Chapter 34
" A reciprocal exchange," said Rasa calmly as he watched the reaction of the furious Tsunuade who was clearly holding back on using her punches to hit him just for the sake of Jiraiya who was at his mercy.
"What do you mean?" asked Tsunade completely confused.
A little 9 year old brat asking for something like that was too weird for her, her only concern was what he might do to that idiot Jiraiya.
"Well..., since you can't give me anything that really interests me, I thought the only thing you could give me is your availability, trustworthiness, and willingness to negotiate with me" Rasa explained lightly.
"Huh, availability..., trust..., willingness ..., to negotiate with you?" Tsunade repeated perplexed.
'This little fucker is talking about... What...?' Tsunade complained and wondered, but she didn't dare to say it out loud, Jiraiya was still in danger.
"Yes, it's simple, you and your team from now on will just cooperate with me in different things," said Rasa trying to make her understand what he was proposing, although he couldn't blame her for being a bit confused about this situation, he would be
too if someone of only 9 years old talked to him about something like this..., well, if that someone was Itachi or Kakashi maybe not.
"What kind of cooperation?" Tsunade finally asked, resigning herself to understand what the little bastard in front of her wanted, although her body was anxious to educate him with a few good blows of her fist...
And yes, she had already decided that if Jiraiya came out of this alive she would kill the idiot herself for putting her through such a damn annoying situation.
"Mutual obviously, and a trustworthy one, for example..., let's say I want to be aware of some things and so do you, we would meet to discuss these things and exchange information if both sides agree"
"Ha, that would be treason, going after the village and the Kages" Tsunade said laughing at the stupidity of the brat in front of her thinking she would do something like that.
"Not if my deal is with the Hokage's team, of course, this exchange must remain a secret between the Hokage, your team, and me, no one else can know," explained Rasa, and only then Tsunade realized that maybe the little brat in front of her was not
as stupid as she thought, after all, it is true that her team having the Hokage as a master could fulfill the conditions he was saying...
'Yes..., as long as the Hokage knows and he agrees it is possible, of course, I would have to convince him first' thought Tsunade, but considering that it would be to save that idiot Jiraiya, she was confident that the old man would listen to her and he
would not reproach her for accepting the brat's conditions in front of her, of course, she would first have to understand the situation better since the Hokage would want a full report on this.
"What exactly do you gain from this?" asked Tsunade after considering Rasa's proposal.
"I already said it, cooperation, there are many things we can come to negotiate in the future without having to get into a situation like...well... this..." replied Rasa with a smile as he pointed with his gaze at an unconscious and injured Jiraiya.
"Just giving me your word as the Senju Princess that you will agree to meet in peace and open minded to talk and negotiate with me from now on is enough for me" he added now looking straight at her.
"Just negotiate..., that means there is nothing obligatory," she said although it sounded more like a question since if she was obligated to negotiate something the Hokage would clearly never agree, but if it was just to talk in peace, well, that was not so
difficult..., of course, she knew it would be weird and complicated to do it with a ninja from Suna who to make matters worse was the student of the third Kazekage.
"Sure, you can always refuse, but first you must listen to my proposals calmly..., just as I will do in case you propose something"
"Oh, and what could we want from a 9 year old brat like you?" scoffed Tsunade but instantly she fell silent realizing that this was no time to joke and play with the ninja in front of her, as much as she wanted to deny it, he still had Jiraiya and she had to
control his attitude..., although she was pretty sure she was doing pretty well considering she didn't smash anything with her fists since she came in.
'Hmm, the old man will surely be surprised when I inform him how well I handled myself in this situation to save the perverted idiot' thought Tsunade with a slight smile of accomplishment.
"Well, maybe now I don't have much to offer Princess, but in a few years I assure you that my position in Suna will be quite higher..., so keeping a way to have a friendly conversation and negotiate with the future pillars of Konoha and the Hokage
seemed to me a good start..."
"I see you have a lot of ambition, but that can also be harmful," said Tsunade but even she could admit that Rasa was not wrong in what he said, after all being the Kazekage's only disciple it was highly likely that in a few years, his potion in
Sunagakure would be important so if they could really negotiate at that time it would be beneficial as he said for both Konoha and Suna..., two villages that hated each other since ever and could never have a friendly conversation.
"True enough, but that would affect me more than it would affect you, after all, all I ask is that we listen to each other in order for both sides to gain benefits, you don't waste anything except some time, right?"
" Fine, I give you my word that I will be willing to listen to your proposals and in case I am interested in negotiating with you..., I will talk to the Hokage but I doubt he will be as willing to do this as I am, probably you can only negotiate with me and if in
the future the Hokage agrees with him too" finally said Tsunade with sincerity, she could convince the old man to let her do this, but it was impossible that he as Hokage would dignify himself to negotiate with Rasa, at least not now.
"Is that enough for you?" she asked looking analytically at Rasa to see if what she said wouldn't affect the current situation, if the boy was smart he was going to understand, and if he wasn't well... she really hoped that wasn't the case, but she had
some hope that he wasn't an idiot since so far he showed to be quite mature.
"Hmm, one more thing..." said Rasa and then threw her a scroll which Tsunade quickly caught in mid-air without flinching.
"And this?" she asked, looking at him very doubtfully, clearly not understanding the purpose of the scroll.
"Well, I understand that your summoning can be divided into smaller clones that you can use to telepathically transmit information to each other and it occurred to me that the most practical way to keep in touch is through your beloved slugs, you will
leave a small slug inside the scroll and with that, we will keep in touch"
"This... you... how do you know so much about Katusyu?"
"I may be 9 years old, but I assure you I know many things that would surprise you. Now, do you accept?"
"Fine," Tsunade said with a frown as with a quick wave of her hands she summoned a small slug and placed it inside the scroll Rasa had given her.
When she finished she hesitated for a few moments but finally threw the scroll to Rasa.
" Done! now..."
"I know, here's your dear friend," Rasa said quickly forming a huge hand of gold dust with which she grabbed Jiraiya and placed him next to her.
"Well, that will be all, nice to have met you, Princess," said Rasa with a smile and an amused tone of voice as he used Body Flicker Technique and quickly left the place with the scroll leaving Tsunade and Jiraiya behind.
...
...
After Rasa left Tsunade focused on waking up and healing Jiraiya.
While she was doing this Orochimaru suddenly entered the cave looking around analytically.
"Well..., it looks like you dealt with the problem" Orochimaru commented lightly still looking around the cave cautiously.
" It was expected that I would" Tsunade replied confidently as she healed Jiraiya.
"Yes..., but this time the idiot almost ruined all the plans of the sensei," Orchimaru said disdainfully.
"Next time he plans to die I hope it will be at a more... appropriate time" he added while still looking around the cave.
"He already left Orchimaru and we came to an agreement, you don't have to worry," said Tsunade as she saw her partner looking around as if he was looking for any possible danger.
"Oh..., an agreement?..., tell me, is it related to this?" asked Orochimaru as he stooped down to pick up something from the place where Tsunade saw Rasa for the last time.
Tsunade frowned without understanding what he meant and looked at what Orochimaru had picked up from the ground, she noticed that it was number 21...
...
...
When Rasa walked away from Tsunade, Jiraiya, and Orochimaru's team, he quickly went in the direction of where his team was.
Of course, he decided to leave them a small... present.
Yes, he decided to leave the number 21 that he had taken from Kiri's ninja team.
Why?
Well, first of all, it was no use for him to have two odd numbers, he already had the number 17 and with the number 4 he got from the dead Suna team he could already pass the second test of the chunin exam.
And secondly, Rasa thought it was a good way to show his predisposition to establish a good relationship with them, of course, he did not know if the number he had left was useful to them, but that did not matter to him, what really mattered was the
intention.
On his way to where his team was, Rasa took the opportunity to gather information, in other words, explore and observe what was happening in this second test.
And he was very pleased to discover that the conflicts between the ninja of Iwa and Kiri had already begun, the teams of both sides were giving a spectacle of bloodshed.
...
...
At this moment Rasa finally arrived where Rumia and Nomad were.
Hearing the sound of footsteps, Rumia and Nomad raised their heads and greeted him quietly, both already knowing it was the one approaching their location.
"How's the situation now?" asked Rasa staring at both of them.
"We detected the location of several ninjas in the surroundings, apparently it's like you said and many are waiting for the right moment when a team arrives tired to attack them" explained Rumia who was the one who had been in charge during this
time of communicating everything that was happening to Rasa through her summoning.
"Most of them are weak teams from small villages waiting for their only chance to pass the second exam..., Ha, poor idiots, they don't stand a chance against the ninjas of the 5 great Shinobi nations" commented Nomad with disdain.
Rasa just nodded, after all, he had nothing to say and he didn't completely disagree with what Nomad said either, after all at this point the ninja of the other villages are obviously weak compared to the young elite ninja specially trained for this exam.
It can be said that this year, the Chunin examination is full of elite chunin who only remained as genin by request of the Kage of their respective villages...
Yes, one could argue that it is a great injustice to the smaller, poorer, and weaker villages, but when it comes to a show of power, there is no village that cares whether it is fair or unfair.
"If we move now we probably won't receive much trouble from the ninjas of these small villages, before attacking they will surely wait to see arrive the most weakened and tired teams," said Rasa.
"Perfect, let's go then, I was already bored of being here all this time," said Nomad quickly stretching his body for action.
To pass to the last test one must have an even number and an odd number, this is what the end of this test is based on..., the mere fact that so many ninja teams remain hidden waiting for the best moment to ambush and attack others is a clear sign
that there is going to be a great bloodshed when there are only a few teams left for the end of the test.
Maybe now the ninjas of these small villages are holding back because they are not sure whether to attack or not and those doubts will surely let several teams pass without being bothered too much...
But once they realize that they don't have time to wait any longer... well, it is easy to deduce what will happen, all the ninjas of these small villages will take the initiative to attack in their desperation to get the number they need to pass the second test.