A young miner stepped forward.
A medical ninja stood beside him, made a quick cut on the man's arm, and slid the Grell Stone into the wound. Soft green chakra flowed over the injury and it sealed shut right before everyone's eyes.
Then the change hit.
Energy exploded outward from the stone. The young miner's body twisted—parts swelled, parts shrank, skin hardened into scales, new fins and ridges pushed through flesh. In seconds he became something half-human, half-fish. A monster with glowing eyes and razor claws.
The watching shinobi stared, wide-eyed.
The transformed miner's chakra signature had jumped hard. He felt like a solid chunin now.
Rasa gave a small nod.
An ANBU operative stepped in. The fish-man charged.
Tsuchihei, the old miner who'd brought the stones, finally exhaled in relief. Not every Grell Stone worked. He'd seen failures before. But he also knew he couldn't protect the secret alone. So he'd come to Sunagakure instead of selling to some shady merchant.
Sunagakure took in talent from everywhere—no clan prejudice. Uchiha lived well here. Even Kisame Hoshigaki had a place. And people who delivered real value got rewarded. Just look at Red Mountain Lieg—honorary hero status and two of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen turned into Chiyo-made puppets.
Tsuchihei had made his choice. Sunagakure was strong, getting stronger, and Rasa actually had principles. The guy had gone out of his way to defend Minato Namikaze even though Minato was from another village. That sealed it.
Rasa watched the spar for a moment, then turned to the old man.
"Tsuchihei. You brought us something valuable. Name your reward."
"Whatever you decide is fine, Lord Kazekage."
Tsuchihei kept his head low. No greedy demands. Rasa liked that.
"Would you like to join Sunagakure officially?"
"I would, Lord Kazekage."
"Good." Rasa smiled. "You've earned it. I'm giving you the rank of Second-Class Honorary Elder. Same pay and privileges as the others. Your family can come with you. We'll find them work."
"Thank you, Lord Kazekage."
Tsuchihei bowed deep. Honorary elder came with real respect and money. That was more than enough.
Rasa waved him off and looked at Ebizo.
"How many of these stones do we have total?"
"Four thousand six hundred twenty-eight, Lord Kazekage. They vary in strength. Some are powerful, some are weak. Tsuchihei says not all of them can be used. There are conditions."
Rasa nodded. More complicated than he'd hoped, but the core plan still worked.
"How many successful fusions so far?"
"Three. Including the one we just did."
"Perfect. I'll take these two. You keep handling the rest. The rumor teams have been running smooth for a while now. I need you personally on this. It's bigger."
Ebizo bowed. "Understood, Lord Kazekage."
Rasa sighed once Ebizo left. Sunagakure still didn't have enough talent. Combat was fine—he and Pakura could carry a lot. But real research people? Chiyo counted as one. Sasori was half-useful when he felt like it. Kabuto was still growing. Too thin.
He placed the two remaining stones on his desk.
"We're not calling them Grell Stones anymore. From now on they're Devil Fruits. Zoan type."
He picked up a pen.
"This one's the Inu Inu no Mi, Gray Wolf form."
"This one's the Tori Tori no Mi, Crow form."
"The fish one the miner used? That's the Uo Uo no Mi, Emperor Beltfish form."
Rasa leaned back, eyes gleaming.
"Let the Sunagakure Navigation Group show the whole world what these Devil Fruits can really do."