"Report, Lord Hokage! Lord Swain rode the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox back to the village!"
The Third Hokage didn't even lift his eyelids, continuing to write furiously on the mountain of documents on his desk. "He's back, so he's back. Don't make such a fuss. You're like Guy."
The masked Anbu ninja awkwardly disappeared.
They were already used to this. After Swain showed his strength, the Third Hokage became much calmer.
If Swain was truly hiding in the shadows, the Third would have been very worried and scared. But now that he's so high-profile, what's there to fear?
Five minutes later, the Anbu ninja returned. "Lord Third, the Kumogakure Ninja envoys have arrived. They've brought a compensation agreement."
The Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, finally put down his pen, but he was slightly puzzled. "When did the Hyuga clan become so intimidating? To actually make the Kumogakure Ninja envoys directly offer compensation? That's not like them.
Bring them here."
Leading the Kumogakure Ninja was Mabui, accompanied by Killer Bee, as well as his two students, Karui and Samui.
Mabui had strongly requested that Killer Bee stay in the village to guard against enemies, but she couldn't argue with Killer Bee's reason.
"My brother and Gyuki are in Konoha!! Yeah yeah, I have to go save them! Idiot, fool!"
As for why Mabui came, it was at Swain's request.
Poor Third Hokage still thought something had happened to the Hyuga clan.
"Lord Third Hokage! I am Mabui. I've come to discuss with you the matter of our Raikage, A, and Gyuki."
The Third Hokage's smiling face froze. What nonsense is this? I don't know anything about the Raikage and Gyuki.
The cunning old man subtly revealed a standard political smile. "Specifically?"
Mabui sighed. Seeing the Third Hokage's reaction, Cloud Village was going to bleed heavily.
"Our Cloud Village is willing to pay 1 billion ryo and a simplified version of the Lightning Release Armor in exchange for Raikage A's freedom.
We are also willing to offer half of our ninja missions in exchange for Gyuki."
What a large gesture! The Third Hokage's heart surged. One billion ryo wasn't much. A single Akatsuki had 600 billion explosive tags. But the simplified version of the Lightning Release Armor was different.
It was the foundation of Cloud Village, a secret technique that was never passed on. Even a simplified version, especially with Konoha being known as a cradle of geniuses, as long as they had a simplified version, figuring out the complete version was only a matter of time.
Furthermore, half of the ninja missions were like giving half of Cloud Village's GDP to Konoha.
The Third was tempted and about to agree when a Six Eyes Crow flew in from outside the window, carrying Swain's voice. "You Kumogakure Ninja are daydreaming. You think you can trade both for such little stuff?
Impossible. Even a single Raikage isn't enough. If you want to get A back, trade the Two-Tails for him."
Mabui frowned, her anger rising, but she suppressed it, knowing she couldn't win. Instead, she put pressure on the Third Hokage. "Lord Third, we from Cloud Village have come for peace."
Sarutobi Hiruzen saw Swain's crow fly over and wasn't in a hurry anymore.
He remembered the temperament of this old friend of his.
He was known as someone you couldn't beat down.
The Third Hokage said to Mabui with difficulty, "Oh dear, that Swain isn't a Konoha ninja anymore. He's now the Holy Master of Konoha's sacred grounds. I can't order him around. You should go to the sacred grounds to find him."
Killer Bee couldn't hold back and went for his sword, but his two students held him back tightly. "You! Idiot! Fool!"
"Master, don't be rash!"
"Humph, let's go!"
"Someone, lead them to Konoha's sacred grounds."
The awkward little Anbu appeared again, acting as a guide.
After everyone left, the Third Hokage leaned towards the Six Eyes Crow. "We'll split the profits fifty-fifty!"
"The Two-Tails is mine, the ninjutsu is public, and the rest is yours."
"Deal. Oh, right, Swain, that Hyuga clan girl was also kidnapped by those Kumogakure Ninja. The spy has already been killed. You understand, right?"
The Six Eyes Crow spoke again. "Say it. What do you want?"
Sarutobi Hiruzen massaged his old back and deliberately coughed twice. "Alas! I'm old and don't have your long life. I can't sit in this position anymore."
"Then pass it on to Kakashi, or find Tsunade." Swain scoffed. Trying to trick me? Those mountain of documents? What a joke.
The Third Hokage smiled. "But I don't know where Tsunade is."
"Give me a week, okay? You old fox."
Sarutobi Hiruzen finally beamed. "I'm a monkey, not a fox."
Swain laughed and scolded, "Not much hair, but plenty of brains."
Sarutobi Hiruzen blushed. "There are Anbu ninja here! Save me some face."
"Yeah, yeah, you're much better than that little hairball Danzo, okay!?"
"Swain, I'm not playing with you! Shuriken Clone Technique!"
The Six Eyes Crow accomplished its mission, turning into a pile of feathers and disappearing into thin air.
Kakashi and the others looked at each other.
The last Anbu wearing a fox mask asked Kakashi, "Captain, we won't be..."
He made a neck-slitting gesture.
Hatake Kakashi took out a treasured copy of Make-Out Paradise, nonchalantly turning his head. "What did you say? I was just sleeping."
...
At Konoha's sacred grounds, Swain used his island country experience to tie up Raikage A tightly. Even though A was wearing clothes, it was still an eyesore.
Then again, it was his fault for being tied up like that.
Raikage A was surprisingly quiet, not because he was unconscious or lacked strength, but because he was too angry and cursed at Swain a few times, and Swain stuffed a small wooden ball into his mouth.
After taking it out, he didn't dare to speak again.
You can defeat me, kill me, even insult me, but you can't...
Right?
After hanging up with the Third Hokage, Swain contacted Orochimaru again.
Orochimaru was being very well-behaved in his Hidden Sound Village lately. He had only kidnapped a few wayward youths, which wasn't a big deal.
The soul fragments Swain had given him last time were enough for him to research and use for a long time.
"Orochimaru, find Tsunade. Your teacher is tired and needs someone to take over."
Orochimaru's information gathering ability was definitely no weaker than any intelligence agency. As for why, a hole is a hole. Any hole can be lived in. He had hundreds of houses all over the ninja world.
Plus, he had his biological hole that he could research.
In a cultivation pod in the Hidden Sound Village, a fair-skinned youth with white hair, who looked three parts like Orochimaru, and had short red tear marks at the corners of his eyes, was slowly forming.
When Orochimaru looked at him, his eyes showed a rare hint of tenderness.
"Understood, Swain. But what about these soul fragments?"
The Six Eyes Crow replied. "Go catch some bandits yourself. One hundred soul fragments. I'll call you when I'm building a house at the sacred grounds."
Orochimaru stuck out his long tongue and licked his lips, giving an evil smile.
Swain's carelessness startled Raikage A.
Publicly contacting the Konoha S-rank rogue ninja Orochimaru in front of him?
Was I not a person?
"Oh dear, you're still here! Then I have no choice but to silence you." Swain wore a demonic smile, his right arm's demonic hand bloody and eerie.
"Ha!!! Huff!!!"
"What did you say? I fell asleep just now. Did you call me?"
Swain twitched his eyes. Sure enough, those with thick eyebrows and big eyes were all clever devils.
"Your Kumogakure Ninja are quite strange. Sleeping with your eyes open."
"Yeah, awesome, right?"
"That's nothing. We have someone in Konoha who makes ramen with their eyes closed."
Shisui entered at some point. "Uncle Swain, you'll make Teuchi angry if you say that."
"Ah? Shisui? How did you get in?"
Swain had opened the sealing array when he left Konoha. He didn't seem to have given Shisui a pass…
Shisui grinned and hugged Swain's left arm, acting spoiled. "I just wanted to see Uncle Swain since he came back to the village!"
Swain felt a bit uncomfortable and pulled back his hand. Looking down, he saw a technique, a crow-shaped mark.
"You finally learned the first stage of the Flying Thunder God Technique."
Shisui smiled mysteriously. "Not just that, I also learned this."
As Uchiha Shisui spread out his hand, a box of steaming, three-colored dumplings appeared before the three of them with a whoosh.
"I improved the second stage of the Flying Thunder God Technique. Now, as long as I can sense the items marked with the technique, I can transfer them to my side!"
Shisui's proud smile seemed to say, "Praise me, praise me!"
Raikage A watched in amazement. If anyone had a close knowledge of the Flying Thunder God Technique, the Third would definitely be in the top three, and that evenly matched battle was still fresh in his memory.
Was Konoha really a cradle of geniuses?
He needed to start improving the cannon soon.
"Hmm, not bad. Still a bit behind me, but it's already pretty good."
Swain maintained his expert demeanor, combined with his Sage Body, to make himself seem even more mysterious.
Shisui sighed. "Yeah, still far behind Uncle Swain's Flying Thunder God Technique, which can teleport anywhere..."
Swain was sweating cold sweat. He almost lost face.
He could teleport anywhere because the Ravenous Flock was everywhere… Shisui had already surpassed him in the Flying Thunder God Technique and was chasing after the Fourth Hokage.
"By the way, Uncle Swain, is that your new technique? Why did it become like that?"
"Ah, this? It's Sage Mode. I just don't know how to undo it."
Jiraiya was crying in the restroom. One disciple said he wasn't good at sage arts, and then instantly opened it. Now another one had a Sage Mode that permanently existed and couldn't be undone.
This world was too dangerous.
"Have you tried using the Transformation Technique?"
"That's right! Shisui, that's a good idea. From now on, I'll say I'm not good at sage arts, and then undo the Transformation Technique and say I instantly opened it! Hahaha!"
Namikaze Minato, in the stomach of the Reaper, suddenly sneezed. "Do ghosts catch colds?"
---
Read 50 advanced chapters on my patreon
patreon.com/GustinaKamiya
---