Before the new Daimyo's succession, there was something even more important for all the ninjas of Sunagakure.
That was the recommendation and selection of the Kazekage candidate.
Another day passed.
In the early morning, a great sun slowly rose at the end of the desert.
Along the wide canal banks, willows swayed gently, forming patches of oasis.
The bustling docks were now under stricter management, with teams of Sunagakure ninjas patrolling and working.
Today was a big day for everyone in Sunagakure.
"Is everyone present?"
The Third Kazekage, wearing a white Kage robe, stood in the Kazekage's office, asking the Anbu beside him.
"Elder Ebizo is still in the royal capital overseeing the overall situation, and Karura is escorting the former Daimyo's ninth son. Apart from them, there are fourteen Jonin currently on missions outside the village and unable to return temporarily. These sixteen votes have all been transferred to others to cast on their behalf."
"The remaining one hundred and thirty-one people have already been gathered in the conference room by Elder Chiyo."
The Anbu ninja knelt on one knee, reporting to the Third Kazekage.
"Then let's begin."
The Third Kazekage's eyes flickered slightly as he turned and left the Kazekage's office, soon arriving at the conference room.
Over a hundred Jonin were kneeling neatly on cushion-like seat pads.
Some had solemn expressions, while others were whispering to each other.
These people formed the most important combat strength of Sunagakure, the core power that allowed Sunagakure to firmly hold its position as one of the five great ninja villages, and an important bridge connecting the Sunagakure management and the grassroots ninjas.
Shimizu's expression was calm as he sat in the front row.
Those sitting around him were either Jonin with very old qualifications or those who held important positions in various departments of Sunagakure, with relatively higher status among the Jonin.
Of course, the status of these people did not differ significantly from that of other Jonin.
This was a transcendent world where strength was everything; as long as you were strong enough, your status would naturally be higher.
Moreover, Shimizu was the protagonist of this event.
Therefore, his position was at the forefront among all the Jonin.
Opposite him was Rasa, with a complex expression, and slightly behind him was Ebisu.
Everyone had already tacitly agreed that their strength surpassed that of other Jonin.
Actually, Ebizo, Karura, and Chiyo should also be included, and even, if necessary, the One-Tail Jinchuriki, Bunpuku, who lived in seclusion in the temple, could be counted in this group.
However, Ebizo and Karura were occupied with other matters, while Chiyo was an elder and advisor, currently sitting on the stage, preparing to assist the Kazekage in presiding over the Jonin conference.
As for the One-Tail Jinchuriki, Bunpuku, he had not appeared publicly for several years.
With age, coupled with the past flaws in Sunagakure's sealing techniques, and the fact that he did not possess any powerful bloodline, Bunpuku's body had been eroded by the Tailed Beast chakra to a very weak state as early as several years ago, and he was likely to go berserk at any time.
When Shimizu had just graduated from the Ninja Academy, in order to avoid significant losses caused by the Tailed Beast going berserk, Bunpuku was transferred to a temple on the outskirts of Sunagakure, guarded by the Anbu.
Apart from a disciple named Houichi who served him daily, Bunpuku could only come into contact with the Anbu and the higher-ups of Sunagakure.
Although Chiyo had invented the Great Burial Sealing Technique this year, a powerful sealing technique with the ability to seal Tailed Beasts, greatly reducing the probability of a Tailed Beast rampage, Bunpuku's body had been eroded by the Tailed Beast's chakra for many years after all.
However, now that there was Uzumaki Ayane, a member of the pure-blooded Uzumaki clan, Sunagakure was not very worried about this aspect; they only needed to transfer Shukaku to Uzumaki Ayane's body before Bunpuku could no longer hold on.
Now, the Third Kazekage even planned to directly arrange the marriage between Uzumaki Ayane and Sata in order to give birth to descendants with the Uzumaki bloodline as soon as possible.
The latter was quite reluctant; Sata did not want to give up an entire forest for one tree. With his face and the position of a Sunagakure Jonin, most of the trees in the forest could be dug up.
These things were not Shimizu's concern.
When the Third Kazekage slowly walked into the conference room and sat down in the seat of honor, the conference room fell silent.
"Jonin, the reason for gathering everyone here today is to hold a meeting to recommend the village's Jonin, Shimizu, as a Kazekage candidate.
The recommendation process for this Kazekage candidate is exactly the same as the process after the candidates are elected in the Kazekage election. The Kazekage and many Jonin of the village will vote to decide. If the nominee receives more than two-thirds of the total votes, they will go to Kyoto to obtain the Daimyo's approval and become a Kazekage candidate.
If there are any objections, please raise them within three minutes."
The Third Kazekage looked at the Sunagakure Jonin below and spoke.
Regarding Shimizu and what he had done, no one needed to introduce him to these Jonin who occupied a certain position in Sunagakure.
Even Sunagakure villagers who paid a little attention to current affairs mostly knew Shimizu's name.
From the time the canal was successfully built two years ago, Shimizu's name was mentioned quite a bit during that period.
As the youngest genius Jonin and a disciple of Elder Chiyo and Elder Ebizo, whose status was second only to the Kazekage, Shimizu truly entered the eyes of Sunagakure ninjas at that time, and accumulated his first reputation through the construction of the canal, and relied on his companions in the puppet squad to pull up his first team.
At that time, he was just a very promising rising star in the village. Even Chiyo did not expect that in just two years, Shimizu would be qualified to run for Kazekage candidate and lock in the position of the Fourth Kazekage.
And last year, Shimizu successfully awakened Magnet Release and fought the Third Kazekage in the training ground, which made people realize that the genius had grown so quickly that he was qualified to compete for the Kazekage position and possessed top-notch combat power in the ninja world.
But at that time, most Sunagakure ninjas generally believed that Rasa, as the Third Kazekage's disciple and older, was more competitive. No matter how talented Shimizu was, he would have to wait a few more years before he could compete with Rasa.
So from that time on, some people began to invest in Shimizu.
Some of these people disliked Rasa, some believed the Third Kazekage wasn't ready to retire, some thought Shimizu might surpass Rasa in the future, and others were hedging their bets.
But no one expected Shimizu to rise so quickly.
Even if your strength improves rapidly, you still need to spend time building your own faction, attracting Jonin, gaining votes, and accumulating enough merit and prestige, right?
Even if your teachers are Chiyo and Ebizo, two powerful elders in Sunagakure holding multiple positions, which can help you avoid many detours, in non-war years, it would still take several years, right?
As a result, Shimizu once again refreshed these people's views.
The emergence and popularization of the new puppet techniques and breathing methods earned Shimizu a great deal of prestige and support.
In the field of puppetry, he has become a figure that no puppeteer can avoid, just like physics students can't avoid Newton, Einstein, and Maxwell.
His reputation among puppeteers has reached its peak.
The appearance of breathing methods and swordsmanship improvement classes has made almost all the Jonin in Sunagakure owe Shimizu a favor.
Because the breathing methods did indeed improve their strength.
Moreover, the chakra-powered vehicles and various production lines brought about by the new puppet techniques have also greatly increased Sunagakure's mission quota and the income of ninjas.
Although the number of missions these ninjas need to undertake is also increasing.
Anyone with discerning eyes could see that Rasa's skills were no match for Shimizu.
If the Third Kazekage, the top leader of Sunagakure, favored Rasa, and Rasa himself worked harder and stood up, there might still be a chance.
But now it seems that the Third Kazekage has made a decision and chosen Shimizu, who can bring more value to Sunagakure.
Otherwise, without the Kazekage's approval, this meeting to elect a Kazekage candidate wouldn't even be possible.
Rasa has no chance anymore, and there is no suspense about whether Shimizu can take the position of Kazekage candidate.
Those who can become Jonin are not fools, and naturally know what to do.
Without a single mistake, first to last, one inside, one appearance, one existence, one by one!
No one wants to be targeted in the future, even if a small number of people have grudges against Chiyo and Ebizo, they will not vote against it at this time.
With the overall situation settled, they didn't even abstain, but voted in favor, so that they could reconcile in the future.
Casting this vote may not lead to reconciliation, but not casting it will make reconciliation much more difficult in the future.
Shimizu is only a teenager now, which can ensure that this faction will not weaken for decades to come, and may even gain dominance in Sunagakure.
Chiyo and Ebizo have great power, but they are only elders, not Kazekage, and cannot control them.
But it's different if their disciple becomes Kazekage.
As long as there are no irreconcilable conflicts, even if they pay a price, they hope to resolve them.
No one wants to become marginalized, or even targeted, along with their disciples and descendants for the rest of their lives.
Just like the saying goes, when you are strong enough, everyone around you is a good person.
The first person to vote was Sasori.
He was promoted to Jonin a week ago after completing an S-rank intelligence verification mission, and was the last Jonin to be promoted, so he was the first to vote.
At the same time, he is also the youngest of the more than one hundred Jonin in Sunagakure.
Becoming a Jonin at the age of thirteen and a half, only a few months later than Shimizu, ranks among the top three in Sunagakure's history.
Sasori took the ballot, nodded to Shimizu, and cast his vote in favor.
After him, it was Yūrajō En.
The Blood Pond Clan has been out of touch with the current ninja world for a long time. Even though Yūrajō En has the strength of an elite Jonin, he was promoted by the Third Kazekage only after undergoing certain training and completing some difficult missions.
He naturally voted in favor as well.
One Jonin after another cast their votes into the box representing approval.
Several Jonin in the middle cast two or even three votes, because they were voting on behalf of some Jonin who could not return to the village in time, and had obtained the other party's opinion before voting.
If they couldn't be contacted, then that vote would be passively counted as abstention.
Before long, the transparent box representing approval was full, and there were only two lonely votes representing abstention.
These represented two Jonin who didn't have time to reply.
As for those against, there wasn't a single vote at the moment.
Soon, it was Yekura's turn to take the stage.
She winked her beautiful eyes at Shimizu and put the ticket into the transparent box that was about to be filled.
In fact, at this point, there was no need to continue voting.
The total number of votes had long exceeded two-thirds.
But the procedures that should be followed still had to be followed.
Rasa's face was cold. He put the vote representing Karura into the abstention, then a look of struggle appeared on his face. He looked up at the Third Kazekage sitting quietly on the high platform, then turned to Shimizu, who was looking at him. Finally, he stiffly stuffed the ticket into the approval box, and then returned to his original position without looking back, closing his eyes.
From this moment on, he truly lost, because even he himself had made an act that could be regarded as surrender.
Rasa could only use the reason that Shimizu could bring more benefits and value to Sunagakure than him to convince himself.
"Shimizu, it's your turn next."
Chiyo, standing under the stage, looked at her disciple and said.
"Then I won't be pretentious."
Shimizu naturally put his vote into the approval box.
Anyway, the final result was already determined, and there was no need to act, as that would seem too deliberate.
"Ebizo and I also vote in favor. The vote representing Monk Bunpuku is abstention. Third Kazekage, it's your turn."
Chiyo put the three tickets in their respective places and turned to look at the Third Kazekage.
"I also approve."
The Third Kazekage walked down the stage and cast his own vote with a solemn expression.
"Let's start counting."
"Is there even a need to count? A total of one hundred and forty-eight votes, zero votes against, four votes abstaining, one hundred and forty-four votes in favor. The Jonin trust vote is passed and takes effect immediately."
Chiyo glanced at the people in the conference room, then turned her gaze to Shimizu.
"I announce that after the new Daimyo takes office and passes the final procedure, Jonin Shimizu will automatically obtain the position of Kazekage candidate in Sunagakure, have the absolute right to inherit the next Kazekage, and have the right to make decisions on all matters of the village, second only to the Kazekage!"
I wish you brothers all get Susanoo Kakashi with the first 100 draws!
