Sure enough, this brief eye contact did not last long.
Rasa was the first to give in under the pressure of Ebizo's overwhelming presence. He hurriedly looked away, and shifted his attention back to the official letter placed in front of him.
At this moment, he was racking his brain, thinking about who would be the most suitable person to send to handle this matter.
Just then, Ebizo suddenly spoke, "There's no need to keep thinking about it, Kazekage. In my opinion, sending Maki to carry out this mission would be the best choice."
Hearing this, Rasa paused slightly, because Maki was actually the person he had in mind as well.
What irritated him, however, was that it was obvious Ebizo and Pakura had already discussed it beforehand and reached an agreement.
If he had not rushed back in time this time, they probably would have acted first and reported later, directly dispatching Maki without even asking him.
Thinking back to the past six months, he had been stuck in the desert, working with his head down, already feeling suffocated inside.
And now this kind of troublesome mess had come up again. It truly made Rasa furious.
"Are you teaching me how to do my job?"
Rasa glared at Ebizo with a gloomy expression.
"Heh!"
The corners of Ebizo's mouth lifted slightly, letting out a faint, mocking chuckle.
Although he did not say another word, the sarcasm hidden in that laugh could not have been more obvious.
Everyone present could clearly feel the thick disdain in it.
After all, Ebizo's sister had died on the brutal battlefield.
And the Kazekage in front of him, who spent every day digging for gold to pay off debts, his position already shaky, simply could not earn even a trace of his respect.
A cold, piercing killing intent flickered in Rasa's eyes, like two sharp beams shooting straight at Ebizo.
Lowering his voice, he said coldly, "I am still the Kazekage!"
Yet in the face of Rasa's fierce glare, Ebizo showed no fear at all.
He simply replied calmly, "Since that is the case, then Kazekage-sama, please choose someone."
Before he even finished speaking, Rasa suddenly flung the official letter in his hand onto the table in front of him with force, making a loud slap.
"If Konoha tells us to go, we have to go? I don't think that's necessary."
Hearing this, Ebizo's brows tightly knitted together.
"Kazekage, what do you mean by that?"
Rasa stretched out his finger and tapped heavily on the opened letter on the table.
"In the last Shinobi World War, our Sunagakure suffered heavy damage. We took the worst losses!"
"Right now, the village is short on manpower and short on funds."
"So no matter what kind of request Konoha makes, with our current situation, there's no way we can meet it!"
"Anyway, Iwagakure and Kumogakure will definitely send people to scout for information, so we just need to wait quietly."
Rasa crossed his arms over his chest and said with a calm face.
"Konoha doesn't even have enough manpower now. They simply can't gather a large force to attack Sunagakure."
He paused, then continued analyzing, "In that case, instead of sending people over to be humiliated, it's better to shut our doors and protect ourselves first."
Although what Rasa said was not without reason, Ebizo did not agree with him.
Ebizo retorted, "Kazekage, if we cannot obtain firsthand intelligence, then our follow-up response will become extremely passive."
But in the face of Ebizo's questioning, Rasa still looked unconcerned. He waved his hand and replied, "Whether those rumors about the Fourth Hokage, Namikaze Minato, are true or not, it actually makes no difference to the current situation of our Sunagakure."
"Anyway, they're not going to take the initiative to attack us."
It had to be admitted that Rasa's shameless turtle-like tactic did have a bit of logic to it.
After all, the geographical environment where Sunagakure was located was quite special.
Even if someone could really capture it, the price paid would probably be huge, maybe even a complete loss.
What's more, if Konoha sent troops to attack Sunagakure, their rear would be left empty, and Iwagakure and Kumogakure would very likely take the chance to sneak attack their base.
'Sure, you Konoha won that war, and that's impressive. But sorry, our Sunagakure has nothing left. We're lying flat now.'
At this time, Pakura, who had been silent all along, suddenly broke the silence.
"Kazekage, don't forget, Namikaze Minato possesses the Flying Thunder God Technique, known as the fastest speed in the shinobi world!"
Hearing this, Rasa's face turned cold. He glanced at Pakura without emotion and replied stiffly, "So what if he has the Flying Thunder God Technique? Can it let him instantly cross mountains and rivers from distant Konoha and arrive at our Sunagakure?"
Just as Pakura was about to argue a few more words, Ebizo quickly shot her a stern look, signaling her to stop.
Seeing this, Pakura could only swallow the words that had already reached her lips.
At that moment, Ebizo spoke again, unhurried, his voice calm like still water, without a trace of fluctuation, "Since the Kazekage has already made such a decision, then as subordinates, we will naturally obey without condition."
However, how could Rasa fail to hear the deeper meaning hidden behind those seemingly obedient words?
After all, this decision was made by you, the Kazekage, personally. So no matter how serious the consequences are later, you alone will bear the responsibility.
At this time, Rasa no longer cared about anything else. He put on a completely reckless attitude and simply dragged things out stubbornly.
He knew very clearly that the Sunagakure under his control simply could not come up with enough money to deal with the current situation.
So he just went all in.
"Hmph! If you've got the guts, then come attack my Sunagakure. We really don't have any money anyway."
As for Rasa himself, he now had to personally take part in mining every single day.
All he was thinking was that since the compensation for those fallen shinobi had already been fully paid, he might as well hurry and step down from the position of Kazekage.
If he stopped mining, he wanted to see whether the village would end up begging him instead.
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