Naruto: Rebuilding the Hidden Sand Village

There was nothing extravagant about the wedding ceremony. Given that they were still in the middle of a war, keeping it simple was more than enough.

At the very least, Rasa had lived long enough to return from the front lines and get married. Some… might never come back at all.

Still, no matter how modest the celebration, there were certain formalities and customs that couldn't be ignored. And so—after the wedding, with the help of a few generous "gifts"—Rasa realized he had just enough funds saved up for another 100-pull gacha.

His heart filled with complicated feelings.

Thanks to the gold-mining boom, even the villagers working in the refining plant had built up some savings. They'd been surprisingly generous with their gifts this time around. If it had been back when he'd first returned to the village, they'd have struggled to cough up even a hundred ryo.

After all, the Land of Wind's per capita income sat somewhere between the "barely surviving" line and the "flat-out poverty" threshold when compared to the rest of the shinobi world.

So yeah… refining gold really was a fast track to wealth.

Now it was early February of Year 46. More than half a year had passed since the wedding, and Karura had embraced her new life as a housewife. Toward the end of Year 45, in September, she had unexpectedly become pregnant. That should've been something to celebrate.

But Rasa? He wasn't exactly in a joyful mood right now.

The combined attack by the Four Great Shinobi Villages had taken pressure off the Land of Wind. The Land of Fire had taken its place as the primary battleground.

With Suna's front-line shinobi protecting them, the village had enjoyed a rare year of relative peace. Every day, civilians were either mining gold, sweeping sand out of the village, or watering the trees.

But now… he had to head to the battlefield himself.

At the end of Year 45, just as expected, the alliance between Sunagakure and Iwagakure was crushed at Kikyo Pass. That in itself wasn't a surprise. Rasa had already told Advisor Chiyo in advance—if it became clear they couldn't win, retreat immediately. There was no need for pointless sacrifice.

Because let's be honest: even if all four major villages actually banded together, there was still no guarantee they could take down Konoha. And right now, everyone was fighting their own wars.

But—

Just as the defeat reached him, he received even worse news:

At the start of Year 46, the Daimyo of the Land of Wind sent envoys to Sunagakure with a single message: "We don't want to fight anymore. Surrender."

That's right.

While Suna's shinobi were shedding blood on the front lines—and with no support from the Daimyo in terms of funding or supplies—he'd turned around and surrendered.

Now, surrendering wasn't the end of the world. Rasa had known from the beginning that Sunagakure would have to concede eventually.

Surrendering early could at least minimize casualties.

But the real kicker?

By the time the Daimyo sent word to Rasa, he'd already finalized the deal. Land of Fire Daimyo had accepted their surrender.

The Daimyo of the Land of Wind didn't even pretend to respect Suna—or Rasa, their Kazekage.

Cutting the military budget? Ignoring them in times of need? That was bad enough. When the Land of Lightning invaded, they begged Sunagakure for help without offering so much as a single coin.

But now they were surrendering… and hadn't even given him a heads-up?

So what happened?

The Daimyo surrendered, and Iwagakure immediately withdrew its assault forces. The Sand shinobi, still unaware of the surrender, were caught off guard and suffered devastating losses—most were captured by Konoha.

That's why Rasa was so furious. That's why he personally led a squad of elite shinobi to the front lines at dawn.

The moment news of Suna's defeat at Kikyo Pass reached the village, he knew the battle wouldn't last much longer.

Especially now, in Year 46, after so many years of fighting. The lower ranks in every major village had been depleted. If the war dragged on any further… recovery would take years.

Still, no one wanted to back down first.

At the start of this year, Kirigakure launched a sneak attack. They sent the Seven Ninja Swordsmen to ambush Konoha's rear lines. Unsurprisingly… it ended in disaster.

Word was, some green-clad Genin from the Leaf absolutely obliterated them.

Now the famous Seven Swordsmen were either dead, crippled, or scattered to the wind. It was a crushing loss—Kiri's elite combat strength had been wiped out… by a Genin. That was about as humiliating as it gets.

Year 46 had become the bloodiest stage of the war.

And once Kirigakure realized they couldn't gain the upper hand against Konoha, they shifted tactics—rerouting some of Konoha's pressure toward Sunagakure.

As a result, Pakura's defense lines came under heavy assault. She'd requested reinforcements multiple times, but Suna barely had any shinobi left to spare.

It was like tossing a glass of water onto a wildfire.

Rasa glanced down at the folded document tucked into his vest. A bitter smile tugged at his lips as he muttered under his breath:

"Hopefully… it's not too late."

From the end of Year 45 to the beginning of 46,

After the Land of Wind Daimyo formally surrendered to the Daimyo of Land of Fire, Iwagakure withdrew its troops from Kikyo Pass, resulting in catastrophic losses for Sunagakure. With most of its frontline forces captured, the Fourth Kazekage—Rasa—personally rushed to the battlefield to negotiate surrender terms.

He brought with him the official surrender document, signed by both the Daimyo of Land of Wind and the Third Hokage of Konoha, agreeing to return Suna's captured shinobi.

Initially, the Leaf refused.

They'd won the battle, morale was high, and they had lost plenty of comrades in the fighting. You don't just walk into their camp and expect them to return prisoners because you said "we surrender."

Their message was clear:

"You can surrender. But if you want your people back? Pay up."

But Rasa wasn't the type to hand over money just because someone said so.

Suna had suffered even more losses than Konoha—thanks in no small part to being stabbed in the back by Iwagakure. And now they wanted compensation?

Yeah, dream on.

He was broke—always had been. But one thing he'd never done was let anyone take advantage of him.

To continue the thick-skinned legacy passed down by the First Kazekage, Rasa directly rolled up his sleeves, formed hand signs, and faced Orochimaru… "Are you going to accept this or not? If not, we can keep fighting!"

And just like he expected, Konoha was exhausted. If they wanted to focus on Iwa and Kumo, they needed this front wrapped up.

Orochimaru wasn't just a shinobi—he was a genius, a scientist, and arguably a century ahead of his time. He wasn't stupid. And he certainly wasn't about to risk insubordination with the Hokage's eyes on him during a critical time when he was a contender for the next position.

In the end, Konoha agreed to return the captured Suna ninja.

And… they re-established their alliance with Sunagakure.

Frankly, even Rasa felt a little embarrassed hearing that.

After all, it was always Suna that broke treaties whenever a war broke out.

Still, this wasn't the time to dwell on that.

Rasa lowered his gaze, staring at the silver-haired boy standing silently next to Kana.

After a moment's pause, he spoke.

"You just said… his name was what?"

My mind's all over the place. Say it again.

As his voice trailed off—

Kana blinked, slightly puzzled by Rasa's stunned expression. She tilted her head and replied gently,

"His name is…"

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