"..."
Speechless. Silent speechlessness. Bewildered speechlessness. Shocked speechlessness.
Rasa was so stunned that he could not speak. Unlike the others, who felt the joy of being saved and redeemed, he felt a powerful fear rising within him.
As the Fourth Kazekage of the weak Sunagakure in the Land of Wind, forced to deal with the internal power struggles of the elders and the antics of a trashy daimyo, Rasa had long developed an extremely pessimistic way of thinking. He could not view things as simply as the others did.
After personally witnessing Konoha effortlessly wipe out vast swathes of monsters, Rasa felt profound fear even as he rejoiced at being saved.
Sunagakure had now been destroyed, more than half of the Land of Wind had fallen, and the Sand was nearly wiped out. Rasa knew very well that Sunagakure was at its weakest right now.
In this new era of rampaging monsters, the power Konoha had displayed—its overwhelming advantage against monsters—was undoubtedly the nuclear weapon of the new era, the new era's god of ninjas descending as a deus ex machina.
Originally, according to Rasa's plan, even if Konoha came to their rescue, it would not be easy. At that point, he could maneuver under the banner of fighting monsters. That way, even if they had to rely on Konoha's power to save the Land of Wind, Sunagakure and the Land of Wind could still retain considerable independence and autonomy, without worrying about falling completely under the control of Konoha and the Land of Fire.
But that was no longer possible. With such a vast disparity in strength, and with Sunagakure and the Land of Wind lacking bargaining chips, the inevitable result would be complete control by Konoha. Even if they were saved in the future, they could only become