Kapitel 432: Ch432. Persuasion
Both Samui's and A's brains momentarily stopped in their tracks as they heard the outrageous thing Ringo said.
It took a second but eventually, A reacted, "You think I'd let you take her as an apprentice? Are you mad?" He growled, "I would rather kill her myself than allow something like that!"
While A was too worked up to notice, Ringo stood directly opposite him and Samui so she saw how Samui slightly flinched at that statement.
Alas, one thing that Rei... ahem, pounded... into Ringo's head quite early in her Kage career was that ninjas were people too. Not just tools.
Even the most seemingly emotionless and ruthless bastard still had at least some semblance of personal feelings.
This might not be all that important as most ninjas were raised to 'live for their village', but treating her ninjas like humans, at least outwardly, rather than just disposable pieces was better in the long term. Sarutobi Hiruzen certainly showcased it during his long reign.
It was mind-boggling how popular the old coot was despite being a scheming bastard.
Ringo smiled when she heard A, deciding to capitalize on the presented opportunity.
"Look, you overgrown monkey." She dryly rebuked. "I am dominating you in one versus two, the dark-skinned bimbo of yours doesn't even count as a proper obstacle. I think you are not in any position to complain. Her unconditional servitude to myself and acceptance of the apprenticeship for your miserable life. I reckon that's quite a good deal compared to the only alternative you have."
Not for a second did Ringo turn towards Samui during her speech. She was completely focused on Raikage to hide her intentions.
It worked too... if how shaken Samui's eyes seemed was any indication.
Since she became a Kage, Ringo came a long way from the sword-waving brute she was in the past. Now she actually knew how to manipulate people and that was exactly what she was doing right now.
She did not need to openly persuade the girl. Simply giving her a good reason why she should do what Ringo wanted and making accepting her offer seem beneficial while putting a slight doubt in her current position was enough. The rest would either solve by itself or Ringo would be forced to plan a kidnapping.
Eh, both were fine by her but the latter would take much more effort and time. Time she could instead use to do her hobby.
A didn't like what was said and it was obvious from how he was gritting his teeth and clenching his fists. He wanted nothing but to scream a rebuttal at Ringo but by now, even he realized what she said was true.
Not that he would give up as, in his opinion, there was still a chance at victory.
"You are too arrogant, bitch." A menacingly said while glaring at Ringo. "She is my kunoichi and you won't have he-"
He didn't manage to finish his sentence because something suddenly hit him, sending him into a wall that promptly crumbled upon impact. Normally, he would have shrugged such a blow like nothing since his lightning armor could soak up a lot of damage but... this time it didn't work and A took the brunt of the attack with his body, instead of his armor.
Both Samui's and Mabui's couldn't even see what happened, only registering that A no longer stood in front of them after they heard the crash of the crumbling wall. Their heads whipped towards it and their eyes widened in both bewilderment and fright when they spotted A... with his left leg and both arms broken.
While Mabui quickly ran towards A and started fussing over him, Samui shakily returned her gaze to Ringo, noticing the red-haired woman relocated back to... the surprisingly untouched seat for Mizukage... and sat down, her eyes excluding the feeling of boredom. The thing that made Samui uneasy, though, was the fact Ringo's eyes were directed at her.
"I wasn't asking, Kumo girl. I was informing you what will happen. You WILL be my apprentice. That's non-negotiable." Ringo boredly drawled.
As shaken from seeing her leader being literally one-shotted as Samui was, she quickly gathered herself, putting on an emotionless facade as she coolly asked, "Why me?"
Ringo chuckled, "Your level-headedness is admirable." She praised. "To be frank with you, I found your instincts and talent for swordsmanship quite good. I'd like to see to what degree you can develop them under my tutelage."
As someone taught by Rei and Konan, Ringo knew the threshold of how far one could go depended on their teacher unless they were monsters like Ringo's teachers. Sure, Ringo was talented and even if she was self-taught, she would have probably gone quite far. But since she lucked out with her teachers, she reached beyond what she thought possible.
Becoming the Mizukage? She didn't even dare to dream about that when she was a kid. Shooting for a spot in the Seven Swordsmen of Kiri was a long shot for an orphan like her.
And yet... here she was. Even if she wasn't exactly thrilled to get the unwanted position.
Ringo knew Samui could go just as far as her if she was taught by Rei. But Ringo wanted to see how well she could groom that talent of the busty blonde by herself.
Well... okay. She might have been a bit jealous.
Konan had that Uchiha girl, Pakura had Temari, Tsunade had the sadistic snake-lover who cussed like a sailor, and even the childish bother called Mei had Yugito who could be counted as her apprentice!
Ringo was never really interested in passing down her skills to someone. Not before seeing the battle between Karin and Temari, that is.
Karin might not be officially counted as Konan's apprentice but the young Uzumaki was taught by her enough to unofficially count.
And when Ringo saw them fight, she realized... 'There are some serious bragging rights with a strong apprentice!'
Of course, she has to procure her own pupil! If only to shut Mei up if she ever brought the topic up!
"I can not accept, Ameyuri-sama." Samui emotionlessly stated, her eyes resigned. "I am Kumo kunoichi."
Samui was fully prepared to die for those words. In her experience, saying no to someone as powerful as Ringo was never good for your health. In the end, it all came down to personal power and it just so happened that Samui was weaker.
And while becoming Ringo's apprentice would have made her stronger, she still had a brother in Kumo and...
"Damn, Kumo is indeed good at instilling loyalty, ain't it?" Ringo amusedly quipped, causing Samui to blink in surprise that she hadn't killed her yet for daring to refuse her offer. "And here I thought you would have at least pretended to accept only to stab me in the back at the first opportunity." Ringo sighed in mock-disappointment.
"I would do that if there was any chance it could have worked." Samui shared her opinion with blunt and brutal honesty.
"What a pessimistic attitude. You orphan too, eh?" Ringo idly asked, completely disregarding A and Mabui, fully focusing on Samui.
A was too injured to continue the fight and even if the bull-headed man refused to give up, she could simply break his remaining limb. No... for now, Ringo wanted to get to know her future apprentice. Even if the said girl had no idea her refusal was silently denied.
Samui did not answer, she just nodded before continuing to stare at Ringo while inwardly feeling weird. She didn't like the smug look of the crimson-haired woman. It gave her the impression Ringo already counted her as hers.
"I reckon your village also trained orphan girls for the unsavory kind of missions." Ringo gave Samui a knowing once-over, making the blonde woman's eyes slightly shake. "Don't be so surprised." Ringo chuckled, "Your attitude and bearings are practically screaming it. Just look at yourself. Miniskirt, showing off your thighs, big cleavage... I could go on." She shrugged, "I would have to be blind to not notice what your early training entailed."
Samui still stayed silent, not commenting.
Yes, she was trained to be a honey trap. Yes, she still used most of what she learned in that training. It wasn't easy to discard the habits she learned when she was a kid.
"Tell you what... I know how people with your training mentally operate." Ringo said, amusedly smiling at Samui. She knew it was all 'for the village' with kids trained in that kind of environment. After all, the very first thing instilled into these orphans was the will to sacrifice themselves for the village. And that played well in Ringo's ploy.
"You can just take it as doing a service to your village by becoming mine. In exchange, I can promise not to destroy Kumo." Ringo flippantly continued but the aura she gave off was quite menacing.
Well... promising not to destroy Kumo was not the same as promising not to invade it so all was fine. Wording actually mattered. Who would have thought, huh?
At any other moment, Samui would rebuke that was impossible but only a glance at the state of A told her Ringo was fully capable of such a feat. Yet, she still remained silent.
No matter what... she could not accept Ringo's offer without permission from her Kage. Which she knew would not be happening. Her fate was sealed. She hoped Ringo would get annoyed with her silence and kill her on spot. Quickly and painlessly. That seemed like the best outcome for Samui at the moment.
"Still no? Come on!" Ringo's eyebrow twitched and her smile became a bit more forced. "Don't make me kidnap you. You won't like it, girl."
Kapitel 433: Ch433. Negotiation
When Ringo saw that Samui was still not inclined to accept, she groaned in annoyance and stood up.
"Fine!" Ringo gruffly complained. "I'll get you your much-needed permission then."
Ringo naturally knew what was the problem with the girl. She came from a similar environment and for people like them, betraying their leaders was unthinkable. Simply put, the hidden villages were good at washing them... brains.
This wasn't all that bad, however. While Samui saw her stubborn and senseless loyalty as a reason why Ringo would most likely kill her, Ringo saw a massive value in it. All she had to do was to switch whom Samui considers her leader and she would have a loyal minion.
Ringo moved towards A and Mabui, and Samui wanted to intervene but when Ringo noticed, Samui suddenly froze and her eyes widened in fright as a wave of overpoweringly potent killing intent washed over her.
"You stay put!" Ringo pointed at Samui and ordered, giving the blonde a meaningful look.
'What the hell is this!?' Samui mentally freaked out, trying to move her body but it refused to budge no matter how much she mentally pushed.
As much as Samui was resolved to die for her village leader, the killing intent was too strong and took her by complete surprise, freezing even an experienced jonin like her. It evoked the same reaction a prey has when cornered by a predator it can't overcome.
Ringo casually walked towards A and when she was near them, Mabui stood up, placing herself in between A and Ringo with desperate determination shining in her eyes...
"Move." Ringo spoke in irritation, at the useless action.
Mabui was clearly shaking in her boots, deeply afraid and unwilling to even look Ringo in the eyes but Ringo had to admit, the woman really did love A. After all, she refused to step out of Ringo's path.
Unfortunately, this was not some sappy story where love prevails over all other evil beings that definitely do not feel love because that's reserved only for the main hero and heroine.
"I sa-" Ringo started again, this time her tone was pretty forceful, carrying a premonition of what would happen if she was not obeyed.
Her sentence was, however, interrupted by A who was sitting on the floor, leaning against a small part of a half-demolished wall, "Mabui... let her through."
From his tone, it was obvious the man knew the battle was over but his reluctance to just give up was obvious.
'Stubborn beyond reason.' Ringo mentally snorted. 'Let's see how far your stubbornness reaches.'
When Mabui stepped aside, Ringo smirked at the man with three of his limbs broken. Those were visible injuries but Ringo knew how and where she hit him. At the moment, he should have half of his ribs broken in several places and his pelvis cracked alongside with a quite nasty concussion.
It was not enough to kill him but definitely enough to get him out of a fighting condition for a long time.
"You know what I want. We were speaking loudly enough for you to hear and despite my belief in the stupid cliches and my utmost certainty that yes, you are a muscle-headed idiot, you are also the leader of an entire ninja village. I reckon you came to your own conclusions upon listening to my talk with Samui." Ringo boredly said.
"Do you really think I would let you have one of my ninjas?" A spoke in a low voice, his anger and battle intent surging up... yet his body was in no state to fight. In the end, he could only glare at Ringo and act tough, "I might have been defeated but I still have my pride as Raikage!"
The second he finished that sentence, he started coughing blood due to how his body shook from anger. Mabui quickly jumped close to him, concern written all over her face as she gently put her hand glowing with green medical Jutsu on his chest.
"Careful to not pop a vein, Rai-ka-ge." Ringo playfully teased with a smug smile. "You should not be so aggressive with all those broken ribs in your chest."
If the way A took a deep breath with an irritated whine to calm his anger down at that remark was any indication, Ringo's advice was taken to heart. She cheekily smiled with a satisfied nod, causing A to grit his teeth even more, before she put her hands on her hips, her petite form towering over the massive sitting man.
It made her oddly proud. Normally, she wouldn't have reached even up to his chest if they stood side by side.
"As for your pride..." Ringo hummed, "I wonder what is more precious to you. Your pride or that woman's life." She gestured with her chin towards Mabui who froze before pursing her lips and deciding to focus on treating A's injuries, pretending she did not hear a thing.
A scoffed at that, "As if you would let us live." He snarked.
The situation looked pretty hopeless, in his opinion. There was no snowball chance in hell for Samui and Mabui to beat Ringo and he was out of commission. It was game over.
Ringo rolled her eyes at him, "Unlike you, I don't have some profound grudge against you. If I can profit from letting you live, I will do that. It's called being responsible and giving priority to benefits over personal vengeance. You know... the stuff someone in your position should be aware of." She couldn't help but take a jab at him.
After all, the whole reason why Kumo joined in this invasion was that A held a grudge.
"So? Which is it? Samui's ownership... er, I mean your permission for her to become my apprentice." Ringo chuckled, "or Mabui's life? Which girl is more dear to your heart, I wonder?" She teasingly added.
A gritted his teeth and lowered his head before he quietly spoke, "-ui."
"What was that?" Ringo leaned closer, her smile widening, "I didn't hear you well."
"I said... Mabui." A let out through his gritted teeth, his face flushed red from shame.
"Oh? You want me to kill Mabui?" Ringo feigned a gasp as she exclaimed in mock surprise.
A's head snapped up before he hastily shouted, "No!"
"No?" Ringo repeated, tilting her head. "You sure are a confusing man. Thumbs up to the woman who can tolerate you."
Hearing her, A realized she was just having fun at his expense and his silent rage and shame deepened.
Inwardly, he swore he would have his revenge one day if she really let him and Mabui leave alive.
"You really won't attack Kumo if I relinquish her to you?" A doubtfully asked.
With this failure of an invasion, A knew he would have to spend several more years rebuilding Kumo's forces. He also knew how vulnerable his village would have been.
That didn't mean they were weak. Even with this loss, Kumo was still a top powerhouse in the world... or so he thought.
But as powerful as his village was, there were monsters like the Fifth Mizukage who could handle most of Kumo's high-ranking ninjas by herself. A really underestimated her. Now he saw she was on the same level as his late father and only a massive army could wear her down before she could be killed.
Alas, Kumo simply could not afford the kind of losses such a thing would require. Not now.
Having the Mizukage promise not to attack personally was a big boon. A was not afraid of Kirigakure. He believed Kumo could fend off any attack that wasn't led by the monster in front of him.
"And what use would Kumo be to me? I only care about my swords." Ringo deadpanned before shrugging. "I personally won't move a finger for Kumo so do go on. Say the words. We both know what has to be spoken."
A sighed, turning towards Samui who was looking at him in shock... It made him a bit sorry since the girl was one of his brother's students... and with a great distaste, he spoke, "Go with her and serve her well. For Kumo's sake."
He couldn't force himself to put it into a longer sentence. It still felt like a shit to throw the woman in the path of a kunai to save his own hide.
'For Kumo, my ass.' Samui coldly thought but outwardly, she just bowed, "As you wish, A-sama."
She was still somewhat shaken. She would have never imagined being handed to Ringo like this. The A she knew was a prideful man who would rather let her die than hand her ove-
'Ah...' Samui's mind suddenly halted as she came upon a realization that soured her mood. 'So I now have to watch out for Kumo assassins, don't I?'
As a ninja, she was prepared for the unexpected but this turned her whole life upside down. With just that one sentence, whether she accepted or not, changed her allegiance without needing her input on the matter.
"See? That didn't even hurt!" Ringo happily exclaimed while turning towards Samui, "I told you that you will be my apprentice, eh?"
"Yes..." Samui sourly spoke.
"Yes...?" Ringo expectantly trailed off, giving Samui a look.
"Yes... Master." Samui relented with a sigh. 'Might as well just go along with it.'
Just like that, Ringo obtained her first poke-... apprentice. She was already mentally calculating what kind of hellish training she would put the poor Samui through in order for her to catch up to the apprentices of her sister-wives.
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