Chapter 126: Can't Beat Them? Then Fight Them?
Half a day later.
The Land of Waves' shipping company formally pledged an alliance with Kirigakure, promising permanent peace.
All factories, cargo ships, and harbor ports were handed over to Kirigakure's control.
At the same time,
Iwagakure, Sunagakure, and the Konoha Empire all recalled their spies from the Land of Waves, halting all infiltration efforts.
Akatsuki had lost two Kage-level rogue ninjas, a serious blow to their strength.
Normally, any force that dealt a major blow to Akatsuki would face violent retaliation.
But this time, Kakuzu and Hidan's deaths in the Land of Waves seemed to be deliberately forgotten.
Akatsuki made no move at all.
Konoha Clan Territory.
The newly completed Materials Workshop stood with exposed bronze gears and iron hinges along its outer walls. A hammer-shaped sign hung at its center.
The interior was spacious, though still mostly empty.
A brass machine shaped like a heart stood in the middle—designed to synthesize high-grade hearts.
Tsunade stood before the machine, visibly nervous. She was just about to toss in the prepared adhesive and low-grade hearts when—
"Granny Tsunade!"
Naruto, noticing something strange, rushed over and snatched the materials from her hands.
Tsunade scowled at being caught.
Asuma sighed. "Lady Tsunade, your luck is… well, a bit unfortunate. Maybe we should let Naruto handle this."
Everyone had heard the gambling world nicknamed her "The Big Fat Sheep."
Apparently, even in the game, her awful luck hadn't changed.
"I've got four blue-grade hearts here. They're not much, but feel free to try them."
Asuma handed over the hearts, still warm from his last dungeon run.
He stared at the softly glowing [Heart Synthesis Machine], looking utterly exhausted.
Building the Materials Workshop had already cost them the entire output of a Ghoststone Mine.
Then came the cost of purchasing adhesives and low-tier hearts, which had drained all their reserves.
And what did they get?
Synthesis wasn't nearly as easy as they'd hoped.
The base success rate was abysmal.
To increase it, they had to upgrade the [Heart Synthesis Machine].
Though the Game Merchant had generously made low-tier materials and synthesis functions available to players—giving everyone a shot at competing for the "First Clan" title—he clearly hadn't considered how broke most clans were.
Just upgrading the machine's components cost thousands of reward points.
Asuma had even sold a purple-tier item just to upgrade it once—raising the success rate by a mere 2%.
Upgrading further required even more resources.
After much thought, Asuma had no choice but to give up.
They simply couldn't keep up.
Even Naruto—with his lottery-winning physique—couldn't succeed every time.
He'd had his fair share of failures too.
Naruto couldn't help but vent in the ninja channel:
"Konoha Clan is clearly the strongest! How come 'strongest clan' is judged by how rich you are? That's so shallow…"
Unfortunately, the Game Merchant himself replied:
"The strongest clan isn't necessarily the richest. But a clan that can't even gather the money clearly isn't the strongest."
"Real experts always find a way to earn. You can't even afford to play—how dare you call yourself the strongest?"
Usually quick with comebacks, Naruto was utterly silenced by that.
He brooded for half the day.
Then, seeing Tsunade holding the materials again, Naruto asked wide-eyed, "Captain Asuma, are we really gonna waste four blue hearts just like that?"
His tone made it sound like giving them to Tsunade was the same as throwing them away.
Furious, Tsunade shouted, "You little brat! You looking to die?"
"It's fine."
Asuma exhaled deeply. He'd already given up on winning the fixed Clan Emblem reward.
Every time they got a silver heart to expand the clan territory, they could see how much the others had expanded too.
Dawn Clan remained on top—having invested 80 silver hearts.
Close behind was Kirigakure, with 74.
Then came the Konoha Empire and Sunagakure.
Orochimaru had opened the imperial treasury and even paid out of pocket to sponsor dungeon runs.
Aside from hearts and adhesives, players kept all drops—instantly attracting hordes of rogue and civilian players.
But they'd started too late.
They couldn't catch up to Dawn or Mist.
Sunagakure.
Rasa knelt in the desert, hands buried in the soft sand.
Activating his Magnet Release, chakra poured into the ground.
The desert surged like a golden ocean. Grains of sparkling Gold Dust separated from the earth and flowed toward the nearby camp, where Sand shinobi were ready with cloth bags to collect it.
"Father, that's enough for today! Stop draining your chakra. If you keep pushing like this, there will be permanent side effects."
"Even with chakra-recovery armor, it's still low-grade. It can't support this kind of Magnet Release output."
Temari's face was full of worry.
Sunagakure was poor.
The only reason they were still competing with Konoha and Iwa was because Rasa had gone into beast mode—desperately mining Gold Dust.
Kankuro had spent tens of thousands of reward points to hire a blacksmith from the Land of Iron to craft armor that could help Rasa recover chakra.
They had no choice.
Even though their clan gave them two game invitations a month, Rasa—the famed Kazekage—was only Level 5 in-game. Level 5 gear offered barely any boosts.
So they had to splurge on real-world equipment.
"I'm fine."
Rasa was clearly tired, but couldn't help smiling.
If he could change Sunagakure's fate, no price was too high.
Blood Wasteland – Dawn Clan Territory.
Winds reeking of blood blew against the clan walls.
"Clan leader, we've got some reward points left. Should we upgrade the walls?"
"Not yet."
There was only half a day left before the "First Clan" title and its fixed Clan Emblem would be awarded.
Kirigakure was still pushing hard, but with a 7-heart gap, they had no chance unless they went all in—risking everything on last-minute synthesis.
But Dawn had players monitoring the territory expansion rankings.
If Mist added a heart, Dawn immediately added one too—keeping their lead secure.
The outcome was already decided.
Just then, a clan member hurried over. "Clan leader, we spotted some unfamiliar players near our territory. We drove them off, but it felt… off."
Konan frowned. "Players from Soulmount Ridge?"
Although they all came from the Ninja Newbie Village,
players from the Blood Wasteland and Soulmount Ridge usually stuck to their own hunting grounds. They wouldn't randomly wander off.
"Not sure."
The member wasn't confident.
Konan nodded, assuming it was just someone looking for new mobs to grind.
But two more clan members ran over with news: more players had gathered near their borders. This time, they recognized them—they were from Kirigakure.
"Mist?"
Konan's heart sank.
Paper wings spread from her back, red symbols glowing faintly with wind-based chakra to enhance her speed and flight.
She suspected Mist couldn't gather enough silver hearts… and was planning to attack Dawn directly.
After all,
according to the first clause of the clan rules in the Samsara Game—
if the clan monument is destroyed, the clan is automatically disbanded.
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