Hearing Coulson mention the color-coded items, Kabuto began explaining:
"There are many items listed here, and all of them together are worth far more than six billion dollars, even at your internal pricing."
"The items marked in red are mandatory for this transaction, yellow items are limited in necessity, and blue items are even less critical."
"As for the items without any markings, those can be negotiated in future deals."
Coulson nodded, "I'll take this tablet with me, but could you give me one of the 'Curse Marks of Fire' as a down payment?"
Kabuto shook his head slightly. "It's payment on delivery. We don't have enough trust built for that yet."
Coulson wasn't surprised by the refusal. After all, this wasn't a negotiation with Charles.
"When we're ready with the supplies, where do we send them for the transaction?"
"No need for transportation. Once you're prepared, contact me, and I'll come to collect the materials."
Coulson nodded, pocketed the tablet, and bid farewell to Kabuto before leaving the sushi restaurant.
…
S.H.I.E.L.D. New York Division-
Coulson wasted no time heading straight to Director Fury's office with the tablet, ready to share the information with him. He needed to inform Fury of the materials on the list and begin preparations.
Soon, Coulson stood outside Nick Fury's office and knocked on the door.
"Come in."
Upon hearing the voice, Coulson entered the room.
Seeing that it was Coulson, Nick Fury set aside his work, leaned back in his chair, and said, "Shouldn't you be with Killer Bee, attending the Firestone Music Festival?"
Coulson took a few steps forward, placed the tablet on Fury's desk, and said, "Killer Bee has others with him. There's no need to worry."
"Today, Kabuto finally responded to my message and agreed to meet."
"I met him at a sushi restaurant. He's now working under Orochimaru and has completely removed his Leaf Village headband, replacing it with the Sound Village emblem."
Hearing this, Nick Fury asked curiously, "Do you think he could be a spy Charles sent to monitor Orochimaru?"
Coulson thought back to his meeting with Kabuto and the conversation they had before replying, "I'm not sure, but I wouldn't rule it out, though it doesn't seem very likely."
Nick Fury picked up the tablet Coulson had placed on the desk and asked, "What's on this?"
"Kabuto, on behalf of the Sound Village, agreed to temporarily set aside any conflicts with S.H.I.E.L.D. In the tablet, there's information on a newly developed serum called the Curse Mark of Fire."
"It's something that can create superhumans, though it's different from the body-enhancing serums."
Nick Fury's interest was piqued. "Oh, now that's intriguing."
Fury played the video showing the Curse Mark of Fire in action while Coulson explained that it couldn't be used alongside body-enhancing serums and detailed the purchase methods Kabuto had outlined.
After watching the video, Fury opened the list of materials on the tablet, skimmed through it, and said, "All are restricted or forbidden items. Lots of experimental equipment, too."
"It seems the Sound Village has quite the research and experimental capabilities. I heard Orochimaru defected from the village due to human experimentation. It turns out he's quite the scientist," Fury remarked.
Coulson nodded in agreement. "Based on our intelligence and this list of materials, Orochimaru isn't just an elite, Kage-level ninja; he's also a highly capable scientist."
"This Curse Mark of Fire is a product of his research. I suspect it was inspired by the Extremis virus, and Michael, who was taken by the Sound Ninja, likely ended up in Orochimaru's hands as an experimental subject."
Nick Fury nodded thoughtfully. "The ninja world seems to be full of talent."
"You've done a great job this time. Maintain our connection with Kabuto."
"I'll get the materials prepared as soon as possible. Those three Curse Marks of Fire will boost our power and help compensate for the gap left by Chen."
"Understood, Director."
"You can get back to work. Once the materials are ready, I'll inform you."
"In the meantime, keep an eye on Killer Bee and his rap inquiries. It seems he enjoys that."
"Yes, Director."
As Coulson left, Fury glanced once more at the video on the tablet. S.H.I.E.L.D.'s research team had yet to crack the body-enhancing serum, and now they had the Curse Mark of Fire to deal with.
He knew the ten-billion-dollar item had to be sent to the lab for testing and reverse engineering. Perhaps it would hold some new key to advancing their research.
With that in mind, Fury sent the list of materials to logistics, ordering them to prepare everything and store it in a designated warehouse.
As for the tablet Coulson brought, Fury instructed his team to destroy it once its contents had been processed.
…
Meanwhile, on the other side-
Charles Doyle received intelligence via the slug from Killer Bee, reporting that S.H.I.E.L.D. had discovered an element capable of randomly controlling gravity, called Gravitonium.
However, the scientist who discovered it, Dr. Hall, had died, and Coulson had sealed away all of the Gravitonium in an undisclosed location.
After reading Killer Bee's report, Charles chuckled, not particularly concerned.
He knew that Dr. Hall wasn't truly dead. Eventually, he would return as a villain, and that would be the ideal time to acquire the new element.
What Charles was curious about was whether Gravitonium could be used similarly to the isotopes of the Tesseract that Tony Stark had discovered—perhaps even as a way to recharge his system.
If that were possible, it would be a valuable asset.
Turning on the TV, Charles casually flipped through a few channels until landing on the live broadcast of the Firestone Music Festival.
Seeing Killer Bee performing on stage, Charles smiled. But after hearing some of the lyrics, he quickly lost interest. It was just a few simple words.
He then thought of the Curse Mark of Fire that Orochimaru had sent over a while ago. He admired Orochimaru's innovation in creating yet another version of the Curse Mark, though this time it didn't contain fragments of his soul.
This serum was now designated for the Sound Village, with Orochimaru handling its distribution to gather resources for the village.
After all, Orochimaru, having defected, needed to be self-sufficient now. There weren't many ninja left to support him.
###
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