Aside from the firelight, Akashō could also vaguely make out familiar gold dust and sand.
What's going on? Did they start fighting again?
Who are they fighting?
Akashō suddenly froze, then glanced again at Kokushibo's Current Reputation, and a guess immediately formed in his mind.
Although he had previously considered using the number of Sand Village ninjas to skyrocket straight to 500,000 reputation, it was clear that their average strength wasn't particularly impressive—some were even weaker than the earlier group that had tried to hunt him down.
Calculating it out, with Pakura alone providing several thousand reputation points and the other Sand Village ninjas only contributing a few hundred each, there was no way he could have gained more than 200,000 in total. And yet, the reputation he had obtained now was double that amount…
"The Leaf Village guys are pretty clever, huh."
Akashō chuckled as he scratched the back of his head.
Clearly, while he had been fighting the Magnet Release duo, the Leaf Village ninja army had been watching from the sidelines—waiting for both sides to wear each other down so they could reap the benefits.
Then, after the battle ended and he left, the Leaf ninjas seized the opportunity and attacked the Sand Village forces.
As for whether they had been observing because they feared he might go berserk and attack them, or because they wanted to wait until the Sand Village was weakened—or even intended to take both Akashō and the Sand Village down at once—that remained unknown.
This also explained why Kokushibo's reputation had been increasing so rapidly earlier—it was coming from both sides.
But if that was the case… would the Sand Village be wiped out entirely? If that happened, wouldn't his revenge target disappear?
And since he had already "harvested" reputation from both the Sand Village and Leaf Village ninjas, was there any point in continuing to play games with them here?
The best option would be to move on to the other three of the so-called Five Great Ninja Villages and harvest from them instead.
While pondering his future plans, Akashō returned to the cave and reverted to his original form.
"Or maybe I should prioritize raising my reputation to 500,000 first, unlock the second Villain Template as soon as possible, and then think about the rest…"
...
At noon, in the ruined Sand Village camp, Rasa sat on the ground with bloodshot eyes. Beside him stood a visibly exhausted Karura.
"Rasa-sama…"
At that moment, a Sand Village jonin with his arm wrapped in bandages approached Rasa.
"How is it?"
Rasa asked hoarsely.
"Last night, there were a total of 1,183 ninjas in the camp. During Kokushibo's attack, 132 were killed and 59 were seriously injured."
"And in the subsequent assault by the Leaf Village ninjas, 296 were killed and 83 were seriously injured."
"Right now, there are fewer than 600 people in the camp who are still able to move."
Rasa waved his hand, signaling him to stop.
"Recall all ninja squads that are out in the field. Move the camp back 100 kilometers and enter a defensive state."
"Yes…"
After watching the jonin leave, Karura gently patted Rasa on the shoulder.
Rasa forced out a smile. "I'm fine."
Though he said that, the irritation in his heart was practically written all over his face. Karura sighed and tried to comfort him:
"There's no need to worry too much. Although our casualties are severe, the Leaf Village didn't come out unscathed either. Didn't Uchiha Fugaku also suffer serious injuries?"
Rasa shook his head and stood up.
"Unless Chiyo-sama can quickly resolve the battlefield on the Mist Village side and come to support us, we'll be on the defensive from here on out."
Karura opened her mouth as if to say something, but ultimately stayed silent. She understood very well just how much Rasa longed for the position of Kazekage. And under the current circumstances, there was no one else strong enough to qualify for that role.
But Rasa was a man with pride. He didn't want to become Kazekage merely because the situation demanded it, or simply because of his strength.
What he wanted was merit—achievements that would make him worthy of the title in every aspect.
"Oh, right."
Rasa suddenly stopped walking.
"Send a team of ninjas to track in the direction Kokushibo escaped last night. It'd be best if we could gather some information about him."
Karura hesitated for a moment, then nodded. "Understood. I'll arrange it right away."
Not long after, a squad of Sand Village ninjas left the ruined camp and arrived at the location where Akashō had departed the previous night.
One of them crouched down and touched the ground.
"As expected, he doesn't even have the basic skill of concealing his tracks."
"But… that thing is a monster even the Magnet Release duo couldn't handle. The three of us aren't even jonin… are we really going to our deaths?"
At that moment, a younger ninja couldn't help but ask, his voice trembling.
The other two fell silent for a moment. Finally, a middle-aged Sand ninja smiled and said:
"It's fine. Karura-sama said we don't need to get close to him. We just need to observe from a distance."
"He's not even a ninja, so his sensory abilities shouldn't be that strong. As long as we're careful, there won't be a problem."
Reassured by the experienced middle-aged ninja, the other two calmed down slightly. Then, following the trail Akashō had left behind, they arrived at a remote cave.
"This is where the trail ends."
The three of them stared into the pitch-dark cave that seemed to stretch endlessly, and all swallowed nervously at the same time.