Akashō looked at the Konoha ninja standing in front of him, drenched in sweat. Despite the fear that couldn't be hidden in his eyes, the man still stood there with trembling legs, maintaining a respectful expression. Akashō lowered his longsword.
"I'm not interested in you Konoha ninjas, and I have nothing to talk about with you."
"Hurry up and get lost. Go back and tell all your Konoha ninjas—if you ever see me, the Moon Sword Demon Kokushibo, you'd better have the sense to stay far away."
"Understood?"
Akashō had no intention of continuing the fight with the Konoha ninja. Naturally, he had his own considerations.
From the ninjas he encountered tonight, it was clear that many of them were no longer the type he could instantly kill with a single strike. The strength of ninjas clearly exceeded his expectations. Moreover, he still had no real understanding of the power of those so-called Kage.
To avoid a disastrous misstep, it was better not to provoke two ninja villages at once. A bit of intimidation would be enough to keep them from casually provoking him again.
"Understood, understood!"
The Konoha jonin nodded hurriedly, finally letting out the breath he had been holding.
He turned around and looked at the Uchiha ninjas, whose brows still carried faint traces of anger.
"What are you standing around for? Let's go!"
"That bastard killed more than a dozen of our clansmen. Are we just going to let this go?"
One Uchiha ninja with a three-tomoe Sharingan had fury blazing in his eyes, his hand already reaching for the ninja tools at his waist.
"He's stronger than we imagined."
Another three-tomoe ninja let out a breath.
"Even the weakness our clan head speculated about—someone already tried using Sharingan genjutsu on him, but it clearly didn't work. If we force this fight, there's a high chance we'll all be left here."
"Let's withdraw."
After a brief exchange, the two leading Uchiha ninjas came to a unified decision to retreat for now.
In the end, the uninjured Uchiha ninjas carried away the dozen or so fallen or wounded clansmen in front of Akashō and quickly disappeared from his sight.
With the Konoha ninjas gone, Akashō tilted his head and looked in the direction where the Sand Village ninjas had fled.
Next, it was time to harvest some "crops."
Akashō swiftly chased after the Sand Village ninjas. Along the way, he pulled up Kokushibo's template. At the very bottom, the reputation value had already reached six digits—over one hundred thousand.
"As expected, the stronger the ninja, the more reputation they provide."
A faint smile curved at Akashō's lips. At this rate, even five hundred thousand reputation didn't seem so far away anymore.
"However…"
Thinking back to Kokushibo's reputation value from this morning, a question arose in his mind.
"It's one thing for the Sand Village to suppress information about me, but Konoha didn't. So why is it only a few thousand reputation points?"
"Could it be that Konoha's ninjas are just that weak? That shouldn't be the case."
Konoha was a ninja force on par with the Sand Village. Judging by these Uchiha ninjas alone, they weren't weaker than Sand Village ninjas. So why the discrepancy?
"Ding. Detected that the host has doubts regarding the system-defined reputation value."
Suddenly, the system's voice—silent for a full year except for one occasion—rang in Akashō's mind.
"Reputation value includes fear, awe, and shock that living beings feel toward the template character. As ninjas are individuals with strong mental resilience, they generally only generate reputation after witnessing the template character's strength and terror firsthand."
Hearing the explanation, Akashō suddenly understood.
"So that's how it is. In other words, if I want to increase reputation, I need to appear in front of them and make them feel those emotions to gain it."
"Yes."
"Then why the hell didn't you say that earlier? I've been wasting my time for nothing."
Akashō felt speechless. He had even considered killing half and letting the other half go back to spread his name—turns out he'd been overthinking it.
"If there are questions, please ask verbally. The system cannot read the host's thoughts."
Akashō's eye twitched. So now it was his fault for not asking? Trash system. Once he became invincible, he'd toss it away immediately.
But now that it was clarified, his next step was obvious.
"They have to see it with their own eyes… Looks like after causing chaos in the Sand Village camp, I'll have to make a trip to Konoha's camp as well."
Suddenly, Akashō stopped.
Because not far ahead, beneath a cliff, a brightly lit camp came into view.
"Found it."
...
At the same time, inside the Sand Village camp, Rasa stood with a dark expression, staring at dozens of disheveled ninjas with their heads lowered.
"Over a hundred people. Two exchanges. Lost half of them."
"You've really outdone yourselves, haven't you!?"
Rasa's eyebrows trembled with anger.
"And these are supposed to be elite Sand Village ninjas under the so-called 'elite policy'? Do you have any shame!?"
The two Sand Village jonin appointed as commanders gave bitter smiles.
"It's not that we're weak. That monster's abilities just completely counter puppet masters."
"What about everyone else besides puppet masters!?"
Rasa roared, "Pakura is gone, and we lost nearly fifty elite ninjas—including over a dozen jonin! These were my core forces for fighting Konoha, and you didn't even trade for a single thing in return! What are you all good for!?"
Facing Rasa's furious outburst, the Sand Village elites said nothing, lowering their heads even further.
"Karura!!"
After venting his anger, Rasa suddenly called out behind him.
"I'm here."
A short-haired woman stepped out of a tent.
"Gather all jonin. You'll lead with me. We must kill this Kokushibo tonight!"
"Yes!"
Just as Karura acknowledged and prepared to move, a streak of light shot up in the distance with a sharp hiss, bursting into fireworks midair.
This scene left Rasa and the others in front of the main tent stunned.
It was a signal flare used by ninjas for communication—but this was the Sand Village camp. What could possibly require a flare here?
"Enemy attack! Enemy attack!!!"
Suddenly, shouts spread one after another. Sand Village ninjas resting in tents or patrolling rushed out in a panic.
"Enemy attack!?"
Rasa let out an incredulous laugh. "That Uchiha Fugaku actually dares to take the initiative and attack?"
After all, on the current Wind-Fire battlefield, the Sand Village held the advantage. Konoha could only hole up on Kikyo Mountain with its geographical advantage—how could they possibly dare?
"Rasa-sama!"
At that moment, a Sand Village ninja responsible for scouting hurried over.
"How many enemies?"
Rasa calmly raised a hand, signaling him to settle down.
"O-one…"
"Nani!?"
Rasa froze. "One!?"
"Y-yes, just one… a monster with six eyes!"
Rasa's pupils shrank, veins bulging on his forehead.
"Ko… kushibo!!!"
That bastard actually dared to come knocking on his door—did he really think Rasa was useless!?
"Karura, with me to face the enemy!!"
"Yes!"
"All Sand Village ninjas, prepare for battle!"
"Yes!"
Rasa leapt into the air, leading Karura and nearly two thousand Sand Village ninjas within the camp toward the direction where the signal flare had been fired.
...
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