Chapter 203: Oh No, Senshi got here First....

Shukaku's question was something Gaara couldn't answer. In his mental space, Gaara told Shukaku, "They say this chakra in the scrolls can boost your power. Try it out."

At that, Shukaku immediately started absorbing the chakra from the sealing scroll. It was quickly surprised to find that Gaara hadn't been lying.

Originally, Shukaku had been in a somewhat diminished form; over time, its body grew noticeably larger. Its once-sunken belly now looked round and plump.

Realizing that this mysterious chakra genuinely helped it recover, Shukaku got excited. Inside Gaara's mind, it started dancing around: "Hey, kid, is there more of that chakra? Hand it over. If you give Shukaku-sama some more, I'll let you stick around with me from now on!"

Gaara didn't bother responding to Shukaku, though. Instead, he turned to the Kazekage in the real world and nodded. "The chakra in that scroll does enhance Shukaku's power. But, to be honest, the amount was pretty small, so the gain wasn't anything huge."

When Gaara finished, all eyes—Rasa and the others—fell on Senshi. Unable to help himself, Rasa asked, "Lord Senshi, how much are you charging for this Tailed Beast chakra you showed us?"

Senshi answered offhandedly, "One hundred 'cards' of Tailed Beast chakra go for one hundred million ryō. That scroll I gave you contained about five cards."

Everyone sucked in a sharp breath. Sunagakure might be one of the Five Great Shinobi Villages, but it was also the poorest among them. The region was basically nothing but desert, and the daimyo of the Land of Wind had been slashing the village's budget for years, leaving their finances perennially tight.

Gaara briefly froze at Senshi's quote, then told Rasa and the others, "I'll figure this out on my own." With that, he turned to leave the Kazekage's office. It wasn't so much to spare the village the expense as it was that his relationship with Rasa had never been very good.

"Hold on!" Rasa called out before Gaara could walk out. Then he turned to Chiyo and Ebizō. "I'm planning to invest a full billion ryō to buy Tailed Beast chakra and make Shukaku the strongest possible. Any objections?"

Ebizō said calmly, "No objections here." After all, a large chunk of the village's funds came from Rasa personally mining gold in the desert with his Magnet Release.

Even if he wanted to use that money for himself, nobody could really say anything. And in this case, he was doing it for the village, aiming to produce the ultimate Tailed Beast weapon.

Chiyo, frowning slightly, said, "I don't have any issues with it in principle. But I do have two questions for Lord Senshi."

Senshi shrugged. "What do you want to know?"

He was quite pleased. Rasa was more than willing to drop a cool billion on his son, which was music to Senshi's ears. If every other hidden village also forked over a billion per jinchūriki, he'd make an absolute fortune. Even if some villages refused, he could always encourage their jinchūriki to earn their own money and come buy Tailed Beast chakra directly.

Chiyo pressed on earnestly, "Will Shukaku be able to fully absorb all that chakra without going berserk?"

Senshi casually pulled a "Momotarō Dumpling" out of his system's storage space. "For every billion ryō worth of chakra you buy, I'll throw in one of these Dumplings. This specialized ninja tool can help you tame a Tailed Beast. Plus, the Tailed Beast can indeed absorb that extra chakra perfectly to power itself up."

Chiyo nodded at that. "I see no problem, then."

Hearing that Chiyo had no more objections, Rasa wasted no time turning to Senshi. "Lord Senshi, I'd like to commission your services for one billion ryō, in exchange for providing Shukaku's chakra to Sunagakure worth exactly that same amount."

[Mission Accepted]

[Client: Rasa]

[Objective: Provide Sunagakure with Shukaku's chakra worth one billion ryō]

[Payment: One billion ryō]

[Rank: S]

[Reward: 1,000,000 Employment Points!]

Seeing that system message in his head, Senshi was ecstatic. Clearly, pitching Tailed Beast chakra to Sunagakure was the right call.

However, he didn't have that much One-Tail chakra on hand, so he'd need to deliver it in installments. "Sounds good, Kazekage, but Tailed Beast chakra is tough to get, so I'll have to hand it over little by little."

Rasa nodded. "Sunagakure trusts Lord Senshi. We'll accept it in whichever way you propose."

After all, if Tailed Beast chakra were easy to come by, other hidden villages would have made the strongest Tailed Beast weapons ages ago. Rasa figured his money was well-spent. Even Senshi apparently had difficulty collecting Tailed Beast chakra, indicating how truly rare it was.

Once that was settled, Senshi handed Rasa a Momotarō Dumpling and a few sealing scrolls packed with One-Tail chakra as a first installment.

Rasa, Ebizō, and the others felt a tangle of emotions. Sure, creating the ultimate Tailed Beast weapon was good news—but dropping a full billion in one go was a big blow to the already-thin Sunagakure treasury.

At least the payoff was worth it: they'd get an incredibly strong Tailed Beast without worrying about it going on a rampage.

It was a win-win—like the First Emperor playing with clones. After finalizing the deal, Senshi took his leave and zipped back to Amegakure.

Once Senshi was gone, Gaara's expression shifted slightly. He knew the state of the village's finances, so seeing Rasa drop that billion ryō for his sake made him feel some type of way.

Rasa didn't say anything else to Gaara. He just handed him the Momotarō Dumpling and the scrolls. Gaara, face impassive, accepted them without a word, though the ice in his eyes had thawed a bit when he looked at Rasa.

Right then, an ANBU member suddenly appeared at the door of the Kazekage's office. "Lord Kazekage, a special envoy from Konoha—Orochimaru—is here."

Rasa frowned. "Orochimaru? What's he doing here? It's not yet time to deliver our next batch of that Eternal Chakra Elixir, is it?"

Nobody in the office could explain Orochimaru's motives. Curious, they all went out to meet him. These days, Orochimaru had no intention of forging deep personal ties with Rasa, but he also wasn't about to kill off any village leaders.

Times had changed; the "Snake Guy" wanted sustainable development now and would only resort to deadly force if absolutely necessary.

The Sunagakure crowd was eager to see why Orochimaru was visiting. Led by Rasa, they made their way to the village gates to greet him. Even if Orochimaru and Rasa weren't best buddies, they'd been cooperating long-term. Orochimaru's supply of the Eternal Chakra Elixir was immensely useful for the Sand.

As soon as he arrived, Rasa said politely, "Lord Orochimaru, what brings you to Sunagakure this time?"

He also threw a puzzled glance at the carriage in Orochimaru's entourage—twelve elite shinobi surrounded it like a fortress. Whatever was inside must be important.

Orochimaru gave a sinister chuckle. "Kazekage, talking out here in the open isn't exactly proper hospitality, is it? Perhaps you could set us up with a place to stay, and then I'll explain everything to you and the others."

Rasa nodded with a smile. "My apologies—I'll lead the way." With that, he guided Orochimaru's party into the village, where he arranged accommodations for them in a large fortress-like building. Orochimaru had the rest of his group wait outside, while he and Kabuto went with Rasa into the Kazekage's office.

Once everyone was seated, Rasa asked, "Lord Orochimaru, mind telling us why you've come?"

In response, Orochimaru said, "Kabuto, let's introduce our Blacklight Life Restart technique to the Kazekage."

"Yes, sir." Kabuto dipped his head, then began explaining Blacklight Life Restart to Rasa, Ebizō, and everyone else. "On top of the Eternal Chakra Elixir, Lord Orochimaru has developed the Blacklight Life Restart technique," he said. "It can be used not only in emergencies to save lives but also as a strategic technology to power up an entire ninja village. Recently, three Konoha ninja—including Akimichi Ryuka—were badly wounded and on the brink of death. Lord Orochimaru's Blacklight Life Restart saved them."

He passed around documents detailing the new technology and the case studies on Akimichi Ryūfēng's team. With Kabuto's explanation and the written info, the Sunagakure leaders quickly grasped the gist of the Blacklight Life Restart technique. They were definitely intrigued, but the obvious problem was money. Sunagakure's finances were dismal enough under normal circumstances.

If Orochimaru had come sooner, maybe the Sand would have weighed whether to buy Tailed Beast chakra or invest in Blacklight Life Restart. But now it was too late. They'd already dumped all their funds into acquiring Tailed Beast chakra to strengthen Shukaku. As amazing as Orochimaru's new R&D project sounded, they had nothing left to spend on it.

Rasa gave a quiet sigh and turned to Orochimaru. "Lord Orochimaru, to be frank, Sunagakure is very interested in this. Unfortunately, we can't partner with you at the moment."

Orochimaru: (O_O)???

What the heck?

"You're interested, but can't commit? Why not?" he asked, perplexed.

Rasa didn't hold back. He explained, "Lord Orochimaru, we just signed a one-billion-ryō deal with Lord Senshi not long ago. Sunagakure's budget is already tight, and after that deal, we simply can't afford to invest in this as well."

When Orochimaru heard this, his heart sank.

Dammit—Senshi beat me to it! Sunagakure was already the poorest of the big five. If he's squeezed them for a billion ryō, they're bone-dry now!

He quickly recovered and said, "In that case, we'll have to wait until Sunagakure ready to collaborate. That might even be to your advantage—by then, the technology will be more refined. Well, we won't impose any further. I look forward to our next opportunity to work together."

With that, Orochimaru stood up to leave. He was anxious to hurry over to Kirigakure or other villages, worried that Senshi might be snapping up their contracts, too. Even if those villages had deeper pockets than the Sand, they'd have less money left after Senshi cleaned them out.

But Orochimaru was underestimating Senshi's reach. After closing the deal with Rasa, Senshi used his Wood Release clones stationed in various hidden villages to contact their top brass about Tailed Beast chakra. Of course, the situation for the other jinchūriki wasn't as simple:

- Konoha's jinchūriki was Naruto, effectively the Hokage's heir. The higher-ups might be willing to invest in him, but decisions had to be made.

- Kirigakure's jinchūriki was Yagura's student (or the "Six-Tails" host, Utakata, in some versions) named Utakata. Their relationship with the village was so-so, so the elders would need to discuss it.

- Iwagakure had two jinchūriki, and their ties to the village were okay—but the Four-Tails host, Rōshi, had conflicts with Ōnoki. Whether they'd fund him was up in the air. Plus, after repeated beatdowns by Senshi's mercenaries and by Tobi and Madara, Iwagakure's finances were also strained.

- Kumogakure probably had the best finances and the strongest overall position. They had two jinchūriki: one was the Raikage's brother, and the other was high up in the village hierarchy as well. Senshi guessed that Kumo would be the most receptive to making a major investment in Tailed Beast weaponry.

Either way, every village would hold their own meetings to decide.

Meanwhile, Senshi headed back to Amegakure. Not long after he returned, he discovered something surprising: Karin was famous now—well, more precisely, the sake called "Flying Rain Terrace" that she had concocted was a hit.

The downside? Multiple White Zetsu in Karin's Kamui Dimension nearly got alcohol poisoning during the process. Those White Zetsu ended up with some lifelong trauma from "Karin's bootleg brew." After all, most people wouldn't subject living creatures to forced taste-testing of near-pure ethanol.

With a bit of time on his hands, Senshi teleported himself to a certain pub in Amegakure, curious about this new drink's popularity. He found a group of merchants listening to Karin's triumphant pitch.

Having joined Senshi on plenty of sales runs, Karin had picked up about 50-60% of his skills at swindling—I mean, marketing. Up on a small stage, she was delivering a lively spiel:

"Flying Rain Terrace has a long, long history. Its original recipe traces back to the Uzushio, from the Warring States era, making it an ancient brand. What you're tasting now is the result of me and my team combining these classic roots with over a thousand rounds of upgrades and research."

As she said this, she tapped the sake bottle on Raimon Hayate's head, who was standing next to her. Then she asked the crowd, "So how's that sound? If it's music to your ears, that means it's good booze!" Raimon didn't get upset; he was getting paid to be part of the show.

While Karin explained, waiters served samples of Flying Rain Terrace to the merchants. Most of them had already heard about this sake's reputation and were eager to buy in bulk to resell elsewhere. Many didn't bother tasting it again and jumped straight into negotiation:

"Karin, please sell me a batch first! I sampled it not long ago, so I already know—it's the real deal, the sake of my dreams! More people have to taste this stuff!"

"Karin-chan, remember all the deals my guild's done with you! Let us have priority!"

"Karin, my situation is urgent! My elderly dad said he can't leave this world until he gets to drink more Flying Rain Terrace. He'll die with regrets if he doesn't!"

"Wait a minute—didn't your father pass away 20 years ago?"

"Haha! How do you know I only have one father?"

Senshi stood there, dumbfounded. The merchants' banter was full of surprises, but he didn't let himself get too bogged down. Instead, he walked right up to Karin, patted her on the head, and asked, "Karin, do you need any moolah?"

Karin blinked. "Uh…moolah? You mean money? I don't think I'm short on funds."

She'd racked up a lot of pay from various missions; she could hardly spend it all. She'd also stockpiled a bunch of scratch cards—she didn't really need more right now. Cocking her head, she went, "Yeah, no, I'm not short on money. Why?"

Senshi smiled. "If you're not hurting for cash, there's no need for you to be here flogging your sake in person. As a top-class mercenary, you should be putting your time and energy into taking on missions. Let the people who run this tavern handle the sales."

Karin wrinkled her brow. "Is that really how it's supposed to go?"

Senshi nodded. "Absolutely. You see how well this sake is selling? It doesn't even need extra promotion."

Finally convinced, Karin said, "All right…well, I do have a few delivery missions left. I can go finish those."

Without missing a beat, Senshi responded, "Exactly. If you've accepted a mission, you need to get it done quickly."

Finding that logic sensible, Karin went, "Cool, I can wrap those up real fast. I'm off!" Then, activating Kamui, she vanished from the pub.

After she'd left, Senshi cleared his throat to get everyone's attention. "Folks, I'm guessing you don't know all there is to know about Flying Rain Terrace. That's not your fault—it's because Karin is still young." He paused, scanning the curious faces. "The recipe comes from Uzumaki tradition, but there's a lot more to it than that. Let me fill you in on the deeper story."

He planned to hype the drink up even more—a bit like copying Orochimaru's strategy of taking things "to the next level." Maybe he could incorporate some of his rare items—like the Hero Water or senzu beans—into the formula, creating a top-shelf medicinal brew. But since he wasn't the expert at alcohol crafting, he'd need a partner to handle R&D while he supplied the premium ingredients. They'd pay him, and both sides would profit. He hadn't decided yet whom to partner with, but he figured it didn't hurt to stir up excitement beforehand.

He was in the middle of energetically selling the crowd on the venerable history of "Flying Rain Terrace" when Karin suddenly reappeared in a swirl of Kamui. Spotting Senshi pontificating onstage, she froze, dumbfounded.

Then she pushed through the crowd, marched up to him, and put her hands on her hips. "Senshi, didn't you just say that a real mercenary should be out taking missions instead of selling booze? Why are you here selling booze?"

"Cough, cough!" Senshi was taken aback. He hadn't expected Karin to pop back so quickly. Clearing his throat, he told her, "Karin, me selling the sake isn't the same as you selling it. When you do it, it's just business. When I do it, it's a mission."

"Then I want to do that mission, too!" she declared.

"Dame."

"Nande?"

Senshi grinned. "Look, my name is Uzumaki Senshi, and my homeland is Uzushio in the Land of Whirlpools. I'm also the inheritor of the Will of Rain. Water and I are soulmates, so no matter how deep it goes, I can manage!"

~~~

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