Tsuchikage's Office.
Kurotsuchi walked in with the latest intelligence in hand and said to Ōnoki, who sat at his desk:
"Grandpa, according to reports from our spies in Konoha, the culprit behind the disappearance of the Mountains is none other than the so-called genius shinobi, Shinju."
Ōnoki exploded with rage the instant he heard that.
"Unbelievable!"
"Him again?!"
"It was one thing when he tricked Kumogakure and destroyed Amegakure, but now he dares make a move inside the Land of Earth?!"
"He's treating Iwagakure like we don't even exist!
(╯‵□′)╯︵┻━┻"
"Spread the word! Tell Konoha's Tsunade and Shinju to come to Iwagakure for negotiations!"
"If they don't, I'll bleed them dry!! ヽ('⌒´メ)ノ"
Kurotsuchi hesitated.
"Grandpa… you know how strong Shinju is. If we…"
Ōnoki snapped back, full of certainty:
"What? Just because he's strong, we should cower before him?!"
"I refuse to believe he's stronger than justice itself!"
Once, Ōnoki—Tsuchikage of Iwagakure—would never have said something like this.
Because to the ordinary people of the shinobi world, the Five Kage themselves were the embodiment of "justice."
But faced with someone so monstrously powerful, someone beyond the normal rules of this world, this was the only justification he could cling to...
...
Konoha.
Knowing full well he had caused a catastrophe, Shinju went straight to the Hokage's Office.
Inside, a circle of Konoha's upper echelon had already gathered, with jōnin like Kakashi and Might Guy among them.
The moment Tsunade saw Shinju's striking red hair, her temper exploded.
"You—You—You! You actually came back?!"
"What did I tell you before you left?! ╰_╯"
"I told you to experiment in the Land of Wind, but you wouldn't listen. And now look—an entire mountain range gone! Do you have any idea how much we're going to have to pay in compensation?! (╯‵□′)╯︵┻━┻"
Naruto, standing beside Shinju, tried to speak up:
"Granny Tsunade, judging by the scale of the explosion, even if it happened in the Land of Wind, the payout wouldn't be small."
"After all, the Land of Wind has plenty of rare mineral deposits… (◔◡◔)"
Tsunade roared:
"Did I say you could talk?! (ꐦ ಠ皿ಠ)"
...
Land of Wind.
Sunagakure. Kazekage's Office.
"Achoo!!"
Gaara, in the middle of signing documents, sneezed.
Kankurō, standing nearby, asked, "What's wrong? Did you catch a cold from overworking?"
Gaara shook his head.
"No… I just have the sense that our country narrowly avoided disaster."
Kankurō laughed.
"Exactly. You heard about what happened, right?"
"They say Shinju was testing a jutsu there."
"Good thing he did it in the Land of Earth. If it had been here in the Land of Wind, we'd be the ones panicking."
As he spoke, Kankurō's expression suddenly froze.
"Wait… our country is covered in endless desert—wouldn't that make it the perfect place to test ninjutsu?"
"Don't tell me… that guy originally planned to experiment here?! --003d͟͟͞͞(꒪ᗜ꒪ ‧̣̥̇)"
Gaara gave a knowing smile.
"Most likely."
...
Hokage's Office.
The discussion about compensation was still ongoing.
Tsunade was the first to state the hard truth.
"The village's savings are limited. Guess how much the Land of Earth is demanding from us this time…"
"Five hundred billion!!"
She held up five fingers dramatically.
It was the first time Shinju had ever seen his teacher this shaken.
And when he heard that astronomical figure, he lost his composure too.
Five hundred billion?! No one could rob that much money even if they tried!
After all his years of risking his life on bounty missions, he'd barely managed to save just under three billion!
After a moment of hesitation, Shinju asked:
"Couldn't we negotiate with the Land of Earth and settle with tailed beasts as payment?"
As he spoke, he raised his hand, showing the sealing formula carved into his palm.
"See? I've got the Three-Tails and the Six-Tails here. Tailed beasts… should be worth something, right?"
The room went silent.
"Wait… Shinju, why the hell do you keep your tailed beast seals in the middle of your palm? (‧_‧?)"
Might Guy suddenly asked.
Kakashi glared at him.
"Is this really the time to be asking that?!! (ꐦ ಠ皿ಠ)"
After a pause, Mitokado Homura finally spoke.
"Tailed beasts have immense strategic value to any village. One could easily be worth several hundred billion."
"But even then, it's still far from enough."
Utatane Koharu added:
"Shinju also brought back that steel fortress. The village's already converted it into ninjutsu technology. That might fetch another hundred billion at most…"
Tsunade grimaced.
"Still not enough. Even if Konoha gave everything we had, it wouldn't even cover a fraction. ㅍ_ㅍ"
Shinju rubbed his head, troubled.
"Then how about this—I go back to the Mountains and use Wood Release to regrow all the trees?"
Tsunade shot him a look.
"Don't be ridiculous. Even if you restored the forest, what about all the animals that lived there?"
Shinju suggested weakly, "Use the Reanimation Jutsu to revive them all?"
Tsunade facepalmed.
"You'll kill yourself first, you idiot! (ꐦ°᷄д°᷅)"
The debate had reached a deadlock.
Creak—
At that moment, the door to the Hokage's Office opened again.
A shinobi from the Code-Breaking Department hurried in.
With the Mountain disaster, the code-breakers had been working day and night to process encrypted messages from other villages.
Panting, the man handed a slip of paper to Tsunade.
"Tsunade-sama, this is the latest message from Iwagakure."
Tsunade unfolded it.
[We request the Hokage and Shinju to come to Iwagakure to discuss compensation.]
After reading, she said:
"Since Iwagakure sent this message, it means there's room to negotiate. For now… we'll have to take it step by step."
The others in the office nodded.
Tsunade turned to Shinju.
"Don't let the pressure get to you. Remember—Konoha stands behind you."
Shinju's eyes stung with emotion.
"Sensei… (｡◕ˇ﹏ˇ◕｡ )"
"Alright, enough with the mushy nonsense. Let's move out."
To reach Iwagakure quickly, Tsunade and Shinju used Flying Thunder God to teleport to the ruins along the border mountains of the Land of Earth.
From there, they boarded Shinju's aircraft and continued on. Looking down at the vast expanse of churned-up brown soil, Tsunade clicked her tongue.
"Incredible… the same landscape stretching out for hundreds of miles."
Shinju smirked.
"Spectacular, isn't it? I was pretty stunned myself when I realized what I'd done. (´つヮ⊂︎)"
Tsunade glared.
"Listen to yourself—you sound proud of it! (▼へ▼メ)"
Shinju (secretly delighted):
"No, no, of course not."
...
Elsewhere.
Border of the Land of Fire.
As Utakata made his way back toward Amegakure, he was suddenly stopped by a masked figure.
"Sorry," the masked man said, "but I need the Six-Tails inside you."
Utakata shrugged.
"The Six-Tails isn't in me anymore… ┐(´-｀)┌"
"You think you can fool me with that?!"
The masked man didn't believe a word and immediately unleashed a combo of attacks…
Utakata, dead.
----------------
Pls Drop some Power Stones
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