After this war…
Sunagakure fell into an abyss so deep that there was no longer any solid ground beneath its feet.
First came its defeat at the hands of Iwagakure. Then followed this catastrophic loss against Kirigakure. Blow after blow struck the village without mercy, until even the strength to struggle was stripped away.
The Yondaime Kazekage, Rasa, attempted to take responsibility and resign from his position.
But Sunagakure no longer had anyone left to succeed him.
And at such a critical moment, the abdication of the Kazekage would only plunge the village into even greater chaos. For that reason, the council of elders unanimously rejected his request.
Politically. Economically. Militarily.
Sunagakure collapsed on every front.
Left with no alternatives, the village made its final,and only,choice.
It completely aligned itself with the Land of Fire and Konohagakure.
Though the two had once been allies, this decision went far beyond cooperation.
It was submission.
A desperate attempt to cling to survival by leaning on Konoha's power.
For Rasa and the elders, this was the best choice they could make.
And yet, throughout Sunagakure, the air was thick with humiliation and despair.
…
Konohagakure, however, was far from peaceful.
Tension between the village leadership and the Uchiha Clan had reached a breaking point. The atmosphere within the village grew increasingly oppressive, as though civil war itself loomed just beyond the horizon, threatening to erupt at any moment.
Still, regardless of its internal instability, Sunagakure's complete submission undeniably strengthened Konoha's position.
From the perspective of Konoha's higher-ups, Sunagakure's defeat was not a disaster,but an opportunity.
For the Uchiha Clan, however, it was the opposite.
The fall of Sunagakure only deepened their sense of crisis.
Rebellion was no longer a possibility to be debated.
It was an arrow already drawn on the bowstring.
…
In Iwagakure.
The Sandaime Tsuchikage, Ōnoki of the , could not help but reassess both Chiba and the reborn Kirigakure.
Even he had never managed to drive Sunagakure into such complete and irreversible despair.
For the first time, Ōnoki felt a genuine desire to meet this young Mizukage face to face,to see for himself what kind of man Chiba truly was.
At the same time, he could not ignore the danger.
Sunagakure's complete alignment with Konoha meant a significant increase in Konoha's overall power,something that posed a serious threat to Iwagakure.
What troubled him even more was Kirigakure.
A village once considered just as weak as Sunagakure had, under Chiba's leadership, revealed a terrifying level of strength.
And when one added Kumogakure,already a rival to Konoha in raw power,
Ōnoki saw it clearly.
The shinobi world was approaching another era of bloodshed.
…
In Kumogakure.
The Yondaime Raikage, A, was equally shocked by Kirigakure's sudden rise.
Kumogakure itself had recently fought Konohagakure, and after the ceasefire, had even attempted to seize the Hyūga Clan's Byakugan. As a result, the village had been recuperating, avoiding large-scale conflicts.
Yet in the blink of an eye, the entire shinobi world had been thrown into turmoil.
At present, Kumogakure could even be considered the strongest among the Five Great Nations.
Konoha had suffered immense losses during the Third Shinobi World War, the Kyuubi incident, and its clash with Kumogakure. In terms of pure military strength, it was no longer clearly superior.
…
In Amegakure, within the Akatsuki.
"Pain," a calm voice reported, "the new Mizukage, Chiba, has emerged out of nowhere and achieved a decisive victory against Sunagakure."
"Not only did he obtain enormous reparations, he even seized Sunagakure's three core secret systems."
"This can only be described as a complete destruction at the root."
The speaker was Konan,one of Akatsuki's founders, and its only female shinobi.
Pain's expression remained cold and indifferent.
"It doesn't matter," he replied flatly. "The conflicts between the Five Great Nations are endless."
"Our priorities remain the same,gather funds, and recruit new talent. Only then will Akatsuki have the strength needed to capture the Bijuss."
"Yes," Konan answered.
Pain paused briefly before continuing.
"Kirigakure was once the ideal hunting ground for recruits. During the era of the Bloody Mist, countless shinobi defected."
"But now… that will no longer be possible."
"And that new Mizukage is actively cultivating perfect jinchūriki. That may interfere with our plans."
"In short,this man must not be underestimated."
Konan nodded quietly.
"I understand."
…
In another hidden base.
Zetsu stood beside the masked man.
As Akatsuki's intelligence operative, Zetsu quickly relayed the information.
The masked man fell silent for a long time.
"I never expected Chiba to cause such upheaval," he finally said. "It seems I underestimated him."
"I thought that with the Bloody Mist barely ended, this war with Sunagakure would cause Kirigakure to collapse."
"But instead…"
"The one that collapsed was Sunagakure."
Zetsu chuckled darkly.
"He really is impressive. Capturing the Kazekage alive, extracting such massive reparations, and seizing Sunagakure's secret techniques."
"With this, Kirigakure will surely grow rapidly."
The masked man let out a cold laugh.
"Don't worry. I won't let him have it so easy."
"I still have matters to deal with regarding the Uchiha Clan."
"Once that is resolved, I will find a way to completely destroy Kirigakure."
"Chiba…"
"You won't be proud for long."
Zetsu grinned.
"And you still claim this has nothing to do with personal feelings."
The masked man snorted and vanished into the darkness.
…
Meanwhile, in Kirigakure.
The entire village,both civilians and shinobi,was engulfed in celebration. Cheers echoed through the streets as they reveled in a victory unlike anything in their history.
Chiba directed all the seized Gold Dust and the eight hundred and seventy million ryō ransom into the reconstruction of Kirigakure.
The shinobi system.
The education system.
Infrastructure.
Industry, agriculture, fishing, and foreign trade.
Every aspect of the village finally had access to abundant funding.
At last, Chiba could fully unleash his ambitions.
At the same time, he began meticulous research into Sunagakure's three great secret systems.
After all,
His system specialized in one thing above all else.
Deduction.
He would turn these secret arts into something that belonged entirely to him,and to Kirigakure.
Not borrowed. Not inherited.
But firmly grasped within the palm of his hand.
And the reason Chiba had insisted on claiming Sunagakure's techniques went far deeper than mere power.
It was because of his Deduction System.
In this shinobi world, secret techniques were shackled by bloodlines, physiques, and rare talents. Most arts existed only within a handful of families,or worse, were monopolized by a single lineage. That exclusivity inevitably gave birth to powerful ninja clans, whose influence grew alongside their techniques.
Konoha itself was the clearest example.
Time and again, it had refrained from demanding such techniques from defeated enemies,not out of mercy, but out of fear. Fear that concentrating powerful arts within a few individuals would only strengthen existing clans, or give rise to new ones. Fear that genetic inheritance would ensure those techniques spread only within a family, granting them political leverage, votes within the council, and interests that did not always align with the village itself.
Clans, after all, did not think in terms of villages.
They thought in terms of blood.
And that was how internal fractures were born.
That was how instability took root.
But Chiba was different.
With the Deduction System, he could break techniques apart, reconstruct them, and refine them into accessible versions,methods that did not rely solely on rare genetics or inherited bloodlines. Techniques that ordinary shinobi could learn, master, and pass on through training rather than lineage.
What had once been the foundation of clan dominance could now become the foundation of the village itself.
By seizing Sunagakure's secret arts, Chiba was not merely accumulating strength.
He was dismantling an old shinobi truth.
And in its place, he was building something far more dangerous,
A Kirigakure where power belonged not to blood, but to the village.
A future where every technique rested firmly in his hands.