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"Lord Kazekage, you’ve been quite busy lately, haven’t you?"
Danzo Shimura’s voice carried a sinister undertone, his expression resembling that of a wronged housewife.
"Ah, what can I say? The village has been keeping on my toes. So many things to deal with, and so troublemakers just love stirring the pot. It’s exhausting, truly exhausting."
Jing Hang chuckled, his words deliberately ambiguous. Whether Danzo caught the underlying aning or not was entirely up to him.
Danzo cleared his throat and continued, "I heard that the Hidden Cloud Village and the Hidden Sand Village have grown quite close recently. Even the Third Raikage himself visited your village, didn’t he?"
"Yes, that’s true," Jing Hang replied without any attempt at concealnt.
"Such a significant event, and yet no word was sent to the Hidden Leaf Village?"
"Why would we need to inform the Hidden Leaf?" Jing Hang asked, feigning confusion, though his tone carried a hint of displeasure.
Danzo, seemingly oblivious to Jing Hang’s irritation, pressed on. "Recently, the Hidden Cloud and the Hidden Leaf have had so unpleasant encounters along the northern borders. Actions like this could easily lead to misunderstandings, and such misunderstandings are not sothing the Hidden Leaf is keen to see."
Hmph! "Misunderstandings"? What a joke. What was this—dropping your pants to scare a widow? Jing Hang had seen it all before.
"Oh? Has the Hidden Leaf declared war on the Hidden Cloud?" Jing Hang asked with mock curiosity.
"Of course not," Danzo replied, frowning slightly.
"Then is there an issue with the normal diplomatic relations between the Hidden Sand and the Hidden Cloud?"
"Well... no, there isn’t," Danzo admitted reluctantly.
"Then I don’t understand. Isn’t the Hidden Leaf always waving the banner of peace? Or does it wish for the Hidden Sand and the Hidden Cloud to turn against each other?"
Danzo fell silent. He had intended to use his words to pressure Jing Hang, hoping to gain leverage for the negotiations later. However, Jing Hang had turned the tables on him with ease. This brat—did he not care about the Hidden Leaf’s power at all?
"Fine. This is an internal matter of the Hidden Sand Village, and we, the Hidden Leaf, won’t interfere. My purpose here today is to discuss a collaboration between our villages. I believe Lord Rasa has already briefed you on the matter."
Danzo shifted the conversation to the main topic.
"I’ve heard a bit," Jing Hang said casually. "You’re referring to the chakra-weakening agent, right?"
"Not buying, but exchanging," Danzo corrected.
"Whether buying or exchanging, I don’t think it’s going to happen," Jing Hang said firmly.
"Why not?" Danzo was taken aback by the outright rejection.
"This weakening agent isn’t like tobacco or tea; at its core, it’s a toxin. Openly trading in toxins goes against public morals and decency, don’t you think? It’s better not to do it."
At the word "toxin," Jing Hang couldn’t help but laugh at his own joke.
To Danzo, however, that laugh sounded like pure mockery.
"We don’t need the finished product—just the formula. The Hidden Leaf is willing to exchange it for Lord Tobirama’s Flying Thunder God Technique," Danzo said, suppressing his anger.
"No, no, and no. Giving you the formula would be like teaching you how to make poison. That’s even worse," Jing Hang replied without hesitation.
Danzo was losing his patience. "Lord Kazekage, are you mocking ?"
"Why would I do that? I’d never dare!" Jing Hang said with feigned innocence.
...
The two went back and forth, trading verbal jabs. Danzo tried repeatedly to assert dominance, but Jing Hang remained unfazed, deflecting and joking at every turn. After much arguing, they finally got around to discussing the deal.
"Alright, I’ll reluctantly make a concession. You can forget about the formula, but I can sell you so of the finished product," Jing Hang said, taking a sip of tea to quench his thirst.
Danzo pondered for a mont and decided not to push further. With the Hidden Leaf’s resources and talent in pharmacology, reverse-engineering the formula from a sample of the finished product shouldn’t be too difficult.
"But the Flying Thunder God Technique alone isn’t enough. Actually, I’d say it’s not even close to being enough," Jing Hang added.
"What?! This is the legendary technique of our Second Hokage, Lord Tobirama—"
"Alright, alright, stop trying to fool with the na of so granduncle I’ve never t. I know exactly what’s going on here."
Since Tsunade called Tobirama "granduncle," Jing Hang figured it wasn’t entirely inappropriate for him to do the sa.
"What do you an?" Danzo was montarily stunned.
Jing Hang smirked. "Isn’t it obvious? Since the passing of Lord Tobirama, has anyone else in the Hidden Leaf mastered this technique?"
"Well..." Danzo hesitated, montarily at a loss for words.
At this point, Namikaze Minato might have been gaining so fa, but he wasn’t yet the renowned "Yellow Flash." This ant he hadn’t fully perfected the Flying Thunder God Technique. Even if he had, looking at the entirety of the Naruto series, only Minato ever truly mastered the technique. This suggested the jutsu had significant limitations. If it were so easy to learn, the Hidden Leaf could have trained multiple Flying Thunder God squads and unified the ninja world with just this one technique.
"Lord Tobirama was a genius beyond compare. We can only look up to him in awe..." Danzo began to explain, but Jing Hang cut him off.
"Exactly. So where am I supposed to find so many geniuses like Lord Tobirama? A technique that no one can master—what’s the point of giving it to ? Let’s talk about sothing more practical."
Danzo fell silent. The reason he had offered the Flying Thunder God Technique in the first place was precisely because of its high barrier to entry. He hadn’t expected Jing Hang to see through his ploy so easily.
"What do you want, then?" Danzo asked.
Heh, so there’s a Plan B after all, Jing Hang thought to himself with amusent.
"That depends on how sincere the Hidden Leaf is. By the way, let share so news: the Third Raikage offered his signature move, Lightning Release: Hell Stab, for this agent."
"What?! Didn’t you just say trading toxins violates public morals?" Danzo exclaid.
"Oh, co on. That was just a figure of speech. Why so serious? It’s not like I’m forcing you to buy it," Jing Hang said with a grin, completely unfazed by Danzo’s indignation.
"Aren’t you afraid of angering the Hidden Leaf?" Danzo growled, his patience wearing thin. The news about the Hidden Cloud obtaining the chakra-weakening agent had pushed him to the edge. Without a way to counterbalance it, the Hidden Leaf would be at a severe disadvantage.
"Of course I’m afraid. But that doesn’t make sense, does it? It’s like this: I’m selling waterlons. If you think my prices are too high, does that an you’re going to beat up? If you do, I’ll just grab a knife and fight back."
Jing Hang joked, showing no signs of taking Danzo’s threats seriously.
Seeing Danzo remain silent for a long ti, Jing Hang decided to wrap things up. "Take your ti to think it over. I have another eting to attend, so I’ll leave you to it."
He stood up to leave.
"Wait!" Danzo called out.
"Flying Thunder God Technique plus the Soul Binding Jutsu. How about that?"
"Soul Binding Jutsu?" Jing Hang paused mid-step.
This technique, also developed by Lord Tobirama, was a forbidden jutsu that worked opposite to the Reaper Death Seal. As its na suggested, it could bind a soul, preventing it from dispersing. In the Fourth Great Ninja War, when Sasuke was fatally struck by Madara, it was the reanimated Tobirama who used this jutsu to bind Sasuke’s soul, delaying his death. Wasn’t this essentially a half-life insurance policy? Yeah, that could work.
With a smile, Jing Hang returned to his seat.
"Now we’re talking. Alright, let’s discuss the details."
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