After returning to the Kazekage Building, Rasa finished handling his documents and went to the rooftop.
With the Kazekage Building as the center, he looked down at the surrounding state of Sunagakure.
Compared to before, there was clearly far more green.
Even the vitality of the village had become much more vibrant.
The villagers' faces also carried many more smiles. Their complexions were rosy now, unlike before, when they had looked sallow and underfed.
"The appearance of the Sun Disk and the mechanical sand ships has greatly improved the village's economic situation."
Rasa had not held all of this income tightly in his own hands.
Money alone was meaningless.
Only when it was spent did it have meaning.
And from the perspective of Sunagakure as a whole, the true resources had never been money.
They were the people of Sunagakure.
These people were Sunagakure's greatest resource.
But simply handing money to them directly would not be suitable either.
People were greedy.
Human nature could not withstand too much testing.
Therefore, Rasa had started with public infrastructure.
He created many positions.
Sunagakure's environment improved, the villagers gained income, and Rasa earned the people's hearts.
This move had created three winners.
"As the Sun Disks continue to be built, the food issue is no longer a major problem for Sunagakure."
"Basic subsistence is no longer an issue."
"But if we want to improve further, one problem still remains."
"Water."
"Sunagakure's water resources are insufficient."
This was a major problem.
Whether north, south, east, or west, every water source was very far from Sunagakure.
That meant even if Rasa wanted to build pipelines, they could easily be destroyed.
Once war broke out, if the pipelines were destroyed, Sunagakure would suffer a heavy blow.
There was also the possibility of poisoning.
There were too many problems. Under the current circumstances, it was simply impossible to realize.
"Unless there are enough Sun Disks."
"One after another, building pipelines through areas covered by Sun Disks. In that case, no one could approach. Within three kilometers of a Sun Disk, anyone not marked would suffer indiscriminate attacks."
Rasa took out a map of the Land of Wind.
As one of the Five Great Nations, the Land of Wind's territory was vast.
"To the north are the Land of Grass and the Land of Rain."
"To the east is the Land of Rivers."
"To the west is the endless uninhabited region."
"Judging by distance, the rivers to the east are somewhat closer to Sunagakure than the rivers to the north."
"But they are still extremely far."
"One Sun Disk can at most guarantee six kilometers of safety in a straight line. That is the theoretical situation. In real implementation, it won't reach that distance. Part of the covered areas must overlap."
"This distance of several hundred kilometers means more than one hundred Sun Disks would be needed."
That made Rasa immediately dismiss the idea.
Putting aside whether Sunagakure had that many resources, even if it did, with Sunagakure's manpower, completing a project that large would be impossible without several decades.
"To the south is desert. Beyond the desert, there is an inward-curving bay."
"The distance is also very far."
"At least thirty Sun Disks would be needed to cover it. But compared to the other directions, that is already much less."
"If there are no better options, this can actually be listed as an alternative plan."
"The only issue is solving seawater purification."
Rasa withdrew his gaze.
Over the next few days, Rasa's workload became relatively lighter. Each department had already been arranged in an orderly manner, and with Jiraiya's assistance, the rumor about Hiruzen Sarutobi framing Orochimaru was growing in points very quickly.
Rasa had already obtained the first small guarantee.
A ninjutsu called Sand Rain.
It was somewhat similar to the Kirigakure ANBU ninjutsu named Rain Cutter.
But much stronger.
[Sand Rain!]
[—Infuse chakra into sand. After coming into contact with an opponent's ninjutsu, it will offset the opponent's ninjutsu. The amount of chakra consumed will be slightly greater than the amount used by the opponent's ninjutsu.]
[Unused chakra will continue to remain inside the sand.]
With only slightly more chakra than the opponent, it could neutralize their ninjutsu.
And the excess chakra would still remain inside the sand.
Unlike Rain Cutter, which required the user to expend far more chakra to neutralize the opponent's ninjutsu.
Furthermore, chakra infused into rainwater could not be reused.
These two points were the main reasons Rain Cutter was inferior to Sand Rain.
"It can be called a ninjutsu killer."
"No matter what kind of ninjutsu it is, it can be neutralized."
"As long as I have enough chakra."
"And with forty-five percent Otsutsuki bloodline, my chakra volume is now something almost no one in the current shinobi world can compare with. In terms of chakra volume, I am invincible."
"In addition, I also have the ninja tool Samehada."
The appearance of Sand Rain made Rasa's battles much simpler.
No matter how tricky or powerful the opponent's ninjutsu was, one Sand Rain could forcefully neutralize it.
The opponent would have no temper left at all.
The battle between the two sides would become a contest of chakra consumption.
In a certain sense, it had a similar effect to Karatachi Yagura's Water Mirror Technique. Both forcibly dragged the opponent into a battle of chakra attrition.
That was why, after becoming a jinchuriki, Yagura had been so confident.
A jinchuriki's chakra volume was simply too vast.
But Yagura had never understood Rasa's situation at all.
Nor had he imagined that something like the Sun Disk could exist.
"Sand Rain is indeed very strong, but it has no restraining effect against taijutsu or genjutsu."
"It may not have particularly good effects against senjutsu either."
"However, I possess the Sand Transformation Technique and the Body Separation Technique. In terms of taijutsu, I am not afraid."
"What is relatively troublesome for me now may be genjutsu and senjutsu."
"The Byakugan can see through genjutsu, but its resistance has not reached one hundred percent."
Sunagakure's shinobi had basically all returned to the village.
A portion of them carried out commissioned missions. This was the basic foundation of a shinobi village. Before there was another sustainable and replaceable source of income, this portion could not be cut off.
Another portion headed to the East Sea of the Land of Water to supplement the sailing corps' manpower and carry out silver mining.
At the same time, construction of the sixth Sun Disk officially began.
Rasa deliberately arranged it to the south.
That is, in the direction of the bay.
Since the point growth from the rumor about Hiruzen Sarutobi and Orochimaru had not slowed, Rasa had no intention of taking new action for the time being. Instead, he gave himself a short vacation.
Thinking about it, over all these years, Rasa had constantly been under high-intensity work.
He rarely rested.
Now that an opportunity had finally appeared, Rasa planned to spend more time with his family.
At night, the family sat together in the courtyard.
Temari ran back and forth between Rasa and Karura. Kankuro sat in the corner, playing with puppet toys. Pakura touched her slightly swollen belly, the radiance of motherhood appearing on her face.
Three days later, Rasa sensed Jiraiya's arrival once again.