Sarutobi Hiruzen's spies were planted in the crowd, but the Uchiha deliberately let them see everything clearly.
Every chest was identical, and no one knew exactly how much was inside.
No one dared to open their chest on the spot. Once the money was distributed, the crowd dispersed without another word.
Kakashi carried the heavy chest home. When he opened it, he was stunned—it was filled to the brim with large-denomination bills!
This was what they called "a small token"?
Kakashi was completely dumbfounded. He had thought the Uchiha were just making a gesture, but they had actually gone all out with the money.
Faced with this troublesome sum, Kakashi's feelings were a complicated mix.
But right now, he desperately needed funds to enhance his own strength.
The Third Hokage has indeed been in his position for a little too long.
The Uchiha had also sent people to the great clans—Nara, Akimichi, Yamanaka, and Inuzuka—delivering money to their doorsteps as well.
Hearing that Kakashi had accepted the money and that the Uchiha were also planning to offer practical combat training, the Nara clan accepted as well.
Seeing this, the other clans followed suit.
-
Hokage Tower, inside the Hokage's Office.
After an Anbu operative presented the gathered intelligence to the Third Hokage, he was dismissed with a gesture.
The Third had wanted to try and win Kakashi back over, but now, it seemed the hope was slim.
Uchiha Kawasaki had played this hand beautifully.
Free combat training—only a wealthy clan like the Uchiha had the resources and leisure for such a thing.
Needless to say, once this was done, the Uchiha's prestige would soar.
What was even more outrageous was that Kawasaki was brazenly winning over the major clans.
All that talk about "lacking energy" and "working late" was a clear jab at me, Sarutobi Hiruzen, implying I'm no longer fit for the position of Hokage.
Uchiha Kawasaki... every move he made was truly extraordinary.
I cannot allow the Uchiha to continue like this.
The next class of Academy graduates would be out soon. If the Uchiha offered them free combat training, their reputation would undoubtedly skyrocket.
At that point, the Uchiha would have enough influence to call for a vote to oust me as Hokage, and I would be powerless to stop it.
The tobacco in the Third's pipe burned out. He had made his decision.
-
The Land of Water battlefield.
The Raikage's early landing had foiled the Hidden Mist's planned assault.
The Mist ninja were powerless before him.
With their base destroyed and casualties high, the Hidden Cloud were busy rebuilding and treating their wounded.
As a result, the Hidden Cloud and Hidden Mist entered a temporary truce.
On the shore of Tsuzawa Island, amidst the ebb and flow of the tide, a figure slowly walked onto the beach.
Kakuzu examined his regenerated hands and single leg. The muscles were firm and felt powerful, but unfortunately, the skin tone was completely different from his original.
Kakuzu sighed. His losses this time had been severe.
If he hadn't been clever enough to hide his water-nature Earth Grudge Fear creature in the sea, he would have likely been killed.
His Earth Grudge Fear had been severely damaged, losing two arms and a leg.
If not for the chaotic battle between the Cloud and Mist, Kakuzu wouldn't have had the chance to recover.
Moreover, most of the Cloud-nin only possessed lightning-nature hearts. Now, Kakuzu was left with only a water and a lightning heart.
This left him feeling an unprecedented sense of unease.
His palm was empty. The ring bearing the kanji for "North" was gone, making it difficult to even contact the organization.
He had managed to get his hands on two Cloud-nin who had fallen into the water earlier, hoping to take advantage of the chaos and gain something.
But as soon as he poked his head out, he saw the Raikage beating down the Mizukage, which scared him right back into the water.
Only after dealing with the two Cloud-nin's bodies did Kakuzu choose a different direction to come ashore.
He was now destitute, without even a decent coat. The pants he wore were stripped from a Cloud-nin.
How long had it been since he was this pathetic?
Fortunately, both the Cloud and the Mist had reasons to retreat, allowing Kakuzu to come ashore unhindered.
He planned to gather intelligence first, find other members of the organization, check on Hidan's status, and see if their leader had arrived.
As a master who had roamed the shinobi world for years, and one who possessed the unique jutsu of Earth Grudge Fear, Kakuzu's reconnaissance skills were also top-notch.
-
On the coast of Jinren Island, three Hidden Stone members were busy.
The Hidden Stone Village had a large population, and a considerable number of its ninja were dispatched on missions abroad.
These three happened to be on a mission near the Land of Rainbows. After receiving a notice from the village, they abandoned their original assignment and rushed to Jinren Island to gather intelligence.
Other teams were already monitoring the Hidden Cloud's movements at sea; their mission was to investigate the situation between the Cloud and Mist forces on the island.
They had arrived a little late, missing the showdown between Kawasaki and Obito. However, they had captured a spy from the Hidden Grass and learned of the fierce Susanoo battle that night.
Their objective on this trip was to inspect the massive crater left by Kawasaki's final attack, hoping to visually analyze the attack properties of his Susanoo from the crater's traces and thus gain more intelligence.
The group arrived at their destination and carefully approached the edge of the crater to observe.
The edge of the crater was as smooth as a mirror, without a single crack.
It was as if everything, from the beach sand to the reefs, had been precisely carved out by an invisible blade, leaving no trace behind.
A chill ran down the Stone-nin's spines. What kind of power could create such an effect?
They were a temporarily dispatched team with mediocre skills. Their squad consisted of only one Tokubetsu Jōnin and two chūnin.
In their experience, only the Tsuchikage's Dust Release could cut through everything so cleanly.
But a Susanoo's attack was clearly not Dust Release.
The Tokubetsu Jōnin, Iwai, gave the order: "Tsuchiusu, Daikei, take some samples. We'll bring them back for analysis."
Tsuchiusu and Daikei began searching the area, while Iwai scanned the surroundings vigilantly.
This island was fraught with danger; a single moment of carelessness could mean death.
They had arrived late, so other factions should have already finished their investigations. It should be safe here now, right?
Just as the thought crossed Iwai's mind, a monster burst out from the sand to his left. It wore a pale blue mask, and its body was writhing with black threads.
"Water Release: Water Formation Wall!"
The Earth Grudge Fear creature opened its mouth, and a powerful torrent of water shot out. Iwai's heart skipped a beat as he quickly performed his specialty jutsu.
"Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall!"
Iwai slammed his palm on the ground, and the soft sand instantly hardened into a wall, enclosing the three of them.
The violent jet of water slammed against the earth wall with a deafening thud.
Cracks rapidly spread across the surface of the Earth-Style Wall.
A chill went down Iwai's spine. What the hell was this thing? For a water-style attack to be this powerful against an earth wall...
Tsuchiusu and Daikei quickly combined their efforts, channeling chakra into the wall. It gradually thickened, finally holding back the assault.
The three of them didn't even have a moment to catch their breath.
Another figure emerged to their right, this one with a dark blue mask on its shoulder.
A massive ball of electricity was already gathering in the mask's mouth.
Lightning Release: False Darkness!
An intense spear of lightning shot out in an instant, almost faster than the eye could see.
The Stone-nin's Earth-Style Wall was pierced instantly, and the three of them collapsed with screams of agony.
Iwai was still breathing, but he had lost consciousness.
At that moment, countless black threads shot out from the ground, wrapping tightly around Iwai.
Kakuzu carefully bound Iwai twice over, using the Earth Grudge Fear threads connected to the ground to drag the jōnin toward him.
Kakuzu checked him over and confirmed that this was the heart he wanted.
A cruel smile touched the corner of his lips.
Secret Jutsu: Heart Steal!
The black threads coiled around Iwai's body suddenly pierced through his chest.
They pulled out a fresh, still-beating heart.
Kakuzu nodded in satisfaction and instantly absorbed the heart into his body.
Thump, thump...
The sound of a heartbeat echoed, signaling that he could now use Earth-Release jutsu.
He had been investigating the site of Obito and Kawasaki's battle. When he sensed someone approaching, he had quickly used his Earth Grudge Fear to burrow beneath the sand.
As it happened, he was in need of an earth-nature heart, and these Stone-nin had walked right into his trap.
Kakuzu considered himself quite lucky.
After all his careful planning, he hadn't expected the three to be so weak. He didn't even need to use his backup plan.