"Lord Third, are you alright?"
A group of Anbu arrived. Some rushed to wake Onoki while others moved to reprimand Akaba. However, quite a few Anbu noticed the cliffside shattered by lightning nearby and quietly tugged their comrades' sleeves, stopping them from further provocation.
Roshi wasn't surprised.
Even he and that mysterious man had been utterly dominated by genjutsu. Though Onoki was undoubtedly powerful, against genjutsu all were about equal—no one truly better than another.
In short, everyone got defeated in one move.
Onoki forced himself upright, maintaining a relaxed expression as he said, "That kid's not very friendly. I was simply using ninjutsu to fly, yet you attacked me with both genjutsu and Lightning Release."
"Hehehe."
Akaba smiled without replying. From his observation, during the time Onoki was under the genjutsu, he'd fallen unprotected from the sky and seemed to have sprained his waist.
Although still young and strong enough to recover quickly by forcing himself, hiding unnoticed injuries for the sake of pride would be problematic.
A stitch in time saves nine.
Out of humanitarian concern, Akaba "kindly" apologized and reminded him, "Sorry, Tsuchikage-sama. I happen to know some medical jutsu. Allow me to examine you right away to prevent any complications caused by your recent fall."
"No thanks. After all, I am the First Tsuchikage. This is just a small matter—cough. Let's discuss important matters first. Supplies have already been dispatched toward Konoha and are en route. Here are the remaining three ninjutsu techniques."
Trying hard to appear relaxed, Onoki casually tossed over a scroll with an elegant motion to prove he remained unharmed.
Recorded on it were three B-rank Earth Release techniques exclusive to the Rock ninja village. Their value far exceeded anything measurable by money.
Akaba inspected them briefly and, upon confirming authenticity, stored them away.
Witnessing Akaba's power—and the threat posed by the Flying Thunder God Technique—everyone dropped their doubts and proceeded with the trade without complaint.
As for Roshi—
Being able to finish reading so many manga before dying was more than enough for him, even though he regretted never seeing how they ended.
He was a captured jinchuriki—a rogue ninja who'd once rebelled.
Therefore, his fate went without saying.
"Well then, consider these two sets of manga my personal gift to you. What you do with them afterward is entirely up to you. Excuse me!"
Akaba had no intention of helping Roshi.
Akaba believed that those who dared to rebel had to be ready to pay the price if caught. The reason Leaf captured him was for this transaction—not absorption into Konoha Village. Therefore, Akaba had absolutely no grounds to assist him.
Letting him read manga was already the kindest thing he could do.
Smiling slightly, Onoki watched Akaba depart using the Flying Thunder God Technique.
Originally part of the plan involved sending shinobi to retrieve the stolen scrolls later, but after witnessing Akaba's might, no one had such intentions anymore. Everyone turned to Onoki asking, "Lord Onoki, what should we do next?"
"First, help me up. To dodge that kid's Lightning Release, I sprained my waist. Never expected there was genjutsu involved—I plummeted from above!"
While speaking, sweat broke out across Onoki's forehead.
He didn't wish to lose face in front of Akaba.
After all, he was still young and proud holder of the Tsuchikage title. If word spread about being bested by a mere fourteen-year-old, it would be extremely humiliating.
Where would he have thought that the very motion of throwing the scroll would worsen his injuries?
"Return to the village. Oh, and bring this brat and the manga along too. They were acquired with resources after all—we can't afford to waste them."
Onoki glared irritably at Roshi.
If it hadn't been for this guy, they wouldn't have gone through all this trouble, not to mention spending a huge amount of resources just to buy him back from Konoha.
Most importantly—
My back!
Onoki held his aching waist. This was the first time in his youth he had suffered from lower back pain, and he inwardly cursed Akaba for it.
If it weren't for that guy, none of this would've happened.
Returning alone, Akaba still chose to pass through the Land of River (Chuan no Kuni) on his way back, partly to meet with Kakuzu and gather intel.
Kakuzu had previously been severely tormented by Madara, so now he lived in fear of Madara tracking him down again, even going as far as changing his hiding place entirely—he absolutely refused to step foot in Loguetown unless absolutely necessary.
Therefore, Akaba had to put in serious work just to find him.
Kakuzu's new base was located deep in a desolate wilderness, situated according to his usual style—right next to a swamp.
It stank badly here, but the advantage was that almost no one ever came around. A true ninja could endure things no ordinary person ever could.
Kakuzu already showed potential of becoming such a great ninja.
Pinching his nose, Akaba endured the stench as he walked inside and saw Kakuzu fiddling with something in a corner. "What are you messing with?"
"Oh, it's you."
Kakuzu got startled but quickly regained composure upon seeing Akaba.
Akaba approached, spotting a middle-aged man bound unconscious by Earth Grudge Fear tendrils.
At first glance, he seemed perfectly normal.
"He's like that Jugo character from your manga—he suddenly goes berserk and transforms into an extremely powerful form. However, this transformation isn't nearly as complete. Look at him—at a glance he looks thirty or forty, but according to my investigation, he's only twenty this year."
Kakuzu still gave Akaba a brief explanation.
Twenty years old yet looks that old?
That's overly aged!
Jugo didn't have such severe side effects originally. How come things became so bad in his case?
Thinking thus, he carefully examined the man.
Clearly, this was the captive's home. Looking further, Akaba noticed some chains nearby evidently meant for restraining himself during episodes, although apparently not very effective.
Crouching down and examining with medical knowledge and special methods, he understood why.
First, he wasn't a ninja and couldn't naturally extract chakra on his own.
Second, his willpower just wasn't all that strong.
In the manga, Jugo originally wasn't a ninja either, but he worked hard to control himself. Besides, he met Kimimaro and Orochimaru later—who must've taught him techniques to extract and control Sage Chakra.
But this guy? He was a whole different story.
When entering Sage Transformation, the "Cursed Seal" forcibly extracted Sage Chakra roughly, similar to how the system forced Akaba to extract Asura Chakra, which significantly weakened his physical strength.
Continuing like this long-term, draining life energy was no surprise.
Living in such a foul-smelling swamp might also be out of fear of harming others unintentionally [swampy area].
However, what intrigued Akaba most was Kakuzu—this thick-browed guy actually conducting research?
"Hmph. Don't mistake me for that idiot from the manga."
Kakuzu seemed to guess Nagare's thoughts and answered with a cold smirk, clearly still bitter about his sudden death in the manga.
"So what did you find out?"
"This guy has a special physique. He can undergo Cursed Seal transformation just like in your manga. It's probably the same thing. As for why he has this kind of physique, I suspect it might be influenced by some powerful and bizarre force."
Kakuzu squatted down and roughly slapped the man's face to wake him from unconsciousness.
As soon as he regained consciousness, the man became violent.
So Kakuzu slapped him again and knocked him unconscious before shrugging at Akaba.
This was too crazy! Did he automatically enter that state upon waking?
Akaba mused over several possibilities.
This cursed power originated from Ryuchi Cave. Orochimaru had located Ryuchi Cave precisely through research on Jugo's Sage's body origin.
Maybe this guy went crazy partly due to his own weak willpower, or another possibility was that Ryuchi Cave was actually nearby.
Thinking about this, Akaba looked around nervously, worried that snakes from Ryuchi Cave would suddenly pop out. Previously, Ryuchi Cave had once tried to lure him there through Orochimaru. Although he wasn't really afraid of those snakes, approaching their base still made him feel uneasy.
"It might be near here. I sent Earth Grudge Fear to search all day but lost one of its Shadow Clones."
Kakuzu shot a glare at this "middle-aged man."
Judging from his expression, if Akaba hadn't shown up, this "middle-aged man" would have already lost his Heart.
"No thanks. This one is useful. Someone else will take his Heart."
Akaba sold Orochimaru out without hesitation. After all, when dragging Leaf Village into this, Orochimaru would take over anyway.
As for Hearts…
There were plenty of cultists in Konoha, each having slaughtered many people. Handing them over to Kakuzu wouldn't bother Akaba in the slightest.
"Fine. I'll negotiate the benefits myself."
Kakuzu didn't insist on keeping him since he already clearly knew who to ask for rewards. Judging from appearances, Orochimaru must have exchanged quite a bit of experience with him.
Akaba himself wasn't completely clean either. Better to turn a blind eye to these matters.
Anyway, neither side intended to threaten Konoha.
Next, they discussed sales of One Piece briefly, then asked about the whereabouts of the "red-haired youth."
The result was obvious—no news at all.
Black Zetsu had hidden him well. At least Kakuzu's subordinates had traveled half the Ninja World without finding any solitary red-haired youth. This "middle-aged man" was merely an unexpected discovery during their search for the red-haired youth.
There were also no updates on any Uzumaki Clan Members, so after collecting his cut of the profits, Akaba headed home. Yesterday, he'd spent a fortune trying to cool Tsunade's temper, hence the need to visit Kakuzu today.
Returning was relatively convenient.
Though this guy had special abilities, when not raging, he wasn't much different from ordinary people, so Akaba easily brought him back to Konoha.
But the distance was great, so he still consumed significant chakra.
After handing this Sage's body over to Orochimaru for "training," Akaba returned to the village to rest, meanwhile organizing content for his next drawings.
Since he had been away doing missions, only a Shadow Clone remained at the shop. Today, not only did the Pirate King manga have no new chapters, but even Naruto offered only the bare minimum of five.
Thankfully, the issue wasn't too bad.
Five episodes might seem short, but they pack a lot of intense content. On one side, Naruto is training in Sage Mode; on the other, Sasuke's team heads out to capture Killer Bee.
Sage Mode was quite novel to most people, with the exception of a few individuals who already understood it.
Orochimaru and Tsunade belonged to this group.
They both knew what Sage Mode was, and had even subtly inquired from Jiraiya about the training process at Mount Myoboku.
As for the Third Hokage and others, they had questioned Akaba and Orochimaru previously. Even later, when Sage Fukasaku descended from the mountain, the Third had sought him out for consultation, fully understanding how significant the side effects of Sage Mode could be.
Therefore, these five episodes passed without much fanfare.
However,
things were about to change dramatically. As Naruto was close to mastering Sage Mode, one of the classic moments of Naruto Shippuden began: the Six Paths of Pain invading Konoha.
This section was extremely exciting.
With the Six Paths of Pain launching an attack, Konoha was nearly destroyed. If not for Naruto unleashing his full power at the last moment and convincing Nagato with his silver tongue—prompting Nagato to use Rinne Rebirth—it was possible that Danzō would have ended up ruling Konoha alone.
Hmm, Danzō… ehhmmmmm.
In this part of the plot, Danzō actually appeared—he schemingly killed the summoning frog from Mount Myoboku, attempting to prevent Naruto from returning to Konoha.
Akaba fell into deep thought.
Although this was originally part of Danzō's storyline, the fact remained that Danzō was their own man, and currently very different from his future self—not to mention, he was family!
This time around, perhaps Homura Mitokado should take the stage instead.
Of course, whatever people thought of Homura Mitokado's loyalties was no longer Akaba's concern.
All he could say was, "Teacher, I did my best."
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