The fire gradually died down, and Gekko Chizan looked furious, clearly extremely annoyed.
Inside his mind, he glared viciously at Chomei, who sheepishly muttered,
"This is definitely the paralysis powder's fault... otherwise this wouldn't have happened."
Gekko Chizan wasn't having any of it. He immediately roared,
"You're still talking?!"
"Do you know my eyes were almost contaminated?!"
"My god! I actually helped you put that scale powder on someone! If I hadn't reacted fast enough, my eyes would be gone!"
Chomei had no idea what to say. After all, both experiments had failed, and he was feeling quite embarrassed.
Gekko Chizan was even more speechless now—one Great Fireball Jutsu had burned up 14 charred corpses.
If there were an achievement system, he would definitely have earned a brand new achievement:
The Great Fireball Jutsu can finally kill someone!
"Chizan, there's still one guy left..."
"Don't even think about it. I need that one alive. We're already pretty close to the Land of Fields."
When he mentioned the Land of Fields, Gekko Chizan showed a sly grin.
He had a big plan for keeping Troy. This was a bloodline limit ninja—who knew how much he'd fetch on the black market?
You had to know, even Asuma could go for 35 million ryo in the future. A Magnet Release ninja like this, while not much in battle, had a valuable bloodline limit.
But since he was going to the black market, he definitely couldn't do it in the Land of Lightning's black market.
He first dug a large pit on the spot to bury the 14 corpses, and then released all the horses.
Then he hoisted Troy over his shoulder and dashed toward the Land of Fields.
For safety, he gave Troy another heavy dose of paralysis powder. If not for the faint breathing, Gekko Chizan would've thought he was dead.
But not long after setting off, Gekko Chizan had to stop, exhausted.
"Damn... are all Kumogakure shinobi bodybuilders or what? Why's he so heavy?"
"My physique isn't bad, and yet I'm already this tired from carrying him?"
Gekko Chizan stared at Troy in disbelief. He really hadn't expected someone who looked so average to be this heavy.
No wonder Kumogakure was full of fighters—they're all pure muscle!
"This isn't gonna work. I'll wait until night and fly there instead. This is way too tiring."
He propped Troy against a tree trunk and sat down to rest.
He ate some dried food and waited until nightfall before taking action again.
Wings sprouted out, and Gekko Chizan grabbed Troy by the ankle and lifted off into the sky.
After all, using his wings meant tapping into Tailed Beast power. With chakra to support it, it was much easier.
"Chomei, can your scale powder induce a state of suspended animation?"
"Suspended animation? What do you mean?"
"I mean, no heartbeat or breathing, but still alive."
"Oh, faking death? Yeah, sure. Why? You wanna learn it?"
The moment Gekko Chizan heard that, his interest was piqued.
He knew insects would fake death to escape predators—he wanted to see if the same could work here.
"No, I want you to make this guy enter a suspended animation state so I can sell him for money."
"Sell for money? What do you mean?"
"Never mind that. Just help me fake his death."
"Oh, okay. That's simple. Might be tricky with scale powder though."
Gekko Chizan was puzzled, but Chomei quickly explained.
"You stuff scale powder into his throat and nose. Its paralysis properties will send him into a deep coma."
"Then inject some chakra into the powder to maintain activity. The powder will shut down his internal functions to a halt, but thanks to the chakra, he won't die. Once the powder disperses, he'll wake up."
Gekko Chizan's eyes widened. Who knew scale powder could be used like this?
"Hmph, what do you think scale powder is? It's infused with chakra."
"As long as chakra stays in his body, he won't die. Instead, the powder keeps him in a state of suspended animation."
For a moment, Chomei's image magnified in Gekko Chizan's eyes. Everything that had happened before was now water under the bridge.
"Chomei, not bad at all. With this trick, I'm good to go."
This way, he could sell Troy to the black market in a faked death state.
Gekko Chizan didn't care much for the black market, but money was still money.
Originally, he thought it was risky. But with Chomei's fake death trick, he felt a lot better.
As for what would happen when Troy woke up? He couldn't care less. By then, he'd already have cashed out and returned to Konoha.
...
Under the night sky, Gekko Chizan sped toward the Land of Waterfalls.
Why the Land of Waterfalls? Because this country had no part in the great wars of the shinobi world.
With Chomei's chakra assisting him, Gekko Chizan crossed through the Land of Fields and into the Land of Waterfalls by dawn.
Returning to an old haunt, Gekko Chizan grew sentimental.
"Chomei, if I hadn't come here that time, I wouldn't have met you."
Chomei sighed as well. Without Gekko Chizan, he'd still be sealed up by Takigakure.
"Yeah... now that I think about it, I owe you. Who knows how long I would've stayed in that cave otherwise?"
The exchange station's location was very hidden. If Gekko Chizan hadn't been active in black markets for the past month, he wouldn't have found it.
There were two exchange stations in the Land of Waterfalls, one to the north and one to the south.
Gekko Chizan was now at the southern one.
"Chomei, prep the fake death scale powder—I'm ready to cash him in."
"No problem," Chomei replied, instantly forming the needed scale powder.
Following Chomei's instructions, Gekko Chizan stuffed Troy's mouth and nose with the powder. In an instant, Troy stopped moving.
"Chomei, you sure this is fake death?"
"Relax. It's definitely fake death. The scale powder I left should last a whole day. After that, he'll wake up."
Hearing that, Gekko Chizan nodded.
Then he activated the Transformation Technique and turned into a tall Iwagakure shinobi.
If anyone from Iwagakure were here, they'd instantly recognize this as their village's Jōnin—Magari.
In disguise, Gekko Chizan walked toward the exchange station.
It was a small wooden house deep in the forest, looking very run-down.
He pushed open the door and walked to the center of the floor, knocked a few times, then lifted the floorboard—revealing a vertical passage downward.
Once below, he entered a wide space with a wall made of iron lockers.
After a moment, two black-clothed men appeared.
"What do you want?"
"Hunted down a Kumogakure ninja. I'm here to cash in."
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Pls Drop some Power Stones
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