Konoha: The thirty-year-old Uchiha lacks motivation.

Chapter 976 This is what you call a complete and utter crushing defeat.

Uchiha Gin was not actually good at Magnet Release.

His skill bar is so long that it takes forever to scroll down with the mouse wheel to reach the bottom.

He usually spends most of his time slacking off and joking around during battles, preferring to observe and win without lifting a finger. This bad habit also makes him seem reckless at times.

For example, right now.

Uchiha Gin slowly ascended, piloting the Gundam's Iron Wings. The golden sand beneath his feet churned and boiled, the tiny iron elements within rapidly converging under the pull of his terrifying Magnet Release chakra, transforming into towering black waves that surged forth. "Shhhh..."

'

The sky suddenly darkened, not at sunset, but the blazing sun overhead that had been scorching above the Third Kazekage was now obscured by a black dome formed of iron sand. "This...this..."

The Third Kazekage, floating in mid-air, raised his head stiffly, staring at the impenetrable iron sand barrier. For a moment, he was speechless. Even if he were to exhaust himself, he could not unleash this level of Magnet Release.

"Thump!"

As she tried to wake Pakura, a member of the Sand Ninja Anbu who was immersed in the dream of Bo Gang, her legs went weak, and she collapsed to the ground in a disheveled duck-like position, her beautiful eyes filled with terror.

"No, this isn't real! It must be an illusion!"

Unwilling to believe it all, she attributed Uchiha Gin's casually created sand barrier to the illusion of genjutsu, but the extremely realistic sense of oppression repeatedly told her that everything before her was reality.

"Oh dear, it seems we've gone a bit too far."

Uchiha Gin, who had floated to the same level as the Third Kazekage, shook his head apologetically. Under the other's surprised and uncertain gaze, he raised one hand, and a dense, almost viscous wave of black sand immediately gathered in his palm. "Whoosh!"

The next moment, a gigantic sand blade, stretching as far as the eye could see, emitted a chilling metallic clang.

"I...you...this..."

The Third Kazekage stared blankly down at the black "toothpick" in his hand, then at the terrifying sand blade, hundreds of meters long, in Uchiha Gin's hand. An unprecedented sense of powerlessness welled up within him. "Weren't you so arrogant just now?"

Uchiha Gin gently flapped his wings, dragging his hundred-meter-long iron sand cleaver, carving a deep trench in the ground before hoisting it onto his shoulder. The pose was incredibly stylish and eye-catching.

"Heh...heh...this...senior, we can talk this over."

Looking at the trenches below, which had finally been filled with quicksand, the Third Kazekage instantly recognized the difference in strength between himself and his foe. He chuckled and scattered the "toothpick" in his hand. His eyes and brows were filled with an unprecedented fawning as he spoke. It is true that the strong have the dignity of the strong, but in front of someone even stronger, the word "dignity" is worthless.

"Tsk! What a pity."

Uchiha Gin, who hadn't expected his opponent to slide to his knees so quickly, shook his head in disappointment. "At least let me try to cut into him once to test the waters!"

He listlessly swung his hundred-meter-long broadsword once, and under the trembling gaze of the Third Kazekage, he casually dispersed it, simultaneously dispelling the sandstorm barrier that had enveloped his head. "Whoosh..."

Witnessing the collapse of the dome formed from iron sand, the Third Kazekage and Pakura, upon seeing the blazing sun again, felt no heat in their hearts, only a bone-chilling cold. They exchanged a glance, both seeing the despair in each other's eyes.

Uchiha Gin, who had landed back on the ground, tried adjusting the shape of the Iron Sand Wings on his back, sometimes turning them into six angel wings, sometimes into airplane wings, having a great time. This scene, however, was seen by the Third Kazekage as Uchiha Gin showing off his skills. Looking at the exquisitely designed Iron Sand Wings on his back, which perfectly replicated every feather, his face was full of bitterness. He couldn't compete with the other's quantity, and the level of control was a crushing defeat. Compared to the person in front of him, his Magnet Release was like a novice who had not even started learning.

"If you have nothing else..."

Seeing that his deterrent measures had achieved their intended effect, Uchiha Gin flapped his iron wings and slowly spoke, "Thump!"

Before he could finish speaking, the Third Kazekage, having heard his "death warning," slid to his knees, drawing a straight path through the golden sand. "Huh?"

Gin Uchiha, who was about to ask the two if there was nothing else, paused, looking at the Third Kazekage kneeling at his feet, frantically rummaging through his ninja tool pouch behind him. "Death Hand, hurry up!"

Fast forward to the part where they give their last words!

It turns out that the Third Kazekage had imagined a scene where Uchiha Gin would brutally kill everyone present. In order to save his own life and the lives of the village's elite, he had to make a decision that went against his ancestors' wishes.

"Senior, please accept this small gift of one hundred million."

A few seconds later, the Third Kazekage, with a fawning expression, held up a scroll with the character "Gold" written on it above his head. It contained Rasa's recent output, which would be an enormous sum of money that no one could refuse in any era.

"A small gift?"

Uchiha Gin raised an eyebrow upon hearing this, and with a flick of his finger, manipulated the iron sand to send the scroll from the Third Kazekage's hand over. He casually scanned it with his senses, and a strange expression instantly appeared on his face. "This is indeed a small gift."

"ha?"

Upon hearing this, the Third Kazekage froze, his eyes filled with horror. That was nearly a hundred pounds of gold, enough to hire a group of desperados to assassinate the Kage of an entire village.

It must be because Uchiha Gin didn't open it, so he didn't know the true weight of this storage scroll.

"Senior, please don't joke. There's a large sum of gold inside..."

Overwhelmed by a sense of crisis, the Third Kazekage scrambled to his feet, not even bothering to brush the sand off his knees, and hurriedly offered an explanation, "Snap!"

However, before he could finish speaking, Uchiha Gin, who was fiddling with a storage scroll, pulled a gold brick from his storage space and smashed it in front of him. "This..."

Looking at the large gold brick firmly planted in the sand, the Third Kazekage forcibly pulled his gaze away from the terrifying number 10kg and looked up at Uchiha Gin, who was still holding a gold brick of the same size in his hand. "Former..."

"Snapped!"

"senior..."

"Slap! Slap! Slap!"

'

Finally, amidst a series of crisp, crackling sounds, the Third Kazekage, who had begun to question his existence, stared blankly with wide eyes, his pupils reflecting a small, golden mountain. "You...are you very rich?"

Uchiha Gin, who had unleashed his long-lost secret technique, the Great Gold Brick Smash Technique, tilted his head and looked at the Third Kazekage, who was drooling, with a half-smile. "S-slurp...senpai, I was abrupt before."

Slowly recovering from his shock, the Third Kazekage met Uchiha Gin's mocking gaze. He was so ashamed that he wanted to disappear. His meager amount of gold dust was probably not even worth a corner of the gold mountain in front of him. Offering it up would only be a disgrace.

"Gold gold gold gold...gold purple!"

Pakula, who had been knocked unconscious by Jinshan, drooled as he approached, looking like he wanted to touch him but didn't dare. "Teacher... Teacher... pinch me."

Fearing she might become addicted to the illusion, she even begged the Third Kazekage to physically remove it from her illusion.

"Idiot! Don't be rude!"

With a disappointed glare at his money-grubbing disciple, the Third Kazekage grabbed her head and gave Uchiha Gin a standard dogeza (a deep, stern bow). "Ahhh!!! It's so hot..."

The burning sensation on her forehead instantly brought Pakura back to reality. Covering her swollen forehead, her eyes cleared, she knelt behind the Third Kazekage with a pitiful expression, secretly sizing up the somewhat annoying-looking stranger with curly hair.

There's always someone better, and no one is more capable than you. Don't think that having a little money makes you superior to everyone else...

'

"Your senior's advice is correct!"

No, you can say whatever you want, why are you stuffing my reels into your back pocket?

Unable to compete in strength, and completely outmatched in financial circumstances, the Third Kazekage simply gave up the struggle. He echoed Uchiha Gin's words while praying that he could have a complete corpse so that the village could take it back for research, which would be his last contribution to Sunagakure.

"Alright, if there's nothing else, I'll be going now."

As people get older, they inevitably become more talkative. After rambling on and on, Uchiha Gin smacked his lips, seemingly still wanting more, and raised his hand to retrieve the mountain of gold in front of him. "Uh...you're not going to kill us?"

The Third Kazekage, who was already prepared to sacrifice himself at any moment, looked up in surprise upon hearing this. Could it be that the person in front of him had made such a big commotion just to show off?

"Kill you?"

Uchiha Gin blinked in confusion. Did he look like a bloodthirsty pervert?

"If I really wanted to kill you, you would have been lining up in the Pure Land long ago."

"and you..."

Pakura, kneeling behind the Third Kazekage, couldn't help but want to ask a question, but before she could finish speaking, the Third Kazekage pressed her head down, saying, "It's hot, it's hot..."

'

"Please excuse the poor child, senior. He's had a problem with this area since he was little."

With a smirk, the Third Kazekage pressed down on his talkative disciple with one hand, pointed to his head with the other, and said with a regretful expression, "Then you'd better keep an eye on her in the future, lest she be sold out and still be counting the money for you."

Uchiha Gin nodded with a look of realization, gave a meaningful reminder, and then disappeared into the azure sky with his Iron Sand Wings.

"Phew... I'm lucky to be alive. Pakula, you idiot, who told you to provoke an enemy like that?"

After confirming that Uchiha Gin hadn't returned to attack, the Third Kazekage, who had slumped to the ground, let out a long sigh of relief. He then turned to his disciple, whose forehead was swollen and red, and demanded fiercely, "Wasn't this all your order, Master?"

Feeling utterly wronged, Pakula pouted and replied with teary eyes, "Even if it's my order, you should at least be a little adaptable. How many times have I taught you the principle of being strong when facing the weak and kneeling when facing the strong?"

"I wanted to kneel, but one look from him... Oh right!"

Just as Pakula was about to explain, she suddenly remembered the scarlet eyes she had seen before falling into her dream, and immediately jumped up, "Ah!"

Caught off guard, the Third Kazekage was struck on the chin with her head, blood spurting instantly onto the ground. "If you can't give me a straight answer today, you'll be sorry when we get back!"

The Third Kazekage, covering his mouth, glared dangerously at the excited Pakula, his tone icy, "Sensei, Sharingan, it's Sharingan! That man is an Uchiha!"

"Sharingan? Are you sure you're not seeing things?"

The Third Kazekage narrowed his eyes. If the man from before really was an Uchiha, things were getting interesting. "Although his dead fish eyes were narrowed very tightly, I could still see the black tomoe in his eyes. You know my eyesight, I would never be wrong."

Seeing Pakura's confident expression, the Third Kazekage frowned and pondered for a while, then said nothing more, raised his hand to signal her to clean up the scene and return to the village.

"Keep this to yourself and don't mention it to anyone."

On the way, he secretly pulled Pakula aside and whispered, "I know~ I know~ My mouth is the most tight-lipped in Sunagakure."

Seeing the teacher's somewhat unnatural expression, Pakula glanced at the pale-faced Sand Ninja Anbu squad behind him and patted his chest with a broad smile, assuring them.

"Also, when you get back, supervise Luo Sha to work overtime to refine gold dust, and make sure to make up for the shortfall by the end of the month."

The amount of gold dust stolen by Uchiha Gin was not small, and there was still a large amount of outstanding payment. The Third Kazekage was penniless and could only hope that Rasa could break through his limitations and achieve a great leap forward in gold dust production.

Shortly after they withdrew, Nono returned, heavily armed and covered in ninja tools.

Her bag and pockets were stuffed with explosive tags. She looked solemnly at the scene, which looked like it had just been through a fierce battle. Her beautiful eyes, hidden behind her round glasses, were full of regret.

"We're still too late."

Looking down at the large pool of blood at her feet, still partially evaporated by the intense heat, she almost bit her lip until it bled. "This is... iron sand. Has the Third Kazekage come in person?"

When she found some black iron sand, Nono, who still held a sliver of hope that Uchiha Gin was alive or dead, collapsed on the spot. In her opinion, no matter how strong Uchiha Gin was, he would only die when facing the Kage of a village at his peak.

"No...not necessarily. He's an Uchiha, and Sunagakure won't take his life so easily."

Fortunately, she remembered Uchiha Gin's identity in time. Having captured a precious bloodline ninja, any village would try to squeeze every last bit of value out of him.

The thought of Uchiha Gin being imprisoned in a dark room by Sunagakure, forced to eat only goji berry juice and raw pork kidneys, and subjected to a nightly draining of his essence, made Nono's heart ache. She tightened her grip on her green cloak with its built-in temperature control system, slowly clenching her fist. Her round, beautiful eyes were filled with determination. "Wait for me, I will definitely rescue you!"

Our protagonist, Lao Yin, is unaware of all this, as he is currently on his way to the Land of Rain.

As the barren desert gradually revealed signs of life, he knew he was almost there.

"Tap~"

The damp rain blocked Uchiha Gin's path. He looked at the lightning surging in the dark clouds, then at the highly conductive iron sand wings behind him, and wisely landed at the border of the Land of Rain.

His Lightning Release Chakra Mode is already fully mastered, so there's no need for him to undergo the baptism of lightning again.

Stepping onto the damp ground, Uchiha Gin, feeling the humidity spike several times over, couldn't help but let out a long sigh. "Phew... Compared to the Land of Wind, the air in the Land of Rain smells so good... Ugh!"

Just as he was about to breathe in the moist air, a pungent industrial fumes assaulted his nostrils, nearly making Uchiha Gin faint. "Who the hell built a copper smelter here?"