I, Shinnō, Pay Up

"Ha-ha-ha—ha-ha-ha—"

Shinnō roared with laughter, and a wild, overbearing aura rose sharply with it.

Gen was furious, but he didn't dare lash out. That was a Shinobi World tradition—the enemy of your enemy wasn't necessarily your friend.

His face flushed red as he said in a low voice, "I'm just an old man devoted to avenging my village and my dead son. If you have something to say, say it plainly! But if you want to humiliate me, I can only fight back with my life!"

He said he would fight back with his life, but Gen knew that in truth, he had nothing but death—there would be no fighting back. The other man had not only revealed all his secrets in one breath, he knew his entire plan like the back of his hand. What could Gen use to resist him? Taijutsu?

He stared blankly at Retsuo, as though waiting for fate's judgment.

If I could beat you, do you think I wouldn't have attacked already?

Gen had at least the combat strength of a veteran Chūnin or higher, so pretending to be an expert in front of him was exhausting.

But exhausting or not, Retsuo had to keep up the act. He first met Gen's eyes with a look that seemed to look down upon all beneath heaven. Only after Gen backed down did he turn sincere. "Destroying Konoha is incredibly difficult. I simply couldn't bear to watch you work diligently for decades, only for it all to amount to nothing. When all is said and done, having one more like-minded ally is a good thing. Although your strength is rather lacking, I, Sky Shadow Shinnō, have no need to humiliate you."

Gen stiffened his neck. "How have my efforts been for nothing? Konoha will surely be destroyed by my hands!"

"People always develop unrealistic fantasies in despair. Your idea is good, but to cover everything with enough Explosive Tags while deceiving Konoha, how many years of preparation would you need? Ten years? Twenty? Over such a long period, any minor change in Konohagakure would be enough to ruin your plan."

Gen's hands trembled as he struggled like a cornered beast. "This Hokage Rock hasn't changed at all in more than a decade."

"Heh-heh. On the night the Nine-Tails attacked the village, what if it suddenly went berserk after seeing Hashirama Senju's ugly face and swept it with its giant tail? Would your Explosive Tags still explode? Fortunately, it didn't. Otherwise, the exploding Hokage Rock would have buried the Nine-Tails, and Konohagakure would have had to award you a magnificent medal."

Gen still refused to give in. "The Nine-Tails didn't do that, which proves that luck is on my side! Besides, if it weren't for your interference, I would have finished placing them this time! Over the next ten years, I'll cover an entirely new Konoha with Explosive Tags and then wait for an opportunity. Why can't I do that?"

"Even if Konoha didn't change at all, even a passerby like me could see through your Explosive Tags. How long do you think they can remain there without being discovered by Konoha's shinobi? Don't tell me you don't know that, in the eyes of shinobi with a Dōjutsu Kekkei Genkai, these Explosive Tags you've applied Genjutsu to are as dazzling as beacons!"

"What!"

Gen's final line of defense collapsed. His whole body went limp, and he slumped to the ground like a deflated ball.

All his hopes were crushed!

"If I were you, I'd leave Konoha immediately. Your power alone is far too limited. Continuing this will bring you no benefit, nor will it damage Konoha in the slightest." Retsuo spoke slowly. "As for the heavy responsibility of destroying Konoha, leave it to someone with greater strength."

Gen had to leave quickly, or he might run into the real Shinnō. That would be awkward...

Seeing him nod silently, Retsuo pressed his advantage. "By the way, hand over the Genjutsu you applied to the Explosive Tags. This technique is useful to my plans. It was precisely because I discovered this technique that I took some of the Explosive Tags away for study."

After all that groundwork, Gen should finally accept his ideology, right? Even the real Shinnō couldn't Talk no Jutsu his way to results like this. As expected of me!

With this technique, ordinary Explosive Tags could be upgraded into Illusion Explosive Tags, making them extremely valuable. They might be somewhat lacking against Kage-level experts, but it wasn't unheard of for an Elite Jonin to be killed by Explosive Tags.

"Take them. Take them all." Gen cheerfully tossed over a scroll. "Not only this technique, but these Explosive Tags as well. I'll leave everything to you, Lord Shinnō. Oh, right!"

As if he had made a decision after a fierce internal struggle, Gen carefully took a Sealing Scroll from his Ninja Tool Pouch. He unrolled it, formed hand seals, and withdrew a sky-blue ninja blade.

"This is a famous blade forged by a master of the Land of Crafts—Sōbō Tōga. It can be considered one of the few treasures of our Yangyan Hidden Village. I'll give it to you as well, Lord Shinnō."

Retsuo was even a little moved. The Yin Release Barrier caused no pain at all, and Gen was completely free of hostility.

He was sincere!

He had truly placed his hope of destroying Konoha in Retsuo. It felt rather strange...

Gen said, "This is a ninja blade capable of altering the flow of water. It can unleash the ultimate technique, Turbulent Water Vortex Slash. However, I'm not skilled in blade techniques. Please accept it, Lord Shinnō, and use it to sever a few more Konoha shinobi heads."

"I, Shinnō, will put it to good use. Rest assured."

Tears instantly streamed down Gen's aged face. Choking back sobs, he said, "In that case, I'll irresponsibly hand over my share of this burden to you. If you give up halfway, I won't be able to rest even in death!"

"Either the Sky Ninja or Konoha will be destroyed. If I give up halfway, then I, Shinnō, will die a horrible death!"

Retsuo emphatically stressed the words "I, Shinnō." As he spoke, he swung the ninja blade onto his back with a handsome flourish.

Shinnō will soon give this to a Konoha shinobi. You never would have guessed, would you? The identity of Shinnō is unexpectedly useful. Hand it over, ha-ha-ha—ha-ha-ha—

Gen's Explosive Tag Genjutsu wasn't merely ordinary Genjutsu. Instead, it sealed a Genjutsu onto the tag. Its full name was [Sealing—Heavenly Mountain Pure Wood Technique]. It required around fifty hand seals, making it even more complicated than the famous Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique!

Retsuo nearly cried after reading the scroll. Without a genius shinobi like Tobirama Senju to simplify it, merely memorizing the order of the hand seals would take everything he had...

And Gen had applied this technique to every single Explosive Tag. He simply wasn't human!

The technique had very high limitations. It could only render various kinds of paper invisible, and it couldn't maintain invisibility while moving.

After trying it repeatedly, Retsuo discovered that it was actually quite practical. It became visible while moving and invisible while still. The camouflage appeared and disappeared over and over, and it took more than a dozen cycles to exhaust the energy of the sealed Genjutsu.

It also came with a technique for releasing the seal, though it didn't even have a name. It required only two hand seals. Once the seal was released, the Explosive Tag detonated immediately.

Retsuo's first thought upon obtaining this seal was that Konan would become terrifyingly overpowered if she had it!

The Paper Release Kekkei Genkai combined with paper invisibility—although she couldn't move, it would still be a divine technique for Konan.

There were always strange and peculiar techniques in the Shinobi World. They weren't too difficult and didn't have high requirements, but in the hands of a specific shinobi, they could display tremendous power.

Putting down the scroll, Retsuo thought that he should go check on Tenma and Shinji as well. He could no longer delay the matter of graduating early, because the Ninja Academy had already resumed classes.

Thanks to Wan Ge for the generous donation...