Chapter 120 A Letter from a Strange Woman
After that day, many people in Akatsuki knew that their leader Shiba Kiyokawa had developed a new ability.
Everyone was happy about the leader's improved strength.
But only the parties involved know the price.
For the next few days, Uzumaki Kaoru would blush and avoid her every time she saw her, and Konan for some reason temporarily took over Kakuzu's job, quietly becoming his little follower, following him wherever he went.
Even when Xiaonan is working, he will always be followed by a lazy long-haired ragdoll cat - that is the ninja cat that Xiaonan has contracted, with a pair of lake blue gemstone-like eyes, and its name is Lan.
Konan was not interested in the Cat Hometown Scroll at first. Her natural Paper Style Ninjutsu was enough to exhaust all her energy. Especially after her little sister Hydrangea's contract failed, she voluntarily gave up trying in order not to disappoint her good sister.
But later, influenced by Shiba Kiyokawa, she signed the contract again.
As a result, Shiba Kiyokawa now feels like he has shot himself in the foot.
He discussed it with Lan.
"Good cat, here's a can of dried fish for you. Can you go play with Xiaoyu?"
Lan narrowed her eyes, looking at him with a half-smile, her expression actually revealing a 70% human cunningness. In an instant, she became a dramatic figure, turned around, and deliberately meowed in a pinched voice.
"Meow, did you hear that? This guy gave me dried fish so cheaply, what a heartless person~"
From the corner behind Lan, Xiaoyu jumped out with a hurt look on her face, looked at Shiba Kiyokawa and said, "Niao~ Too much! I risked my life to help you blind that big snake, and you only gave him three cans of dried fish, niao!"
"..."
At this moment, Shiba Kiyokawa's heart seemed to turn into an emoticon.
(╯‵ ′)╯︵┻━┻
How come even cats want to play Shura Field with me?
It wasn't that he had to get Lan to do something, it was just that he had too many secrets.
But just at this moment, a letter was delivered by an unknown psychic beast.
Lan sniffed from a distance and immediately revealed a subtle expression.
"Meow~ It smells like a strange woman. It's all my nose's fault~"
Shiba Qinghe rolled his eyes at her, too lazy to pay attention to this drama-loving ninja cat who was addicted to teasing him.
God knows how such a simple girl like Xiaonan got a contract with such a tea-smelling cat.
He opened the letter and read it quickly.
It's a bit unexpected, but also seems reasonable.
The letter was sent by Ye Cang.
"It looks like our Acting Kazekage is not having an easy time." Shiba Kiyokawa said with a chuckle after putting down the letter.
This result did not deviate from the prediction he made when they parted.
After all, Ye Cang had been away from the village for more than half a year. Moreover, even before she left, she was always at a disadvantage facing Luo Sha. How could it be so easy to turn the tables?
This is clear from her current title - she is only the acting Kazekage.
Now, several days have passed since the big news of Rasa and Sarutobi Hiruzen's abdication. The two villages have surprisingly remained consistent in their follow-up handling of the incident, and neither immediately announced the appointment of the new Kage.
Konoha let Minato Namikaze temporarily take over the position of Hokage, but he is still only wearing the Hokage half-sleeves and no formal succession ceremony has been held.
And it seems that he has no intention of returning to the village to succeed the throne in the short term. He just asked Nara Shikaku to go back to help take over the internal affairs and duties of the Hokage.
The situation in Sand Village is even more complicated and confusing!
Ye Cang became the acting Kazekage, but also failed to obtain the official recognition as the Fifth Hokage.
Its nature is the same as that of Danzo who participated in the Five Kage Summit in the original work. He is just a temporary substitute, not a formal successor. In Konoha, such an agent will not even leave his portrait on the Kage Rock.
Until now, Ye Cang's title is still just the Acting Kazekage, not the Fifth Kazekage! Obviously, Ye Cang, who has been idle for more than half a year and has no foundation, has not been able to complete a complete reversal even if he brought Sasori back.
So much so that just a few days later, she was forced to start writing letters to Shiba Kiyokawa.
-
Go back in time a little bit.
In the Sand Village, a young Anbu who was still the size of a little kid instantly entered the Kazekage's office, half-knelt on the ground and reported to Ye Cang.
"Lord Kazekage, the village's funds are already very urgent, and the commander on the front line is urging when the next batch of ninja tools and puppets will be replenished. Excuse me, how should I respond?"
Ye Cang sat in his seat tiredly and couldn't help pinching his eyebrows. After a long while, he spoke in a hoarse voice.
"Juan, get up. I told you that you don't have to bow to me when you come here. Just continue to call me teacher as before."
Juan, Ye Cang's little apprentice, and also the one who will seal her in the future in the original work (the picture above is Juan in the four wars in the original work).
Now he is the only confidant in the village whom she can completely trust.
Unfortunately, no matter how talented Juan is, she is just a little loli now and can't help her much.
“If the commander at the frontline urges us to do so, let Elder Qiandai go and appease him. That person was promoted by her in the first place!
If I need funds, I'll ask Luo Sha to go into the desert and dig for gold! Hasn't he always been in charge of this job? What? He doesn't want to do it now?"
After rolling up, Ye Cang asked tiredly and irritably.
Now that so many days have passed, she no longer has the energy to even be angry.
Her explanation was enough to reveal her current predicament: none of the important positions in the village were in her hands, either promoted by the elders or left by Luo Sha. Even the financial lifeline of the village was not in her hands.
Even though Luo Sha resigned from the position of Kazekage, he is still an important figure in the village just by virtue of his gold-mining ninjutsu!
In the original work, Luo Sha was able to sell Ye Cang to Kirigakure, but on the contrary, the newly appointed Ye Cang did not dare to touch Luo Sha easily.
This made Ye Cang feel deeply exhausted.
Juan also noticed the teacher's embarrassment, but she didn't know how to comfort her, so she could only report everything.
"Lord Luosha...he said that he had a conflict with an oasis city in the north of the desert recently, and asked...Lord Fengying to deal with it as soon as possible. He said that he can't go out to pan for gold until it is dealt with."
"Excuses! They're all fucking excuses!" Ye Cang slammed the table in anger and couldn't help but swear.
Juan lowered his head, and was so sad that he almost cried.
Of course, she could see that Rasa Jonin was just making excuses.
But what can we do?
They were completely powerless in the face of each other.
After a long while, Ye Cang leaned back on the chair weakly and murmured, "North of the desert, that place... should be very close to the Rain Country."
When she said this, a complicated look flashed in her eyes.
If she had a choice, she really didn't want to take the initiative to contact that nasty kid Shiba Qinghe again!
Obviously, the last time was the first time she was able to hold her head high in front of that guy and get back a point. Now that she goes back to beg him so soon, doesn't it seem like she has been completely fooled?
But... in this situation, apart from seeking help from the Akatsuki organization in the Rain Country and the young man who always took advantage of her and took advantage of her, she really couldn't think of any other way.
Thinking of this, she suddenly felt very angry, but she was too weak to struggle.
Never mind, I'll just let him take advantage of me. It's not the first time anyway.
With a desperate attitude, she arranged: "I will write a letter to the outside of the village. Juan, do you know the name of the oasis city that Luo Sha mentioned he had a conflict with?"
Juan answered honestly: "Lord Luosha said: That place is called Loulan."
(End of this chapter)
