Ryosuke indeed had to make a trip to the Land of Wind.
On one hand, it was to deal with Shinnō and the Sky Ninja Corps, and also to dig out the patrons hidden behind them.
On the other hand, as one of the few major ninja villages that actively sought the help of the Awakening Ideology, Sunagakure was a place where Ryosuke always wanted to have a direct talk with the Kazekage.
It was said that the Fourth Kazekage, Rasa, aside from the portion of his time spent on government affairs, used almost all the rest of his time to refine his ability of gold dust manipulation and earn money from mining gold, supporting the village that way.
Rather than saying he was a ninja, it was more accurate to say he was a gold miner.
As for why the Fourth Kazekage had to support the village in this way, the reason was very simple,
The military funding provided by the Land of Wind was completely inadequate.
But was the Land of Wind really short of money?
The answer was no.
Everyone knew that the desert was hiding a great amount of oil, minerals, and rare resources.
The financial groups of the Land of Wind had long since earned overflowing profits from these resources, but they were unwilling to take out a portion of this wealth to provide to the ninja village and commoners.
Just from this point alone, Ryosuke felt he and the Fourth Kazekage would have no shortage of topics to talk about.
The final reason to go to the Land of Wind was Iwamine Motoko.
Several months ago, she had set out for Sunagakure to provide guidance and teaching.
Originally, the agreement was to return after one month, but because of various matters, she had delayed again and again.
Ryosuke decided to take this chance to finally see her again.
The war council concluded, and Tsunade dismissed everyone.
The meeting room became empty and desolate, leaving only Ryosuke and Tsunade.
Tsunade took off her glasses and set them on the table, "When do you plan to depart?"
"Today."
"So urgent?"
Ryosuke nodded, "Shinnō can treat a Sky Fortress as just a disposable demonstration piece.
Either he's a madman who gambles everything just for the sake of gaining their favor; or, he has even more backup plans, with more resources to build a second, even a third Sky Fortress."
Judging from General Hōjaku's memories of Shinnō, he was insidious, cunning, beast-hearted under a human face, and absolutely would not choose to gamble everything in one go.
The failure of the Second Great Ninja War had made him accustomed to "hiding."
Whether it was Shinnō himself hiding in the back, or hiding away more backup cards.
The Land of Sky's territory was small, resources were scarce, producing one Sky Fortress was already its extreme limit.
If Shinnō could afford to spend one, that proved that long ago, perhaps that night of the Kyoto Water Garden Festival, or even earlier on the day Ryosuke slew the previous Daimyo of the Land of Water, he had already made contact with the Land of Wind and obtained a certain amount of resources.
The longer time dragged on, the more those resources would be converted into military power.
Ryosuke disliked the idea of long nights and many dreams.
"I understand."
Tsunade nodded, "I will send someone to accompany you. If needed, the intelligence ninjas buried in the Land of Wind will also provide you support."
Ryosuke did not refuse.
He was confident in his own strength, but he also knew very well that many times fists alone could not solve everything.
After finishing discussion of official business, Tsunade leaned on the desk, lightly pounding her shoulder with her hand.
"Once this matter ends, I can finally relax just a little."
Ryosuke thought of another matter. "If you happen to have time…"
He took out a thumb-sized glass vial from the ghost room, inside sealed a tiny bit of pitch-black ash.
"Would you be interested in adding one more research project?"
"Research?"
Tsunade took the small vial, held it before her eyes, and examined it carefully.
A faint pale-green light emitted from her hand, flickering continuously, clearly activating several medical ninjutsu.
'Inside this… I can feel a rich life force… and very familiar, wait!'
Tsunade looked at Ryosuke, eyes wide with shock, "The Cult of Evil God?"
Ryosuke nodded, "The so-called 'Holy Grail' that the mad cult leader spoke of, do you still remember?"
Of course Tsunade did.
Her right hand pressed over the location of her heart.
Although the scar had long since healed, the several days of piercing heart-wrenching pain, Tsunade swore she would never forget them in this lifetime.
All that pain, all that loss of life force, had been for the creation of that so-called Holy Grail.
Ryosuke continued, "In the Battle of the Kyoto Water Garden Festival, I 'captured alive' the Holy Grail, using that word might not be appropriate, but in short, I brought most of it back here in the form of ashes."
After arriving at the research institute, Hidan's ashes constantly absorbed surrounding life force, attempting to reassemble and regenerate.
This clearly surpassed the category of ninjutsu, and perhaps only divine miracles of the Evil God could explain it.
This discovery shocked the cognition of many researchers in the institute.
But thinking more carefully, don't tailed beasts also resurrect freely?
Even after death, tailed beasts don't even leave ashes, yet they can revive with full memory intact.
"What do you think?"
Tsunade shook the glass vial in her hand. Only then did she notice that the vial itself was specially made, able to isolate against the absorption of life force.
"The 'Holy Grail Ritual' molded Hidan into something like a tailed beast's creature?"
"No."
Ryosuke voiced his suspicion, "I suspect, the real Hidan already died during the ritual. The one that survived is a monster possessing Hidan's memories, but with soul and body entirely from the Evil God… or rather, condensed from the will of 'self-destruction.'"
"Your idea is too bold."
Ryosuke shrugged.
"It's only my speculation. The specifics will depend on the researchers' results… interested?"
Tsunade held the vial up to her eyes, smiling.
"Outside of work, I ought to have some personal hobbies. Count me in."
Ryosuke looked at her strangely. "I thought your hobby was gambling?"
Tsunade smiled faintly.
Ever since becoming Hokage, she hadn't gambled in a long time.
Because back then, she could afford to lose everything. But now…
"There are too many things around me worth cherishing. I can't gamble them, and I can't afford to lose them."
Ryosuke nodded, stood up, and bid farewell.
Just as he was about to leave the meeting room, he remembered, "You said earlier, about letting a ninja accompany me to the Land of Wind, who is it?"
Tsunade did not answer. She looked out the window. At this moment, the morning sun was rising, and the village bustled with prosperity.
"The Third left me quite a few difficult problems."
"Some are external, like shortage of manpower, the village lacking young successors."
"Some are internal, like mistakes in history, the 'sacrifice' of people who should not have died, splitting people's hearts apart."
Tsunade turned to Ryosuke and said seriously,
"I am a greedy person. The former, I have already begun to solve. As for the latter, I also want to start solving."
Ryosuke pondered for a moment, then slowly nodded, "I know who it is."
Tsunade smiled. Leaning back in her chair, she closed her eyes to rest, her slightly drowsy voice drifting, "When you leave, please close the door for me."
"Alright."
Ryosuke walked out of the meeting room, about to close the door, when he thought for a moment and instead pulled out a blanket from the ghost room and tossed it over.
"At least cover your stomach."
With that said, he closed the door and left.
Tsunade caught the blanket and muttered softly, "What a strange obsession."
Though she said that, she still obediently covered herself with it.
Ryosuke exited the Hokage building and arrived at the elevator. Kakashi, who had been waiting on the side for some time, pressed the button to open the doors.
The elevator opened, and the two of them stepped in.
"When do we depart?" Kakashi asked.
"Now."
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