Chapter 312: I'd Rather Make Less Money Than Let You Make Any
"My teacher has mysteriously disappeared," Amamiya Kenichi murmured as he looked down at the Hidden Mist Village, falling into deep thought.
After leaving the Land of Snow, Amamiya Kenichi had tried to repair the mobile phone his teacher had given him. He had no other way to contact him, and communication methods in the Ninja World were still painfully limited.
For example, if Amamiya Kenichi wanted to find Kakashi while in Konoha, the simplest method was often to walk to Kakashi's house and call out for him, like a child asking a friend to come outside and play.
But what if the range expanded to the entire Land of Fire?
Then the easiest way for him to contact someone was by writing a letter or sending a message through a carrier pigeon.
It was absurd.
Sometimes Amamiya Kenichi could not understand why the Ninja World already had computers, yet had never developed things like email. But after doing some research of his own, he realized that while the Ninja World had computers, it had no internet.
So naturally, email could not exist. The technology tree of this world had always been crooked.
If he wanted to contact his teacher, the simplest option was to repair the phone and then use it to try to reach him. As long as his teacher entered the communication range, the problem would not be too serious.
"This phone can't be repaired for now. I really don't understand what kind of technology my teacher used," Amamiya Kenichi muttered, frowning at the device in his hand.
He had already tried repairing it and failed.
Amamiya Kenichi did not know much about how the phone itself had been made, and his teacher had never explained it to him either. That meant he had done very little research on the device.
He had originally planned to come to the Hidden Mist Village to see whether his teacher might be here, but after arriving, he found no obvious traces.
"Forget it. I'll sell the airship first, then go back and find my teacher." Amamiya Kenichi shook his head.
It did not matter if his teacher was not here. Once he returned to the Land of Rice Fields, his teacher would definitely be there.
Just as he was about to descend, Amamiya Kenichi noticed a few small black dots emerging from the Hidden Mist Village. His eyes narrowed as he looked down.
Had something happened?
"Shibi sama, the Hidden Mist Village wants us to meet them here." At that moment, on the outskirts of the Hidden Mist Village, Kakashi quietly reported the newly received message to a man wearing dark glasses.
"These Hidden Mist fellows..." Shibi frowned as he glanced toward the village ahead of them. "Fine. Agree to their request. Tell them we'll wait here."
He had originally wanted to enter the village and take a look around, but he had not expected the Hidden Mist Village to be so wary of them.
Or perhaps something really had happened inside Hidden Mist?
"Understood." Kakashi ran off after receiving the order.
At the moment, Kakashi was in charge of communication between Konoha and the Hidden Mist Village. Of course, he was not speaking to the upper ranks of the Hidden Mist Village, only to Hidden Mist Anbu.
That was normal. For an Anbu like Kakashi, it was still too difficult to meet directly with the Hidden Mist Village's high level leadership.
Soon after Kakashi passed on the message, the people of the Hidden Mist Village came out.
The one leading them was an old man.
When Shibi saw him, his eyes narrowed slightly.
Genji.
Wasn't Yagura the Mizukage? Why had Yagura not come personally?
Several thoughts flashed through Shibi's mind, but he said nothing. After all, it was the Hidden Mist Village's business whom they sent. Konoha would not interfere in that.
The task given to him by the Third Hokage was to promote Konoha's somewhat outdated flying devices, and among all the potential customers, the Hidden Mist Village was the one Konoha valued the most.
After all, the geography of the Hidden Mist Village was extremely special. In the past, the only way to reach it was by sea, which was slow and vulnerable to attacks. But with hot air balloons, the Hidden Mist Village was no longer so isolated.
Because of that, Hiruzen was certain the Hidden Mist Village would buy them. Even if Konoha raised the price a little, it would not matter.
"Konoha's envoy, I have already received the official letter from your village. Are you here this time to promote your products?" Genji slowly walked over, glancing at the ninja before him.
The man wore dark glasses and had the unmistakable look of the Aburame clan. Given his status and the fact that he had come here personally, Genji immediately deduced that he could only be Aburame Shibi, the head of Konoha's Aburame clan.
"Yes. This time, we are here to promote something the Hidden Mist Village will definitely need." Shibi smiled faintly and removed his glasses.
He still needed to show a certain degree of respect when facing an elder who genuinely held power.
Kakashi and the other Konoha ninja stood quietly in the back. Their role this time was to make sure the Hidden Mist Village understood one thing.
If they wanted the hot air balloons, they would have to buy them.
Otherwise, in the Ninja World, there were plenty of people who would not mind simply taking them by force.
That was why a proper show of strength was necessary.
"Hey, Kakashi, why do you think the village wants to promote hot air balloons?" Guy poked Kakashi in the side.
"..." Kakashi pursed his lips. He first glanced ahead, where Shibi was introducing Konoha's products to Genji, while Genji himself remained calm and smiling, making it impossible to guess what he was thinking.
"Because the village needs money," Kakashi whispered.
His mood was slightly better than before. In Konoha, among the people around him, Guy really was one of the few he could call a close friend.
If only Amamiya Kenichi did not exist...
The moment he thought of Amamiya Kenichi, Kakashi's feelings became complicated again.
The last time he had seen that bastard had been in the Land of Snow. He still did not know what Amamiya Kenichi was doing now.
Could he really have gone there to become some sort of king?
How ridiculous. A ninja could not possibly...
But why did that thought make him feel a little envious?
"Oh, but I really don't want to ride that thing again," Guy said with a knowing expression, then glanced disdainfully toward the rear, where Konoha's hot air balloons were being stored under guard.
They had arrived here earlier by hot air balloon. It had been fast and convenient, but the ride itself had been awful. Guy had vomited nonstop, to the point that he had almost spat out bile.
"I don't want to ride one with you again either," Kakashi said without hesitation. After all, he had nearly been vomited on by Guy during the trip.
"Then let's have a contest later, Kakashi!" Guy suddenly became excited.
Kakashi took a deep breath.
He really could not understand why his friend's "youth" always erupted so suddenly. Sometimes they would be speaking normally, and the next moment Guy would suddenly demand a competition and begin shouting about passion.
It was exhausting.
"It looks like Kakashi and Guy get along pretty well." Hidden in the nearby woods, Amamiya Kenichi narrowed his eyes as he looked ahead and muttered to himself.
He had only just come down to scout the situation, yet the moment he landed, he saw Kakashi and Guy.
At once, he understood what was happening here.
Kakashi was probably representing Konoha in a business negotiation with the Hidden Mist Village.
At first, he had wondered how Kakashi had suddenly become so capable. But then he realized Kakashi was just acting as one of the escorts this time.
Still, Amamiya Kenichi had no interest in stepping out and having some touching reunion with his old friend.
His attention was on Guy.
Guy was definitely one of Konoha's most deeply hidden monsters.
Strictly speaking, it was not Guy himself who was hiding. With his personality and brain, there was no way he would deliberately conceal his true strength or intentions.
The reason Guy counted as so deeply hidden was because, despite his overenthusiastic and somewhat simple minded personality, he had mastered the unique forbidden technique of the Eight Gates.
The Eight Gates, a taijutsu art that burned away the body in exchange for immense power, was one of the strongest techniques in the entire Ninja World. When fully opened, it was powerful enough to clash head on with Six Paths Madara.
Amamiya Kenichi had been coveting it for a long time.
"I need to think of a way..." Amamiya Kenichi rubbed his chin.
But with Guy's personality, if he directly tried to force the answer out of him, the most likely outcome was Guy opening the Eight Gates and fighting him to the death.
If he did not get it now, then the next time he wanted it, he would have to infiltrate Konoha, find the Forbidden Scroll, and then search through it to see whether the Eight Gates was even recorded there.
... "The price you're offering is too low, Genji."
Just as Amamiya Kenichi was still thinking, a voice pulled his attention back.
He looked over.
It was Shibi.
At the moment, Shibi and Genji were negotiating, and it seemed they had hit a disagreement over price. Amamiya Kenichi raised an eyebrow when he heard that.
This was exactly the problem caused by weak communication technology.
If Shibi had better communication methods and already knew that Amamiya Kenichi had sabotaged several of Konoha's deals, he would probably have started considering a price cut already.
Amamiya Kenichi did not know whether the Hidden Sand Village and Iwagakure had eventually signed contracts with Konoha after he left, but he felt that as long as those people were not complete fools, the answer was probably no.
"It's about time for my grand entrance." Amamiya Kenichi smiled faintly, put on his mask, and calmly stepped out of the woods.
His appearance immediately drew the attention of both Konoha and the Hidden Mist Village.
The ninja from both sides exchanged glances and simultaneously fell into confusion.
Who was this person walking out of the forest?
He was wearing a mask.
Was he from Konoha?
Or from the Hidden Mist Village?
"Greetings, Genji of the Hidden Mist Village, and Konoha's envoy." However, Amamiya Kenichi's casual greeting instantly made both Genji and Shibi understand that he had nothing to do with either side.
"Allow me to introduce myself. I am the Heavenly Demon, the victim of Konoha's plagiarism this time."
Amamiya Kenichi smiled faintly and gave a slight bow.
And the moment the words "Heavenly Demon" left his mouth, countless insects crawled out from Shibi's body. The dense rustling made everyone nearby uncomfortable.
Amamiya Kenichi glanced at him and sneered inwardly.
The Aburame clan really was one of the most disgusting and vicious clans in Konoha.
Once, he had personally seen a Root member from the Aburame clan interrogating a captured spy. The man had simply been forced to watch as insects burrowed into his flesh and slowly gnawed him from the inside out.
Against that sort of torture, most ninja either confessed or died.
Back then, Danzo had even shown off one of Root's so called "hard bones."
The man was a spy carrying confidential Konoha information. No one knew which village he came from, only that he had been caught by Root.
When Amamiya Kenichi went to observe, one of the man's hands was already gone.
Gone in the literal sense.
From the elbow down, it was nothing but skin and bone. The sight had been ghastly.
And even then, the man had still refused to talk.
His teacher had also been very interested in the Aburame clan's insects, so Amamiya Kenichi had been forced to watch as the man's other hand and both legs were slowly eaten away.
"Impatient?" Amamiya Kenichi sneered.
Because of Danzo's influence, his impression of the Aburame clan had never been good.
"Ahem. Both of you are guests of the Hidden Mist Village," Genji coughed lightly. At the same time, one of the Hidden Mist ninja nearby vanished from sight.
"Naturally. This is the Hidden Mist Village. I only came to discuss business," Amamiya Kenichi said with a faint smile.
He was here to do business, not to fight to the death.
Even if the Hidden Mist Village only offered him one hundred million, he would still sell them the airship. Otherwise, would he not just be handing Konoha money for free?
Clearly, Shibi also understood Amamiya Kenichi's purpose.
His expression darkened at once, and the Konoha ninja behind him all began breathing a little heavier.
Kakashi clenched his fist.
He did not know why, but from the moment the Heavenly Demon had walked out, Kakashi had felt that the man's posture was strangely familiar, as if he had seen it somewhere before.
"Heavenly Demon." Shibi's face turned grim.
Of course he knew the Heavenly Demon. This was the bastard who had attacked Konoha and caused heavy casualties.
Why was Konoha now going around selling hot air balloons and similar devices?
Because after the Heavenly Demon's last attack, Konoha had suffered badly. Too many ninja needed compensation, treatment, and support.
All of that required money.
And Konoha no longer had enough of it.
That was why the village had begun selling some of its technological assets, hot air balloons among them, to other countries and villages.
But Shibi had never expected this man to dare appear here himself.
"Heavenly Demon, what are you doing here?"
A questioning voice suddenly rang out, and a faint smile appeared under Amamiya Kenichi's mask.
He had already sensed that massive chakra earlier. He did not even need to turn around to know who had arrived.
Yagura.
The Fourth Mizukage of the Hidden Mist Village.
And with Yagura's arrival, the Konoha ninja, who had just been poised to attack Amamiya Kenichi, could only forcibly restrain their anger.
.....
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