"Leaf needs an explanation. A terrorist organization deliberately provoking conflict in the ninja world is absolutely intolerable."
"Or is the Rain Village trying to provoke Leaf?"
Shikato sat in his chair, tapping the table with his fingers in a steady rhythm. The soft, repetitive sound filled the room as he stared darkly at the Rain Village envoy and spoke in a threatening tone.
The Anbu intelligence officers had already found out the Rain Village's actual situation. This attack on the Land of Iron was only meant to be a quick raid before leaving. They had never intended to launch a full war against the Land of Iron. Facing Leaf's threat, as long as the Rain Village leader Hanzo had a normal brain, he would definitely take the chance to step down and withdraw from the Land of Iron.
Even if Leaf was now wearing neckties and doing business, its achievement of fighting four villages at once during the First Ninja World War had resounded throughout the ninja world. The blood on its blade had not even dried yet.
"A misunderstanding. It is all a misunderstanding. Lord Shikato, please do not be angry. The Rain Village absolutely has no intention of provoking Leaf."
Facing Shikato's intimidation, the Rain Village envoy could only admit fault repeatedly.
Weak countries had no diplomacy. The Rain Village was only an emerging ninja village that had just begun to rise. It was not qualified to become Leaf's enemy.
Especially after the Rain Village envoy had witnessed Leaf's prosperity, he had to do everything possible to avoid becoming enemies with Leaf.
Even if the Rain Village wanted to become the sixth great ninja village in the future and establish its authority in the ninja world, it would have to pick one of the Five Great Ninja Villages that was easier to bully.
For example, the Sand Village.
"A misunderstanding?"
"I hope so. Your ninja sent into the Land of Iron should have looted enough by now. This matter ends here!"
Shikato stopped while he was ahead and did not push too hard. As long as the Rain Village ninja were forced back, that was enough.
As for sending ninja to help the Land of Iron wipe out the Rain Village ninja, that was impossible.
Wealth could be gathered in a short time, but ninja needed time to train. The First Ninja World War had cost Leaf far too many ninja. Some small ninja families had nearly been driven to extinction. Even now, Leaf was still recovering on its old foundation.
At the very least, it would take another three to five years before Leaf's ninja numbers entered an explosive growth period. Focusing wholeheartedly on development was the current policy Haru had set.
"Of course. Of course. Once I return, I will immediately convey Leaf's position to our leader. I can guarantee that within one month, all Rain Village ninja will withdraw from the Land of Iron."
The Rain Village envoy made a promise. Hanzo had given him substantial diplomatic authority before he came. At the same time, he was also responsible for investigating Leaf's true condition.
Leaf was still that unreachable number one village in the ninja world.
The Rain Village could not become Leaf's enemy. During this period, they had already made a fortune burning, killing, and looting in the Land of Iron. They had to stop while they were ahead.
"Very well. I hope you can keep your word. Otherwise, Leaf will absolutely make the Rain Village pay a painful price."
"Naturally. Please rest assured, Lord Shikato."
The Rain Village envoy nodded repeatedly, without doubting Shikato's words in the slightest.
With Leaf's strength, dealing with the current Rain Village would absolutely bring the Rain Village a devastating disaster.
Shikato smiled in satisfaction. Everything had gone so smoothly.
Afterward, Shikato and the Rain Village envoy walked out of the meeting room and saw the Land of Iron envoy anxiously waiting outside.
"The Rain Village has already promised Leaf that all Rain Village ninja in the Land of Iron will withdraw within one month."
"What? It still takes one month?"
The Land of Iron envoy's expression turned miserable. They had paid such a heavy price and signed a treaty that sold out the country, yet the Rain Village was still going to burn, kill, and loot in the Land of Iron for one more month!
The Rain ninja were very skilled. They chased after the nobles and merchants of the Land of Iron to rob them, using their household-raiding skills from the Land of Rain without restraint in the Land of Iron. They had no intention of scraping money from the poor. Time was tight and the mission was heavy. How much money could poor ghosts have?
The reason the Land of Iron's nobles and daimyo were rushing to ask Leaf for help was because the Rain ninja were carrying out precise looting.
If they were only robbing the common people, the lords would not care.
"Yes. The Rain ninja have gained quite a lot in the Land of Iron. They still need some time to transport those gains back home."
A trace of a smile appeared at the corner of the Rain Village envoy's mouth. With Shikato beside him, he still did not dare to be too arrogant.
Quite a lot?
They had made an absolute fortune. Those nobles were all unbelievably rich.
"You! You!"
"Lord Shikato, Leaf must uphold justice for the Land of Iron!"
The Land of Iron envoy was so angry that he could hardly speak. Those gains were the family fortunes that the Land of Iron nobles had accumulated over several generations, even over a dozen generations. Now all of it had been seized by those Rain Village bandits, and they even dared say it in front of him. This was simply trampling on his face.
"Enough!"
"This matter ends here. The Rain Village ninja must leave the Land of Iron within one month!"
Shikato had no interest in arguing here. He had already done what he promised the Land of Iron. The Rain Village had agreed to withdraw. The rest was none of his business.
Besides, what good things could nobles be?
Every one of them was a parasite.
Nobles were all fat pigs. Slaughtering one could feed people for a long time. A year ago, Leaf had eaten its fill in the Land of Fire. Who knew when they would get to eat another meal like that?
Shikato walked out of the room. He still had many things to do.
Only the Rain Village envoy and the Land of Iron envoy were left behind.
Seeing that Shikato had left, the Rain Village envoy finally released the emotions he had been suppressing. He looked at the Land of Iron envoy with disdain and sneered.
"Samurai are as weak as chicks in front of ninja. Hmph. Just wait. This time, your Land of Iron got lucky!"
After saying that, the Rain Village envoy walked out of the room.
He had to return and report Leaf's latest intelligence to Lord Hanzo.
The weak had no bargaining power.
The Land of Iron envoy's face twisted, and his heart was filled with humiliation.
Leaf did not take the Land of Iron seriously. The Rain Village did not take the Land of Iron seriously either.
The Land of Iron could not continue clinging to its old ways. Only by embracing chakra could the Land of Iron become strong.
The Land of Iron also needed to establish a ninja village!
Time quietly passed.
Most of the sun had already sunk below the horizon. The remaining light reflected across the sky, turning the clouds a warm orange-red.
"We're finally off work!"
"I'm so tired!"
"There's no night shift tonight. I can finally sleep early!"
Complaints and joyful voices reached Madara's ears.
He moved his wrist slightly. After an afternoon of work, even he felt a trace of fatigue. However, it was nothing. Compared with the intensity of fighting Hashirama, this fatigue was only a boring diversion. It did not make him feel like dancing at all.
"Group Leader Madara, are you eating dinner with us?"
Facing the enthusiastic invitation from the workers in his group, Madara shook his head and refused.
He was going to recover his dignity now. Dinner could be eaten at any time, but recovering face could not be delayed!
He had waited for this day for a very long time.
Depart!
After leaving the factory and passing through several streets of Leaf, Madara arrived at the card shop. As expected, it was as lively as ever.
The factory's afternoon work ended an hour later than the students' classes, but these students still did not go home after school. Instead, they gathered here to watch others draw cards.
Hmph. Losing themselves in toys!
Ito Sosuke was not there. He was probably selling roasted sweet potatoes. At night, he still had to work a part-time job to support his family. He only had a little free time at noon to waste here.
What a pity. That kid could not personally witness this old man's financial power!
Madara felt a little regretful. He slowly walked to the counter and pointed at the rows of card packs on display.
Today, he would buy every card pack in the shop until he collected every card.
"This old man will buy all of today's cards!"
"I will collect the full set!"
Madara boldly took out a thick stack of bills. First, one hundred draws to test the waters!
Everyone present sucked in a cold breath.
What an extravagant old man!
Seeing that Madara was so rich, the shop owner warmly took the card packs out of the counter and piled them in front of Madara.
"Hashirama."
"Hashirama."
"Hashirama."
"Tobirama. Bad luck!"
"Another hundred packs!"
"One hundred packs!"
"One hundred packs!"
Madara's hands moved extremely quickly. He tore open pack after pack, revealing the cards inside. As Madara's number of draws increased, the atmosphere at the scene grew heated.
So far, no one had collected all the cards. The rarest cards, such as Madara and the Nine-Tails, had only been printed in single digits by Haru. Up until now, only one or two had appeared on the market.
Not only that, Haru was also increasing the difficulty of collecting a full set. Recently, he had printed a batch of cards for the first Kage of the other Five Great Ninja Villages and added them to the new card packs.
In the future, he would keep adding more, all to continuously empty the wallets of the Ninja Academy students.
The final interpretation rights of this event belonged to this shop. Haru had printed that line in the lowest corner of the cards when they were released.
Although the students were dissatisfied, as long as they collected all the cards before the new cards appeared, they could meet Haru and obtain his signature.
So, in order to collect the full set, money and luck were both indispensable.
"Where did this old man come from? How is he so rich?"
"Good thing I stayed here to play today even though my mom might beat me. Damn, I got so absorbed watching this that if I go home now, she'll definitely break my legs. Whatever. I got to witness history. Even if my legs get broken when I go back, it's worth it!"
"This old man has already collected One-Tail through Eight-Tails, the First Hokage, the Second Hokage, and the newly released First Tsuchikage of the Stone Village, First Mizukage of the Mist Village, and First Kazekage of the Sand Village. Only the rarest Nine-Tails and the rarest of the rare, Lord Madara, are left."
"Come on, old man! I'm fired up!"
"Go!"
Cheers and encouragement filled Madara's ears.
Ten years of drinking ice had not cooled the blood in his veins. Ever since Hashirama died, this feeling of his blood surging and his heart pounding fiercely finally appeared again.
Draw cards!
Next pack!
Long time no see, this feeling of dancing!
Madara's hands moved at high speed. His experience on the factory line, screwing parts overtime during this period, had raised his hand speed to another level. He tore open the card packs without stopping.
"This is... gold! The Nine-Tails card!"
"Yes! Only the last card left! This is history!"
"Boss, another hundred packs!"
Madara took out another stack of bills, indicating that the owner should hurry and bring out all the card packs in the warehouse.
If he did not draw his own card today and collect the entire set, he, Madara, would not stop!
The owner moved swiftly and quickly brought out another box of cards from inventory. Even he had been infected by the atmosphere. He was only working for Haru, and even he did not know when someone would finally collect the full set.
Perhaps it would be today.
"Draw! Draw!"
"Lord Madara's card has to come out!"
Another two hundred packs were torn open.
Unfortunately, the card Madara wanted still did not appear.
But financial power was financial power. If it did not appear in these two hundred packs, then another two hundred packs!
"It appeared!"
"Lord Madara's card!"
"Awesome! We witnessed history!"
"Someone finally collected the full set. So it really is possible to collect every card. I only hate that I don't have enough money. How much did this cost?"
A smile appeared on Madara's face.
Success. He had finally succeeded!
"Hahahaha!"
"Hahahahaha!"
Madara covered his face and began laughing wildly, looking as though he had been overwhelmed by joy.
"This old man wouldn't happen to be from our clan, would he? Why does he laugh exactly like my grandpa when he gets excited?"
A Uchiha boy with a fan crest sewn onto the back of his clothes scratched his head as he spoke. This posture, this expression, this laughter. If someone said the old man in front of him was not an Uchiha, that would be...
"I think he should be. You laugh like that when you get excited too."
"Really? Is my laugh that exaggerated?"
"Of course it's true. Is this old man really from your Uchiha clan?"
"I don't know. I don't remember seeing him. I should have met all the elders in the clan."
The whole card shop was filled with cheers.
After Madara finished laughing, he carefully put the full set of cards away and placed them in the box that the owner had prepared long ago.
"Old man, let's take a photo. You are the first customer in our shop to collect all the cards."
"Smile."
The owner pulled out a camera and took Madara's picture without giving him a chance to refuse.
A smile appeared on Madara's face, and his fingers stiffly formed a Y shape.
"Old man, when do you plan to redeem the reward? I can schedule a time with Lord Hokage. He will specifically make time to meet you in his office and sign an autograph for you."
"There is no need for now. I plan to give this set of cards to someone else."
Madara waved his hand and refused.
Haru was only a junior. If he truly wanted to meet him, he could meet him at any time. It was simply not the appropriate moment yet.
As for Haru's signature, what was that worth?
"Very well. This shop looks forward to your next visit."
Madara greatly enjoyed the worshipful gazes the children in the shop gave him.
That was how it should be. Leaf's children should worship me, Lord Madara. Why should they always worship that wooden-headed Hashirama?
It was about time to leave.
He was truly looking forward to what kind of expression Ito Sosuke would make when he saw this complete set of cards.
Would he faint from excitement?
Madara was truly looking forward to it.
He turned around and prepared to leave the shop. The owner promptly asked what should be done with the remaining cards, which had already piled up into a small mountain.
"Hmph."
Madara looked around. The brats all revealed expectant expressions.
"Give them all to these brats. This old man doesn't need them!"
After saying that, Madara left the shop without looking back. Behind him came waves of cheers.
Leave when the matter is done, hiding one's achievements and name!
That felt good!
(End of Chapter)
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