties within the village had already been discussed between Rasa and the Council of Elders. He was to serve as Assistant to the Head of the Ninja Academy, helping with daily administrative matters.
Because it was an assistant position—and given Shiraishi's age—he would not be required to teach classes. Moreover, the current headmaster of the academy was Ebizo himself.
In other words, Shiraishi was, quite literally, Ebizo's assistant.
In practice, the position was largely honorary. Shiraishi's real focus would remain on training under Ebizo and following the Council's next-stage development plans.
After all, Shiraishi was now Ebizo's treasured protégé. This nominal post was simply the elders' way of shielding him.
"In two months, it will be the New Year's Sand Memorial Festival," Rasa added. "You'll serve as the ceremony's master of rites."
In Sunagakure, the middle of the year marked the beginning of the new cycle. It felt as though the last Sand Memorial had only just passed.
After leaving the Kazekage's office and parting ways with Ebizo for the time being, Shiraishi did not head home. Instead, he went straight to the Jōgaki workshop.
According to Jogaki Hayato's letter, the deep-sea mithril gauntlets were beginning to take shape—but their flexibility was disastrously poor, making them nearly unusable in combat.
Jōgaki Hayato's original vision was for the gauntlets to possess formidable defensive strength, allowing Shiraishi to fight barehanded while wearing them.
But choosing deep-sea mithril—a material this peculiar—had proven far more difficult than expected.
Jōgaki Hayato had tried fusing various rare materials into the mithril, yet none bonded successfully. Although the gauntlets lacked flexibility, the deep-sea mithril itself displayed a strange kind of malleability.
The patterns on the silver gauntlets differed on each side, resembling the duality of yin and yang. At the center, exactly as Shiraishi had requested, there was a specially reserved groove.
In Hayato's understanding, this groove was meant to be the core control zone of the gauntlets. Yet he could not grasp how such a design could transform them into a complete weapon.
The essence of deep-sea mithril—fluid like mercury, yet possessing far stronger chakra adhesion—meant that from the very beginning, Shiraishi had never intended these gauntlets to follow the traditional concept of ninja tools at all.
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