[Congratulations, Host. You have completed your one-hundredth draw and triggered the guarantee. You have obtained an S-rank item: Otsutsuki Bloodline, 5%.]
"Use it!"
The next moment—
Rasa once again felt a familiar power surge into his body.
Immediately afterward, his body began changing rapidly.
His physique was being strengthened.
His chakra was increasing.
…
"Twenty-five percent bloodline concentration."
"In other words, one-quarter of my current body is already a genuine Otsutsuki."
Rasa could feel it.
Waves of power seemed to be stimulating his eyes.
It was as though some kind of change was about to arrive once again.
"Could it be that the increase in my Otsutsuki bloodline is causing my eyes to undergo another transformation?"
Rasa's eyes brightened.
Where did the strength of the Otsutsuki clan lie?
Aside from physiques and chakra reserves far beyond ordinary shinobi, the greatest distinction between them and human shinobi was the special power and abilities brought by their eyes.
Byakugan.
Rinnegan.
Tenseigan…
"I wonder what kind of evolution this Otsutsuki bloodline will bring me."
Different Otsutsuki had different circumstances.
For example, the Tenseigan seemed to appear only in Hamura Otsutsuki's bloodline.
Urashiki Otsutsuki's eyes could freely switch between Byakugan, blue Rinnegan, and red Rinnegan.
Each state possessed different abilities.
Some eyes even grew in the center of the palms, while others grew in the middle of the forehead.
Reports from the front line continued to return to Rasa's hands.
At this time, the border of the Land of Wind had already become tense.
Large numbers of intelligence shinobi from the Land of Fire had appeared, investigating the situation in the Land of Wind and Sunagakure in order to find the most suitable attack location and timing—to cause the greatest damage to Sunagakure at the lowest cost.
Meanwhile, Sunagakure's intelligence shinobi monitored the shinobi from the Land of Fire.
Once discovered, they would be hunted down immediately.
The war had not yet begun.
But the prelude was already intense enough.
"Three matters!"
Hiruzen Sarutobi emphasized.
"First, find an opportunity to heavily damage Sunagakure. The current Sunagakure has become too smug. After defeating Kirigakure, they believe their village's strength has reached some extraordinary level."
"They have provoked Konoha repeatedly. We must make them understand what a truly old and powerful shinobi village is."
"Second, investigate the Sun Disks."
"Sunagakure has invested considerable resources into the Sun Disks. That thing is certainly not simple. We must obtain information on the Sun Disks. It may pose a threat to Konoha."
"Third, investigate the Devil Fruits."
"A single Devil Fruit can directly raise a shinobi's strength by an entire level."
"If Sunagakure possesses a large number of Devil Fruits, then the situation will be serious."
When speaking of the third point, Hiruzen Sarutobi's expression became extremely grave.
Two Devil Fruit users had appeared among Sunagakure's Sailing Corps.
Konoha had already obtained information on those two shinobi.
Previously, they had only been ordinary chunin.
But after consuming Devil Fruits, their strength had risen enormously, already reaching the level of special jonin.
One had taken on a half-human, half-wolf form.
The other had taken on a half-human, half-crow form.
The half-wolf one was still manageable.
But the half-crow one possessed the advantage of flying high into the air. He was also extremely agile, able to arrive above a fleet and directly scatter explosive tags downward.
They could not hit him.
They could not dodge in time.
Once encountered, he was extremely troublesome.
Aerial superiority was an enormous advantage in the shinobi world.
At present, the villages with relatively more of this advantage were Sunagakure and Iwagakure.
In the past, even Sunagakure and Iwagakure's advantage in this aspect had not been too large.
For Sunagakure, it had only been Rasa.
First relying on Magnet Release.
Second relying on Yatagarasu.
As for Iwagakure, only shinobi who had learned the Ultra-Light-Weight Rock Technique could manage it.
But mastering that ninjutsu was not an easy matter.
Now, however, the appearance of Devil Fruits undoubtedly meant Sunagakure's advantage in this area would grow even further. Who knew how many Bird-Bird Fruits Sunagakure might possess?
The meeting ended.
Hiruzen Sarutobi sat upright in his chair.
Through the crystal ball, he observed the situation inside the village.
"Now, discussions slandering me have decreased significantly. Everyone's attention has been drawn to Konoha's upcoming operation against Sunagakure. They are discussing that matter instead."
"After all, many of those heading to the front line are connected to them."
"Family. Friends…"
For a qualified politician, properly using external conflict to resolve internal problems was a very basic lesson.
"Putting that factor aside, Sunagakure truly does need to be taught a lesson."
"That Rasa targeting Danzo before was one thing. After all, they had old grudges."
"But this time, he aimed directly at me."
"I have never offended Rasa, nor have I offended Sunagakure. What exactly is Rasa's purpose in doing this?"
"What is he plotting, to offend me and Konoha so severely without hesitation?"
Hiruzen Sarutobi did not believe for even a moment that Rasa's actions in Ninja World Weekly had simply been to speak up for Minato Namikaze.
In Hiruzen Sarutobi's view, for a Kage to take action, there must be interests driving it.
Small-scale clashes began gradually breaking out between the shinobi of both sides.
The participants were mainly young shinobi.
On Sunagakure's side, with Maki stationed in the Sailing Corps and Retsu researching the mechanical sand ship, the only young shinobi performing rather impressively was an outsider who had joined them.
Hoshigaki Kisame.
With his Water Release, along with the chakra absorption ability of the Infinite-Hole Armor—
Based on the experience from the previous arena match, Konoha sent Might Guy to deal with Hoshigaki Kisame.
But an arena match and a real battlefield were not the same.
Facing Might Guy's assault, Hoshigaki Kisame chose to avoid his sharp edge and instead took the initiative to target the other Konoha shinobi.
"Water Release: Great Shark Bullet Technique!"
A gigantic shark formed from Water Release chakra appeared and rushed straight toward the opposing Konoha shinobi.
One Konoha shinobi was struck.
In an instant, that Konoha shinobi's chakra was drained clean. His entire body went weak, and he collapsed to the ground. Meanwhile, the Great Shark Bullet became even larger.
Might Guy saw this and grew anxious.
"Hoshigaki Kisame, if you have the guts, fight me head-on!"
Kisame glanced back at Might Guy, sent a Water Release attack toward him, then widened the distance even further.
Might Guy immediately cursed loudly.
"Kirigakure traitor!"
"Shameless bastard!"
"Man who betrayed his village!"
"…"
Each sentence was uglier than the last.
But Hoshigaki Kisame still endured it. He had no intention whatsoever of tangling with Might Guy.
Until another figure arrived.
"Genjutsu: Tree Binding Death!"
Hoshigaki Kisame's body stiffened.
Might Guy's eyes lit up. He caught up and raised his fist, striking fiercely toward Hoshigaki Kisame's back.
But at that moment—
"Monkey-Monkey Fruit, Silverback Gorilla Form!"
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