Seeing the Third Raikage furrow his brow in lingering doubt, Tamura Hiroshi felt all the more at ease.
It was a good thing he had never read them!
"Those are just novels I wrote; they sell really well and make a lot of money. Those one billion ryō are my royalties!"
He offered this final explanation, making it clear that the origin of his wealth was completely legitimate.
After arriving in this world, he had pondered how to become stronger.
Realizing he possessed no Golden Finger, average personal aptitude, and no clan heritage, he knew he could only rely on external means to improve.
The best external means was the power of money, but making money in a ridiculous world like Naruto, where even terrorists were yearning for peace, was truly not easy.
It was not until he remembered the masterpiece by that future gallant hero Jiraiya that he figured out a way to make money. Over the past few years, he had been writing books, utilizing his identity as a child to frequent various bathhouses and Kabukicho for material, and combining them with the unique traits of the Naruto world to write those Erotic Novels.
Sure enough, it made a lot of money!
"Novels?"
The Third Raikage was a bit dumbfounded. Was writing novels really this lucrative?
He turned his head to look at his assistant Dodai, shooting him an inquiring gaze.
Recalling the dozens of Erotic Novels he had spent all his secret stash of money to purchase, Dodai wore a weird expression and said, "If he really is those authors, coughing up one billion ryō is indeed not difficult."
He certainly had not expected that the identities of all those authors belonged to the exact same person, and a ten-year-old child at that.
Come to think of it, those Erotic Novels had started appearing five years ago, which meant this brat already possessed this level of ideological maturity when he was five years old.
What a talent!
Although puzzled by Dodai's strange expression, the Third Raikage did not dwell on it and shifted his attention back to the intelligence.
"What is that piece of intelligence?"
Taking a deep breath, Tamura Hiroshi said earnestly, "I was sent to Kumogakure by Shimura Danzō as a spy to find a way to steal Kumogakure's intelligence, but I was forced into it. My parents died long ago, and now I am about to become a shinobi of Kumogakure—for the rest of my life!"
That was right. He was originally from Konoha. Because he displayed early maturity and refined chakra at the age of three, he had caught the eye of Shimura Danzō's men, who took him away and trained him. At age five, he was assigned to Kumogakure to take the place of an old man's adopted grandson.
As for that old man's real grandson, he had been taken away by Shimura Danzō's men, and the old man himself had been secretly bought off by them to act as a spy long ago, dying a year prior.
As for revealing this layer of his identity, it was primarily to avoid leaving behind any hidden troubles.
Exposing something beforehand carried a completely different meaning from revealing it after the fact.
Disclosing it in advance was called stating one's stance and turning over a new leaf; disclosing it afterward was called making excuses, or even quibbling, and nobody would believe it.
He had no desire to be targeted after his identity was exposed, endure a round of Kumogakure's top ten tortures, and then be subjected to hypnotic techniques or memory probes.
That would be fatal!
Being a spy was far too dangerous; he wanted to be a good person!
As soon as these words left his mouth, the atmosphere instantly froze, and all three members, including the Third Raikage, turned serious.
Even though Tamura Hiroshi was panicking on the inside, he maintained direct eye contact with the Third Raikage to demonstrate his attitude and stance.
Dodai and Yozuki A said nothing, quietly waiting for the Third Raikage's verdict.
"Well said. For the rest of your life, you will be a member of Kumogakure, and my disciple!"
At last, the Third Raikage smiled. Although this brat's background had issues, it was nothing major.
Furthermore, not only had the boy made a frank confession, but he had also brought one billion ryō and presented three major weapons of mass destruction, which could be considered utmost sincerity.
Most importantly, he valued this brat's brain. Since he could design these lethal weapons now, perhaps he could devise even more and better ones in the future. The value he held was unimaginable.
If this was what a genuine spy looked like, he could only say: bring more of them!
The moment the Third Raikage smiled, Tamura Hiroshi instantly relaxed. His legs felt somewhat weak, and a cold sweat drenched his back.
The pressure just now had been immense!
Dodai and Yozuki A also breathed a sigh of relief. They held a genuine appreciation for this brat, especially regarding those Erotic Novels.
It would be an absolute tragedy if they stopped updating and became a lost art!
"Lord Raikage, we might be able to use this identity of his in reverse, passing some intelligence that benefits us to Shimura Danzō."
Dodai pondered for a moment and offered a suggestion.
He was a strategist-type shinobi by nature and primarily provided suggestions and ideas to Lord Raikage; in his view, this kid's spy identity was ripe for exploitation.
"You handle this matter."
The Third Raikage nodded, approving the suggestion. As long as it benefited the village, there was nothing that could not be utilized.
"Take him for an inspection to see if Shimura Danzō left any means of control on him. That man is a ruthless character. Additionally, everything that just happened needs to be kept strictly confidential. Not a single word is to be spoken to anyone; it is top-secret village intelligence."
He gestured to his son and offered this final warning.
"Your disciple takes his leave!"
Tamura Hiroshi finally let go of the tension in his heart, then followed Yozuki A as they left.
After the two of them departed, the Third Raikage walked up to the stone wall, dug out all the deformed bullets with a kunai, and then channeled Lightning Style into his fingertips, jabbing fiercely into each bullet hole one by one. He destroyed the traces and fabricated the illusion that he had been practicing his Hell Stab.
Though this was his exclusive training room where outsiders were barred from entering, spies nowadays were truly hard to discern. Coupled with some bizarre ninjutsu, there was no guarantee someone wouldn't sneak in here to observe, and it would spell trouble if anyone deduced anything from these craters and bullet heads.
Dodai knowingly stashed the three lethal weapons away inside a storage scroll, then walked over.
"He's a very clever little brat."
Finishing up his jabs at the craters, the Third Raikage looked at the various hollows and chuckled.
"Indeed very clever!"
Dodai heartily agreed with that sentiment. Whether it was those few devastating weapons, the Erotic Novels he had authored, or the boy's scheming today, all of it displayed extraordinary wisdom and daring.
"How long will it take to develop them?"
Turning solemn, the Third Raikage knew that those lethal weapons were still immature. Materials were one aspect, structure was another, and on top of that, the numerous concepts the brat had laid out would require massive inputs of manpower and material resources for research—most of all, time.
Dodai had long known the Third Raikage would ask this, having already given it considerable thought beforehand.
"It will take at least five years for development, and mass production will require massive amounts of steel materials, explosive tags, and the training of a large-scale shinobi army. Put together, it will take at least a decade. The principles of these firearms are far too simple. Once used, opponents will inevitably crack them rapidly and subsequently manufacture replicas. We can only leverage this to gain a single momentary advantage, so we must break the stalemate in one fierce push."
"A decade... It seems we won't be able to use them in this current war!"
The Third Raikage felt a hint of regret. In this Ninja World War, they had no idea how many casualties Kumogakure would suffer.
During the previous Great Ninja War, they had suffered heavy losses; the betrayal of Kinkaku and Ginkaku in particular had severely crippled their vitality.
Not only had Kinkaku, Ginkaku, and the forces under their command defected to become the enemy, but during the course of that rebellion, they had also slaughtered numerous shinobi of the village, even including the Second.
They had not sustained minor losses back then when striking down Kinkaku and his cohorts either, and this Ninja World War would certainly not be easy.
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