The Strange Radiance

The Kikyo Mountain Battle had long been destined to end in Konoha's victory.

Or rather...unless someone cheated, and cheated big, there was no other possible outcome. At this point in the Shinobi World, no matter who went to war with Konoha, failure was the only road ahead.

After the meeting dispersed, Rasa sat somewhat irritably in his office chair, looking at the map of the Shinobi World on his desk. The Land of Wind was an exceptionally harsh country, and unsurprisingly, its oases were incredibly scarce.

Because of that, the Land of Wind was vast but sparsely populated, with deserts stretching everywhere. Most of its cities had been built around oases.

As a result, cities were sometimes extremely far apart. It was even possible to walk through the desert for an entire day and night without seeing a single person.

The Sunagakure had been established when the First Kazekage found an oasis in the vast desert.

The Land of Wind...simply had too few places suitable for human habitation.

At the first Five Kage Summit, the First Kazekage, holding the One-Tail, had directly confronted the Shinobi God, Hashirama Senju, demanding land and money from him so that the Land of Wind could obtain as much farmland as possible.

The kindhearted Shinobi God had seen the hardships endured by the people of the Land of Wind. Although their Kazekage's demand had been utterly shameless, he had still hesitated, wondering whether he should do it for the sake of peace...

However, his younger brother, Tobirama Senju, had stopped him in the end.

To a country, every inch of land was bought with blood. Not a single inch could be surrendered, let alone to a thick-skinned Kage like their First Kazekage. If they took one step back, who knew whether the other side would start demanding more and more?

Therefore, standing on the side of the strongest country at the time—the Land of Fire—Tobirama Senju had not been wrong. As for the First Kazekage...from the perspective of the Sunagakure, he had not been wrong either, aside from being a little too shameless.

Otherwise, was there anything wrong with seeking benefits for one's country and one's ninja village?

Every ninja village had a hero who ended the civil wars within its country. Konoha had the First Hokage, the Iwagakure had the First Tsuchikage...and their Sunagakure had the First Kazekage.

He had ended the wars within the Land of Wind during that chaotic era, unified the age of divided rule, and then, after seeing the wandering ninja throughout the Land of Wind, used his immense strength to establish the Sunagakure in the desert. He had become the First Kazekage, providing the wandering ninja of the Land of Wind with a village where they could recuperate and settle down in peace.

Such immense accomplishments...

What right did he have to judge the First Kazekage?

Rasa sighed, glancing at the spot on the map representing Kikyo Mountain, and muttered, "Looks like I need to think of a solution."

In the summer of Konoha's 45th year, the Four Ninja Villages' Logging Operation proceeded very smoothly. Of course...the war was not limited to the Four Great Ninja Villages fighting Konoha; there was also considerable friction between the various ninja villages.

The Iwagakure and Sunagakure alliance launched a surprise attack on Konoha. Yet Konoha truly lived up to its reputation as the ninja village that had won the Great Shinobi War twice in a row. Faced with a surprise attack from two great ninja villages, it still did not retreat an inch and held its defensive line firmly.

Although the war was extremely fierce and ninja sacrificed their lives every day in every village, there was still no sign that it would end anytime soon.

In May of the same year, the Third Raikage of Kumogakure led his subordinates in a surprise attack on the Iwagakure, forcing the Iwagakure to strengthen its defenses throughout the Land of Earth and capture the troublesome Raikage. However, the Third Raikage was not so easy to deal with. His Lightning Release and terrifying speed always allowed him to evade the Stone Ninja's pursuit, leaving the Iwagakure to suffer terribly without any way to deal with him. All they could do was find a way to minimize the losses within their country as much as possible.

As for Konoha...

After fighting on multiple fronts for so long, it was beginning to struggle as well. Troops on the various battlefields were being moved around frequently in an effort to stop the Four Great Ninja Villages' attacks.

As for the Kirigakure...its harassment of the Sunagakure had not stopped. Even after being beaten back repeatedly during the Logging War, it still refused to surrender and continued to hold on bitterly.

The war was extremely fierce!

At the same time, things had indeed unfolded as Chiyo had predicted. After the Four Great Ninja Villages jointly launched the Logging Operation, the pressure on the Land of Wind, which was serving as the battlefield, had been greatly reduced. The various ninja villages had begun shifting their attention toward Konoha, intending to take advantage of the opportunity to greatly weaken Konoha's combat strength, or even make Konoha...suffer a defeat!

But without exception...the situation on the Land of Wind's side had indeed improved considerably. That was something worth celebrating~

In the autumn of Konoha's 45th year...

The nights in the Land of Wind remained nothing special.

The alchemical workers and ninja had also finished a day's work and were preparing to go home and rest. As for bathing...the Sunagakure still could not afford to use water lavishly for baths every day, so being able to simply wipe themselves down each day was already quite good.

After nearly a year of alchemy...the Sunagakure's economy had recovered considerably even during this wartime period. As the prestigious, selfless, virtuous, upright, and helpful Fourth Kazekage—Rasa—he obviously could not take all the exchanged Silver Liang and spend it on recharging.

As an adult...he still had some self-control.

To promote the development of the Sunagakure's scientific research and agriculture, once he saw that his funds were sufficient, he took some money from the village's Secret Stash and set it aside for research. Although it was not much...it was at least a start.

It could be said that as chunks of Gold Dust were smashed down one after another, the Sunagakure no longer lacked food. It was just that...food prices throughout the Land of Wind had risen considerably again!

Of course...meat was still in short supply. The desert...was simply not a good place for raising livestock or growing crops.

So sometimes, when he drew those strange and bizarre knowledge cards...it really was like possessing the skills to slay a dragon but having no way to use them at all~

After a year of work, the villagers of the Sunagakure had also grown accustomed to their current way of life. They left the village in the morning to work in alchemy and returned to rest at night. Because of this, the village seemed extremely quiet from morning onward, while around eight o'clock every evening...the village entrance became extremely lively, as all the alchemical workers returned at that time.

Therefore, to prevent anyone from infiltrating the Sunagakure by taking advantage of the opportunity when people were entering and leaving the ninja village in large numbers, the defensive forces at the entrance had also been strengthened considerably.

Of course, none of this had anything to do with him.

Autumn of Konoha's 45th year.

In August, with the crisp, refreshing autumn weather...

His wedding date with Karura was also drawing near. Even though they were in the middle of a war, the Sunagakure still seemed somewhat festive these days. After all...this was the wedding of their village's Kage~

Rasa stood in the office of the Kazekage Tower, gazing at the nighttime scenery of the Land of Wind through the window. The corners of his mouth lifted slightly, and his heart filled with emotion. He had been here for two or three years already. Who would have thought that he would become the Kazekage of the Sunagakure, and that he would even be getting married?

Time...really did pass quickly.

Looking at the pure white moon hanging in the night sky, he took a sip of hot tea. His new house had also been completed, and he had moved into it recently. After all, he was getting married, and constantly staying together during this period was not a solution.

As for the old house...it had long since been confiscated by the village. The two trees at the entrance had grown quite well, and to prevent the village's kids from causing trouble, someone had even specially put up a railing around them for protection.

So...that house was no longer usable!

Rasa sighed wistfully and shook his head. A moment later, he suddenly froze, staring into the distance as he muttered, "Was that a strange radiance just now?"

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