At this moment, Gekko Chizan was still presiding over his grand robbery carnival.
Each of his clones was moving faster than the last, while his original body remained on the snack street, eating as he helped Chōmei gather the delicacies it wanted.
"I say, Chōmei, want to try some takoyaki? Huh? This vendor is seriously irresponsible—how could he run off halfway through making it?"
"No problem. I am a jack-of-all-trades."
Gekko Chizan personally stepped in and began making the takoyaki himself.
Watching the tiny octopus legs being turned into neat little balls, Chōmei drooled all over the place.
"Hey, Chizan, that one—I want to eat it."
"Even though it's not a bug, every time I see octopus, I think of that guy Gyūki."
"Ahahaha! This is something I absolutely have to try!"
Hearing this, Gekko Chizan burst out laughing. He sealed one portion away and kept another for himself to eat.
The snack street was in the exact opposite direction from where his clones were robbing, so he wasn't worried in the slightest about being disturbed.
Besides, looking at the street—there wasn't a single person around. Everyone had run off to take shelter. Who would bother coming to stop him?
Just then, a streak of red light suddenly flashed across the sky and precisely arrived beside him.
"Hmm? Tagitsuhime's chakra?"
"Something happened?"
Sensing that chakra, Gekko Chizan immediately used Flying Thunder God to return to the inn.
Sure enough, Tagitsuhime had already transformed back into her human form, her expression grave.
"Chizan, something's wrong."
"I sensed an extremely exaggerated chakra approaching this island."
"The feeling of this chakra—it doesn't seem human."
Not human???
Gekko Chizan frowned at once. Chakra that didn't seem human… a Tailed Beast?
The Tailed Beast of the Land of Water… the Three-Tails… the Six-Tails…
Could it be a jinchūriki?
"Which direction?"
"South."
From Kirigakure, huh? Gekko Chizan's thoughts raced. He knew very well that they had sent someone powerful this time.
"My clones are still robbing. If they arrive, I'll have to stop."
"I'll go intercept them."
Even if it was a jinchūriki, Gekko Chizan had no fear. His goal wasn't to defeat them—just to hold them back.
To buy time for his grand robbery enterprise.
"Do you want me to go with you?"
"No. If we use senjutsu, it'll be too easy to expose ourselves."
Gekko Chizan intended to rely solely on ordinary techniques to stall them. His Water Release and Fire Release were both quite formidable.
And with the advantage of terrain, even if it was a Tailed Beast, they wouldn't gain the slightest benefit from him.
"Alright. Besides the massive chakra charging toward this island, there are also several people with considerable chakra heading toward the northern island."
"They're probably reinforcements, so you have to move fast."
Tagitsuhime increased her output of natural energy, expanding her sensing range and taking in the surrounding situation.
At the same time, she relayed the information to Gekko Chizan.
He nodded, then vanished on the spot with Flying Thunder God.
When he reappeared, he was already at the southern edge of the island.
"Chōmei, can you see them?"
"Yeah, I see them. A short green-haired guy."
Using his insect vision, Gekko Chizan saw it too. Just as Chōmei said—a short green-haired man stood at the bow of the ship.
The Fourth Mizukage, Karatachi Yagura. It seemed he had still become the jinchūriki of the Three-Tails.
"I can sense the aura of the Three-Tails, Isobu, on him. Looks like he's a jinchūriki."
"Chizan, what are you planning to do? Kill him?"
Chōmei's voice suddenly carried a trace of excitement, as if the idea of eliminating the Three-Tails had been on its mind for a long time.
Gekko Chizan rolled his eyes on the spot.
"Hey, Chōmei, you weren't like this before."
"How did you get so violent?"
"That's the Three-Tails. How can we just casually talk about killing it?"
Chōmei hadn't been like this before—back then it believed in survival above all else. How had it become so aggressive now?
Hearing Gekko Chizan's complaints, Chōmei laughed sheepishly.
"Oh come on, Chizan. Back then I couldn't beat anyone. But now, with your help, my confidence is through the roof!"
"Back in the day, when I was just a big white worm, those guys bullied me all the time."
"Now things are different. I've risen up! Of course I want a little payback!"
That reasoning was fair enough. After all, Gekko Chizan knew that before Chōmei became what it was now, it had indeed just been a large white worm.
And back then, it really couldn't beat anyone.
Even the Six-Tails, Saiken, could probably have crushed it.
"Unfortunately, we can't make a move against the Three-Tails this time. Just intercept him."
"Don't forget, I'm flying the banner of Kumogakure. If I expose too much strength, that'll be troublesome."
Compared to fighting, money was more important!
So Gekko Chizan absolutely wouldn't do anything excessive.
With that thought, he made his move.
"Let's start with a little greeting, Fourth Mizukage-sama!"
"Water Release: Great Waterfall Technique!"
"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough! Great Breakthrough! Great Breakthrough!!!"
He opened with a combination ninjutsu. With the advantage of terrain, his Great Waterfall Technique turned into a massive tidal wave.
Fueled further by raging winds, the enormous wave surged toward the direction of the Fourth Mizukage.
The advancing Fourth Mizukage and the dozens of shinobi behind him immediately noticed the disturbance on the sea's surface.
The colossal wave was impossible to miss.
"So we've already been discovered?"
"The range and power of this technique—and that wind… This is definitely no ordinary pirate. Looks like Kumogakure deployed elites this time."
Karatachi Yagura stood at the bow, his expression unchanged.
With a single glance, he recognized the extraordinary nature of the technique. From that alone, he understood that this wasn't some pirate incident at all—Kumogakure had sent troops.
"Defend!"
At his command, the shinobi behind him almost all stepped forward at once.
A combined ninjutsu cast by dozens of Kirigakure shinobi—massive water walls rose one after another.
The collision of seawater against seawater churned the entire ocean surface into chaos.
"Tsk tsk, now this is Kirigakure's elite."
"The ones I ran into earlier must've all been Kirigakure chūnin…"
Wearing the same Kirigakure forehead protectors, yet comparing the power of the ninjutsu released by the group before him to the ones his clones had crushed earlier—
Sigh, they're from the same village. How can the gap be this big?
"Tsk tsk tsk, let's keep going. Water Release: Water Clone Technique."
"Water Release: Hidden Mist Technique!"
Gekko Chizan grinned, continuing to seize the initiative.
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