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Either way, he'd have to carve off his own flesh and hand it over.
One side only wanted a slice of his meat. The other side wanted to carve him up ruthlessly and grind his face into the dirt! If it were an ordinary person, perhaps that would be acceptable. Unfortunately, Onoki was anything but ordinary. He was the Tsuchikage of the Stone Village. Every word he spoke, every action he took, represented the entire Stone Village. If he lost face this catastrophically while also being bled dry, could he even continue as Tsuchikage?
Therefore, losing face was absolutely out of the question. He would rather go through the trouble of rallying the Mist Village, the Sand Village, and persuading the Leaf Village – all to unite against the Cloud Village! By leveraging the collective strength of four villages, they would forcibly bring the war to a close. This way, the war between the Stone and Cloud Villages would end with neither side emerging victorious.
Although the Stone Village would suffer devastating losses, the Cloud Village wouldn't fare much better. Countless dead on the battlefield, mountains of war materiel consumed – it was enough to make the Cloud Village's flesh ache. Most importantly, with the war halted by external forces, the Stone Village wouldn't have lost. Therefore, the Stone Village wouldn't even need to consider compensating the Cloud Village. You didn't even beat me. How dare you ask for reparations?
"..." Was there even a choice to make here? Both options required paying a heavy price, so of course he'd choose the one that preserved his dignity. Who could accept paying a crushing price AND losing face? Not to mention, Onoki was a stubborn little old man who cared deeply about saving face.
Kazuki addressed Shikaku, who was still lost in tangled thought. "Issue the order. The members of the Mist and Sand Village delegations are free to come and go from the village as they please. As long as they don't attempt to infiltrate from other locations, even if they're spotted, pretend not to notice. I'll have Shisui and Itachi keep an eye on them."
"Yes, my Lord Advisor," Shikaku hastily responded, his train of thought interrupted.
Far away, in the Cloud Village, A was storming with rage. The village's assembled high-ranking officials were grinding their teeth in fury, wishing they could drag Kazuki out and devour him raw.
"I KNEW nothing good would come out of Uchiha Kazuki's mouth! That BASTARD!!!" By the time Mabui returned to the Cloud Village and presented the scroll, A had read it and immediately entered a berserk state. Heaven could bear witness – for days now, he had been utterly paranoid, seeing every single person as a potential spy. On numerous occasions, he had nearly ordered interrogations to begin, only barely holding himself back each time. Had he actually proceeded with interrogating the higher-ups, only to discover everyone was innocent, he, the Raikage, would have landed himself in deep, irreparable trouble.
"AAAAAAAHHHH!!!!" Recalling the days of constant fear and suspicion, A's dark-complexioned face flushed to a deep, angry crimson. With a bellyful of fury he couldn't vent, he let out a roar and kicked straight through the Raikage's office window, leaping out. Killer Bee was in for a world of hurt. Mabui sighed. Within the Raikage's office, the higher-ups exchanged glances.
In the end, everyone agreed: that fellow, Killer Bee, needed to be beaten. Beaten hard. Beaten half to death!
It was all because of you, you little brat! All this trouble started because of you! Would it kill you not to hold a concert?! Utterly absurd! Because of your concert, the village's entire upper echelon was tormented half to death. You deserve every punch you get.
Cloud Lightning Gorge. A figure wreathed in crackling lightning appeared. The Anbu operatives standing vigilant guard at the gorge emerged from the shadows and bowed in unison. "Lord Raikage."
"Go guard the gorge's exit! Under no circumstances can Killer Bee be allowed to escape!" A ground out through clenched teeth.
"Yes, my lord." The Raikage seems absolutely furious. The Anbu operatives obediently lowered their heads and departed under their squad captain's lead, dutifully securing the gorge's entrance. Once the Anbu had withdrawn, A, his face dark as a thundercloud, strode into the gorge.
Confined to the canyon and barred from leaving, Killer Bee was bored to the point of madness. He could only endlessly pester the Eight-Tails with his mental chatter. Even though the Eight-Tails had long since acknowledged him, its expression remained one of utter despair. It had tried kicking Killer Bee out, but the man would always persistently come back to harass it. Eventually, the Eight-Tails simply gave up. Talk all you want. I hear nothing. Absolutely nothing.
"Big brother's here!" Killer Bee, who had been in the middle of pestering the Eight-Tails, suddenly perked up, leaving the mental space.
"Huuuh..." The Eight-Tails breathed a heavy sigh of relief. Had Killer Bee not left, it would have been tempted to kick him itself. That man simply wouldn't shut up – his mouth never stopped for a single moment.
"Yo, big bro! I... ARGH!!" His brother had come to visit! Killer Bee was overjoyed, rushing forward while jabbering in his peculiar rapping style. What he hadn't expected was that the moment he drew close, he'd be greeted by a flying kick from his own brother. The dirt-caked sole of A's boot filled his vision, expanding rapidly. Before Killer Bee could even react, he was sent flying.
'Poor Bee.' The Eight-Tails' mouth twitched as it watched Killer Bee get brutally pummeled by A.
"Bastard! BASTARD!! It's all your fault, you damn bastard!!" A was seething. He charged forward, pinning the utterly bewildered Killer Bee to the ground and unleashing a frantic barrage.
Fists the size of sandbags rained down on Killer Bee's face, beating him senseless. Who am I? Where am I? Why is big brother hitting me?
Unfortunately, A had no intention of explaining. At this moment, all he wanted was to beat Killer Bee senseless and vent his fury. After the initial frantic assault, the battered and bruised Killer Bee finally regained his senses enough to shout, "Big bro, I—"
"Shut your mouth, you bastard!! Just die!!"
"..." Could it be that big brother wants to test my strength? The single-minded Killer Bee quickly latched onto this theory. Within their mental space, the Eight-Tails raised a hand to cover its face in sheer embarrassment. The Raikage, testing your strength? He clearly just wants to beat you into a pulp!
"If big bro wants to test my strength, then bring it on!" The Raikage was powerful, but Killer Bee was no weakling. In fact, going all out, Killer Bee could even overpower his own brother. A massive tentacle emerged from behind Killer Bee, wrapping around A's leg and hurling him to the ground. With a strange yelp, Killer Bee pounced, raising his fist and slamming it directly into A's face.
"..." His head ringing from the blow, A froze for several seconds. "You dare to hit back?!" I just wanted to beat you up to vent! And you actually DARED to hit back?!
"..." Killer Bee, who had been about to continue his assault, also froze. "Big bro... weren't you testing my strength...?"
Noticing the near-literal flames erupting from A's eyes, Killer Bee wisely swallowed the rest of his words. At this point, he realized the gravity of the situation. His big brother hadn't come to test his strength. He had come to beat him up, one-sidedly. And he had gone and hit back!!! What now? Big brother isn't going to kill me, is he? Killer Bee instantly panicked.