Chapter 711: Captain Experience Card Expired
"Captain Obito, why are they looking at us so strangely? Do they want to fight?"
Anko noticed the unusual gazes coming from the residents and ninja of the Land of Rain and quietly asked Obito.
"Uh... probably not."
Obito scratched his head, unsure how to explain.
The events that had led to the current situation were rather complicated and would take a long time to explain properly.
"It's probably because they haven't seen Konoha ninja in a long time," Izumo analyzed. "For a while, even I thought Konoha was going to war with Ninshū."
There had been plenty of conflict between Konoha and Ninshū.
Ninshū's leader, Sōsuke, had killed Konoha's former Hokage Assistant, Danzo, and had later defeated the Third Hokage, Hiruzen.
At the time, many Konoha ninja believed war between the two sides was inevitable.
Judging by the current situation, however, those predictions had clearly been wrong.
Not only had Konoha avoided going to war with Ninshū, it was now sending representatives to Six Paths City to negotiate cooperation.
"You could put it that way."
Obito nodded.
Izumo's explanation was not wrong.
The conflict between Konoha and Ninshū had been so intense that, even without an actual war breaking out, ordinary Konoha ninja would hardly have traveled to the Land of Rain.
It had probably been quite some time since anyone openly wearing a Konoha forehead protector had appeared here.
"Then once we enter Six Paths City, I'll look for some local specialty snacks," Kotetsu said thoughtfully. "If I bring them back to Konoha, they might sell like crazy."
Since Konoha ninja rarely came to Six Paths City, naturally most of them would never have tasted its local specialties.
"No matter how rare something is, nobody will buy it if it tastes terrible," Anko immediately criticized.
As an experienced connoisseur of snacks, she strongly disapproved of Kotetsu's opportunistic business strategy.
"It's not a bad idea, but Kotetsu, maybe you shouldn't be the one doing it," Izumo said with a chuckle. "What if the Police Force mistakes you for a spy again?"
When Kotetsu had previously been arrested as a suspected spy, Izumo had watched the entire spectacle through binoculars and nearly laughed himself to death.
Kotetsu's expression immediately darkened.
That incident had been a complete accident.
This time, he would definitely seize the opportunity to redeem himself and prove his business talent.
"Jonin Obito, remain alert to your surroundings."
Shikaku looked toward Obito.
"The Land of Rain is currently filled with people from all sorts of backgrounds. Be especially cautious."
Obito was not the leader of this diplomatic delegation.
Shikaku was.
Obito and his temporary squad were part of the escort force assigned to protect the delegation.
Shikaku did not believe Ninshū would resort to underhanded methods.
What worried him was the possibility that another Ninja Village might take advantage of this opportunity to attack them and deliberately worsen relations between Konoha and Ninshū.
After all, it would hardly be the first time another village had manipulated information for that purpose.
Otherwise, how had news of Danzo's death and Hiruzen's defeat spread across the Ninja World so quickly?
"Understood, Captain Shikaku."
Obito nodded.
Out of caution, he deliberately avoided saying anything too absolute.
After all, most of the time Kakashi confidently declared that nothing would go wrong, something inevitably went wrong.
Under Obito's careful escort, the delegation reached Six Paths City without incident.
Once they entered the city, things became much easier.
Ninshū ninja joined the escort detail, reducing the burden on Konoha's side.
Shikaku soon arrived at Ninshū's administrative building and entered Kakuzu's office.
There, negotiations began with the man widely regarded as Ninshū's second most important figure.
"Ninshū will not refuse anyone who approaches us sincerely," Kakuzu said directly. "So, what price is Konoha willing to pay for puppet prosthetic limbs?"
Kakuzu personally held a slight dislike toward Konoha.
However, he would never allow personal feelings to interfere with business.
If Konoha showed enough sincerity, Ninshū would treat them fairly.
"Does Ninshū only sell finished prosthetic limbs and provide assistance with implantation, or are you also willing to sell the underlying techniques?" Shikaku asked instead of answering.
He had no intention of allowing Kakuzu to control the pace of the negotiation from the beginning.
"All the techniques?"
Kakuzu grinned.
"You're dreaming."
"But some parts of the technology can indeed be exchanged."
"Only through technique-for-technique trades."
Puppet prosthetic limb technology was unique in the current Ninja World.
To Ninshū, it was effectively a money tree.
There was no reason to release the entire system so easily.
Instead, Ninshū planned to gradually release different parts of the technology over time.
In exchange, they would obtain techniques and knowledge that Ninshū lacked or remained weak in, accelerating the organization's overall development.
There was another practical reason as well.
Sasori had already stated that if Sunagakure concentrated enough manpower and resources on researching puppet prosthetic limbs, they could probably reverse engineer the technology within three years.
That meant keeping everything completely secret for too long had limited value.
Kakuzu then listed the techniques Ninshū was initially willing to exchange, followed by the techniques Ninshū wanted in return.
"Scroll manufacturing techniques..."
Shikaku fell into thought.
Scrolls were among the most frequently used tools in the life of a ninja.
They could be used to record classified information or serve as mediums for various kinds of Ninjutsu and sealing techniques.
For many different reasons, the Five Great Ninja Villages possessed more advanced scroll manufacturing techniques than smaller ninja forces, resulting in better overall quality.
"If they only want the basic manufacturing process, that isn't much of a loss."
Shikaku quickly reached a judgment.
Scroll production involved far more than simply manufacturing the base scroll.
There were various additional processing and specialized techniques.
Those were where much of the true value lay.
"If we're exchanging only those techniques, then Konoha would be giving up too much value," Shikaku said after thinking for a moment.
Privately, he believed the deal was already acceptable.
But he obviously could not agree immediately.
He still needed to fight for better terms.
After all, speaking a few extra sentences cost him nothing.
Even if Kakuzu refused, Konoha would lose nothing from trying.
"I've heard Iwagakure's scroll manufacturing techniques are also quite good," Kakuzu replied leisurely.
Regardless of what Shikaku said, Konoha currently needed Ninshū's puppet prosthetic limbs more than Ninshū needed Konoha's scroll manufacturing techniques.
In the end, Shikaku firmly rejected Kakuzu's current terms and stated that they would continue negotiations the following day.
After leaving Ninshū's administrative building, a smile appeared on Shikaku's face.
His mission would already be considered successful if he merely established an agreement allowing Konoha to purchase puppet prosthetic limbs.
Yet now there was even an opportunity to obtain some of the technology itself.
That would exceed the original mission objective.
"This went smoother than expected."
Shikaku was slightly surprised.
Before coming here, he had prepared himself for a difficult negotiation.
When Konoha had previously dealt with Ninshū, the conditions Konoha offered had shown almost no respect toward the organization.
Shikaku had therefore expected Ninshū's representatives to deliberately make things difficult for him.
Instead, Ninshū had been unexpectedly reasonable.
They were not particularly enthusiastic toward Konoha, but neither did they deliberately show hostility or refuse cooperation.
The following day, both sides continued negotiating back and forth.
Eventually, the general structure of the agreement was finalized.
Ninshū would provide puppet prosthetic limbs and release a portion of its related techniques.
Konoha would provide money and several technologies Ninshū required.
Before leaving Six Paths City, Shikaku's delegation toured the city under the protection of Ninshū ninja.
"The expansion is incredible."
Obito looked around in surprise.
"I remember the last time I came here, this place was barely the size of an ordinary town. Now it's huge."
Obito was one of the few members of the Konoha delegation who had visited Six Paths City before.
The city standing before him now was dramatically different from the one he had seen during the Youth Martial Arts Tournament.
"To create such a prosperous city from almost nothing in only a few years... Ninshū definitely has capable people managing it."
Shikaku silently evaluated what he saw.
A single overwhelmingly powerful ninja could certainly accelerate the rise of a ninja organization.
But constructing and managing a prosperous city from scratch within several years required much more than individual strength.
"This place is great."
After sampling several delicious foods along the snack street, Anko gave an enthusiastic thumbs up.
"I wonder what snacks count as true Six Paths City specialties..."
Kotetsu still had not abandoned his dream of redeeming himself.
He wanted to prove his talent as a merchant through actual results.
By the time the tour ended, most members of the delegation were quite satisfied with their visit.
"Next time I come to the Land of Rain, I could stop by Six Paths City again."
Obito smiled.
"This place is pretty nice."
"Mm-hm. That dango shop was really good," Anko agreed immediately.
Suddenly, Obito remembered something.
"Actually, maybe I really will come back soon."
"I remember Amegakure isn't that far from Six Paths City, right?"
Six Paths City was located in the eastern part of the Land of Rain, while Amegakure lay closer to the center.
For the current Obito, the distance between the two places was not particularly significant.
"I've wanted to challenge Hanzō for a long time."
"If I come here to fight him, I can stop by Six Paths City afterward."
Obito had wanted to challenge Hanzō for quite some time.
The main reason was Jiraiya.
Jiraiya loved talking about the title of the Sannin.
Obito had always thought that if Jiraiya, Orochimaru, and Tsunade had earned the title of Sannin despite failing to defeat Hanzō even while fighting together, then surely Obito defeating Hanzō alone would earn him an even more impressive title.
"Hanzō is already dead," Shikaku said, his expression becoming subtle.
Hanzō and Danzo had died on the same day.
However, compared to Danzo's death, which had spread throughout the Ninja World, news of Hanzō's death had received far less attention.
"Huh?"
Obito froze.
"He's dead?"
He had still been thinking about defeating Hanzō and earning some incredible title to show off in front of Jiraiya.
How had Hanzō suddenly died before he even got the chance?
"That's the Ninja World."
Shikaku sighed.
"Compared to most ordinary ninja, Hanzō already lived a fairly long life."
In a world where wars occurred so frequently, many ninja never even survived long enough to retire.
Obito fell silent.
He and Hanzō had been complete strangers and had never interacted.
Even so, learning that a goal he had held for such a long time could now never be achieved left him feeling strangely melancholic.
"It's okay, Captain Obito!"
Anko tried to comfort him.
"You can challenge Sōsuke instead! He's even stronger than Hanzō!"
The corner of Obito's mouth twitched.
That was completely unnecessary.
With Flying Thunder God and Kamui, Obito believed he might have had a chance against Hanzō.
But challenging Sōsuke?
Wasn't that just asking to be beaten because he had nothing better to do?
...
After returning to Konoha, Shikaku and Obito went together to the Hokage's office to report on the mission.
Shikaku reported first.
His report focused primarily on the agreement concerning puppet prosthetic limbs.
Once he finished, he left the Hokage's office.
Obito then gave his report regarding the escort mission.
After listening, Mugetsu looked at him.
"Anko and the others' original captain has fully recovered."
"What do you plan to do next?"
"Do you want to continue leading a squad, or is there something else you'd rather focus on?"
Obito froze.
Only then did he suddenly remember something important.
His position as captain had always been temporary.
"What should I do...?"
Obito fell into deep thought.
Whether to continue leading a team or not.
That was the question.
....
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