This is roughly equivalent to the amount of money a superpower ninja village would spend to train a Jonin or elite Jonin.
Hardy is only a Special Jonin, Chiyo isn't the Third Kazekage, and Hardy isn't Chiyo's son either. That he's worth this much is partly due to being Chiyo's disciple, and partly due to his age.
A twelve-year-old Special Jonin would be considered a top-tier genius in any ninja village.
This price matches his current status.
"You look rather pleased with yourself."
Chiyo shot Hardy a look.
"For the time being, you don't need to rush out on missions. Focus on mastering the nature transformation of lightning. If you run into trouble, you can ask Qianlan or any other Jonin skilled in Lightning Release. That way, even without puppets, you'll have the full range of Jonin-level jutsu."
"In addition…"
Chiyo reached into her sleeve and pulled out a scroll.
"As a Sunagakure elder and head of the Puppet Corps, I grant you the White Secret Technique. Before you read it, you must follow the hand seals on the scroll's cover and cast a sealing jutsu on yourself to lock away the memory you're about to gain."
"This seal won't affect you in daily life, but if you're ever captured alive and someone tries to probe your memories, the seal will activate and erase this part of your memory."
Chiyo's sharp gaze fixed on Hardy.
Hardy understood that this was a small test to see if he was truly entering the inner circle of Sunagakure.
The White Secret Technique is the highest art of Sunagakure's puppet masters, the most closely guarded of their core secrets. If a Sunagakure ninja doesn't even dare to set a seal on themselves when viewing such secrets, not only will they never touch the White Secret Technique again, but their loyalty to Sunagakure will be questioned. They can forget about advancing further in the village, let alone becoming Kazekage or a high-ranking official.
Under Chiyo's gaze, Hardy glanced at the scroll's cover and decisively formed the seals.
Even if triggered, this seal would only erase the relevant memories, not kill him outright. And since Chiyo had him set the seal himself, it prevented anyone else from using it to control him.
Unless Hardy was truly captured alive and subjected to mind-reading jutsu like Mind Body Switch or Mind Reading, there would be no effect.
If it ever came to that, it would be as bad as death—maybe worse.
To climb to the position of Kazekage, one must at least prove their loyalty to Sunagakure's leadership.
He unrolled the scroll, which stretched out to two or three meters, densely packed with tiny script.
This was the core content of the White Secret Technique—hundreds of thousands of words, described in detail.
The techniques and knowledge within are an extension of the Sand and Black Secret Techniques, but on a whole new level of sophistication.
This is Sunagakure's highest secret alongside Magnet Release—a path for puppet masters to reach Kage-level strength.
Just a cursory glance at the beginning gave Hardy new insights.
It covered not only puppet manipulation, but also unique and powerful methods for puppet creation.
Chiyo said:
"After you memorize the contents, you'll need to study sealing jutsu as well. Many moves and key points in the White Secret Technique are integrated with sealing techniques. Only by mastering sealing jutsu can you truly and fully grasp the White Secret Technique. Otherwise, your ceiling will be no higher than Ishido's."
Ishido actually isn't weak either. He can...
Simultaneously controlling four puppets, each of considerable quality, his overall strength is undoubtedly that of an elite jonin.
However, Chiyo's expectations for Hardy went far beyond what she expected from Ishito.
"I understand, Teacher Chiyo."
Hardy nodded respectfully to Chiyo.
Chiyo's signature technique, the "Three Treasures Suction Destruction," is a combination of puppet and sealing techniques, and is extremely powerful.
Sealing techniques are easy to learn but difficult to master. If you just want to get started, you only need to memorize a series of related knowledge, and you can try using basic seal formations like the Lamp Array.
But if you want to achieve some real proficiency, it's not so simple. Ishito had studied for many years and still couldn't be considered even moderately skilled.
Moreover, the foundation of Sand Village's ninjutsu is the weakest among the Five Great Ninja Villages. In the original timeline, when the other major villages had already developed relatively stable methods for sealing and controlling tailed beasts, Rasa still had to send his brother-in-law to test Gaara from time to time.
Regardless of whether Rasa's actions were foolish or not, at the very least, it proves that even the Fourth Kazekage himself did not trust his own village's sealing techniques to properly contain a tailed beast.
In fact, the One-Tail Shukaku went on rampages multiple times and had to be suppressed by Rasa, who needed to rely on certain ninja tools designed for sealing to re-contain the beast.
However, in recent years, Sand Village has not experienced any tailed beast rampages. One reason is that the relationship between the jinchuriki, Monk Bunpuku, and Shukaku has improved. Another is that Chiyo, the only one in Sand Village who could truly be called a sealing technique expert, had not yet retired from the world as she would in later years.
...
...
After being placed on the bounty list, Hardy was quite happy that Chiyo gave her some time off.
Lightning Release nature transformation, the White Secret Technique, sealing arts—other than the first, which might not take too long, the others would require a great deal of time and effort to master, not to mention that Hardy was also working on the important project of developing the Breath of Departure.
The smooth progress of the war also exceeded Hardy's expectations.
Before Chiyo could even get in touch with Kakuzu, Konoha had already sent over a negotiation agreement.
Because Kumogakure finally couldn't hold back and began advancing towards the Land of Fire, the Land of Hot Water, which served as a buffer between the two great nations of Lightning and Fire, couldn't even hold out for three days before the Third Raikage led his forces to conquer the entire country, stationing troops at the border of the Land of Fire and launching a full-scale war.
Danzo and Jiraiya were in the Land of Rain, while Orochimaru and Mitokado Homura were in the Land of Rivers. Kato Dan was dead, Tsunade was half-crippled, and Hiruzen Sarutobi had to either send Koharu Utatane or go himself.
The strength of the Third Raikage was recognized throughout the ninja world. Since his debut, he had never suffered a defeat. Even other Kage could at best fight him to a draw. Although Koharu Utatane wasn't old yet, her strength was only so-so; facing the Third Raikage, surviving would already be considered fortunate.
Therefore, Hiruzen Sarutobi had no choice but to personally don his armor and go to the front lines to confront the Third Raikage.
At this point in the ninja world, the Third Hokage was still among the strongest on the surface. With his mastery of all five chakra natures and versatile techniques, he could reliably defeat Kage-level opponents weaker than himself. Against someone like the Third Raikage, who was also at the peak of Kage-level, even if he couldn't win, he could at least fight him to a standstill and look for opportunities.