"As for Iwagakure, among their new generation of ninja, Deidara should be the strongest."
"Kurotsuchi of Iwagakure should be around Jonin level. It'll be difficult for her to reach Kage-level."
"Although Kitsuchi has Kage-level strength, his ninjutsu is all too conventional. He doesn't have any truly lethal techniques."
"In the future, Iwagakure will most likely be inherited by either Deidara or Kurotsuchi, with Deidara being the more likely choice."
After Neji finished his analysis, the others all looked at him in surprise. They had not expected him to have considered so much even back then.
They had thought Neji had come along this time purely as a safeguard.
Even after they went there and fought Hiruko, they had never considered these matters.
Yeyu nodded. "Now, it seems Sunagakure is in quite an awkward position."
"Once Kirigakure rises, they'll most likely fall to the bottom among the Five Great Ninja Villages."
Neji nodded. "That's true. Right now, Gaara is Sunagakure's only Kage-level powerhouse who still has the strength to fight."
"But they have no successors. Because of military spending, the strength of their rank-and-file ninja also falls far behind that of the other villages."
At the root of it all, they were simply poor.
Even in the Ninja World, money was extremely important.
Even the most basic matter of food was a huge burden. The annual food consumption of tens of thousands of ninja was enormous.
What was more, a ninja village did not consist solely of ninja. There were also large numbers of ninja families and other service personnel.
A single ninja village could have tens or even hundreds of thousands of people.
Just feeding and providing water for them all was already incredibly difficult.
And in Sunagakure, both food and water were hard to come by.
Every year, Sunagakure