"Why is Sunagakure taking the initiative to provoke Konoha?"
Faced with Konan's question, Sasori of the Red Sand fell silent for a moment.
"I don't know either. I don't understand Rasa. I rarely interacted with him. In my view, this matter also doesn't conform to common sense."
Sasori of the Red Sand had no intention of revealing more information to Konan.
For one, Sasori himself did not know much.
Before Rasa succeeded as Kazekage, Sasori had already left Sunagakure. The changes in Sunagakure had basically all been brought about by Rasa. As for Sasori, all he knew was the Sun Disk.
And even then, he only knew its name and appearance.
Sasori did not know what the Sun Disk actually was.
Second, Sasori felt that Akatsuki's treatment of him and Kakashi differed far too much.
His strength was still above Kakashi's.
He could do more for Akatsuki as well.
Yet what was the result?
Akatsuki's attitude toward Kakashi was more than ten times better than their attitude toward him.
Under such circumstances, it was only natural that Sasori had no favorable impression of Akatsuki.
If not for Akatsuki's strength and Rasa's orders, Sasori would have run away long ago.
Konan nodded.
"In that case, I'll give you a mission. Investigate the reason why Sunagakure is targeting Konoha."
"Fine."
Two days later.
Sunagakure.
Kazekage Building.
Rasa looked at the newspaper shinobi before him, a strange expression on his face.
"Hatake Kakashi?"
"Yes, Kazekage-sama."
The newspaper shinobi said, "Hatake Kakashi found one of Sunagakure's shinobi and hopes our newspaper's reporter can go near the Land of Rain to meet with him."
"He wants to talk about Konoha. Kazekage-sama, should we accept?"
Rasa raised a brow.
"Of course. Why wouldn't we?"
Now that Kakashi had appeared, it further confirmed Rasa's guess regarding Konoha.
In other words, the Kakashi who had appeared in Konoha was one hundred percent a disguise created by another shinobi under Hiruzen Sarutobi's orders using the Transformation Technique.
Konoha had exposed such a flaw.
And Kakashi just so happened to take the initiative to appear.
Of course Rasa would not let this opportunity pass.
"Once Kakashi's interview is published in Ninja World Weekly, public opinion about Konoha will explode directly."
"It will inevitably provide me with a tremendous number of points."
A trace of anticipation appeared in Rasa's eyes.
"And Hiruzen Sarutobi's prestige will also suffer a major blow."
The newspaper shinobi left Sunagakure and quickly headed toward the Land of Rain.
He departed without a sound. No one saw him, and no one paid any attention.
Because at that moment, there was something in Sunagakure that drew far more attention from everyone.
The public test of the mechanical sand ship.
Under the leadership of Akayama Ryo, several puppeteers had already manufactured twenty mechanical sand ships with extremely high efficiency.
Rasa had deliberately ordered his subordinates to invite merchants who frequently traded with Sunagakure, as well as some nobles of the Land of Wind, to Sunagakure to watch.
In the boundless desert, twenty mechanical sand ships were arranged in neat formation.
The crowd gathered on the side near the city wall.
"So that's the mechanical sand ship?"
"A type of ship suitable for sailing through the desert?"
"It does look rather impressive, but I wonder how fast it is and what drives it. Can this thing really be of great help to our transportation through the desert?"
A Sunagakure villager said proudly,
"This is a creation of Sunagakure. If its efficiency were only equal to previous transport tools, how could we have the nerve to bring it out?"
"The mechanical sand ship's contribution to desert transport is revolutionary."
"As long as you use it once, you will absolutely fall in love with it. You'll never be able to tolerate those old things again."
Hearing such an evaluation, the eyes of the foreign merchants brightened slightly.
But they still maintained their doubts.
Without personally experiencing it, they would never truly believe.
That was what merchants were like.
The crowd discussed animatedly, talking about the mechanical sand ship's appearance, its performance…
Until Rasa arrived.
"Kazekage-sama!"
Everyone looked toward Rasa at once.
Rasa stood in midair, a mass of Gold Dust holding him aloft.
He looked down from above.
"Everyone, welcome to Sunagakure. Thank you for coming to observe the public test of the mechanical sand ship. By public test, I mean that these twenty mechanical sand ships will be handed over for you to personally experience."
"You may form twenty teams. Each team will correspond to one mechanical sand ship."
"On each mechanical sand ship, I will arrange Sunagakure shinobi to assist you in operating it."
"After experiencing it for yourselves, you can then decide whether or not you wish to purchase one."
As Rasa's words fell, the crowd very quickly divided itself into groups.
Nobles with nobles. Merchants with merchants.
Some small merchants had no one to bring them along and were scattered here and there.
There was no helping it. There were only twenty mechanical sand ships. Rasa had no other solution.
Too many people had come to observe the test. Sunagakure's credibility had already been established. Therefore, when Sunagakure proposed that they possessed a tool capable of conveniently transporting goods through the desert—
And claimed that it represented a revolutionary improvement over previous tools—
Many people naturally became interested.
The twenty teams boarded the twenty mechanical sand ships in turn.
Those who failed to board showed expressions of deep envy.
Sunagakure shinobi stood on the sand ships and guided them through the operation.
"This is the mechanical sand ship's rudder. Turn it, and you can change the ship's sailing direction."
"As for the drive methods, there are three."
"One is human-powered."
"One is shinobi chakra-powered."
"One uses the energy core provided by Sunagakure."
Those who had boarded the mechanical sand ships began trying them out.
Some used human power. More than a dozen figures sat on the drive seats and pedaled with all their strength.
Some used shinobi chakra, placing their hands on the energy transfer module.
"So fast!"
"This speed is impressive."
"The conversion efficiency is also high. It really is much stronger than previous tools. Even relying on human power, it can completely reach more than twice the previous speed."
"The chakra consumption is a little fast, but once the speed rises, the chakra conversion rate improves as well. As long as there are enough shinobi, it could reach the Land of Wind capital in a single day."
What surprised the crowd even more was the energy core.
It was not a shinobi, yet the chakra inside it was even greater than a shinobi's.
"This energy core is specially made by Sunagakure. It can support a round trip from Sunagakure to the Land of Wind capital and back, with a small amount of energy still remaining. There is absolutely no need to worry about endurance."
The crowd's eyes brightened even more fiercely.
"I want one!"
"I'll buy this ship!"
"I want two!"
"I want ten!"
…
…
Compared to Sunagakure's lively atmosphere, Konoha's mood at this moment was not enthusiastic.
Hiruzen Sarutobi lifted his head and looked at the Hokage Rock carved high into the cliff face opposite him. His brows furrowed.
"For some reason, I have a rather bad feeling."