"These."
Minato took out a stack of cards.
Danzo took them and looked.
"These are about the Hyuga Clan?"
Danzo frowned.
Minato said, "The proclamation from the Kaguya Clan caused the rumors, which had already started to die down, to erupt again. Many people began discussing the matter once more, and quite a few members of the Hyuga Clan have become emotionally unstable."
"After all, they have been on good terms with the Kaguya Clan for generations, and believe the Kaguya would never deceive them."
"And right at that moment, these cards appeared."
"The moment they appeared, there were tens of thousands of them."
"They caused even more people to start discussing this matter, and have brought quite a bit of trouble to Konoha."
The emotions of Hyuga shinobi were affected.
Konoha was worried that the Hyuga shinobi might have problems.
Kirigakure was worried that the Hyuga shinobi might stir up trouble.
And both Iwagakure and Sunagakure were using this to mock Hyuga shinobi.
Danzo looked through several of the cards.
"They're different from the last cards. They're more refined, and the character illustrations on the back are different too."
Suddenly, Danzo saw himself on one of them.
He froze for a moment.
"Minato, what is this? Why is there an illustration of me?"
Minato explained, "That's how these are. The ones on the back this time are all famous shinobi from the major ninja villages—people who have already been renowned for many years."
"It's a game called Ninja Kill."
"Different shinobi have different ninjutsu."
"Besides that, there are identity cards, health cards, item cards, ninja tool cards…"
"A full set of cards contains more than a hundred cards."
"It can form a very complex strategy game."
"And now, this game has already begun to slowly spread through the shinobi world."
Danzo quickly looked at his own card.
[Shimura Danzo — The Darkness of Konoha]
Ninjutsu One, Regret: You may forcibly retrieve a card that has already been played this turn.
Ninjutsu Two, Cling to Life: After being killed, you may revive on the next turn with one health point.
"Is there one for Hiruzen?"
"Yes."
Minato searched his pocket and took one out.
[Sarutobi Hiruzen — Third Hokage]
Ninjutsu One, Shinobi Hero: You may forcibly designate one player and draw one card from them. This can only be used once per turn.
Ninjutsu Two, Command Subordinates: When you need to play a Dodge, you may have other players choose whether to play a Dodge for you.
Danzo calculated inwardly.
"It seems Hiruzen's ninjutsu aren't stronger than mine?"
That immediately gave Danzo a slightly more favorable impression of this so-called Ninja Kill.
But very quickly, Danzo shook his head hard.
The contents of the game did not matter.
It was obvious that this card game had been designed and produced by an enemy of Konoha, and there were even rumors about the Hyuga Clan printed on it.
For Konoha, this was not a good thing.
"Minato, you managed to gather a complete set of the game cards?"
Danzo glanced at the bulging pouch at Minato's waist.
Minato revealed a slightly awkward expression.
"Danzo-sama, the ANBU collected the cards and handed them over to me. I organized them a little."
Minato simply took out the entire set.
"Five identity cards. One Kage, two missing-nin, one loyal retainer, and one traitor."
"Eighty item cards."
"Twenty ninja tool cards."
"Forty-two shinobi cards."
Danzo looked at that thick stack of cards and frowned again.
"So complicated. That means this person didn't come up with it on the spot. They must have started designing it a long time ago. Minato, can you figure out who made it?"
"Most likely, Sunagakure."
Minato said, "Every lead I traced basically ended in the Land of Wind."
"The Iwagakure shinobi, on the other hand, do not seem to know much about it."
Danzo's face darkened.
At this point, if one were to ask which ninja village Danzo hated most, it would definitely be Sunagakure.
Danzo could not even remember the last time he had suffered such a huge loss.
"Sunagakure is using such despicable methods to drive a wedge into Konoha's internal relations. Shameless to the extreme."
"It looks like Konoha needs to take some action against Sunagakure as well."
After returning to the Konoha encampment, a medical shinobi hurried over.
"Danzo-sama."
Danzo pointed at the shoulder where he had lost his arm.
"Treat it here."
Danzo sat down. While receiving treatment, he asked Minato,
"Minato, what was the situation earlier when you fought Rasa?"
Minato thought for a moment.
"Rasa is very strong. In a one-on-one battle, it would be difficult for me to kill him, and difficult for him to kill me as well."
"But if summon beasts are excluded, then when facing multiple opponents, my abilities are probably inferior to his."
"Those sand soldier puppets are stronger than shadow clones."
"And that Thunder Blade is extremely compatible with Rasa's Magnet Release."
At the mention of that, Danzo felt another trace of dissatisfaction toward Kirigakure.
Previously, Kirigakure had clearly held a major advantage over Sunagakure, but they still could not take Sunagakure down.
If they had taken Sunagakure, Konoha could have shared in the spoils as well.
But not only had Kirigakure failed, they had constantly run into problems themselves.
Even their own ninja swords had ended up strengthening Sunagakure.
Danzo felt that if Rasa had not possessed the Thunder Blade, he might not have lost his arm at all.
"Pakura's strength also rose after obtaining Hiramekarei."
"The chakra blasts fired by Hiramekarei can actually carry the properties of Scorch Release, which greatly increases Pakura's attack range. And the ability to store chakra has raised her upper limit."
"Sunagakure's current strength is no longer weak."
At the same time, a complete set of Ninja Kill cards was also delivered before Sarutobi Hiruzen.
"Ninja Kill?"
"The game is good, but these rumors are too vile." "Sunagakure has learned bad habits from Iwagakure as well!"
"Iwagakure really did start a terrible trend!"
"Onoki is truly scum."
"He corrupted the entire shinobi world and dragged it into a vile age."
Hiruzen wore a troubled expression.
The proclamation from the Kaguya Clan had already stirred the Hyuga Clan into unrest, and the appearance of the Ninja Kill cards was undoubtedly adding fuel to the fire. At this point, Hiruzen could no longer be entirely sure of the Hyuga Clan's state.
Even though Hyuga Yamakura had given his assurance.
Even though the Hyuga Clan had the Caged Bird Seal.
"Call Hyuga Yamakura over."
"Yes, Hokage-sama."
Ninja Kill spread through the shinobi world at an astonishing speed.
This time was different from before.
Last time, Rasa had flown above the battlefield and scattered the cards from the sky, using the beautiful female shinobi illustrations on the back to catch people's attention. It had been simple, crude, and direct, and the effect had been good.
But this time, Rasa had ordered the shinobi of Sunagakure to distribute the cards directly.
There was still a collecting process, but the difficulty of completing a full set had dropped greatly.
Some people with particularly good luck could even directly obtain a complete set.
Because this time, only after gathering the full set did the real highlight appear.
The method was different, but just the same, it brought Rasa a tremendous increase in points.
Looking at the numbers on the system panel, Rasa's eyes lit up.