Chapter 317 - Situation In Iwagakure
Onoki, the current Tsuchikage, was currently sitting in his office with an annoyed expression on his face. Over the course of the last three years, things have not been going too well. Well, Iwagakure itself was doing fine, but the problem was that Konoha was simply doing too good.
Since the reemergence of the Uzumaki clan, Konoha's strength had been growing at a rapid pace. While thinking about the reason for Konoha's ridiculous fast growth in power, Onoki's anger spiked, and he only calmed down a little after throwing a Kunai at a practice dummy that he recently placed in his office. There were dozen of Kunai already stabbed into it. Most prominently, it had a picture of a certain woman pasted over its head.
Onoki took a deep breath, calming down his anger even further, and thought about his most hated enemy, Yuna Uzumaki. He had never talked to her, met her, or interacted with her in any shape, form, or fashion, but he still hated her to the bone.
Onoki might be old, but he was not stupid. When Yuna called herself a princess of the Uzumaki clan during the last chunin exam, he didn't think much about it. Yes, she was strong, but he thought that she would just be a puppet for someone else to rule the Uzumaki clan. Considering the way she fought, he didn't believe that she would be much of a thinker.
However, that notion changed rather quickly when she held that public speech to celebrate the re-establishment of the Uzumaki clan. She easily manipulated the crowd and even deflected the scheme someone tried to play on her while simultaneously pushing the Uzumaki clan and herself in a positive light. Not much of a thinker? No, she was cunning and manipulative. Only then did Onoki realize for how long and how perfectly she hid her abilities.
From there on, things became even worse. New seals that were more reliable, powerful, and at the same time, cheaper than everything else suddenly started flooding the market, and Onoki didn't need to be a genius to know where those were coming from. And finally, to put the crown on Yuna's action, she went to the Land of Water and killed the Sanbi, resulting in Konoha and Kiri forming an alliance.
The solution was obvious, assassination. The result? Utter failure.
Every single assassin he sent came back without a single physical injury. But, just mentioning the name Yuna or Naruto would cause them to shudder in terror, while the same happened when they saw cake. He tried to ask them what happened to them, but they only froze up and looked at nothing with dead eyes for a few minutes instead of answering.
Onoki sighed in frustration and threw another kunai at his Yuna-mannequin before the door opened and his granddaughter, Kurotsuchi, walked into his office with hasty steps.
"Grandfather, there is trou…"
"Please tell me that damn Uzumaki girl isn't involved."
Before she could finish speaking, Onoki interrupted her, resulting in her freezing in place with a strained smile on her face.
"*Cough* I fear it is partially about her."
"*Sigh* just spit it out. What happened this time?"
Kurotsuchi started telling her grandfather about what happened during the Konoha-Suna joint chunin exams, and the more she talked, the worse his facial expression got.
After Kurotsuchi delivered the information she had just received, a groan escaped Onoki's mouth as he held his head in pain.
'The image of three women kissing each other in the middle of the desert aside, this is awful. Well, this at least explains why Yuna went over to the Land of Water and killed the Sanbi. Somehow, she managed to add Mei Terumi to her harem, so she must have decided to make her the Mizukage.'
While thinking about Yuna's steadily growing harem, Onoki's eyes widened as he looked at his granddaughter.
"If you ever meet Yuna Uzumaki, run away as fast as you can."
Although Kurotsuchi had no idea where that order was suddenly coming from, she still nodded her head in agreement. She was somewhat confident in her strength, but she had no doubt that she wouldn't survive if she were to face Yuna head-on. Hence, she assumed that Onoki was simply worried about her and didn't want her to get killed.
While Kurotsuchi was busy interpreting her grandfather's words wrong, Onoki was deep in thought.
'What am I even supposed to do? Not only is the alliance between Konoha and Kiri much more solid than I thought it would be, the current Kazekage even went drinking with the other two Kage, which should mean that they get along nicely as well. Damnit, just Konoha was already troublesome enough, but now they have even allied themselves with two other hidden villages.'
'And that isn't even the end of the bad news. Rock Lee and Karin Uzumaki, two people I have never heard of before, yet both of them easily surpass the power of a normal jonin at such a young age. Damnit, doesn't Konoha already have enough geniuses? No, what is even worse is that both of them had some contact with Yuna. Lee frequented the Uzumaki compound while Karin was her student. Can Yuna just create geniuses out of thin air?'
'Worst of all, that isn't even the worst news. Whatever that seal Karin Uzumaki used at the end is. It's far more dangerous than anything else. If that is something that can be mass-produced, then Konoha will be unstoppable. I can only hope that it either deals heavy damage to the user's body or can't be used by everyone.'
Another sigh escaped Onoki as he slowly stood up.
"Very well, we will need to see where this goes. First of all, I want a few people to gather information about Karin Uzumaki and whether she got any permanent damage from using that seal. If she did, then the situation might still be salvaged somehow after we ally ourselves with Kumo. Honestly, I would rather not work with that meathead, but there might be no other choice."
"And what do we do if she didn't get any damage from that seal."
Onoki pondered Kurotsuchi for a short moment before a determined expression appeared on his face.
"If no one else from Konoha starts using it, then nothing will change, but if more people appear that have it, then we might have no other choice than to ask for an alliance as well. I have no doubt that Konoha will ask for a high price, but if all of Konoha's shinobi can spontaneously increase their strength to jonin level, then the only other choice is destruction anyway."
Kurotsuchi's expression became severe when she heard Onoki's words. Her grandfather was stubborn. Very stubborn. Considering that he is even willing to make peace with Kumo shows how dangerous the current situation is for them.
"Yes, Tsuchikage-sama."
Kurotsuchi gave Onoki an uncharacteristically serious salutation and left the room to gather a few people so they could gather more information about Karin.
Another sigh escaped Onoki as he sat back on his chair, picked up another kunai, and threw it at his target dummy again. However, this time…
*Crack*
"*ARGH, MY HIP!!!"
…he exerted a little too much of his strength, causing his hip to issue an uncomfortable sound while causing him pain.
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