Chapter 265 : Another Accident Happened To Sunagakure

Naruto nodded and said, "OK."

Tsunade had begun to push Riku forward. He had always stayed behind her, keeping a low profile. But now that Tsunade was looking to retire—likely due to her desire for a more peaceful life—she wanted to elevate Riku into a position of leadership.

However, Riku recommended Kakashi instead.

Tsunade, though, felt Kakashi wasn’t strong enough yet to shoulder the responsibilities of the Hokage.

In the end, after some discussion, Riku agreed to take over part of the Hokage’s duties, while Tsunade would still handle the majority of the work. Some responsibilities were also delegated to Yamato and Kakashi.

Currently, Yamato was in charge of the ANBU, and Kakashi was overseeing Konoha’s general defense. Riku, meanwhile, was responsible for emergency responses within the village.

Together, Tsunade, Riku, Kakashi, and Yamato formed Konoha’s core leadership.

However, since Yamato had his hands full managing the ANBU, Riku would also participate in their affairs. For instance, just earlier, it had been Riku—not Tsunade—who explained the mission details to Naruto, a task that traditionally belonged to the Hokage.

Tsunade had Riku do it deliberately—to build his authority. Though his reputation was already high in Konoha and even across the entire ninja world, Tsunade still wanted to solidify it.

After Yamato departed with Naruto and the others, Tsunade frowned and looked at Riku. "Do you think the Akatsuki is behind this?"

Riku shook his head. "I don’t know. But I doubt it. It doesn’t make sense for the Akatsuki to steal those corpses."

Tsunade nodded. She agreed—it seemed unlikely. But the Akatsuki’s recent activity had left her on edge.

"This is really troublesome," Tsunade sighed.

Riku stood at the window, his tone calm. "It’s fine. It’s not like this kind of thing hasn’t happened before—it’s just more frequent lately."

"Stealing the bodies of the Twelve Guardian Ninja could be aimed at Konoha. Those individuals weren’t particularly friendly to us in the past."

The Twelve Guardian Ninja had once served as the daimyo’s bodyguards. But internal disputes had split them apart.

Although they all believed the daimyo to be the supreme authority in the Land of Fire, the division came from differing views—some believed the position of Hokage should be abolished, while others opposed that extreme ideology.

The rift escalated into conflict, and several members died in the process.

Even the daimyo himself thought the idea of eliminating the Hokage was too radical, so he distanced himself from the extremists.

Yet those individuals remained steadfast in their belief that the Hokage should be removed, aiming to build a country ruled solely by the daimyo.

What they failed to understand was that the daimyo of the Land of Fire never intended to eliminate the Hidden Leaf. The daimyo governed the nation; the ninja served it. They didn’t interfere in each other’s domains.

The village’s military expenses were funded by the daimyo, while the shinobi fought to protect the nation’s interests.

The daimyo knew full well that trying to directly govern a shinobi village would be futile.

Thus, the daimyo of each of the Five Great Nations maintained cooperative relationships with their respective Kage. Sometimes, Kage would even bow their heads in negotiation over military funding.

But such situations were rare. The daimyo wanted strong shinobi villages capable of securing their countries’ influence.

If a shinobi village lost its strength, the country would suffer as well.

For example, though the daimyo of the Land of Wind reduced funding to Sunagakure, he never fully cut it off. Even so, Sunagakure had become a disappointment. Financial strain led to major cuts in their military budget.

As for Kirigakure, their situation was unique. The daimyo of the Land of Water had never cared about their brutal "Bloody Mist" policies—until Kirigakure attempted to assassinate him during a defection.

Such incidents were rare among the Five Great Nations. After all, daimyo and Kage were supposed to be allies. Killing a daimyo changed nothing—if anything, assassinating a Kage would have more strategic value.

Terumi Mei had overthrown the Fourth Mizukage only after uncovering the sinister truth behind his actions, leading to reforms in the village.

That’s why Kisame Hoshigaki’s actions made little sense. The daimyo hadn’t caused Kirigakure’s problems. Assassinating him had no meaningful effect. The daimyo didn’t hold authority over the village anyway.

The Twelve Guardian Ninja were a group of elite shinobi who supported daimyo supremacy in the Land of Fire.

Among them was Asuma Sarutobi—son of the Third Hokage. Aside from Asuma, the rest hailed from other villages or temples scattered throughout the Land of Fire.

This highlighted the strength of the Fire Country. Even outside Konoha, there were powerful ninja.

All twelve were Elite Jōnin.

That alone demonstrated how formidable the Land of Fire’s overall power was.

Now, if those dead Twelve were to be resurrected, it was likely they’d retaliate against Konoha.

That was what worried Tsunade most.

She rose and walked to the window, staring out. "I hope this isn’t connected to Konoha. The ninja monks at the Fire Temple are no weaker than ordinary Chūnin. Their taijutsu is exceptional. The temple alone is stronger than some smaller villages. How could anyone steal corpses from there?"

Riku knew that the individuals who committed the theft were all Jōnin-level at least—and they had been planning this for over a decade.

Their leader, Hema, had orchestrated everything meticulously.

These individuals had caught the Fire Temple off guard. Although some monks there had strength on par with Jōnin, they were no match for Hema’s well-prepared team, who not only had superior strength but also intimate knowledge of the temple’s defenses.

So those monks didn’t stand a chance.

Still, Riku wasn’t particularly concerned—not because he underestimated the situation, but because they simply weren’t strong enough to pose a real threat to him. It just irritated him on principle.

To Riku, it was a small matter. But to Konoha, it wasn’t.

He chuckled and said, "Maybe this has been planned for a long time."

Just then, Shizune entered.

"Lady Tsunade, there’s a rescue request from Sunagakure."

Riku raised an eyebrow. "What happened to Sunagakure now?"

He couldn’t recall anything significant involving them at this time.

Shizune stepped forward and handed the scroll to Tsunade, then turned to Riku. "There’s been a defection."

Riku frowned. "Just a defection? That’s worth asking for help?"

It felt like Sunagakure was overreacting.

Then again, aside from Gaara, they didn’t have any other Kage-level ninja.

Temari and Kankuro—at best—were Elite Jōnin, and maybe not even that.

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