"The old hag with the puppets!"
"The old geezer with the respirator!"
On the battlefield between the Land of Rain and the Land of Wind, Hanzo stood at the head of Amegakure's forces with his weapon in hand.
Opposite him, Chiyo of Sunagakure stood at the very front of Suna's army as well.
The two were only about three meters apart, glaring at one another while throwing out the same ridiculous nicknames they always used.
Hanzo didn't care much about being called an old geezer.
But Chiyo, still in her prime, felt her temper flare the instant she heard "old hag."
Normally, she would have snapped back without hesitation.
But today was different.
The two sides had come for truce negotiations, and Chiyo could only force down the irritation rising in her chest.
"If this war ends here, then the Land of Rain must offer compensation," Chiyo said without wasting time.
Hanzo gave a cold snort.
"Compensation? You still want to keep fighting, old hag?"
Naturally, Hanzo had no intention of agreeing to such a demand.
He had not lost.
At worst, the fighting between Amegakure and Sunagakure had reached a stalemate, with Ame only at a slight disadvantage.
And more importantly, even if he wanted to compensate them, the Land of Rain simply did not have the money or resources to spare.
Chiyo's gaze sharpened.
"Hanzo, your poison has already been countered by me. Do you really think you still have anything left to threaten us with?"
Hanzo's eyes narrowed.
"Then try me."
He knew very well that this was the moment he could least afford to show weakness.
So his answer came out hard and uncompromising.
Just as Amegakure and Sunagakure began their truce negotiations, Danzō—who had been secretly operating within the Land of Rain—received the news at once.
At the same time, another report arrived from Konoha.
The village's ninja forces had already assembled and were moving toward the border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Rain.
The timing was perfect.
The place was set.
The pieces were all in motion.
Danzō, clearly in a good mood, set the intelligence report aside and looked up at the three young ninja standing before him with a faint smile.
"Hanzo and Sunagakure have entered truce negotiations. Prepare yourselves. The blitz operation could begin at any moment."
Tsunade immediately clenched her right fist and slammed her left palm against it, eyes blazing with fighting spirit.
"I've been waiting for this."
She looked more than ready to charge straight onto the battlefield and make a name for herself while protecting the people important to her.
Danzō watched her in silence for a moment.
What a fierce girl, he thought.
Whoever married her in the future would have to be prepared for quite a life.
Even so, his thoughts quickly shifted elsewhere.
I wonder how things are progressing in the Land of Rain…
Elsewhere, Kizaru lay back lazily and stared up at the ceiling, looking for all the world like he had no interest in the meeting at all.
"This time, in regard to sending forces into the Land of Rain, our Iwagakure—"
"Pff."
The sudden laugh cut straight across the room.
Ōnoki's expression darkened at once. He slapped the table and turned sharply toward the source of the sound.
It was Kizaru.
"Brat, are you mocking the shinobi of Iwagakure?" Ōnoki demanded, his voice filled with irritation.
Kizaru blinked, then slowly looked over as though he had only just noticed everyone staring at him.
"Ooh… sorry about that. I just remembered something kinda funny."
His tone was as casual and unbothered as ever.
That only made Ōnoki angrier.
"Damn brat!"
"Please calm yourself, Tsuchikage-dono," Sarutobi Hiruzen said with a helpless smile, glancing at the student behind him. "Kizaru is still just a child. I hope you can overlook it."
A child?
Ōnoki nearly choked on the words.
He looked at Hiruzen's smiling face, then at Kizaru, who was sitting there with that same infuriating expression, while the two-tailed cat resting on his shoulders flicked its tails lazily.
Child, my ass.
But after weighing things carefully, Ōnoki could only swallow his frustration and sit back down.
He was furious.
Unfortunately, that didn't mean he could do anything about it.
"This time, Iwagakure is willing to dispatch shinobi to assist Konoha in the Land of Rain," Ōnoki said, forcing himself back onto the main topic. "We cannot stand by and do nothing while Hanzo continues to stir up war."
Hiruzen nodded.
"It is reassuring to hear that the Tsuchikage is willing to act. Hanzo's reckless aggression cannot be ignored."
After the brief disturbance, Kizaru finally paid attention again.
He looked down at Ōnoki, and suddenly something important came back to him.
Tsunade's younger brother, Nawaki, had been placed on the black market bounty list by the other hidden villages.
The memory of Tsunade at the hospital entrance flashed through his mind.
The tears she had nearly shed.
Nawaki's injuries over the past two days.
And the bright, almost stubborn smile she still wore in front of others.
Kizaru quietly made up his mind.
Before this meeting ended, he was going to have a "friendly" little talk with Ōnoki and encourage him to withdraw the bounty on Nawaki.
The negotiations dragged on from morning all the way into the afternoon.
Kizaru sat through it all for four or five unbearably long hours.
Only after nearly six hours of back-and-forth discussions did Konoha and Iwagakure—represented by the Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, and the Third Tsuchikage, Ōnoki—finally reach an agreement.
Once the talks concluded, both sides would dispatch official envoys to each other's villages and formally establish an alliance.
They would support one another in times of war and stand together when needed.
At the same time, another idea also emerged during the talks—one that had only just begun to take shape.
After the Rain Country conflict ended, the two villages would work together to host a Chūnin Exam open to the entire shinobi world.
Both sides intended to use that event to publicly display the strength of their alliance to the rest of the nations.
The moment Kizaru heard Hiruzen take the initiative to bring up the Chūnin Exam, a bad feeling immediately crept into his heart.
After all, despite graduating three years early, he had only completed two missions so far.
He was still under ten years old.
And by the village's official ranking system, he was technically just a genin.
…Old man, you're not seriously thinking of throwing me into that, are you?
Kizaru folded his arms and rubbed his chin, falling into thought.
Then he considered Hiruzen's usual way of doing things.
A beat later, his expression turned subtle.
…Yeah. You probably are that shameless.
How scary.
Just as Kizaru was silently criticizing his teacher, the meeting between the two villages finally came to an end.
The Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, and the Third Tsuchikage, Ōnoki, both rose from their seats.
Then, under the watchful eyes of everyone present, the two leaders stepped forward and shook hands.
Both of them wore smiles that looked sincere enough on the surface.
"I'm already looking forward to the Chūnin Exams after this war," Ōnoki said with a smile as he held Sarutobi Hiruzen's hand.
Although Konoha had produced a monster like Kizaru, Ōnoki still had confidence that when it came to genin, Iwagakure's shinobi would not lose to Konoha's.
"Yes, I'm looking forward to it as well," Hiruzen replied with a warm smile.
It looked like Kizaru's promotion would have to be delayed a little longer.
As the two old foxes continued shaking hands, the smiles on their faces only grew brighter.
After exchanging those final words, Hiruzen and Ōnoki released each other's hands and walked out of the earthen meeting hall side by side.
"Lord Tsuchikage, do you have a moment?" Kizaru called out as he stepped outside, finally bringing up the matter on his mind.
Everyone present turned to look at him.
Especially Ōnoki and Hiruzen.
Ōnoki's eyes showed clear confusion.
Hiruzen's, on the other hand, carried a quiet warning.
It was obvious what that warning meant.
Don't cause trouble.
"Teacher, I'd like to speak with Tsuchikage-dono alone for a bit. Is that alright?" Kizaru asked calmly, meeting Hiruzen's gaze without the slightest change in expression.
Hiruzen did not answer right away.
Instead, he glanced toward Ōnoki with a faintly awkward look.
Ōnoki looked at Kizaru and asked, "Oh? And what exactly is this about?"
"A small personal matter," Kizaru replied lightly.
Ōnoki narrowed his eyes, thought for a moment, then nodded.
"Very well."
"Tsuchikage-sama!" one of the Iwagakure jōnin behind him called out at once, clearly alarmed.
Ōnoki raised a hand to silence him.
"We and Konoha are allies now," he said with a smile. "If one of Konoha's juniors wants to speak with me, I'm quite happy to indulge him."
With that, Ōnoki took the initiative and moved toward Kizaru.
Since Kizaru's height was frankly irritating to look up at, Ōnoki simply placed his hands behind his back and floated into the air with his Light-Weight Rock Technique.
Then he pointed toward a large boulder in the distance.
"Let's speak over there."
"Ooh, thank you very much, Uncle Tsuchikage," Kizaru said with his usual lazy smile.
"Kizaru, don't be disrespectful to the Tsuchikage," Hiruzen called out at once.
Already walking forward, Kizaru raised one hand and waved without even turning around.
"Don't worry, Teacher."
Then he followed after Ōnoki toward the boulder in the distance.
Once they reached it, the two of them stopped.
Ōnoki floated beside the rock, looking directly at Kizaru.
"Well then," he said, "what is it you wanted to say?"
Kizaru kept the smile on his face and opened politely.
"Tsuchikage-dono, I'd like to ask that the bounty on Senju Nawaki be withdrawn."
Be polite first, then press harder.
That was Kizaru's approach.
Ōnoki's expression shifted ever so slightly, but naturally, there was no way he would admit to something like that so easily.
"I don't know what you mean," he said flatly. "Iwagakure has never had any dealings with the black market."
"Ooh… is that so?" Kizaru said with a soft drawl, then smoothly changed the wording. "Then let me put it another way. I hope Iwagakure can lend me a hand and make sure the black market stops targeting Senju Nawaki."
Konoha had already produced a genius as terrifying as Kizaru.
If Senju Nawaki inherited even a fraction of his grandfather Hashirama's talent, then Konoha's future would become even more troublesome.
With that thought in mind, Ōnoki gave an equally smooth reply.
"I'd like to help," he said, "but since Iwagakure has no connection to the black market, there is nothing I can do."
Hearing him refuse again, the smile on Kizaru's face faded noticeably.
The lazy amusement in his eyes also disappeared, replaced by something far more serious.
"That would be troublesome," Kizaru said quietly. "If anything happened to Nawaki, I'd be very sad, you know. And if something terrible happened after that…"
He turned his gaze fully onto Ōnoki.
"…then I'd really be sorry."
Ōnoki's eyes widened slightly.
"Are you threatening me, brat from Konoha?"
"No, no, no," Kizaru said, raising a finger and gently wagging it. "Just a friendly reminder."
After saying that, Kizaru no longer looked at Ōnoki.
Instead, he turned and faced the mountain range ahead.
"Matatabi, get down."
Sensing the shift in Kizaru's tone, Matatabi did not dare fool around this time. After glaring at Ōnoki with obvious hostility, it leapt silently down from Kizaru's shoulders.
Kizaru slowly raised his right leg.
Armament Haki coated it.
At the same time, he drew together light particles, combined them with his monstrous physical strength, the principles of tremendous strength, and the Navy Six Styles Rankyaku—
bringing everything he had mastered so far into a single strike.
Then he kicked.
A golden crescent slash burst forward.
The air screamed.
The ground trembled.
Even space itself seemed on the verge of being torn apart.
That slash, carrying the full force of Kizaru's power, shot forward like a divine blade meant to split the world in two.
One mountain.
Then another.
Then a third.
The peaks ahead were sliced apart as cleanly as fruit beneath a sharpened knife, their cross-sections so smooth they looked polished.
And even after cutting through them, the golden slash still did not lose all its force.
It continued onward, crashing into the mountains farther away.
Boom. Boom. Boom.
Several thunderous explosions rang out in the distance.
The mountain range began to collapse beneath the impact, swallowed by rising clouds of dust and rock.
A violent tremor rippled back across the plain, shaking the entire area.
Ōnoki, floating right beside Kizaru, felt the full terror of that attack more clearly than anyone else.
His face barely remained composed, but his heart was already in turmoil.
If that strike had been aimed at Iwagakure itself, and no one had managed to stop it…
The village might truly have been destroyed.
He looked at Kizaru again.
Hands in his pockets.
Relaxed posture.
Not even a single bead of sweat on his forehead.
At that moment, Ōnoki gained a far more direct understanding of Kizaru's strength.
This brat really is a monster.
"Tsuchikage-sama!"
"Kizaru!"
That kind of disturbance naturally drew everyone's attention.
The shinobi from both Konoha and Iwagakure on the plain reacted immediately. Even the ones hiding in the shadows revealed themselves at once, rushing over and forming a tense standoff around Kizaru and Ōnoki.
"Stand down!" Ōnoki barked, turning toward his men before they could act.
"Kizaru, calm down!" Hiruzen also raised his hand to stop Konoha's shinobi, then hurriedly asked, "What happened here?"
Kizaru slipped both hands into his pockets and answered with a smile as though nothing at all had happened.
"I just asked Tsuchikage-dono to give me a little guidance in ninjutsu."
"Yes," Ōnoki said at once, playing along. The image of that slash was still burned into his mind, and the last thing he wanted right now was a clash with Kizaru or Konoha. "Hokage, your student is truly… astonishing."
"Hahaha! This child still has much to learn. I'll have to trouble you to guide him more in the future," Hiruzen said smoothly, following the opening Ōnoki had given him.
"I have no ability to guide a genius like him," Ōnoki replied.
That, at least, was completely sincere.
Hiruzen studied him for a moment, then said, "No matter what happened just now, if my student was rude in any way, I am willing to apologize on his behalf."
He truly did dote on Kizaru.
Ōnoki shook his head and looked at Kizaru again.
His gaze was complicated now.
In the end, he spoke in a tone that was almost resigned.
"I accept your request."
"Ooh, I'm really grateful, Uncle Tsuchikage," Kizaru said, the lazy smile returning to his face at once.
Hiruzen's eyes moved from Ōnoki to Kizaru, and his curiosity about what had actually passed between the two only deepened.
PS: A double chapter in one.
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