Becoming the Tsuchikage in the Naruto World

Chapter 301: The Sale

Although Ishiro's request was unusual, after hearing about the abilities of the White Zetsu, no one dared to be careless. Starting with the attendees of the high-level meeting, they began to check layer by layer downwards.

Then, Ikura, Kitsuchi, Mei, and Chiko Tomoe formed a group and first went to inspect the Anbu. The Anbu had both male and female members, so the cooperation of Mei and Chiko was needed.

Ōnoki, Kawakita, plus the two female Tsuchikage's Assistants formed another group. They first inspected the main members of some key institutions, such as the heads of various departments and their families, deputies, assistants, and disciples. For example, the Tailed Beast supervision office, including Han and his three disciples.

Ishiro, along with Saka and the other Tsuchikage's Assistants, inspected the entire office staff of the Tsuchikage Building.

The inspection method was simple: take the person to a place similar to where the White Zetsu was imprisoned, and then have them eat and defecate.

And what do you know, this inspection actually yielded some discoveries. The combat personnel inspected by Ōnoki's and Ikura's groups had no problems. Instead, a problem appeared among the non-combat personnel inspected by Ishiro.

A Genin responsible for distributing D-rank missions felt something was wrong when Ishiro asked him to eat. Without a word, he dove into the ground and tried to run.

But the ground beneath his feet was only soil for a short stretch; he didn't get more than a few meters before he slammed his head into a metal plate. A White Zetsu that had lost its Mayfly Technique was just trash in Ishiro's eyes and was easily captured.

The inspection continued. This was surprisingly not an isolated case. Among the many administrative positions in Iwagakure, Ishiro and the others found thirteen White Zetsu clones.

But that was it. No combat personnel or ninjas related to combat had been replaced by White Zetsu clones.

"This thing called White Zetsu turns into a tree after being killed. They act cautiously. In order not to be exposed, they didn't plant anyone in the combat departments," Ishiro summarized at a high-level meeting gathered again more than ten days later.

"So far, the Anbu has inspected all the ninjas within the village and found a total of thirteen White Zetsu clones."

"The number is not large, and the positions are not important, so confidential intelligence should not have been leaked. But gathering the intelligence these people have grasped is enough to analyze the village's movements."

"It's a good thing to discover this hidden danger in advance. Although it has delayed many missions, it's all worth it."

"Next is the inspection of the civilians. This workload is a bit large. I plan to divide the village into areas and go area by area. All inspected areas will be prohibited from contacting people in uninspected areas."

"At the same time, during this period, the village's sensory barriers will be fully activated, and Earth Release ninjas will be dispatched to go underground and set up a dragnet to prevent White Zetsu clones from escaping."

Thirteen were found among the ninjas. Originally, it was thought that even more civilians would have been replaced, but as it turned out, there was not a single White Zetsu clone among the civilians.

This was considered a false alarm.

"The screening work is over. The village will resume normal operations. In the future, all public officials must verify a secret code before taking up their posts."

Ishiro had no better solution for the White Zetsu clones, so this was all he could do for now.

"We have captured a total of thirteen White Zetsu clones this time, plus the first one, for a total of fourteen. Since we can't research anything out of them, I plan to sell them."

Ishiro had been thinking about this problem for the past few days. Finally, he thought of a way to maximize the benefits.

"Sell them?" Everyone was dumbfounded. "Sell them to whom?"

Ishiro said, "Konoha, Sunagakure, Kumogakure, Kirigakure, the Akatsuki, Orochimaru—all of these can be considered trading partners, as long as they can afford the price."

"But will anyone buy this thing? We've researched it for so long and haven't gotten any useful intelligence," Kawakita said, puzzled.

Ishiro smiled, "We haven't researched anything useful, but others don't know that."

"Besides, we can completely claim that this is something we researched ourselves. And this thing also has a very intimidating gimmick: the First Hokage's Wood Release."

"Wood Release?" Mei was confused. "Although this White Zetsu clone knows a little bit of Wood Release, and I was indeed startled at first and thought it was a good thing, its Wood Release is too weak, at most at the Chunin level."

Ishiro said, "How strong the Wood Release is doesn't matter, as long as it can bluff people."

Ōnoki and the others thought for a moment and said, "Alright, let's make the trade then."

...

In the Village Hidden in the Clouds, in the Fourth Raikage's office, an assistant ran in hastily with a document, "Lord Raikage, Iwagakure has sent someone to secretly deliver a trade request."

"A trade? What does Iwagakure want to trade again? Didn't they just trade for one of Tobirama Senju's Flying Thunder God markers last time?" A frowned.

The assistant quickly said, "Lord Raikage, the price Iwagakure is proposing for the trade this time is that they hope we can give them an S-rank Lightning Release ninjutsu."

A asked, "What are they giving?"

"The First Hokage of Konoha's Wood Release." When the assistant said this, he himself was somewhat doubtful.

"What? Wood Release?" A stood up directly from his seat, his face full of disbelief. "If they really have Wood Release, why doesn't Iwagakure use it themselves? And, with the value of Wood Release, why only trade it for one S-rank ninjutsu?"

"It is said that the power is far inferior to the First Hokage's Wood Release. Their Iwagakure's research has hit a wall and cannot proceed. They don't want years of effort to go to waste, so they want to exchange some benefits with us," the assistant was actually very tempted by this deal.

A pondered for a moment and asked, "How was the effect of the sealing jutsu that insulates against the Byakugan's prying eyes that Iwagakure gave us last time? Can we judge its authenticity?"

The assistant said, "Although we don't have the Byakugan, the Barrier Team's analysis is that this sealing jutsu should be real."

"Then let's trade." A made the decision directly. "But just find a useless S-rank ninjutsu for the exchange."

Soon, the two sides completed the transaction at sea. The Anbu responsible for this transaction even explained in detail the various abilities of this White Zetsu clone to the Cloud representative, making the corner of that Jonin's mouth twitch.

This was too much of a rip-off. It was unknown how much use this thing would be after taking it back, but just how to handle it would be enough to make Lord Raikage smash several desks.

"Oh, right. You can check if this thing has infiltrated your village. The inspection method is also simple. This thing never poops." After speaking, the Iwa Anbu turned and left directly.

Leaving the Cloud ninja dumbfounded. "Isn't this thing something you Iwa ninjas tinkered with yourselves? How could you betray your own intelligence?"

Feeling that something was not right about this matter, the Cloud Jonin took the White Zetsu clone and quickly ran towards the Cloud Village.

Similar transactions were being conducted by Iwagakure with other hidden villages at the same time.

"Advisor Danzō, five S-rank ninjutsu are important, but this is the First Hokage's Wood Release. Compared to the Wood Release that was said to have ended the chaotic era and created the hidden village system, what is an S-rank ninjutsu?"

On the border of the Land of Fire and the Land of Earth, on the passage that originally belonged to the Land of Grass, Ikura was in a standoff with Danzō, leading a group of Anbu and escorting a White Zetsu clone.

"Five S-rank ninjutsu, your Iwagakure's appetite is not small. You want to exchange it for a Wood Release that is who knows how much weaker than Lord First's. You Iwa ninjas are truly delusional." Danzō planned to haggle a bit.

Just now, Ikura had someone use genjutsu to control the White Zetsu, making it perform a Wood Release jutsu in front of Danzō: Wood Release - Cutting Technique.

At first, a sharp light flashed in Danzō's eyes, filled with something called ambition. But Danzō was Danzō, after all. It only took him half an hour to suppress his greed and return to normal.

"Advisor Danzō, I heard that your Konoha has also researched the First Hokage's cells before, and it seems you all failed. If you bring our Iwagakure's technology back, wouldn't the power of this Wood Release be enhanced by a large margin?" Ikura continued to bluff.

"Hmph, even so, you Iwa ninjas are still too greedy. I will only give one S-rank ninjutsu. If you want more, don't even think about it," Danzō continued to press the price down.

"Advisor Danzō, why be so stubborn? The difficulty of an S-rank ninjutsu is so great. Even if you give it to us, we won't be able to learn it. We just want to increase our village's foundation a bit."

"Moreover, Lord Danzō, the ninjutsu you pay with belongs to Konoha, but the Wood Release you get will be your own. With your wisdom, surely you know how to choose?"

Hearing this, a glint flashed in Danzō's eyes, and he relented, "Two S-rank ninjutsu. If you Iwa still want to raise the price, then we'll part ways."

"Why is Lord Danzō in such a hurry? We have also sent three other groups to find the other three great hidden villages," Ikura said slowly.

Hearing this, murderous intent was directly revealed in Danzō's eyes.

"Oh, right. There's another group that went to find Orochimaru. Orochimaru is very interested in these things. I believe he will definitely offer a high price," Ikura ignored Danzō's murderous gaze and continued faintly.

"Three. This is the limit," Danzō gritted out.

He had no choice. Even if Konoha didn't have Wood Release, it wasn't a big problem. But if all of Konoha's enemies had Wood Release, and only Konoha didn't, what would Konoha do? Moreover, with the research ability of that mad scientist Orochimaru, he might really be able to research a transplantable Wood Release.

Thus, Danzō's mentality became even more urgent.

Ikura smiled and finally said, "I heard that the First Hokage's Wood Release and the Sharingan can suppress each other."

Boom! Danzō stomped heavily on the ground, in a posture ready to fight to the death.

"Damn it, how does Iwagakure know the secret of Wood Release and the Sharingan? Could it be that Iwagakure is also conducting research in this area?" Many thoughts turned in Danzō's mind.

Ikura, facing Danzō's outburst, was unmoved, maintaining a smile.

"Four!" Danzō squeezed out two words through gritted teeth.

After completing the transaction, on the way back to the village, Ikura looked through these S-rank ninjutsu. As expected, they were basically useless, chicken-rib jutsu.

These ninjutsu were either upgraded versions of A-rank ninjutsu with little technical content, or they could only be trained with a special physique. In short, for Iwagakure, apart from being used for research, these ninjutsu were useless.

However, Ikura didn't mind; these were all within expectations. What he was thinking about was what Ishiro had told him to say during the negotiation with Danzō. "The Sharingan and Wood Release can suppress each other." How did Ishiro know this kind of intelligence?

"Sigh." Ikura sighed and stopped thinking about it. Anyway, there were many secrets about Ishiro; this was just one more.

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