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The conference room in the Kazekage Building was once again shrouded in a heavy atmosphere, but unlike the strategic discussions of the past, this session was filled with a more practical sense of poverty and despair. Yondaime Kazekage Rasa sat in the main seat, his expression stony as the Finance Elder reported alarming figures.
"...The budget cuts from the Daimyo have arrived, but the shortfall is catastrophic," the Elder's voice was dry, matching the parched land outside. "Pensions, medical supplies, puppet repairs... every sector is stretched to the breaking point. Our inventory of exploding tags and Military Rations Pills can, at most, support one medium-scale defensive engagement. Trade channels are crumbling, and what we have to offer in exchange... is simply too little."
The Elders remained silent. They knew that a village without material support was like a shinobi stripped of chakra—left to be slaughtered.
"This cannot continue," Rasa finally spoke, his voice low but carrying an undeniable resolve. "We must save ourselves."
He slowly scanned the officials and proposed a series of agonizingly difficult decisions:
Reduction of Village Missions: Prioritizing only vital border patrols and supply escorts; low-rank missions were suspended.
Reward Cuts: All mission payouts were to be reduced by one-third.
Forced Medical Retirement: Injured shinobi who could no longer execute missions were to be advised to retire with a meager pension to conserve resources.
The room erupted in protest. "Kazekage-sama! This will break the hearts of our warriors!" one Elder cried.
Rasa's hand clenched until his knuckles turned white. "Dissatisfaction is better than dying for nothing because of a lack of equipment!" his voice rose, carrying a hint of suppressed fury. "Forced retirement gives them a chance to live! It is better than having them drag their crippled bodies into a meat grinder only to die meaninglessly. That is the greatest cruelty!"
He took a deep breath. "This is an order. I will bear the condemnation."
The meeting ended under immense pressure. As the orders spread, a wave of pessimism and resentment took root among the lower-ranked ninja. Rasa heard the curses, but he knew explanations were useless; only tangible results could stabilize the village.
A few days later, a solitary figure appeared atop a massive dune deep within the boundless desert. Rasa had discarded his official robes for combat-ready attire. The scorching sun baked the sand, shimmering the horizon. He closed his eyes, and vast amounts of chakra began to surge.
"Magnet Release: Gold Dust Grand Funeral!"
Centered on him, the desert for kilometers began to churn. Countless grains of silica were repelled while the tiny, shimmering golden particles deep within the sand were adsorbed by his powerful magnetic force. A golden river poured out from the depths of the sand sea, converging above him into a brilliant, dazzling cloud.
The process was brutally taxing. Gold has a high atomic weight (196.97 u), requiring massive chakra output to lift and purify. Sweat poured down Rasa's face, and his skin turned pale, but his sharp eyes never wavered as he stripped away the impurities.
Finally, he sealed the enormous mass of high-purity gold into a specialized scroll. There was no joy in his eyes, only the weight of the responsibility he carried. This gold would be secretly exchanged with friendly merchants for the grain, medicine, and steel required to keep Sunagakure alive.
When Sayo overheard Elders discussing the Kazekage's secret labor while visiting Chiyo, he fell silent. He looked at the lingering complaints in the village and then thought of the red-haired man standing alone in the sand sea, exhausting his life force to pan for gold.
"It seems... the 'Mirage' plan must be accelerated," Sayo muttered, his fist clenching.
It wasn't just about his own strength anymore. He realized that the technology he was creating—the efficiency of the Natural Energy Core and the mobility of the Mirage—could be the key to lifting the entire village out of this cycle of poverty and blood.
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