Digging a Pit for Kisame Hoshigaki

Once he left the clan compound, Kazama Kaguya quickly arrived at the agreed meeting spot.

It was a somewhat secluded ramen shop.

The moment he stepped inside, Kazama Kaguya spotted a man with a shark-like face sitting coldly in the corner, radiating an aura that warned others to keep their distance.

"Kisame-sensei, long time no see."

"Kazama Kaguya, I recall you retired."

Inside the ramen shop, Kisame Hoshigaki scrutinized the sickly-looking youth before him.

As he spoke, his sharp shark teeth flickered in and out of view, and the oppressive pressure of an elite Jonin bore down, making Kazama Kaguya involuntarily recall their first meeting after he had opened his eyes in this world.

After a moment of silence, Kazama Kaguya said calmly, "Yeah, I still have to thank you for that, Kisame-sensei. If it weren't for the psychological trauma you caused me by choosing to destroy your comrades to protect intelligence, I wouldn't have retired. I might have long been killed on some mission to hunt down bloodline clans."

"The weakness of the weak."

Kisame Hoshigaki let out a mocking laugh. "As a shinobi, if you can't even protect intelligence, you have no right to live."

"So you died!" Kazama Kaguya silently retorted in his mind, but his face showed an expression of admiration.

"Kisame-sensei, you're as dedicated as ever."

He actually liked this attitude of Kisame Hoshigaki.

Cold, professional, unwavering in his creed.

A firm conviction is the anchor that pins one's existence—it's a strength, but also a weakness that others can exploit.

And Kisame's greatest strength and weakness was his resolve to protect intelligence.

He sat down across from Kisame, exchanged a brief stare, then said calmly:

"But, Kisame-sensei, what if the intelligence and village interests you've worked so hard to protect have long become playthings for others to trample at will?"

"Hm?"

Kisame Hoshigaki narrowed his eyes, frowning as he studied Kazama Kaguya.

Pale skin, gaunt as a skeleton, looking like he didn't have long to live.

Unlike their first meeting, where he had screamed in terror, the person sitting before him now was dying, but also more mature, as if he truly possessed some hidden intelligence.

That confident demeanor couldn't be faked.

"Spit it out. What exactly did you call me out here to say?"

He had already swept the area around the ramen shop when he first arrived; there were no prying eyes.

Hearing this, Kazama Kaguya curled his lips and immediately activated another secret art, [Talk no Jutsu: Strike Weakness Technique], saying, "Kisame-sensei, acquiring and protecting intelligence never comes without a price. That's something you taught me."

"..."

Kisame Hoshigaki's shark face twitched at the words. After a moment of silence, he said, "You've retired, and you've grown."

Kazama Kaguya watched Kisame Hoshigaki sit there waiting for him to name his terms, and breathed a sigh of relief inside. Then he pulled a scroll from his chest.

"Kisame-sensei, this is one piece of the intelligence I've obtained. I guarantee it's 100% real."

Kazama Kaguya slid the scroll over. "The cost of acquiring this intelligence is also recorded inside."

"You're very confident."

Kisame Hoshigaki's frown deepened. He couldn't figure out what a retired, weak, dying former genin had to rely on to speak so boldly today.

Just like the creed he firmly believed: acquiring and protecting intelligence never comes without a price.

A man scared witless by the cruelty of the shinobi world had no right to possess high-level intelligence.

"You'll understand once you see it, Kisame-sensei."

As he spoke, Kazama Kaguya ordered a bowl of Tonkotsu Ramen and gestured for Kisame Hoshigaki to check the scroll.

Kisame Hoshigaki stared at the scroll in his hand, then looked at Kazama Kaguya's unflappable expression, his face growing colder.

But out of professional duty as a member of the Intelligence Protection Force, he still opened the scroll.

The scroll wasn't large, about a palm's width, and the writing on it was sparse, but it made Kisame Hoshigaki's pupils contract sharply, his face turning pale with shock.

"This is impossible!"

His first reaction was to deny the truth of the intelligence.

What was recorded on it was simply too unbelievable.

"Kisame-sensei, nothing is impossible."

Kazama Kaguya said calmly, "After all, this is the shinobi world. Even if the Sage of Six Paths were to resurrect tomorrow, I'd find it perfectly normal."

"..." Kisame Hoshigaki was stunned by the words.

After a moment of silence, he lowered his voice and asked, "Can you guarantee the truth of this intelligence?"

"100% guaranteed."

With the high-dimensional perspective of a transmigrator, Kazama Kaguya naturally knew the truth of his intelligence.

He pointed to the last words on the scroll and said, "So, Kisame-sensei, what do you think of this price?"

Kisame Hoshigaki finished reviewing the price for the intelligence and asked with suspicion, "No restrictions on your freedom, protect you for three months? Someone's trying to assassinate you?"

His first thought was that the higher-ups were about to move against the Kaguya Clan, or else Kazama Kaguya wouldn't have made such a request.

He hesitated.

As valuable as the intelligence was, rashly stepping into the power struggle between the village leadership and a bloodline clan could leave him dead without a complete corpse.

Kazama Kaguya naturally saw through Kisame Hoshigaki's thoughts and said calmly, "Rest assured, Teacher Kisame, I won't drag you into a power struggle."

That was the honest truth!

Once the Kaguya Clan was wiped out, there wouldn't be any struggle left.

All that would remain was a rogue ninja desperate to survive.

Kisame Hoshigaki let out a relieved breath and said, "If that's the case, then your intelligence is worth that price."

Hearing this, Kazama Kaguya felt as if a weight had been lifted from his shoulders. He immediately bowed to Kisame Hoshigaki and said:

"Then I'll leave it to you, Teacher Kisame. As for when the price is due, let it start from the next time you hear intelligence related to me."

With nothing more to say and no benefit in lingering, Kazama Kaguya got up and left, taking the Tonkotsu Ramen he had just ordered and putting it on Kisame's tab.

He walked step by step out the door, gazing at the thick fog shrouding Kirigakure, and muttered in a voice loud enough for Kisame Hoshigaki to hear clearly, but not too loud:

"I hate foggy weather. If I ever get the chance, I'd love to visit Konoha in the Land of Fire. I hear the climate's pleasant there. Too bad..."

His muttering faded into the fog, like an offhand complaint.

Kisame Hoshigaki sat quietly in the corner, toying with the scroll, his shark-like pupils fixed on Kazama Kaguya's retreating figure. A grin split his lips, and he let out a hoarse voice.

"Heh, Kazama Kaguya, interesting. Karatachi Yagura, the Fourth Generation... are you really still you?"

Kazama Kaguya stepped out of the ramen shop, and the cold wind carrying the fog hit him, making him realize his back was drenched in cold sweat.

"The pressure was too intense. No wonder he's a man who can stand against Emperor Kai."

Kazama Kaguya had a fair amount of respect for Kisame Hoshigaki.

He was a true ninja.

He kept his word and adhered to his creed.

In the end, to protect the Akatsuki Organization's intelligence, he even chose to die by his own hand. That level of dedication to his convictions was truly admirable.

It was precisely because Kazama Kaguya recognized this that he had set this plan in motion.

If it succeeded, the difficulty of defecting from Kirigakure would be within manageable limits.

[Talk no Jutsu: Strike Weakness Technique] was indeed formidable. Striking at others' weaknesses could bring considerable gains.

Though setting someone up would inevitably invite a fierce backlash later, he was about to die anyway—why care about that? He'd get through the biggest hurdle first.

As for failure, that wasn't an option.

Kazama Kaguya trusted Kisame Hoshigaki's character, and he trusted the power of Talk no Jutsu.

After all, it was the crystallization of ninja wisdom, an ultimate ninja technique used by countless masters since the Sage of Six Paths.

"See your true self? Impressive, my Teacher Kisame. I hope the next time we meet, we can still talk this calmly."

The trap was set, the bait had taken it, and the hints had been given.

Waving vaguely toward the ramen shop from a distance, Kazama Kaguya returned to the clan compound.

The moment he stepped through the Torii gate, a guard stopped him: "Hey, you sickly wreck, if you don't kick it today, show up for the meeting tonight."

Kazama Kaguya fixed the guard with a dead, hollow stare and said expressionlessly, "Got it."

No point getting angry with someone about to die.

Kazama Kaguya knew tonight's meeting was almost certainly about arranging the rebellion.

Back in his quarters, he carefully fastened the prepared Summoning Storage Scroll to his body, pulled out a map, and reviewed his escape route one more time, setting the endpoint at Konoha.

When night fell, Kazama Kaguya stepped through the meeting's entrance.