Suddenly, Fortune burst in with a group of Ninja Cat: "Ryou, look quickly, what is this?"
Fortune was holding a scroll, which seemed to be some kind of secret technique.
Ryou stood up to take it and spread it open: "A summoning scroll for a Salamander?"
Fish Ball perked up at the mention of fish and leaned in: "Ibuse the Salamander? I remember it's a giant Salamander."
"The meat of a giant Salamander is tender and delicious, rich in nutrients. It's a nourishing ingredient that only a Daimyō can eat."
Fish Ball spoke while drooling, rubbing its cat paws together: "What are we waiting for? Summon Ibuse quickly and let Fried Rice put it in the pot so we can all nourish our bodies."
Ryou was also drooling from the description: "Fine, fine, fine. Today, we eat fish."
Tsunade stood up and gave Ryou and Fish Ball a punch each.
"Idiots, Ibuse is highly toxic; it's not edible."
During the Second Great Ninja War, Tsunade, Jiraiya, and the others had fought against Hanzo.
Back then, Ibuse the Salamander's poison mist had caused Konoha and Sunagakure to suffer great losses.
Tsunade looked at the Salamander summoning scroll in Ryou's hand and added: "Besides, Ibuse is a powerful Summoned Beast."
"It can burrow underground and spit poison. Even the Summoned Beasts of the Three Great Sage Regions couldn't do anything against it back then."
Ryou nodded and punched Fish Ball: "Eat, eat, eat. All you know is eating. What else can you do besides eat?"
"Fortune can at least go out and scavenge for wealth. When I asked you to interrogate the Daimyō, you got nothing. You're the most useless cat in this house."
"If you keep being this useless, I'll expel you from the High Cloud Quintet!"
Fish Ball hung its head, no longer having the energy to hiss.
Ryou then moved on to assigning Hanzo's Summoned Beast, Ibuse.
Ibuse was indeed powerful, but Ryou no longer had a use for Summoned Beasts.
At a level like the Sannin, Ryou valued Sage Summoned Beasts like Shima and Fukasaku, who could refine Senjutsu, much more.
Ibuse was suitable for Ninjas of the Poison and Puppet styles.
Ryou looked around. Kiyomi wasn't a Ninja, and Nagato and Konan's Ninjutsu didn't match Ibuse.
Ryou decided to just give it away randomly.
"Nagato, do you want it?"
Nagato shook his head. He harbored a deep-seated hatred for Hanzo. Nagato had handled most of Hanzo's die-hard loyalists himself, so how could he possibly want his enemy's Summoned Beast?
"What about you, Konan?"
Konan felt the same as Nagato. Seeing Ibuse would make her think of Hanzo, and thinking of Hanzo would inevitably lead to thoughts of Yahiko, who was driven to his death by Hanzo.
Ryou finally tossed it to Tsunade: "Tsunade, you take it! Medicine and poison are two sides of the same coin; Ibuse is very suitable for you."
"Forget it, I already have Katsuyu. Besides, I still wear the Konoha forehead protector; I can't accept your things."
Tsunade shook her head and tossed it back.
Ryou scratched his head and finally tossed it to Fish Ball: "Let's just cook it then!"
Fish Ball was pleasantly surprised.
Tsunade was helpless. Hanzo's Summoned Beast would likely fetch a high price on the black market, but here, it was just an ingredient.
If Hanzo knew his Summoned Beast was about to be put in a pot, would he jump out of his grave in anger?
No, Hanzo didn't have a grave. Ryou had taken over Amegakure in Hanzo's name one moment and raided his home and arrested his loyalists the next.
For Hanzo, there was no one left to mourn or build a grave.
Ryou had Fish Ball sign a contract with Ibuse, preparing to summon Ibuse for the pot.
Can a Summoned Beast sign a contract with another Summoned Beast?
Yes. Summoning contracts don't strictly specify race. The contract is just a medium, and Summoned Beasts can also perform the Summoning Technique.
It's just a reverse summoning.
In the original work, when Pain attacked Konoha, it was Shima who summoned Naruto and the toads of Mount Myōboku to Konoha.
Naruto was a reverse summoning, but the toads were a genuine summoning.
Strictly speaking, people can also be contracted as Summoned Beasts. There are many masterless people in the Land of Lightning who are all good livestock that can be signed on paper.
Ibuse was not a Ninja beast raised in a traditional summoning holy land like Mount Myōboku; it was raised by Amegakure.
In the original work, years ago, the Hidden Rain Village had a highly toxic Black Salamander. After that Salamander died, its poison sac was implanted into Hanzo's body.
Ibuse was likely a descendant of that Black Salamander.
It lived in the poisonous swamp behind the Hidden Rain Village, but the Salamander's poison was a bit troublesome; ordinary people couldn't get close.
Even Hanzo couldn't cure the Salamander's poison.
Just as Ryou and Fish Ball were busy with the nourishing fish soup, Candy ran over to inform Ryou that the spore parasitic in Kakashi and the others' bodies had been discovered.
The Third Hokage wanted to speak with Madara through Ryou's spore clone.
They already knew about the Eye of the Moon Plan.
Ryou was stunned.
"The Monkey wants to talk to Old Demon Madara? What do they have to talk about? Does he think he can persuade Madara to give up the Eye of the Moon Plan?"
Candy shook her head: "I don't know."
Ryou didn't want to bother because Madara was too far gone. Even if Izuna were resurrected, he wouldn't be able to persuade Madara.
But Tsunade grabbed Ryou's hand and said: "Let Sensei have a talk with Uchiha Madara! Maybe he can persuade Uchiha Madara to abandon the Eye of the Moon Plan."
"Ryou, don't think I don't know. You actually look down on the Eye of the Moon Plan in your heart too, don't you?"
After Ryou settled in Amegakure, he had sent a dozen or so seductive women to accompany Madara. He wanted to use beauty to corrupt Madara's soul and let him experience the goodness of the world.
So he would stop dreaming those unrealistic dreams.
But Madara was completely unmoved. No matter how the seductive women of Amegakure tempted him, Madara simply couldn't get it up.
Ryou then used a ruthless trick, transforming two seductive women into Hashirama's appearance and sending them in. Afterward, Madara chased Ryou across half the Land of Rain.
Ryou still faintly felt an electric current coursing through his body even now.
"Fine, let's see what the people of Konoha have to say."
Ryou closed his eyes and began to connect with his spore clone in Konoha.
White Zetsu have a kind of telepathy to talk to each other, but the signal becomes poor if the distance is too great.
However, the Land of Rain and the Land of Fire are neighboring countries; Amegakure and Konoha aren't that far apart.
Ryou easily connected to his spore clone in Konoha, immediately using the spore clone as an anchor point to transmit a large amount of Chakra.
Konoha.
Kushina pressed down on the white cat's head and reminded: "A surge of Chakra is coming from afar."
Shima felt it: "It's little Ryou's Chakra. His Chakra is looking more and more like little Hashirama's."
Ryou's Chakra attached itself to the spore clone, and he slowly opened his eyes.
Three tomoe slowly rotated. These eyes were no longer a projection of the Sharingan, but real eyes with Sharingan Genjutsu.
"Long time no see..."
As soon as Ryou opened his eyes, he saw many familiar faces from the past.
The Third Hokage, Jiraiya, Minato, Kushina... Obito charged forward in a rage: "Uchiha Ryou, I'm going to take you down with me!"
Kakashi quickly stopped Obito.
Ryou jumped to the windowsill, looking at the Hokage Rock and the buildings of Konoha with a bit of nostalgia: "Haven't seen this in a while, I really do miss it a bit."
"By the way, Monkey, my salary wasn't settled when I defected. Hurry up and pay me."
"..."
The Third Hokage was speechless and wanted to smoke, but how could he be so impolite with the two Sages present?
The Third Hokage took out his cigarette case, stood up, and offered cigarettes to the two Toad Sages.
Ryou scurried in front of Jiraiya and looked up at him: "Yo, Jiraiya. Your life is so tough, you're still alive?"
Jiraiya shouted: "Ryou, it's all because of your plan to resurrect Uchiha Madara. Orochimaru was also killed because of you."
Ryou let out a laugh: "Orochimaru would die? He escaped from under Uchiha Madara back then, and I even blocked his path."
"Unfortunately, I didn't catch him! That guy used a smoke screen and slipped away."
Jiraiya was somewhat surprised: "Orochimaru isn't dead?!"
Ryou shook his head: "I don't know about that, but even if he's alive, so what? Even if the First Hokage were reborn, don't even think about stopping Uchiha Madara!"
"Stop wasting your efforts; that way, fewer people will die."
Ryou looked at Minato: "Minato, divorce Kushina and give her to me. That way, Konoha might escape this disaster."
Minato stood in front of Kushina and said seriously to Ryou: "Impossible! I will never give up Kushina."
The Third Hokage sternly criticized Ryou: "Uchiha Ryou, keep dreaming! Everyone in Konoha is our comrade; we will never abandon anyone."