Hoo—
Without anyone noticing, dawn arrived.
The wind died completely.
And the scene inside the Forest of Death finally revealed itself in brutal clarity.
The stench of blood mixed with scorched earth turned the stomach.
But even more overpowering than nausea—
Was fear.
And shock.
Only now did Konoha's shinobi truly realize:
Half the Forest of Death had been flattened.
A faint shimmer still clung to Uchiha Kai's fingertips.
He rubbed it between his fingers, then turned to the old man who had tried to flee and smiled.
"Not running anymore?"
Gulp.
That single line made many of Konoha's elites swallow hard again.
Sasuke, meanwhile, stared so hard his eyes almost locked open.
Cool.
Too cool.
His brother was casually holding a Kage-level monster in the palm of his hand—
A veteran, no less.
And his tone was as relaxed as if he were calling a pet dog back to heel.
Gulp.
This time, it was Ōnoki's throat bobbing.
His fingers clenched until they went pale.
His teeth nearly ground to dust.
But his neck still turned back—inch by inch—
Bones creaking with stiff, forced movement.
"I'm not running."
Ōnoki's voice was low and hoarse.
Not because he feared dying here—
But because he'd just remembered the way Kai moved like a ghost.
Even if he made it back to Iwagakure…
Could he really "return for revenge"?
Or would that be inviting the wolf into his own home?
He didn't dare gamble.
So he faced Kai.
[Defeated Third Tsuchikage Ōnoki. Attempting to copy traits…]
[Copyable traits: Late Bloomer (Black), Kekkei Tōta: Dust Release (Gold), Dust Release: Atomic Dismantling (Gold), Dust Release: Original Atomic Dismantling (Gold), Earth Release: Super Added-Weight Rock (Gold), Earth Release: Light-Weight Rock (Purple), Earth Release: Rock Golem Technique (Purple)…]
"Huh? This little old man has a lot of good stuff."
As the prompts rolled in, Kai's eyes widened.
So many gold traits—
He looked more broken than the Nine-Tails.
And to be fair, Ōnoki really was one of the rare few who, in the late-stage "mecha war" chaos, could wipe out Madara's Susanoo clones in a single sweep.
Especially that Dust Release.
Absurdly overpowered.
If he were younger, with stamina that didn't betray him, he might not have needed anyone's help at all.
Of course—
Kai's real interest was in two specific traits.
Added-Weight Rock and Light-Weight Rock.
Paired with his "three feet in front of me" field, those might push his repulsion and attraction into a new realm—
Maybe even approaching Pain's Shinra Tensei and Banshō Ten'in.
[Copy successful. Congratulations: Special trait acquired—Late Bloomer (Black).]
[Effect: Your strength and talent steadily increase with age. All ninjutsu will also gradually upgrade as you grow older.]
Kai: "?"
Bad news: he didn't copy what he wanted.
Good news—
He pulled a black trait.
That was only the second black trait he'd ever gotten.
The first being… Thousand Years of Death.
"But… Late Bloomer? What the hell?"
"I'm still a kid."
He rolled his eyes.
But now he understood why Ōnoki's trait pool was so "high-class."
This was basically a senior-citizen version of Kai's own ridiculous growth—
Except instead of active stacking…
It was passive age scaling.
Which meant one thing:
Ōnoki wasn't a weed to be pulled.
He was a crop.
A crop Kai could harvest again later.
A walking treasure chest.
"I said it. You can spare them now, right?"
Ōnoki forced himself to steady his breathing and finally asked.
Kai, of course, had no objection.
Such a valuable "crop"—
He wasn't going to kill him.
"I can," Kai said lightly. "But… Konoha's taken losses this big. What do we do about that?"
"…Huh?!!"
Shikaku's eyes practically bulged out of his skull.
His heart started pounding.
If he could speak freely, he'd be waving his hands and chanting—
Money, money, money.
As Konoha's current "wallet," no one wanted funds more than he did.
At this point, he almost felt like releasing prisoners might be the worse option.
He looked at Kai again, and this time—
There was no hesitation at all.
Strength, methods, decisiveness.
Most importantly—
A brain.
A man like that was born to lead.
"Maybe… Konoha really will become better under him…"
"And if so… Third-sama…"
Shikaku's eyes flickered.
A faint coldness—and something close to madness—briefly surfaced.
Kai had left the Hokage a final shred of dignity.
But if the old man didn't recognize the situation…
Then Shikaku might be the one to rip that dignity away.
"We can compensate," Ōnoki said quickly, relief easing his chest. "Iwagakure can pay Konoha… five million ryō."
Kai: "…"
"Five million ryō? You think you're paying off Kakuzu?"
"That's not even worth as much as Asuma's head."
He sighed, then spoke cleanly—without bargaining.
"Three hundred billion. And one ton of gold."
Ōnoki: "…???"
Shikaku: "…!"
Fugaku: "…"
Kai's single sentence slammed the entire battlefield into silence.
Ōnoki looked genuinely dazed.
Since when had inflation reached this level?
His hundred elites, even at maximum value, were only worth a few billion.
But now Kai was multiplying it twentyfold—
And adding gold on top.
Gold?
For what?
Iwagakure wasn't exactly rich.
So after hesitating, Ōnoki tried to explain:
"Money… can be discussed. But the gold—there's no way we can produce that much…"
A ton.
Even stripping Iwagakure bare wouldn't be enough.
Kai grinned, utterly unbothered.
"Then go pan for it."
"There's treasure in the sand. Lots of it."
As for why Kai specifically demanded gold—
He didn't bother saying it.
It wasn't logic.
It was something deeper.
A stubborn, ancient obsession carved into the soul.
Ōnoki fell silent.
His old eyes darted, clearly weighing whether that was even feasible.
But before he could dig any deeper, Kai cut him off.
"So," Kai said, the amusement gone, voice colder now. "Who led you through Konoha's defenses?"
This time he wasn't smiling.
The delay was getting annoying.
Unfortunately, Ōnoki still didn't sense just how thin that patience had become.
He tried to bargain again.
"If I tell you… can the compensation—"
He didn't get to finish.
Kai lifted his hand and lightly clapped once.
Clatter—
Black chakra rippled.
Shhk!
A moment later, purple spores erupted from the body of an Iwa jōnin.
They sprouted, spread—
And within a single second, swallowed him whole.
A technique seeded through Senra Heart Chains.
Spore implantation—
Followed by rot and decomposition.
In the blink of an eye, a thin thread of chakra flowed back to Kai.
Not much.
But still comparable to two or three Kakashis.
The sudden execution hit Ōnoki like a blade.
"PUH—!"
Already badly injured, the old man spat out a mouthful of blood.
His eyes locked on Kai, trembling.
He couldn't understand it.
That boy still looked barely out of childhood—
So how could he be this decisive?
This ruthless?
And as Kai raised his hand again—
Ōnoki stopped thinking.
He blurted it out.
"I'll talk!"
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