Chapter 26: Proud Patriarchs
Murmurs kept ringing through the room until Ebizo stood up again to take the floor:
"I agree with the Kazekage, but that option is extremely risky, Konhoa may not be able to do anything in retaliation for the death of his ninjas since they are going to be in the presence of the 5 great ninja villages," Ebizo began to say.
"But they will not hesitate to seek and find those responsible and take revenge at all costs. Let's not forget that the Senju Princess is part of the Hokage's apprentices, and eliminating her will not bring us any good" explained Ebizo who was known to be the best strategist in the village.
"Very true Ebizo, Princess Senju is not someone we can afford to kill unless we want a war with Konoha and I am sure this council does not want that, so her death and the death of the Hokage's apprentices are off the table" concluded the retired Second Kazekage, to which the Third Kazekage only responded with a grimace and a sigh of disappointment.
The Third Kazekage knew that the Second Kazekage still has a lot of power within the village, so it would be impossible for him to get the majority of the council in his favor, there were only a few who would support him for sure.
Ebizo on the other hand nodded in relief knowing that the Second Kazekage understood his concerns and that he too did not intend to go to war with Konoha.
Sunagakure like most other villages has not yet recovered from the first world war, so another war would be disastrous for everyone in the village.
Especially for Sunagakure which has infertile land and a very poor economy that does not allow them to afford to train many ninjas.
"Very well then, for the time being, Suna will ally with Iwa, giving it support against Kiri and thus strengthening the relations between both villages, it only remains to wait for the Tsuchikage's answer," said the Third Kazekage who despite not agreeing to do nothing against Konoha, ended up accepting that, for now, he has no choice but to listen to the Second Kazekage and Ebizo.
"However, it still remains to decide which Suna ninja will participate in the Chunin exam,"
"This... Kazekage, to decide this shouldn't the Jonin of each Genin team be present?" asked the Ningen Patriarch in confusion.
The Ningen clan is the largest in Suna, they don't have very powerful ninjas in their clan, but they far outnumber the rest of the clans in number of ninjas.
While the Chikamatsu clan was the second largest clan in the village and only has half as many ninjas as the Ningen clan.
But the Chikamatsu clan has a large number of high-ranking ninja that position it as one of the three most important clans in Sunagakure along with the Zensho clan and the Jiki clan also known as the Kazekage clan for being the clan to which Reto, the founder of Sunagakure and the first Kazekage, belonged.
"That won't be necessary this time Patriarch Ningen, given the importance of this Chunin exam, only we will be in charge of evaluating and choosing the ninja we think fit to participate" replied the Third Kazekage.
"I agree, we cannot afford to look ridiculous in front of the other ninja villages, only the best ninja should participate this time, we must select the elite of our village" nodded Patriarch Zensho.
"Yes, many powerful and rich people will be interested in watching these Chunin exams, it is the perfect opportunity to get more commissions and improve the village's economy"
"If we can show good performance during the exams and impress these people, we can likely attract them to our side," added Patriarch Seishin who agreed with this.
Everyone in Suna wished for more resources.
Konoha was the only village that after the war had been able to prosper easily thanks to the rich economy and fertile lands of the Land of Fire.
The rest of the villages were still going through economic crises and needed all the resources they could get.
"Well... it should be noted that we will not be the only ones to send the elite of our younger generation of ninja to the Chunin exams, as the informant Snake rightly said, all the villages have something planned for these exams, so it is likely that everyone has been waiting for this moment to act, a clear example of this is Konoha" clarified Ebizo.
"What do you mean they waited for this moment to act, Ebizo-sama?" asked the leader of the Hoki clan.
"Very simple, Iwa had already started to organize these exams together with us and Konoha 4 years ago, so it is not something recent, it is something premeditated and our three villages had enough time in these 4 years to nurture and specially train a group of elite ninja to participate in the exams, but it is very likely that both Kumo and Kiri have been doing the same as us and only wanted to wait until the last moment to accept the invitation to participate in the Chunin exams" explained Ebizo making it clear that all the villages would be competing with their best ninjas.
"To define, what my brother means, is that we will have to assume the consequences of sending the most talented young ninjas of our village since there is a high probability that they will die in this year's Chunin exams" Chiyo finished explaining.
Everyone was silent for a few moments digesting the words of the Honorable Siblings.
At first, everyone was in complete agreement with what the Third Kazekage said, but now again Ebizo made them understand the pros and cons of the situation.
"That won't be a problem, I have full confidence in the ninjas we nurtured and trained in these 4 years, not only are they the best of their generation, but they were also trained 4 years, especially by our Suna Anbu to carry out these exams," said again with confidence the Third Kazekage while directing a glance at Skull, who soon understood what he intended.
Skull quickly placed several confidential Suna Anbu documents on the table.
Everyone present looked at the documents Skull placed on the table with intrigue.
"These are the candidates for this year's Chunin exams, personally chosen by the Kazekage-sama and trained under the Anbu corps for 4 years, all talented geniuses and experts in their fields" commented Skull as he showed the documents one by one to those present.
"I see, it looks like the Kazekage got some good seedlings, I must congratulate you, they are excellent ninjas and I'm sure they won't let us down in the Chunin exams" nodded the retired Second Kazekage in satisfaction.
"But really... these 6 ninjas can even be considered Genin, they are all at the strength and chakra level of an elite Chunin or special Jonin," asked the Seishin Patriarch dumbfounded.
"Oh, you don't have to worry about that Patriarch Seishin, they are all under 17 so we can make up any excuse to explain their status as Genin" clarified the Third Kazekage.
It was obvious that these ninjas could have become Chunin a few years ago, but as long as they are under 17 years old, you could still make any excuse like they failed to pass the written exam among other things.
And it is only up to 17 years of age since it is established that by custom after this age, all ninjas who remain as Genin must only be examined by their respective villages who will determine whether or not the ninja can become a Chunin.
So if a Genin over the age of 17 were to participate in the Chunin exams having already reached the level of a Chunin, it would not only make his village lose credibility but it is also extremely frowned upon by the general public.
"I see..., but if so, the other villages would likely think of doing the same," commented Patriarch Seishin again causing many to attend in agreement with what he said.
"Oh please Patriarch Seishin, we may not be the village with the most ninja but the talent of our young ninja is top notch and these ninjas were nurtured especially for this task, at the very least they should be able to succeed in these exams" clarified Patriarch Doku confidently.
"What Patriarch Doku says is true and I can attest to his words as two of the candidates are genius puppeteers of my clan" nodded Patriarch Chikamatsu proudly.
While Ebizo just wanted to bang his head against the table, he knew what the Third Kazekage had done.
Purposely selecting young and talented members of the clans that were usually against him in order to prevent them from opposing his ideas.
The worst thing is that the proud patriarchs of these clans don't even care to think that, as they have full faith in the geniuses of their clan.
'He knew they would react like that..... It seems that in this I can no longer intervene, the Kazekage played his cards well, I have to give him that' sighed Ebizo tiredly.