Chapter 11: Fine Qualities
If he remembered correctly, in the original timeline of this war, he had risen to prominence on the battlefield against Kumogakure by using Magnet Release: Gold Dust to repel their invasion and protect the village. It was through that brilliant performance that he rightfully earned the title of Fourth Kazekage.
But looking at his current situation…
No matter how he looked at it, there was no way he could leave this front, let alone show off on the Kumogakure battlefield like before.
Hidden beneath the sand, Rasa rubbed his chin thoughtfully. Still, over the past two months, he had made quite a bit of progress. Starting from early each morning, he worked hard at gold panning, and about every day and a half, he could afford a ten-pull from the system's gacha. After two months, he'd done around five to six hundred pulls in total.
And yet…
The drop rate remained abysmally low.
Most of what he got was useless junk, with a few minor attribute boosts sprinkled in. As for true 2-star items? He had only pulled three in total—adding to the rare 2-star Chakra card he'd gotten in the beginning.
All in all, that meant roughly one 2-star item for every 100 or so 1-star pulls.
The rates were brutal.
Still, with so many attribute boosts piling up…
Rasa had to admit he'd become significantly stronger. The repetitive mechanical movement of gold panning had also drastically improved his control over Magnet Release. At this rate, he figured it might actually be possible for him to seal the One-Tail in a one-on-one confrontation in the desert.
Of course, if he wanted to pull off anything close to the legendary "Ninja God" style stunts… he still had a long way to go.
After all, the Nine-Tails alone could take on eight other Tailed Beasts, and the so-called "God of Shinobi" once used 9,999 wood hands to pin the Nine-Tails by the neck.
He was nowhere near that level yet.
Still, he had his own little victories. Like the mountain of assorted trash he'd collected—apple cores, pear seeds, kitchen scraps of every kind—he had carefully sorted and stored them all.
Most were utterly useless. But a small portion had odd descriptions like:
"Use it the right way, and you might be pleasantly surprised!"
He made sure to put those mutated kitchen wastes aside in a separate pile.
However…
So far, he hadn't found anything particularly special—just the same kind of food scraps he used to casually toss out after a meal.
Rasa looked out toward the distant Hidden Grass Village. Spring had already arrived, but the Land of Wind remained gripped by drought. No spring rain, not even a drizzle. Then again, rain was rare in the Land of Wind, regardless of the season.
The climate here didn't shift much throughout the year. And for shinobi who had long prepared for war, the weather posed no real obstacle.
Unfortunately, the battlefield on this front hadn't received any reinforcements. Most of Suna's available forces had been funneled into resisting the Kumogakure offensive.
So… losing here?
Kind of expected, really.
Sure, Sunagakure's puppet techniques could help make up for their numerical disadvantage, but not everyone was a skilled puppeteer. That level of control was rare.
And more importantly, without a Kage to hold the line, Suna was already fighting with half its morale gone.
To make matters worse, they were now up against multiple shinobi villages at once. Frankly, the fact they'd even managed to hold their position this long was already impressive.
Rasa had recently checked in on Suna's forces. The situation wasn't great. Compared to two months ago when he left, their numbers had noticeably dwindled, and many new faces were far too young and inexperienced.
He knew what that meant—Sunagakure had begun sending academy students to the battlefield.
It wasn't just them. Many villages had resorted to this practice. Though these clueless kids couldn't contribute much—and might even become liabilities if they panicked in combat—they helped boost headcount and morale.
In a war of attrition, sometimes, the illusion of strength was enough.
That's why a certain Hokage—who was always going on about leaves dancing in the wind—had pushed for early graduation during times of war. Not because it was ideal, but because it was necessary.
Some leaders liked slogans. Others simply issued commands, and left the details to their subordinates.
Sunagakure, for all its effort, still had a lower birthrate than even the future Blood Mist Village. No matter how many children they threw into the war, they could never match the numbers of the other hidden villages.
Everyone knew it, but no one could do anything about it.
As someone who might become Kazekage in the future, Rasa couldn't help but feel a pang of guilt when he saw those naive, wide-eyed children headed to battle.
After all, they were the future of the economy. If they all died… who would pay for his ten-pulls?
He looked toward the sky, sighed, and muttered:
"That's all… money walking out there."
That settled it.
Time to strike first.
Rasa narrowed his eyes, gazing at the distant camp of Sunagakure.
---
Though Iwagakure had chosen to pass through the Hidden Grass Village to directly invade the Land of Wind, putting the two villages into a temporary alliance—
Ninja alliances were never built on trust.
Even the closest allies would maintain a strategic distance during a war. That was true for both Iwa and Kusa.
So while they weren't far from each other, they weren't too close either.
Just outside Grass territory, on the other side, was Iwagakure's camp. As temporary allies, both villages would sometimes hold joint tactical meetings, especially given Grass's alliance with Konoha. There was always speculation:
Would Konoha get involved?
Would they intervene?
Maybe they could glean something from the Grass ninjas…
---
At that moment…
"Still no news from Hatotsu's advance unit?"
In a makeshift command tent, a slightly overweight middle-aged ninja wearing an Iwa forehead protector frowned at the shinobi before him.
"Given the situation… with that many jonin in the squad, even if they lost, there should've been some trace of them."
"Lord Kitsuchi," the Iwa shinobi said with a helpless shake of the head, "we've found nothing. Not even any sign of Rasa, the student of the Third Kazekage."
"The Third Kazekage's student? That one rumored to be mentally unstable after some kind of breakdown?"
Kitsuchi narrowed his eyes. "And they both vanished… at the same time?"
Could Rasa really be that powerful?
Had he gone down swinging, taking Hatotsu's team with him?
He couldn't figure it out. As the son of Third Tsuchikage, a man who had been through countless battles, even he couldn't explain how both sides just disappeared without a trace.
As for the Third Kazekage himself?
No need to guess—it had to be Konoha's doing.
His father was strong, yes, but to erase a Kage so cleanly, with no evidence left behind? Only Konoha had the power and precision for that.
Sure, that might've been a blow to Iwa's ego. They always claimed to be the strongest shinobi village, and often declared that Konoha was in decline.
But as the Tsuchikage's son, he had to know the truth, even if he didn't say it out loud.
Slogans were for show.
They were meant to attract mission clients. But if they started believing their own propaganda, they'd be finished.
"Keep investigating. If…"
If Rasa really was that strong, then the sacrifice of Hatotsu and his team hadn't been in vain. At the very least, Sunagakure wouldn't be able to replace him anytime soon.
But before he could finish the sentence—
"Lord Kitsuchi! Lord Kitsuchi!"
A panicked Iwa ninja rushed into the tent.
"What is it?" Kitsuchi snapped, eyes narrowing. "Why the panic? Have you forgotten our Will of Stone—resolute, unmoving, unshakable?"
"Yes, but… something's happening in the Grass Village!"
The shinobi took a deep breath, trying to steady himself.
"It seems… they've come under attack by an unknown enemy!"
"???"