Born in Sunagakure, dedicated to antagonizing Konoha for decades

The sudden change in the expressions of Hanzo the Salamander and the people behind him left Shinto completely bewildered. He only wanted a sealing scroll and couldn't understand why these people were so moved. However, he didn't say anything. Amegakure could become a strategic location in World War II, and maintaining good friendly relations with them before Hanzo the Salamander was defeated wouldn't do any harm for Sunagakure.

"I'm fine with it too."

With both people in charge having spoken, the Mizukage nodded in agreement. He was actually hoping that everyone else would give up all the sealing techniques and leave them to Kirigakure, but that was clearly unrealistic. Everyone had witnessed how powerful the Uzumaki clan's sealing techniques were, considering them comparable to the Uchiha clan, which could take on five opponents at once. Moreover, their final technique of summoning Shinigami was terrifying; he didn't even dare to get close for fear of being torn to pieces by those Shinigami. Now that Sunagakure had voluntarily withdrawn, it was all the better, and he had no reason to object.

"Next up is our Iwagakure, right? I was the one who took care of the Uzumaki clan leader."

Everyone else had spoken, so Onoki's opinion was no longer important; he himself thought so too.

the first time!

For the first time in many years, he found the Golden Lion bastard pleasing to the eye. Young people are young after all; even a genius lacks life experience and has a short-sighted perspective, only focusing on what's immediately in front of them. Sunagakure can't study these profound sealing techniques now, but they can take them back and study them slowly. One day they'll understand them completely. But this guy can't even understand that and instead wants those sealing scrolls. Onoki really regrets that this guy isn't the Kazekage; otherwise, that would be wonderful!

However, while Shiki can't see that far ahead, Onoki can!

So when Sunagakure had packed up a bunch of sealing scrolls, he couldn't wait to speak up!

Whether it's the title of leader or the fact that he personally killed the cult leader of the vortex clan, he deserves to be the second to receive a share of the spoils.

"Hmph! Everyone has witnessed the performance of our Cloud Village lads this time. We lost more than a dozen people to eliminate the Uzumaki clan, and you've already killed one old guy with one leg in his coffin and you want to kill another? Onoki, do you think I'm one of four?"

Now the Raikage was really unhappy. The reason why Shiki got to go first was because he didn't want sealing techniques, and he did contribute the most to breaking the Uzumaki clan's barrier. The tactics were also arranged by Shiki. The key point is that Shiki didn't want sealing techniques, so the Raikage had no objection. But damn it, Onoki's eyes were shining as he stared at these sealing techniques. How could the Raikage not see that? If Onoki went first, what would happen to Kumogakure?

"That's right, Lord Tsuchikage, isn't it a bit unfair of you to say that? Putting aside the situation with Kumogakure, our Kirigakure's role in this war wasn't necessarily less important than that of Iwagakure, was it? We only fought with an old guy who couldn't even walk properly for half a day. If that counts, then I just killed three strong elders of the Uzumaki clan. Shouldn't I also be entitled to a share first?"

The Raikage was unhappy, and the Mizukage was even more unhappy. Putting aside the relationship between Kirigakure and Iwagakure, he couldn't let Iwagakure get any benefits first just because his former boss, who had mentored him, died at the hands of the Second Tsuchikage.

192. Onoki's opinion is not important.

“I agree with the Mizukage’s statement. Tsuchikage, we all rushed in at almost the same time, and our Amegakure members were all risking their lives. We sacrificed a lot of people for this. I dare say that the number of people lost by Iwagakure was definitely not as many as our Amegakure members. If Iwagakure can take the lead, even if I agree, my brothers behind me will not agree.”

Following the Raikage and the Mizukage, Hanzo of the Salamander also spoke up. He, Hanzo, was a man of strong principles, clearly distinguishing between gratitude and resentment. When Shiki, whom he considered a brother, fiercely defended him against Onoki, he would repay him with absolute loyalty. However, if anyone offended him, he would retaliate twofold. He still remembered how that bastard Onoki had made this great man of the Land of Rain suffer for so many days at sea; all talk of a long journey was just nonsense.

Is their land of rain not far away?

He'd been here for so many days already, and this bastard had made him wait so long just to show off. If he didn't give him a piece of his mind, he wouldn't be able to vent his anger. He knew perfectly well that the Land of Rain would definitely be last in the spoils this time, but he didn't care. As long as Onoki was unhappy, he'd be happy!

“You...you all...(▼he▼メ)”

Onoki was so angry he couldn't speak. It was clear that these three didn't want him to choose the sealing technique first. If it were just one person opposing him, he could argue back or even fight. After all, he could fly, and he wouldn't be afraid to confront the Raikage, a muscle man. But now it was obvious that the three families were teaming up, and he didn't have the ability to take on all three of them.

"Alright, alright, everyone calm down. We're still teammates. It's not even over yet, and you're already fighting amongst yourselves. Aren't you just making a fool of yourselves? Onoki, really! We're all teammates. The reason we were able to wipe out the Land of Whirlpools so quickly was because of our teamwork. Your eagerness to jump in and divide the spoils is ruining the team atmosphere! And you call yourself the captain? You don't even know basic courtesy. So... everyone saw the role the Raikage and the Cloud Ninja brothers played in destroying the Land of Whirlpools. If they hadn't destroyed the Uzumaki clan's restricted area, we wouldn't have won this match so easily. Logically and morally, the Raikage, as the starting center, should win." "First pick, but to ensure that Kirigakure, Amegakure, and Iwagakure don't suffer losses later, according to my brother's statistics, there are five S-rank vortex sealing techniques, twelve A-rank, and twenty-five B-rank. We won't even count the remaining common ones; you don't want them anyway, so leave them to the other villages and nations participating in this war. Raikage, you have first pick, but you only have priority: one S-rank, three A-rank, and nine B-rank. After that, each of you will get one S-rank, three A-rank, eight B-rank, and the remaining S-rank will be auctioned off. Whoever offers the highest bid wins. The bidder's offer will be split equally among the other three. What do you think?"

Masato glanced resentfully at Onoki, who was gritting his teeth, with a look that said, "It's all Onoki's fault." Then he made a suggestion.

"That makes perfect sense! I have no problem with it."

It was Hanzo the Salamander again! As soon as Shinto finished speaking, he immediately raised his hand in agreement. He was happy as long as Onoki wasn't the first! Besides, his good brother's method would bring them a lot of benefits in the Land of Rain, so he had no reason not to support his good brother.

Hanzo the Salamander's display of loyalty and brotherhood left the Raikage and Mizukage speechless.

If they had known that yelling at Onoki could bring down these "good buddies," they would have used Onoki's head as a shield...

"I'm fine with it too, Lord Raikage, you go first."

The Mizukage nodded. Although he also wanted to be first, he knew that if he brought it up, Onoki would definitely be the first to object. Moreover, being first would only give him priority and an extra A-rank sealing technique, which wasn't a big problem. The key issue was the extra S-rank sealing technique.

With the two decision-makers speaking, the Raikage, being the person directly involved, naturally had no problem with it, and Onoki's opinion was no longer important.

"Damn it... Raikage, you should choose! (▼he▼メ)"

Onoki was annoyed when he saw the look in Shiki's eyes, but his method was indeed feasible. At least no one would lose out. The first person to choose would only get one more A-rank sealing technique, while everyone would get one S-rank sealing technique.

Even without Onoki's prompting, the Raikage and his underlings had already begun researching which sealing technique to choose. However, the Uzumaki clan's materials were covered in their unique sealing technique symbols, resembling oracle bone script. Those without the expertise of a PhD in the subject couldn't understand them at all. Among those present, only Sasori's father, thanks to his mother's constant influence, could barely decipher them. The others... even Mizuki, rumored to have an intelligence of 95, could only understand a few large characters on the cover. Not to mention the Raikage, who had left his big head in the village to oversee things during this trip. Judging from his glasses, he was probably the most educated among the Cloud Ninja. The two of them spent ages studying the five S-rank sealing techniques, ultimately coming up with nothing. They had no choice but to randomly select one by counting on their fingers—since they were all S-rank, the difference wouldn't matter. When it came to A-rank, the bespectacled underling seemed to understand a bit better, directing the Raikage to choose three. When it came to B-rank, the Raikage didn't give his underling a chance to direct, simply grabbing nine random techniques to make up the difference. The Raikage really didn't care about B-rank sealing techniques, but his motto was "It's stupid not to take advantage of a bargain"...

After the Raikage finished his selection, Onoki and the Mizukage started arguing about who would be next. They traded barbs and insults, turning the scene into a massive verbal battleground. When things got heated, they even started revealing each other's secrets: Onoki's beautiful stepmother, Onoki's beautiful cousin, the Mizukage's relationship with the aunt from the next village, the Mizukage's relationship with Hozuki Gengetsu's aunt, and so on...

Although it was unclear how these two, one from the Land of Earth and the other from the Land of Water, separated by a sea, knew each other's stories, the surrounding crowd cheered with excitement. Shinto even marveled at the sharpness of the spies from Iwagakure and Kirigakure, who were able to uncover such secrets from many years ago, while their Sunagakure was completely unaware of it!

The Raikage, having gained something, didn't participate in the battle. Shinto, thoroughly enjoying the verbal sparring between the two, also didn't join in. In the end, the Mizukage, with Hanzo of the Salamander as a temporary teammate, emerged victorious. Basically, whoever criticizes Onoki becomes Hanzo's teammate. Onoki, fighting two opponents alone, coupled with his limited education and poor communication skills, meant that even though the Mizukage and Hanzo were weaklings, he had an extra mouth!

193. You wouldn't dare participate unless you have a net worth of several billion.

The Mizukage was even more direct. After the Raikage and that bespectacled, somewhat cultured Cloud Ninja spent a long time discussing the matter and still ended up counting on their fingers to decide, he didn't consult his subordinates. He casually picked out one of the remaining four S-rank sealing scrolls, carefully put it in his ninja tool pouch, and then went to the A-rank sealing scroll to consider it carefully. He was different from the Raikage, who was destined to be the one in charge from birth.

He had climbed his way up step by step thanks to his own efforts and his boss's appreciation. He also had some knowledge of sealing techniques. In the long run, S-rank sealing techniques would be the most beneficial to the village. However, because the contents of these techniques were all unique symbols of the ancient Uzumaki clan, they all needed to be studied and translated. Therefore, they didn't bring any immediate benefits to the village. He could at least understand half of the symbols on these A-rank sealing techniques, and translating them all was just a matter of time. Since they could strengthen the village's current strength, the Mizukage was more serious about A-rank sealing techniques than S-rank ones. These sealing techniques were diverse, and although they were all of the same rank, choosing the right one could strengthen the village, while choosing the wrong one would make them useless.

After lingering in front of the A-rank sealing techniques for a long time, the Mizukage reluctantly chose three scrolls when Onoki was getting a little impatient. As for the B-rank sealing techniques, his attitude was the same as the Raikage's: it would be a fool not to take advantage of a good deal!

After the Mizukage were chosen, only Onoki and Hanzo of the Salamander remained. Onoki snorted and went up to start the World Selection without saying a word. Hanzo of the Salamander originally wanted to spew some disgusting remarks at Onoki, but was stopped by Shinto.

That's enough. Doesn't the Tsuchikage have any pride? Your Land of Rain has just taken off, and you've angered Onoki. If he goes and lets the Five-Tails run around, do you still want your Land of Rain?

If they kill Nagato's parents, Madara might have a stroke...

After being persuaded by Shinto, Hanzo of the Salamander was even more moved. He thought that Shiki was worried about him, and his eyes welled up with tears as he looked at Shiki.

"...What on earth is he getting emotional about now?"

Scorpion's father looked at the salamander speechlessly and stared at the sky. He realized that the leader of the Rain Country was a little out of his mind, getting emotional at the drop of a hat. This was the third time already.

.......

Onoki's choices were even more casual than the Mizukage's. He randomly picked up one S-rank sealing technique and three A-rank sealing techniques without even glancing at them. In his mind, these were all leftovers from the Raikage and Mizukage. How impressive could they be? The good stuff was all in the last S-rank sealing technique that was about to be auctioned off. It might be the barrier the Uzumaki clan had set up before, or that technique that summoned the Shinigami that he remembered most vividly. That was a real hard control technique. If you got hit by the Shinigami, you were doomed. It was even cooler than Madara, who had stunned him. If he and his teacher had known that technique back then, Madara wouldn't have dared to act so arrogantly in front of them. He could have dragged Madara down with him. His teacher would have died with honor!

Onoki looked down on it because it was leftovers, but Hanzo of the Salamander didn't care at all. Like a loser who'd won the lottery, he carefully tossed several sealing techniques into a sealing scroll while wiping away the liquid left on his mask. Then, he randomly threw several barriers onto the scroll before carefully putting it into his ninja tool pouch. His cautious manner earned him glares from the leaders. Sure enough, his strength had improved, but his demeanor was a major flaw...

The next segment was the S-rank sealing technique segment. Neither Shinto nor Hanzo of the Salamander participated in this segment. Shinto knew that people who weren't from the Uzumaki clan couldn't use these awesome sealing techniques, so he didn't want to be a fool.

As for Hanzo, the salamander, his country, the Land of Rain, suffers from constant rainfall, making agriculture and tourism virtually impossible to develop. Commerce is also barely thriving, and natural resources are scarce. His head wouldn't even be worth that much at this auction. Someone with a net worth of less than several billion yen wouldn't qualify for such an auction. And these several billion yen don't refer to banknotes, but rather goods and resources. Currently, each country has its own currency that circulates only within that country; it's completely unusable in other countries. This isn't the future era of a unified currency for all ninja. In this era, gold is the hard currency. However, neither the Raikage, Onoki, nor the Mizukage are interested in gold. After all, the people of Sunagakure are here; only an idiot would stipulate that gold be used for the auction. Therefore, it was agreed that only strategic materials could be auctioned, as these are the scarcest resources for all villages and countries except Konoha.

All three were either impatient or had never attended a high-end auction before, thinking it would be like Hashirama Senju auctioning off the tailed beasts back in the day. Before the host, Shinto, even said "start," the three were already arguing heatedly. When Onoki opened with a few hundred million, the Mizukage immediately mocked him as a poor bastard and then added another hundred million. Before the surrounding audience could even finish being shocked, the Raikage immediately said, "A few hundred million is nothing. I spend hundreds of millions on breakfast alone," and casually raised the price to one billion. The Raikage had just revealed his immense wealth when Onoki, emboldened by a sneaky glance at his own coffers, swaggered around, mocking the Mizukage for only adding 100 million before immediately offering 1.5 billion. This shocked the surrounding underlings, who stared in disbelief. Even Hanzo of the Salamander gasped, surprised that the bald Onoki was so extravagant. A few years ago, he couldn't even afford the installments on his debts to Sunagakure, but Iwagakure's development in recent years has been impressive; he casually offered 1.5 billion in strategic materials.

He calculated that he had been in power for several years, and his Rain Village had always been rich in wealth. The fact that they had been able to survive until now was thanks to his wise and powerful leadership. However, compared to the major ninja villages, they were still damn poor!

Before Hanzo of the Salamander could finish his exclamation, the Mizukage, who had been looked down upon, exchanged glances with the leaders of the three families—Hozuki, Kaguya, and Minazuki—and realized that resources were secondary to face; they were going to start a fight! With the support of the three leaders, the Mizukage stopped arguing and directly doubled the amount, bringing the total to 3 billion.

It was precisely because of this 3 billion that the auction of the S-rank sealing technique was transformed into a contest of wealth. The Raikage, who never falls behind, became incredibly irritable when he got angry. Regardless of whether his village could provide that many resources or the consequences of doing so, he immediately doubled the price after hearing the Mizukage's offer, and even his underling James couldn't stop him.

194. Bragging is prohibited here.

As soon as the Raikage finished shouting, Onoki immediately doubled the amount to 12 billion. Just as Onoki raised his hand, the Mizukage started adding insult to injury.

"Four hundred and eighty billion!"

"Ninety-six billion..."

"192 billion..."

"Stop! Stop! Everyone! Calm down. We are all people of status, and our words are law. Are you all shouting about leaves? Onoki, it's you again! Over a hundred billion? Does Iwagakure have that many resources? All the leaves in Iwagakure combined don't even amount to that much. Everyone, be realistic and name your price honestly. Stop playing these tricks. If you want to play these tricks, go back to your village and play by yourselves behind closed doors. If you keep shouting like this, even if the nine stars align, you still won't be able to determine a winner."

Seeing that the three people in charge were shouting more and more outrageous, Onoki was even shouting hundreds of billions. Even Hiruzen Sarutobi wouldn't dare to raise the stakes like that. He quickly interrupted the three of them and said irritably.

He was still planning to go back after the celebration banquet; at their rate of partying, it wouldn't stop until the next century.

"I think everyone should write down the prices they can afford on a piece of paper, and then open them at the same time. Whoever offers the highest price will get the sealing technique."

Seeing the three leaders arguing heatedly, Handsome Scorpion's father rolled his eyes and suggested that they were all people who cared a lot about their reputation. If they continued arguing, they might even start fighting.

"Hmm, that's a good idea. But don't write anything random and then refuse to pay later. You need to think carefully about whether you can withstand the wrath of the other two companies. Don't say I didn't warn you if you get beaten to a pulp. The auction is a serious place, and bragging is not allowed here."

Shindou nodded in agreement with Sasori's father's idea, but seeing Onoki's eyes darting around, he knew that the guy was definitely daydreaming again, so he immediately reminded him.

"...Alright, you guys in charge, get started. Have a good discussion with your underlings. You have five minutes. After five minutes, we'll lay our cards on the table. You set the prices; if you can't win, don't complain."

"#$%#@$%....."

As soon as Masato finished speaking, the three leaders turned around and began discussing with their underlings. All three wanted the S-rank sealing technique, but after calming down, they realized that the village's stable development was more important than the S-rank sealing technique itself. They already had one, and while another would be good, not getting it wasn't a big deal. They had just been provoked by that Mizukage... ヽ(ー_ー)ノ

......

"Alright, time's up. Everyone, you can reveal your cards now. Your bids will determine the final ownership of this sealing technique... Hmm, the Tsuchikage's bid is rather... stingy... no, rather conservative. Quite a contrast to his previous boastful words. The Mizukage's bid, on the other hand, is rather... Wow! Incredible! The Raikage is indeed generous, offering 10 billion! You two have seen the Raikage's bid, but don't be discouraged. Even without the S-rank sealing technique, each of you will receive the resources provided by Kumogakure. As for when to settle the bill, that's your own business."

When the three revealed their bids, as Shinto had predicted, Onoki was as stingy as ever. Although Iwagakure's military strength had been steadily increasing in recent years, Iwagakure's weaknesses were also obvious. Their poor geographical location greatly limited their development, and the more than 100 billion yen they had previously boasted about was severely reduced to only 4.5 billion yen.

The Mizukage's asking price of 8 billion was considered reasonable. The Land of Water has a superior geographical location, a developed marine industry, and has maintained stable development for many years. Unlike the Hidden Stone Village, it has not experienced any major disasters. Originally, Shinto thought that the sealing technique should have been acquired by the Hidden Mist Village. After all, the Land of Lightning has been developing in a cautious manner in recent years after the coup, and the Hidden Cloud Village's series of policies require a lot of resources and money to support them, so it is unlikely that they will offer a high price.

Unexpectedly, the Raikage was so competitive. He probably just peeked at the leader of the Hozuki clan making an eight, so he quickly opened the bet at 10 billion.

How much is 10 billion worth of supplies?

If this were in Konoha, it wouldn't be anything special. They have the strength to take on four, five, or six people at once, and all the good stuff in the ninja world is there.

A chief advisor of Konoha can easily mobilize more than 20 billion in resources, which shows how generous Konoha is.

However, for the four major ninja villages of Kumogakure, Sunagakure, Kirigakure, and Iwagakure, this was almost a major blow, especially for Sunagakure, which was the most resource-poor. Since Shinto obtained a batch of strategic materials from Danzo, they hadn't had any income for many years. In the past two years, after more than a decade of development, they had basically reached saturation, and friction between villages was obviously intense. War materials were in high demand, and even though Sunagakure was full of gold, it was useless. Moreover, because of the large amount of resources obtained from Danzo, Chiyo focused on the education of her children. As a result, several years had passed, and those children had grown up, but Sunagakure found that the village's limited resources simply could not support such a large army. But the people had been trained, and they were unwilling to retire. In the past two years, Sunagakure and Kaizo had aged so much that their hair had turned white. Especially Sunagakure, the Kazekage. In just two years, when they met again, Shinto even wondered if Sunagakure had a time accelerator. He looked too impatient, already on the verge of retirement at only middle age.

"No problem, the supplies will arrive within two months!"

At this moment, while the Raikage was happy to see the sealing technique in his hand, his heart was bleeding. When he returned, he would have to think of a decent excuse to explain to his big-headed strategist, otherwise his big-headed strategist might really hand him a resignation letter.

This time it wasn't his competitive spirit that was at play; it was just that the allure of the sealing technique was too great. Don't be fooled by the fact that S-rank ninjutsu may seem worthless, as most ninjas of a certain rank can use one or two. But that's only true for Konoha. Back then, they had Tobirama Senju, the forbidden technique manufacturing machine, who created countless forbidden and S-rank ninjutsu. It's normal for them to have a large inventory and be arrogant.

For other villages, S-rank ninjutsu is quite precious. The Hidden Cloud Village only has a few S-rank ninjutsu, and he had only ever heard of S-rank sealing techniques, never seen them before. These were unique to the Uzumaki clan. He had personally witnessed the power of the sealing techniques used by the Uzumaki clan to block their village entrance with a barrier or to summon the Shinigami with a life-for-life exchange. How could he not be tempted by such a powerful technique right in front of him? He could bring home a powerful sealing technique with just a little movement of his pen and writing down a number. Who wouldn't be tempted by such an offer?

Furthermore, their Raikage has been discreetly preserving his strength for so many years; taking out these supplies is merely a minor loss, like needing a couple of bandages to heal a wound...

195. Should we have Tsunade deal with him then?

"What?! The Land of Whirlpools is destroyed? No way?! σ(⊙▽⊙a)"

"How could it be false? It's all over the place. My wife's cousin is a Chunin from Kusagakure. He went there that day too! Goodness! You have no idea how many people there were. It's said that almost half of the ninja world's villages and countries mobilized, even the Golden Lion of Sunagakure went!"

"The first in the Si Kingdom! That's a family with over a thousand years of history!"

"Who says otherwise? A family with over a thousand years of history can just vanish like that. My wife's cousin told me that Golden Lion cleaved Uzumaki Village in two with a single sword strike to break the Uzumaki clan's barrier..."

"No way? One sword cleaved Uzushiogakure in two?! σ(⊙▽⊙a)"

"Many people have gone to observe it now. Even Admiral Mifune of the Land of Iron went. How could it be fake!"

"Siggo is number one! That's amazing..."

"......"

Within half a month, news of the annihilation of the Uzumaki clan, a prestigious family with a history as long as the Senju and Uchiha clans, spread like wildfire throughout the ninja world, leaving countless people speechless. The Uzumaki clan! A family that had been passed down for thousands of years and experienced countless ages was gone just like that. Especially when people heard that the Sand Village's Golden Lion had cleaved Uzumaki Village in two with a single sword strike, it shocked countless people even more. According to those who went to the scene, it wasn't just the sword strike that was spectacular; even within a radius of eight hundred miles around the entrance to Uzumaki Village, there were countless dense, unfathomable sword marks, almost all of which were the work of the Golden Lion. The scene was more magnificent than a thousand troops, and Uzumaki Village was almost shattered by him.

"Sakumo, is the Golden Lion really that strong?"

In the Hokage's office in Konoha Village, Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Hokage, was deeply troubled and his mood was extremely heavy. The annihilation of the Uzumaki clan meant that Konoha had lost its most loyal ally and its only teammate. More importantly, Lady Mito was getting old, and the next Nine-Tails Jinchuriki was still resentful and filled with hatred because of the destruction of his country and family. Although he had entrusted Lady Mito with counseling, he was really worried. To be honest, even someone his age would find it hard to let go of the destruction of his country and family, let alone a little girl.