Naruto: Iron Kazekage

001 - Embezzlement, Bribes, and a Good Ninja

The shinobi world. Land of Wind. Sunagakure. The Kazekage's office. Elder Chiyo and Elder Ebizo sat on either side of the seat that symbolized the Kazekage's authority, both of them stern enough to quiet a room with a look. Gaara, newly appointed as the Fifth Kazekage, sat upright behind the desk.

Temari and Kankuro stood behind him, their faces tight with worry. Across from Gaara sat a middle-aged man in formal robes. He was the Wind Daimyo's envoy. Several Sunagakure jonin were present as well, along with the heads of the village's shinobi clans. Every face in the room was grim.

All eyes were fixed on the door to the Kazekage's office. Dozens of chunin crowded both sides of the room, whispering among themselves in low, restless voices.

"Silence."

Chiyo's voice cut through the murmurs. "This hearing is now in session."

Temari took a breath and ordered, "Bring him in."

Two shinobi moved toward the door at once. Outside the Kazekage's office, Katsuro Sunahara stood in the corridor in his Sunagakure jonin uniform, staring at the closed doors as his thoughts drifted. Eight years had passed since he woke up in the world of Naruto.

During those eight years, he had relied on his own efforts to study and master every jutsu he could get his hands on.

By a stroke of fortune, he had also awakened Magnet Release, a kekkei genkai of enormous significance in Sunagakure. None of that was the part that mattered.

The important part was that after finally climbing his way up to jonin, Katsuro had never done any of this out of some noble devotion to Sunagakure. He simply wanted to live longer in this warped shinobi world.

So while he built his strength, he also made sure to cultivate favors, debts, and useful friendships. After all, Katsuro believed one thing above all. The world was not won by violence alone.

It ran on favors, debts, and knowing whom to help, whom to owe, and when to collect. That truth held up even in a world where strength decided almost everything.

As he spent more time with his fellow shinobi, Katsuro gradually discovered that the civilian-born ninja at the bottom of Sunagakure lived brutally hard lives. They had to take dangerous missions. They had to worry constantly about poverty. Worse, the resources available for their training were pitiful.

For an ordinary B-rank jutsu, some civilian shinobi could spend their entire lives without ever getting a chance to learn it. And because Sunagakure was poor, the mission pay they could earn was painfully low.

Every time Katsuro thought about that, he could not help cursing Rasa, the Fourth Kazekage, for having his priorities completely backward. With that much gold at his disposal, why was the village still starving?

How had it been allowed to rot?

The higher-ups in Sunagakure loved to talk about "the village's future" whenever they needed people to endure more hardship.

As someone with no roots in this world, Katsuro did not care much about mission pay. As long as he could keep himself fed, he could manage. The local shinobi did not have that luxury.

From then on, Katsuro began using his mission pay to support colleagues who needed help. Little by little, more and more shinobi became his friends.

Whenever they went out on missions, the shinobi who had received his help were always the first to put themselves between him and danger. They formed a living wall around him without being asked, all to make sure he would not be harmed.

As Katsuro's strength grew and his reputation in Sunagakure began to spread, the village leadership quickly took notice of him. During the Konoha Crush, not long ago, Katsuro had single-handedly protected Temari, Sunagakure's princess in all but title, and the others as they fled Konoha's Anbu.

Because of that, he had been promoted to jonin. He gained subordinates of his own, along with a certain amount of authority. After that, Katsuro began using the access his rank gave him to siphon money on a massive scale.

Then he turned around and used every ryo of that illegal income to support the subordinates who needed help.

Even the orphaned children of shinobi who had died in war received compensation from him. That was not all. He even cooperated with wandering ninja scattered across the Land of Wind. Most of the time, he would have those wandering ninja shake down nobles and wealthy families.

Then, when those nobles came to Sunagakure for help, Katsuro would accept the mission, stage a public crackdown, and drive the wanderers off. Afterward, he split the mission fee with them. As time went on, more than a thousand Sunagakure shinobi received his help.

Among them, quite a few were able to stop worrying about their families because of him and devote themselves fully to standing with him. Some became his subordinates.

Others, grateful for what he had done, came to regard him with something close to faith. That kind of arrangement was never going to stay hidden. When Katsuro once again cooperated with wandering ninja and pressured the Land of Wind's daimyo into paying out a fortune, something finally went wrong. The result was simple: the daimyo learned everything.

He sent an envoy directly to Sunagakure and demanded that the village make an example of Katsuro. Sunagakure could not defy the daimyo's order. So, in the end, Katsuro was arrested and thrown into prison. Back in the present, Katsuro was still staring at the closed doors when they suddenly opened.

Two chunin walked over quickly, their posture respectful.

"Lord Sunahara!"

They did not treat him like a criminal. If anything, their eyes were full of reverence. Before Katsuro could answer, the dozen or so shinobi lined up behind him all stepped forward at once. Katsuro glanced back once. His gaze passed over the faces full of devotion around him, and a faint smile appeared on his lips.

Then, calm and unhurried, he lifted his head and walked into the Kazekage's office. The moment he entered, the office erupted into noise. The shinobi standing along both sides turned as one. Their eyes snapped toward him.

Some looked fanatical. Some clenched their fists. Most of them seemed to have been waiting for him. Others were so nervous that sweat had broken out across their foreheads. The ones who looked fervent and expectant were shinobi who had benefited from Katsuro's generosity.

The nervous ones were the people who had maintained backroom arrangements with him over the years. If Katsuro said something he should not, they would be heading to prison with him. Katsuro remained calm. He ignored the gathered shinobi and walked straight to the desk. Only then did he lift his gaze.

He looked at the daimyo's envoy, whose expression had darkened. The rest of the room turned on the envoy too.

"Jonin Katsuro Sunahara."

Under the sudden, invisible pressure bearing down on him, the daimyo's envoy swallowed hard. He forced himself to steady his nerves and spoke in a low voice.

"The evidence is conclusive. You colluded with wandering ninja and used threats to coerce the daimyo."

"In addition, according to the Anbu investigation, since the day you became a shinobi, you have embezzled a total of five billion ryo. Do you admit it?"

"Yes."

He gave a single nod.

"In that case," the envoy said, relief creeping into his voice, "hand over the stolen funds."

"The Anbu searched your house from top to bottom, yet they found only two hundred ryo."

"Then explain where the five billion ryo went."

"Who helped you hide or distribute the funds? Answer honestly."

The entire office fell silent. In that silence, tension gathered like a storm. When some people heard that Katsuro had embezzled a full five billion ryo yet had only two hundred ryo in his home, their expressions shifted before they could hide it. Almost every shinobi present knew how much Katsuro had helped them over the years.

They had not expected that after embezzling so much money, he had not kept a single coin for himself. Others, however, began to panic when the daimyo's envoy asked about accomplices.

"No one else touched it."

Katsuro did not hesitate. "I spent it all myself."

"Katsuro, take this seriously."

Conflict flickered across Temari's face, and anxiety slipped into her voice despite her effort to hide it.

"According to the Anbu investigation, you have no assets under your name. The house you live in was assigned by the village, and you haven't replaced a single piece of furniture in eight years..."

"How could someone like you possibly spend five billion ryo alone?"

It sounded less like an accusation than a defense. Worry showed plainly on her face. But even the Kazekage could not defy an order from the daimyo. What could she do?

Katsuro rolled his eyes.

"I like lighting cigarettes with money. What, is that illegal too?"

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