Setting the bounty aside for now, Uzumaki Gamu began wondering why he had a bounty in the first place!
A bounty meant someone had put out a reward for him. So who wanted his head?
After reviewing his enemies, Uzumaki Gamu realized... the Kaguya Clan seemed to be the only ones with a grudge against him!
Could it have been them, then?
Uh... probably not. The Kaguya were a proud bunch. If they wanted revenge, they would likely come after Uzumaki Gamu themselves. Besides, they had only just fled from the Land of Fire to the Land of Water. In their current unstable state, they probably couldn't afford to spend thirty-five million on a bounty for him.
Then... who had put it up?
After pondering for a while, one figure appeared in Uzumaki Gamu's mind-Black Zetsu!!
Why had he suddenly thought of him? By all rights, Uzumaki Gamu and Black Zetsu had never crossed paths!
No, there was a connection... Uzumaki Gamu had acted as the glue holding Hashirama and Madara's relationship together. Moreover, thanks to his interference, their fathers had died early. With no one left to tear the pair apart, both had become clan heads ahead of schedule. He had also eased relations between the Uchiha and the Senju, making their eventual falling-out far less likely... If those two never fell out, how was Black Zetsu supposed to carry out his plan to revive his mother?
Over the previous thousand years, Black Zetsu had approached the reincarnations of Indra and Asura in the two clans countless times, attempting to awaken the Rinnegan. Every attempt had failed. But when the reincarnations became Madara Uchiha and Hashirama Senju, Black Zetsu finally became certain that Madara could bring forth the Rinnegan-the first step toward reviving his mother, Kaguya.
After all these years, it was about time he took that first step!
And now Uzumaki Gamu had clearly become an obstacle to his plan, so... he needed to find a way to eliminate him!
If that really was what had happened, then all he could say was... to bring your mother back, Haki Zetsu, you really... were working awfully hard~
"...I think my theory makes a fair bit of sense. What do you viewers think?" Uzumaki Gamu said, breaking the fourth wall. Even if his reasoning was sound, he couldn't prove anything without evidence.
So Uzumaki Gamu could only set the matter aside!
He walked over to the captain, undid his toadification, and said, "All right, I've got all the information I need. You're no use to me anymore. Get lost!"
"Even if I die, I'll never submit to you... what did you say?" The captain had been about to spit out a few defiant words before his death, only to discover that Uzumaki Gamu was actually letting him leave!
"That's right... you can get lost!" Uzumaki Gamu dug the other squad member out of the ground, then released the Adamantine Sealing Chains binding the captain!
"Th-this..." The captain said nothing more. He simply grabbed his squad member and left. This might be his only chance in life to escape death. If he didn't run now, was he supposed to wait around to die~?
Confused, Mito asked, "Why let them go? They might bring more people back!"
"That's exactly what I need them to do..." Watching them leave, Uzumaki Gamu said, "Someone put a bounty on me on the black market. I'm sure plenty of fools will come looking for trouble from now on. To avoid unnecessary hassle, I need to show off my strength and make them afraid to come after me!" To stop a dog from barking, you had to scare it!
He also had to make anyone planning to attack him understand his strength-come looking for trouble, and you would die!
Then few people would dare come, and the captain's organization would be the chicken Uzumaki Gamu killed to warn the monkeys!
Of course, that was for later. Right now... time to eat!
-Preparing ninja tools-
After running frantically for a while with his squad member, the captain noticed no one was chasing them and stopped to rest.
The squad member asked, "Captain, are we really stopping here?"
The captain considered it, then said, "Honestly, they seem to have sensory abilities. Even if we can't see them, we can't be sure they haven't followed us. So... we'll split up from here! I'll head north and draw them after me. You go back and tell the leader what happened." That was the conclusion normal logic led him to!
As the captain saw it, they might have released him to bait a bigger catch-their real target was the organization behind him. In that case, he couldn't run straight back and drag everyone in the organization into this. For the organization's safety, someone had to act as bait and lure Uzumaki Gamu and Mito away!
Normally, the weaker person would be used as bait in a situation like this, so the captain did the opposite. He would draw Uzumaki Gamu and Mito away himself while his squad member returned to report... Of course, he was simply overthinking things!
Uzumaki Gamu had no intention of chasing him. On the contrary, he hoped they would bring people back as soon as possible to serve as punching bags for his display of strength!
Incidentally, Uzumaki Gamu was currently practicing the lines he would deliver while beating those punching bags.
"Do you want to dance too? Only Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha can fight me!! It's impressive that you dared challenge me, but that's the only thing I can praise you for! Just as I thought, you're trash! What adult would go all out against a child?... Yep, Madara's definitely the guy to learn these badass lines from!" Uzumaki Gamu mused. That's right, every line he had recited belonged to Madara.
In the Hokage World, if Madara Uchiha ranked second at showing off, no one would dare claim first!
Cooking nearby, Mito said speechlessly, "Second Brother, what are you being such a dork for?"
Uzumaki Gamu countered, "Don't you think it's cool to say these things while holding an enemy by the throat?"
"No, I just think it's dorky!" Mito replied. At that very moment, Madara sneezed in the Land of Fire.
"How is it dorky? It's obviously cool~" Uzumaki Gamu grumbled.
Back with the captain and his squad member, neither knew that Uzumaki Gamu and Mito had already found somewhere to rest, so they were busy moving each other to tears~
The squad member knew his captain intended to sacrifice himself to protect their organization, and tears of gratitude streamed down his face. After their emotional exchange, the two bid each other a tearful farewell. As the saying went, the wind howled and the Yi River ran cold; the brave warrior departed, never to return. Prepared never to meet again, they headed in completely opposite directions!
Had Uzumaki Gamu been there, he probably would have said... were these two messing around?
Several hours passed like that. When the moon reached its highest point, the squad member returning to report encountered the main force coming to reinforce them. (Remember the two people who had left the squad earlier to fetch reinforcements? These were those reinforcements.)
The squad member immediately told the officer leading them what had happened.
After hearing his account, the company commander leading the reinforcements frowned. "...They captured you that easily? They're no pushovers... sensory ninja, can you detect any enemies nearby?"
The sensory ninja immediately replied, "No."
"Good... these are tough opponents, beyond what we can handle. Return to base first and report this to the leader!" With that, the company commander took the lead and ran back. The situation was still unclear.
The others immediately followed. By the time dawn approached, they had returned to base!
Once back at base, the company commander immediately went to see their leader!
Their leader asked in surprise, "Back already? Much sooner than expected... looks like you failed!"
The company commander said, "Lord Reto, here's what happened!" He began recounting the squad's experience!
But... their leader was actually Reto?
Wait, who exactly was this Reto?
A relative of the Emperor... just kidding! This man was the First Kazekage!
Eighty percent of the Land of Wind was desert. Resources were scarce, internal strife was frequent, and the clans constantly fought one another. The unending wars made the already impoverished country's economy even worse!
Then a mighty man appeared, and his name was Reto!
With overwhelming power, Reto forced every rival within the Land of Wind to submit, bringing unity to an era of competing warlords. Relying on his formidable strength, he established Sunagakure in the deserts of the Land of Wind and became the Kazekage.
Even after becoming Kazekage, he never stopped moving forward! To strengthen his nation, Reto devoted every effort to negotiating with the various ninja villages.
His most famous diplomatic incident occurred at the First Five Kage Summit. Reto rejected Hashirama's offer to give Sunagakure a tailed beast and demanded money and land instead. The other Kage present rebuked him, but he stubbornly held his ground. Afterward, he did indeed achieve his goal, successfully obtaining a stretch of fertile land that became the foundation of Sunagakure's survival.
Still, although he was said to have forced every rival in the Land of Wind to submit through overwhelming power-which sounded pretty impressive-the Third Kazekage was officially confirmed to be the strongest Kazekage. So Reto's "overwhelming power" merely made him the strongest in the Land of Wind during his own era. With the Third Kazekage setting the ceiling, his strength was probably nothing that special~
Incidentally, the Land of Wind's two signature ninjutsu, the Puppet Technique and Sand Control, were developed by the Second Kazekage, Shamon. That meant Reto probably knew neither skill. Perhaps he was a pure Wind Release ninja? (Reto: I'm the Kazekage. What's wrong with being a pure Wind Release ninja? Author: Then how do you explain the fact that none of your successors specialized in Wind Release? Reto: ...)
Still, most later Kazekage excelled at Magnet Release. Although no official explanation was given, most fan novels considered Magnet Release a combination of wind and earth, so... perhaps that counted as mastery of Wind Release? (Gaara also inherited Magnet Release from his father and could control metals such as gold dust. In the official novel Gaara Hiden, Gaara combined metal with sand to improve its destructive and defensive power. He treated this kekkei genkai as his secret ninjutsu technique.)
Of course, the Kazekage still had the Hokage beat on this front. Of the seven Hokage, only the Third, Hiruzen Sarutobi, and the Sixth, Kakashi Hatake, occasionally used Fire Release ninjutsu-and those weren't even their specialties. The other five might never have used Fire Release at all... How could they call themselves Hokage? They should have been called Rainbow Kage!
Sure enough, they should have made Madara Hokage from the start!
Back to the point. Despite all that praise for how awesome Reto was, those achievements still lay in the future. Right now, he was merely the leader of a ninja organization in the Land of Wind, still some distance away from becoming Kazekage.
After hearing the company commander's report, he pondered for a moment and said, "He is indeed formidable. Worthy of his bounty..."
The company commander continued, "Lord Reto, what should we do next? Deploy our men again to ambush him? Even if he's powerful, there's a woman with him... we could start with her..." Oh-ho~ This fellow was heading down a dead end.
Never mind whether you could actually hurt Mito. Even if you somehow captured her, did you know... what you would face afterward?
The Land of Wind might find itself under attack by the three men who were arguably the strongest in the Land of Fire! Uzumaki Gamu: What? You dare touch my sister? Summoning Technique! Senjutsu... Hashirama: You touched my wife? Sage Art: Wood Release... Madara: ...Those two are going in, so I might as well join them. Susanoo!!! The next day, nothing but ruins remained in the Land of Wind!
As if sensing something, Reto immediately interrupted the company commander's idiotic suggestion. "No. We don't need to attack them."
"...We're giving up thirty-five million?" the company commander asked reluctantly.
"Although I've never met him, I have a feeling... his strength is worth more than thirty-five million." Reto analyzed the situation calmly. "Our organization is still developing. There's no need to take this risk. Of course, that doesn't mean we'll do nothing... send people out immediately to spread word that Gamu Uzumaki has entered the Land of Wind!"
"Lord Reto, you mean..." The company commander guessed what Reto intended.
Reto explained, "Thirty-five million is... quite tempting to people in the Land of Wind. The other factions will certainly attack him! When that happens, a fierce battle is inevitable. In the end, if he proves exceptionally powerful and crushes the other factions with ease, he'll have indirectly defeated our enemies for us, making my upcoming efforts to unify the Land of Wind's ninja factions easier. And if he loses, we can intercept them immediately after the battle ends, seize Gamu Uzumaki's head, and exchange it for the funds we need... whichever happens, we won't lose!"
"As expected of Lord Reto! Such foresight! I could never compare!!" The company commander began showering him with flattery!
"All right, enough flattery. Arrange the men immediately and spread the news!" Reto ordered. The Land of Wind was vast and sparsely populated. If they didn't send people out quickly, Uzumaki Gamu might leave before the other factions even learned he had been there~
The company commander immediately left to deploy their men.
After he left, Reto muttered to himself, "I don't know why you've come to our Land of Wind, but since you're here, let me make good use of you!" Reto's eventual unification of the Land of Wind would rely not only on his great strength, but on his intelligence as well!
It looked as though Uzumaki Gamu's trip through the Land of Wind wouldn't be an easy one! (Uzumaki Gamu: Who cares whether it's easy? Just get it done! Let's go! Hell yeah!!)
Before you continue