Ōnoki's mood crashed the second he looked at the document in front of him.
The whole thing went straight to shit.
It was Sunagakure's ransom list.
They'd walked into an ambush, lost a battle, buried over a thousand Iwagakure shinobi—including the Tsuchikage's own son—and now they still had to pay Sunagakure for the privilege?
Was there any justice left in this world?
But Ōnoki had no choice but to consider it.
Because Sunagakure had tied the ransom to the prisoners.
Three hundred plus captives, each one with a clear price tag. The numbers were insane—black-market bounty levels, some of them even higher.
Bringing back the bodies of the dead Iwagakure ninjas cost extra too.
And Sunagakure had sorted everything by priority, just to squeeze Iwagakure for every last coin.
Bodies first.
Then middle-aged and older genin.
Then middle-aged and older chunin.
Then young genin.
Young chunin.
Middle-aged and older jonin.
Young jonin.
All ranked by strength and potential.
They wanted Iwagakure to bleed as much as possible.
"Too much."
"This price is fucking outrageous."
If he had any real choice, Ōnoki would've rather every single prisoner died in Sand hands.
But that wasn't happening.
Sunagakure hadn't killed any of them. They'd even let the captives write letters home.
That put Iwagakure in an impossible spot.
How the hell were they supposed to face the village and all those families if they didn't bring their people back?
But paying the ransom would cost Iwagakure way too much.
"Worst part is, all that money goes straight into building more Sun Disks."
"Sunagakure only gets stronger."
"Once they have enough of those things, no other village will even be able to get close—let alone attack."
"Is this why Sunagakure keeps provoking Konoha?"
"Except Konoha gets provoked and Iwagakure takes the beating."
Ōnoki's face twisted.
"Sunagakure isn't even killing the prisoners?"
"Aren't they worried these Iwagakure shinobi will come back later and kill them?"
Rasa wasn't worried at all.
These captives weren't strong enough to matter.
The resources they could ransom for one new Sun Disk were worth far more to Sunagakure than the risk.
"The price is too high. Iwagakure can't pay this much. We need to negotiate."
The two villages haggled hard.
One side fought on the front lines.
The other side argued over numbers.
They eventually hammered out a price both sides could barely stomach.
The Iwagakure prisoners who got ransomed back felt like absolute shit.
Ōnoki was glad they were coming home.
But every time he thought about how much it cost, his heart bled.
"Rasa is too fucking greedy."
"Completely shameless."
And there was still the problem of whether any of those prisoners had been turned. They'd need watching for a while.
...
Land of Lightning.
Kumogakure.
"Raikage-sama!"
The Fourth Raikage met with the Sunagakure reporter.
"What's the process for this interview?"
The reporter answered.
"Lord Raikage, we usually give you the questions, you answer them, and once we're back in the village our editors pick the best parts."
"They'll run in the Ninja World Big Events Weekly."
"But don't worry, Lord Raikage—we will never change your actual words."
"Truth is one of our core principles!"
The Fourth Raikage nodded.
"Got it. Let's start."
"Yes, Lord Raikage."
Just like Rasa expected, the Raikage had agreed to the interview for one reason only—fuck over Konoha.
Drive a wedge. Create chaos inside the Leaf.
That would give Cloud the perfect opening to attack.
Beat Konoha and take everything they wanted.
Besides the Byakugan, there were plenty of other Konoha treasures the Raikage had his eye on.
Like the Flying Thunder God technique.
He still remembered it clearly—back in the war, he and Killer B had led Cloud's army and were dominating the Leaf forces.
Then that guy showed up.
Minato Namikaze.
With one Flying Thunder God, he shut down both the Raikage and Killer B completely.
Stopped Cloud's entire advance cold.
The Raikage had never forgotten it.
Cloud didn't get the results they wanted—that was one thing.
But it also tanked the Raikage's reputation across the entire ninja world.
He'd always been one step behind the Yellow Flash.
Minato became the Golden Flash. The Raikage and Killer B became the stepping stones.
Even now, when people talked about the strongest shinobi alive, the Fourth Raikage's name never came up.
He'd wanted another shot at Minato. Wanted to beat him fair and square.
But Minato was dead. That chance was gone forever.
"Our Cloud envoy team really was invited to Konoha by the Leaf."
"The infiltration of the Hyuga compound? That was all Hiruzen Sarutobi's idea. Otherwise our people never would've had the balls. That's the heart of Konoha territory."
"Getting caught was way too likely."
"If they had been caught, the consequences would've been catastrophic."
"Not just for the operative—Cloud Village would've taken the hit too."
The Fourth Raikage dumped every bit of blame on Hiruzen.
Like Cloud had been nothing more than innocent bystanders.
"Honestly, I never expected one of our Cloud ninjas to die."
"I'm pissed about that."
"Hiruzen Sarutobi was the one who promised us a pair of Byakugan as compensation."
"Only now do I realize he was using us to suppress the Hyuga clan and get rid of Hizashi at the same time."
"Cloud Village got played by Hiruzen Sarutobi too."
"If the Hyuga clan wants someone to blame, they should blame Hiruzen!"
When Rasa read the full interview, he couldn't help shaking his head.
"This Fourth Raikage's shamelessness puts even me to shame. Straight-faced lying like that."
"Still… once this interview drops, will the Hyuga clan really be able to stay quiet?"
"They'll become the laughingstock of the entire ninja world."
"Hiruzen's going to lose his mind. Konoha and Cloud will be at each other's throats."
"Sunagakure doesn't have to worry about fighting three villages at once anymore."
Rasa smiled.
"And my points are about to explode."