Looting the Vault, Deceiving the Earth Shadow

Kurotsuchi blinked her bright, large eyes, her face full of confusion.

After a long moment, she finally snapped to her senses.

"You're not a ninja from Iwagakure!"

"Who are you? What do you want?!"

Kurotsuchi hurriedly shouted her questions, trying to mask the panic in her heart.

At the end of the day, she was only an eight-year-old girl at this moment.

Natsume smiled faintly.

Having just arrived, he had seen this future 'Leg Shadow' fumbling around on the ground.

His interest piqued, he couldn't help but pop out to play a joke.

He just wanted to tease her.

Rest assured, he hadn't become such a pervert that he wouldn't even spare a young girl.

No matter what, he would at least wait for her to develop for a few more years!

"Don't get excited, I'm not here to kill anyone today."

"Relax."

Just then.

Inside the Vault attic, Deidara seemed to have heard the strange noise outside.

"Hey? Junior sister, what's that sound? Who are you talking to?"

"Brother! There's an enemy, come out quickly!..."

Kurotsuchi jumped violently.

She shouted while backing away.

But before she could finish her sentence, she saw the figure in front of her suddenly flicker and vanish from where he stood.

Immediately after.

She felt a numbness in the back of her neck and passed out on the spot.

Clearly, although this little girl had decent strength.

To the current Natsume, she was still too weak.

She hadn't even reached the level of a Chunin, so naturally, she was knocked unconscious in one move.

The next moment.

Natsume placed Kurotsuchi on the ground.

Inside the Vault, the urgent Deidara also rushed out.

However, before he could see what was happening outside.

His vision was engulfed by a pair of scarlet Mangekyo Sharingan.

Time distorted, space shifted, consciousness sank...

Unknowingly, even before he could release a Clay Bomb, Deidara was controlled by the genjutsu of the Sharingan and fell into a deep slumber.

"This kid really isn't good at dealing with genjutsu!"

"To have his eyes on his own village's Vault at such a young age, he's quite the talent!"

Looking at the sleeping Deidara, Natsume sighed slightly.

Then, he excitedly stepped into the Vault of Iwagakure.

He prepared to conveniently take some 'souvenirs' back with him.

Entering the Vault, the scent of a vast amount of money rushed toward him.

It made his breathing feel a bit lighter and his heart burn with excitement.

Although Iwagakure was geographically isolated and not skilled in trade, its Vault reserves were indeed not comparable to the Vault of Konoha.

But as one of the Five Great Hidden Villages, the amount of silver it stored was not small.

Looking around.

There was at least nearly one hundred million ryo!

It seemed he was about to make a fortune again!

The next moment.

Without a word, Natsume pulled out several Space Scroll items he had prepared long ago.

He began to wantonly sweep through the silver filling these two floors.

It seemed now that these Space Scroll items drawn from the system were quite useful after all.

A single intermediate Space Scroll could hold twenty million ryo.

Moreover, it was light and portable, far more convenient than running away while carrying several large bags of silver.

Soon, Natsume had filled two intermediate and six primary Space Scrolls to the brim.

He had swept up more than half the silver in the Vault, totaling exactly 70 million ryo.

He left only a little over 20 million for Iwagakure.

He wondered if that old geezer Ōnoki would be angered to death once he found out.

Well, that was none of his business.

At the very least, he had left some for Iwagakure.

That wasn't too excessive, right?

Having organized the scrolls and prepared to leave with his haul, Natsume suddenly remembered something.

He quickly pulled out a kunai and left his Flying Thunder God Technique mark on it.

Then, with a light leap, he hid the kunai behind a beam above the Vault.

Since he had come all this way, he had to leave a "gift."

If this marked kunai were discovered, it wouldn't matter.

If it weren't discovered, however.

Wouldn't he be able to teleport back for a visit whenever he had the time?

Surely, the "hospitable" Iwagakure wouldn't refuse his well-intentioned visits, right?

With the mark left behind, Natsume didn't linger. He immediately activated the Flying Thunder God Technique and teleported away, following a previously placed mark.

He vanished from the Vault in an instant, as if he had never been there at all.

Of course, that was excluding the fact that the Vault had been more than half emptied.

At this moment.

It had been barely five minutes since Ōnoki received the news.

Burning with anxiety, the Third Hokage had flown at top speed for over ten minutes to reach the site where Natsume and Kitsuchi had fought.

Sure enough, he saw a masked figure in a red-cloud robe waiting there.

The next moment.

Seeing his son beaten, covered in wounds, and lying unconscious on the ground, the enraged Ōnoki didn't waste a single word.

He launched an attack immediately.

He began to pummel Natsume's shadow clone.

A deluge of various Earth Style ninjutsu poured out, a truly terrifying sight.

He was indeed an old monster who had survived since the Warring States period; although his power in the Earth Style: Mountain Earth Jutsu didn't match Kitsuchi's, his overall control, release speed, and flexibility with ninjutsu were far superior to Kitsuchi's.

Even without counting his Dust Release, known as the "strongest spear," this guy's comprehensive strength was well above average among all the Kage throughout the history of the Five Great Shinobi Villages!

One Earth Style ninjutsu after another, so numerous they were dizzying and impossible to keep up with.

Coupled with his unique ability to fly.

He hovered high in the sky, continuously bombarding Natsume's clone with ninjutsu.

For an ordinary ninja without long-range capabilities, facing him was nearly impossible.

It made Ōnoki seem as if he were in an invincible position!

Of course.

This was mainly because Natsume's clone had just finished a fierce battle with Kitsuchi, leaving it with little chakra—only a little over "2 Kaka."

Furthermore, the main body had taken the Kunwu Blade with him.

And it was inconvenient to use various abilities and ninjutsu that might easily expose his identity.

That was why he was so restricted, suppressed by Ōnoki the entire time.

Otherwise, if Natsume's main body were truly here, he would have simply activated Susanoo and wielded his divine blade.

That must be Ōnoki being chased and beaten black and blue...

"Damn it! A mere rogue ninja from the Akatsuki organization dares to oppose my Iwagakure!"

"You're courting death!"

Ōnoki roared, his eyes burning with intense fury.

The speed of his hand seals increased by another three parts, and his offensive grew even more fierce.

During this period, the five great hidden villages generally did not place much importance on rogue organizations like Akatsuki.

Of course, as the Third Hokage of Iwagakure, Ōnoki, who had experienced three ninja world wars and possessed vast experience, was not consumed by his rage.

Instead, while attacking, he searched for the enemy's weaknesses and flaws.

All to strike the enemy down in one blow!

After all, the enemy before him was indeed formidable.

He had already exchanged dozens of blows with the opponent, yet he had only barely managed to gain the upper hand.

This person's strength was definitely not below that of the Five Kage!

Looking across the entire ninja world, he had never heard of any village producing such a powerful rogue ninja!

Moreover, the opponent had yet to use their signature Kekkei Genkai, the Sharingan.

This only made Ōnoki three parts more wary, keeping him on high alert.

Just like that, after entangling for quite a while longer, Natsume's clone, having nearly exhausted its remaining chakra, estimated that the time was about right.

The next moment, to Ōnoki's astonishment, it suddenly gave up all resistance.

It allowed the massive rock spears erupting from the ground to pierce through its body.

"How is this possible?"

"Why did he stop resisting?"

"Could it really be because he ran out of chakra?"

Watching the enemy get impaled, Ōnoki was shocked, unable to believe his eyes.

But the very next instant, the enemy's figure burst into a cloud of white mist and vanished into thin air.

"This is... the Shadow Clone Technique?!!"

Ōnoki exclaimed.

He stared into the distance, his eyes bulging so wide they nearly popped out of their sockets.

He had seen Konoha's Shadow Clone Technique many times; it was indeed exquisite and difficult to distinguish from the real thing.

However, he never imagined that the enemy who had fought him to a standstill for so long, battling until the sky turned dark, was merely a shadow clone!

This... this is just too damn infuriating!

But if the clone was already this strong, wouldn't the strength of the main body be even more terrifying?

"Wait..."

"If the opponent only left a clone here to stall me, then his main body..."

"No! I've been tricked!"

"The opponent's target is my own village!"

Suddenly realizing the truth, Ōnoki felt a jolt of terror, filled with regret.

To think that he, who bore the title of Two Heavens Scale and was the most senior among the current Five Kage, had failed to see through such a small trick!

He had been too anxious to save his people, blinded by his own concern!

"Damn it! I hope the village is alright!"

Ōnoki cursed in frustration, grabbed Kitsuchi from the ground, and hurriedly prepared to retreat, heading back to the hidden village.

But just at that moment, near an inconspicuous kunai stuck in a rock crevice in the distance, a figure suddenly flashed into existence.