"That's not impossible," someone else said. "Since this is a novel about ninja, it's only natural that the author would draw inspiration from real people or settings that already exist."
"If Gennosuke represents the Uchiha, then who does Oboro represent?"
"Konoha?"
"No, no—that doesn't fit."
"Gennosuke and Oboro are in love. They're forced to kill each other because of the daimyo. But Konoha and the Uchiha already had contradictions between them to begin with. The Fire Daimyo didn't do anything."
The impact of the newspaper was far greater than the little cards had ever been.
One reason was that Rasa had invested more into it.
This time, the number of newspapers printed was absolutely massive. They had been scattered across countless places directly from the sky, and the amount of text on them was far greater than what had fit onto the cards. There was much more to read, and much more to linger over.
And The Kouga Ninja Scrolls was, in itself, an exceptionally strong story.
In an era so lacking in entertainment, the appeal of a serialized novel was tremendous.
Even people who hated Sunagakure, or who had no interest in the major events of the ninja world, still found themselves keeping the newspaper solely because of The Kouga Ninja Scrolls.
They folded it carefully.
Stored it away.
Hidden it somewhere safe.
Under the orders of Hiruzen and Onoki, large numbers of shinobi were dispatched to destroy the newspapers.
But even then, an enormous number still ended up hidden away.
In Konoha.
In Sunagakure.
And elsewhere.
The number of people secretly hiding the newspapers was even greater than the number who had secretly hidden away the little propaganda cards before.
As Danzo listened to discussions outside, his mood sank to the very bottom.
Whenever anyone talked about the newspaper, he would inevitably be mentioned—as the front-page headline, he could not be avoided.
Even though Danzo had publicly denied everything written there, not many believed him.
Most people felt that the content of the front page was real.
Even if it was not one hundred percent true, they believed at least sixty or seventy percent of it was.
"Danzo is too incompetent!"
"No wonder he never became Hokage!"
"Anyone who follows Danzo is just asking for a miserable life!"
The veins on Danzo's forehead pulsed wildly. His face was so dark it looked almost like charcoal.
"Rasa!"
At that same moment, however, Rasa's mood was the exact opposite.
"So I've already hit two thousand emotion points?"
"And I haven't even started the second step yet."
"It seems Danzo really does have a sensitive constitution."
"If I ever get another Duel Points Exchange Card in the future, I can keep choosing Danzo as the target. It's not much trouble, and two thousand emotion points can be farmed very quickly."
Rasa didn't hesitate.
He immediately exchanged them.
Two thousand emotion points vanished.
In their place came an increase of two thousand points.
"I'm not far from three thousand now."
A smile appeared on Rasa's face.
The shinobi of Kirigakure, meanwhile, believed the contents of the novel were aimed at them.
"Our Kirigakure has the Seven Ninja Swordsmen, and he just casually uses a name like 'Ten Warriors' here. Then he deliberately writes several of the ninja as disgusting, despicable people. He's obviously trying to disgust Kirigakure."
"Sunagakure's people are going too far."
"They'll use any filthy trick they can."
"Even in a novel, they have to try to sicken people."
Beneath flourishing green trees and beside the clear surface of a vast lake, more than a dozen figures were patrolling one corner of the lakeshore while discussing the matter.
"Sunagakure really has no bottom line anymore."
"Imitating Iwagakure was bad enough—first they made those little cards to drive a wedge between the Hyuga clan and Konoha. In the end, the real goal was still to target our Kirigakure and undermine Konoha's alliance with us."
"The content of this newspaper is a mix of truth and falsehood. It can't be trusted."
"But the one that wins in the end will definitely still be our Kirigakure."
Another Mist shinobi immediately agreed.
"That's right. Kirigakure will win!"
"Sunagakure is only relying on underhanded tricks, plus the fact that our own village ran into internal problems. Even so, we've still held them off completely."
"And we still have Konoha as our ally."
"There's no way Sunagakure and Iwagakure will form an alliance."
"And with this great lake here, our Water Release techniques are far easier to use and much stronger."
"Meanwhile, the techniques of Sunagakure's shinobi are weakened in this kind of environment."
"One side rises while the other falls. The advantage is ours."
"As long as the great lake remains, Sunagakure's army will never break through!"
Another Mist shinobi added,
"And Sunagakure clearly knows that too. They've sent shinobi to scout this place multiple times."
"But we've guarded it heavily. Not even a mosquito can slip through. There are more than ten patrol squads alone. It's a net of heaven and earth."
"Even if Rasa came personally on that summon beast of his, Yatagarasu, it wouldn't matter."
"We'd destroy the explosive eggs before they ever landed."
"Even Konoha's people wouldn't be able to get close."
"Lord Yagura places enormous importance on this place."
What none of these Mist shinobi noticed was that while they were speaking—
a tiny black dot had appeared far above in the sky.
It was Yatagarasu.
And standing upon its back… was Rasa.
Rasa had left Sunagakure this time for two reasons.
The first was to spread the newspapers and increase their circulation.
That task had already been completed.
The second… was to assist the front-line army in attacking the Mist forces.
Rasa looked down from above.
"The description sent back to me before was accurate enough."
"This lake really is astonishingly large."
"In an environment like this, Mist shinobi do indeed have a much easier time fighting than Sunagakure shinobi."
"And there are a great many guards posted here."
"With Konoha's support on top of that…"
"No wonder the front-line Sand forces have been unable to break the Mist army for the time being."
Down below, the Mist shinobi continued their discussion.
"Our Kirigakure isn't really at much of a disadvantage against Sunagakure."
"In terms of top-tier shinobi, Sunagakure only has two—Rasa and Pakura."
"But our Mizukage-sama, Lord Yagura, is no weaker at all, and Juzo-sama has already returned."
"As for ordinary shinobi, the difference between the two sides isn't that great."
"And inside this great lake, Lord Yagura even had many fierce predatory fish introduced. They can be used as weapons at any time."
"Once Kirigakure recovers for a while longer, the time for our counterattack will come."
"When that time comes, I'll charge in front and kill those damned Sand shinobi, crush their army, and break through Sunagakure itself!"
"We'll take back everything we lost!"
As those words fell, the emotions of the dozen-plus Mist shinobi rose instantly.
These days, they had been holding themselves in for far too long.
Just as the Sand shinobi once had.
"Kirigakure will win!"
"Sunagakure will lose!"
Suddenly—
one of the Mist shinobi looked up almost by instinct, only to see white dots dropping from the heavens one after another in rapid succession.
"What is that?"