Red sand dust

In a place where the desert intersects with the Gobi Desert, Daimaru, Yeme and Qian have been squatting here for a long time.

The so-called defense definitely does not mean hiding behind the city wall and being beaten passively.

The gathered Iwa ninja can perform large-scale joint earth escape. In the face of such ninjutsu, no matter how strong the fortress is, it cannot guarantee that it will be foolproof.

After Fuga's death, it is conceivable that the Iwa ninja will definitely take revenge.

The experienced Fuyi did not intend to just wait for the Iwa ninja to be ready before attacking calmly; instead, he took an active defensive strategy and allowed the ninja team with stealth combat capabilities to shuttle back and forth within 20 kilometers near the fortress. And relying on more than ten advance bases, they continued to harass the approaching Iwa Ninja.

There is a fortress not far away as a backing. Once the situation goes bad, they will retreat and wait for the Iwa ninja to be negligent before making a comeback.

Teams that have the ability and confidence to take the initiative to attack are elite Sand Ninjas and have extremely strong survivability.

On the premise that the goal was not to kill, but just to harass and delay, the Suna Ninja's losses actually became smaller.

This gave the inexperienced Sunagakure Village genin enough time to adapt, but it also made the small number of elites even more exhausted.

There weren't many genin teams qualified to do missions alone.

As one of the genin teams with high hopes, Daimaru, Yeme and Qian have already attacked several times, but unfortunately they have not achieved anything.

It's not that he hasn't encountered any enemies, it's just that Daimaru is cautious and unwilling to take risks when the odds of winning are low.

"It's not a bad thing to be cautious. It's better to lose face than to lose your life."

Daimaru, who had failed several times, still responded to the doubts of his colleagues with a magnanimous smile.

Yoshikan, the nominal captain who knew the performance of Daimaru and others, had no concern for this. He entrusted all the powers of the captain to Daimaru and concentrated on the heavy work of treating the injured.

The caring gravel also agreed with Daimaru's choice.

"Asking genin to assume the responsibilities that belong to chuunin or even jounin makes us senior ninjas very incompetent. It is too much to ask too much. Just do your best!"

Daimaru will never let down his guard just because of one or two successes.

Until today, I finally encountered an enemy that seemed very confident to deal with.

In the evening, after the Iwa ninja team that attacked the northern fortress retreated, they dispersed into groups of twos and threes and spread their guard over several kilometers nearby.

The two Iwa ninjas accidentally walked into the area of ​​influence of the scent illusion chakra that Qian had arranged in advance.

Through Yami's observation, he had roughly figured out that within ten minutes, there would be no Iwa ninja around who could provide timely reinforcements, so Daimaru made up his mind to attack the two Iwa ninjas.

One of them was a little older, about 28 or 29 years old. He had injuries on his body and lost too much blood. His energy was a little low.

The other man was about the same age as Daimaru. He didn't have the burly figure of most Iwa ninjas, but instead looked unusually thin.

"In the relationship between seniors, the older chuunin take great care of the younger chuunin. They are not very wary of each other, so they are easy targets!" 』

Letting Yeme and Qian keep their distance and follow behind them, Daimaru sneaked away from the older chuunin who was keeping vigil, and approached the young chuunin who was already asleep and defenseless.

"Send you a sweet dream that you will never wake up from, boy!" As a price, your body was requisitioned by me! 』

The invisible star puppet thread gently entangled the young chuunin of Iwagakure Village, corroding his spirit, and then completed the control silently.

After a while, the life and death of this young man who was still full of expectations for the future depended on Daimaru's thoughts.

Control it to open its eyes and sit up.

Another older chuunin heard the noise and came over.

"Why...are you so scared that you can't sleep? Don't worry, our people are all around, and the Suna ninja don't dare to come here!"

As he said that, the older chuunin patted the other party's shoulder and said with a smile,

"Your mother had the foresight to entrust you to my care. You are still too timid. You need to practice more!"

As he said that, he handed over another kettle.

"You're sweating profusely. It's so ugly! Drink some water and go to bed early. You will be kept vigil in the middle of the night!"

After giving him an encouraging look, the older chuunin was about to turn around and leave. Suddenly, his throat was strangled by a steel wire stretched out from behind.

"What...are you going to do?"

no answer.

The young chuunin, whose eyes glowed with blue light, showed no intention of relaxing at all.

Daimaru, who was hiding his figure, silently stretched out the star puppet string and entangled the older chuunin.

More than a minute later, the two Iwa ninjas, who had been completely controlled, stood side by side in front of Daimaru.

"A chuunin who is awake is much harder to control than a chuunin who is asleep." Strong will, fierce resistance, and abundant chakra will improve the enemy's ability to resist the Star Puppet Thread! 』

It would be much easier if you were unprepared, or even in a coma.

Therefore, when performing this move in the future, you must also pay attention to concealment and control the enemy before they are aware of it.

"Daimaru, what should we do next?"

Qian's idea was to kill them and then go back, bring evidence, and silence those who suspected that they were not doing their best.

Daimaru smiled and shook his head.

"We finally have the opportunity to buy it, how can we just go back like this?"

What kind of assassination is most effective?

A backstab from an acquaintance, of course? We finally came across two easy-to-get Iwa-nins, and it would be a shame not to take advantage of them.

…

Before dawn, Daimaru, Yami, and Sen returned to the northern fortress with a bunch of Iwa ninja forehead protectors. The Chuunin Suname who was responsible for recording the results of the battle was shocked.

"Eleven forehead protectors?"

After three genin were out attacking for a whole day, their combat achievements were too exaggerated. Even if three chuunin were out, it would be difficult to achieve this.

"No matter how powerful you are, you will die if you are hit in a vital point!"

If it weren't for the excessive killing and the strong smell of blood, which made it increasingly difficult to hide himself, Daimaru even thought he could kill a few more.

The vigilance of the Iwa ninjas is much worse than imagined. It seems that Wenya's death did not teach them a lesson!

Perhaps they felt that they had more people on their side and the Suna Ninja who were guarding the defensive line would not take too many risks.

This is indeed the case. The few harassment teams have not achieved very good results. Before this, only Gaara, Temari and Kankuro were active and made many achievements, while the others were lackluster.

Looking at the blood-stained Iwa Ninja forehead protectors, it obviously doesn't look fake.

"Are you...Daimaru? It turns out to be you! You are indeed a restless guy..."

Suname put away the action report of Daimaru and his team.

"If you are injured, go directly to the medical class for treatment. There are not many people there now, and the medical ninja on duty should not have rested yet!"

"No need!"

Because there were less head-on confrontations, the three of them did not suffer much damage. However,

"Qian, Yemu, go get some medical supplies, detoxification pills, bandages and so on!"

"Aren't you going?"

"I still have something to do!"

With that said, Daimaru quickened his pace and left.

"Why does Daimaru always hate going to medical classes?"

Looking at Daimaru's back, Yeme asked doubtfully.

"Ame and Koji are both there, probably because they don't want to see annoying people!"

Qian replied with a helpless smile.

Ignoring the passers-by, Daimaru bypassed the busy area and came to a remote rooftop. While munching on dry food, he watched the dim sun rise over the desert.

"Actually, what's the matter?" I just wanted to find a place to relax after killing someone! 』

Ninja is not an innocent profession, and Sand Ninja cannot tolerate indecisive people, not to mention this is a battlefield.

Daimaru didn't feel uneasy because his hands were full of blood, he just needed to think about his future plans quietly.

Not long after waiting, a familiar voice came from behind.

"It turns out to be here! Let me find it easily..."

"Kankuro, what do you want from me?"

I've been too busy these days. Apart from going out to fight and do tasks, I just come back to resupply and rest.

In such a state, people's mental pressure is extremely high, and they basically have no social needs.

Apart from occasionally meeting and saying hello, acquaintances mostly go about their own business.

"Temari, Gaara, and I came back a little later after you and saw your achievements. We killed eleven people. What an exaggeration!"

"Good luck this time!"

Daimaru smiled and didn't explain much.

"Consider it just luck!"

Kankuro sat next to Daimaru,

"In the past, you would have started bragging about the reputation of Lord 'Red Sand Dust', but now you are watching the sunrise here calmly, which is a bit strange..."

"It's quiet here and gives me something to think about!"

"You've changed a lot recently, making your teammates a little worried about your mental state!"

"Is this happening?"

Daimaru was stunned. He really didn't expect that Chiwa Yami would notice something unusual about him.

"Did Qian tell you?"

"No, Temari heard it from Qian, and then asked me to ask..."

"I can't be happy about your concern!"

Daimaru laughed and said,

"I just want to be quiet for a while!"

"You used to be a very easy-to-understand idiot; you are still very stupid now, but it feels a little hard to figure out..."

"War makes people grow up. After all, I am over sixteen years old, and my worries are different from yours!"

The conventional standard of adulthood in the ninja world is sixteen, and I have seen some Daimaru who have children at this age.

"You're still worried! Why don't you think it's enough to make Temari look at you differently?"

Kankuro couldn't believe that Daimaru, who was always too lazy to use his brain, would actually have other ideas.

"There is no conflict! Self-achievement and winning Temari's favor can be accomplished together!"

Daimaru patted Kankuro's shoulder.

"A few days ago, the Gravel Jonin hinted that if I perform well enough, I will probably be promoted to Chunin!"

"So fast?"

Kankuro asked strangely,

"Your performance is good, but I, Temari and Gaara are not bad either. Why doesn't anyone mention it?"

"Who said your father is the Kazekage? Or the dead Kazekage! If you don't show impeccable abilities, it's impossible to be promoted! Before I become a chuunin, you have no hope!"

Precisely because of Daimaru's existence, the standards of genin have been raised a lot, and the performance of the three siblings that should have been convincing is no longer so outstanding.

"Congratulations!"

Kankuro was a little bit sour and a little envious. If one of the three siblings was promoted to chuunin, their situation would definitely be improved a lot.

"You won't have to wait too long for my promotion, so don't worry!"

Compared with them, other genin are really far behind.

"Then...what are you thinking about?"

"What should I do in the future?"

"Do you still need to think about this? After becoming a chuunin, work hard to complete the mission and strive to be promoted to jounin as soon as possible..."

"What a simple thought!"

Daimaru smiled,

"What about after becoming a Jonin?"

"After that? Protect the village, try your best to make money, and collect more interesting puppets!"

"Have you never thought about becoming a Kazekage? Do you still remember that short yellow-haired melon from Konoha Village who kept saying that he wanted to be a Hokage? Can't you be a bit promising?"

"Kazekage?"

Kankuro was a little hesitant;

"It seems too difficult! Do you want to be a Kazekage?"

"That's not true!"

Born at the same time as Gaara, there was basically no hope.

Next, as Gaara enters youth, his strength will increase rapidly, leaving Daimaru far behind.

This process cannot be reversed. In the Sand Hidden Village where the Kazekage lacked, Gaara was simply born to become the Kazekage. The right time, place and people were favorable, and no one could compete with him.

What's even more irritating is that the eyebrowless brother-in-law is more than four years younger than me. He is younger but still stronger. Once he takes Feng Ying's position, he may not move for decades.

It's really boring to have to wait with my brother-in-law to see who will live longer.

The road to becoming the Kazekage is dead, so what should Daimaru do?

With Sunagakure Village's current thirst for talents, as long as he works hard a few times, he is very likely to be promoted to Jonin in two or three years.

Then what……

The Fourth Ninja World War was a battle of soy sauce, and my wife and children were on the bed for the rest of my life. Even if I faced Temari, a beautiful girl, every day, it was a bit too monotonous.

"I just said that you have changed, but I made a mistake!"

Kankuro stroked his forehead and said,

"Can't even a jounin satisfy your restless heart?"

Daimaru rubbed the back of his head somewhat depressedly.

"It's not that I want to cause trouble. Even if I think about it with my heels, I can guess the trajectory of my future life! The future that can be seen at a glance, the world that remains unchanged, do I have to do something?"

The mission of sealing the Ten-Tails Jinchuuriki can be left to aspiring young people. Daimaru doesn't care about the vanity that comes with fame.

I just feel like I have to do something for the people I care about so that I can live up to the pain of a lifetime.

"Tell me, where are you going to start?"

"First of all!"

Daimaru tilted his head and thought for a moment before replying,

"Open a hot spring hotel and let the beauty-loving girls in the village frequent them. They can always keep their skin smooth, eliminate fatigue, anti-aging and remove wrinkles. The business should be good..."

Before Daimaru finished speaking, he saw Kankuro looking at him with an idiotic expression.

"I am indeed a big fool for believing that a guy like you can have great ambitions!"