Kaguya: No One Understands Persuasion Better Than Us

"Recruit Kumogakure and face Konoha together?"

After listening to Karatachi Yagura's account, Hozuki Sengetsu frowned as well.

"That won't be easy!"

Born into a prestigious clan, he understood the history and circumstances of the other nations better than Karatachi Yagura did.

Although the Land of Lightning had always been ruled by hardliners and prided itself on being iron-blooded and warlike, they were not fools. Under normal circumstances, they would not take the lead in provoking Konoha.

After all, Konoha's foundations ran far too deep. No single village could withstand them alone.

That was common knowledge in the Shinobi World!

And the so-called trailblazer was the tragic sort of character who had to clash head-on with Konoha alone in the early stages before the other ninja villages would finally enter the fray.

A simple example would make it clear.

Sunagakure before and after the Third Shinobi World War. Just look at how bereft of talent Sunagakure was after the war, and one could imagine how badly they had lost back then.

If their own losses were too severe, the ones who arrived might not be allies coming to help fight Konoha. They might instead be wolves waiting to take advantage of the chaos.

"I heard the Raikage has a violent temper, and the Second Raikage died together with the Second Hokage. Would it work if we guided things through their hatred?"

Yagura proposed another idea.

"It probably wouldn't have much effect. The two Kage died because the Kinkaku and Ginkaku brothers of Kumogakure rebelled. In the end, that was Kumogakure's own problem. They can't blame Konoha for it."

Hozuki Sengetsu shook his head, indicating that it was not very feasible.

"Then..."

Yagura and Hozuki Sengetsu discussed the matter for a long time, yet failed to find any method guaranteed to work.

"If nothing else works, we can only see whether we can provoke the Raikage when the time comes. With that foul temper of theirs, perhaps he'll agree in a moment of hotheadedness."

Yagura's tone was filled with helplessness.

"That's far too dangerous! The Third Raikage was said to be a peak expert who possessed the Strongest Spear and the Strongest Shield, with the power to subdue the rampaging Eight-Tails head-on!"

Hozuki Sengetsu was horrified and hurriedly tried to dissuade Yagura from what he considered an extremely suicidal idea.

"Your family has a Three-Tails Jinchuriki too. Do you think you can defeat the Three-Tails?"

"This..."

Yagura recalled the Three-Tails' strength and could not help shaking his head.

"I could barely hold it off for a while, but defeating it head-on would be unlikely."

"Exactly. The Eight-Tails is certainly stronger than the Three-Tails. If you really provoke the Raikage, none of us will be coming back!"

Hozuki Sengetsu wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and suggested another idea.

"But we can indeed make use of the Raikage's temper to achieve our goal."

"Huh?"

Karatachi Yagura looked confused.

You were the one who just told me not to do it, and now you're the one saying we can.

What did that mean?

Hozuki Sengetsu did not keep him in suspense. "What I mean is, we can invite Kumogakure to hold the Joint Chunin Exams!"

"Joint Chunin Exams? Would they agree? And what would that accomplish?"

"If the Raikage refuses, mock him to his face for being afraid of our Mist Village genin and lacking confidence in Kumogakure's own genin. Then he'll definitely agree."

After first offering a terrible idea, Hozuki Sengetsu explained, "As for its purpose, generally speaking, only ninja villages with exceptionally good relations would jointly hold a large-scale ninja promotion exam. Once news gets out that we and Kumogakure are holding the Chunin Exams together, the other villages will see us as having formed an alliance with Kumogakure."

"Good idea!"

Yagura's eyes lit up. "As long as everyone else sees us as allies with Kumogakure, Konoha will naturally have reservations when facing us. And Kumogakure can't possibly step forward to explain it away. They can't afford to lose that face!"

"Exactly. That's the idea."

Hozuki Sengetsu nodded, then reminded him.

"But there's one more thing you need to keep in mind. Kumogakure won't fall for it so easily. They might propose a match between genin. If our people lose, they can openly reject our proposal by claiming the Mist Village is too weak. So you need to carefully consider who you'll bring this time."

"Haha, don't worry about that!"

Karatachi Yagura laughed twice. "This year's Mist Village genin may be the strongest batch we've had in recent years!"

Although this batch of genin was known as the strongest, there were only two of them, so Karatachi Yagura still had to find one more person to fill out the team.

A three-man squad had to have all three members, right? They could not possibly have Kisame pretend to be a genin when the time came.

"What a shame Mangetsu is already a chunin. Otherwise, with him added in, we might be able to hand Kumogakure a three-to-zero record outright and see what face they have left to refuse holding the Joint Chunin Exams with us!"

Yagura muttered quietly, utterly confident in Araki and Zabuza.

After all, not just anyone could achieve a Hundred-Man Slayer feat before even graduating, and Araki was even stronger than Zabuza.

"Kaguya or Yuki, who should I go to?"

After hesitating briefly, Yagura ultimately headed toward the Kaguya Clan compound.

Since it was a matter of fighting, he could not go wrong with those battle-crazed members of the Kaguya Clan!

"What? Lord Mizukage is sending you to Kumogakure to cause a huge scene? How can the Kaguya Clan possibly be left out of something so wonderful?!"

Kaguya Steel Bone slapped the table and rose to his feet.

Yagura: ???

Who said they were going to Kumogakure to cause a huge scene?

He said it was an exchange visit!

"Clan Head Kaguya, you misheard. We're only going to Kumogakure for an exchange visit."

Karatachi Yagura hurriedly explained.

"It's fine, I understand!"

The two red moles between Kaguya Steel Bone's brows twitched up and down, while his eyes, ringed by heavy dark circles, somehow squeezed out a look that said, "I understand~."

Understand my ass!

Though Karatachi Yagura maintained an awkward yet polite smile on the surface, he had already begun cursing furiously inside.

What was I thinking back then? How could I have thought bringing a Kaguya clansman would be better than bringing someone from the Yuki Clan?

Just as Yagura was reflecting on himself, he heard Kaguya Steel Bone say in a matter-of-fact tone:

"No one understands exchange better than we do!"

Karatachi Yagura was stunned by those words.

Did you think I was some clueless newcomer who had just arrived in the Mist Village?

Who didn't know about the Kaguya Clan's bloodthirsty, battle-loving reputation?

You people simply don't know how to talk properly to anyone!

"Hehe, you don't know this, do you?"

An extraordinarily exaggerated grin appeared on Kaguya Steel Bone's face. "The ultimate purpose of exchange is to persuade others, and we happen to be very good at that."

Yagura's mouth twitched, and he nearly failed to maintain the practiced smile on his face.

You call that being good at persuasion?

That's clearly using physics to convince people!

But...

I heard the Land of Lightning has plenty of battle-crazed people too. Perhaps fighting madness with madness isn't a bad approach?

Yagura's thoughts instantly cleared, and he said to Kaguya Steel Bone:

"Clan Head Steel Bone, you're right. We do need a genin skilled at persuading people, preferably around ten years old. Do you have any recommendations?"

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