The Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, had become Rasa's greatest imaginary enemy.
Rasa kept a close eye on all intelligence regarding Minato, but the deeper he looked, the more complex his emotions became. He was consumed by jealousy. He envied Minato for having a true scientific genius like Hiruko at his disposal.
In Konoha, Minato's word was law, backed by a flourishing village. Meanwhile, Rasa had been thrust into leadership only to inherit a crumbling mess in Suna. He spent his days desperately patching holes and putting out fires.
Minato never had to worry about the village's treasury; Hiruko was constantly reeling in massive capital for the Leaf. In stark contrast, Rasa had to lead his ninjas into the scorching desert to pan for gold just to keep the lights on.
Minato enjoyed a harmonious family life with a loving wife, while Rasa had lost his spouse at a young age. Konoha was a deep reservoir of rising talent, while in Suna, Rasa was the only one left to shoulder the burden, constantly forced to beg for help from retired veterans like Chiyo and Ebizo.
The more he thought, the more Rasa regretted his past decision. To consolidate his power and eliminate potential rivals, he had conspired to sacrifice Pakura, a powerful and loyal kunoichi. If Pakura were still in Suna, he wouldn't be standing so alone now.
At this moment, Ebizo, the seasoned advisor, spoke up based on their latest espionage reports: "Konoha's ability to mass-produce Wood Style users relies entirely on a specialized serum developed by Hiruko."
"Can we find a way to steal a few samples and crack the secret?" Rasa asked, his eyes shimmering with desperate hope.
If Suna could obtain the serum, they might decode the mystery of Wood Style, giving the village a second powerful bloodline to rival their Magnetic Release. If Suna possessed Wood Style, surely the Wind Daimyo wouldn't bypass his own ninjas to send money to the Land of Fire.
However, Konoha's security regarding the serum was airtight. Every individual involved underwent multiple rounds of political background checks. Final distribution required Minato's personal authorization. Furthermore, the injection had to be performed on-site, using a machine Hiruko designed for "genetic tuning." Without that tuning, the resulting Wood Style was fragile and unstable—there were simply no loopholes to exploit.
Ebizo shook his head, shattering Rasa's fantasy. "We aren't the only ones eyeing it. Almost every power in the Five Nations is salivating over Wood Style. After all, that is the power of the 'God of Shinobi,' Hashirama Senju. But Konoha's control is too strict. There is zero opportunity."
Since every Leaf maneuver was flawless, Rasa could only vent his "incompetent rage" in his office. He never imagined his own Daimyo would show such utter disregard for Suna's interests.
The Wind Daimyo's decision to hire Leaf ninjas was based on two new mandates:
To protect the newly created oases and prevent desertification, the use of large-scale destructive ninjutsu was strictly forbidden in non-desert zones to avoid environmental "pollution."To protect the greenery, timber harvesting was banned, and destructive development of non-desert terrain was prohibited.
These bans were a direct strike against Suna's greatest weapon: the One-Tails, Shukaku. Combined with AOE jutsu like Sand Waterfall Funeral or Wind Style techniques that could slice down a forest, the village's combat doctrine was being strangled. It even threatened the Puppet Brigade; in the future, they might have to import the very wood needed to build their puppets.
As for Hiruko's Gundam Unit, the core "chip technology" remained a black box. Rasa had managed to acquire a few chips, but his researchers couldn't fathom how they performed the high-speed calculations that allowed civilians to pilot war machines.
In the desert, Suna ninjas still held the advantage. But once the land turned into oases, that advantage evaporated—and those were exactly the places where Leaf ninjas were now active. As green plants swallowed the yellow sands, Suna's living space was being systematically squeezed.
Rasa's fury reached a breaking point. He slammed his fists onto his desk, splintering the wood. "Insolence! This is pure insolence! Minato Namikaze... you've gone too far!"
His eyes were bloodshot, veins bulging. His chakra surged uncontrollably, mixing with the sand in the room until the air itself seemed to vibrate with his golden-flecked aura.
Elsewhere, in the Land of Sky, Shinno had finally completed the restoration of the Zero-Tails.
He looked at the creature—a massive-headed monster inscribed with the kanji for "Zero," wreathed in dark chakra. He let out a long breath of relief. "Finally... success."
"I wasted a great deal of time, and it is currently weak, needing to devour massive amounts of chakra. But as long as it is revived, returning to its peak is only a matter of time."
Strictly speaking, the Zero-Tails was an artificial construct. It was inferior to the true Tailed Beasts, but its relative weakness made it much easier to control. True Tailed Beasts required Jinchuriki and years of synchronization—and creating a Jinchuriki meant sacrificing a potential genius. Perfect Jinchuriki were rare miracles.
The Zero-Tails absorbed "Dark Chakra." This not only allowed it to recover quickly after battle but also served as a perpetual energy core for massive fortresses.
Years ago, realizing they couldn't win a head-on fight with the Hidden Villages, the Sky ninjas took a different path. They built a Floating Fortress powered by the Zero-Tails. They had researched low-cost flight devices for individual ninjas. Air superiority was a power even the Great Villages struggled to master. It wasn't that they didn't value it; it was that most ninjas simply couldn't fly. Flight jutsu were reserved for geniuses, and flying summoning beasts were rare, slow, and easy targets.
With the Floating Fortress, the Sky ninjas were theoretically invincible. Their machines didn't require high-level jutsu to fly; a bit of chakra and mechanical force did the job. They could hover high above, raining down explosives and specialized mechanisms—like containers that dropped thousands of senbon, which accelerated due to gravity to become lethal projectiles.
During their peak, the Sky Army was a force that ordinary villages couldn't touch. Why fight on the ground? They could fly to a village, carpet-bomb the infrastructure into ruins, and leave. Without a base, a ninja group, no matter how strong, would eventually vanish.
Despite lacking top-tier individuals, the Sky ninjas were so confident in this doctrine that they believed they could unify the Five Great Nations. But reality dealt them a crushing blow: the Hidden Leaf. Konoha used a calculated ruse, launching an elite strike before the Sky ninjas could take off, wiping them out on the tarmac.
The Land of Sky was destroyed, and the Zero-Tails shattered. Shinno, a survivor, had spent decades trying to revive both. Under his lead, the remnants survived by acting as "neutral" mercenaries in the Great Wars, trading their lives for profit. Meanwhile, they evolved their technology.
Recently, they had completed a gargantuan project: the "Aircraft Carrier."
The Sky remnants wanted their glory back. They analyzed their failure and concluded that the surprise attack was their downfall. Their solution? Move their base of operations to the sea or the upper atmosphere, where Konoha couldn't reach them.
From the ocean, they could bomb the Leaf at will. To retaliate, Konoha would need to strike by sea or air. Konoha had no organized air force. A sea assault? Shinno considered that a joke; they only needed to increase the carrier's speed to make any Leaf ship a sitting duck. Even a Tailed Beast Bomb from hundreds of miles away would likely miss a mobile target.
Armed with years of tactical research, the Sky remnants were ready. All they needed was a massive influx of capital to build a full fleet, and victory would be assured.
Shinno hadn't partnered with Danzo because of the Leaf; he had done it because he saw a kindred spirit. Danzo's heart had been devoured by darkness. Shinno, who relied on Dark Chakra, saw Danzo's fall from a mile away. Over time, Danzo had changed at a fundamental level—becoming a man who sought to "protect" so much that he was willing to trample everything he originally set out to save.
Building a carrier battle group required astronomical resources. But Sky ninjas could no longer hide forever; to regain their status, war was the only path.
However, they weren't fools. They knew a direct strike on Konoha would trigger a violent backlash. Especially now, with a Hokage like Minato who mastered space-time ninjutsu—a nightmare for their doctrine.
Going from the starting area to challenge the level-cap boss wasn't wise. Therefore...