[Congratulations, Host. You have obtained an F-rank item: One tael of gold.]
…
[Congratulations, Host. You have obtained a B-rank item: Ninjutsu Scroll (Wind Release: Vacuum Blade Technique).]
"A Dream Fabrication Card?"
Rasa raised a brow.
None of his previous draws had ever yielded anything like this.
[One-Night Dream Fabrication Card (Kirigakure Jonin Version)]
—Among a randomly selected group of ninja, you may choose one target and invade their dream, fabricating it as you wish.
Rasa's eyes lit up slightly.
The moment he finished reading the description, he had already thought of how to use it.
Invading dreams sounded harmless.
After all, dreams could not cause real physical damage.
But people often cared deeply about what they dreamed of. What one thought of in the day became what one dreamed of at night.
If he fabricated a ninja's dream, then there was a high chance it could greatly alter that ninja's opinion of a certain person or a certain matter.
For Rasa, that was absolutely useful.
Compared to a One-Day Experience Card, each had its own strengths and weaknesses.
A One-Day Experience Card could create a person who did not exist and let him control that figure for a single day, allowing many things to be accomplished.
But it also depended greatly on luck.
Take Hozuki Gengetsu, for example—if he had not happened to run into Fuguki Suikazan's plan at exactly the right time, he would have accomplished almost nothing. He might not even have gathered much intelligence.
As for Uchiha Dou and Uchiha Gen, those cases depended entirely on the Uchiha's special situation.
And even then, it had only worked because Rasa had laid the groundwork for a long time beforehand.
Without the earlier rumors about Uchiha Kagami, Uchiha Dou's death would never have had such a great effect.
As for Uchiha Gen, in Rasa's view, the result so far had merely been a renewed spread of the Uchiha Kagami rumor and the sowing of discord between Uchiha Shisui and Hiruzen Sarutobi.
To put it in a more extreme example—if the character he created happened to appear in some death-row prison cell, then that character would be completely wasted, essentially unable to accomplish anything.
But a One-Night Dream Fabrication Card allowed him to choose from among existing ninja and alter one of their dreams.
The effect would vary enormously depending on the ninja.
But the key point was this—
He could choose.
Among the ninja drawn by the card, he could choose the one with the greatest value.
That was much more flexible.
And there was another point as well: both were C-rank items, yet the One-Day Experience Card corresponded to a chunin, while the One-Night Dream Fabrication Card corresponded to a jonin.
Then Rasa turned to the second non-F-rank prize.
"A B-rank item, Ninjutsu Scroll: Wind Release: Vacuum Blade Technique. Another of Danzo's techniques."
"That'll make framing Danzo even easier in the future. If the technique used is Danzo's own, who would think it wasn't Danzo? Even Danzo himself might start doubting it."
"And also…"
Rasa's eyes flickered.
"This time the prizes were one C-rank and one B-rank."
"So my guess was correct. The more draws I stack, the better the reward level becomes."
"If conditions allow in the future, I should save up more points."
"I wonder what I'd get from a hundred consecutive draws."
Rasa entertained the thought briefly.
But not for long.
His attention quickly returned to the Dream Card.
"Use."
In the next instant, numerous names appeared out of nowhere on the surface of the card.
All of them were Kirigakure jonin.
Mizuhara Ippei. Aoyu Yusai. Inuta Edako… Hoshigaki Kurotan…
There were six names in total.
And the last one to appear immediately caught Rasa's attention.
"Suikazan Chouko."
Rasa's brows twitched.
"What relation does this one have to Fuguki Suikazan?"
He put away the half-activated Dream Card instead of using it immediately, deciding to first investigate the basic information of the six candidates before continuing. That would ensure a better result.
An intelligence ninja entered.
Rasa handed over the list of six names.
"Investigate the basic information of these six people. Quickly."
"Yes, Kazekage-sama."
After watching the intelligence ninja leave, Rasa resumed handling the documents piled on his desk.
Only a small portion of them were actually important. Most were trivial.
Rasa had no intention of wasting too much effort on things like that.
Before long, he finished the last file.
He glanced outside the window. It was nowhere near dusk yet. The sun still hung high overhead, and all of Sunagakure glowed in shades of gold, heat waves rolling through the air.
A gust of hot wind blew past, and the air seemed to twist visibly.
Rasa went downstairs, intending to check on the situation of the captured Uchiha.
"Kazekage-sama."
Along the way, he received countless respectful glances and deferential greetings from the villagers.
Even though Sunagakure was still at war…
Even though Sunagakure was still on the losing side of that war…
The villagers could feel the village changing with their own senses.
Compared to before, the atmosphere throughout the village had become far more positive.
It was as though they had seen hope.
And in the villagers' eyes, all of that hope had been brought by Rasa.
Rasa no longer worried in the slightest about his position within Sunagakure.
Most of the village's powers supported him. After all, when the Third Kazekage had vanished, Sunagakure had only had two real candidates to become Kazekage—him and Pakura.
And now, Pakura had become his wife.
There had also once been another future star highly regarded by many: Sasori of the Red Sand, the genius puppet master.
But Sasori had disappeared too.
That left only a very small number of forces within the village who were dissatisfied with Rasa.
For example, a certain elder who, even after Rasa had already made his decision, still urged him to sell Pakura to end the war.
Rasa paid no mind to that elder at all.
"He doesn't have Danzo's talent, but he's caught Danzo's disease."
Danzo had repeatedly opposed Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Hokage, and although he had failed every time, Danzo at least possessed real ability.
As for this elder of Sunagakure—he had nothing but age and seniority.
He had survived entirely by muddling through.
Uchiha Daitei and Uchiha Ro seemed to have already accepted their fate. In fact, they seemed almost unwilling to leave it.
They had new wives, no worries about food or clothing, no missions to complete, no battlefield to face…
Other than lacking freedom, there were only advantages.
If there was one more problem, it was simply that they were not yet used to the food.
Uchiha Izumi and Uchiha Hai were being educated and trained by Yashamaru.
But the main point was still indoctrination.
After all, Hai was only one year old. No matter how early people in this world matured, they did not mature so early that a one-year-old needed to begin ninja training.
Izumi, however, already had some foundation.
The conditions of those four all fit neatly within Rasa's plans.
Only Uchiha Hazuki posed a problem.
Not because Hazuki herself had caused any trouble.
Rather, several ninja clans in Sunagakure had already petitioned Rasa several times, hoping to take Uchiha Hazuki as a wife.
But Rasa did not think that was appropriate.
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