Uchiha's personal opinion

……

While the allied ninja forces in the northern part of the Land of Waterfall were still embroiled in a power struggle, Captain Rasa of the southern confrontation line was already indulging in the thrill of commanding elite ninja forces.

As the strongest of the younger generation in Sunagakure, Rasa is also highly regarded in the Land of Wind.

Even so, apart from his own three-man squads, he had no experience commanding ninja forces of more than a hundred men.

Therefore, with the assistance of Nara, the strategist of the brigade, Rasa organized multiple drills, practicing all the ninja tactics he had studied.

During the exercise, Luo Sha did not encounter any difficulties.

Both Konoha ninjas and Kusanagi ninjas treated him, the squad leader, with great respect. Even the three Chunin from the Uchiha clan maintained proper respect for him, which made Rasa feel even more smug.

The Uchiha clan is the most illustrious and powerful ninja clan in the ninja world! The fact that their ninjas show me such respect is enough to prove that I am indeed a renowned and powerful figure in the ninja world.

Rasa's confidence in vying for the position of the next Kazekage and Kanpaku of the Land of Wind is growing stronger as a result.

"The Kazekage is the leader unanimously elected by the Sand Village ninjas, and should be chosen by a vote of the village's Jonin, don't you agree, Sasori Jonin?"

In his spare time, Rasa would chat with his deputy, Sasori, who was known as the "strongest puppeteer in Sunagakure".

Although Sasori's grandmother Chiyo has passed away, her brother Ebizo remains a powerful elder in Sunagakure. Although he is semi-retired, his influence is so great that even the brilliant and ambitious Third Kazekage has to bow down to him.

Scorpion glanced at him, casually said "Oh," and continued fiddling with his puppet.

"...When you have time, you can travel around more and communicate with ninjas from other ninja villages. This way, you can broaden your horizons and gain more inspiration by drawing inferences from other cases."

Luo Sha continued.

"You've been talking for almost half an hour, can I leave now?"

Scorpion remained unmoved, uttered a single sentence, and then remotely controlled the two puppets to pick him up and leave on his own.

"...What an ungrateful bastard!"

Rasa's face turned ashen from the rebuke. After Sasori had walked away, he muttered a curse under his breath before turning away to continue "talking" with the other Sand Village Jonin.

"parents……"

Scorpion's puppets are equipped with specially designed heating boilers that can emit body temperature, similar to that of a human, but even so, Scorpion's heart remains icy cold.

His parents and grandmother all perished at the hands of Konoha ninjas during the Second Shinobi World War, which was a devastating blow to him.

Even though he combined all his skills to create two puppets called "Father and Mother," it still couldn't make up for his longing for his parents and his resentment towards the Konoha ninjas.

His parents and grandmother Chiyo all died, either directly or indirectly, at the hands of Uchiha Tokumitsu and Hatake Sakumo.

"Jonin Sasori~"

Sunagakure Chunin Yura came running over excitedly.

"what's up?"

Scorpion stopped and asked coldly.

"The materials you requested to be purchased last time have arrived."

Yura Chunin bowed and scraped as he spoke.

"Give me……"

Scorpion manipulated the puppet "Father" to extend its left hand.

"Okay~ Here are the puppet materials you needed~"

Yura immediately took out a scroll and placed it on the mechanical arm of the puppet "Father".

"A joint venture?!"

Upon seeing the fan emblem on the sealing scroll, Scorpion immediately frowned and said with displeasure, "You gave the money to the United Corporation? You let those guys do the purchasing?!"

"Jonin Sasori... the chakra metals and special alloys you need can only be sourced through the United Company's channels..."

Yura quickly explained, "Besides, even the black market strongholds have been wiped out. Even if I wanted to find other channels, there's nothing I could do..."

"Humph!"

Scorpion snorted coldly, then left without further discussion with his subordinate, Yura.

"...Your boss doesn't seem very easy to talk to."

After Sasori walked away, an Uchiha ninja came over and put his arm around Yura's shoulder.

"Well... Jonin Sasori is a bit cold."

Yura answered with an awkward laugh.

He was too embarrassed to say that Sasori's attitude was so bad because he could never get rid of his hatred for the Uchiha clan.

"Speaking of which, you're about to be promoted to Special Jonin, right? Why are you still humiliating yourself like this to a fallen high-ranking member?"

The Uchiha ninjas secretly fanned the flames.

"There's nothing I can do... I'm just a commoner without even a surname..."

Yura sighed helplessly.

"I never expected Sunagakure to value lineage so much..."

The Uchiha ninja clicked his tongue in amazement, "Let's go, let's go play in the training ground!"

Then he pulled Yura, who appeared to be half-hearted but was actually very willing, towards the training ground.

Seeing this "friendly" scene from the command post, Luo Sha couldn't help but smile with satisfaction.

Chapter 347 Awarding of Medals and Infiltration

Konoha has been around for forty years.

New Year.

A group of Jonin led by Rasa, the captain of the Joint Anti-Terrorism Force from the southern border of the Land of Waterfall, arrived at the new Konoha district and checked into the guesthouse under the guidance of Konoha government officials. In addition, the government officials thoughtfully presented them with a map of Konoha's attractions and restaurants.

"How could you so easily reveal the layout of the village to outsiders? Aren't you worried about leaks?"

Sitting in the luxurious lobby of the reception hall, Rasa flipped through the map, marveling at the clearly marked Konoha attractions and food guides.

"Captain Rasa, even without this map, do you think Sunagakure or other ninja villages wouldn't know about Konoha's village rules and layout?"

His subordinate, Uchiha Shihō, explained, "So, since all the major ninja villages already know, there's no need to keep hiding it from us on such a trivial matter."

"...However, in my opinion, the root cause is Konoha's weak sense of secrecy."

Yura, a special Jonin from Sunagakure, shook his head and said, "If I were the head of counter-espionage for Konoha's internal affairs department, I definitely wouldn't let other villages know about Konoha's inner workings."

Do you know how many people flood into Konoha every day?

Uchiha Shihu pointed to the street outside the window and said, "The village has only completed the first phase of the new district, but the new district receives as many as 30,000 foreign merchants every day, and the village is also receiving about the same number of people. Under such circumstances, it is really unnecessary to keep some low-level information that has no value."

"Letting so many people enter the ninja village... doesn't feel right."

Yura shrugged, still sticking to his point of view: "The ninja village is primarily a military village, but now it's neglecting intelligence work for commercial interests. It just feels..."

"If not, how could the Governor's Office maintain such a large number of full-time standing ninja troops?"

"Furthermore, the salaries and allowances of our counter-terrorism units far exceed the benefits one could earn from carrying out missions!"

"Doesn't the Land of Fire still have a daimyo? Let's ask him to allocate funds!"

Yura said this.

"Daimyo..."

Uchiha Shihu scoffed, but did not continue to argue.

"The fact that Konoha has made the village layout public reflects its confidence."

Yura was about to say something more, but Rasa interrupted him, "With Konoha's current strength, what difference would it make if other ninja villages knew about the layout of the village's various districts? Is there anyone in the vast ninja world who could possibly breach Konoha's headquarters?"

“But our village…”

Yura scratched his head.

Although Sunagakure has transformed itself into a country, the village headquarters remains closed off from the outside world, and this has not changed even after the Third Kazekage became the ruler of the Land of Wind.

Luo Sha did not say anything more.

After all, he couldn't very well say that Sunagakure was too backward to be open to the outside world, could he?

"By the way, Captain, I found out about the honorary title that will be awarded to you at this medal ceremony."

Uchiha Shihu clapped his right hand, as if he had suddenly remembered something.

"Is it some special title? Tell me about it~"

Yura immediately became interested.

"No need to say anything, we'll find out when the time comes."

After Luo Sha finished speaking, he got up and went to his bedroom to rest, leaving his two subordinates looking at each other, completely bewildered.

"What's wrong with the captain...?"

Yura asked softly.

"Never mind... it's better if we don't get involved."

Although Uchiha Shihuo was equally baffled, he came from a prestigious family and had a particularly special status, so he did not continue to discuss his superior's private matters.

"Let's go, let's go to the new district's commercial street. They say you can buy anything there if you have money!"

……

"Ugh……"

Sensing that his two subordinates had already left the guesthouse, Luo Sha couldn't help but let out a long sigh.

He arrived in Konoha to participate in an award ceremony held by the Governor-General's Office.

Of the nearly thirty branch commanders in the joint counter-terrorism force, only three positions were available, and Commander Uchiha Shiina allocated one of them to him.

He had only been a member of the Joint Anti-Terrorist Force for a few months, yet he was given the same opportunity as those noble Konoha ninja to stand on the Governor-General's conferment platform. To be honest, this was indeed a great honor that Rasa was proud of.

However, ever since Rasa joined the joint anti-terrorism force, all sorts of gossip from the Land of Wind have never stopped.

Especially after Sasori was sent back to the village because his psychological condition was not suitable for the anti-terrorism force, all sorts of accusations such as "clinging to Konoha", "a villain dancing for the Uchiha", and "betraying Sunagakure" spread like wildfire throughout the Land of Wind and even the United Anti-Terrorist Force.