Becoming the Tsuchikage in the Naruto World

Chapter 238: Standoff

This was something Kakuzu had not expected. With Kakuzu's experience, which far surpassed that of most ninjas in the world, he had never imagined such a technique existed in the ninja world. Without any suspense, the lightning-element mask was easily pierced by the rock kunai.

At this point, two of Kakuzu's five hearts were gone.

But Ishiro was not relaxed either. The Mud Clone, which had cost a large amount of chakra to create, had been destroyed, and various techniques that served as his trump cards had been revealed to Kakuzu. Most importantly, Kakuzu had already sensed that Ishiro seemed to have some understanding of his Earth Grudge Fear, and he had become more rigorous in formulating his tactics.

However, with the battle having progressed to this stage, both sides seemed to have reservations and did not want to fight to the death.

Ishiro pulled up to a higher altitude. In the distance, the Earth Clone that Ishiro had secretly created earlier brought his three disciples to his side.

Ishiro looked down from above, facing off against Kakuzu.

"Kakuzu, the S-rank rogue ninja from Takigakure, who once assassinated the First Hokage of Konoha, a mission master at the underground bounty station. Have you set your sights on me today? I wonder how much my bounty is at the underground bounty station," Ishiro spoke first, breaking the silence.

This was the first conversation between the two since they met. Ishiro hoped to convey his intention for a truce through dialogue.

However, after hearing Ishiro's words, his three disciples were all startled. This strangely-featured rogue ninja was actually from the same era as the First Hokage and had even assassinated the First Hokage.

Even more miraculously, he was still alive. The shock of this was too great for the three children. The three, who already looked up to Kakuzu's strength, once again elevated their assessment of Kakuzu in their hearts.

Kakuzu hesitated for a moment, then said, "Ishiro, the Fox of Iwa. Your bounty is forty million."

"Oh, not bad," Ishiro was quite satisfied that his bounty exceeded Asuma's, but then he frowned and asked, "What 'Fox of Iwa'?"

Kakuzu said, "It seems you don't know the title the ninja world has for you yet. You disrupted the alliance between Konoha and the Mist. This is the title the Mist gave you."

Ishiro thought about it; he did seem to fit this title quite well. It's just that "Fox of Iwa" didn't sound very positive. Why did it have a smidgen of the "Darkness of the Shinobi World" flair to it?

But now was not the time to dwell on this. Ishiro said, "Senior Kakuzu, this is the heartland of the Land of Earth. Do you think that by so brazenly entering the Land of Earth to assassinate an advisor of Iwagakure, our Iwagakure will just let you leave?"

"It's just assassinating an advisor, what's the big deal? I just went to the Land of Fire a while ago and exchanged the head of a Konoha advisor for a bounty."

"Or are you saying you want to keep me here?" Kakuzu's emotionless eyes stared straight at Ishiro. "You think you can keep me here just by destroying two of my hearts with a sneak attack?"

This time, Ishiro was truly surprised. Before the Third Great Ninja War, Konoha had more than three advisors, but after the war, there were only three. Ishiro had thought the missing one had died on the battlefield, not expecting them to have been killed by Kakuzu.

But was there a pot for Danzō to carry in this?

"Senior misunderstands. I alone naturally cannot keep you here, but without your earth-element mask, do you think you can escape my tracking? Or do you think I am the only one in Iwagakure who can fight? It seems you have not tasted the power of Dust Release."

"Or perhaps, you think you are stronger than the Third Raikage and can calmly escape from the siege of my tens of thousands of Iwa ninjas?" When saying the last sentence, Ishiro's voice was stern, as if ready to fight again at any moment.

Kakuzu hesitated for a moment, then slowly said, "What do you want?"

Seeing Kakuzu's tone soften, Ishiro immediately put away his serious expression and said, "Rest assured, Senior. I won't have designs on the bounty you've accumulated. During our exchange just now, I found that your collection of ninjutsu is quite rich. I wonder if you could share?"

Kakuzu was instantly angered by this. Asking a ninja to hand over the ninjutsu he knows, are you sure you're not treating him as a captive?

Looking at the restless Earth Grudge Fear tendrils around Kakuzu, Ishiro said, "Senior Kakuzu, don't be impulsive. Think about where this is. Since you didn't kill me at the first opportunity and you can't escape my tracking, your options are actually quite limited."

"In addition, I promise you, I can keep the secret of your Earth Grudge Fear for you."

As soon as these words were spoken, Kakuzu was immediately tempted. The importance of intelligence to a ninja was beyond doubt.

In the original story, Asuma died an unclear death when Hidan's intelligence was not exposed. But after the intelligence was exposed, a single Shikamaru killed him. What was even more infuriating was that before killing Hidan, Shikamaru had also used Hidan's ability to destroy one of Kakuzu's hearts, saving Kakashi of the 50/50 odds in the process.

This applied to Kakuzu as well. For a lone wolf ninja like him, if his intelligence was leaked, he could also be easily targeted.

Not to mention distant examples, just in today's battle, Kakuzu clearly felt that Ishiro was very familiar with his Earth Grudge Fear intelligence. This made Kakuzu feel a sense of crisis.

But if Ishiro could keep the secret of Earth Grudge Fear, then today's trip would not be much of a loss.

As for losing two hearts, Kakuzu felt it was no big deal. He could just find two more ninjas to replace them.

It was just that with two hearts missing, his strength was indeed not at its peak. There was no need to fight to the death with a ninja of Ishiro's level at this time.

However, Ishiro's demand was exorbitant, asking for all his ninjutsu at once. He certainly couldn't agree to that.

Then, Ishiro and Kakuzu, like two aunties haggling over vegetables, engaged in a round of intense bargaining. In the end, Kakuzu agreed to hand over three A-rank Lightning Release jutsu and one B-rank genjutsu in exchange for Ishiro letting him leave and guaranteeing his intelligence would not be leaked.

Ishiro originally didn't hold much hope for this transaction. He actually wanted to kill Kakuzu and bring his body back for experiments. Earth Grudge Fear was still worth researching; if nothing else, that miraculous stitching technique was worth studying carefully.

But if he could exchange it for three A-rank Lightning Release jutsu, it would still be very worthwhile for Iwagakure. And it wouldn't require Ishiro or other ninjas to risk their lives.

As for that B-rank genjutsu, Ishiro was completely just trying his luck to extort Kakuzu. Kakuzu was, after all, an elemental ninjutsu user and was not skilled in genjutsu.

But Kakuzu gave Ishiro a surprise. Perhaps because he himself was not skilled in genjutsu, Kakuzu's desire to keep genjutsu secret was far less than for ninjutsu of other attributes. Kakuzu gave away this B-rank genjutsu very readily.

After confirming that there was no problem with the ninjutsu Kakuzu gave him, Ishiro nodded at Kakuzu, signaling that he could leave.

But on second thought, Ishiro shouted at Kakuzu's back, "Senior Kakuzu, in the future, if you kill any more Konoha higher-ups—hmm, just Elite Jonin level will do—our Iwagakure is willing to pay an extra bounty, and we don't need the body."

Hearing Ishiro's words, Kakuzu turned around abruptly, his gaze fixed on Ishiro, and asked, "Are you serious? Does your word count?"

Ishiro smiled. "Of course, it's true, and of course, it counts. We in Iwagakure can still afford this bit of money."

In fact, this sum of money was not small, but Ishiro knew this deal was definitely worth it. Under normal circumstances, what would be the cost of killing a Konoha Elite Jonin?

Kakuzu looked at Ishiro again, then turned and left quickly.

After Kakuzu left, more than a dozen Iwa ninja squads came over from the distance, including Anbu and squads on missions.

These people had arrived successively while Ishiro and Kakuzu were negotiating. After all, the battle between Ishiro and Kakuzu earlier was too loud, and its range was wide. Although they were not close, they still heard the commotion and rushed over.

At that time, Ishiro had signaled them not to approach and to only maintain a perimeter from a distance.

It was precisely because of the successive arrival of these people that Kakuzu felt a serious sense of crisis, which was why in the end, Ishiro obtained three A-rank Lightning Release jutsu and one B-rank genjutsu for free.

Ishiro, having gained a great deal, nodded at the people who had rushed over and said, "This person is the S-rank rogue ninja from Takigakure, Kakuzu. His strength has reached Kage-level, so don't pursue him. Thanks to you all this time, the village has gained something. Each of your squads will be credited with one A-rank mission."

The ninjas in these few squads were all scared after hearing about Kakuzu's strength, but in the end, after hearing that Ishiro was giving each of their squads an A-rank mission reward, they were all overjoyed.

Especially the few who were clearly still Genin; the highest-level mission they had ever undertaken was only C-rank. This time, getting an A-rank mission credit at once was almost like getting rich overnight.

Ishiro had also gained a huge harvest at once, which was why he was being so generous this one time. He believed that as long as he brought these four ninjutsu back to the village, Ōnoki would be just as happy.

Three A-rank Lightning Release jutsu, plus the Chidori, Chidori Nagashi, and Lightning Release Stimulation Method that Ishiro had come up with before—it could be said that the gap in Iwagakure's Lightning Release was almost completely filled.

It was just that the village's B-rank and C-rank Lightning Release jutsu were still too few. If these lower-level Lightning Release jutsu could be increased a bit more, Iwagakure would no longer have a shortcoming in this area.

However, Ishiro also thought of another aspect. Iwagakure was, after all, one of the five great hidden villages, yet its collection of Lightning Release ninjutsu was inferior to that of Kakuzu, a rogue ninja from a small village. How pathetic.

After giving these ninjas a few more instructions, Ishiro led Squad Three back towards the village.

On the way back to the village, Kazumasa Yoshimura, Katsumata, and Himeki Suda did not speak at all. The three were still immersed in the previous battle between Ishiro and Kakuzu, which had a huge area of effect.

The three had actually seen Ishiro's ninjutsu before, but Ishiro demonstrating alone was a completely different matter from a life-and-death battle with an enemy.

They knew their teacher was very strong; without some strength, he couldn't have guided Jonin-level disciples.

But they hadn't expected the scene of Ishiro fighting an enemy to be so exaggerated. The A-rank ninjutsu that changed the terrain and the combination ninjutsu that destroyed everything had deeply stimulated the three of them.

Back then, Ishiro had seen one of Shiden's A-rank ninjutsu and successfully crossed the threshold to becoming a Jonin.

At that time, Ishiro's strength was actually considered formidable among Chunin. Even so, he was still greatly shocked by the A-rank ninjutsu.

And at this time, Kazumasa Yoshimura and the other two were at the bottom among Genin. To suddenly receive such a great shock, they had to thank Ishiro's previous demonstrations for being able to accept reality. To quickly calm their minds was easier said than done.

But after such an experience, the three's perception of ninjas was certainly completely different from before. From tomorrow on, the three should be considered qualified ninjas in terms of mentality.

Ishiro hadn't thought that encountering Kakuzu would have this kind of bonus surprise. At this moment, Ishiro was even hesitating: maybe next time he took Squad Four out on a mission, he should also find a boss to "farm"?

After returning to the village, Ishiro immediately handed the four ninjutsu over to Ōnoki, and then, under Ōnoki's dumbfounded gaze, quickly recounted the process of his battle with Kakuzu.

As for the promise to Kakuzu not to leak the intelligence about Earth Grudge Fear, Ishiro had long since forgotten about it by now.

Ōnoki thought for a moment and still convened the high-level officials. However, the purpose of Ōnoki convening everyone was not to discuss Kakuzu. An S-rank rogue ninja was certainly worthy of attention, but since even Kakuzu's own intelligence had been thoroughly figured out by Ishiro, if Iwagakure really wanted to kill Kakuzu, the difficulty was actually not great.

Based on Ishiro's final promise to Kakuzu regarding the bounty, Ōnoki directly gave a thumbs up.

The purpose of Ōnoki convening everyone for a meeting was to discuss matters of Lightning Release research. Iwagakure's research into Lightning Release ninjutsu was really too weak.

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