Konoha Drunkard

The little rocket launcher, looking disheveled, wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and asked.

“Your grandma only has you as her precious grandson. If I hadn’t come and looked after you, your grandpa would be sleeping on the floor. I’m not trying to be mean, but look at you now, you’re so miserable. All these years have been for nothing.”

Shanks was lying through his teeth with a straight face. If it weren't for the fact that the giant snake inside this guy's belly was worth something, he wouldn't have bothered coming...

"........."

The little rocket rolled its eyes.

"Then why didn't you come out sooner? You made me sweat all over, you jerk!"

With the boss defeated, Ino regained her queenly demeanor, hands on her hips, and spoke with great enthusiasm.

"Well...aren't the important ones always the ones who show up at the most crucial moment? That's how it's always done in movies. Alright, seeing how disheveled you all are, hurry up and find a place to change and then go back. I have important things to do."

Shanks waved his hand, his mouth watering again. This was a Tailed Beast! Even if it was man-made, it was still a genuine Tailed Beast, incredibly valuable!

"You want to sell him again? This thing is very dangerous."

Seeing his expression, Ka-Dian knew perfectly well what his important matter was; it wasn't the first or second time...

"Children shouldn't concern themselves with adult matters. That's all, I'm leaving now!"

After Shanks finished speaking, he grabbed the idiot on the ground and disappeared.

"That damned old man..."

As Shanks disappeared from sight, Kakashi muttered something under his breath.

"Kakashi-sensei... why did you say 'again' just now? Could it be...?"

The girl with the broad forehead covered her mouth in surprise. She had been following Tsunade for almost two years and was no longer a novice in the ninja world. Tsunade had introduced her to all sorts of common knowledge about the ninja world, and the most frequently mentioned topic was naturally the tailed beasts. Tsunade had told her more than once about the power of the tailed beasts—they were capable of destroying the world. The giant snake she had just encountered was comparable in power to a tailed beast, and then there was Kakashi-sensei's endless...

"Everyone in the ninja world considers the Tailed Beasts to be the most terrifying beings, but... to Lord Shanks, they're just tools for making money. Whether it's the Eight-Tails, the Seven-Tails, or the One-Tails, Lord Shanks has made a fortune off them all. Recently, the Four-Tails and Five-Tails Jinchuriki from Iwagakure escaped, and Lord Shanks captured them and sold them back to Iwagakure. Although the price is still unknown, I think it shouldn't be less than 30 billion..."

Yamato, standing next to Shanks, kept her eyes fixed on the spot where Shanks had disappeared, her gaze filled with adoration.

"That's amazing... But... Shikamaru, why is your grandfather so obsessed with money too!"

The girl with the broad forehead had only met two or three powerful figures from Konoha. Jiraiya's lechery was common knowledge, and she knew Tsunade loved gambling. But she hadn't had much contact with Shanks, the Red-Haired Shanks. She'd only heard he was a drunkard before, but now she discovered that Shanks was not only a drunkard, but also greedy...

739. The user you are trying to contact is not in the service area.

"...If you had several family members who loved to gamble and had never won, you would love money too."

The small rocket launcher looked helplessly at the sky.

Everyone nodded in understanding, after all, it was an undeniable fact that Tsunade, the God of Gamblers, and Garp, the Saint of Gamblers, supported all the gamblers in the Land of Fire.

Only Kakashi rolled his dead fish eyes and looked up at the sky. The child was still too naive, actually believing that old man Shanks was just trying to make a living...

...........

Meanwhile, Shanks carried the idiot back to the previous location to meet with Orochimaru. Orochimaru then took some dark chakra from the idiot and sealed it away before leaving. His main purpose in coming here was to see the methods of this artificial tailed beast, but this giant snake seemed to have been formed for a long time. The person most likely to know about it had been beaten to a pulp by Shanks and would probably be an idiot when he woke up. What was the point of asking? He might as well just take some dark chakra back and study it.

After Orochimaru left, Shanks stared at the idiot on his shoulder, drool dripping down his face. This was a Tailed Beast! Even though it was artificially created, if he didn't say anything, and Orochimaru didn't say anything, who the hell would know? Besides, it did indeed possess the characteristics of a Tailed Beast. All he had to do was give it a plausible origin story.

The major ninja villages might look down on this relatively weak tailed beast, but it's different for many smaller ninja villages. Although the ninja world seems to be at peace now, the internal strife has never stopped. There are constant frictions between major and minor ninja villages, and even more so between minor ninja villages.

Just like the Land of Mountains, which was wiped out by Takigakure back then, if they had such a guardian beast back then, would Takigakure have dared to act recklessly?

Thinking of this, Shanks immediately ran to Kakuzu's old employer. The fact that Kakuzu could stand firm in the ninja world for so many years and have such a big business meant that they naturally had their own backyard. At least in every country in the ninja world, their paparazzi were around, and news traveled very quickly.

...........

Shanks from Konoha discovered a wild Tailed Beast Jinchuriki in a deserted place. Since it was unclaimed, a grand auction of wild Tailed Beasts will be held in the Land of Iron at the end of this month, with the highest bidder winning.

Kakuzu's former employer was incredibly efficient; the day after Shanks found them, news of his plan to auction off a tailed beast in the Land of Iron had already spread throughout the ninja world.

Not long after this news broke, the leaders of various countries and villages were all in an uproar. The major ninja villages were somewhat better off, as they already possessed tailed beasts and knew that while tailed beasts were powerful, they were also troublesome. If not handled properly, they could go berserk from time to time, like Sunagakure in the past, or run away to roam freely like Iwagakure, requiring them to spend a lot of money to buy them back. Moreover, news of tailed beasts going berserk in various ninja villages was commonplace and never stopped. The most serious case was the Nine-Tails' berserk attack in Konoha, which turned the entire village into a battlefield between Shanks and the Nine-Tails, leading to an even more costly rebuilding effort.

But these things don't matter to small ninja villages. Their strength is already weak, and if they want to survive in the ninja world, the stronger they are, the better. Tailed beasts, as guardian beasts of the village, are perfect for this. Regardless of the trouble, they at least need to have one. If they have a tailed beast, even if those big ninja villages want to destroy them, they will have to consider whether they should admit that it is a loss.

The large ninja villages only glanced at it briefly before paying no further attention. Instead, they became even more curious about the origin of this wild tailed beast. As everyone knows, there are only nine tailed beasts in total. Back then, apart from the one that Sunagakure brought with it, the other eight caused a bloodbath in the ninja world. In the end, they were captured by the two leaders of Konoha, Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha. How come there is another one now? Did it sleep too long when it was hiding and thus not be discovered?

"Where did you think the tailed beasts that Shanks from Konoha got from? Could there be ten tailed beasts in total?"

In the Raikage's office in Kumogakure, the Fourth Raikage asked his chief steward, Mabui, a question.

"I heard recently that the Sky Ninja have resurfaced and launched attacks on various parts of the ninja world, especially the Land of Fire, where many places were destroyed. Konoha then sent Kakashi to deal with it. Could this be related to that incident?"

Mabui tapped the table and guessed that the people who lived in Konoha would send them detailed intelligence every now and then, so they knew a lot about what was going on in Konoha. Moreover, how could those people not report back about such a big deal as the attack on Konoha by the Sky Ninja?

"...That's unlikely. If the Sky Ninja had this Tailed Beast, they wouldn't have been so easily wiped out by Konoha back then. Konoha had already taken on four opponents, and Shanks was tied up in the Land of Lightning by my father. No one within their ranks could defeat a Tailed Beast so easily..."

The Fourth Raikage shook his head, disagreeing with Mabui's guess. Although he was still painstakingly grinding experience and leveling up back then, as a Raikage candidate, he was very clear about the strength of each village in the ninja world. At the beginning of the Second Shinobi World War, Konoha's White Fang was fighting a chaotic battle in the Land of Rain, and Konoha's Shanks was fighting his father one-on-one in the Land of Lightning. It was also at that time that the Land of Sky was destroyed by Konoha. Where would Konoha have been able to spare so much power at that time? If the Land of Sky had possessed the Tailed Beasts, it's uncertain who would have been defeated if Konoha had invaded.

"But according to the fact that not long after Kakashi and the others went to the Land of Sky, Konoha's Shanks captured a wild Tailed Beast Jinchuriki, the timing is too coincidental. And what's strange is that even though Konoha already has the Nine-Tails, do they think they have too many Tailed Beasts?"

Mabui couldn't figure this out no matter how hard he tried. Even if they, the Hidden Cloud Village, already had two tailed beasts, they wouldn't mind having one more; they'd love to have as many as possible. But asking them to spend money to buy one from that big swindler, Shanks, from Konoha was out of the question. Onoki had been ripped off by him countless times; that was a lesson learned the hard way. Besides, Killer Bee wasn't around, so they didn't know whether the tailed beast was real or not.

"...The auction is at the end of the month, there's still time. Let the people in Konoha ask what's going on."

Even the Fourth Raikage couldn't understand it. This was a Tailed Beast! Which village wouldn't treat it like a treasure? Was Minato out of his mind, or were the higher-ups in Konoha just bored and had nothing better to do than sell a Tailed Beast?

.......

Minato wasn't out of his mind, and neither were the Konoha leaders. When they heard that Shanks was going to auction off the Tailed Beasts, Minato and the four Konoha leaders immediately had Big Mom contact that bastard Shanks to ask him if he had lost his mind.

Result... Sorry, the user you are trying to contact is not in service area........

740. Make that bastard come back.

"That bastard! Has he been so idle that he's gone stupid? He even dares to sell a tailed beast!!"

Danzo, his face flushed with anger, spat furiously in the Hokage's office! This is a Tailed Beast! If it were kept in Konoha, sealed away, and trained into a Jinchuriki, wouldn't it be a dream to sweep across the entire ninja world and unify the world once he becomes Hokage!

Danzo was furious, and the other three Konoha leaders were no better off. Although they had no intention of sweeping across the world and unifying the ninja realm, having one more tailed beast would mean one more point of strength. Moreover, the village had a lot of potential Jinchuriki, so why did they sell them off?

Minato and Big Rocket looked at the four red-faced, thick-necked old men and women, exchanged a glance, and saw the helplessness in each other's eyes. They sighed at the same time. They had discovered Shanks when he left the village. They thought Shanks was just being soft-hearted and didn't trust Naruto and the others, but who knew he would pull such a stunt? And how could there be a wild tailed beast in the ninja world that hadn't been discovered for so many years? It was obviously impossible. But if it wasn't, where did he get the tailed beast from? These questions could only be answered when Kakashi and the others returned.

"Have Lingling contact Shanks and tell him to get back here immediately! Whatever money he wants, Konoha will pay him!"

Soy Sauce Guest Mitomon En was so angry that he kept shaking his cane. Minato and Big Sky Cannon were worried that he might be paralyzed with anger.

"Lady Slug said that as soon as she came out, her father-in-law stuffed her back into the Spirit World, and she didn't even have a chance to speak. Moreover... Lady Mito, although our finances have been profitable in recent years, given my father-in-law's style, it would probably take tens of billions to buy this wild tailed beast..."

"This father-in-law is ruthless enough," Big Cannon said helplessly. "He's even willing to offend Lord Slug for this money."

"...I've had some savings over the past few years. If I sell some valuables, I can raise three or four hundred million... Sarutobi! How much money can you come up with!"

Soy sauce customer Mitokado Yan counted his money on his fingers and realized it wasn't enough... so he asked Sarutobi Hiruzen beside him.

"No... Konohamaru has been growing a lot lately, so he's been eating more... Danzo, what about you?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi casually tossed the blame onto Danzo. Why should he send money to that bastard Shanks? That bastard's wealth is far greater than his. Besides, Mitokado Homura, after all these years as the logistics manager, only has a net worth of three or four hundred million? You're kidding me!

"My business is barely surviving now, where would I get the money? I can manage a million or two, but no more."

Danzo's thoughts were similar to Hiruzen Sarutobi's. He still had a Root organization to support, so giving that bastard money for no reason was out of the question. Besides, that bastard was originally from Konoha, so if he captured a tailed beast, it should belong to Konoha. That bastard was misappropriating public funds, so it was good enough that he wasn't punished, but instead, he was given money!

"Hmph! A bunch of old fogies..."

Koharu, watching her scheming friends, curled her lip in disdain. She knew exactly what her three friends were thinking: they didn't want to suffer losses, yet they wanted to get the tailed beasts back. With Shanks' personality, how could that be possible?

She genuinely has no money; her inheritance is meant for her beloved godson...

"........"

Minato exchanged a glance with the giant rocket launcher, speechless at these old guys. They were the ones who were truly broke. Minato, as Hokage, didn't get a salary; he had to rely on his wife and family for a living...

Big Rocket is living off his family's savings; how could he possibly have that much...?

The quarter-almost Kurama inside Minato's stomach scoffed, "A bunch of idiots..."

"Huh? Lord Kurama, you're awake?"

When Minato heard what the quarter of Kurama inside his stomach said, he was surprised. This quarter of Kurama had been sealed inside him for so many years, just like Kushina. They thought that Kurama needed time to recover after being separated, so he had been sleeping.

"Wake up for what? I haven't been asleep at all. I just didn't want to talk to you bastards. How dare you divide me into three parts!"

Nine-Tailed Man gets angry just thinking about it. He was tricked by that bastard red-haired brat and had it divided into three parts. It was too late to stop him then.

"...Ahaha, then there must have been an accident. Kushina's life force couldn't support your powerful chakra."

Minato awkwardly explained that what they did was indeed a bit unfair. The other party had already agreed to seal them away, and they had divided them into several parts without their consent.

"Hmph! I'll settle the score with you later. You just said that red-haired brat caught another tailed beast? Is it that fat cat with the One-Tailed Beast or that stinky octopus with the Eight-Tailed Beast?"

Nine Lamas said with schadenfreude.

"Neither... It's said to be a new tailed beast. Lord Kurama, I'd also like to ask, aren't there only one tailed beast?"

Minato asked curiously. Ever since he learned about the legend of the Tailed Beasts, he had always heard that there were nine Tailed Beasts in total, but now his teacher had an extra one. What was going on?

"What?! Impossible! The Sage of Six Paths only gave birth to nine of us back then, how could there be other tailed beasts? Absolutely impossible!"

Kurama shook his head firmly, saying that the nine of them had lived together for a long time after the Sage of Six Paths died before separating. How could the Sage of Six Paths have another child? That's impossible. Could it be... the offspring of that bastard's philandering? An image of a fat, dead cat flashed into Kurama's mind. Only that fat, dead cat could have done such a thing...

.................

"Lord Kazekage, should we fight over this wild tailed beast?"

In Sunagakure, Maki, Rasa's former right-hand man, rose to become an advisor to the village after Gaara's rise to power. However, since he got his position through connections and hadn't made any significant contributions to the village, he lacked authority. He had been looking for an opportunity to achieve something and establish his authority, but the ninja world was currently peaceful with no major wars, so he hadn't had a chance to do anything significant. However, the auction of the Tailed Beast by Shanks in Konoha gave him some ideas. If he could bring the Tailed Beast back to the village and strengthen it, that would be a great achievement. In terms of money... the other countries in the ninja world were nothing compared to Sunagakure! If they participated, capturing the wild Tailed Beast would be a sure thing.

"...We'll just stay out of it and wait and see. I don't think even the most powerful ninja villages will get involved."

Gaara has indeed matured a lot since taking over, and his aura as a leader has become more and more obvious. After listening to Maki's words, he shook his head indifferently.

"Why? This is a tailed beast! Wouldn't it be better to buy it to strengthen the village?"

Not to mention Maki, even Kankuro wouldn't understand. Of the five great ninja villages, their village has the weakest tailed beast, and it's only one. Even Takigakure has seven tailed beasts, while they only have one. It's really pathetic.

741. It's worth at least some money.

Kushina: "...Shukaku told me that there is no tenth tailed beast in the world. That is to say, although I don't know the situation, the tailed beast in Shanks' hands is definitely not like the ones Shukaku and the others."

Gaara calmly explained to Kankuro and Maki that he was also tempted when he first heard that Shanks was going to auction off the Tailed Beasts, but he was interrupted by Shukaku, the One-Tailed Beast. In Shukaku's words, the Sage of Six Paths only created the nine brothers, and nature could not spontaneously generate Tailed Beasts to replace them, so the ones Shanks had were not the real Tailed Beasts, he just didn't know what they were.

"So you're saying Konoha's Shanks is lying? He doesn't even have a Tailed Beast? Unbelievable! The mighty Shanks of Konoha would be so despicable as to lie!"

Maki wanted to blush and spit as he cursed, this bastard had made him happy for nothing.