Akayama Ryo could not help recalling his childhood.
What child did not want to compete and win?
Especially in the world of shinobi.
Akayama Ryo had been the same.
At first, Akayama Ryo had set Sasori of the Red Sand as his goal, wanting to catch up to him and then surpass him.
But because of the problems within the Akayama clan, Akayama Ryo had never truly been able to walk that path.
That was the regret of Akayama Ryo's entire life.
"Kazekage-sama, I am already very satisfied now."
"I have my own puppets, and I can work on puppet production."
On the surface, mechanical sand ships were transportation tools, but almost all puppeteers regarded them as puppets.
"This is all thanks to you, Kazekage-sama."
"If not for you, I would never have been able to live such a life. I might even have died under the oppression of the Akayama clan, just like Hyuga Hizashi of the Hyuga clan."
Hyuga Hizashi's experience made Akayama Ryo feel a sense of shared suffering.
Even though the Akayama clan did not have a distinction between main family and branch family.
Akayama Ryo's status within the Akayama clan had been that of a marginal figure.
He had been targeted and suppressed in every way.
They had never treated him as a person at all.
Therefore, Akayama Ryo felt no heartache whatsoever over the destruction of the Akayama clan. He only felt that they had deserved to die.
"I merely did what a Kazekage ought to do."
As Rasa spoke, he paused.
"Ryo, would you mind taking on a little more responsibility?"
Akayama Ryo froze for a moment.
"Kazekage-sama, you mean…?"
Rasa took out a copy of the Three-Zhang Bat Wings blueprint.
"This is a special puppet. It is somewhat similar to the mechanical sand ship, but the difference is that these Three-Zhang Bat Wings do not travel across the desert. They fly high in the sky."
"This puppet will not be sold externally. It must be produced in secret."
"I plan to form a shinobi squad specializing in the use of the Three-Zhang Bat Wings. At critical moments, they will launch surprise attacks against other shinobi villages and catch them completely off guard."
Akayama Ryo took the blueprint. With a single glance, he was immediately drawn in.
"Art! This is simply art!"
"Kazekage-sama, I am willing."
"I will do everything I can. Even if I must go without sleep or rest, I will produce the puppet on this blueprint as quickly as possible."
Rasa shook his head.
"There is no need for that. The village's situation has not yet reached that degree of urgency. We have only just won a major victory. Compared to that, Ryo, you are an important talent of the village."
"You are very important."
"If you exhaust yourself merely to rush the schedule, that would be the village's true loss."
Akayama Ryo had not expected Rasa to say such words. For a moment, he was deeply moved.
"Kazekage-sama…"
Rasa looked around once, then withdrew his gaze.
"I won't disturb you further. Work hard, but rest properly as well."
"Yes, Kazekage-sama!"
Two squads met at the border of the Land of Wind.
One side was a Sunagakure shinobi squad.
The other side was an Iwagakure shinobi squad.
The Sunagakure shinobi squad had arrived aboard a mechanical sand ship. In the cargo hold were several huge wooden crates, all of which contained the corpses of Iwagakure shinobi.
The expressions of the Iwagakure shinobi opposite them were extremely ugly.
While counting the corpses inside the wooden crates, they took out storage scrolls.
Inside the scrolls were gold and silver.
This was a transaction.
Corpses in one hand, money in the other.
The Iwagakure shinobi's eyes were red.
Just seeing the corpses of their comrades already made them feel grief and fury. Yet to redeem those bodies, they had no choice but to pay money to the Sunagakure shinobi who had killed their comrades.
"Sunagakure has gone too far!"
"Konoha is just as shameless!"
These Iwagakure shinobi were enraged.
In their minds, they had already imagined countless scenes of attacking the Sunagakure shinobi.
But in the end, they still gave up.
Because Sunagakure still had Iwagakure captives in their hands.
If they attacked Sunagakure shinobi at this time, it would inevitably enrage Sunagakure. In their rage, Sunagakure might very well kill all those captives who could originally have survived.
To cause comrades who could have lived to die because of them—
"Damned Sunagakure!"
After obtaining the money, the Sunagakure shinobi immediately returned to the mechanical sand ship.
"Mechanical sand ship, start!"
Immediately afterward, the mechanical sand ship began sailing quickly.
Before long, it completely vanished from the Iwagakure shinobi's sight.
"We cannot just let this go!"
One Iwagakure shinobi said viciously.
"We must find an opportunity to kill these Sunagakure shinobi and teach Sunagakure a harsh lesson!"
"They killed our people, and now they're making us pay money."
"Utterly shameless!"
The mood of the Sunagakure shinobi was the complete opposite of the Iwagakure shinobi.
"Our village is truly amazing."
"The Sun Disk is really too powerful. To be honest, I never imagined that thing would be so incredible."
"It was already good enough that it could improve the desert environment. I never expected it to also be such a powerful killing weapon."
"And this mechanical sand ship has completely changed transportation in the Land of Wind."
"Now, most merchants and nobles are using our village's mechanical sand ships."
One Sunagakure shinobi said excitedly,
"After this mission is completed, my contribution should finally be enough. I'll have the chance to exchange for the right to use a Devil Fruit. I wonder what kind of Devil Fruit I'll get."
The shinobi beside him revealed an envious expression.
"You've already gathered enough contribution? That's amazing!"
"No matter what Devil Fruit it is, once you use it, your strength will greatly increase. Those of us who are originally at chūnin level can directly step into the level of special jōnin."
"Because of our talent limits, that is a level we might never reach even if we trained for our whole lives."
"Devil Fruits are truly miraculous."
"I need to hurry and accumulate enough contribution too."
"Kazekage-sama is so strong, and the village is becoming stronger and stronger."
A hint of ambition appeared in one Sunagakure shinobi's eyes.
"Tell me, do you think our Sunagakure might have a chance to unify the shinobi world?"
"If that happens, our Sunagakure will become the greatest shinobi village."
"And Kazekage-sama will become the greatest shinobi!"
"…"
Just as the entire ship of people was excitedly discussing their own future and Sunagakure's future—
Suddenly—
"Boom!"
A huge explosion rang out.
Immediately afterward, the entire mechanical sand ship was sent flying.
At the same time, a large number of figures rushed toward the mechanical sand ship at extremely high speed, surrounding it.
The Sunagakure shinobi were startled the instant they reacted.
"Enemy attack!"
"Be careful!"
A figure stood atop a nearby sand dune, his body wrapped in large amounts of bandages.
He let out a cold snort.
"Mechanical sand ship, Sun Disk… In the end, Konoha still has to rely on this old man. By seizing the opportunity of Sunagakure and Iwagakure's transaction, I easily completed a successful ambush."
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