Temptation

"I think we'll have quite a few things in common to talk about."

Vegapunk took out a test tube, shook it twice, then drew out the liquid inside with a syringe and injected it directly into Suikazan Fuguki's body.

The strange liquid had barely entered Suikazan Fuguki's body when his injuries began healing at a rapid pace.

The Pirate World had nothing like Medical Ninjutsu, but precisely because of that, its application of pharmaceuticals far surpassed that of the Ninja World.

What Vegapunk had injected into Suikazan Fuguki was a drug he had developed by reverse-engineering Ivankov's Healing Hormones. As long as someone still had a breath left in them, it could basically save them, and its side effects had been greatly reduced.

In just a few minutes, most of Suikazan Fuguki's originally severe injuries had recovered. A feral gleam flickered in his eyes as he looked at the seemingly defenseless Vegapunk.

Seeing Vegapunk turn away, while Orochimaru had already left with Samehada, Suikazan Fuguki grit his teeth, formed Hand Seals, and sent the hair on his head lashing toward Vegapunk like tentacles.

Unfortunately, his hair had only grown halfway when a bone-piercing agony erupted from his brain. Then, he completely lost control of his body and collapsed to the ground.

"You really are impatient! Weren't you a ninja? You couldn't even endure this little bit of time?"

Holding an instrument, Vegapunk turned around and spoke calmly to Suikazan Fuguki. But Suikazan Fuguki's face was now twisted in agony, sweat drenched his entire body, and he could not utter a single word.

What a joke. Did he really think Vegapunk was some kind-hearted saint? Vegapunk had put plenty of tiny Nanobots into Suikazan Fuguki's healing agent!

At such close range, Vegapunk could fully use his Magnetic Field Manipulation to control those Nanobots. Whether it was severing the brain's neural pathways and turning someone into a vegetable, or directly releasing bioelectricity into their pain receptors to let them experience level-twelve pain, it was all effortless.

After showing off a little of his ability, Vegapunk snapped his fingers. Only then did Suikazan Fuguki finally draw a breath and recover.

Vegapunk looked Suikazan Fuguki up and down, rubbed his chin, and asked, "Suikazan Fuguki, do you want to become the Mizukage?"

The air suddenly fell silent. Suikazan Fuguki, who had been gasping for breath, looked at Vegapunk in confusion before finally letting out a laugh. "Of course I want to become the Mizukage. But what does that have to do with you? Don't tell me a brat like you can help me become the Mizukage?"

"That may not be impossible, Mr. Suikazan Fuguki." Vegapunk ignored the "brat" remark and merely spoke with a smile.

"What kind of joke is that?! Who do you think you are?" Suikazan Fuguki looked utterly disdainful. No matter how chaotic Kirigakure was, it was still one of the Five Great Shinobi Villages. It even retained considerable strength now, with its Kekkei Genkai Clans. In terms of power, it was not much inferior to Kumogakure or Iwagakure.

For such a powerful shinobi village, this brat of merely fourteen or fifteen acted as though he did not take it seriously at all. Naturally, Suikazan Fuguki did not believe him.

Yet Vegapunk continued relentlessly, "Mr. Fuguki, as far as I know, your status in all of Kirigakure should rank among the top five, right? So how far are you from the position of Mizukage, exactly? What conditions do you need?"

"What conditions? Being able to fight is the greatest condition!" Suikazan Fuguki said, rolling his eyes.

He was not wrong. Why did Kirigakure so often produce lone warriors who tried to assassinate the Mizukage and take his place? It was simple: because it was genuinely possible.

Because of the Blood Mist policy, there were practically no feelings between people in Kirigakure. Under such complete reliance on violent suppression, whoever possessed the strongest force became the leader.

If someone truly managed to assassinate the Mizukage despite the Kage Guard's protection, that alone proved the assassin's immense strength. And if the assassin also had a group of subordinates, then seizing the position of Mizukage through force would not actually be very difficult.

"If I can strengthen you, Mr. Suikazan Fuguki, do you think you could seize the position of Mizukage?"

Suikazan Fuguki narrowed his eyes and seriously examined Vegapunk for the first time. After a moment of silence, he asked, "Those animal ninjas were your subordinates?"

"Not exactly. I did create them, but they're Orochimaru's subordinates. It's just that Orochimaru works for me now too."

The instant Vegapunk finished speaking, Suikazan Fuguki's body trembled, and several traces of shock appeared in his eyes.

At the end of that battle, the ninjas' self-destruction had made Suikazan Fuguki fully aware that his opponents had once been nothing more than a group of ordinary Chunin.

Yet within half a month, those Chunin had been strengthened to the level of Special Jonin and even Elite Jonin. It was simply absurd. More importantly, this ability seemed universally applicable!

He had assumed it was a Secret Technique developed by Orochimaru. But if everything had been done by this Blond Boy in front of him, then perhaps his words were not just empty boasts!

There was no shortage of ninjutsu, secret medicines, and similar things in the shinobi world that could provide strengthening effects. Orochimaru's cursed seals and the Akimichi Clan's Three-Colored Pills were examples. But such things were extremely dangerous, had poor compatibility, could not be used by most Ordinary Ninja, and all came with serious consequences.

However, the modification technology used by those ninjas seemed quite mature. According to those few ninjas, before undergoing the experiments, they had merely been ordinary Chunin.

They had no distinguishing traits, no particular strengths, had never learned any Secret Technique, and possessed no Kekkei Genkai. They were simply ordinary ninjas, relatively proficient in Taijutsu and throwing techniques, who knew a couple of basic techniques from the Five Basic Nature Transformations.

Ninjas like that could be found in any shinobi village by the handful. They were basically the sort whose potential had already run out. If even such ninjas could undergo modification, then it meant this modification could be used on a large scale.

Putting everything else aside, he had around twenty or thirty Chunin of that level under his command. If all of them could be successfully modified, the strength of his subordinates would probably surpass even the Mizukage's Anbu!

Most importantly, could he himself become stronger through this kind of modification? After all, his strength was only one step away from Kage level!