Huff… Huff…
A retains his consciousness after a while. He takes a deep breath and feels dizzy.
Cough… cough…
A coughs up some blood and the dizziness in his head slowly fades away. He suddenly recalls the memories of the previous bet.
"Karai… where is Karai?"
A grab the collar of one of the medic-nin of Kumo and question him.
Gulp…
The medic-nin gulps his saliva and points beside him. A calms down and looks around. He is sitting on a bed and Karai is lying on another bed beside him.
"We are in the inn, Raikage-sama. You passed out after taking a hit from Izuna Uchiha." Amai informs him.
"So… I lost after all. I am sorry, Karai! I wasn't able to fulfill my promise." A clench his fist.
A's eyes tear up. He wipes them and solemnly looks out of the window.
"Uhh! Raikage-sama, Karai is fine. He isn't dead yet." Amai tries to calm A.
"Yes… Karai isn't dead yet. He will forever remain in our heart." A closes his eyes.
"Raikage-sama… I am still alive." Karai opens his eyes and groans in pain.
"Don't push yourself too much, Karai." Amai supports Karai.
"Karai… you are fine." A turns towards Togai for an explanation.
Togai explains everything to A.
"So, this is what happened Raikage-sama."
Humph…
"Those Konoha ninjas are still as soft as ever. Let's take Karai to them. We have to deal with Nokizaru Group too. Those bastards dared to lay a hand on Kumo."
A scoffs and walks out of the room. The rest of the Kumo ninjas follows him.
Knock… knock…
A knock at the door of Tsunade's room.
"Oh! It is the unruly brat of Kumo." Tsunade sneaks a glance at A and ignores him.
Humph…
A tick mark appears on A's forehead.
Cough… cough…
Izuna coughs to gain his attention.
"Let's talk about the business before we move on. I don't want to do a favor to Kumo. We aren't allies and if Konoha shows any weakness, Kumo will be the first to strike."
"What do you want to talk about? Let get it over, Karai is still in pain." A snort.
"Ok then! Here is my first condition. I need 10 tons of chakra ore you mined from the Land of Hot Water. It should be of first-grade." Izuna raises his index finger.
'This amount should be enough to forge first-grade weapons for members of the Uchiha clan and my future team. I would store the remaining amount in the clan's stock.'
"Go and rob a bank instead. Do you think a single shinobi's life has this much worth?" A scoffs at Izuna.
"No… No… No! I am not talking about your subordinate. I am talking about them."
A swirling portal opens in front of them and five people drop out from it.
A's eye widens as he notices the Nokizaru group members.
"What?... Nokizaru group. How did you capture them? They are a group of S-rank ninjas with quite a bounty on their heads. As a squad, these are almost unstoppable?" A point at the Nokizaru members.
"You don't have to ponder on such minor details. I am talking about their value. This bunch has done quite the damage to your Kumo. Also, I sell them to Bingo Book bounty hunters then I would get 500 million Ryo for the entire group." Izuna states their value.
"What 500 million Ryo?" Tsunade sobers up and stares at the Nokizaru group with a fervent gaze.
The Nokizaru group members turn into a stack of cash in Tsunade's eyes and she drools while looking at them.
Gulp…
Tsunade gulps a mouthful of saliva and starts to imagine what she could do with such great wealth.
'I can drink premium booze every day. I don't have to worry about money while gambling for a while.'
She turns towards Izuna.
"Izuna! Instead of handing them over to this ungrateful A, why don't you give them to me?" Tsunade waves her hand.
Izuna senses Tsunade's intention and ignores her.
Stab…
An imaginary arrow pierces Tsunade's heart, and she sulks in a corner.
"So.. where were we? Ah! Yes, these Nokizaru ninjas. What do you think should I do with them?" Izuna grins at A and questions him.
'This bastard. He will rob Kumo at this rate. But I have to capture this bunch. They have stolen the secret technique of Kumo, and I can't allow them to sell it to other nations.
If other nations found out that technique then another weakness of Kumo will be pried open to the world.'
"Fine! I will take them from you. 10 ton of chakra ore it is. It's a deal, I will ask someone from the cloud to fetch it over. But I will take all the belongings of this group with me." A demand.
"It's fine with me." Izuna shrugs his shoulders.
A signals one of his subordinates and whisper in his ears. The Shinobi nods his head and searches through the clothes of the Nokizaru group.
'Damn! This Konoha bastard. We were supposed to kill the Raikage and enjoy the rest of our life in leisure. But now we have become a piece of tradeable goods in their hand.' Himushi curses in his mind and struggles to get free.
Slap���
"Don't move around too much." The Kumo ninja slaps Himushi and inspects his clothes.
'Damn! I can't handle it.' Himushi tries to yell in anger, but no sound comes out of his mouth.
The Kumo shinobi searches for a while but finds nothing. He reports it to A.
A frowns and angrily glares at Izuna.
"Oh! You might be looking for this." Izuna takes out a scroll from his pocket.
"Ah! The secret technique of Kumogakure. I wonder how much money I would get if I sell it to the right buyer. I am sure that fence-sitter Onoki of Iwa will pay a hefty price to get his hands on this technique."
Izuna twirls the scroll in his hands.
"That geezer Onoki was never a match for Third Raikage because of this technique. I am sure he would go to any lengths just to get his hands on the weakness of this technique." Izuna smirks at A.
"State your price!..." A slowly mutters to Izuna.
"Ah!... I can't hear you. Can you speak a little louder?" Izuna perks up his ears.
���I said, STATE YOUR PRICE!..." A yell in fury.
Lightning starts to crackle from his arms.
"That's more like it."
Izuna nods his head.
"I don't want anything extravagant. Just give me the blueprints of Chakra Cannon." Izuna calmly states his condition.
"What?" A yells in surprise.
His lightning cloak fades away, and he warily stares at Izuna.
'Chakra Cannon is supposed to be a secret weapon of Kumo. No one… No one besides father, me, and some of father's trusted subordinates knew about it. Even B isn't aware of its existence.
Then… then… how come… how come does he know about it?'
A gulps a mouthful of saliva and looks towards Izuna in dread.
'He… he even infiltrated and stole such top-secret information right under our nose. I still don't know how much intel he has on Kumo. I have to tread carefully around him in the future.'
A closes his eyes and ponders for a while.
'The chakra cannon is still in its elementary stage, it will be awhile before it will take its final form. During this time, I am sure Kumo will be able to modify it further.
Thus, there is no harm in handing over the blueprint of elementary chakra cannon. That's it, I will hand over the elementary blueprint.'
A makes up his mind.
"Fine, I agree with your condition. You will get your blueprint. Now can you hand over the technique?"
A demands Izuna. His expression is bitter at this moment.
"Here, you can have it? It is not much of a use to me." Izuna throws the scroll towards A.
He didn't care much about A.
'If he goes back on his word, then I will just barge in Kumo and kidnap both of their tailed-beast. Besides, I doubt A will pull back from the agreement.'
Humph…
A harrumph at Izuna and points towards Karai.
"Now would you mind treating him?"
"Oh! I totally forgot about that." Izuna scratches his head. He turns towards Shizune and prompts her.
"Shizune! Go ahead and operate on him."
"Yes, Izuna.�� Shizune nods her head and lifts her right leg to draw out some vials and syringes from her holster.
A frowns at this and looks towards Izuna.
"Shinigami! This wasn't the part of the deal. Why is this little girl operating on Karai? I want Tsunade to do the operation."
Swish… swish… swish… stab… splurge…
Shizune manoeuvres her hand and cuts open the skin around the insect. She stabs in the dead body of the insect and throws it away.
Swish… swish… swish…
She skilfully sews the wound and patched Karai.
Haah…
Shizune wipes the sweat from her forehead and walks in front of A.
"For your kind information, I am the successor of Tsunade-sama. She had taught me all of her skills and has passed her legacy to me. Humph!"
Shizune harrumphs and walks away.
Oink… oink…
She picks up Tonton and sits beside Tsunade.
"Hu!... Hu! Well done, Shizune. You did quite well for your first real on-field surgery."
Tsunade praises Shizune.
Upon hearing these words, the skin of A and Karai turns pale. Karai faints from shock and A staggers back while pointing a finger at Tsunade.
"…"
He is at a loss for words.