Chapter 233: Shisui: Apologize? This Matter Can’t Be Let Go!

Uchiha Madara... The scene from back then flashed through Onoki’s mind, and he couldn’t help but tremble slightly. Impossible! How could that guy still be alive?! He pursed his lips. "How do you prove it?" "Prove it?" Zetsu chuckled lightly. "You can choose not to believe." Onoki was silent for a few seconds. Not believe? Such a bizarre ability was not something an ordinary person could achieve. Even if it wasn’t Uchiha Madara, he was definitely someone with vast supernatural powers and a sufficiently strong intelligence network. So, it really wasn’t important! The important thing was— "Will he participate in the war?" Zetsu spoke righteously. "We are committed to peace in the shinobi world, and the current Konoha is too strong, already affecting the peace of the shinobi world... They need to be weakened, so we will definitely participate in the war!" For a moment, Onoki couldn’t tell if the other party was "acting" or really had such thoughts. If it was true... then this force had been balancing the Five Great Villages all along. As long as the gap between the Five Great Villages was not too large, they would not appear. Now they appeared—Konoha’s new generation was truly too terrifying! Besides, if the other party’s leader was Uchiha Madara, given the grudge between Madara and Konoha, it was indeed possible that he would contact him and the Cloud Village to seek benefits. Thinking of this, Onoki said. "If we start a war, you will also be a beneficiary. It can even be said that we are cooperating with each other, so your price is still too expensive!" Zetsu replied. "Tsuchikage-sama, as I said before, you can also sell it to the Cloud Village and the Mist Village. We will not stop you. We only sell to you." "If you plan to default on the payment, I also have my own ability to get the money that belongs to me." This was a direct threat. Chakra surged within Onoki, but after weighing it for a long time, he sighed softly. With the other party’s ability, it was indeed not difficult to take money from Iwagakure. This threat was real and effective, and would also cause considerable trouble! He took out the remaining funds he had promised. Even Onoki couldn’t help but feel a pang of pain. A lot of this was his own money! Although he had been working for Iwagakure his whole life... Zetsu chuckled, then bowed in courtesy, sealing the money into a scroll. "Tsuchikage-sama, I can earn your money, and you can also go and earn other people’s money. We are sincere and moral, and will not sell to a second party." Then, he smiled faintly. "Actually, the money earned will ultimately be for the peace of the shinobi world—I will use it to pay for my subordinates’ participation in the war." Onoki asked. "Does your organization have other people?" Zetsu nodded. "Of course. With just this many people, how can we maintain world peace? We have a very complete intelligence network, and also organization members who are comparable to Kage-level." Onoki became interested. "Tell me about it. If it’s suitable, even if this operation fails, we can still cooperate often in the future." The geographical location of Iwagakure was not bad. Both commercial trade and mission income were very good. The village’s economy was decent, enough to pay high hiring fees. So, if he could use the method of hiring to reduce the risk to the village itself, and also pose a threat and cause damage to the enemy, he thought it was quite cost-effective. Zetsu chuckled lightly. "Of course, we are very happy to cooperate, so we are also willing to reveal some information." "For example, Kakuzu. We had originally wanted to pull Sasori of the Red Sand into the organization, but unfortunately, he was killed by Konoha’s Ryoho Kyohiko. He alone should be enough to carry weight, right? What’s more, we have many other organization members." Kakuzu? Onoki’s face froze. This one was indeed a heavyweight. He had heard of the other’s name back then and knew some of Kakuzu’s deeds. But... Kakuzu, Sasori... this had nothing to do with peace! Onoki was crystal clear in his heart. The other party said "peace," but in reality, it was a loud slogan, and what they did was all about making money. Regardless of whether the other party was related to Uchiha Madara, if they could really hire Kakuzu to act, and also had a sufficient intelligence network, cooperation could indeed be carried out for a long time. "Well then, a pleasure working with you." "I look forward to our future cooperation." After Zetsu finished speaking, he bowed lightly, and then his figure disappeared from the spot. Onoki sensed carefully, but couldn’t perceive the other’s presence or traces at all, as if the moment he entered via ground, the other had merged with the earth. This ability was terrifying! If the other party had many people who could do this... then Onoki would have unwavering faith in the so-called "intelligence network." He pondered for a moment, then flew to his position and began to write letters. One was sent to the Third Raikage, and the other was sent to the Fourth Mizukage of Kirigakure, Karatachi Yagura. The content of the letters was to invite the Third Raikage and the Fourth Mizukage to meet at sea to discuss cooperation and alliance matters, and by the way, as Onoki had said... to exchange information for money from the Third Raikage and the Fourth Mizukage, and at the same time, win over allies. Everyone was not a fool. Selling to them one by one as Zetsu had said would definitely not work. Only by having the two villages come together to pay and share the cost could cooperation be achieved. Besides, that would be putting the cart before the horse. Onoki’s main purpose was to deal with Konoha, to knock Konoha down from its current powerful state, to strengthen himself and weaken Konoha as much as possible, not to profit from it—no matter how much money he earned, could he beat Ryoho Kyohiko? So, putting aside Konoha and Suna, the other three villages must unite! Even including Amegakure, Hanzo of the Salamander! But the cooperation with Hanzo would definitely have to wait until after the three great ninja villages had completed their alliance talks. Onoki didn’t trust Zetsu, so he sent his own Anbu to the Cloud Village to deliver the letter. After his Anbu ninja left Iwagakure, underground, a strange mouse stopped on the ground, looking at the figure flying in the sky. After the other had gone far, it quickly drilled into a hole in the ground. Then, it drilled for a certain distance, entered a small cave under a rock, and went into a cage on its own. Then, a puff of smoke came out from it, and finally transformed into a human form. "Iwagakure sent out the Anbu, they went to the east. What happened?" "Forget it, I’ll write it down and send it to the lord!" He quickly wrote down the intelligence, then possessed the mouse again, holding the scroll in its mouth, and went along the previously dug mouse tunnel away from Iwagakure. At a hidden location, a bird landed. This was the bird that cooperated with his actions. Its intelligence was not high, but it recognized him and the location of the base. --- This kind of situation happened in various places, and the intelligence was quickly sent back to the outside intelligence bases one by one. The shinobi world was in motion. By the time the intelligence was delivered to Konoha, it was already the next day. Hatake Kakashi looked at the various new documents on his desk, blinked his eyes, a dazed look on his face. How... are there so many more again? Didn’t I handle a lot yesterday, and Kyohiko also handled some? "Don’t be surprised. There will be new documents every day, and there will be especially many these few days." "I feel that our intelligence organization still needs to be optimized!" Ryoho Kyohiko rubbed his brow. Too much redundancy! Just transmitting intelligence required a large number of people and ninja birds. Secondly—although the ones sent to his hand had been screened, the number was still quite large. The workload was too great! No matter how capable you are, you can’t be worked like this! And his own physique was strong, he could indeed handle it. What about the next one? Like Kakashi. If he had to work like this, he would probably shorten his lifespan by more than a decade. Kakashi asked the key question. "How to change it?" Ryoho Kyohiko rubbed his brow and suddenly reacted. "You said, the Summoning Technique and Reverse Summoning Technique, can’t we do something with that?" "Hmm?" Kakashi fell into deep thought after hearing this. Summoning Technique, Reverse Summoning Technique. The former was a very common space-time ninjutsu. Basically, anyone with a summoned beast knew it. As for the latter, he had seen it at Mount Myoboku. Kakashi pondered for a long time. "You mean?" Ryoho Kyohiko explained his idea. "Number a group of ninja bird clans. A few numbers correspond to a certain area of intelligence personnel. This way, as long as one masters the Summoning Technique, they can quickly complete the information transmission, greatly reducing the possibility of intermediate errors." Kakashi thought for a moment. "Not everyone can master the Summoning Technique. This is a bit difficult, but the idea is quite reasonable..." Although he had never been in charge of an intelligence department and had no experience in this area, he still had a basic intelligence mindset. Theoretically, the more processes, the more confidential, but the higher the possibility of errors. If the message was transmitted directly through a summoned beast... speed, confidentiality, and security could all be taken to the next level. Hatake Kakashi nodded. "I think it’s feasible!" Ryoho Kyohiko organized his thoughts. "Of course it’s feasible. But how do we create a summoned beast family from scratch that is controlled by us and sufficiently hidden?" Birds? The summoned beast was just a carrier of letters and information, so it didn’t have to be a bird. Rats were most suitable for the Iburi clan. But... within Konoha, there was no experience in raising rats as ninja beasts, only ninja hounds and birds. "This matter, we’ll follow up and discuss it later. The focus now is on Iwagakure. According to various intelligence, it can be confirmed that they have sent people to Kumogakure and Kirigakure." "The three villages may join forces," Ryoho Kyohiko said. Hatake Kakashi looked at Kyohiko. "Do you need me to lead a team out?" "It’s not time yet. Let them unite. We can’t stop their union. It’s the general trend..." When one family is strong, the other ninja villages will band together to resist. If Konoha wanted to expand, it would inevitably go through such a process. It was unavoidable and there was no need to escape. Only battle! Only by fighting out a space could Konoha become stronger. It had always been like this throughout history. Ryoho Kyohiko stood up. "Kakashi, you help me handle this." The next moment, he grabbed the Nine-Tails clone and left with a Flying Thunder God. Kakashi vaguely felt... life in the future would probably become more and more difficult. Kyohiko’s posture showed great intention of cultivating him to be the Anbu captain. In the future, who knows, after Kyohiko stepped down, it would be him who would go up. Looking at the full desk of documents, he fell into a long silence. This thing really needed to be optimized. Otherwise, just processing documents would cost a lot of energy every day. This was not acceptable! --- At the Hokage’s office, Ryoho Kyohiko handed the latest intelligence to Tsunade, and then briefly explained his own ideas—the plan discussed with Minato could be greatly modified. First, let Hyuga Hizashi lead a group of people out and station them directly at the border of the Cloud Village to deal with any emergencies, and at the same time, to show outsiders. Konoha has already sent troops, you can boldly make your move! If the Uchiha didn’t make a move, Konoha wouldn’t be in a good position to strike first. Messing around like the Third Hokage and Danzo, at first it seemed they had profited, but in fact they had lost a lot of public support—today you can deal with the Uchiha like this, who knows if this trick will be used on their family in the future? In the long run, who would be willing to throw their heads and shed their blood for Konoha? Danzo was draining the pond to get the fish. In Kyohiko’s view, it was simply foolish to the extreme. So, as a village, Konoha, in principle, could not make a mistake. If the Uchiha made the first move... that would be a justified counterattack. If an Uchiha clan head came to ask for help to clean up the inside, then there would be even less of a problem. So, now, they just had to wait for Uchiha Fugaku’s attitude and the reaction from within the Uchiha clan. --- At this moment, inside the Uchiha clan’s territory, Shisui was eating pancakes at a shop opened by a clan member. "Shisui, are you really going to teach me ninjutsu?" "Of course. My grandfather said that everyone in the clan should help each other. If you have anything you don’t know in the future, you can always find me..." The little girl smiled and said thank you, then excitedly took out a book, preparing to ask about the principle and hand seals of a jutsu. Just then, a sneer came from outside the door. "Hmph, what mutual help? You’re just trying to use the Uchiha as your personal stepping stone to get ahead. You don’t care about the Uchiha at all!" "You are like this, and so was your grandfather. No different!" Tekka’s voice came from outside. A cold glint flashed in Shisui’s eyes, startling the little girl. For a moment, she didn’t dare to speak. Not long after, Tekka shouted. "Uncle Teuchi, give me a pancake." Uchiha Teuchi’s expression was awkward. He made the pancake while trying to mediate. "Okay. But you two shouldn’t argue. We’re all from the same clan..." Tekka snorted and didn’t make a sound. He quickly took the pancake and left. Uchiha Shisui narrowed his eyes, then suddenly smiled. "Uncle Teuchi, Kae, I have something to do today. I’ll come back to teach you another day." Uchiha Kae’s face turned slightly pale. "Ah? You’re not going to... don’t go! Forget it, there are a lot of them!" Uchiha Shisui patted her hair. "Don’t worry, I’m not going to find them. I just suddenly remembered something I haven’t told the clan head." "Oh, oh." Uchiha Kae believed him and nodded lightly. But—Uchiha Teuchi sighed softly. As Shisui walked past, he said in a low voice. "Thank you." Insulting his grandfather... if it weren’t for the consideration of their family, Shisui would probably have made a move just now. "I’m leaving first." "Wait! Take the pancake." Teuchi handed him the pancake. Shisui took it, thanked him, then took a big bite, praising his craftsmanship, and then slowly disappeared down the street. The direction he was going was exactly the direction Tekka had left. Previously, Shisui had always wanted to teach Uchiha Tekka a lesson, but had no reason to act. And now... the other party had delivered himself to his door. If he hesitated, wouldn’t it be a waste of his hard training during this time? Uchiha Shisui’s smile was brilliant. He ate the pancake while walking down the street. Two or three minutes later, as Uchiha Tekka was humming a tune and walking home, a figure suddenly landed in front of him. Uchiha Shisui slowly stood up. "In Uncle Teuchi’s shop just now, I didn’t want to fight you. But now... what did you say before?" Uchiha Tekka’s face instantly turned ashen. "You, what do you want to do?" Uchiha Shisui had a smile on his face. "Repeat it. What did you say before?" Tekka saw his brother’s figure appear in the distance, and his head was raised high again. "You and your grandfather are the same, both shameful guys who use our Uchiha as a stepping stone for your own status!" Shisui’s smile was brilliant. "According to you, my grandfather and I are both traitors?" The clan... how can there be such a foolish guy? To think he’s several years older than me. Has he been eating for nothing all these years? Uchiha Tekka sneered. "So what if you are?" The next moment, he saw Shisui’s eyes turn scarlet, and then the three tomoe spun rapidly. "What?" Tekka was shocked. How is that possible? Shisui is so young, how could he have three tomoe! Just as he was horrified, he felt the world spin, and countless blades came at him. Break it! Break it! Tekka tried hard to activate his Sharingan. But—the next moment, he fainted. Shisui looked at the newcomer. "Shisui, what are you doing?" "Inabi-nii, it doesn’t matter if your younger brother insults me. But today, he insulted my grandfather. I am going to confront him at the clan head’s house and have him apologize in person!" Shisui’s scarlet three-tomoe Sharingan stared fixedly at Uchiha Inabi. "Or, do you also think my grandfather was a traitor who betrayed the family for profit, and you want to eradicate the traitor for the family?" "What?" Inabi was completely stunned, looking at his unconscious younger brother in disbelief. He—how dare this guy say such things? Was Uchiha Kagami the same as Uchiha Shisui? How dare he bring up Kagami-senpai, and in front of Shisui... He swallowed and gripped the hilt of his sword. "There must be a misunderstanding." "It will be clarified in front of the clan head." Shisui held Tekka with one hand. With his daily training and the development of his Kekkei Genkai, his strength was much greater than that of an ordinary peer. Uchiha Inabi said. "Wait! I’ll have my brother apologize to you..." Shisui stared at Inabi, enunciating each word. "No need. He’s definitely not the only one who thinks this way. I must find out exactly how many people think my grandfather betrayed the family!" "This is about my grandfather’s honor. An apology is not enough!" --- TLNote: What the! Uchiha have Teuchi too? And he sells pancake?