Ran Shotaro's Schemes

After searching to no avail, Rasa could only return to Pakura's team's previous position.

Pakura's team was in poor shape. After their fierce battle with Kirigakure, they had been ambushed. Some stood guard, some treated the wounded, and some collected the dead.

Everyone wore sorrowful expressions and remained silent. The atmosphere was oppressive.

"Rasa, how did it go? Did you find the attackers?" Seeing Rasa return, Pakura set down the belongings she had been gathering and hurried forward to ask for information.

Rasa's expression was grim, but he could only answer truthfully. "No. They must have been capable of flight as well. I couldn't find a single trace."

Clearly, Rasa attributed his inability to find any clues to the attackers' ability to fly.

"By the way, what was that attack just now?" Rasa had only seen a flash of light. Daisei, a fellow village ninja, had been split in two and killed on the spot. He had not seen what attack had caused it.

Pakura took something from a fellow village ninja. "This. An arrow."

"An arrow?"

Rasa furrowed his brow. He had originally assumed it was some powerful ninjutsu attack, hoping to use the residual chakra signature left behind by the technique to determine what kind of jutsu it had been.

Then, through the village's intelligence network, he could see whether they could identify which force in the ninja world had launched the ambush.

He looked at the very ordinary arrow in his hand. There were no patterns on its shaft, nor was there any information that could be traced.

With nothing but an ordinary bow and arrow, it would be extremely difficult to find the attackers.

As far as Rasa knew, there were no powerful ninja in the ninja world who used bows and arrows—unless the attackers struck again in the future.

"In that case, finding the attackers is almost impossible."

"Yes. Those damned Kirigakure ninja... If they hadn't suddenly attacked..." Pakura did not continue. She was a battle-hardened ninja, and there was no need to dwell on pointless hindsight.

"Also, the mission has failed."

"Yes, I know. Gather the bodies, clean up the battlefield, and return to the village."

Even though the mission had failed and several ninja had died, Rasa could only suppress the surging fury in his heart.

He looked at the fellow village ninja who had carried out this mission alongside him. Every one of them wore sorrowful expressions, their anger hidden beneath the surface.

Rasa could only step forward and console them. "For this loss, I, Rasa, will make Kirigakure pay the price."

His gaze was resolute and his attitude unyielding. Combined with his status as the Kazekage's disciple, no one doubted the weight of his words.

"Those damned Kirigakure ninja! Next time, we'll burn every last one of them to death."

Pakura echoed Rasa's words. No matter what, as the team leader, she bore an inescapable responsibility for this failure.

Thus, once they returned to the village, punishment was inevitable.

But whether it was the comrades who had died during this mission or the humiliation of its failure, how could Pakura ever forget her hatred for Kirigakure?

"Yes! We must make Kirigakure pay the price!"

"Damned Kirigakure!"

Everyone answered Rasa and Pakura, but the flames of vengeance burning beneath their words could not be concealed.

Elsewhere.

The regrouped Kirigakure force.

"Kaguya Daiki, how many Sunagakure reinforcements were there?"

As the newly reformed swallow-shaped ninja marching formation advanced, Ran Shotaro caught up with Kaguya Daiki at the front.

Kaguya Daiki's eyes shifted, revealing the thoughts stirring in his mind. He could not say that he had not seen Sunagakure's reinforcements at all, and had merely inferred their existence from Pakura's words and the Gold Sand beneath her feet while she was in the air.

"About five Jonin. More importantly, Magnet Release Rasa of Sunagakure was among them."

He deliberately made the number uncertain, but emphasized Rasa's strength, showing that his retreat had not been reckless but a wise choice.

"Magnet Release Rasa?"

"Yes. I could have taken down Pakura easily, but if Rasa was there..."

Kaguya Daiki did not finish, but Ran Shotaro understood what he meant.

"Those damned Sunagakure ninja. They had two teams of ninja? Would an ordinary weapons transport mission really involve so many ninja?"

At Ran Shotaro's words, Kaguya Daiki's expression immediately darkened.

"You mean this was a trap?"

Ran Shotaro merely kept his face gloomy and did not answer Kaguya Daiki's question.

Seeing Ran Shotaro's expression, Kaguya Daiki had already reached his own conclusion.

Three Jonin had been in the open, and there were at least several more Jonin among the reinforcements. Would an ordinary mission really involve so many ninja?

It seems I'll have to thoroughly investigate the circumstances behind this mission once we return.

Kaguya Daiki had no idea that his reaction fell perfectly in line with Ran Shotaro's plan. By remaining silent, Ran Shotaro wanted Kaguya Daiki to let his imagination run wild and push matters in the direction Ran Shotaro desired.

People were always more willing to believe in answers they had arrived at themselves. Ran Shotaro had merely raised a question; whatever Kaguya Daiki did afterward had nothing to do with him.

This mission had been assigned by the Mizukage. No matter how Kaguya Daiki investigated, he would inevitably trace it back to the Mizukage.

Likewise, the Mizukage would have no way to prove that this "trap" had not been his own doing.

Thus, no matter how this matter was investigated, nothing would come of it. It would only widen the rift between the Kaguya Clan and the Mizukage.

And the wider the rift, the greater the chaos. When the time came, Ran Shotaro could simply act according to the circumstances.

"That damned Sunagakure wench actually used such despicable schemes. If I get another chance, I'll make those Sunagakure bastards pay."

Though he would need to use the Clan's power to investigate this mission after returning, Kaguya Daiki had naturally come to hate Sunagakure as an accomplice.

Naturally, Ran Shotaro would not let this opportunity to grow closer to Kaguya Daiki pass him by. Common enemies created common ground.

"Those damned Sunagakure bastards. I, Ran Shotaro, will remember this mission. If Sunagakure hadn't had reinforcements, I would have slaughtered every last one of them."

Seeing that Ran Shotaro, a member of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen, showed rare signs of standing on the same side as him, Kaguya Daiki could not help developing a greater fondness for Ran Shotaro.

Although Ran Shotaro noticed the shift in Kaguya Daiki's attitude, he now had some questions in his mind.

If this had not been a trap at all, why had Sunagakure dispatched such a powerful force to escort this batch of weapons?

After a moment of silence, Ran Shotaro's entire body jolted. He had thought of the reason.

War.

They could only be preparing for war.

Then he recalled certain clues from within the village. On the surface, everything had seemed normal, but if viewed from the perspective of preparing to launch a war, it all made sense.

Could another great ninja war be coming?

Ran Shotaro pondered this. If it was true, he suddenly felt this was an excellent opportunity.

This mission's failure was a humiliation for both him and Kaguya Daiki.

Could he use that humiliation as a bridge to bind Kaguya Daiki to his side, then strongly advocate for an attack on Sunagakure during the next high-level meeting of the ninja world war?

If it succeeded.

Using this failure as an opportunity, along with Kaguya Daiki's help, he might even become the commander-in-chief of the assault on Sunagakure and take charge of a front on his own.

And after the war, whether he took a high-ranking position in one of the village's departments or even became the Mizukage, neither was impossible.

Having thought through all of this, a flame called "ambition" seemed to blaze fiercely in the depths of Ran Shotaro's eyes.

For an ambitious man like Ran Shotaro, war was the best possible stage.

As for whether, after becoming the commander-in-chief of the assault on Sunagakure, he might lose the war against them, Ran Shotaro had never considered it. After all, Sunagakure was the weakest of the Five Great Ninja Villages. It was no exaggeration to say that Kirigakure alone had more than twice as many Elite Jonin as Sunagakure.

And that did not even account for the fact that Kirigakure's ninja were generally stronger than Sunagakure's. With Kirigakure's many Kekkei Genkai, they might only have more than twice as many Elite Jonin, but their actual combat strength was far greater still.

The major ninja villages might all be hostile toward Konoha, but it was equally true that they all looked down on Sunagakure.