Someone else raised another possibility.
"Could the earlier rumor be true? The one saying the current Lord Jiraiya is an impostor?"
Hiruzen Sarutobi had been preparing to reject Onoki's harsh demands after receiving his reply.
But the sudden storm caused by "Hizashi's final letter" swept outward all at once. While Hiruzen's expression turned ugly to the extreme, he had no choice but to force down the rage in his heart.
When he looked at Onoki's reply again, Hiruzen already found himself considering compromise.
"If I agree to Onoki's terms, then Konoha's strength will be used to make wedding clothes for Iwagakure."
"But if I don't agree to Onoki's terms, what else can I do?"
"Onoki has seen through the fact that I'm the one in greater urgency."
"And now, even more so!"
"Why do these things always fall on me?"
"What exactly have I done wrong?"
Hiruzen Sarutobi was furious.
Anxious, angry, and utterly powerless.
"Damn it!"
Only after a long while did Hiruzen forcibly calm himself down.
"Since there is no other way, I can only accept Onoki's conditions."
"For Konoha, this will certainly be a loss. But once war breaks out, all kinds of changes will occur. Konoha may not necessarily have no chance to reclaim the advantages being taken from us."
Hiruzen Sarutobi began to write his reply.
Meanwhile—
Sunagakure.
"Points: 3112!"
A smile appeared on Rasa's face.
"I used a rumor about myself to once again provoke discussion around the Jiraiya rumor. I have to say, the effect is excellent. After all, I am also one of the people involved in the incident."
"On Sunagakure's side, as long as I don't stop it, the rumor will only spread wider and wider."
"And on Konoha's side, even if they want to control it, they can't."
"Thirty-pull. Begin!"
With a thought from Rasa, an invisible roulette wheel began spinning.
[Congratulations, Host. You have obtained an F-rank item: One tael of gold.]
…
[Congratulations, Host. You have obtained a C-rank item: Ninjutsu Scroll — Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique.]
…
[Congratulations, Host. You have obtained an A-rank item: S-Rank Ninjutsu Upgrade Card.]
"A ninjutsu scroll for Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique… its value is better than nothing, I suppose."
Rasa did not have a very good impression of Fire Release.
Even something like Amaterasu had never truly burned many people to death in a proper sense.
Fire Release was also jokingly called the art that never killed.
Of course, that was merely a joke.
It was just that, for Rasa, the value of Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique was not very high.
"S-Rank Ninjutsu Upgrade Card. This is the third time it has appeared."
"The first time, it transformed my Sand Clone Technique into the stand Anubis."
"The second time, it transformed my Wind Release: Vacuum Wave into God's Vacuum Hand."
"I wonder what kind of mutation it will produce this time."
Rasa took out the card.
"Use it!"
The next moment, several names quickly appeared on the card.
"Clone Technique!"
"Transformation Technique!"
"Sand Body Flicker Technique!"
Rasa began to think.
"The mutation direction of the S-Rank Ninjutsu Upgrade Card seems to follow the name of the ninjutsu itself."
"With Sand Clone Technique, it took the word 'clone.'"
"With Wind Release: Vacuum Wave, it took the word 'vacuum.'"
"In that case, this time, I'll choose Clone Technique."
Rasa made his choice.
Immediately afterward, a stream of light flashed across the card. Then the three ninjutsu names on it vanished.
A surge of information flowed into Rasa's mind.
[Clone Technique: Body-Splitting Technique]
[—When subjected to a fatal attack, you will not die. Instead, you will consume a large amount of chakra and split your body into two parts. Each part will then replenish itself into a complete form.]
[When a split body suffers a fatal attack, it still will not die. It will likewise consume a large amount of chakra, split into two parts, and each part will replenish itself into a complete form.]
Rasa's eyes narrowed slightly.
"Avoiding fatal wounds?"
"Isn't this just the ability of the Split-Head Dog?"
"As long as my chakra isn't exhausted, I won't die."
"That's absurdly broken."
Among the summoned beasts he had drawn so far—the Yatagarasu, the chameleon, the giant bull, and the Split-Head Dog—
In Rasa's view, the Split-Head Dog was the most absurd one.
The Yatagarasu merely had aerial superiority.
The chameleon could still be sensed.
The giant bull had little worth praising aside from strength and endurance.
Rasa imagined it.
Before going onto the battlefield, he could first cut himself once, leave one split body in an absolutely safe location, such as the core area of a Sun Disk.
Then his other split body could go into battle.
It could fight without fear of death.
As long as one split body remained, he would not die.
As long as his chakra remained, he would not die.
"This upgrade is too huge."
"It directly upgraded a Clone Technique that could only produce illusory images to this extent."
"It's simply outrageous."
"But since I now possess the same ability as the Split-Head Dog, I'll only be far stronger than it."
"After all, I don't have just one ability."
Rasa looked at the abilities he had accumulated so far on the system panel.
S-rank ninjutsu: Sand Soldier Manifestation, Quicksand Displacement, Crescent Moon Sand Dune, Antlion Pit, Sandification, Grant S/N, Anubis, Railgun, God's Vacuum Hand, Situational Awareness, Body-Splitting Technique.
"A full eleven S-rank ninjutsu."
"The S-rank ninjutsu reserves of an entire shinobi village aren't as many as mine alone."
"Attack, defense, movement… now I can finally be considered without any obvious weaknesses."
"And on top of that, my Otsutsuki bloodline concentration has reached thirty percent."
"Aside from awakening the Byakugan as a Kekkei Genkai, the more important thing is my chakra volume."
Suddenly—
A figure quickly rushed toward the Kazekage Building.
"Kazekage-sama."
"What is it?"
An intelligence shinobi entered, joy visible between his brows and eyes.
"Kazekage-sama, we just obtained an extremely important piece of material. It is very beneficial to Sunagakure and can deal a devastating blow to Konoha."
"Oh? What is it?"
A guess surfaced in Rasa's heart.
"A suicide note. Hyuga Hizashi's suicide note."
The intelligence shinobi said excitedly, "Hyuga Hizashi's suicide note clearly explains how Hiruzen Sarutobi ordered him to sell Jiraiya's intelligence to Sunagakure."
"In addition, there is a large amount of handwriting from Hyuga Hizashi while he was alive. The handwriting matches completely."
This intelligence shinobi was one of Ebizo's rumor-promotion members.
His name was Shazuke.
When Ebizo was too busy, he would have Shazuke report to Rasa instead.
Shazuke understood that the appearance of these materials was a good thing for Rasa.
"Let me see."
Shazuke hurriedly handed them over.
Rasa looked at the suicide note, revealing a strange expression.
"It really is that forged suicide note. But I didn't expect it to actually appear in Sunagakure. Who in Konoha sent this over? Their grudge against Hiruzen Sarutobi must not be small."
"This person is simply wishing for Hiruzen Sarutobi to die."
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