Brothers in arms, bonds that run deep-bottoms up!

Uzumaki Gamu asked curiously, "Uncle, what do you mean?"

Ishikawa smiled. "I never said I wouldn't let you go to the Land of Earth, young friend. I stayed silent just now because I wanted to see your reaction! Now I'd like to formally invite you and your... family and friends to my territory as my guests. Would you be willing to pay me a visit?"-Put plainly, everything he had said earlier had been a test to see what sort of person Uzumaki Gamu was.

If he was a violent maniac, Ishikawa would keep his distance and start preparing strategies to deal with him. But now, Ishikawa wanted to befriend Uzumaki Gamu instead-being friends with a talented young man like him was far better than being his enemy!

See? That was called knowing which way the wind blew! Only someone with that kind of judgment could rise above the rest in this chaotic shinobi world!

The Kaguya Clan was the perfect counterexample. Arrogant beyond belief, they had sprinted straight toward extermination. Even now, they were still thinking about attacking Uzumaki Gamu, without ever considering that they might be the problem... If they were wiped out in the end, they would have only themselves to blame. There was nothing to mourn!

Back to the point, Uzumaki Gamu understood Ishikawa's intentions, and he could accept them-this sort of probing was perfectly normal. There was nothing strange about it.

His response was, "Sure!"

Second Brother, aren't you worried this might be a trap? Mito really wanted to ask that, but seeing how confident her second brother was... it probably wouldn't be a problem.

And so, everyone prepared to follow Ishikawa and Mu to Ishikawa's territory for a short stay-huh? What about visiting the capital of the Land of Birds?

Well, someone had stopped them, so they really hadn't had the chance. They could leave that for another time!

Before they set off, Ishikawa suggested, "My ninjutsu-the Light-Weight Rock Technique-can let people fly. If you don't mind, I could use it on you so you can fly with us. That would greatly shorten the journey."-Walking to the Land of Earth and then to Ishikawa's territory would take several days. Ishikawa and Mu probably didn't have that much time to waste on the road!

"No need. I have my own way of flying!" Uzumaki Gamu politely declined.

"Oh? You have a flying ninjutsu too, young friend?" Ishikawa gave him an intrigued look-he was quite curious about how Uzumaki Gamu would fly.

Mu's gaze sharpened as well-like Tobirama, he was a master of ninjutsu development, and he was extremely interested in the techniques of this ninjutsu master who had recently begun making a name for himself.

(The Seconds of all five great villages were pretty fond of research-Tobirama went without saying. The Second Kazekage developed puppetry and Sand Control ninjutsu, while the Second Tsuchikage had the Light-Weight Rock Technique, Dust Release, and Earth Release: Golem Technique. The Second Mizukage knew plenty too, but unfortunately, they were all Hozuki Clan techniques that outsiders couldn't learn. Only the Second Raikage had barely any presence. Oh, dying alongside Tobirama counted as having some presence.)

So, what method of flight would Uzumaki Gamu use? The Light-Weight Rock Technique he had just learned?

That would have been a little too mocking. Instead, Uzumaki Gamu used the new release technique he had been diligently practicing over the past few days-Magnet Release!

He found some metal objects to support himself, then used magnetic force to pull those objects through the sky-it had the lovely feel of stepping on your right foot with your left~

Well, leaving aside whether that was possible in reality, it was a very common trick in fiction. Take that famous master of spectacle, Magneto! He had relied on it to fly for years. And within Naruto, both the Third Kazekage and the Fourth Kazekage flew that way. (The Third Kazekage formed wings out of iron sand and flew using magnetic force, while Gaara's dad rode gold dust through the sky as though he were standing on the Flying Nimbus!)

On his way there, Uzumaki Gamu had already gathered enough gold dust in the desert, normally keeping it sealed in a scroll. Now that he needed it, he released the gold dust and shaped it into a boat-that way, all three of them could fly together!

And so, Ishikawa and Mu watched Uzumaki Gamu turn the gold dust into a boat and lift all three of them into the sky.

Ishikawa flew up and asked, "...Is this Magnet Release?"

"Oh? You've heard of it, Uncle Ishikawa?" Uzumaki Gamu asked.

Ishikawa replied, "I've heard a little... It seems the rumors about you possessing multiple kekkei genkai weren't just rumors!"

"Of course! I'm one of the Land of Fire's three outstanding youths, the man known as the Land of Fire's number one master of technique! There's nothing I can't do!" Being called a ninjutsu master felt great, but Uzumaki Gamu still wanted to cement his title as the Land of Fire's number one master of technique, leaving Kakashi with nothing but the name Fifty-Fifty Kakashi Hatake! (Kakashi: Why do you keep targeting me? Uzumaki Gamu: I can't help it. Satoru Gojo is a knockoff Kakashi, and I'm a knockoff Satoru Gojo. To complete the chain between the three of us, you'll have to become a knockoff of me~ Kakashi: Damn it!)

"Impressive indeed!" Ishikawa praised him.

"Of course!" Uzumaki Gamu looked at the sky and said, "You people from the Land of Earth aren't the only ones who can conquer the skies-where the Land of Earth can go, we of the Land of Fire can go too! Uncle, we'll head on ahead! Deja Vu!!"-Uzumaki Gamu immediately started drag racing through the sky!

"Deja vu! I've just been in this time before, higher on the beat, and I know it's a place to go!" With that soundtrack coming from who knew where, Uzumaki Gamu shot toward the horizon!

Flying for the first time, Lala clung to Mito in a panic. As for Mito... she was fine, simply enjoying the thrill of speeding through the air.

Still hovering where he was, Ishikawa said to Mu as he floated up, "Is he deliberately showing me his strength? He's still a child who likes showing off, after all!"

Mu said, "Perhaps he's also showing us how strong he is so we won't casually attack him?"

"Yes, that seems to be part of it." Ishikawa nodded in agreement. "Well, as I said, it's better to be friends with a talented young man like him than enemies. But I'm a generation older than he is, so I'll have to leave getting along with him to you, since you're around his age!"

"Yes, Lord Ishikawa!" Mu nodded respectfully, then added, "Lord Ishikawa, shouldn't we hurry after them? They seem to have disappeared already..."

"Uh... Does that boy even know the way? Why is he going so fast? Looks like... he's rather impulsive~" Ishikawa was a little speechless, but also quite pleased-someone like that was much easier to deal with than someone whose thoughts were impossible to read!

Without further ado, the two immediately gave chase!

-Preparing ninja tools-

Uzumaki Gamu: "Hahaha! Uncle, you can really hold your liquor!"

Ishikawa: "Hahaha! Little brother, you're not bad yourself!"-The two were drinking together with their arms around each other's shoulders... Huh? How had things jumped straight to this?

Well, after flying to Ishikawa's ninja clan, Uzumaki Gamu and the girls had received a warm welcome-in short, they threw a banquet! (Was this Naruto or One Piece?)

And naturally, the main event at a banquet was drinking!

The Land of Earth lay in the continent's northwest, right beside the Land of Snow-the one from the movie Ninja Clash in the Land of Snow. The northwestern end of the continent, beside a snow-covered country, with mountains everywhere... wasn't this basically Russia?

All right, it wasn't! But similar geography might mean similar customs. In other words... they liked drinking too? (What the hell did one have to do with the other?!)

Well, there was no proof that people in the Land of Earth liked drinking, but Ishikawa himself certainly did!

And so, Ishikawa and Uzumaki Gamu started drinking straight from the bottles.

After several rounds, alcohol affected their brains, making them set aside their differences in status and sling their arms around each other. Then... "Two good brothers! Three lucky stars! Four blessings and wealth! Five champions! Six smooth fortunes! Seven clever tricks! Eight horses! Nine linked rings! Bonds that run deep-bottoms up!"-The two started calling each other brothers outright!

Mito and Mu were utterly speechless.

Mito: Um... this uncle is from the same generation as our father. Second Brother, you're just going to start calling him your brother?

Mu: Master, you're calling someone my age your brother. What am I supposed to call him now? And... weren't you going to leave getting to know him to me? Why did you do it yourself?!

Meanwhile, Lala, who stayed beside Mito, marveled at just how amazing her master truly was!

Just then, Uzumaki Gamu raised his bottle and said, "This liquor... after drinking this much, it's gone straight to my heart. Big Brother! Forget everything else-us getting to drink together like this is fate!"

"Yes, little brother, you're right! It's fate!" Ishikawa took a hefty swig from his bottle!

"Exactly! Since it's fate... we brothers... shouldn't let it pass... hic~" Uzumaki Gamu hiccupped, then continued, "We shouldn't let this fate pass us by. Sworn brothers-we have to become sworn brothers!"

Ishikawa agreed. "Yes, we have to become sworn brothers! Don't call me Uncle anymore! You call me Big Brother, and I'll call you Little Brother. As long as your big brother has a bite to eat, I'll never let you go hungry!"

"...Big Brother, you're my real big brother! Boo-hoo!" Uzumaki Gamu burst into tears of emotion-far away in the Land of Fire, Daigu thought, Why do I feel like someone has stolen my place?

Uzumaki Gamu's crying affected Ishikawa too, and the newly declared brothers hugged each other and cried!

Holy crap. Now the people beside them really couldn't take it anymore!

Mito dragged her second brother away and, with the attendants' help, returned to their room to rest!

Mu, meanwhile, held on to his master and tried to help him sober up.

Then Ishikawa said, "No need to sober me up. I'm not drunk~"-As he said that, he took another drink!

What drunk ever admitted he was drunk?

But Mu knew his master really wasn't drunk-after all, his master could drink an ocean. Even the dozens of jars of fine liquor he had just consumed wouldn't leave him the slightest bit tipsy... So had all that been an act?

Mu was curious about that too, so he asked him outright.

When Ishikawa heard the question, his face actually reddened. Scratching his head, he said sheepishly, "The mood just got there, and then it wasn't the wine that got me drunk, but the feeling..."-When the mood had reached that point, it felt rather awkward not to get a little drunk along with it!

Ishikawa was free-spirited and forthright, with no interest in pretending to be drunk to deceive people-if it had been Reto, though, you would have had to weigh carefully whether he was truly drunk.

Mu said speechlessly, "Master, you just went along with what he said and became his sworn brother?"

"Well... there's nothing wrong with it, is there? I rather like that boy!" Ishikawa joked-it seemed alcohol had affected him after all. He was nowhere near as composed after drinking as he usually was!

If the usual Ishikawa was as steady as the earth, then right now, he was an earthquake.

Mu thought, Master gets like this whenever he drinks. That's why I normally don't let him drink... Sigh, forget it. What's done is done. I can only hope both of them forget about this tomorrow!-Mu certainly didn't want a fellow his own age becoming his senior. That would be humiliating!

As for Uzumaki Gamu, after Mito brought him back to their room, his bleary eyes suddenly became bright and alert-unlike Ishikawa, this one was a little rascal who loved playing tricks~

Seeing Uzumaki Gamu sober up in an instant, Mito asked speechlessly, "Second Brother... you weren't drunk?"

"No... I can't really hold my liquor, but I have a special way of sobering up!" Uzumaki Gamu found a bag, then extended a finger and squirted liquid into it-was this the legendary One Yang Finger sobering method? (The signature trick of Duan Yu, a protagonist of Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils: using yang power to expel alcohol from his body through his fingers. With this method, Duan Yu had matched the naturally heavy-drinking Qiao Feng drink for drink.)

Well, Uzumaki Gamu wasn't using that trick. He was using the Hydrification Technique!

During the battle at the clan homeland, Uzumaki Gamu had seen Hozuki Zangetsu and Hozuki Gengetsu use the Hydrification Technique and learned it then. However, it was actually quite difficult to use. Even now, Uzumaki Gamu could only liquefy his fingertips-and with just his fingertips liquefied, he could only use the Water Gun Technique. Since the liquefied area was so small, though, the water came out like a stream of piss...

That offered no combat power whatsoever!

But... there were no useless ninjutsu, only people who didn't know how to use them! Although this trick wasn't useful in battle, he could use Water Release chakra to carry the alcohol out of his body as he squirted the liquid away-no combat value, but its practical value was maxed out!

Especially for anyone who needed to handle people at drinking tables, this was practically a divine skill! (Salespeople: With that drinking capacity, what deal couldn't I close?)

After learning that Uzumaki Gamu had deliberately pretended to be drunk, Mito asked speechlessly, "So... Second Brother, why did you pretend to be drunk? Just to become sworn brothers with Uncle Ishikawa?"

"That's right!" Uzumaki Gamu nodded. "Uncle Ishikawa has the talent to govern a nation and help its people. I'm sure he'll unite the shinobi of the Land of Earth someday. Becoming sworn brothers with someone like that means my standing... will keep rising too!"-At the thought of Otsutsuki having to call him Grandpa someday, Uzumaki Gamu couldn't help humming softly. (Otsutsuki: Grandpa, why did you become sworn brothers with an ancestor?)

Mito was speechless again, but Uzumaki Gamu always liked doing these ridiculous things, and she was already used to it.

So Mito asked, "Then... how long are we staying here?"

"Well... a few days? We can leave after getting a feel for the local customs. If you're not interested, we can leave tomorrow too," Uzumaki Gamu offered-to be honest, there wasn't much to see in the Land of Earth!

Rocks and high mountains lined the Land of Earth's borders, making the country easy to defend and difficult to attack. Outsiders struggled to invade, but that same terrain also restricted the nation's overall development. Those rocks and mountains created severe transportation problems, cutting off cultural and economic exchange between the Land of Earth and the other four great nations.

Furthermore, with mountains and rocks everywhere, forest coverage was limited, and places with both sufficient water and land suitable for farming were even rarer. With little arable land, resources for daily life were extremely limited too, leaving the country rather poor. Still... it was better off than the Land of Wind to the south! (Among the Five Great Nations, only the Land of Fire had really good land. That was also why it got dragged into every Shinobi War-war was about profit, so of course people chose to attack the country swimming in wealth!)

Thinking about the Land of Earth's situation, Uzumaki Gamu grumbled inwardly, Honestly, this kind of terrain shouldn't mean much to shinobi, right? Strong Earth Release users can split mountains apart. Sure, anyone capable of that is already a Kage Level powerhouse... But for shinobi who can climb mountains with ease, giant rocks and high peaks don't seem like much of an obstacle, do they? Still, they really are troublesome for ordinary people... So has nobody thought about building roads? Powerful Earth Release shinobi are way better than any tunnel-boring machine! Wouldn't digging a tunnel or simply cutting through a mountain be easy?

Well, the Land of Earth's affairs were its own domestic business. Uzumaki Gamu had no interest in interfering... or rather, he couldn't be bothered. (Uzumaki Gamu: Lifting this country out of poverty and into prosperity sounds both boring and difficult. Let them work at it themselves-after all, you have to earn your own happiness with your own two hands!)

Back to the point, after thinking for a moment, Mito said, "...I'd like to learn about this country too, so let's stay a few days?"

"All right, then we'll stay here for a few days! ...Let's hope nothing happens~" Uzumaki Gamu said at last-he still didn't believe the Kaguya Clan alone was behind everything. If the mastermind wasn't one of them, then... more plots against him were bound to follow.

-Preparing ninja tools-

In a forest somewhere in the Land of Earth, Black Zetsu slowly moved along while possessing a human. I didn't want to use this move, but if I don't, all my secrets will be exposed. I have no choice now!-Black Zetsu was helpless too. Normally, if he couldn't find a chance to revive his mother in this era, he could simply hide somewhere for a few hundred years and wait for the next generation. But...

That damned Hagoromo had given Uzumaki Gamu not only power, but information about Black Zetsu too. If that accurate information kept circulating, forget reviving his mother-Black Zetsu would find it difficult even to operate in this world.

Forced into a corner, Black Zetsu could only take risks and reveal his trump cards. He had to kill Uzumaki Gamu before he learned any more, then find a way to manipulate this generation's successor of Indra into reviving his mother-it would be extremely difficult, but Black Zetsu had no other choice. He could only stake everything on one attempt!

Black Zetsu muttered to himself, "He won his battle against Shukaku because he relied on the dragon vein's power in Rōran. Without that power, he's no match for a tailed beast. That makes the way to kill him clear... Five-Tails Kokuō, you'll be the one to kill him!"

-Preparing ninja tools-

Two days later, Uzumaki Gamu got together with Ishikawa to drink again. This time, though, they weren't chugging from jars. Ishikawa had invited Uzumaki Gamu for a quiet drink and a chat~

The two sat on a mountaintop, sharing drinks as they looked down on all the lesser peaks-even the finest drinking gathering in a martial arts novel couldn't top this, could it?

After a small drink, Uzumaki Gamu asked, "Big Brother, did you invite me here today because there's something you want to discuss?"-Picking such a cold, exposed place to drink couldn't just be about looking cool! There wasn't even any shelter up here, and the wind howled around them! It chilled them straight through, practically sending their hearts flying!

Aside from looking cool, drinking in a place like this had nothing going for it!

"Getting straight to the point? Then I won't waste words either... Little brother, what do you think of our Land of Earth?"

Uzumaki Gamu thought for a moment, then answered, "Honestly... it's pretty damn poor."

Ishikawa wasn't upset by Uzumaki Gamu's frank answer. He nodded in acknowledgment. "That's right. We're poor here. Among the Five Great Nations, we're only a little better off than the Land of Wind. I invited you here today to ask your advice-do you have any way to make our country prosperous?"

"Huh? You're asking me about something like that?" Uzumaki Gamu was a little dumbfounded-he was just a shinobi. How would he know how to make a country prosperous? He felt the other man might have the wrong idea about him... Had he performed so well that Ishikawa really thought he could do anything?

Ishikawa replied, "Well, I'm not actually sure I'll get an answer from you. The main reason I'm asking is what you did in the Land of Wind."

Uzumaki Gamu asked in confusion, "What does anything I did in the Land of Wind have to do with making a country prosperous?"

Ishikawa said frankly, "After meeting you, Reto of the Land of Wind began making large-scale moves. He's now contacting the major ninja clans in preparation for something. I thought he must have gotten an idea from you to change the Land of Wind's current predicament. That's why I asked."

Uzumaki Gamu nodded in understanding. "Oh, that... I didn't really offer any advice. I just told him to cooperate with a tailed beast and quickly unite the entire Land of Wind."-Uzumaki Gamu briefly explained how he had persuaded Shukaku and Reto to cooperate.

"Oh... cooperating with a tailed beast? That's certainly a bold idea." Ishikawa was quite shocked. "...So tailed beasts can be reasoned with?"-After all these years, few people in the shinobi world had ever been willing to communicate with tailed beasts. Uzumaki Gamu's approach felt like it overturned a fundamental assumption.

Following that line of conversation, Uzumaki Gamu said, "I think with your strength, Big Brother, you could unite all the ninja clans in the Land of Earth and establish a shinobi village even without relying on a tailed beast!"

Ishikawa shook his head. "...Some things can't be accomplished through force alone!"

"But you don't just have strength, Big Brother. You have the right ideas too, don't you? Well, I'm sure you have your own thoughts on what you should do." Uzumaki Gamu couldn't be bothered to keep talking about it-the man was a mature adult who could make the best decision for himself!

Just then, Mu suddenly appeared with the Body Flicker Technique and said anxiously to Ishikawa, "Lord Ishikawa, urgent news! The Five-Tails has suddenly gone on a rampage!"

"...What?" Ishikawa was shocked-they had only just mentioned tailed beasts, and now one suddenly went on a rampage? Was it going out of its way to make itself look bad?

Next time: A tailed beast attacks!-Huh? With a title like that, shouldn't they get an EVA to pilot?