Chapter 28: Let the World Feel Happiness
"What the heck is 'Leg Kage'? No, wait, tell me your purpose for coming to Iwagakure! And what's that thing in your hand? What did you just do?"
Kurotsuchi floated right in front of Shiromo. First, she was confused, but then quickly realized this wasn't the time to be curious, so she started questioning him seriously.
"Our purpose is obviously to rescue Deidara."
Shiromo remained calm as ever.
There's a particular feature to Time Erasure: during the period of erasure, Shiromo cannot affect anything outside of it, and nothing outside can affect him either.
When the wandering samurai swung his blade at Shiromo on the Bridge of the Land of Waves, Shiromo activated Time Erasure and didn't need to dodge. His body passed straight through the sword and walked to a safe spot.
That's right, this meant there was no barrier or physical trap that could restrain Shiromo.
Even when Nagato's "Chibaku Tensei" hit Shiromo, even if Shiromo hadn't activated his new moon gravity reversal, Nagato hadn't undone the jutsu, Shiromo could still escape the "Chibaku Tensei" sphere using Time Erasure.
So, against Kurotsuchi's Quicklime Congealing trap, Shiromo didn't need to dodge.
Dodging was pointless, it would just make her chase him, wasting time for no reason.
But Kurotsuchi didn't know that.
Hearing Shiromo say he was here to rescue Deidara, Kurotsuchi couldn't help but laugh: "Hmph, you were so easily caught. What makes you think you can save Deidara-nii?"
"By the way, you still haven't answered my question. What was that thing you pulled out just now, and what were you doing with it? Were you sending messages to your organization, asking for more help?"
Kurotsuchi floated closer, her suspicion growing.
Shiromo, now completely encased in the Quicklime Congealing jutsu with only his head exposed, had no problem responding.
"An old-fashioned camera. I just took a picture."
Shiromo answered casually, his tone smooth as ever.
Kurotsuchi was taken aback.
She had never encountered such a spineless person before. No matter what she asked, he just answered honestly.
"Took a picture? Why?"
"To collect information, and also to gather intelligence, so that people who don't know the Tsuchikage's precious granddaughter know what she looks like."."
"Collecting information…"
Kurotsuchi's expression became serious.
She completely ignored the part about "collecting information" and instead focused on whether Shiromo had any ulterior motives for gathering her information.
Was this targeting her grandpa Onoki? Or was it aimed at Iwagakure?
"Since you're so cooperative, I'll release you from the Quicklime Congealing jutsu and take your camera and photos. Don't think about using this chance to form seals and attack. I'll be ready. The next time you try anything, it won't just be a trap to hold you down."
Kurotsuchi said as she raised her right hand, about to touch the rock that had solidified Shiromo's limbs and break part of it.
However…
"Here, take it."
"Ah, okay."
Kurotsuchi subconsciously accepted it.
Then, her pupils contracted, and she quickly distanced herself from Shiromo.
"You!"
Kurotsuchi was stunned, looking at the camera and the photo still inserted in it, confused about how Shiromo managed to escape.
"Don't worry, I'm not hostile."
Since he was exposed, Shiromo simply walked out of the Quicklime Congealing jutsu.
In Kurotsuchi's eyes, Shiromo flashed and instantly teleported out from within it.
With Shiromo's control over gravity now gone, the Quicklime Congealing shell fell straight down to the ground.
At this moment, Kurotsuchi realized something had felt off earlier, if she had truly trapped him, why was he still floating in midair, with the Quicklime Congealing jutsu still hovering?
"We are an organization that loves peace. Our leader often says, 'Let the world feel happiness' and 'Ninjutsu is used to bring smiles to people's faces.'"
"If there's anything your Iwagakure can't handle or if you have missions that you can't solve, feel free to reach out to us."
"If the mission is right, we'll step in and guarantee a 100% success rate."
Shiromo said these words deliberately.
In the original story, it was made clear that Iwagakure had once hired the Akatsuki organization.
Aside from the Kumogakure Village, all other villages had rogue ninjas in Akatsuki. But only Iwagakure Village had directly hired Akatsuki.
Why was that?
It was simple. If you looked at Onoki and Kurotsuchi's attitude toward Deidara, you'd understand.
Iwagakure didn't issue a bounty on Deidara. Onoki and the others didn't treat Deidara as a bitter enemy.
To Onoki, Deidara was just a rebellious kid.
Since they couldn't persuade him, they chose to hire him instead, taking the indirect approach to solve the problem.
For a period of time, the Akatsuki organization worked as mercenaries to gather funds. Onoki took advantage of this to hire Deidara.
This resulted in Deidara contributing more to Iwagakure while being a rogue ninja than when he was originally part of the village.
"Isn't that just mercenaries?" Kurotsuchi was slightly speechless.
"Not exactly. Mercenaries are only in it for the money."
Shiromo shook his finger in the air.
"You're so picky… What kind of crap picture did you take!"
Kurotsuchi continued to complain while pulling out the photo from the camera, giving it a glance.
She immediately couldn't hold back.
Shiromo had perfectly captured the moment when she was about to unleash the Quicklime Congealing jutsu, making her face look like a chubby baby.
[Photo]
Kurotsuchi scowled and tore up the photo, then raised the camera to take a new picture of herself, stepping forward to hand the new photo to Shiromo.
"Cough, cough, cough!"
After watching the entire scene, Onoki finally couldn't stand it anymore.
Had his foolish granddaughter completely forgotten something?
Earlier, she had been thinking that Shiromo was gathering information, so she wanted to destroy the photos. But now, seeing that she had a bad photo of herself, she just went ahead and snapped a picture and handed it to him?
Don't ask why Onoki was just watching without intervening.
As someone who had lived through the founding of Iwagakure, Onoki had seen countless battles and immediately recognized that Shiromo had no hostile intentions. He wasn't trapped but also wasn't acting aggressively.
Onoki suspected that Shiromo was just a decoy to draw their attention, and someone else was likely preparing to rescue Deidara while they were distracted.
That's why most of his attention remained focused on the cave and Deidara.
"Grandpa, you're getting too old. It's time to retire."
Kurotsuchi heard Onoki's loud coughing but didn't realize what was going on. She playfully teased him as usual.
Onoki almost fainted from anger upon hearing this.
"Ishiharu, stop!"
Suddenly, a desperate shout came from below.
Onoki froze for a moment.
Then, a kunai, with an explosive tag attached to its tail, pierced through Shiromo's head, tracing an arc in the air before landing and exploding on the ground, creating a crater.
"Just when I was worried about not finding a target, someone delivered themselves to my doorstep."
Shiromo smiled.
"Ishiharu, how could you act without orders?"
Kurotsuchi furrowed her brow.
Even if Shiromo was ambiguous in terms of friend or foe, if he was truly an enemy, they should keep him alive to extract information.
"It's alright."
Shiromo patted Kurotsuchi on the shoulder, then called out to the air above the cave: "Konan-nee, you heard the name, right? Help me send the message back."
"So there were accomplices after all!"
Onoki stood up from the rock wall, preparing to face Shiromo and his group's next move.
(End of this chapter)