Naruto: Rebuilding the Hidden Sand

"This exchange gathering has been a worthwhile experience for both our villages' younger generation. It may even allow them to become friends across the divide. When the opportunity arises in the future, for the sake of the relationship between our two villages, I genuinely hope Lord Kazekage will visit Konoha again."

Before the Sand Village delegation departed, Minato and a group of senior Konoha figures had come specifically to see them off.

Though compared to the welcoming party upon arrival, the numbers were somewhat smaller.

Neither Danzo nor Orochimaru were anywhere to be seen.

Beyond Minato and the senior figures, the Konoha competitors who had participated in the exchange gathering had also come out to offer a farewell out of courtesy.

The sun was already low on the horizon, the sky about to darken into evening.

Minato had not expected Yuji's group to be in such a hurry to leave, but understanding that the Sand Village genuinely had many pressing matters to handle, he made no effort to delay them.

Besides, this had been the first exchange between the two villages, and the atmosphere throughout had been only moderately warm at best. Both sides could feel this.

"Are you truly that welcoming of another visit?" Yuji said to Minato with a handshake and a mildly teasing tone.

"Of course," Minato replied with a warm smile.

Yuji's gaze drifted slightly to one side and landed on Kushina standing nearby.

This was the first time he had seen her since arriving in Konoha. Long red hair, a gentle appearance, genuinely beautiful. No trace at all of the fierce and feisty quality she was known for in the original story.

Her abdomen was visibly round with pregnancy. The child growing within was, of course, Uzumaki Naruto.

Normally Kushina would not have been comfortable making this kind of appearance in public, but she had made the effort specifically to be present for the farewell to the Sand Village delegation as a gesture of courtesy.

"Have you settled on a name for the child yet?" Yuji asked.

"We have a few thoughts but nothing confirmed yet. Ha," Minato replied with a sheepish laugh.

"Then congratulations in advance. A father who is Hokage and a mother from the Uzumaki clan. I trust this child's future will be something extraordinary. I am genuinely looking forward to seeing it." Yuji said this simply.

The words actually gave Minato a brief moment of pause.

"Thank you," he said.

Beyond the two of them, the members of both villages were exchanging parting pleasantries in their own small groups.

Although there were still many old scores unsettled between the two villages and certain lingering resentments, this exchange gathering had still produced some genuine effect.

Most notably for the younger competitors. Kakashi and the others were still young enough that their feelings were less complicated than the adults'. After trading blows with each other, they were actually quite willing to open up a little toward their Sand Village peers.

Kakashi addressed Pakura directly with sincere respect, telling her that his defeat had been completely convincing, and expressing hope that they might one day have another chance to fight.

Might Guy immediately jumped forward, somewhat dramatically, and declared plainly that he intended to surpass Pakura, issuing her a direct challenge on the spot.

Pakura's reaction was relatively cool. She appeared to barely register either of them as being worth her attention.

Meanwhile Shira, Amaru, and the other younger Sand Village fighters exchanged small gifts with their Konoha peers as mementos.

"Those two children are remarkable. If your Konoha ever decides not to keep them, you are welcome to send them to our Sand Village."

After a brief exchange of words, Yuji's gaze settled on Uchiha Itachi and Shisui standing somewhat apart from the others at the back of the group, and he said to Minato with unmistakable deliberate meaning.

The moment the words left his mouth, Sarutobi Hiruzen beside Minato shifted slightly in expression.

He had caught the Kazekage's implication clearly.

This was a pointed reference to Konoha's current lurking crisis.

The Uchiha clan.

"I am afraid that is not my decision to make. You would have to ask them directly," Minato replied with a quiet laugh, having also read the layers beneath Yuji's words perfectly.

Then Yuji led his group away.

The escort seeing them out of the Land of Fire was again Jiraiya.

"Lord Third. What is your reading of all this?"

After watching Yuji's group disappear at the far end of the road beyond the village, Minato finally let his smile fade and turned to look at Sarutobi Hiruzen beside him.

"This generation of Sand Village fighters has genuinely improved their overall strength considerably. The Third Great Ninja War allowed them to acquire substantial ninjutsu resources, and looking at the exchange gathering's results, some of their fighters have trained a relatively diverse range of elemental techniques rather than remaining narrow in focus. Their foundational knowledge is also quite solid, suggesting they have received specialized training."

Hiruzen exhaled a slow breath of pipe smoke.

"But several of their fighters rely heavily on external tools and implants. Particularly the eye technique enhancements. Their innate talent, while relatively solid, still has some gap compared to ours when the external augmentation is stripped away. This includes that Pakura as well."

"Without the Byakugan, she would not have been able to deploy the Hyuga clan's Gentle Fist, and her taijutsu would have been considerably reduced. Her actual strength would have been affected significantly. She certainly would not have swept four matches in a row. Based on her own bloodline limit and her personal strength alone, she could plausibly have beaten Kakashi and Hizashi, those two at most."

"If we are talking about someone who genuinely did not benefit from any external augmentation and was relying purely on their own natural gifts and village training, only that puppet corps fighter stood out as truly brilliant on his own merits. Especially in how he held his own against Guy's taijutsu assault, and the way he handled those puppets. It demonstrates that beyond the medical system, the Sand Village's puppet corps is also evolving."

Hiruzen said this in a low deliberate voice.

"This generation's strength improvements can largely be attributed entirely to the Fourth Kazekage's influence," Homura added in agreement.

"The Sand Village has recruited a number of bloodline limit users and talented individuals. They appear to be integrating them well, though we have not yet seen this translating into visible strength increases from those newer additions."

"The Fuma clan had their secret techniques but their foundational level was quite poor."

Minato listened through all of this and summarized his own reading.

"In theory, the reason the Sand Village is as strong as it currently is comes down specifically to one person. The Fourth Kazekage himself. That is genuinely somewhat frightening."

"Oh?" Hiruzen glanced at him.

"Several years ago I never once won a single exchange against him. Seeing him this time, I also wanted to quietly take a measure of where he stands now."

Catching Hiruzen's look, Minato rubbed the back of his head with a somewhat rueful smile.

"Not that I was thinking about winning exactly."

"It is just that..."

His expression sharpened slightly as he shifted his words.

"If there is one person in the ninja world I absolutely cannot afford to lose to, it is only him."

"But what I felt this time is that he has become even stronger than before. It is a kind of intuition."

"Where before I might have been able to fight him to a meaningful contest, now the Fourth Kazekage gives me a feeling that I cannot quite see through him anymore."

"Perhaps that is just my imagination."

Hiruzen was quiet for a brief moment after hearing this.

"Strength itself is not what should frighten you. What matters is whether you have confidence in yourself."

"Ha ha ha," Minato laughed quietly.

"You are both village Kage now. Whatever you carry is the same in weight. Whether you are outstanding enough is not something you decide by talking about it. And what you decide today cannot determine the future."

Hiruzen said this and turned to walk away.

Minato remained standing where he was.

At the level he had reached, his perceptiveness, experience, and intuition meant that even without crossing blades with someone directly, simply reading their eyes and sensing their presence gave him a reasonably reliable judgment of their strength and the degree of danger they represented.

He genuinely wanted to fight Yuji one more time.

But both of them carried the responsibility of being a village's Kage now. Neither of them could simply act freely on personal inclination.

So all he could do was take external readings to estimate the other man's current level from a distance.

He had originally believed that since Yuji had stepped back from the frontline during the war while Minato himself had lived through the entire Great Ninja War and emerged on the other side, the gap between them would have narrowed somewhat.

But this meeting had left him with an invisible pressure coming from Yuji that was actually larger than anything he had felt in their past encounters.

This left Minato feeling somewhat at a loss.

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