Chapter 73: What's with people covering their faces?

"We can agree to these terms."

Ao didn't think too much and simply agreed to the condition.

The Mist Village is one of the five great ninja villages of the ninja world. Gathering the power of the Mist Village, capturing a rogue ninja from the Konoha should be easy.

"We will hand over that rogue ninja to Konoha immediately."

Ao raised another question: "After the Mizukage arrives at the Konoha, can you guarantee that the Konoha will send the Mizukage back in exchange for a rogue ninja from the Konoha?"

"..."

Akihara Kagura looked towards Hatake Kakashi.

This employee definitely couldn't make such a decision!

Akihara Kagura never considered that the Mist could capture Uchiha Obito. At most, they could trouble his superior, but how could they actually capture him?

"..."

Hatake Kakashi remained silent for a while.

After all, Hatake Kakashi was just a leader of an Anbu squad and couldn't make such a decision. The fate of a Mizukage could only be decided by the higher-ups of the Konoha.

"..."

Uchiha Itachi could only stand by as a mere ornament.

"Alright, we can't make this decision."

Akihara Kagura spread his hands helplessly, continuing, "At least we won't stop you from taking the Mizukage back to the Mist. You figure it out yourself. After all, a rogue ninja from the Konoha and a Mizukage don't seem to be of equal status and importance. This makes our trade reasonable and fair, right?"

"..."

Ao felt like swearing.

"Fine, we accept."

Ao had to suppress the urge to curse, and loudly asked again, "What about the Jonin Terumi Mei? Can we release her? Consider it a bonus for accepting your terms! Jonin Terumi Mei is a powerful ninja and an important force in the village for pursuing Uchiha Obito!"

"Agreed."

Hatake Kakashi considered this matter to be of little importance.

Compared to the Fourth Mizukage, Yagura, Terumi Mei was just a minor character, not significant enough to warrant continual discussions with Mist Village.

Besides...

Mist Village was almost declaring surrender, even going so far as to send Uchiha Obito to Konoha in the future.

And their team couldn't decide on accepting the conditions to send the Fourth Mizukage, Yagura, back, which made Hatake Kakashi feel somewhat embarrassed.

"Shouldn't we get something in return?"

After pondering for a moment, Akihara Kagura suggested, "At the very least, we should exchange for some ramen money, right? I don't even have a coin in my pocket, poorer than that kid Naruto. Are we supposed to let Captain Kakashi treat us when we return to the village?"

"This..."

Hatake Kakashi felt that it might be a bit excessive.

"How much money do you want?"

Ao asked loudly, gritting his teeth.

"Let us discuss it..."

Akihara Kagura looked towards Hatake Kakashi and then at Itachi Uchiha, "How much do you think is appropriate? I've never done this kind of thing..."

"..."

Hatake Kakashi and Itachi Uchiha exchanged glances.

Because neither of them had ever done such a thing!

"Three hundred thousand ryō."

Hatake Kakashi was not particularly interested in this.

This amount was a generous reward for a high-level A-rank mission.

Akihara Kagura didn't expect the figure to be so low, but didn't aim for a higher amount either, merely making a suggestion, "Let's make it three hundred and twenty thousand ryō then! After all, this money is to be split among the three of us, and we need a number that divides evenly."

"..."

Hatake Kakashi couldn't help but glance sideways, surprisedly calculating and then asking: "Wait, is there something wrong with this number? Three hundred thousand ryo would just be enough for three people to share evenly, right?"

Hatake Kakashi seemed to think of something, his forehead twitched as he said: "You wouldn't happen to be... giving Itachi and me ten thousand ryo each and keeping three hundred thousand for yourself, would you?"

"Distribution according to effort; I contributed the most."

"Distribution according to need; I am the poorest one."

"Distribution according to equality; you guys would definitely feel embarrassed, right?"

The three reasons given by Akihara Kagura were quite sufficient, leaving Hatake Kakashi and Uchiha Itachi with nothing to say.

Ao hadn't expected this small team from Konoha to have such modest demands, satisfied with just three hundred and twenty thousand ryo to release Terumi Mei, an amount he could easily pay as ransom himself.

Ao no longer found these people particularly despicable. They seemed to really just want to capture Uchiha Obito, not to cause trouble for the Mist Village.

This Konoha team and the Mist Village reached two agreements.

First, the Mist Village would take responsibility for capturing Uchiha Obito and hand him over to Konoha, finding a way to convince the higher-ups of Konoha to release the Fourth Mizukage, Yagura.

Second, the Mist Village would pay three hundred and twenty thousand ryo to redeem the elite ninja Terumi Mei, considering the other Mist ninjas captured by Akihara Kagura as a bonus.

"You guys really made a fortune."

When Akihara Kagura received the money, he spoke in a tone of amazement: "You're lucky to have met someone as easy-going as me..."

"Right..."

Ao could only nod repeatedly, suppressing his urge to fight, and asked about what he cared about most: "When will you leave the Land of Water?"

"Get the money, and the person leaves."

Akihara Kagura shook the money in his hand.

Before leaving.

The Fourth Mizukage, Yagura, wanted to entrust some matters.

Out of humanitarian consideration, Hatake Kakashi agreed to let Yagura talk with Terumi Mei for a while, allowing him to give some orders that sounded more like last words.

"I am a person guilty of heinous crimes."

The Fourth Mizukage, Yagura, appeared somewhat weak, and commanded in a soft voice, "Don't think about saving me; even if I die in the Konoha Village, it doesn't matter..."

"Lord Mizukage..."

Terumi Mei was feeling somewhat uneasy.

"Did you understand?"

Akihara Kagura, standing beside them, interpreted, "Your Lord Mizukage, in order not to burden you, is thinking of sacrificing himself. Can you bear to watch the Mizukage suffer in the Konoha Village?"

"..."

Yagura, the Fourth Mizukage, was too upset to continue speaking, but he still had to persist because this might be his last communication with the Mist Village: "Let the Genji take over the village, and have him repeal the Blood Mist policy I established..."

"Yes."

Terumi Mei nodded and quickly leaped down from the wooden dragon.

For the Mist Village, today was both a day of disaster and a new beginning, as the Blood Mist policy that had been looming over the village like a dark cloud was finally dissipating.

"Let's go too."

Akihara Kagura, true to his word, released Terumi Mei and the others after receiving the ransom. This squad, carrying the Land of Water's greatest specialty, headed back to the Konoha Village.

The squad hurried to the seaside to board a ship and depart.

When Yagura, the Fourth Mizukage, was being pushed onto the ship, he seemed to see a familiar figure, a sailor wrapped in bandages around his neck.

Yagura carefully lowered his head, recalling the sailor, his neck and lower face all wrapped in bandages, who seemed to be a Mist Village Anbu ninja.

If he remembered correctly...

Was his name Momochi Zabuza?

This man, by killing all his classmates with his own hands, ended the Mist Village's brutal training system.

The Mizukage cautiously shook his head, signaling the other not to risk saving him, fearing that any more Mist ninjas would fall into danger because of him.

However...

It was already too late.

Akihara Kagura seemed to have noticed the bandaged sailor and, pointing at him, asked in surprise, "What's with that guy? What's a big man hiding? Why does he like to cover his face like Captain Kakashi?"