Mission Strategy

The founding and destruction of ninja villages in small countries was actually fairly normal.

The Land of Fields was a country bordering the Land of Fire and the Land of Frost, not too far from the Land of Waterfalls. It currently had no village of its own; it was only later that Orochimaru stepped in to establish Otogakure.

Although Takigakure had been founded early and possessed a long history, and once had three great trump cards, that could not change the fact that it had now become a small ninja village.

When Xu Yue, the wealthy tycoon who had begun to gain fame throughout the ninja world, made the offer—

Shibuki actually said he needed to consider it and seek instructions from the Great Name of the Land of Waterfalls.

There was genuine interest after the very first offer!

The Land of Waterfalls actually had decent specialties, but it was extremely isolated due to its waterfalls and mountain ranges. The entire country was poor.

This was also one reason Takigakure had grown weaker and failed to develop. It could rely on Hero Water to be powerful for a time, but it could not sustain that strength.

Although it was already good enough for a small country to have a ninja village, Takigakure was currently rather expendable to the Great Name of the Land of Waterfalls.

It required annual financial subsidies, while the Land of Waterfalls’ special environment meant it rarely faced large-scale invasions. Many of the minor disturbances were even brought upon it by Takigakure itself.

After Xu Yue stated that he was willing to leave behind half the goods as payment for sixty percent ownership of Takigakure, three days of negotiations finalized every detail!

The main body of Takigakure now belonged to Xu Yue. The remaining twenty percent belonged to the Land of Waterfalls; if the Land of Waterfalls suffered an external invasion, the village was obligated to protect it. The final twenty percent belonged to the village’s own residents and ninja.

The agreement also stated that Xu Yue could not sell the Jinchuriki or split up the village. Xu Yue readily accepted these terms.

He even stated that under normal circumstances, he would not interfere much with their operations. There would also be annual subsidy funds, and most of the half of the goods used as bargaining chips were left behind as financial assistance for the village.

This batch of goods consisted of high-end specialties from the Land of Water. By the time they were transported here, their value had already doubled. If they were sold onward toward the Land of Earth, their value could very well double again.

This was wealth that would make even the Five Great Villages jealous. To Takigakure’s higher-ups and residents, it was simply wonderful beyond belief.

Having a boss like this was far better than having the miserly Great Name of the Land of Waterfalls!

Because of the massive investment, the village’s transfer and handover did not cause the slightest disturbance. The residents did not panic either. Their noticeably improved lives, brought about by the huge influx of funds, filled each of them with anticipation for the future…

Now that he had bought the village, the Jinchuriki could practically be considered his property. Other than being unable to sell her, couldn’t he play with her however he wanted?

Seeing the Seven-Tails Jinchuriki Kaede, still in the form of a little girl, wearing a face full of terror, Xu Yue smiled like a kidnapper and led her into his carriage, accomplishing one of his objectives…

After leaving half of the Hero Water in the village in case of emergencies, Xu Yue took the other half with him.

Hero Water (10/10): After use, grants more than a tenfold increase in Chakra for a short period at the cost of life.

Using one unit directly would cost him his life. Having experienced the feeling of using the Reincarnation of Heavenly Life Technique, Xu Yue certainly would not use it recklessly. But if it were diluted, the effect would be somewhat weaker, yet his Sage Body could fully withstand it. Furthermore, his lifespan issue had already been resolved, so he could eliminate the side effects simply by resting for a while.

Most importantly, after obtaining this thing and studying it properly, it might also provide a boost when creating an inferior imitation Ten-Tails!

After all, the tailed beasts themselves only had a portion of their Chakra extracted. Wouldn’t expanding the capacity make things much more convenient?

Of course, that was something for after all the tailed beasts had been collected.

He had already obtained the Chakra of the One-Tails, Three-Tails, Six-Tails, Seven-Tails, Eight-Tails, and Nine-Tails.

Now he only lacked Iwagakure’s Four-Tails and Five-Tails, and Hidden Cloud’s Two-Tails…

The Land of Earth was second only to the Land of Fire in economic prosperity.

Its village’s military strength was also firmly ranked among the top three.

But Iwagakure now faced a somewhat awkward problem.

The issue of the Tsuchikage’s successor.

Among the Five Great Villages, only Konoha and Iwagakure were still led by their Third Hokage.

Konoha had no choice but to let the Third Hokage shoulder the banner again after the Fourth Hokage’s death, but the Land of Earth simply had a problem choosing an heir.

There was a generational gap among Third Tsuchikage Ōnoki’s next generation, with no suitable successor emerging. Other than the Jinchuriki, only Kitsuchi was barely presentable, but he clearly fell short compared to the Fourth Hokages of the other villages.

This forced him to turn his attention toward the younger generation.

Deidara was one disciple he thought highly of.

Ōnoki felt that once Deidara had grown up, he would more or less be able to entrust the village to him with peace of mind.

As for Roshi, the Four-Tails Jinchuriki who had recently been constantly causing trouble around the village, he had never considered him at all.

Ōnoki would absolutely not allow a Jinchuriki to become a Kage.

Because he had ruled for so long, without even a single transfer of power in between, Ōnoki’s word in Iwagakure was virtually law, and his authority was immense.

This had also bred some flaws in his character.

Stubborn, obstinate—no words were more fitting for this old man.

And because of these complicated circumstances, the Reincarnators had triggered an entire chain of missions…

"Of the several sets of intelligence we sold, Konoha’s and Iwagakure’s are the best. Even we have only managed to trigger Iwagakure’s Dust Release once, and its power was simply beyond imagination."

At a tea stall in Iwagakure, Muto, who had set up a concealment barrier, explained things to Wang Zhaoming and Qi Xieyuan beside him.

After encountering that damned Killing Star on the road, they had fled in terror. In the end, they had at least managed to rendezvous here successfully.

Today, Wang Zhaoming, who had arrived last, had also shown up, immediately making Muto feel much more secure.

So he explained it to them once more.

"Alright, you’ve already said that. You were the first to arrive and you’re good at gathering intelligence, so tell us how far Rothschild’s people have progressed."

Qi Xieyuan seemed a little impatient.

Rothschild was powerful, and its influence extended widely, but its reach could not ultimately stretch all the way to the Far East. Thus, neither Qi Xieyuan nor Muto particularly cared about their attitude.

If sufficient benefits were involved, then so be it if they offended them.

Besides, it was rare for three major players to gather in one place. If they could take all of them out in one go, who would know it was them? They might even avoid offending them altogether.

"I can only say that Rothschild’s people truly deserve to be called shrewd businessmen. Aside from the intelligence we provided, they seem to have refined the steps themselves. Their progress is even faster than expected, and they have already begun inciting Roshi to fight them."

"As long as we help Deidara and Kurotsuchi deal the greatest possible damage to Roshi at the crucial moment, we can steal their reward and have it credited to us instead. However, because we contributed little beforehand, if a Dust Release scroll drops, learning it will still require paying an S-Rank Plot."

Muto spoke in a tone that suggested everything was under his control.

An S-Rank Plot was exceptionally precious even to them, but compared to the ability they would learn, it was still an enormous bargain. Even among S-Rank skills, the difference between the excellent ones and the guaranteed minimum was like heaven and earth.

With three Kage-level experts, they had enough power to deal massive damage in a short time!

Qi Xieyuan was a dog raised by the Empire, and Wang Zhaoming had also been successfully dragged into this. They had all signed Space Contracts. The prize was already theirs for the taking!

Although it was still somewhat worse than their original objective in the Land of Fire, it could at least make up for their losses…

There was so much to do at the end of the year it was making me cough blood. Another colleague was retiring, so not only did I have to handle their retirement paperwork, we were also down one person—and they wouldn’t let us hire a replacement. This is exploding.