Gekko Chizan acted like nothing was wrong. Just like Okisuke, he pulled out a chair to the side and sat down.
The aura around his entire body was extremely powerful, and he did not care at all that he was surrounded by samurai.
"Hehehe, the general of the Land of Iron is not allowed to leave his post without authorization."
"May I ask why you have come to the Land of Iron?"
Suddenly, a deep and heavy voice sounded from behind him.
Hearing this voice, Gekko Chizan immediately knew who it was.
The current general of the Land of Iron, Mifune.
"Ah la la, the general, huh."
Gekko Chizan turned his head with a grin. Even he himself felt that what he said was interesting—being called a "general" in the world of the Hokage.
Tsk tsk, the feeling really was quite fresh.
But the elderly man in front of him, already well past fifty, truly was a powerful figure. Relying solely on swordsmanship, he could look down on all others.
Just as Gekko Chizan was observing Mifune, Mifune was also observing him.
Even when facing an encirclement by so many people, his expression did not change in the slightest. That was indeed interesting.
"You should state your purpose for coming to the Land of Iron."
"If it was simply to meet this old man, then you have already achieved your goal."
"Or do you have some other intention?"
Mifune withdrew his gaze, slowly walked forward from behind, and sat down directly opposite Gekko Chizan, waiting for his answer.
Seeing that the main figure had arrived, Gekko Chizan could not be bothered to keep up appearances anymore.
After all, he had come to the Land of Iron with a very clear purpose.
"General Mifune, I wonder if you have any interest in coming out of retirement?"
"I know the Land of Iron does not participate in ninja conflicts. Our Takigakure is the same. But sometimes, even if you do not want to get involved, others will come looking for you anyway. Am I right?"
Mifune's eyes narrowed slightly. From these words alone, he instantly understood the meaning behind them.
Was this man trying to get the Land of Iron to deal with a certain village?
Coupled with the implications between the lines, Mifune also understood that the village being referred to was Amegakure.
"During the Second Shinobi World War, the Land of Iron was dragged into it."
"Amegakure did not care whether you were samurai or not. Fighting one was fighting, fighting two was also fighting. If I remember correctly, General Mifune once lost to Hanzo of the Salamander."
"If I were to give you another chance now, General-sama, would you want to spar with Hanzo of the Salamander once more?"
Gekko Chizan's meaning was extremely straightforward—attack Amegakure.
Mifune's expression grew solemn. He had originally thought the other party merely wanted to borrow the strength of the Land of Iron, but now it seemed this was an attempt to have the Land of Iron start a war.
And the opponent was none other than their old enemy, Amegakure.
Back in the Second Shinobi World War, Hanzo of the Salamander openly declared war on the Land of Iron. At that time, Mifune was not yet the general, merely a samurai who participated in the war.
The scar on his forehead was left by Hanzo of the Salamander.
"Do you even know what you are saying? The Third Shinobi World War has just ended. Could it be that your Takigakure wants to stir up another war?"
Mifune's voice became incomparably stern, but Gekko Chizan shook his head.
"It's not that serious. It's just about collecting a debt from Amegakure."
"Besides, the only real threat in Amegakure is Hanzo alone. As long as he is dealt with, Amegakure can simply change rulers."
"There is absolutely no need to go to great lengths and launch a full attack on Amegakure."
Targeting Hanzo—wasn't that the same as targeting Amegakure?
Seeing Mifune's grave expression, Gekko Chizan changed his way of speaking. He was afraid that if he continued like this, the other side might just issue an order to see him out.
"Aiya aiya, don't be so serious. This is just a suggestion."
"After all, if General Mifune does not seize this opportunity, you might never have another chance in this lifetime to spar with Hanzo again."
"Could it be that you do not wish to challenge that demigod once more?"
To be honest, Mifune truly did want to fight Hanzo again. After all, his current strength far surpassed what it had been back then.
But under the present circumstances, he could not act. The Land of Iron never takes the initiative to participate in conflicts between ninja.
Even if the initiating party was Takigakure, which, like them, maintained neutrality.
Seeing that his words had not shaken Mifune's resolve in the slightest, Gekko Chizan understood that this general of the Land of Iron truly had no intention of making a move at all.
"Alright, alright, then forget it."
"However, I haven't had my fill of the scenery of the Land of Iron yet. General Mifune wouldn't directly drive me away, would he?"
Plan A did not work, so he would switch to Plan B.
Gekko Chizan had never expected to persuade this old man with just a few words anyway.
"Of course not. As long as you do not disrupt the order of the Land of Iron, you are welcome."
With Mifune's consent, Gekko Chizan let out a silent chuckle in his heart.
Old man, refusing once is fine. Let's see if you can hold out next.
...
In the days that followed, Gekko Chizan directly settled down in the Land of Iron. Of course, not near the castle, but within a town of the Land of Iron.
At the same time, every day he would take some time to use Flying Thunder God to run to the Land of Birds or the Land of Hot Water, using the money he had gotten from Minato to buy large quantities of all kinds of alcohol.
Then he would send it to the castle of the Land of Iron every day. When it came to social maneuvering and human relations, Gekko Chizan was extremely skilled.
He kept this up for a full month. Back and forth, he had already become close with a whole group of samurai.
"Shuan, you're here again?"
"Is today's wine the same as yesterday's? Come, come, this is a snow rabbit I got a few days ago—take it and eat."
"What's so good about your lousy rabbit? Look at mine—top-grade venison!"
"Let's eat fish instead. I remember Shuan likes fish!"
On this day, Gekko Chizan once again visited the Land of Iron's castle. The guards at the entrance were already old acquaintances.
Seeing him arrive, each of them immediately ran off to fetch things, then stuffed them into Gekko Chizan's arms in exchange for alcohol.
"Hahaha, anything's fine. We're all friends."
"This time the wine is pretty good. They say it's produced in the Land of Fire. I specifically had someone deliver it to the Land of Iron."
"Take it and drink, take it and drink!"
Didn't matter where the wine came from. It was all meant to be given away anyway.
Because of this, Gekko Chizan had been flying nonstop this entire month. Anything he couldn't reach, he had Black Mamba carry coordinates to handle.
After a month, Black Mamba had lost a noticeable amount of weight.
Of course, all the various kinds of meat he obtained from the Land of Iron were sent back home through Black Mamba. They were mostly game meats, but that was still good enough.
"Shuan, the general wants to see you."
Just as they were chatting happily, Okisuke walked over as well, very naturally picking up a bottle of wine.
"Yo, Okisuke, didn't you go out on assignment a few days ago?"
"You're back already?"
Gekko Chizan did not immediately agree. Instead, he chatted about everyday matters.
"It was just a routine mission. Come on, I'll take you to see General Mifune."
See? Not even a month had passed, and things were already moving along.
Sometimes, you really do have to fight a war of endurance!
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Pls Drop some Power Stones
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