Tsunade was furious: "I want you to make a promise: Iwagakure must not be the first to start a war, and cannot unilaterally expand the scale of the war. Just one promise, is that so hard?"
The Third Tsuchikage was even more unyielding than her: "I will not make such a promise. Our Iwagakure is different from fickle Ninja Villages like yours. We value promises more, and we don't casually promise things we can't do."
"Don't think we don't know, your Iwagakure has been secretly employing the Akatsuki Organization for battle."
"This old man has no idea what you're talking about!"
The two quickly started arguing.
Shizune, holding Tonton, listened with a worried expression.
Ino, on the other hand, was surveying her surroundings. How exciting! Arguing with the Third Tsuchikage right at the entrance of Iwagakure! Should she run east or west later?
If she didn't expose her clay birds, could she escape?
The Flying Thunder God Technique was improved by the Fourth Hokage, greatly increasing its teleportation distance. Ino and her companions were still learning the old version, the Second Hokage's Flying Thunder God, which had a maximum teleportation distance limit, and the Chakra consumption would increase exponentially with distance.
Ino estimated that if she used Flying Thunder God to escape, she should be able to get away.
She looked at her 'inside man,' Kurotsuchi. Kurotsuchi wanted to meet her gaze, but for some reason, she felt guilty and instinctively looked away.
"Let's make a bet!" Tsunade said in her characteristic style: "Let your granddaughter fight my disciple. If you win, we'll turn around and leave. If you lose, all you have to do is promise not to be the first to enter the war. What do you say? Do you dare to bet!"
The Third Tsuchikage's face was stern as he looked very seriously at Shizune, who was holding her pet pig, smiling and pointing at Ino to her right, meaning 'ask her, don't look at me.'
Ino gave a weak, ingratiating smile and nodded. The Third Tsuchikage 'hmph'ed.
As an old Ninja who had lived from the Warring States Period until today, he had seen too many people and too many things.
Although it was often difficult to gauge strength without a direct confrontation, some aspects of a person's demeanor could not be hidden.
Even with two lifetimes combined, Ino was not as old as the little old man, so her disguise was meaningless.
Tsunade's disciple was a cut above his granddaughter! The Third Tsuchikage extracted this information from Ino's expression and actions.
He raised his head: "Tsunade, as a descendant of the First Tsuchikage and the First Hokage, you and this old man are of the same generation. I won't bully you. Your disciple should be of the same generation as my son. Let Kitsuchi fight her. Do you dare to bet?"
The problem suddenly returned to Tsunade and her group.
Kitsuchi was the father, and Kurotsuchi was the daughter. There was a huge gap in age, experience, Ninjutsu, and Chakra.
Ino looked up at Kitsuchi's massive 2.17-meter frame. Good heavens!
Those arms, those legs, that waist, he was as strong as a giant. Could her small frame beat him?
This fierce man could suppress the Gedo Statue and the Ten-Tails with Earth Release, and could punch away a Tailed Beast-transformed Kinkaku. He was definitely a Kage-level Ninja, and she really didn't have much confidence in defeating such a strong enemy.
The time she fought Konan was somewhat a case of Konan holding back, plus her oil transformation countered Konan. Now, against Kitsuchi, there was no such counter. On the contrary, this guy's Earth Release countered Ino's Water Release.
Facing Yugito, Tsunade would let Ino try, but facing Kitsuchi, it was a bit iffy. After all, Kitsuchi was an old veteran Ninja of Ino's father's generation.
Ino really wanted Kurotsuchi to step forward and accept the challenge at this moment, but unfortunately, the mental suggestion from last time was a bit overdone. Now, when the girl saw her, her eyes would wander, without any hint of anger or feeling underestimated.
Kitsuchi was also very quiet, unperturbed by honor or disgrace, completely without the impatience or dissatisfaction of fighting a junior. It seemed he had cultivated the will of stone to its extreme.
Ino felt her momentum was a bit weak. She took a step forward.
"Lord Tsuchikage, Senior Kitsuchi, I am very willing to fight Senior Kitsuchi, but..." She smiled: "But my techniques are quite powerful, and I'm afraid if I'm not careful, I might injure Senior Kitsuchi and affect the relationship between our two villages. I'll demonstrate my Ninjutsu once. If you think you can defend against it, then we'll fight. If you don't think you can defend against it, then we'll discuss it further. How about that?"
The Third Tsuchikage stared at her for a while, then turned to question his son with his eyes.
Kitsuchi silently nodded, indicating his agreement to the condition.
Iwagakure's least scarce resource was rocks.
Hearing that Ino needed a large rock to demonstrate her Ninjutsu, the Third Tsuchikage had someone bring over a seven or eight-meter-tall, jet-black mountain rock.
Ino took two deep breaths, faced the mountain rock, raised her right hand, and the Chakra orb in her hand rapidly compressed, spinning faster and faster, accumulating more and more Chakra.
"Big Ball Rasengan!" She created a Rasengan with a diameter of one meter and pressed it right into the center of the mountain rock!
The Big Ball Rasengan's rotation speed was extremely fast, and its Chakra cutting ability was unparalleled.
It pierced through the mountain rock in one second. The surface of the mountain rock no longer had spiderweb-like cracks, but instead, a perfectly smooth, huge hole appeared in the central area. Looking at the marks, it was as if some mechanical device had cut it out whole.
After seeing it, Kitsuchi's expression remained unchanged, clearly unafraid: "That's the Fourth Hokage's Ninjutsu, isn't it? I saw that technique back then."
Ino couldn't back down either: "Alright, I'll experience Senior's Earth Release Ninjutsu!"
This wasn't Ino putting him down; Kitsuchi indeed only used Earth Release. Unlike Ino, a Ninja who had developed six Chakra natures—Water, Earth, Wind, Fire, Yin, and Yang—Kitsuchi seemed very slow in nature development. But this person also had his strengths; relying on a rock-solid will, he diligently trained in Earth Release, practicing it to an extreme.
"I heard you are a Ninja very skilled in using Water Release Ninjutsu. This time, I have a bit of an advantage," Kitsuchi said very straightforwardly.
Earth counters Water. If Ino only used Water Release, she would indeed be at a disadvantage.
She said nonchalantly: "It's alright, Senior, my teacher also taught me a lot of Earth Release Ninjutsu."
Tsunade puffed out her chest. That's right, even though I drink and gamble all the time, this old lady knows Earth Release too!
Shizune covered her face, truly too embarrassed to watch.
You, a Konoha Ninja, want to use Earth Release in our Iwagakure?
Kurotsuchi, Akatsuchi, and many Iwagakure Ninja, including the Third Tsuchikage, all looked over. Kitsuchi wanted to see what level this Konoha Ninja's Earth Release could reach and gestured for her to make the first move.
It must be said that these Ninja World veterans had more grace than someone like Yugito, who would rush in impatiently for close combat.
Kumogakure Ninja were characterized by their haste; they did everything quickly. Iwagakure Ninja, however, were very steady, and Ino relatively preferred their style.
Once the irrelevant people on both sides dispersed, she quickly formed hand signs, her fingers moving so fast that afterimages could be seen.
She immediately used the Third Hokage's Earth Release Ninjutsu.
"Earth Release: Earth Flow River!"
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