"So effective?"
"This is way beyond what I expected."
Rasa truly had not anticipated that scattering those promotional cards would bring in such a huge surge of points. In just a few short days, the total had already climbed past 2,500.
That was far faster than any previous attempt.
"Ebizo invested so much manpower and effort, used so many methods."
"The Uchiha clan's rebellion."
"Uchiha Gen's death."
"And yet none of that compares to the effect of me flying over Konoha's army and showering them with those little cards."
Rasa did not rush to draw immediately. Instead, he first reviewed the experience carefully.
"The reason it worked so well comes down to one thing: volume."
"There were simply too many cards—over a hundred thousand of them. Once they were scattered across the sky like that, countless people would see them. Even if Konoha tried to clean them up, there was no way they could do it quickly."
"The second point is that they grab attention."
"The beautiful female ninja part was crucial."
"Without that, a lot of people probably wouldn't even bother picking them up. And even if they did, they might not actually read them."
"It was precisely because of those two points that the results turned out so well."
A flicker passed through Rasa's eyes.
"But there's still room for improvement."
His thoughts drifted to a certain snack-card gimmick from his previous life.
A lot of people bought those snacks not because they actually wanted to eat them, but because they wanted the cards inside—wanted to collect the full set.
Why did they want the full set?
One reason was that some cards were extremely rare. Completing the collection was difficult, and that difficulty itself created a sense of accomplishment.
If you could complete the set while others couldn't, it naturally made them envious.
The second reason was that completing the set could often be exchanged for valuable prizes.
"As for prize redemption, that would be hard to pull off without exposing myself."
"But deliberately making some cards rare? That would be easy."
"I can add that next time."
This time, some Iwa ninja had thought certain cards were rare only because Rasa had distributed them unevenly.
Next time, he planned to intentionally create a few special, scarce variants.
Not long after, Rasa shifted his attention back to the system panel.
The point total displayed there had now risen to 2,552.
"The points are still increasing, but the rate is already starting to slow down."
"In that case… time to draw."
With a thought from Rasa, an invisible roulette wheel began spinning wildly.
[Congratulations, Host. You have obtained an F-rank item: One tael of gold.]
…
[Congratulations, Host. You have obtained a C-rank item: One-Night Dream Fabrication Card (Kirigakure Jonin Version).]
…
[Congratulations, Host. You have obtained a D-rank item: One-Day Ninja Experience Card (Kirigakure Genin Version).]
…
[Congratulations, Host. You have obtained an A-rank item: Summoning Beast Summon Card (Powerful Combat Type).]
"An A-rank!"
Rasa immediately focused on it.
[Summoning Beast Summon Card (Powerful Combat Type)]
[A powerful combat-type summoning beast will appear at random. After subduing it, the user may forcibly establish a contract.]
"Powerful combat-type? Just how powerful?"
At once, the images of various summoning beasts surfaced in Rasa's mind.
The first were the three great summoning holy lands—
Toads, snakes, and slugs.
But Rasa knew very well that Sunagakure had basically no connection to those three.
Then there were the others—
Hiruzen Sarutobi's Enma, Danzo's Baku, Kakashi's ninja hounds, Might Guy's ninja tortoise, and so on.
There were not many ninja who relied on summoning beasts as a primary combat method.
Part of the reason was that summoning beasts were rare. Compared to ninja, their numbers were far smaller.
And among them, truly powerful summoning beasts were even rarer still.
Some summoning beasts were so weak they were not even as useful as a single explosive tag.
Rasa put the gold away in a drawer, then vanished in a flash from the Kazekage Building.
When he appeared again, he was already outside Sunagakure.
The ground beneath him was nothing but endless yellow sand.
He had already used Dream Cards and Ninja Cards before, so there was no need to dwell on them.
But this Summoning Beast Card—
This was the first time he had ever seen one, and he had some expectations for its effect.
After all, even the system's description had used the words powerful combat.
Rasa surveyed his surroundings.
"This place is open and spacious, full of sand. It's the most suitable environment possible for me to fight in."
"And since it's outside the village, the battle won't cause serious damage to Sunagakure."
"It's also close to Chiyo's place of seclusion. If this 'powerful combat-type' turns out to be too powerful—even too much for me to subdue quickly—I can still have Chiyo come assist."
"The fact that she agreed to make that puppet last time already means she's starting to soften on involving herself in village affairs again."
"If things truly come to it, she'll act."
Rasa took out the Summoning Beast Card.
"Use."
The next instant, white light flashed across the card.
Then—
A gigantic figure burst out from it.
A sharp cry pierced the air.
Rasa looked up and saw an enormous bird soaring straight into the sky.
Its feathers were gray-green from head to tail. Its talons and beak were incomparably sharp, their surfaces gleaming with a metallic sheen. One glance was enough to tell how hard and durable they were. Its eyes were cold and fierce.
The moment he saw the giant bird, an image rose immediately in Rasa's mind.
A colossal bird summoned by the Animal Path during Pain's invasion of Konoha.
Its size was enormous—even larger than Gamaken.
And Gamaken was already one of the largest beings among summoning beasts.
The giant bird possessed terrifyingly sharp claws and a deadly beak, more than enough to kill a ninja with ease.
But more importantly, it had another ability.
It could lay eggs.
Not real eggs, of course.
Once they landed, they would explode violently.
If such bombs were dropped from high altitude onto a dense gathering of ninja, the damage would be immense.
The bird summoned by this card—
It did not merely resemble Pain's giant bird.
It was virtually identical.
"I don't know which is stronger—this bird or Pain's."
"But with a body this huge, if it also has that explosive-egg ability, then there's no way it can be weak."
"Subduing a monster like this won't be easy."
"Especially when it can fly."
"But fortunately…"
Rasa's gaze sharpened.
"It's me."
With a thought, vast quantities of gold dust gathered and swept rapidly toward the giant bird.
At the same time, another mass of gold dust formed beneath Rasa's feet, lifting him high into the air.
Very quickly, the gold dust entangled the bird.
It wrapped around one of its claws like a rope, and then more and more dust spread upward, forcing the giant bird's speed to slow.
Its eyes turned, and it instantly realized that escape was no longer possible.
The next moment, it twisted around and charged straight at Rasa.
Rasa raised a hand.
"Magnet Release: Gold Dust Shield!"
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