Meanwhile, the Akatsuki had already begun carrying out his assignment.
Intelligence reports arrived on Xuandou's desk.
In the Land of Wind, Deidara and Sasori worked seamlessly together.
Two of the Daimyō's trusted aides were blown up, and three of his clan relatives were assassinated by puppets.
The pair proved extremely efficient.
In the Land of Earth, Kakuzu and Hidan were also making smooth progress.
In just half a month, they assassinated seven important nobles who supported Ōnoki.
The Daimyō of the Land of Wind and the Daimyō of the Land of Earth were furious, sending letter after letter rebuking the Kage of their respective ninja villages.
"What good is your Sunagakure? You can't even protect the nobles!"
"You've utterly disgraced Iwagakure!"
Rasa and Ōnoki were left thoroughly humiliated by the scoldings and had no choice but to divert large numbers of shinobi to reinforce the nobles' bodyguards.
However, every member of the Akatsuki was an S-rank rogue shinobi. Ordinary Anbu could not stop them at all.
The nobles still feared for their lives.
With Rasa and Ōnoki overwhelmed, their plans to form an alliance against the Hidden Xuan Village were shelved entirely.
"Ōnoki and Rasa are thinking about nothing but preventing assassinations now. They have no attention to spare for us."
Xuandou looked at the intelligence in his hand, a smile rising at the corners of his mouth.
He still had one unused lottery chance.
He had saved it earlier and had never quite brought himself to use it.
Whenever he had time, he would also try the lottery to see whether he could draw anything good.
But the odds of an SSS-rank reward were simply too low. He used Tokitsumori again and again, without any results.
Finally, one day a month later, Xuandou activated the Lottery Wheel again in