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Shin stowed away the Third Raikage's body and turned to Kushina and Mikoto with a casual shrug.
"Let's go," he said. "Time to collect our payment from Danzō."
They returned to the Konoha camp and headed straight for Danzō. The old warhawk looked bewildered to see them back so soon.
"Danzō," Shin said flatly, "got my commission ready?"
"Already…? You mean the Third Raikage is dead?" Danzō asked, still somewhat skeptical.
He knew better than most just how formidable the Third Raikage was, especially with rumors of him battling entire armies singlehandedly. Even if it was Uzumaki Shin, dealing with that man shouldn't have been easy.
But Shin merely dumped the Third Raikage's corpse at Danzō's feet.
Even though Danzō's face remained unreadable, his mind was in turmoil. However, another problem arose—how to pay.
Danzō inwardly cursed. He had known it was a huge sum, but Konoha's finances had been stretched thin by the Third Shinobi World War, and Danzō was loath to part with the private funds he'd set aside for Root.
"Will you allow me some time to…gather the money?" Danzō asked finally.
"Of course," Shin replied lightly. "As long as I get to hold onto your head as collateral."
Danzō's expression darkened. That was essentially demanding his life.
But he truly didn't have the cash on hand, and raising such an astronomical sum wasn't easy.
"How about this?" Danzō suggested, forcing calm into his voice. "I have copies of certain secret techniques from each of Konoha's major clans. Let me offer them first—just to buy us a bit more time."
Danzō knew he had to stall. His priority was survival, and handing over some clan techniques was a small price to pay.
"Secret techniques?" Shin raised an eyebrow.
He immediately thought of the Yamanaka, Akimichi, and Nara clans. Their jutsu were quite unique, and while they weren't particularly useful to him, they might still hold some value.
"Fine," Shin said at last. "But I still expect the rest of the money, in full, delivered to the Land of Whirlpools. If you fail to deliver… well, I wouldn't mind paying Konoha a little visit."
There was no mistaking Shin's tone. If the money didn't come, he was fully prepared to raze Konoha to the ground.
He'd have liked nothing more than to see Shin dead. But for now, he could only compromise.
Soon, Shin and his two companions left Danzō's presence, having gained the thick scroll of stolen clan techniques.
"Truly Danzō," Shin remarked as they walked away, flipping through the scroll. "He's managed to get his hands on secret techniques from nearly every major clan."
For others, these might be prized treasures, but to Shin, they were more like interesting footnotes. Still, flipping through them might spark an idea or two.
"Huh? This one's from the Hyūga clan—Gentle Fist?" Shin murmured, scanning a few pages.
The Hyūga were notoriously secretive about their techniques. The fact that Danzō had managed to obtain a copy was impressive in itself.
"Gentle Fist only works well with the Byakugan, right?" Mikoto noted, reading over his shoulder. "Otherwise, it's just fancy taijutsu."
The Gentle Fist required the Byakugan to be effective. Without it, it was just an ordinary Taijutsu style.
"Who said it's useless?" Shin smirked. "This might actually come in handy for me."
Unlike others, Shin possessed the Rinne-Tenseigan, a combination of the Rinnegan and the Tenseigan's abilities, which encompassed all the capabilities of the Byakugan—but at a far more advanced level.
"You can't learn the Gentle Fist without the Byakugan, can you?" Kushina asked.
"Not exactly. You can still learn it, but it won't be as effective. It'll be like ordinary Taijutsu."
Without the Byakugan, the Gentle Fist's ability to pinpoint chakra points and seal an opponent's chakra couldn't be utilized.
"I can use the Gentle Fist now. Kushina, want to experience it firsthand?" Shin asked with a smile.
"No thanks!" Kushina quickly backed away. "I'm not about to let you use me as a test dummy."
Shin laughed and continued flipping through the scrolls.
"So," Mikoto asked, "Are we heading back to Suikagakure now?"
"That depends," Shin replied. "What do you two want to do? Do you want to go back now?"
He turned to Kushina and Mikoto, letting them decide.
"We just got here. Going back so soon would be boring," Kushina said. "Might as well enjoy our time out."
"I agree," Mikoto nodded. "It's rare to get a chance to explore freely."
"All right," Shin said, nodding. "We'll stay out a while longer."
Then Kushina suddenly remembered something:
"Oh, and I still need to collect the bounty," Kushina suddenly remembered. "The Third Raikage's head is worth five hundred million ryō."
"Where do we collect it?" Shin asked.
"I only know the location of one of their branches in the Land of Fire. That's where I received the mission. It's not far from the Land of Whirlpools." Kushina admitted.
"Then there's no rush. We can do it when we get back." Shin agreed.
As they continued walking, Shin absentmindedly browsed the jutsu scrolls. Though most of them were irrelevant to him, some were at least interesting.
"Ugh, the Aburame clan's insect breeding techniques… Hard pass."
Shin tossed that scroll aside immediately.
"Gives me the creeps!" Kushina agreed.
"Here, take these." Shin handed Kushina and Mikoto the Nara Clan's Shadow Imitation Technique and the Yamanaka Clan's Mind Body Switch Technique.
He didn't give them the Akimichi Clan's techniques. He didn't want Kushina and Mikoto turning into fatties. And even if he did, they'd probably toss the scrolls away.
Shin focused on the Hyūga's Gentle Fist. Though the Hyūga Clan was mostly background noise in the original story, their Gentle Fist was a powerful Taijutsu style. In Shin's hands, it could be devastating.
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