What he'd given Iwagakure was nothing more than a mountain made of crystallized chakra—while what Iwagakure paid him in return was cold, hard cash. ❛‿˂̵✧
After collecting the deposit, Shinju stepped out of the Tsuchikage's office. From behind, Kurotsuchi's father, Kitsuchi, called out,
"Thank you for your hard work, Shinju-san. In addition, to ensure the mission goes smoothly, Iwagakure has prepared two assistants for you."
As he finished speaking, two figures—one tall, one short—appeared at the end of the corridor.
Then a cheerful voice rang out from the shadows.
"Shinju! I didn't think we'd meet again this soon! (´◊ω◊｀)"
Kurotsuchi leaped forward, pouncing straight toward Shinju.
Shinju, quick as ever, sidestepped to the right.
Bang!
Kurotsuchi hit the ground hard, face-first.
Kitsuchi covered his face in exasperation. He really couldn't stand his daughter's overly familiar antics. 〒_〒
"This is Kurotsuchi—you've met her before, so I'm sure you already know her. The big guy over there is Akatsuchi. For this mission to retrieve the Five-Tails, they'll be accompanying you," Kitsuchi explained.
The big man stepped forward with a friendly grin, extending his hand.
"Nice to meet you."
Shinju also reached out and shook it. "Nice to meet you, too. ∩_∩"
Shinju wasn't stupid. He knew perfectly well that these two weren't just "assistants"—they were there to watch him.
No doubt Iwagakure was worried he might decide to claim the Five-Tails for himself…
After greeting his temporary teammates, Shinju set out.
...
Inside the Tsuchikage's office, Kitsuchi watched the three departing figures, his eyes flickering with unease.
A moment later, Ōnoki flew into the room.
"Have they left already?"
Kitsuchi nodded. "Yeah, they've gone."
"But," Kitsuchi asked, frowning, "why are you so sure Shinju will be able to bring Han back? You were the one who said his strength isn't what it used to be. And now you're letting him take Kurotsuchi and Akatsuchi with him. If anything happens to them…"
Ōnoki raised a hand to calm him.
"Relax. To be honest, I'm not entirely at ease either, letting that kid go with them. That's why I sent one of our pursuit squads to shadow them. If anything unexpected happens, they'll intervene immediately."
...
At that moment, on the border of the Land of Rain—
Inside an Akatsuki hideout, Han, the Five-Tails' Jinchūriki, floated motionless in midair. The tailed beast chakra was seeping from his seven orifices, flowing continuously into the enormous Gedo Statue at the center of the base.
From beneath the ground, Zetsu's body rose up suddenly, his tone anxious.
"This is bad! Iwagakure has asked Shinju for help!"
On one of the Gedo Statue's fingers, the masked man's shadowy figure spoke in mild annoyance.
"So what? We're far from the Land of Earth. Even if they start chasing us now, it'll take them at least two days to get here."
"By then, the extraction will be complete. ´∀`"
"Besides…" he added with a faint smirk, "this time, we've got outside help. (＊￣︶￣＊)"
...
Land of Earth.
As Shinju followed Kurotsuchi and Akatsuchi out of Iwagakure, he asked for details about how Han had been captured.
Kurotsuchi explained, "That night, a massive fire broke out in Iwagakure. Soon after, we got word that Han-senpai had gone missing.
"Grandpa mobilized the village's resources to investigate, and eventually we learned the ones who took Han had already left the Land of Earth and crossed into the Land of Rain.
"But information inside the Land of Rain is heavily restricted—it's impossible to gather intel there. So we have no idea about their exact location…"
Hearing that, Shinju frowned deeply.
Once they'd crossed into the Land of Rain, they simply vanished? How was he supposed to track them down now? ◝₍ᴑ̑ДO͝₎◞
Even though the Land of Rain was smaller than the Five Great Nations, it still spanned over a million square kilometers. Finding one tailed beast in that space was like finding a needle in a haystack.
And from his last experience chasing the Four-Tails' Jinchūriki, Shinju knew Akatsuki now had ways to block his chakra sensing.
This was even harder than finding a needle in a haystack!
"Making money really isn't easy," Shinju sighed, rubbing his forehead.
"But either way, let's head to the Land of Rain first."
He grabbed both Akatsuchi and Kurotsuchi, and in the next instant, they vanished in a flash of Flying Thunder God.
They landed among the ruins of Amegakure—
This was where Shinju had once destroyed the village and left a Flying Thunder God mark behind.
The three touched down on solid ground.
Kurotsuchi blinked in confusion.
"Wait, didn't you say we were going to the Land of Rain? Why'd you bring us to some forest? (꒪⌓꒪)"
Shinju replied casually, "This is Amegakure—in the Land of Rain."
Kurotsuchi: (꒪⌓꒪)
"You're kidding, right? Amegakure was under Pain's control. It might've been closed off, but it wasn't this primitive! (⊙o⊙)"
"Wait a second… this forest… is this Wood Release?"
Shinju nodded.
Kurotsuchi and Akatsuchi froze. ∑(✘Д✘๑)
"You… you used Wood Release to turn the entire village into a forest?" Akatsuchi finally asked, his voice filled with disbelief.
Shinju nodded again.
"Pain was hiding deep underground. I turned Amegakure into this so I could sense him better."
Kurotsuchi sucked in a sharp breath. "Hiss~~~"
She'd heard plenty of stories about Shinju's feats, and had even seen the massive crystal mountain he created outside Iwagakure.
But standing inside his Wood Release… that was something else entirely.
The sheer scale of his chakra was terrifying!
She couldn't help but think: When the heavens made ninja, did they pour half of everyone's chakra into this one guy?
Otherwise, how could one man have such insane chakra reserves?!
Then Kurotsuchi suddenly realized something and asked cautiously,
"Wait, then… right now, your power…"
Shinju, still playing up his "injured" act, replied without hesitation,
"My strength has greatly diminished. I can only create about one-tenth of this forest now… (◔◡◔)"
He figured since this forest only covered the area of Amegakure—it wasn't that big anyway—saying "one-tenth" should make Iwagakure think he was still severely weakened.
But after hearing that, Kurotsuchi gulped again. "One-tenth…?"
"That's still insane!"
Shinju: (ー_ー)!!
...Well, that didn't go as planned.
"Anyway," he said quickly, changing the topic, "let's start searching for the Five-Tails."
Kurotsuchi nodded. "The Land of Rain's pretty big. How should we search?"
Shinju thought for a moment, muttering to himself,
"I could make, say… a hundred thousand shadow clones and do a full-area sweep, but that'd take too long…
"Or maybe… expand my chakra sensing to cover the entire Land of Rain? Nah, too mentally exhausting…"
Both Kurotsuchi and Akatsuchi instinctively stepped back half a step.
ヽ( ຶ▮ ຶ)ﾉ!!!
What kind of monstrous ideas were these?!
A hundred thousand shadow clones?
Chakra sensing across an entire country?!
It sounded like pure nonsense—
But coming from this man's mouth, it was hard not to believe it.
Then Kurotsuchi suddenly had an idea.
"I've got it! Why don't we just capture one of the Akatsuki members and interrogate them? ❛‿˂̵✧"