"Lord Ōnoki, that's the situation. If you accept, we'll remain in Iwagakure until at least one person here successfully masters senjutsu. During that time, you can come to us with any questions."
After finishing his explanation, Kakashi presented Ōnoki with the choice.
"Very well. The three of you can stay in the village for a few days. I'll have someone arrange your accommodations." Ōnoki agreed without the slightest hesitation.
After sending the Konoha diplomatic group away, he headed to the Tsuchikage Building—or rather, the newly constructed private training ground behind it—and found Kurotsuchi.
There was no helping it.
Ōnoki originally planned to summon his eldest disciple, Akatsuchi, and his son, Kitsuchi, to his home.
However, no matter what he wanted, Kurotsuchi was the current Tsuchikage and formally needed to be involved.
As for Kurotsuchi... Ōnoki suspected that even if he personally summoned her, she might not bother showing up
And even if she did, she would probably point directly at his nose and demand, "Who's actually in charge of Iwagakure, you or me?" just to flex her authority.
Rather than deal with that headache, it was much easier for the retired old man to obediently go find her himself and have Akatsuchi and Kitsuchi meet them there.
...
That long pause existed because, upon thinking this far, Ōnoki suddenly realized how incredibly lazy the newer generation's naming convention had been.
Even though he was the one who chose those names.
Aka-tsuchi (Red Earth), Ki-tsuchi (Yellow Earth), Kuro-tsuchi (Black Earth)...
Everything was some kind of "earth"!
Anyone hearing those names would immediately know they came from Iwagakure.
Then, a name he had only learned recently flashed through his mind.
Obito.
Well, the brat wasn't from Iwagakure, but they were certainly connected.
After all, Iwagakure had been directly responsible for crushing half his body—and his balls—beneath a giant boulder.
After finding Kurotsuchi, Ōnoki did not immediately explain the situation.
He sat to the side and waited for the other two to arrive.
Since Ōnoki said nothing, Kurotsuchi couldn't be bothered to ask. She simply continued her training.
Ever since Makoto allowed her to experience the overwhelming power of a true ruler of the earth, Kurotsuchi felt that this was the definitive path she should follow.
She even completely abandoned her former favorite jutsu, the Light-Weight Rock Technique, and her beloved ability to fly.
Instead, she began training with both feet firmly planted on the ground.
She no longer flew during ordinary travel.
She didn't even wear shoes anymore, preferring to stand barefoot to feel the natural energy constantly flowing through the earth.
At last, Akatsuchi and Kitsuchi hurriedly arrived.
Deidara had also left Ōnoki's residence and secretly followed them all the way here.
He was incredibly curious about senjutsu, but what he overheard through the wall earlier wasn't anywhere near enough to understand the mechanics.
Besides, he didn't possess a photographic memory; hearing something once did not mean he memorized the tactical details.
So, he followed them.
Once everyone arrived, Kurotsuchi finally stopped training.
At the same time, her gaze casually flicked toward the exact spot where Deidara was hiding.
As she became increasingly familiar with the path Makoto had shown her, training while physically connected to the earth, all her baseline abilities had improved drastically, even without activating the Keystone.
Her sensory abilities had improved the most.
As long as her bare feet touched the ground, her seismic perception covered a terrifyingly vast area.
The exact moment Deidara hid nearby, Kurotsuchi sensed his vibrations.
She did not expose him, though. She simply allowed her grandfather to begin speaking.
Ōnoki first explained the basic situation involving the Ōtsutsuki threat.
Then, he told them that Konoha's ambassadors would not leave until at least one person in Iwagakure mastered senjutsu.
However, unlike Kumogakure, Iwagakure would not deliberately single out one scapegoat candidate.
Ōnoki's tone was filled with pure contempt for the Raikage.
In his opinion, the man clearly did not love his village enough if he refused to personally lead by example.
Ōnoki was different!
He immediately decreed that both Akatsuchi and Kitsuchi would train simultaneously.
Whichever of them succeeded first would become Iwagakure's premier senjutsu instructor.
Naturally, Ōnoki himself would also actively participate.
If his teacher, the Second Tsuchikage Mū, hadn't been an Edo Tensei corpse physically incapable of using this biological shortcut, Ōnoki would have gladly forced him to train too.
If he hadn't only recently reconciled with Rōshi—and deeply feared that mentioning this humiliating method would make the jinchūriki explode in fury and abandon the village again—Ōnoki would have ruthlessly dragged him into it as well.
And if Ōnoki were still Tsuchikage and possessed the legal authority to order Kurotsuchi around...
In any case, both Ōnoki and the Fourth Raikage possessed the ironclad conviction to sacrifice absolutely everything for their villages.
To uphold that grand principle, no price was too high.
What did a little personal dignity matter?
The Raikage still cared somewhat about his public reputation, so he planned to train in total secrecy.
Ōnoki had stopped giving a damn a long time ago.
He had recently courted Chiyo for Uchiha Madara's sake.
What could possibly frighten him anymore?
If someone told them that swallowing Naruto's "sperm" could awaken the Rinnegan, Ōnoki and the Raikage would undoubtedly agree without a second of hesitation—
Well, perhaps after hesitating very briefly.
Such was the dark will required of a true Kage.
After the Chiyo incident, Ōnoki had fully embraced the attitude of a man with absolutely nothing left to lose.
His dark resolve had already surpassed the Raikage's, and he no longer bothered hiding it.
"Thank goodness I don't need to train this way."
After listening to the horrifying explanation, Kurotsuchi sighed with deep, genuine emotion.
Fortunately, when Makoto first visited Iwagakure, she immediately declared her factional support.
At the time, she merely wanted to annoy the old man and find an excuse to go outside and have fun.
Regardless, she was incredibly fortunate to already possess her own elite path for cultivating natural energy.
She did not need to resort to such degenerate physical shortcuts.
"You don't need to? Kurotsuchi, you..."
"Oh, right. Old man, I don't think I ever told you. What I was using just now was natural energy."
To prove it, Kurotsuchi clenched her right fist.
Glowing, magma-like markings—resembling those of Primal Groudon—flared across the back of her hand, and a massive stone broadsword dripping with scorching magma erupted directly from the ground into her grasp.
Everyone present was a master-class expert in Earth Release and instantly recognized the technique's terrifying density and power.
The standard Earth Release: Golem Technique summoned a stone giant conceptually similar to the Uchiha's Susanoo or the Senju's Wood Human.
So why was its historical battle record so terrible?
Because ordinary stone was far too fragile.
Even if a shinobi poured massive amounts of chakra into making it enormous, its offensive and defensive power remained vastly inferior to a Susanoo of the exact same size.
But infused with this pure natural energy? It was an entirely different beast.
"Kurotsuchi, this power..." Ōnoki stared at the magma sword in astonishment.
At the same time, he did not know whether to laugh or cry at her attitude toward him.
She had clearly possessed this ability for quite some time, yet she never once bothered to explain something this strategically important to him.
Did she truly regard herself as the supreme, unquestionable ruler of the Land of Earth now?
"I actually have another ability that would make it even more obvious, but for the sake of the farmland surrounding the village, I'd better not use it."
Kurotsuchi withdrew her power.
The boiling magma flowing down the stone sword gradually cooled and solidified into dark obsidian.
The ability she meant was naturally Desolate Land, along with its weaker passive alternative, Harsh Sunlight.
Kurotsuchi had once complained about this irony to Mei Terumī.
The Land of Water desperately needed bright sunlight and land reclamation.
Iwagakure desperately needed rain and additional water resources.
Yet somehow, through Makoto's Keystones, both women obtained the exact weather-manipulation powers the other village needed.
Still, that irony also came with a distinct advantage.
As long as their two villages maintained their strict alliance and helped each other, it was hardly a problem.