Witty Naruto Life

Chapter 269 Sakura & Sasuke's Private Talk
Looking at it now, she doesn't seem as simple as I imagined.

Do you practice both medical skills and water magic?

Shuiyue glanced at Sakura a few times, thinking about what Naruto had told him before, and his curiosity grew.

At this moment, the person in white noticed Suigetsu and immediately said, "Your name is Hozuki Suigetsu, right?"

Shuiyue glanced at the masked members of the Dark Guard, her brows furrowed slightly, and nodded with a wary look in her eyes.

"I heard from Naruto that you want Zabuza's sword."

"...That's right."

"Then you will leave Konoha."

“I…” Shuiyue choked, then said casually, “I can help you complete the commission… within my capabilities.”

Why not just make things straightforward?

The man in white took two steps closer to him, his eyes behind the mask fixed on him: "You possess something we need."

"This doesn't mean you've lost anything. By making a deal with Konoha, you've become a friend of Konoha, and most importantly..."

"Gain Naruto's friendship, understand?"

Shuiyue coughed lightly: "That does make some sense... I'll think about it..."

He looked at Sakura, then couldn't help but lower his voice and say, "Is she the one who needs my Water Release technique now?"

The man in white nodded.

Shuiyue seemed to be deep in thought; in fact, he was already somewhat tempted by Konoha's plan.

Especially that line, "Gaining Naruto's friendship," how should I put it, just hearing it feels really cool.

He might not know Naruto's strength, but he knows Sasuke's current strength very well!

Someone who can stand on equal footing with Sasuke and receive high praise from Orochimaru, what kind of person could he be?
As he watched Gaara being wheeled out of the hospital bed, an idea popped into his head.

……

in the afternoon.

Surrounded by people from Sunagakure and Konoha, Gaara checked into Konoha Hospital.

Although his vital signs are stable, he has not opened his eyes yet, his brows are furrowed from time to time, and his expression looks somewhat painful.

It should be noted that Gaara's Magnet Release requires the Jinchūriki to suppress sleep to prevent Shukaku from going berserk.

This means that he needs to recover as soon as possible to stabilize his original seal and adapt to the new Four Symbols Seal.

Sakura did not choose to become Gaara's attending physician this time, as she sensed that there might be more difficult situations to come.

The most important thing now is to always have enough time to deal with emergencies.

Therefore, after assisting with the initial treatment, she left Gaara's hospital room.

As soon as she stepped outside, she saw Shuiyue bracing her foot against the corridor wall, seemingly having been waiting for her for a long time.

“Haruno Sakura, right?” Suigetsu asked.

Sakura nodded: "Have you decided how you want to trade with Konoha?"

Shuiyue paused for a moment, then said, "I know you are the key person in this deal... so I want to know your needs, and perhaps we can find a balance that is acceptable to both of us."

"Not a bad idea," Sakura said calmly, leading Mizuki to the deserted top floor of the hospital.

There are only countless white quilts drying in the sun here, and no one will come here for the time being.

"Tell me your expectations first. What techniques would you absolutely never trade with Konoha?" Sakura asked first.

"Ahem, you should know that this also counts as revealing part of my information," Shuiyue said.

His implication was that this should also be considered part of his deal with Konoha.

"Really?" Sakura raised an eyebrow, then pulled out a notebook: "Let me see..."

"Water Release: Water Gun Technique, and an advanced version of this technique; Water Transformation Technique, which transforms oneself into living water, but is countered by Lightning Release..."

Before she could finish speaking, Shuiyue interrupted her immediately. He glared at Xiaoying, looked away, and couldn't help but curse.

"Damn it, he just leaked my information like that..."

"Do you think Sasuke leaked your information?" Sakura suddenly asked.

Shuiyue said irritably, "Then who else could it be?"

Sakura shook her head: "You know nothing about Konoha's intelligence capabilities."

She said no more, but Mizuki understood the implication of her words—Konoha already possessed information about his abilities.

Is it Orochimaru, or have Kirigakure and Konoha secretly cooperated?

Mizuki sighed silently, thought for a moment, and said, "...Water Transformation Technique and Water Healing Technique are the foundation of my life. I cannot trade them with Konoha."

Needless to say, the Water Transformation Technique allows one to use a water-transformed arm to touch and heal another's wounds, with a healing speed much faster than ordinary medical ninjutsu.

This isn't essential for Sakura, but having it will definitely make her more agile in battle.

But Sakura won't tell him her true thoughts.

The next moment, she said to Shuiyue in a low voice, "The water transformation technique you mentioned... to be honest, I have mastered a similar technique."

After saying that, she formed a hand seal with one hand. Before Shuiyue could show a look of astonishment, her body suddenly secreted a viscous liquid, which then formed the shape of Sakura.

Two specially made water clones.

"This is……?!"

Suigetsu examined the ninjutsu that resembled a water clone but was slightly different. The next moment, Sakura snapped her fingers.

"Snap!" One of the water clones walked in the opposite direction from the two, and its body surface began to show an uneven state, followed by a "sizzling" sound.

"This, this is not ordinary running water...this is boiling water at high temperature!" Shuiyue exclaimed in astonishment.

His eyes widened, and the next moment, the water clone exploded with a bang, splashing water onto the white sheets in front of him, scalding them with holes.

Sakura remained calm throughout, when suddenly another water clone walked towards Suigetsu's direction.

"Wait, what are you doing?!" Shuiyue instinctively stepped back, while Xiaoying simply shook her head.

"Relax."

Suddenly, the water clone pounced on Shuiyue with incredible speed!

He subconsciously tried to hydrate, but suddenly found that his body felt cold to the touch and there was no boiling water reaction.

Not only that, this water clone stuck to Shuiyue's body like a slime, and when he tried to break free, he found that his body was trapped.

This body—no, this lump of water clone—began to become extremely resilient, even clinging to Shuiyue's neck, giving him a strong sense of crisis.

"Wait, that's enough! I've had enough!" Shuiyue suddenly raised her voice.

Sakura snapped her fingers again, and this time the slime-like liquid instantly lost its viscosity and turned into a puddle of liquid.

It thoroughly chilled Shuiyue.

"Phew..." Mizuki let out a long sigh of relief, then suddenly heard Sakura say, "Do you know how dangerous your situation was just now?"

"what?"

“I can immediately trap you with a Lightning Release scroll, or use the water clones from before to block your throat and suffocate you.”

Shuiyue was taken aback and suddenly realized that she had indeed acted rashly.

He paused, then said cautiously, "But Konoha wouldn't do this to me... right?"

Sakura smiled, a slight smile curving her delicate face: "Sasuke might do that, but I'm not him. I have my own way of doing things."

"Hmm..." Suigetsu remained noncommittal, his attention now shifting to the water jutsu that Sakura had just used.

He thought to himself: This is definitely not an ordinary water escape technique; its level is at least equivalent to the secret techniques of the Hozuki clan.

What did she mean by showing me these? Negotiation skills?

But I have to admit, this water-style technique is really powerful... it feels really suitable for me.

Shuiyue's strongest offensive technique is currently the Water Iron Cannon: Double Strike. The characteristic of this technique is that it can only be most effective when the enemy is very close.

If you're even a little distance away, it's practically useless.

The two nature changes of that water clone can greatly enrich his combat methods.

With Zabuza's greatsword, his strength will surely increase even further.

Suddenly, Shuiyue understood.

“I understand. You want to exchange your secret technique for mine?” he suddenly said.

Sakura remained silent, then listened as Suigetsu continued, "I admit I'm very interested in your secret technique, but you must be very interested in mine too, right?"

"So we're even, uh... how about we make a trade? And regarding the big sword, I'll have Konoha assign me a mission, how about that?"

Sakura nodded and readily agreed.

"Huh?" Shuiyue was stunned again: "Aren't you going to reconsider?"

“No need,” Sakura shook her head and said calmly, “Your reaction was exactly as we expected, so let’s leave it at that. We’ll list out our respective ninjutsu, and we’ll talk about the big swords later.”

"Excuse me, who are you referring to when you say 'we'?" Shuiyue asked, puzzled.

"I am Naruto, and I am Sasuke. The three of us used to be comrades in the same class."

Even before they returned to Konoha, when the three met, Sasuke immediately pulled the other two into his genjutsu space.

For Sasuke now, it's just a matter of a glance.

They reached a consensus on many issues, including how to obtain the secret technique of Shuiyue.

As for the specific plan: Sakura and Suigetsu will exchange secret techniques, and regarding the greatsword, Suigetsu will continue to serve as Sasuke's subordinate until he accumulates enough merit to exchange for the greatsword.

In order to prevent Shuiyue from becoming cannon fodder, they would give Shuiyue a large knife in advance, so that Shuiyue would be in debt.

During the time he follows Sasuke, Naruto will continue to interact with him and influence his thoughts until he joins Konoha.

In this way, Shuiyue was completely 'taken advantage of'.

Sakura took out paper and pen and asked Suigetsu to write down the secret techniques she was willing to exchange.

On the rooftop, only a circling crow silently watched the commotion below.

……

the other side.

The Hokage Building, the archives of the Anbu.

Under the stark white light of the fluorescent lamp, a tall man wearing an animal mask was quietly organizing documents when he suddenly heard a knock at the door.

"Please come in."

The door opened, and Sasuke walked in, his white robes billowing as he looked up, concealing the documents in front of him.

"You've arrived. It just so happens that the Dark Division needs to confirm something with you."

Sasuke nodded, and then heard the man in white say:
"This matter is related to Orochimaru."

(End of this chapter)