Chapter 505: Giving Everything for the Village
"Ōnoki-sama, that's the situation. If you accept, we'll remain in Iwagakure until at least one of your people has mastered Senjutsu. During that time, if you have any questions, feel free to ask us."
As Kakashi finished speaking, he left the decision to Ōnoki.
"Very well. Then the three of you can stay in Iwagakure for the next few days. I'll have someone arrange accommodations."
Ōnoki agreed without the slightest hesitation.
After arranging for the Konoha group to leave, he headed to the Tsuchikage Building...
Or rather, to the Tsuchikage's private training ground that had recently been built behind it, where he found Kurotsuchi.
He couldn't help it.
Originally, Ōnoki had planned to summon his eldest disciple Akatsuchi and his son Kitsuchi to his house.
But no matter what, the current Tsuchikage, Kurotsuchi, also needed to know about this matter.
As for Kurotsuchi...
Ōnoki had a feeling that even if he called for her, she might not come.
And even if she did, she'd probably point at his nose and ask, "So who's actually in charge of Iwagakure? Me or you?"
Just imagining it gave him a headache.
Rather than dealing with that, he might as well just honestly go look for Kurotsuchi and have someone notify Akatsuchi and Kitsuchi to meet them here.
...
The reason for the ellipsis above was that while thinking about this, Ōnoki suddenly realized that the younger generation's names had been chosen a little too casually.
Even though he had been the one who named them.
Every one of them ended with "tsuchi." (Tsuchi = Earth)
Just hearing their names made it obvious they were from Iwagakure.
Then another name he had learned not long ago suddenly appeared in his mind—Obito. (土 (To) = Earth)
Well... he wasn't from Iwagakure.
But there was still some connection.
After all, it had been Iwagakure that crushed half his body... and his family jewels.
After finding Kurotsuchi, Ōnoki didn't start talking immediately.
Instead, he sat down and quietly waited for the other two to arrive.
Since Ōnoki wasn't speaking, Kurotsuchi couldn't be bothered to ask.
She simply continued training.
Ever since Shiromo had shown her what it meant to become a true master of the earth, Kurotsuchi felt she had finally found the path she should follow.
As a result, she even gave up her favorite Light-Weight Rock Technique and the ability to fly.
Instead, she focused on keeping both feet firmly on the ground as she trained.
Not only had she stopped flying in daily life...
She had even stopped wearing shoes.
She trained barefoot, directly sensing the natural energy flowing through the earth.
Finally, Akatsuchi and Kitsuchi hurried over.
Besides these two, Deidara also left Onoki's residence and followed them here.
He was curious about Senjutsu.
But what he had overheard earlier hadn't been enough.
Besides, he didn't have a photographic memory. Hearing it once wasn't enough to remember everything.
So he followed them.
Seeing that everyone had arrived, Kurotsuchi stopped training.
At the same time, she casually glanced toward the place where Deidara was hiding.
As she became increasingly proficient in the path Shiromo had shown her and continued training while standing upon the earth, every aspect of her abilities had improved significantly, even without using a Keystone.
Among them, her sensory abilities had improved the most.
As long as her feet touched the ground, her sensing range expanded to a terrifying extent.
The moment Deidara hid nearby, Kurotsuchi noticed him.
However, she didn't expose him.
Instead, she quietly allowed her grandfather to continue speaking.
Ōnoki first explained the overall situation.
Then he said that Konoha would not leave until at least one person in Iwagakure had mastered Senjutsu.
Unlike Kumogakure, however, they wouldn't specifically choose who that person should be.
His words were filled with disdain for the Raikage.
In his opinion, the Raikage simply didn't love his village enough.
Otherwise, he would have led by example himself.
Ōnoki was different.
He immediately decided that both Akatsuchi and Kitsuchi would train together.
Whoever mastered Senjutsu first would become Iwagakure's first Senjutsu instructor.
Of course, besides Akatsuchi and Kitsuchi...
Ōnoki himself would also be training.
If his sensei, the Second Tsuchikage Mū, hadn't been an Impure World Reincarnation body that couldn't use this shortcut, Ōnoki would have loved to make Mū train as well.
If he hadn't only recently reconciled with Rōshi, and if he weren't worried that telling him about this would make Rōshi explode in anger and leave the village again, Ōnoki would definitely have dragged him into it too.
If only Ōnoki were still the Tsuchikage and had the authority to order Kurotsuchi...
In short, both Ōnoki and the Fourth Raikage possessed the same determination:
They were willing to sacrifice everything for the sake of their villages.
To uphold that belief, no price was too great.
What was a little dignity compared to that?
At least the Raikage still cared somewhat about appearances, so he chose to practice the shortcut in secret.
Ōnoki had long since stopped caring.
Not long ago, he had even pursued Granny Chiyo for the sake of dealing with Uchiha Madara.
After that, what was there left to be afraid of?
If all they had to do to awaken the Rinnegan was consume Naruto's "cells," then both Ōnoki and the Raikage would undoubtedly...
...hesitate for a moment.
Then immediately do it.
That was the dark resolve of a Kage.
After the incident involving Granny Chiyo, Ōnoki had completely embraced the "I've already embarrassed myself, so who cares anymore?" mentality.
His dark resolve had already surpassed even the Raikage's.
Now he didn't bother hiding it at all.
"Good thing I don't need to train like that."
After listening from beginning to end, Kurotsuchi couldn't help sighing with emotion.
Fortunately, the very first time Shiromo had visited Iwagakure, she had immediately agreed to follow him.
At the time, she had simply wanted to annoy the old man and take the opportunity to go traveling.
Regardless...
Luckily, she already had her own path for training natural energy.
She didn't have to become a gold miner.
"You don't need to? Kurotsuchi, you..."
"Oh, old man. I don't think I ever told you. What I was just using... was natural energy."
To prove it, Kurotsuchi clenched her right fist.
The pattern of Primal Groudon Omega spread across the back of her hand.
A stone sword carrying blazing magma erupted from the ground.
Everyone present was an expert in Earth Release.
The moment they saw it, they understood just how powerful the technique was.
Why did the stone giant summoned by Earth Release: Golem Technique, a jutsu similar to Susanoo or the Wood Golem, have such a poor combat record?
Because the stone giant itself simply wasn't durable enough.
No matter how much chakra you spent making it bigger, both its offense and defense were far inferior to a Susanoo of the same size.
"Kurotsuchi... this..."
Ōnoki stared in astonishment.
At the same time, he couldn't help laughing bitterly at Kurotsuchi's attitude toward him.
She had clearly possessed this power for quite some time.
Yet she had never once explained any of it to him in detail.
She really had started acting like the supreme ruler of the Land of Earth, hadn't she?
"Actually, there is an even more obvious ability, but for the sake of the farmland around the village, I'd better not use it."
Kurotsuchi withdrew her power.
The magma flowing across the stone sword gradually cooled and solidified.
What she was referring to was naturally "Desolate Land", as well as its weaker counterpart, "Drought" (Sunlight in Chinese).
Kurotsuchi had once complained to Terumi Mei that the Land of Water desperately needed harsh sunlight to reclaim land from the sea, while Iwagakure needed rainfall and water resources.
Yet the two of them had each awakened the very ability the other village needed.
Still, that had its advantages.
As long as the two villages remained allies and helped each other from time to time, it wasn't really a problem.
(End of this chapter)