Selling to Three Buyers

"So you’re willing to trade everything you’ve learned in your life for my help in Konoha?" Yota asked, looking at the somewhat agitated Tsunade before him.

"Didn’t you always want to learn my Medical Ninjutsu? Shizune lacks the talent, so there are some advanced Medical Ninjutsu she simply can’t learn. I can teach them all to you," Tsunade said, looking slightly uncomfortable.

With Tsunade’s forthright and easygoing personality, being able to go this far was already quite something. Yota nodded slightly at her words.

"All right. I’ll think about it first."

Hearing that Yota still needed to think it over, Tsunade’s eyebrow shot up in anger. Shizune eventually pulled her back, and only then did she calm down.

Just as Tsunade left, Orochimaru walked in, holding a toad that he handed to Yota.

"What’s this? One of Jiraiya’s Summoning Beasts?" Yota asked curiously. He had never considered that it might be an ordinary toad. Everyone knew Orochimaru’s Summoning Beasts were snakes, so in order to monitor the Sound Ninja Village, he had scattered quite a few Summoning Beasts around. This place could practically be called a snake pit.

Other than the Summoning Beast toads of Mount Myōboku, any toad that came here would be eaten clean.

"That’s right. Jiraiya seems to have something he wants to discuss with you." Orochimaru wore a strange expression as he set the toad down. "This is a message toad from Mount Myōboku. Two identical toads allow two people to hear each other’s voices directly, as though they were speaking face-to-face."

Yota paused slightly. Wasn’t that basically the Den Den Mushi from the Pirate World, except it couldn’t make expressions and didn’t require phone numbers?

Maybe he could bring over some Den Den Mushi in the future… Forget it. The Naruto World seemed to have walkie-talkies already, so telephones probably weren’t too far off.

After thinking about all sorts of pointless things, Yota looked at the toad, unsure how to begin. The toad on the other end spoke first, carrying Jiraiya’s voice. "Is this Yota?"

Yota tilted his head. "You found out my name that quickly? Though it’s not like I tried very hard to hide it… What do you need from me?"

"I remember that the Akatsuki you’ve joined accepts commissions, right?" Jiraiya asked.

Although Jiraiya knew that Yota had long since become Akatsuki’s leader, he likely didn’t know whether anyone else was listening on the other end of the toad, so he spoke rather cautiously.

"That’s right. What, does Konoha want to hire us?" Yota asked, his eyes lighting up slightly.

"Of course. As long as you’re willing to act, money won’t be an issue! We can also write off everything that happened before!"

At that moment, an aged voice rang out. Yota guessed that it was the Third Hokage.

Still, that was no lie. Konoha’s current combat strength might not have been the greatest among all ninja villages, but its financial power was absolutely far greater than the others’.

Moreover, Konoha understood Yota’s strength better than anyone, so its acceptable price was far beyond that of the other ninja villages.

"As long as you join the battlefield, you’ll receive an initial commission of over a hundred million. If you kill enemy ninja with bounties on their heads, aside from claiming the Black Market bounty, we’ll pay an additional bounty worth twice that amount. As for ordinary enemy ninja, two hundred thousand ryo per head. How does that sound?"

Yota nodded. The offer was already quite generous—essentially twice the usual rate for a commission.

Yota did not care much about money, but Akatsuki’s operations required funds as well. Now that he regarded Akatsuki as his own possession, naturally he would not turn away bounties delivered right to his door.

"Fine. Then it’s a deal."

After they settled on the price, the Transmission Toad suddenly shuddered, as though it had come back to its senses. It croaked and hopped twice, then vanished in a puff of white smoke with a bang.

Orochimaru licked his lips at the side. "It seems Kumogakure is about to have a very bad time this time. But… you’ve actually joined an organization as well, my lord? Then how many powerful people are there in that organization?"

Yota shook his head. "Rather than joining an organization, it would be more accurate to say I took over someone else’s nest. The current leader of the organization is actually my Wood Clone."

Orochimaru chuckled, unsurprised. "Just as expected. With your strength, my lord, you should hold a leadership position in any organization."

"An organization worth your effort to take over must have something worthwhile about it."

Yota saw through Orochimaru’s thoughts at once. "You want to join too?"

"If I have the chance, I naturally wouldn’t mind joining a powerful organization."

You’ve got your eye on the abilities and research of the people in that organization, haven’t you? Yota thought to himself. He understood Orochimaru especially well. The man was absolutely the type who never acted without profit.

In the original story, one major reason he joined Akatsuki was his coveting of Bloodline Limits such as the Rinnegan and Sharingan.

In the end, he failed when trying to seize Itachi Uchiha’s Mangekyo Sharingan and had no choice but to flee Akatsuki in disgrace.

But this time, with Yota here, he refused to believe Orochimaru would dare harbor any ulterior motives.

"All right. If you want to join Akatsuki, you can head to the Rain Ninja Village tomorrow. Someone will come to receive you then."

Yota did not seem particularly concerned about Orochimaru wanting to join Akatsuki. No matter how much he stirred things up, he would still be working under Yota.

Orochimaru left in satisfaction. Yota stretched lazily, and just as he was preparing to do some physical training, he saw Neji Hyuga sneaking over from the distance with his father, Hizashi Hyuga, beside him.

Yota looked at the two of them strangely and asked, "What is it, Hizashi? Do you need something?"

Hizashi looked somewhat embarrassed. Neji Hyuga, however, took a deep breath and no longer appeared as timid as he had at first. He spoke to Yota. "My lord, we want to go to Kumogakure and rescue Lady Hinata."

Hizashi explained to Yota, "Hinata Hyuga is my older brother’s daughter, and also Neji’s cousin."

Even if Hizashi had not said so, Yota knew who Hinata Hyuga was. After all, even though more than a decade had passed and Yota had forgotten many details from the manga, there was no way he could forget the manga’s second female lead.

"Just the two of you? No, rather, just you alone? Aren’t you asking me to act?" Yota said, rolling his eyes. Neji Hyuga was only four years old. No matter how talented he was, he had no combat ability to speak of. Was Hizashi supposed to rescue her alone?

The Byakugan’s scouting abilities were quite good, but its combat power was only so-so. Trying to charge into that pack of Kumogakure barbarians to save someone—what, did he think he had the Tenseigan?

Hizashi smiled awkwardly, his gaze wandering.