"What could Konoha possibly do? At most, send out a few people to try and track me down. In fact, Konoha's response won't even compare to what Danzo's Root division might do," Uchiha Izumi sneered. "Itachi still thinks Konoha will cherish and raise Sasuke with care, but in truth, they don't value him much at all. Even after I took him, they won't bother putting in much effort to find him."
"I see," Kevin Cross wasn't surprised. It was just like in the original story. After Sasuke defected following the Konoha Crush, the only ones who really wanted him back were Naruto and Sakura. Konoha as a whole never seriously tried to retrieve him. Instead, it was Root Danzo sent Sai with orders to eliminate Sasuke.
"But when the people of Konoha find out I'm selling the Uchiha bloodline to other villages, I do wonder what kind of expressions they'll have. I'm honestly looking forward to it."
"Their reaction? It'll probably be intense. After all, the strength of the Uchiha clan is something the entire shinobi world recognizes. Even without awakening the Mangekyō Sharingan like you or Itachi, just reaching the three-tomoe Sharingan is enough to ensure one's place among the jōnin. With sufficient combat experience, even elite jōnin aren't out of reach. And for any shinobi village, jōnin and elite jōnin are critical assets," Kevin said with a grin.
When he first watched the anime, none of this had felt particularly strange. After all, Naruto was the main character, and the audience naturally saw everything through his perspective. But once the series ended and he looked back, it became clear that Konoha wasn't the ideal village it appeared to be. Then again, none of the villages in the shinobi world were any better. The entire world was broken.
Just like One Piece because Luffy was the protagonist and a pirate, fans instinctively saw the Marines as villains. Yet in truth, though the Marines were tools of the Celestial Dragons to some extent, the vast majority of them were still better than pirates. Wiping out all pirates might unjustly harm only a minuscule number of innocents in comparison.
That was why Kevin now stood fully on Uchiha Izumi's side. She was his woman. Even if she wanted to burn the whole world to ash, he would applaud her for it.
"Which is why I can't wait to see it," Izumi said, eyes glinting with anticipation.
It took them about two days, but Kevin and Izumi eventually arrived at the designated location for their deal with Kumogakure, accompanied by more than a dozen pregnant women.
Kevin seemed unfazed upon arrival, but Izumi narrowed her eyes and called out loudly, "What's this? Is Kumogakure planning to renege on our deal? You actually set up an ambush around here? Are the women too valuable, or do you just think we're easy targets?"
Whoosh!
Two figures leapt out from the shadows dark-skinned with stark white hair and powerfully built arms exposed to the sun.
"Uchiha Izumi?" Darui of the Cloud looked her over, his gaze briefly settling on her eyes now bearing the three-tomoe Sharingan before shifting to Kevin Cross and then back to Izumi.
"Darui? Looks like Kumogakure is taking this trade quite seriously," Izumi said, recognizing the man who would one day become the Fifth Raikage.
"Naturally. This transaction concerns the Uchiha bloodline, after all. Still, it's a bit hard to believe you, an Uchiha, are willing to sell off your clan's blood? Forgive us if we're skeptical," Darui said bluntly, suspicion evident in his tone.
"The Uchiha clan? There's no such thing anymore," Izumi said with a trace of bitter self-mockery. "This sale is, in a way, my way of ensuring the Uchiha don't vanish entirely. You can also see it as an act of revenge. Since Konoha doesn't value our clan, I'll hand our legacy over to Kumogakure. Let's see if Konoha regrets it."
"Revenge and preservation, huh? Not bad as far as motives go. But how can we be sure these women are actually carrying Uchiha children? And frankly, capturing you would be more profitable than the women," Darui said, watching the two of them carefully.
If Kevin and Izumi didn't have strong enough abilities or any backup, Kumogakure wouldn't mind ambushing and capturing them on the spot.
"If you think you can pull that off, go ahead and try. But I doubt your little ambush here is enough to stop us. And if you fail, if we escape, then you'll be facing two Mangekyō Sharingan wielders as enemies," Izumi said, her eyes shifting her three tomoe spinning and morphing into the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan, locking onto Darui with a chilling intensity.
Seeing this, Kevin also activated his Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan, reinforcing the threat.
"It was a joke, just a joke. No need to take it so seriously," Darui quickly deflected, raising his hands slightly in mock surrender. "We just can't be sure these women truly carry Uchiha offspring."
Though he didn't recognize the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan, Darui could tell that neither of these two were ordinary Uchiha. Even with the surrounding ambush, he had no confidence in being able to detain them.
Rather than taking such a high-risk gamble, it made more sense to complete the trade. Especially since each woman was only priced at 100,000 ryo a sum equivalent to a B-rank mission fee. Not exactly extravagant, considering the potential return.
"This is for you. Proof. Whether you believe it or not is up to you," Izumi said, tossing a videotape to Darui.
Darui accepted the tape, intrigued. Izumi had mentioned earlier that proof would be delivered via videotape, so he had brought a portable player just in case.
But the moment the footage began playing, Darui's expression changed noticeably, a flicker of complex emotion crossing his usually impassive face.
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