Chapter 213: The Mission Difficulty Suddenly Increased Greatly
If the meteorite were useless, Kenichi would have handed it over without hesitation. Six hundred million ryō was not a small amount, and the daimyo of the Land of Bears had clearly dug deep, probably emptying his coffers.
But the problem was, this meteorite was anything but useless.
It was a bizarre object that was radioactive and could even release chakra. Kenichi had no intention of giving it to anyone. Not for six hundred million.
Not even for six billion.
Of course, if the current daimyo of the Land of Bears somehow produced six billion ryō, Kenichi would not mind a little "no grass, no fat horse" situation.
"My lord, this really is everything I have!" the daimyo pleaded the moment Kenichi refused. Anxiety crept into his voice. "I truly have no money left!"
This time, he was not lying. The six hundred million had been scraped together by emptying his private treasury. Other funds were not something he could touch without consequences. If he did, the country's finances would collapse.
He could not exactly collect taxes ten years in advance.
"I understand," Kenichi said, giving the fat man a second look. "But the answer is still no."
He had originally assumed this daimyo was just a glutton who chased beauty and pleasure. Instead, he was a fat man with ambition, aspirations, and a dangerous amount of stubbornness.
Why else would he go to such lengths for that stone?
The answer was obvious. The fact he was willing to pay so much, to the point of emptying his coffers, proved how desperately he wanted it.
Kenichi clicked his tongue inwardly. That kind of determination was impressive in its own way.
But it also raised a question.
Why would someone be this obsessed with a stone that could give power while also accelerating death?
"My lord, you" the daimyo tried to press again.
Then he saw Kenichi's eyes.
The three tomoe in Kenichi's Sharingan turned slowly, calmly, like a clock counting down.
The daimyo's words died in his throat. His focus vanished, and his expression went slack.
"How troublesome," Kenichi muttered. "The last person who annoyed me like this got turned into paste by an electromagnetic cannon."
He rolled his eyes, then clapped his hands once and glanced at the tightly shut door behind the daimyo.
The next instant, a bolt of lightning shot from Kenichi's hand and pierced straight through the door.
"Senpai… this…" Deidara swallowed hard, staring at the money in front of them.
"Take it." Kenichi smiled as he closed the box.
Six hundred million ryō. Why would he not take it? Refusing it would be the real loss.
With money laid out like this, who would pretend to be noble?
As for "rules," the ninja hiding behind that door had already been killed by him. And the daimyo was just an ordinary man.
Kenichi had already placed a triple memory lock on him.
He did it the same way he handled Gato before, only more covert. A three layer maze.
Even if the daimyo somehow "unlocked" the first layer, he would think he found the truth, when it was still fake.
If he forced open a second layer, it would still be fake.
Even a third would not lead to reality.
That was the ninja world. As extraordinary combatants, ninja could do things far beyond ordinary people's comprehension.
And it was unlikely this daimyo would ever realize what had been done to him. Even if he hired someone to try to undo it, fully removing it would be extremely difficult.
Kenichi had used the Sharingan to assist the genjutsu. Unless the other party's genjutsu mastery was truly high, it would not work.
And people with that level of mastery were expensive.
Kenichi glanced at Deidara and began dividing the money without hesitation.
"I'll give you one hundred million. I'll take five hundred million."
"Senpai, I" Deidara waved his hands frantically. His eyes were wide. "That's one hundred million ryō! How many missions would I have to do to earn that? And this time, I didn't even do much. I was mostly slacking off."
"Just take it." Kenichi waved him off.
Keeping everything for himself was not good. But splitting it evenly was not right either.
Deidara's biggest contribution this time was the cluster bombs, and nothing else. One hundred million was already plenty.
Besides, if one hundred million could buy Deidara's deeper loyalty and gratitude, why not?
Deidara's future potential was excellent. His Explosion Release alone could save Kenichi a ridiculous amount of funding later.
Once Deidara matured, most missiles and grenades below thermobaric bombs could be replaced by him. Even thermobaric bombs themselves might not be out of reach.
Seeing the excitement burning in Deidara's eyes, Kenichi stored the money away.
Then he glanced at the daimyo, still sitting on the cushion with a blank stare, and turned to leave.
Now it was time to return and report the mission.
Of course, the six hundred million was naturally not going to Nagato.
"Once the new experimental rice seeds are ready," Kenichi thought as he moved, "it'll be time to ask Nagato for more funding."
He jumped onto the rooftop.
The moment his feet touched the tiles, he froze.
Someone was already there.
White hair. A rough nose. An old man crouched in the sunrise.
"!" Deidara also saw him and stiffened.
Jiraiya.
The rising sun cast light over the roof, leaving Jiraiya's face slightly shadowed, his expression unreadable.
Kenichi felt a headache coming on.
Jiraiya was one of the Sannin. He had the strength to match the title. And perhaps because he trained Sage Mode, Kenichi had not sensed him crouching here.
"I didn't expect this," Jiraiya said, voice drawn out like he was performing on stage. His gaze stayed locked on Kenichi. "I came out this morning thinking of inviting you, young man, to take a bath. Instead, I saw something like this."
Kenichi's temples throbbed.
"Jiraiya of the Sannin." Kenichi frowned. He could not casually expose his identity, not here. Not now. "What do you want?"
He could not let Jiraiya get curious.
The Akatsuki operated in the shadows. Even if the organization had already gained attention earlier because of thermobaric bombs, if Jiraiya started targeting them now, this entire situation would become far more interesting.
And if it came to blows, Nagato would not hold back against Jiraiya.
In the ninja world, being a teacher was a dangerous profession.
Things had a habit of going wrong.
Jiraiya squinted. "Your clothes are interesting. What organization are you from?"
Kenichi raised an eyebrow.
So Jiraiya really was sniffing around them.
Kenichi let out a short chuckle. "Are you here to hire someone to assassinate the Third Hokage?"
He would not reveal anything about the Akatsuki. He still intended to make the Akatsuki work for him.
If they could fund his research, why would he sabotage that?
So if Jiraiya wanted answers, he could chase them himself, slowly, until he got tired.
Jiraiya's eyes narrowed, irritation flashing across his face. "Then I'll have to test whether your organization is even capable of taking that kind of mission."
His annoyance was obvious.
The guy in front of him spoke like he had thorns. It was grating.
Everyone knew the Sannin were all disciples of the Third Hokage. Saying something like that was pure provocation.
Jiraiya stood up.
His cheeks puffed.
A scorching stream of flame burst from his mouth.
Kenichi sighed.
He came out to destroy a small village, and he ended up running into Jiraiya. The difficulty of this mission had skyrocketed.
Those Hoshigakure ninja from yesterday, even all together, were not as troublesome as this man.
But Jiraiya had made the first move, so Kenichi could not just stand there.
Kenichi knew Jiraiya's reputation well, from what his teacher had said.
"That idiot," his teacher had once said, "though lecherous and foolish, is still a very competent ninja. Beneath his crude surface, he's meticulous enough to make your skin crawl."
And it was true.
Jiraiya's fighting style was exactly like that. When facing someone for the first time, he was cautious. He tested tactics, specialties, and signature techniques. He was a man who planned before acting.
He gathered intelligence too, far more than even Itachi provided while undercover in the Akatsuki.
Of course, it was hard to say whether Itachi, after leaving Konoha, was trading Akatsuki intelligence for Sasuke's safety.
Even so, it proved one thing.
Jiraiya was a dangerous ninja.
In the end, he even managed to gather information on Pain, though he paid for it with his life.
A surge of water rushed forward, smashing into Jiraiya's Flame Bullet and exploding into steam.
At the same time, dense fog swallowed the rooftop and the surrounding courtyard.
"Hm?" Jiraiya paused, genuinely surprised. "Hidden Mist Jutsu? Why does it feel stronger than normal? And it seems…"
He knew this jutsu. That was exactly why it felt wrong.
Hidden Mist Jutsu was favored by shinobi from the Hidden Mist Village in the Land of Water. Combined with silent killing, it had earned a reputation.
But this fog was too thick.
Even puzzled, Jiraiya did not hesitate.
If he did not understand what the opponent was doing, then restricting their movement first was always correct.
His hands clapped together.
The ground shifted and collapsed as the courtyard turned into a swamp. Even after sinking more than five meters, everything was still drowned in fog.
Jiraiya opened his mouth again, releasing a powerful gust. The wind tore through the mist and dispersed most of it.
What appeared before him was an empty daimyo's mansion.
Only the daimyo remained, still sitting in the courtyard with a vacant stare, trapped in the lingering genjutsu.
"They ran?" Jiraiya cursed. "Do they have no pride as powerful individuals!"
Those two mysterious people had actually fled.
It felt like punching cotton.
.....
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