Rasa looked at the points total on the system panel, hesitating slightly.
"Should I do a ten-draw now, or wait a bit longer?"
"After all, I'm not far from twenty draws."
"Would a twenty-draw have a chance of yielding higher-grade items?"
In his first ten-draw, he had obtained one D-rank item and one B-rank item. In the second ten-draw, he had obtained two C-rank items. Taken as a whole, the reward quality had been about the same.
Rasa had a faint suspicion that the reward level was somewhat related to the number of consecutive draws.
"I'll look at the village's recent condition first."
"The rumor-spreading effect from Uchiha Gen is gradually slowing down, and Ebizo's people probably can't push it much further."
"At the current rate, it'll take roughly half a month to reach 2000 points."
"Can Sunagakure afford to wait that half month?"
Rasa picked up a front-line battle report from Sunagakure.
At the same time, he beckoned toward the door.
"Kazekage-sama."
A figure stepped inside.
"Bring me all the intelligence related to Iwagakure, Kirigakure, Konoha, and Kumogakure."
"Yes, Kazekage-sama."
Very soon, the intelligence files were delivered to Rasa's desk.
He first turned to Sunagakure's front-line battle report.
With Pakura's return to the front, the condition of Sunagakure's main force had improved noticeably. On top of that, Rasa had used Hozuki Gengetsu last time to disrupt one of Fuguki Suikazan's plans.
Not only had that caused Fuguki's ambush to fail, it had also cost Kirigakure dozens of elite shinobi.
Fuguki had even been punished by Kirigakure because of it.
Originally, Fuguki Suikazan had been the overall commander of Kirigakure's forces on this front.
But now, Kirigakure's army seemed to have split into two separate sections.
One section was still under Fuguki Suikazan's command.
The other had been handed over to Kushimaru Kuriarare.
The two forces were now acting completely independently.
Rasa raised a brow.
"I'd heard rumors before that Fuguki Suikazan and Kushimaru Kuriarare didn't get along. Looks like that may well be true. Otherwise, even if the army split into two sections, they wouldn't be acting this independently."
"But for Sunagakure, that may not be a good thing."
Fuguki Suikazan and Kushimaru Kuriarare had completely different styles.
With Kirigakure's overall military strength already superior to Sunagakure's, having to deal with two different styles from two different directions would only place Sunagakure's forces in an even more passive position.
There was another important issue as well.
Pakura.
Kirigakure had four top-tier elite jonin on this front.
Fuguki Suikazan, Juzo Biwa, Jinin Akebino, and Kushimaru Kuriarare.
Sunagakure had only one—Pakura.
Even in a one-on-one fight, any one of those four was not Pakura's match.
Even against two of them, she could still hold her own.
That was why, even though Kirigakure had enjoyed superior numbers before, Pakura had still been able to hold the line, though with difficulty.
But now Kirigakure's forces had split into two separate parts. If Pakura stayed on one side, she would have no problem dealing with that side.
But the other side would become a disaster.
And if she tried to deal with both sides at once, then the burden on her would be too great.
Racing back and forth would only waste huge amounts of her chakra, stamina, and focus on the road.
Not only might she fail to properly handle either front—she could even place herself in real danger.
"Did I make things worse by causing Fuguki Suikazan's plan to fail?"
"No. Without Hozuki Gengetsu, Sunagakure's situation would be even worse right now."
"If that ambush had succeeded, then even if Pakura survived, she would at least have been gravely injured. And Kirigakure, unable to break through for so long, would naturally have changed strategy anyway. They were never going to remain static."
"The people of Kirigakure are not stupid."
Rasa could no longer rely on the original manga timeline to judge Sunagakure's future.
After all, the moment he decided not to sacrifice Pakura, Sunagakure's timeline had already changed.
Sunagakure's future was now completely unknown.
"With the current condition of Sunagakure's army, if there's no outside help, then over the next half month, we'll likely suffer considerable losses."
"And there's no urgent need for me to test the value of a twenty-draw right this second."
Rasa had made up his mind.
Then he turned to the intelligence from the other villages.
Compared to before, Konoha's condition had worsened significantly.
Before, it had still had enough room to bother Sunagakure, stationing a ninja force led by Kurenai Yuhi's father at the border of the Land of Wind, ready to launch raids at any moment.
But now, with the Uchiha clan's rebellion, Konoha itself had fallen into considerable trouble.
On one hand, it had to deal with the Uchiha rebels.
On the other, it had to withstand Iwagakure's fierce assault.
As the village currently fighting Konoha most intensely, Iwagakure would naturally never let such an opportunity pass.
Some Iwa shinobi had already pushed deep into the Land of Fire itself.
That left Konoha deeply uneasy.
And it brought enormous latent danger as well.
Just as Konoha would think of raiding and plundering Sunagakure when the latter was at a severe disadvantage against Kirigakure—
If Konoha itself fell into serious trouble, would Kumogakure, currently in a comparatively idle phase, seize the opportunity to strike at Konoha?
The answer was obvious.
"So the general state of the great villages is roughly like this."
"As for the smaller villages, only a few are truly active—Kusagakure, Amegakure… and beyond them, the Land of Iron seems to have developed quite well by exploiting this war."
"They call themselves an absolutely neutral country and are producing standardized ninja tools in large quantities, selling them to the different villages for immense profit. In addition to neutrality, they also have another advantage—their own land is rich in iron ore."
Rasa found himself a little envious of the Land of Iron.
Not taking part in war, only selling weapons.
If Sunagakure were like that, then as Kazekage, he would not have to work as hard as he was now.
"A pity Kirigakure wasn't drawn away by Konoha and is still fixated on crushing Sunagakure."
"Otherwise, I could easily afford to wait this half month."
"At this point… I should draw now."
"Hopefully I'll get an item that can help relieve Sunagakure's difficult battle situation."
Rasa set down the documents in his hand.
Then his gaze fell upon the system panel.
"Draw. Start!"
The moment the thought crossed his mind, an invisible roulette wheel began spinning wildly.
[Congratulations, Host. You have obtained an F-rank item: One tael of gold.]
…
[Congratulations, Host. You have obtained a C-rank item: One-Night Dream Fabrication Card (Kirigakure Jonin Version).]
Advance Chapters available on Patreon
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