Time to redesign the characters again.
Great—aside from the honest Sarutobi Hiruzen, suddenly a bunch of "eighteen-year-old" pretty boys popped up all over again.
And for convenience, everything was based solely on the portraits, photos, and personal information they submitted. As a result, every one of them was at least 189 centimeters tall, had a perfect weight, a balanced physique, smooth and fair skin—or dark and rugged masculinity. Some of the male shinobi even submitted images of themselves wearing only boxer briefs to show off their sculpted abs and muscles, all in the name of "character modeling."
These guys... are insane!
Of course, there were benefits for Sunagakure too. At least they made a decent sum from the portrait and photo fees. As for the upcoming job of updating all the character data... well, that was now Sunagakure's responsibility—other villages couldn't interfere.
Moreover, because the scale of this data modification was just too massive—and there were still many shinobi who hadn't submitted their revised character designs—this was not a simple task. It'd probably have to wait until after the tournament to begin.
In other words...
"You guys really know how to dump work on Sunagakure, huh~" Rasa sighed helplessly and shook his head. "You know, to protect the privacy of shinobi from all villages, we initially applied intentional visual obfuscation to things like appearance, height, and info. And now, just half a year later, you're already unhappy with that?"
"Only a shinobi can defeat another shinobi. Our enemies are almost always other shinobi. So all this superficial stuff doesn't even matter. Anyone wanting intel—there's a ton in the black market. The intel divisions in each village are way more detailed than the info presented in the arcade system," the Fourth Raikage said in a serious tone. "Besides... it's just too damn ugly. No sense of immersion!"
How is he even that dark!?
"..."
Well, that was a blunt and honest answer.
Turns out, most of the requests to modify character data boiled down to this: "Too ugly."
Among the representatives, only Danzō and Rasa—the leaders of Konoha and Sunagakure respectively—weren't too concerned about appearances. After all, the two of them had transcended such superficial tastes. Real shinobi, indeed!
Rasa glanced around at the representatives of the other villages.
There was A, the Raikage of Kumogakure, along with his younger brother Killer Bee. The representative from Iwagakure was Kurotsuchi's father, the son of the Third Tsuchikage—Akatsuchi—who brought along a little girl with short hair: his daughter Kurotsuchi. That little one had a proud attitude, confidently boasting in the meeting room that she would crush the Shinobi King, win the tournament, and design a character of her own. She even told Sunagakure to make her model look good.
As for Konoha… the one in charge was still the silent, gloomy-faced Danzō. One look at the guy and you knew he wasn't someone with good intentions. Jiraiya the Toad Sage? He no longer handled Konoha's affairs.
That said, Rasa wasn't sure if it was just his imagination, but Jiraiya seemed to have changed a bit lately. He hadn't seen the old guy in a while, and his whole vibe felt different.
Could it be… he got rich and now walks with his back straighter?
After all, this guy usually operated sneakily behind the scenes. It was rare to see him standing around out in the open like this.
Of course, Rasa only wondered for a moment—Jiraiya wasn't a Sunagakure consultant, so why should he care?
The one who should be worried was the Third Hokage—Sarutobi Hiruzen.
At that moment.
The group, led by Rasa—the Fourth Kazekage—was touring the updated parts of Sunagakure.
"There are only about three fully paved roads," Rasa said with a smile, noticing Danzō staring curiously at the concrete underfoot. "Building roads in the desert isn't easy. Just the cost alone is five to six times that of ordinary roads. On top of that, you need manpower, materials, and advanced techniques. It took us half a year to pave just these three roads—and that's not even counting the research and development time."
Of course, now the infrastructure department and the researchers were working on specialized tools. If they succeeded, future construction might be faster.
As he spoke, Rasa shook his head in exasperation.
"So, if we want to build Sunagakure into a modern village, the investment in money, labor, and time is several times more than what you'd need. That's why successive Kazekage leaders always preferred going to war to seize land, rather than trying to develop the desert. It just wasn't worth it."
But they kept losing. In the end, even the Wind Daimyō lost patience with them.
He remembered how a bunch of Sunagakure shinobi once shamelessly shouted: 'When have we ever won?!' It still filled him with sorrow.
At this moment—
Hearing Rasa's words, the already grim-faced Danzō asked coldly, in a low voice, "Is Sunagakure planning to start another war?"
"Of course not~" Rasa didn't mind the question at all. He smiled and shook his head. "We're doing just fine now. Though it's hard work, as the Fourth Kazekage, I prefer peace over war."
He wore an expression of righteousness, as if to say: Whoever starts a war—I'm against them!
"I'll do my best to make money and lead Sunagakure toward a better life."
As for war... that was Black Zetsu's problem, or a matter for Konoha's rogue ninja. What did their little Sunagakure have to do with that?
He glanced at the other village leaders. None of them looked like they believed a word of what he'd just said.
After all, war wasn't something you could avoid just by saying, "we don't want it."
With a smile, he pointed ahead. "That's our Sandclay factory. Sunagakure has never abandoned agricultural development, but transforming the desert is really, really difficult."
He shook his head bitterly.
He caught a quick glimpse of Danzō narrowing his eyes. Though it was brief, Rasa noticed it clearly.
"Thankfully, from the First Kazekage until now, our efforts haven't been completely in vain. While attempting to improve desert farming, we accidentally developed a special kind of soil called Sandclay It provides essential nutrients for plant growth, helps crops grow bigger, and boosts yield."
He pointed to a patch of trees in the distance.
Those trees were grown using kitchen waste provided by Rasa and cultivated by Ebizō, right beside the the Sandclay Factory.
"That grove over there is the result of the Sandclay. But even so, the desert environment is still too harsh. It took an insane amount of money and manpower just to grow that one patch. The fruit it bears is sour and small, too."
He wasn't exaggerating. The fruit tasted awful, was hard enough to crack teeth, and Rasa even suspected that eating too much of it might be hazardous to one's health.
If they couldn't improve the breed and grow decent-quality crops, he was thinking of turning the fruits into canned goods and selling them cheap to ninja from other villages.
After all, shinobi have strong bodies—they won't die from it.
Seeing the other village representatives quietly let out a breath of relief at his words, Rasa figured they were worried Sunagakure might actually rise to power.
He smiled with hope for the future.
"But no matter what hardships we face, Sunagakure always believes in a better tomorrow. We never give up."
He looked at everyone.
"Next, let's head over to the rare-earth factory~"
As he said that—
The representative from Iwagakure, who had seemed bored listening to all Rasa's grand speeches, suddenly narrowed his eyes, showing renewed interest.
Rasa's lips curled slightly.
How cautious of you~