Uchiha's personal opinion

His superior, Uchiha Shiina, even spoke with Rasa about it, advising him not to pay attention to the rumors and saying that he planned to have Konoha send a message to Sunagakure to ask the Third Kazekage to stop the spread of the rumors. However, after thinking it over, Rasa ultimately declined Uchiha Shiina's "good intentions".

If it weren't for the fact that Rasa joined the Joint Anti-Terrorist Force at the behest of the Third Kazekage, he might have believed those rumors that came from who-knows-where.

Now that he has received the medal from the Konoha Governor's Office, Rasa has no idea how the non-Uchiha "red-eyed monsters" in the village will talk about him.

"...Why is it so difficult to do something practical?"

Luo Sha sighed deeply once again.

……

"Lord Deguang, this is the awarding report finalized by the Ministry of Political Affairs and the Ministry of the Interior."

A servant ninja entered Uchiha Tokumitsu's office and presented him with a document with both hands.

"Put it on the table first."

Uchiha Tokumitsu was reviewing the special snake medicine project in Orochimaru's charge, so he casually gave a reply.

It must be said that Orochimaru is indeed a rare talent.

As the saying goes, he can be both a scholar and a punching bag; Orochimaru not only has decent personal strength, but his scientific research ability is also top-notch. He doesn't even complain when asked to develop an enhanced version of snake medicine specifically to counter the Ninja Snakes. All it takes is to increase his research funding to motivate him to work hard.

Moreover, for such a high-quality employee, all you need to do is pay him and turn a blind eye to some of his less-than-humane research. Considering all that, the cost-effectiveness is unparalleled.

"Order the joint venture to begin trial production!"

After reviewing it, Uchiha Tokumitsu signed his opinion on the snake medicine research report.

Then came the list of award recipients that the attendant ninja had just presented.

This award ceremony was suggested by Sakumo Hatake and supplemented and improved by Tokumitsu Uchiha.

Originally, Hatake Sakumo only proposed to commend some of the village's meritorious ninjas in order to further win over the people's hearts, but Uchiha Tokumitsu expanded it, changing the commendation to the awarding of medals, and expanding the target to Konoha and even the forces related to the shogunate.

Therefore, nearly ten people from traditional friendly ninja villages, including Kirigakure, Sunagakure, Kusagakure, and Amegakure, also received this honor.

Uchiha Tokumitsu's only concern was the situation in Sunagakure.

“Luo Sha…”

Uchiha Tokumitsu flipped to the corresponding character file and read it through again.

The shogunate's infiltration of Sunagakure and other ninja villages such as Amegakure has never ceased.

In the early days, the main approach against Amegakure was through mercenary warfare. Later, with the addition of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the shogunate began to innovate in the education of the original Root organization. It adopted methods including but not limited to providing funds, hidden shares, and opportunities for children to study abroad, thus supporting a group of "reformist" ninjas within Sunagakure and Amegakure who were loyal to the shogunate and wholeheartedly wanted to be "naked ninjas".

The shogunate's infiltration efforts have been very successful in Amegakure. Even Hanzo of the Salamander was powerless to change the fact that the village's upper class was unanimously devoted to the shogunate. He has now chosen to lie low and start enjoying the benefits brought by the alliance. However, the progress in Sunagakure has not been very satisfactory due to the special nature of its country.

However, after Sunagakure began sending ninjas to join the joint counter-terrorism force, Uchiha Tokumitsu discovered an excellent candidate among them: Rasa.

As the only Magnet Release ninja in Sunagakure besides the current Kazekage, Rasa was regarded by the civilian ninjas of Sunagakure as the successor to the next Kazekage, but the Sunagakure leadership always harbored some inexplicable prejudice against him.

Especially after transforming the village into a nation and completely taking control of the Land of Wind, some of the high-ranking officials of Sunagakure are committed to changing the original power succession structure and intend to establish a hereditary succession of "one line for ten thousand generations". Therefore, they also dislike Rasa, who is a strong contender for the next Kazekage.

As for the Kazekage candidate that the Sunagakure leadership planned to support, it was another figure familiar to Uchiha Tokumitsu—Scorpion.

Scorpion's many shortcomings, such as being aloof and taciturn, out of touch with worldly affairs, lacking any foundation, and lacking supporters, were all seen as advantages by the higher-ups who were trying to support him—as the Kazekage, he should delegate power and rule by doing nothing, leaving the mundane affairs to them, these ordinary people.

It must be said that, as the poorest of the five great ninja villages, Sunagakure, despite its reputation for ferocity, always carried a certain pettiness. Even the powerful clans of Sunagakure, compared to clans like the Uchiha, Senju, and Hyuga, were like chickens in a mountain valley, truly lacking any prestige.

Therefore, it was this group of Sand Village clans who felt inferior to the powerful clans of Konoha who envied the power and influence of the Konoha clans. So they gathered together and formed the Sand Village diehards under the banner of "Sand Village first".

Furthermore, the hardliners in Sunagakure felt that the United Company's tax-collecting operation of the Oasis in the Land of Wind was an infringement on the sovereignty of the Land of Wind and Sunagakure. They had been advocating against the infiltration of Konoha and the Shogunate in front of the Third Kazekage and the ruling government of the Land of Wind. Some even advocated reconciliation with the Northern Alliance of Iwagakure and Kumogakure and choosing to become a third-party force in the ninja world.

However, after weighing the pros and cons, especially after seeing the stubborn Sand Village ninjas managing the oasis at a loss for years, the Third Kazekage ultimately rejected the stubborn faction's proposal rather hesitantly.

No matter what the United Corporation does, they are still the creators of value. The stubborn faction of Sunagakure, apart from exploiting the already impoverished commoners of the Land of Wind by killing people, is completely clueless about construction.

Although the United Company was a front for the Uchiha clan, the benefits it brought were something the Third Kazekage could not refuse; especially after the nobles were collectively hung up with streetlights, the already impoverished and backward Land of Wind could no longer find suitable business talent.

However, the Third Kazekage was not blind to the potential dangers that allowing the United Company to operate unimpeded in the Land of Wind would pose to the rule of Sunagakure; he simply couldn't find a good solution for the time being.

"Anti-union companies will go bankrupt immediately, while non-anti-union companies will die a slow death; so I ask you, gentlemen, to oppose or not to oppose!"

According to a Sand Village Jonin who wished to remain anonymous, the Third Kazekage once said the following in a secret high-level meeting.

Therefore, although Uchiha Tokumitsu was unwilling to overthrow the rule of his "old friend" Third Kazekage in the Land of Wind, he began to search for and support a representative within Sunagakure without any psychological burden.

Uchiha Tokumitsu first signed his opinion on the award report, then shook the bell on the table to summon the attendant ninja, and took out Rasa's information separately and handed it to him.

"Inform Mr. Sakumo that he will award the medal to Rasa at that time."

Chapter 348 A Gift for the Anniversary of the Village's Founding

Although the Myoboku lineage and Ryuchi Cave have reconciled, and even the White Snake Sage has revoked Orochimaru's summoning privileges, Jiraiya still experiences an indescribable physical discomfort whenever he sees a snake from Ryuchi Cave.

It was like seeing one's natural enemy.

For example, right now...

"Sizzle! You damned, shameless toad! Believe me or not, I'll swallow you whole!"

Inside the Akatsuki's secret base, a giant ninja snake flicked its tongue at a ninja frog and spoke menacingly.

"What are you yelling about, you stinking snake? If you keep acting so arrogant, I'll put you on the barbecue grill with a steel fork!"

The nectarine immediately jumped up, shouting loudly and waving the steel fork in its claws, while also intentionally or unintentionally stabbing a mindless snake to death.

"A utterly incompetent and cowardly toad!"

The giant snake immediately straightened its body, its back taut, and began to swing its tail, crushing several innocent intelligence frogs in the process.

"Have you all had enough?!"

Just as the tense battle between the snake and the frog was about to erupt, Jiraiya finally couldn't stand it anymore. "Now that we're on the same side, can't we cooperate peacefully?"

"His!"

"Croak!"

After the snake and the frog uttered their harsh words in their respective tribal dialects, they slowly retreated.

"teacher……"

Xiao Nan, who had been standing timidly to the side for a long time, finally stepped forward shyly.

"Xiao Nan... what's wrong?"

Jiraiya immediately suppressed his anger and asked with a smile.

"Reconnaissance report from the northern base of the Land of Waterfalls..."

Summoning her courage, Konan handed a document to Jiraiya amidst the watchful eyes of a group of snake-frog creatures.

"Kitataki Base..."

Jiraiya couldn't help but sigh, and reached out to take Konan's report to read it.

The Northern Base of the Land of Waterfall was one of the Akatsuki's newly established secret bases, but it suddenly lost all contact with the main base at the end of December of the 39th year of Konoha.

Therefore, Jiraiya dispatched the few normal humans in the Akatsuki organization to conduct reconnaissance and recovered some scattered intelligence frogs and snakes. With the help of the joint counter-terrorism forces' phased elimination announcement, the truth about the base's loss of contact was finally pieced together.

"It turns out that the snakes from Ryuchi Cave went out and ate people, which led to their discovery..."

Upon seeing the contents of the reconnaissance analysis report, Jiraiya immediately felt as if his blood pressure was about to burst his brain blood vessels.

"teacher……"

Jiraiya heard Konan's trembling voice again.

"Ok?"

"Can...can I leave now?"

Konan's lips trembled, her face was deathly pale, and her eyes were fixed on what was behind Jiraiya, as if she had been frightened by something.

Jiraiya followed her gaze and looked back, only to see a dozen giant snakes that were resting now gleaming with ferocity and dripping with venom, as if they were about to leap out and devour Konan whole.

"You should go back first..."

Feeling utterly exhausted, Jiraiya could only pat Konan on the shoulder and let her leave the cave.

As for those giant snakes that were always thinking about eating their own people, he no longer had the energy to scold them.

Is there any way out for the future...?

Jiraiya walked deeper into the cave with his hands behind his back, under the watchful eyes of Ninjagainvillea. His mood was heavy, and his brows were furrowed, as if he were carrying endless worries.

Since the two holy lands decided to cooperate, he hasn't left this secret base for a single day. He spends his days either mediating conflicts in this cave or dealing with the corpses of the snake-frog civil war in another cave. The Akatsuki's daily work and the construction of its branch bases have had to be entrusted to his disciple Yahiko and his companions.

Although Yahiko is mature beyond his years, he is still an immature teenager. His biggest weakness is his lack of experience and knowledge. As a result, his branch bases are often exposed due to some inexplicable problems that he has not noticed, and are thus easily wiped out by the joint counter-terrorism forces.

"Yo~ Mr. Jiraiya is here~"

An extremely alluring voice sounded behind Jiraiya, accompanied by a refreshing fragrance and a gentle breath of warm air blowing in his ear.

But Jiraiya, who was obsessed with women, was completely unmoved. Instead, his body tensed up, and he quickly drew a kunai from his waist and stabbed it behind him without even looking.

Unsurprisingly, the kunai didn't poke anything.

"What a cold-blooded and ruthless stubborn bastard! Can't even this get you under control?"

A seductive and alluring voice rang out again from all directions.

Jiraiya turned around with a cold face and looked at the snake-eyed loli hanging upside down above the cave.

Even the hem of her skirt defied common sense and "floated" upwards, instead of drooping down due to gravity...

"Take a look at this report."

Jiraiya said coldly, then tossed the reconnaissance analysis report over.

The snake-eyed loli took the plan, casually flipped through a few pages, and tossed it on the ground, saying nonchalantly, "I can't read."

Jiraiya felt as if he could vaguely hear the sound of blood vessels in his brain bursting.

"Can you control the movements of those snakes in Ryuchi Cave?"

Jiraiya took a deep breath to calm himself and said in the calmest voice possible, "Several newly built bases have been destroyed because the giant serpent went out on its own and devoured people!"

"Then why don't you just kill them?"

The snake-eyed loli chuckled, "Those mindless aliens can't understand any instructions other than killing and bloodshed. Do you intend to teach them?"

"...You're making it sound too simple!"