Sale

Although Yichen's request was strange, no one dared to be careless after hearing about White Zetsu's abilities. They started investigating from the attendees of the High-Level Meeting, going down layer by layer.

Then, Ikura, Kitsuchi, Mei, and Tomoko went as a team to check out the Anbu. Since the Anbu members were both male and female, Mei and Tomoko needed to cooperate.

Ōnoki, Kawakita, and two female Tsuchikage Assistant formed a team and first inspected key members of some important organizations. These included the heads of various departments and their families, deputies, assistants, and disciples. For example, the Tailed Beast Guard Office included Han and his three disciples.

Yichen, along with Saka and other Tsuchikage Assistant, inspected the office staff throughout the Tsuchikage's Office Building.

The inspection method was simple: take the person to a place similar to where the White Zetsu clone were imprisoned, and then make them eat and defecate.

Surprisingly, after checking along the way, we actually found something. The combat personnel checked by Ōnoki and Ikura's groups didn't have any problems, but the non-combat personnel checked by Yichen had problems.

A Genin responsible for issuing D-rank Mission sensed something was wrong when Yichen asked him to eat. Without saying a word, he dove underground to escape.

But only a short section of the path beneath his feet was dirt, and he crashed headfirst into a metal plate after only a few meters. Without his Mayfly Technique, White Zetsu was nothing but trash in Yichen's eyes and was easily subdued.

The investigation continued, and it turned out this was not an isolated case. Among the many clerical positions in Iwagakure, Yichen and his team found thirteen White Zetsu clone.

That's all there is to it; none of the combat personnel, or the ninjas involved in the battle, were replaced by the White Zetsu clone.

"This thing called White Zetsu turns into a tree after it's killed. They're quite cautious; to avoid being exposed, they haven't placed any people in the combat departments." A dozen days later, at another High-Level Meeting, Yichen summarized.

"So far, the Anbu have checked all the ninjas in the village and found a total of thirteen White Zetsu clone."

"The number is small, and the positions are not important. The classified information is unlikely to be leaked, but collecting the information gathered by these people is enough to analyze the village's movements."

"It's good to be able to identify potential problems in advance. Although it delayed many tasks, it was all worthwhile."

"Next is the inspection of civilians, which is quite a lot of work. I plan to divide the village into areas and proceed one area at a time. People from all inspected areas are prohibited from contacting those from uninspected areas."

"At the same time, the village's Sensory Barrier was fully activated, Earth Release ninjas were dispatched to infiltrate underground and Net to prevent the White Zetsu clone from escaping."

Thirteen ninjas were found to have been replaced. It was originally thought that more civilians would have been replaced, but surprisingly, there wasn't a single White Zetsu clone among the civilians.

It turned out to be a false alarm.

"The investigation is complete, the village has returned to normal operations, and from now on all public officials must verify the code before starting work."

Yichen had no good solution for White Zetsu clone, so he could only leave it at that for now.

"We captured thirteen White Zetsu clone this time, making a total of fourteen, including the first one. Since we can't figure out anything from them, I plan to sell them."

Yichen had been pondering this problem for the past few days. Finally, he came up with a method that could maximize profits.

"Sold?" Everyone looked bewildered. "Sold to whom?"

Yichen said, "Konoha, Sunagakure, Cloud ninja, Mist ninja, Akatsuki Organization, Orochimaru —these can all be considered potential trading partners, as long as they can afford the price."

"But would anyone actually buy this? We've been researching it for so long, and we haven't gotten any useful information," Kawakita wondered.

Yichen laughed and said, "We haven't figured out anything useful, and others don't know about it either."

"Besides, we can easily claim that we developed this ourselves. And this thing has a very impressive gimmick: the First Hokage's Wood Release."

"Wood Release?" Ming asked in confusion. "This White Zetsu clone does know a bit of Wood Release, which initially startled me and made me think it was something good, but its Wood Release is too weak, at most Chunin."

Yichen said, "It doesn't matter how strong Wood Release is, as long as it can scare people."

After thinking for a moment, Ōnoki and the others said, "Okay, let's make the deal."

In the Fourth Raikage's Office in Kumogakure, an assistant rushed in with a document. "Lord Raikage, someone from Iwa ninja has secretly sent a transaction request."

"A trade? What does the Iwa ninja want to trade this time? Didn't they just exchange it for Senju Tobirama's Flying Thunder God Mark last time?" Ai frowned.

The assistant quickly said, "Lord Raikage, the Iwa ninja's proposed price is for an S-rank Lightning Release S-rank Ninjutsu."

Ai asked, "What did they give us?"

"The First Hokage of Konoha's Wood Release." The assistant said this with some doubt.

"What? Wood Release?" A jumped up from his seat, his face filled with disbelief. "If Wood Release really exists, why don't the Iwa ninja use it themselves? And given Wood Release value, why would they only exchange it for an S-rank Ninjutsu?"

"It's said that its power is far inferior to the First Hokage's Wood Release. The Iwa ninja's research has encountered difficulties and can't continue. They don't want their years of effort to go to waste, so they're exchanging some benefits with us." The assistant was actually quite tempted by this deal.

After pondering for a moment, Ai asked, "How effective was the Sealing Jutsu that the Iwa ninja gave us last time, which isolated the Byakugan's spying? Can you determine if it was genuine or not?"

The assistant said, "Although we didn't use the Byakugan, the Barrier Team's analysis suggests that this Sealing Jutsu is genuine."

"Then let's exchange it." A made the decision immediately. "However, let's just find an S-rank Ninjutsu that isn't very useful to use in the exchange."

Soon, the two sides completed the transaction at sea. The Anbu in charge of the transaction explained the various abilities of the White Zetsu clone to the Cloud Ninja Representative in detail, which made the Jonin's lips twitch slightly.

This is outrageous! I don't know how useful this thing will be, but just how it's disposed of is enough to make the Lord Raikage smash several desks.

"Oh, by the way, you can check if any of these things have infiltrated your village. The method is simple; these things never poop." After saying that, the Iwa Ninja Anbu turned and left.

The Cloud ninja was left completely bewildered. Wasn't this something the Iwa ninja had created themselves? How could they be betraying their own information?

Sensing something was wrong, the Cloud ninja Jonin, along with his White Zetsu clone, quickly ran towards the Kumogakure.

At the same time, Iwa ninja was also conducting the same transactions with other ninja villages.

"Advisor Danzō, while five S-rank Ninjutsu are important, this is the First Hokage's Wood Release. Compared to the legendary Wood Release that ended the chaos and ushered in the new era of ninja villages, what are S-rank Ninjutsu?"

On the border Lands of Fire and Earth, along the passage that originally belonged to the Land of Grass, Ikura, leading a group of Anbu, was escorting a White Zetsu clone and confronting Danzo.

"Five S-rank Ninjutsu? You Iwa ninja have quite the appetite. You think you can trade a Wood Release that's far weaker than the First Hokage's? You Iwa ninja are truly delusional." Danzo to try and bargain.

Just now, Ikura had someone use Genjutsu to control the White Zetsu clone, causing the White Zetsu clone to perform a Wood Release: Wood Release - Wood Splinter Technique in front of Danzo.

At first, Danzo's eyes gleamed with ambition. But Danzo was Danzo after all; he suppressed his greed and returned to normal in just half an hour.

"Advisor Danzō, I heard that your Konoha also researched the First Hokage's cells, but it seems you all failed. If you bring back our Iwa ninja's technology, wouldn't the power of Wood Release increase significantly?" Ikura continued to bluff.

"Hmph, even so, you Iwa ninja are far too greedy. I'm only offering one S-rank Ninjutsu. Don't even think about getting more." Danzo continued to haggle.

"Advisor Danzō, why be so stubborn? S-rank Ninjutsu is incredibly difficult. Even if you gave it to us, we wouldn't be able to learn it." We just wanted to enhance the village's cultural foundation.

"Furthermore, Lord Danzō, the ninjutsu you gave up belonged to Konoha, but the Wood Release you gained belonged to you. With Lord Danzō's wisdom, don't you know how to choose?"

Danzo's eyes flashed upon hearing this, then he relented. "Two S-rank Ninjutsu. If you Iwa ninja want to raise the price, then we'll part ways."

"Lord Danzō, why are you in such a hurry? We've also sent three groups of people to search for the other Three Great Ninja Villages," Ikura said slowly.

Upon hearing Danzo, Danzo's eyes flashed with murderous intent.

"Oh, right, we also went to see Orochimaru along the way. Orochimaru is very interested in these things, and I'm sure he'll offer a high price." Ikura ignored Danzo's murderous glare and continued calmly.

"Three, that's the limit," Danzo his teeth.

There's no way around it. Even if Konoha doesn't have Wood Release, it's not a big problem. But what if Konoha's enemies all have Wood Release, Konoha Konoha n't? Besides, with Orochimaru's mad scientist research abilities, he might actually be able to develop a transplantable Wood Release.

Danzo's anxiety grew even stronger.

Ikura smiled and finally said, "I've heard that the First Hokage's Wood Release and Sharingan can suppress each other."

Boom! Danzo stomped his foot heavily on the ground, ready to fight to the death.

"Damn it, how do the Iwa ninja know the secrets of Wood Release and the Sharingan? Are Iwa ninja also conducting research in this area?" Danzo thought to himself.

Ikura remained unmoved by Danzo's outburst, maintaining a smile throughout.

"Four!" Danzo his teeth and squeezed out the two words.

After completing the transaction, on the way back to the village, Ikura reviewed these S-rank Ninjutsu. As expected, they were mostly useless and mediocre ninjutsu.

These ninjutsu techniques are either upgraded versions of A-rank Ninjutsu with little technical skill, or they require a special physique to master. In short, the Iwa ninja have absolutely no use for these techniques except for research.

However, Ikura didn't care; this was all expected. What he was thinking about was what Yichen had told him when he asked him to negotiate with Danzo. How did Yichen know that the Sharingan and Wood Release could suppress each other?

"Sigh." Ikura sighed and stopped thinking about it. Anyway, Yichen had plenty of secrets, so one more wouldn't make a difference.