"I lost." Sasuke looked at Shen Mo, his eyes filled with deep unwillingness. "Even Flying Immortal Beyond the Heavens wasn't enough?"
From the combat experience and the conventional battle, he had truly felt the gap between them.
Though it was not as helpless as before.
He still could not see any hope of victory.
But even Flying Immortal Beyond the Heavens, the technique into which he had poured all his strength, could not win?
"The power of Flying Immortal Beyond the Heavens is too great, so even Kakashi could no longer hold back." Shen Mo spoke calmly. "If I hadn't intervened just now, even if you didn't die, you would have been severely injured. Kakashi, at most, would have suffered minor injuries."
"Die?" Sasuke's pupils contracted slightly.
He had been furious just now and had only wanted to use his strongest skill, the only one imbued with Sword Intent. He had not considered the consequences.
Thinking about it now.
Though Flying Immortal Beyond the Heavens was indeed powerful, it was a sword technique that charged forward without hesitation. It had no follow-up, no defense, and he had poured all his Chakra into it without the slightest restraint. If he collided head-on like that again—
He really would die!
A wave of lingering fear rose in Sasuke's heart.
"Sasuke." Hiruzen Sarutobi crouched down and personally helped Sasuke to his feet. He even patted the dust from him before looking into his eyes and saying, "I understand your desire for revenge, but as that battle just showed, a ninja needs more than strength. He also needs combat experience and the ability to judge the situation. So, you still have much to learn from Kakashi."
Sasuke lowered his head somewhat shamefully and unwillingly.
Reality had indeed dealt him a heavy blow just now.
It was not enough.
He was not strong enough!
Beside them, Naruto watched this warm scene with immense envy. To him, the Third Hokage's actions clearly showed that he acknowledged Sasuke's strength.
"The Hokage is right." Shen Mo, standing to the side, seemed to reveal a helpless smile as well. "I saved you purely because you still did not understand the properties of the goods. This will only happen once. If you continue like this, I'm afraid there will be no next transaction between us, because you may very well die before then."
Hiruzen Sarutobi listened and secretly nodded. He had not expected this merchant to dissuade Sasuke as well.
"For that reason—" Shen Mo suddenly changed his tone. "I strongly recommend that you purchase several more sets of Battle Experience Series jars!"
Hiruzen Sarutobi: "o_O???"
"There are also Battle Experience Series jars?" Sasuke's eyes widened as he shouted in disbelief.
"Of course." Shen Mo chuckled and said confidently, "Never speculate about what items might be inside the jars. That is the motto of our Omniscient and Omnipotent Merchant Guild. Battle Experience Series jars can easily grant you formidable combat experience—setting traps, defeating the strong while weak, turning the tables at the brink of defeat. If you possessed combat experience beyond Kakashi's, the outcome of today's battle truly would have been unknown."
Sasuke truly found it difficult to imagine.
Not just him.
Even Hiruzen Sarutobi and Tsunade found it utterly unbelievable.
Even if strength could be gained quickly, how could combat experience and techniques be acquired directly? That was not something one could obtain through tedious training alone. It required prolonged life-and-death battles.
"Your jars really are too miraculous." In the end, Tsunade could only sigh. "Every time I think I understand them well enough, even more incredible items appear and keep shattering my imagination."
Sasuke recalled last night and nodded in deep agreement.
However, desire appeared in his eyes once more.
Jars!
He needed to buy more jars!
"I want to buy jars too!" Someone beside them suddenly shouted the thought in everyone's hearts.
That was right, it was Naruto.
He clenched his fists, squeezed into the crowd, and pointed at Sasuke as he shouted, "That's way too unfair! You can become this strong just by buying jars. That's practically cheating."
Though Sasuke had still lost to Kakashi today, even Naruto could see it.
The current Sasuke could easily crush a hundred of him.
Even optimistic Naruto felt a deep despair when faced with such an enormous, visible gap.
"Hmph." Sasuke snorted coldly. "Those jars require a price too. I have money. Do you?"
That sentence struck right at the heart of the matter.
Hiruzen Sarutobi took a deep drag from his pipe, and even his eyes flashed with a bitter smile.
Money.
It would naturally be good if money could make one stronger, but money was not so easy to obtain.
As Hokage, he had gone to great lengths just to secure more benefits from the Daimyo.
Even the several great wars from before, when all was said and done, had been about profit.
Ninjas were few in number and did not engage in production. They could only be supported by ordinary people.
And there were only so many ordinary people.
Using strength to seize everything recklessly was undoubtedly like killing the goose that laid the golden eggs. Any Ninja Village that dared do so would absolutely face joint condemnation from all the others, because such people were madmen who destroyed everyone's interests.
"I have money too." Naruto lifted his chin, though he lacked confidence. Then he looked nervously at Sasuke. "How much did you spend?"
"Not much." Sasuke sneered and raised his head. "Two hundred million."
"Two hundred million!?"
It was not only Naruto who cried out. Tsunade beside him did too.
How much money was that?!
Naruto counted on his fingers and could not even remember how many zeroes were in one hundred million.
Anyway, it was a whole lot.
Hiruzen Sarutobi's gaze also carried shock. On one hand, spending two hundred million for such strength seemed somewhat costly. On the other hand, had the Uchiha Clan really left behind so much money? His heart ached. What had the ninjas responsible for handling the Uchiha aftermath been doing?!
In truth, they had all misunderstood.
Shen Mo spoke faintly from the side. "Transactions here do not require money alone."
Honestly, why did these ninjas all keep thinking about getting money to buy jars?
Tsunade too.
She could take out all the Ninjutsu and Medical Ninjutsu she had developed, then continue developing more Ninjutsu.
She could even study the medicinal ingredients obtained from the jars, innovate further on her own, and sell the results back to him.
Wouldn't that kind of virtuous cycle of creating value be better?
Shen Mo felt that he needed to give them a few hints.
To shift their attention.
Away from money and toward a broader direction.
"Tsunade should understand this. Here, all things can be evaluated for their value. The prices of jars are merely numbers obtained after converting that value." Shen Mo pointed at his forehead, and in an instant, the All-Knowing All-Seeing Eye that had once appeared before Tsunade emerged again.
It still carried that same noble aura.
The few seeing it for the first time, even Hiruzen Sarutobi and Kakashi, had their expressions change slightly.
Especially Hiruzen Sarutobi.
Even though he had heard Tsunade describe it, that could not compare to seeing it with his own eyes now.
Before you continue