"A wandering Iwagakure shinobi."
"At a time like this, he actually dares to provoke my Sunagakure?"
"And he caused so many casualties to my village."
"Even on the front line against Iwagakure, there have not been this many casualties."
"Good!"
A trace of killing intent appeared in Rasa's eyes.
Previously, Rasa had not had much of an impression of Roshi.
He only knew that this person was the Four-Tails jinchuriki, and because his political views differed from Onoki's, he had left Iwagakure.
But he was not considered a missing-nin. He remained a member of Iwagakure.
Just like Tsunade, who wandered outside Konoha, and Jiraiya before this.
"The matter of attacking my Sunagakure outpost cannot be settled so simply."
Rasa immediately issued an order.
An ANBU squad left the village.
Under Rasa's command, they began tracking Roshi's whereabouts.
Once he was found, Rasa intended to act personally.
It was just right. Rasa also wanted to test his current abilities.
Rasa glanced at the system panel.
[S-rank Abilities: Sand Soldier Manifestation, Quicksand Displacement, Crescent Moon Sand Dune, Antlion Hell, Sandification, Railgun, Grant S/N, Situation Awareness, Body Separation Technique, Anubis, Designated Transformation Technique, Forced Vacuum Technique!]
[Kekkei Genkai: Magnet Release, Byakugan, Sharingan.]
[Otsutsuki Bloodline: 40%.]
[Ninja Tool: Samehada.]
The Thunder Swords were already useless to Rasa, but Samehada was still useful.
Against opponents with enormous chakra reserves, such as jinchuriki—
For example, Roshi—
Samehada's existence would exert tremendous restraint.
But Rasa's own chakra reserves were already vast.
"Pursuing and killing Roshi is only one part. It is not enough."
"Roshi is an Iwagakure shinobi. Iwagakure must take responsibility for what he has done."
A thought emerged in Rasa's mind.
Previously, Kitsuchi had led Iwagakure shinobi to ambush Sunagakure's army.
Because that had been a trap in itself, Iwagakure had failed.
Over a thousand Iwagakure shinobi had died, and Kitsuchi himself had also died.
At that time, according to the intelligence shinobi's reports, Kitsuchi had actually had several opportunities to escape. Some Iwagakure shinobi had even used their own lives to create chances for him.
But Kitsuchi had not fled.
Instead, he had insisted on continuing the battle.
All the way until death.
"I heard that the relationship between Onoki and Kitsuchi was not good. Onoki had always been dissatisfied with this son's performance, just like Sarutobi Hiruzen was with Asuma."
"After the news that Kitsuchi had led the Iwagakure army to defeat returned to Iwagakure, a clarification immediately spread inside Iwagakure."
"Saying that this was Kitsuchi's unauthorized action."
"Onoki harshly denounced Kitsuchi's mistake and lamented for the dead Iwagakure shinobi."
"Kitsuchi died, but Onoki's reputation received an enormous boost."
"I can completely start from here."
Rasa's eyes flickered.
"These old things—saying they cling greedily to power is never wrong."
"Iwagakure's Onoki. Konoha's Sarutobi Hiruzen. Both have sat in the position of Kage for many years."
"The younger generation has no chance to rise."
"Then can I say this? That order was actually given by Onoki, but in order to avoid bearing responsibility, Onoki pushed all the blame onto his dead son."
"Kitsuchi was merely a scapegoat."
"Not only did Onoki avoid responsibility, he even obtained a good reputation and further consolidated his rule."
"If such a rumor spreads, quite a few people should believe it."
Rasa summoned the rumor team.
"Kazekage-sama."
Rasa explained his line of thought.
Afterward, he continued,
"Roshi attacked our Sunagakure outpost and caused enormous casualties. We cannot leave this hatred unanswered!"
"I have already sent ANBU shinobi to investigate Roshi's whereabouts."
"I need all of you to spread this rumor with full force. Ruin Onoki's reputation and shake the hearts of Iwagakure's people."
Two days later—
This rumor appeared in the Land of Earth.
"Have you heard? The decision to ambush Sunagakure's army was not made by Kitsuchi at all. It was made by Tsuchikage-sama."
"In order to avoid bearing responsibility and preserve his own reputation, Tsuchikage-sama deliberately pushed all the blame onto Kitsuchi."
Onoki's reputation in the Land of Earth was extremely strong.
When the people around heard such words, none of them believed it.
Someone said, "How could Tsuchikage-sama possibly do something like that? Kitsuchi was Tsuchikage-sama's own son."
"Even a tiger does not eat its cubs. Tsuchikage-sama would never make Kitsuchi, who had already tragically died, bear such an ugly infamy just for the sake of his own reputation."
The person from before shook his head.
"You are wrong."
"Everyone knows what kind of person Kitsuchi was. He had very poor decisiveness. For a decision of that magnitude, he would never dare make it himself without asking Tsuchikage-sama."
"If he truly had such decisiveness, Iwagakure would never have spread that kind of evaluation of Kitsuchi in the first place."
"Furthermore, you should all have already seen Konoha's Sarutobi Hiruzen's true face clearly, yes? Greedy for power, committing so many outrageous acts for the sake of the Hokage position."
"Tsuchikage-sama has not held power for any less time than Sarutobi Hiruzen."
"At least Konoha still has discussions about Hokage candidates."
"What about Iwagakure? For decades, there has not been a single voice discussing a successor to the Tsuchikage."
"Tsuchikage-sama is greedy for power, just like Sarutobi Hiruzen."
The moment these two points were raised, everyone fell silent.
Because these two points were indeed facts.
Kitsuchi's character was a fact.
Onoki had occupied his position for decades. That was also a fact.
A middle-aged man pondered for a moment before saying, "According to what you said, Tsuchikage-sama does indeed have the possibility of pushing the responsibility onto Kitsuchi."
"After all, Kitsuchi is already dead, while Tsuchikage-sama is still alive. The living are certainly more important than the dead."
"It is just that such a thing would be difficult to reconcile with one's conscience. After all, that was his own son."
…
Iwagakure.
Onoki was considering his next plan.
Sunagakure's strength worried him.
But since joining hands with Konoha to take down Sunagakure was already impossible, Onoki had decided to change his approach and obtain resources from Konoha to strengthen Iwagakure.
"If I put forward such conditions now, Sarutobi Hiruzen will definitely refuse."
"I still need to wait. Wait until Konoha's situation becomes even worse."
Two figures entered the Tsuchikage Building one after another.
"Tsuchikage-sama."
"Tsuchikage-sama, good news, good news!"
The intelligence shinobi on the left said excitedly,
"We have received news that one of Sunagakure's outposts was attacked, with many dead and wounded. The one who attacked them was Senior Roshi. Although Senior Roshi left the village, his heart still remains with it."
A flash of light passed through Onoki's eyes.
"Is that true?"
"That is indeed good news!"
Then, Onoki looked toward the intelligence shinobi on the right.
"What news do you have?"