Respective Deals
After dinner, with the time for Rashomon drawing to a close, Momochi Zabuza pulled Lin Ke aside.
"Hey, kid."
Momochi Zabuza glanced at the Konoha Village Forehead Protector, his eyes flickering slightly, before saying, "I agree to the deal you proposed."
"I'm willing to fight for you once in exchange for this dinner."
Anyway, he had been a ninja in life, working for others. Doing the same after death to return to the world wasn't much different. After contemplating over dinner and seeing Maki, a fellow sufferer, he decided to accept the deal.
After all, he had no way to resist if he disagreed.
"However, whenever you summon me, you must bring Haku along," he emphasized.
As a renowned ninja, he accepted his death and defeat at the hands of Kakashi and the others as a matter of skill.
But Haku was young and shouldn't be buried in the Pure Land like him, let alone be exploited by someone.
"No problem," Lin Ke agreed readily. The ideal state of a deal was a win-win situation; mere threats couldn't sustain a long-term arrangement.
Momochi Zabuza snorted, showing no respect for his employer, and leaped out of the compound. With his remaining time, he didn't want to spend it with this annoying Konoha brat.
Naruto would have been a better companion.
"I'm sorry…" Haku said apologetically, then leaped after him.
Maki stood nearby, his hands at his sides, and asked, "I heard there's going to be a Three-Nation Summit?"
"Aren't you going to chat with your three subordinates?" Lin Ke asked, turning his head.
Maki didn't answer, continuing, "Gaara and the others are returning to Sand Ninja Village, right?"
His political acumen was excellent. He had gleaned information about the Land of Rivers and recent news from his three subordinates, and quickly pieced things together.
"What are your thoughts?" Lin Ke didn't answer directly, but instead asked.
Some things couldn't be hidden. Jinchuriki were crucial bargaining chips, and there was no reason not to use them at the Three-Nation Summit.
"I talked to you before about going to Sand Ninja Village," Maki said. "You'll be attending the Three-Nation Summit, right? Let me meet the Fourth Kazekage, and I'll give you all the Wind Release Ninjutsu I know."
Seeing that Lin Ke didn't agree, he added, "You can make other requests if you have any."
"I'll consider it."
Lin Ke said this, but secretly making deals with people from other villages was troublesome. Trading with the dead or letting others meet the dead was one thing, but going directly to the Kazekage…
He might not be able to handle it.
Who knew how much information Maki had gathered while helping him fight? Meeting the Fourth Kazekage would definitely lead to that information being leaked.
Gaara and the other two were different; they didn't understand much, and their strength was insufficient to analyze anything. But Maki, a seasoned veteran, had who knew what hidden in his mind.
Money was valuable, and Ninjutsu was even more precious, but his loyalties lay with Konoha Village, so he had to give up both.
Maki didn't press the issue, but instead looked up at the night sky, his expression somewhat lost.
In life, he hadn't had a single night of peaceful sleep. He hadn't expected to continue serving the village even after death.
The village's situation was much worse than outsiders saw or imagined.
The Land of Wind's poverty was well-known, but the Sand Ninja Village's ninjas specialized in the extremely expensive Puppet Technique and poisons.
Why did they cling to Magnet Release even after the early creation of powerful puppets like the Chikamatsu Ten Puppets? It was simply because they were poor. The Third Kazekage was called the strongest Kazekage and brought prosperity to Sand Ninja Village not because of anything else, but simply because he could create Iron Sand.
Ninja tools were weapons, and in this war-torn World, the ability to refine Iron Sand at any time was incredibly lucrative.
After the Third Kazekage disappeared, Sand Ninja Village not only suffered internal strife but also launched wars against other countries, all because they were poor.
When the Fourth Kazekage took over, his ability to extract Quicksand Gold was far inferior to Iron Sand. Gold wasn't a necessity, and its price was suppressed by the market and unscrupulous merchants, making it difficult to sustain the village.
In the battle against Sasori of the Red Sand, Maki had personally witnessed the Third Kazekage releasing Iron Sand. Regardless of whether Human Puppets were unethical, they were Sand Ninja Village's hope for resurgence.
And, to be a bit sacrilegious, the Third Kazekage turning from a person into a puppet not only allowed him to create Iron Sand alone but also turned him into an heirloom, a pillar of the village…
So he had held back when fighting Sasori and left a way to contact him.
As long as he could repair and utilize the puppet that creates Iron Sand, allowing the village to regain its past economic income, he, Maki, would be the first to support Sasori of the Red Sand returning to the village to become the Fifth Kazekage.
However, he didn't tell his three subordinates Sasori's contact information. It wasn't that he didn't trust them, but they were in Konoha Village, and knowing too much wasn't a good thing.
[Time's up]
Maki felt his body and soul being bound. He glanced at the starry sky with longing, and at the moment he was dragged into the Rashomon, he inexplicably thought.
When will I ever find complete peace?
—Land of Wind, somewhere in an underground base.
"Swish! Thud!"
Sasori controlled the puppet to shoot out Kunai, testing repeatedly. After roughly determining the firing trajectory, he silently picked up the ninja tools he had thrown out, and then began to correct the puppet.
He hadn't been doing well lately.
In the literal sense.
The losses from the two battles with Lin Ke were too great. At that time, his head was hot and he didn't think about anything. Now that he thinks about it, it's really uncomfortable.
Ordinary Human Puppets were fine; if they were lost, they were lost. He could just capture and make more. Compared with ordinary puppets, Human Puppets could not only inherit the power of the materials from their previous lives, but were also very cost-effective, which was very suitable for him, who came from Sand Ninja Village.
But the loss of the Third Kazekage was too fatal.
The fact that his puppets cost less than ordinary puppets didn't mean he didn't need to spend money.
If he wanted to transform a Human Puppet into something as powerful as Hiruko or the Third Kazekage Human Puppet, or even his own body, it would definitely cost a fortune.
So many ninja tools and Scrolls were also high expenses. With his usual fighting style, he would throw out a large number of ninja tools to attack, and the combat attrition was ridiculously high.
What allowed him to maintain such expenses, apart from the non-renewable method of killing people for their wealth, was the Third Kazekage's Iron Sand ability.
He could make many ninja tools himself with Iron Sand, but now he had to buy everything, which made him desperately poor.
I wonder if that guy Maki has passed on the information...
Sasori put down the puppet in his hand and thought silently. After losing Orochimaru's trail, he had been squatting in the Land of Wind for so long, just waiting for the people from Sand Ninja Village to come and cooperate.
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