He Was Called What?

The wedding ceremony was nothing special. Especially now, during wartime, a simple wedding was good enough.

At least he had returned alive from the battlefield and gotten married, while some people...

might never come back.

Of course, no matter how simple the wedding was, certain social formalities still had to be observed. So... after getting married and adding in what he had saved, Rasa discovered that he could do another hundred consecutive draws.

His heart was suddenly filled with emotion.

He also knew that, thanks to the gold mining during this period, the villagers in the Alchemy Factory had saved quite a lot of money. That was why they had been so generous. Otherwise... just like when he had first returned, it would probably have been difficult to get the villagers below to hand over even a hundred Silver Liang~

The average income of the people in the Land of Wind was below both the subsistence line of the Shinobi World and the poverty line of the average income in the various Ninja Villages.

So... alchemy really was a path to wealth~

It was now early February of Konoha Year 46, more than half a year since his wedding. After their marriage, Karura had become a true housewife, and she had unexpectedly gotten pregnant at the end of September in Year 45. This might have been exciting news, but... he really couldn't feel happy right now~

Because the Four Great Ninja Villages had begun logging, the pressure on the Land of Wind, which was the battlefield, had been greatly reduced. The Land of Fire had taken its place as the main battlefield.

That year, under the protection of the frontline Ninja, Sunagakure had enjoyed a year of peace. Every day, the villagers were either panning for gold, clearing the sand from the village, or... watering the trees.

But who would have thought... he now had to rush to the battlefield.

At the end of Konoha Year 45, just as expected... the alliance between Sunagakure and Iwagakure had lost the Kikyo Mountain Battle. But... he had originally thought that losing was just losing. He had already sent word to Chiyo that, once she saw the situation was hopeless, she should immediately withdraw the Ninja and avoid pointless sacrifices.

After all, even if the Four Great Ninja Villages truly united, they might not be able to defeat Konoha, let alone now, when every village was fighting on its own.

However...

He had only just received news of the defeat when, unexpectedly...

At the beginning of Konoha Year 46, the Wind Country Daimyo Estate sent someone to Sunagakure and told him, the Kazekage, "We don't want to fight anymore. Surrender."

That's right. While their Sunagakure had been fighting desperately on the front lines, the Wind Country Daimyo Estate had provided neither money nor supplies. And now, it had actually been the first to surrender.

Of course, there was nothing wrong with surrendering. After all, Rasa had long known that Sunagakure's surrender was only a matter of time.

Surrendering earlier could reduce casualties as much as possible. It was just that...

When they came to inform him, the Kazekage, the Wind Country Daimyo Estate had already reached an agreement with the Land of Fire Daimyo Estate, and the latter had agreed to accept the Land of Wind's surrender!

The Wind Country Daimyo Estate clearly didn't take Sunagakure—or him, the Kazekage—seriously at all~

It had cut off the military budget of an entire country. It had long stopped providing funds to Sunagakure, so that went without saying. When the war began and the Land of Lightning launched a surprise attack against the Land of Wind, it hadn't provided money or supplies when they came to Sunagakure for aid either. But... if they wanted to surrender, couldn't they at least have given them some advance warning~

As a result... just as Konoha Year 46 was about to begin, the Wind Country Daimyo Estate surrendered, and the Stone Ninja immediately withdrew their surprise-attack forces. The Sand Ninja, who had been kept in the dark, suffered heavy losses, and most of their Ninja were captured by Konoha!

That was why he was so furious and had rushed to the front lines with more than a dozen Sand Ninja first thing in the morning.

After news of Sunagakure's defeat came back, he understood that the war on the front lines couldn't last much longer. Especially now that it was Konoha Year 46... after such a long war, the lower-ranking Ninja in every village were nearly depleted. If they continued fighting, it would probably take a very long time to recover. But... not a single village was willing to take a step back.

At the beginning of this year, Kirigakure could no longer endure it and sent a surprise-attack force—the Seven Ninja Swordsmen—to sneak attack Konoha's rear. As expected... he heard that they had been kicked into disability by some Konoha Genin, a fellow dressed entirely in green. The famous Seven Ninja Swordsmen were now dead, crippled, or fleeing. Kirigakure had suffered heavy losses as well~

And seven elite Jonin... the core combat strength of Kirigakure had been kicked away by a Konoha Genin. This... was an enormous loss of face.

In Konoha Year 46... every village had a feeling that the war was about to end. It could also be said that this year... might be the most intense year of the war.

At the same time, after realizing that they couldn't gain any advantage against Konoha, Kirigakure gritted its teeth... and transferred part of Konoha's combat strength to the side of Sunagakure. As a result, Pakura's defensive line... was also fighting extremely fiercely. They had repeatedly requested reinforcements from the village, but... the Sand Ninja who could be sent out of the village were merely a drop in the bucket.

Rasa lowered his head and looked at the documents tucked in his arms, a bitter smile on his face. He muttered softly, "I hope... we're still in time!"

From the end of Konoha Year 45 to the beginning of Year 46, the Wind Country Daimyo surrendered to the Land of Fire Daimyo. The Stone Ninja then rapidly withdrew from the Kikyo Mountain battlefield, causing Sunagakure to suffer heavy losses, with large numbers of Ninja taken prisoner. The Fourth Kazekage of Sunagakure hurried to the front lines to negotiate the terms of Sunagakure's surrender. He handed over the surrender document that had long been prepared, along with the contract personally signed by the Third Hokage promising to return Sunagakure's prisoners, to the Konoha commander at the time—the Sannin known as Orochimaru, the current Hokage's disciple.

At first, Konoha naturally refused. Having won the battle, their morale was high. Besides, they had sacrificed so many comrades. How could Sunagakure simply surrender and demand the release of its people whenever it pleased?

In short...

Surrender was possible, but they absolutely shouldn't expect to get their people back. Unless... they paid compensation!

But was Rasa the sort of person who would pay just because someone demanded money?

His own village had been cheated half to death by Iwagakure, suffering even more casualties than Konoha. And they still wanted him to pay?

They were dreaming!

As a penniless man...

he had always been the one taking advantage of others. When had anyone ever taken advantage of him?

To carry on the thick skin passed down from the First Kazekage, Rasa simply rolled up his sleeves, formed hand seals, and faced Orochimaru...

Were you going to do it?

If not, should we keep fighting?

However, just as he had expected, after fighting this long, Konoha was also beginning to buckle. To continue resisting the Ninja of Iwagakure and Kumogakure, Konoha desperately needed to end this war as soon as possible.

Smart people could often think of both the safest solution and the most extreme one. As a Ninja and scientist a century ahead of the Shinobi World's technology, Orochimaru was precisely such a smart person. Moreover, he was currently at a crucial moment in selecting the next Hokage. Defying the Hokage's orders rashly would easily give others something to use against him. So, in the end... Konoha agreed to return the prisoners and continue its alliance with Sunagakure!

That statement... honestly... made Rasa blush a little.

After all, no matter how one looked at it... Sunagakure was always the one tearing up the treaties after every war~

But this wasn't the time to worry about that.

Rasa lowered his head and looked at the silver-haired Kid standing quietly beside Kana. After a moment of silence, he asked, "You just said his name was... what?"

My mind's a little muddled. Please say it again.

The moment he finished speaking...

Kana looked at the dazed Rasa in confusion, blinked, and said gently, "His name is..."