The paper trembled slightly in Ōnoki's fingers—but not from fear.

No, the Third Tsuchikage was furious. His aged face, normally composed after centuries of warfare and diplomacy, was pulled tight with frustration.

Before him, on a stone desk, lay the parchment from Aizen Sōsuke—with ink far too neat, tone far too smug.

"Your beasts are alive. For now.

Kumo offered fifty billion.

I like your country more. Tradition. Honor.

So here's my offer:

Transfer half of the price by week's end.

I give you the Four-Tails.

One week later, transfer the rest.

You get the Five-Tails.

Any tricks, any ANBU presence within ten miles of the trade zones—

And Kumo gets them both.

Or I keep them.

OR did I forget to add, you... must be willing to pay more than Kumo for them.

Your move.

—Aizen Sōsuke"

Ōnoki crumpled the scroll with a stone-hard fist.

"He's mocking us."

A younger Iwa jōnin at his side tried to speak, but Ōnoki raised a hand, commanding silence.

"This man has already crippled two of our greatest assets... but... he's greedy. Greedy men are predictable."

His mind worked like gears turning in a siege engine.

Two Jinchūriki.

Aizen wanted full price.

No hostages to negotiate with.

No battlefield to reclaim.

Just money... and humiliation.

He paced.

"We'll pay. Half now. Half later. But the moment we retrieve the Five-Tails, I'll obliterate him."

The young shinobi's eyes widened. "Tsuchikage-sama, he may have clones—"

"Of course he has clones. Everyone has clones." Ōnoki snorted. "But clones don't dodge Particle Style."

He moved to the map table, marking the delivery zones with expert precision.

"I'll fire it the second the Five-Tails changes hands. It'll erase him and the mountain behind him."

A long pause.

"If he lives, then he was never there."

One Week Later – Ashen Ravine

A thin mist hung low over the scorched valley where the Four-Tails was to be delivered. The chakra orb—shimmering red-orange—was sealed inside a stasis scroll, placed on an obsidian pedestal.

Seated on a nearby rock, sipping tea with unnerving calm, was Aizen Sōsuke.

He didn't greet the Iwa shinobi. Just gestured to the pedestal.

"Count your tailed beast."

They did.

The chakra signature was authentic.

The beast pulsed with life.

The first half of the deal was complete.

Aizen simply sipped his drink. He watched as the 40 billion entered his checking account. Yes, 40 billion... that was the first payment.

As to how he got it that high... when he was negotiating with Iwa and "Kumo," Kumo had raised their price to 70 billion—alongside handing over the Lightning Cloak jutsu and Storm Release—and Iwa, not trying to lose their bijū, raised it to 80 billion. Alongside some high-rank jutsu.

So yes... he was crippling Iwa's economy.

How fun.

He quite liked this, actually.

Now for the second part. If he knew Ōnoki well, the old man would try and use Particle Release to erase him from existence.

Hm. How predictable.

One Week Later – Trade #2

The Five-Tails' chakra orb hovered silently, pure white and steaming gently, like a bottled storm. It floated toward Iwa's sealing squad, who immediately activated a containment ritual—the entire group shivering from the residual energy.

Ōnoki descended slowly from his platform, flanked by high-ranking Iwa jōnin. Despite the presence of the seal team, the Tsuchikage kept his gaze on the man in front of him.

Aizen Sōsuke stood like he had all the time in the world.

No tension in his shoulders. No sweat on his brow. He looked like someone welcoming pressure.

Ōnoki spoke with cold restraint.

"How did you manage to suppress our bijū so easily?"

Aizen didn't respond immediately. He simply lifted his palm—and on it shimmered a seal. It pulsed faintly with red and gold lines, intricate and alive.

"This... covers about a mile in every direction. No bijū chakra can be accessed within the field. Think of it as... a spiritual lockdown."

He sipped from a small cup of steaming tea, as if this were some garden party and not an economic hostage negotiation.

"My father taught it to me. I'd have improved it further—made it radius-based instead of location-anchored—but unfortunately..."

He gave a thin, mirthless smile.

"...some people decided my clan didn't need to exist anymore."

The jab landed like a knife dipped in history.

Ōnoki's expression didn't change.

"So this was the goal all along. Not the Tailed Beasts. Not the bounty. It was crippling our economy."

Aizen's eyes glinted behind his glasses. He didn't answer.

Instead, he raised two fingers.

A parchment floated down to Ōnoki, held aloft by chakra.

It was a ledger. A single request, hand-written in a precise, noble calligraphy:

"Uzumaki Sealing Archives: Volumes I through V."

Underneath: "In return, 20 billion yen will be deposited into Iwagakure's central treasury."

Ōnoki didn't even glance at it.

"You're doing all this... over a few dusty scrolls?"

Aizen still didn't respond directly. He didn't need to.

Instead, he clasped his hands behind his back and said softly:

"I am Uzumaki royalty. These are not scrolls. They are my birthright."

His tone was controlled, but it carried weight—like a man repeating a truth the world had tried to bury.

Ōnoki narrowed his eyes.

"Royalty? Of a clan that no longer has a throne? How is that any different from being a glorified peasant?"

The smirk on Aizen's face faded.

He stepped forward, each word cool as snow.

"Perhaps. But neither is worse... than being remembered as the Kage who led his nation into recession—over pride."

That one cut.

Ōnoki's back straightened.

"Watch your tone, boy."

Aizen held up the scroll again.

"I think you already are. Watching. Listening. Weighing. Because deep down, you already know what comes next."

He began to pace—slow and deliberate.

"You pay the full price? You go into debt. You don't pay it? Kumo gets stronger. If Kumo gets stronger, the other villages panic. War begins. And Iwa is the first target, because you have no Beasts left and everyone knows it."

He turned to face the Tsuchikage.

"But... if you accept this deal... you get your funds, your prestige, and your deterrent. The beasts are back where they belong. And all I take... is what you should never have had."

He gave a slow, polite bow.

"Seems equitable, doesn't it?"

Ōnoki clenched his cane.

"You're playing a dangerous game."

Aizen didn't disagree.

He just sipped again and said:

"You know how this works. Sometimes, a king sacrifices the knight to distract the board. I've simply... learned to play both sides of the board."

Silence.

The Iwa seal team was almost done.

The jōnin were waiting.

And Ōnoki knew: his treasury couldn't take another full loss. He needed those funds.

Even if it meant giving up a few old scrolls from a dead clan.

"We'll have the archives delivered," Ōnoki finally muttered. "But know this—this debt? It won't last forever."

Aizen didn't reply immediately. Then—

"Hm, is the Tsuchikage threatening his benefactor, how rude of you" he mocked

He turned.

"But for now, Tsuchikage-sama... we're square."

"Dust Release...." Before the Tsuchikage could release the attack, he realised something, his dust release wasn't even working.

Seijuro simply just smile.

"I am a seal master, do you really believe I would come here, without a counter to your dust release....inside this room, old man, your dust release is useless, It need earth, wind, and fire to be made.....I simply had a seal that blocked the earth and wind chakra from even forming...."

The man watched as only small flames could be seen.

Fuck.

"And there is a second seal which will throw the attack back at you if you try it again, lord Tsuchikage" He would say in a mockingly sweet voice.

"Come on, do it, Onoki san....see what happen to your village...."

Onoki eyes widen at that, wait, he didn't mean that....

Hidden Stone – Tsuchikage Office, 3 Days Later

"I WILL ERASE HIM!!"

Ōnoki's voice shook the entire building.

"FIND THAT BASTARD!!" he roared, launching the crushed scroll across the chamber. "FIND AIZEN SŌSUK—!!"

There was indeed a spot in the village which seem to have been erased from existence....he could not contain his rage, the fuck you mean, the more he use it, the more of his village he destroy.

He stopped.

Because somewhere, far away...

...someone was laughing.

Seijuro, hidden in a tea house in the Land of Rain, chuckled as he poured another cup.

"Let the world burn a little slower," he murmured, rolling the bounty payment scroll between his fingers. "I'm just getting started."

A/N Shit...his inner Aizen is showing, also subtle Kyoka suigetsu were being used to help him, so as for this instant. Iwa own him, did he use Iwa own money in order to do this...yes, does he feel guilt about it.

Fuck no.