The Beginning of the Great Chaos (2)

A couple of days later in the Konohagakure. In the Hokage's building, in the village center. The Third Hokage looked at the three newly appointed jonin in front of him in his office solemnly.

But, he already somewhat expected this news he got now so he resumed his usual look promptly, "You three really made an important discovery this time around!"

"So you'll be the first ones to hear about and participate in the so-called "Meritocratic Shinobi System" during the war."

The three of them all looked at him suddenly bewildered.

Even Yoshi himself was stunned, this was his first time hearing about this name in both of his lives.

"Haha, no need to be so surprised. This is just an easy to understand concept our Konoha's council decided to administer during this forthcoming war."

"The idea was originally created by the Lord Second, my teacher, but he sadly perished in the battle before he could turn it into reality. But, I, his student decided to carry on his wish, and implement this system into the Konoha myself during these hard times now."

"Because of the money shortage problem our village usually faced in the past during the great wars. We decided to start giving another form of payment to our shinobi during this war."

"This form of payment is in fact in jutsus from our incredible directory. You can pick any that you fancy, instead of the money, as long as its classification corresponds with your accomplished mission's rank," He smiled faintly and explained.

'Incredible, the Second Hokage was truly a genius. Not only it saves them money, but it also creates them even stronger and more motivated cannon-fodders for free.'

Yoshi thought inwardly, he was always a realist.

Anko and Kakashi appeared both really surprised and impressed by this concept.

"Here is the catalog of the available jutsu and their basic descriptions. Think about it carefully, you all can pick only one jutsu that is up to the A-rank like your mission was."

"Ordinarily you could pick only one A-rank jutsu for one A-rank completed mission. But considering the weight of the news you obtained and brought back this time around and your future incredible potential, I don't think that it's too wrong to reward you with two more for now," Hokage added again and smiled generously.

All three of them nodded seriously and began thinking about which one to choose while looking at the catalog on the table.

After a few minutes of silence, the Hokage finally asked, "And, what did you decide on?"

After skimming through the list of the available techniques, Yoshi unexpectedly found many techniques that suited him well. He made a good mental note out of all of them, wanting to take the remaining ones in the future.

'It seems like I must work hard in the future during the war to earn merits, some of these techniques are truly alluring to me.'

'This one looks like the best choice for now.'

"I'll take the "Water Release: Water Severing Wave" for now, Lord Hokage."

He currently lacked a genjutsu, single-point attack, and defensive techniques the most.

After kneading chakra in the stomach and converting it into the water, the user spews it out as a high-pressure powerful stream.

This technique cuts like crazy, he remembered when Tobirama used it to cut cleanly through the roots of the God Tree with ease in the original series.

Both the range and the power of this technique were superb, it's no wonder it appears to be classified as an A-rank in this book.

Hokage looked a little surprised by his choice and asked.

"Ah, yes, I remember you had water chakra affinity too, Yoshi?"

"Yes, Lord Hokage," Yoshi answered respectfully.

"Then this technique is really for you. It was one of the signature jutsus of my late teacher, the Second Hokage, we already mentioned. I hope you will learn it soon and continue carrying his legacy onto this world, in the future."

"I will do my best, Lord Hokage," Yoshi replied cordially again.

Hokage nodded satisfyingly and asked next.

"Kakashi, what about you?"

"I decided on the "Lightning Release: Shadow Clone Technique"."

Kakashi nodded and decisively replied.

This technique really suited him the best out of all the techniques listed there.

Both the potential applications and the chakra nature of this technique attracted him towards it.

"Good choice, I would've recommended this for you as well."

"But you must remember that this technique is just an incomplete version and currently only exists in theory. It was also created by my teacher, who sadly couldn't apply this technique in his lifetime ..."

Sarutobi sighed while thinking of his teacher sadly, today really brought him many unexpected memories.

'That man created this jutsu too? He's truly a genius and way underappreciated...'

'He maybe not be as strong as the First Hokage, but his intellect was unparalleled from the past to the present of this world...'

Yoshi always somewhat valued and admired people with strong intellectual abilities like Tobirama Senju the most.

And he strongly disliked foolish and shortsighted people like the Hashirama Senju who only relied on his strength in life.

If only he listened to his brother back then, then maybe the Land of Fire and Konoha would've already unified the whole world by now, achieving true peace.

But instead, he pursued his idealistic and utopian dreams of peace which ultimately resulted in a clear failure later on.

While he was thinking about all of that, the Hokage finally turned to the Anko and asked her what she chose.

The Team Sakumo already talked about their team's strengths and weaknesses before.

Anko knew that she had to choose some kind of genjutsu now that both the Yoshi and Kakashi choose attack-type ninjutsu themselves.

And the best A-rank genjutsu of this book was...

"I'll choose the "Bringer-of-Darkness Technique", Lord Hokage!"

"Are you sure? That technique is really dangerous Anko, even for me..."

"Yes, Lord Hokage, I already read the description for it. But, I believe that this jutsu will work well in the synergy with Yoshi's sensing ability," Anko replied while glancing at Yoshi for a bit, full of confidence in him.

Yoshi looked at her too nodding slightly.

"That's good too!" Hokage nodded and stood up from his chair suddenly.

"Then, I won't take any more of your time. You can go and rest now!"

"You'll be notified in the case of emergency dispatch."

"Yes, Lord Hokage!"

The three of them all replied swiftly at the same time and left the office.

While standing up, he moved closer towards the only window in his office.

While looking at the prosperous and lush village down bellow, he was quietly thinking,

'Iwagakure already started acting, so the other big villages will follow soon too...'

'And they all want the same thing!'

'The total destruction of my entire village!'

"But, I won't allow them to do that!"

- - -

On the other side of the world, in the village hidden in the middle of a desert, Sunagakure.

In the Kazekage's Office, in the room where the statues of all the Kazekage reside.

An important meeting deciding the future direction of this village was taking place.

The Honoured Lady Chiyo sat at the head of the table.

To her right was her brother Ebizo, and to her left was a mysterious masked shinobi.

Down to the large table sat various Suna Council elders.

Chiyo started speaking solemnly,

"Ten days have already passed since the Third Kazekage mysteriously vanished...'

"I officially announce that the selection of the new Kazekage will commence now!"

"As the head of this council, I formally nominate the Sunagakure's jonin, Rasa, to succeed in holding this position!

"Who agrees with me, raise your hand!"

Amazingly, all the people present sitting on the table, raised their hands.

But it wasn't that surprising when you think about it, considering that Rasa was currently one of the truly strongest people in the whole village.

He was personally mentored by the Third Kazekage in the use of the rare and precious Magnetic Release, he was uniquely able to control specs of the gold dust to do his bidding.

He also possessed a good intellectual ability and was quite ruthless in nature.

A perfect combination for the Kazekage!

The only one who could objectively compare to him right at the moment out the whole village was Pakura of the Scorch Release.

She was also in her early twenties like Rasa, and she was also a Sunagakure's jonin,

But, the problem with her succeeding in the position of the Kazekage was actually very simple, the problem was that she was a woman.

The woman being a Kage was unprecedented in the whole history of the world, and Sunagakure wouldn't want to make such a risky move at the moment.

The masked man sitting on the left of Chiyo would be a good choice himself.

His strength was tremendous and unpredictable, no one survived a battle against him before.

But, he's just like a pure killing machine, such people are way better suited for the battlefield and the dark than the light!

He was also the leader of the Sunagakure's version of Anbu black ops, and there is no one left to take care of this important position if he becomes the next Kazekage.

"Alright, since you all agreed, Rasa will tomorrow formally take over the title!"

"The next matter of today is..."

After a long day of hard work, Chiyo finally managed to get back to her own home.

Her home is made all out of hard sand like the majority of the homes here in this village.

She was just looking through the window of her room while thinking about something.

"Who!?" All of a sudden, she yelled, her hands already in the air ready to summon her distinguishing puppets to fight the intruder thereafter.

"Granny, it's me!"

A unique-looking teen suddenly entered the room.

He had wide greyish brown eyes and short, mousy red hair.

He wore a purplish robe with the Sunagakure forehead protector.

"Sasori, where on earth were you during all this time!?"

Chiyo shouted excitedly and run towards him and hugged him promptly.

"What do you mean where was I? I was clearly engrossed in my puppets workshop..."

The boy answered emotionlessly.

She suddenly stopped holding him, looked at him with a face full of shock.

Looking at his emotionless, but now slightly playful look, she thought of the one really bad possibility!

"It seems like you realized it, He just said plainly while smirking a little.

"No, you didn't..." Chiyo looked at him while thinking about something gravely, her heart shattering to pieces.

Sasori grew up in a sad and lonely environment due to the absence of parental love.

When introduced to the art of puppetry by her, he grew a little happier.

He eventually created puppets in the likeness of his parents, but when he realized that the puppets couldn't give him the actual love that he desired, he became cold, aloof, and led to his general disregard for human life.

Sasori's innate aptitude for the art also became apparent, and he even began to devise masterful ways of eliminating a puppet master's weaknesses in battle.

Motivated by his desire to make works that last forever, Sasori began experimenting to create puppets out of people.

These puppets were unique in that they were made from the still-living bodies of humans.

These human puppets were more versatile than regular puppets, since, in addition to having many dangerous devices installed within them, they were also able to use chakra and perform any techniques or Kekkei Genkai abilities that they possessed during their life.

Being the developer of this form of puppets, Sasori is also the only one who knows how to create them in the whole village.

In the end, he even changed his own body into a human puppet body, eliminating his last traces of humanity effectively.

He even went so far as to state that he would feel nothing if she, his grandmother, died, as he claimed that his heart had become like his puppet body, without any emotions.

Chiyo collapsed on the floor, tears spilling down from her eyes onto the ground then.

"Why did you do it, Sasori just why...?"

He looked at his grandmother now veiling on the ground, without any traces of human emotions left in his eyes, only a deep apathy.

"Isn't this obvious? I wanted to test my limits and make an ultimate human puppet for my collection at the same time!"

"I made a real piece of art with his body, want to see?"

Chiyo suddenly looked up at him both sadly and angrily at the same time.

She was currently getting torn between her family and her village.

Should she pursue him for this, or not?

Seeing her like this, Sasori opened his mouth again.

"You don't have to worry about this, granny," Sasori nodded a little and then continued.

"I already promised the Third Kazekage that I will fight for this village during the upcoming war!"

"He said that we will need all the strength possible for this war, he told me to tell you not to pursue me..."

"He was truly an honorable man and a strong opponent."

Sasori said plainly, remembering how he sneakily ambushed and poisoned him outside the village, then how he kidnapped him to his secret hideout cave somewhere in the desert.

Then how the Third Kazekage suddenly woke up from the previous paralysis induced by the poison. Stood up again thanks to his sheer willpower, and began fighting him fiercely in that state.

The winner was clear, but the memory of that battle, and that amazing man, became deeply engraved into Sasori's brain. He'll probably remember that day for the rest of his life!

Once he said all of that, he suddenly turned around and continued speaking further while walking away,

"Remember to take care of the matter of my previous disappearance."

"Is that man still alive? It's really good that way."

Sasori muttered from the back, his face in the shadows, and couldn't be seen.

However, even though he claimed that he lost all his emotions before, there was still one emotion remaining present on his face right now, fully visible,

It was the thirst for vengeance!

- - -

Konohagakure, the council's secret meeting room.

The Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, was sitting at the head position of the table.

Konoha's advisors, Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane, were also seated on that same table.

The leader of the Konoha's Root, Danzo Shimura, was also there.

"I can't believe that you allowed Sakumo to sit down this war..."

"You truly aren't well suited for the position of Hokage," Danzo looked at Sarutobi full of contempt.

"Are you crazy, Danzo? You have no right to mention that man's name, if not for you..." Sarutobi stood from his chair furiously, he really looked angry this time around.

"Alright, alright, let's start talking about that thing next..." Homura patted him on the back and said.

"Sigh..."

"Okay, now, we're going to pick the commanders for the future battlefronts!"

Sarutobi started announcing afterward,

"Our regular Konoha shinobi and the Anbu forces will have to split into four directions."

"Jiraiya will be the commander of the shinobi forces stationed on the Konoha-Iwa battlefront."

"Orochimaru will be the commander of the shinobi forces stationed on the future Konoha-Kumo battlefront."

"Tsunade will be the commander of the future Konoha-Suna battlefront, but Shinsuke will be there to assist her."

"As for the Kirigakure..."

"You want to hear our opinions first, am I right?" Koharu suddenly interjected.

"Yes," Sarutobi sighed and replied honestly.

"What's there to discuss? Aren't we going to send the majority of Uchiha and Hyuga on that front, make Fugaku Uchiha their commander, and those two twins, their vice-commanders!"

All three of them looked at Danzo surprised after he exclaimed that.

"No need to be so surprised. If we make Fugaku their commander, the Uchihas will be less suspicious of us and fight more openly," Danzo replied eloquently. They already talked about this matter just a few minutes ago.

The majority of Hyugas will have to enter the future Konoha-Kiri battlefront to counter the Kiri's famous Hidden Mist technique, either way. But, sending the majority of Uchihas there as well, was his personal idea.

What's is Uchihas' main chakra affinity and the nature they use? Fire.

And what are the most common chakra nature and the affinity of Kirigakure? Water.

He doesn't doubt for a second that sending Uchihas there will be their demise. They'll probably come considerably weakened than the rest of the Konoha after that war.

Sarutobi initially opposed that idea, but with both Danzo and the two counselors agreeing, he had to accept it in the end.

Koharu and Homura are very realistic people always aiming towards the best possible solutions for their village.

And, they know that the Uchiha clan grew too strong in recent years, too strong for Konoha's safety. The status quo needs to be reset again so that internal problems don't appear in the future.

"Really ruthless, Danzo, and what will you be doing during this war?" Sarutobi sighed and asked next.

"That's none of your business," Danzo replied seriously.

And that really was none of Hiruzen's business...

Danzo had the total autonomy to do whatever he wanted with his forces, even during wartime,

As long as it doesn't damage Konoha's interests!

Looking at how Danzo was talking to their Hokage, both Homura and Koharu sighed hard,

'Did you even forget who gave you that autonomy in the first place, Danzo?'