The next day.
After his usual routine of teasing Hinata, Naruto stepped out and went straight to the Land of Earth. Kurotsuchi sensed his presence immediately and gritted her teeth in frustration.
But she was bound by the contract of Jashin's Follower, so she couldn't do anything that will harm Naruto. Under Naruto's deliberate nudging, she had no choice but to meet him in some secluded place.
"Huh? What's with that look?" He looked up and down at Kurotsuchi, and said in surprise, "Why do you look like you want to eat me? It's not like I did anything to you."
"You lied to me!" Kurotsuchi gritted her teeth, "You tricked me into signing that damn contract! What the hell did you do to me?"
"Nothing much. Relax." Naruto waved his hand dismissively and smiled, "What's done is done. What are you going to do about it?"
"Call for help? You can shout, but no one will come to save you even if you shout your throat out."
When Kurotsuchi looked at Naruto's eerily pleasant grin, she suddenly shuddered all over. She realized he was right, and she was completely at his mercy.
Bound by the Jashin's Follower's contract, she couldn't expose Naruto's existence or leak any information. Her brain wouldn't even let her have the thought of resistance.
"You're the worst, Uzumaki Naruto! I never thought you'd be this kind of person!" Kurotsuchi's eyes reddened with fury, her teeth nearly grinding to dust.
"Hey! I am this kind of person." He chuckled, "Stop struggling. I'm sure you've already tried… it's pointless."
"You…!"
"Stop with the 'you' talk. I came to you for serious business this time." Naruto dropped his smile and looked down at her, "As long as you obey, the contract is as good as non-existent."
"As long as you complete what I ask, I won't make things difficult for you. You can do whatever you want normally. But if you insist on being stubborn, then I'll have to resort to other methods… and in the end, you'll still have to do it."
"At that point, forget about me being nice to you. That contract will be no different from a slave contract. You definitely won't be able to stand it, so it's best not to make things unpleasant for both of us."
When it came to threats, Naruto was already well-practiced. It's not the first time he threatened someone, as he was even more ruthless when he threatened the Kumogakure's people.
"What do you want to do?"
Kurotsuchi suppressed the anger in her heart, forcing herself to listen to what this scoundrel had to say. If it involved people she cared about or the interests of her village, she'd rather die than agree.
"That can wait. Let's sit down first." Naruto's tone softened slightly as he glanced at Kurotsuchi's long legs, "It's almost winter, aren't you wearing thermal pants?"
"What?"
"Never mind, you wouldn't understand anyway." He muttered under his breath.
Kurotsuchi didn't pay much attention to that. What concerned her was what outrageous demand Naruto would make next. Either he'd ask her to do something humiliating, or he was targeting the village.
Just as her mind raced with possibilities, Naruto suddenly spoke up.
"Do you have a dream?"
"…Huh????" Kurotsuchi was utterly bewildered. She had imagined many possibilities, and even if Naruto had lewdly ordered her to take off her clothes, she wouldn't have been surprised.
'…Dreams? What kind of bizarre twist was this?'
For a moment, Kurotsuchi was at a loss for how to respond, 'Do you have a dream? Is this some kind of codeword, or contain hidden meaning?'
"I don't understand what you're saying." She even took a step back.
"Fine, let me rephrase. What do you think of Iwagakure?" Naruto facepalmed before asking with a serious expression.
"The village… is fine." Kurotsuchi looked at him warily. Her posture was proper, but her eyes still held the naive clarity of someone who hadn't been hardened by the world.
"Fine? Not at all!!" Naruto suddenly raised his voice, startling the already tense Kurotsuchi.
"W-what?"
"That's not the point. Even an outsider like me knows Iwagakure is suffering from a lack of talent. And you're saying your village is fine?" He smirked disdainfully.
"What does that have to do with you?!" Kurotsuchi's expression darkened.
"It's indeed none of my business, but your grandfather, Onoki, is already very old. How many more years can he hold on?" Naruto said, "The Tsuchikage's position will be yours sooner or later. Don't you want to think about the village's future?"
"Even if that's true, it's none of your business." Kurotsuchi remained stubborn.
Naruto wasn't bothered. A greenhorn like her was no match for his verbal prowess. She was strong on the outside but weak on the inside.
Naruto knew she would beg for mercy if he said a few more words.
"Is that so?" He continued, "Revitalizing the village is something Onoki will never achieve in his lifetime. Don't you want to accomplish it and make him proud?"
"…That's…" Kurotsuchi fell silent. Despite her complaints about the old man, he was still her grandfather after all.
Onoki was undoubtedly strong, as he can protect the interests of the village with his own strength. But even the strongest couldn't defy time, and the old man's health was already declining.
'What this bastard said made some sense. The old man also said that the position of Tsuchikage would be passed on to me.' Kurotsuchi pursed her lips, but was still unwilling to back down in front of Naruto.
"What are you really trying to say? Village matters aren't for an outsider to meddle in."
'Tch…' Naruto secretly took a breath of cold air, and there was a trace of anger in his heart, 'Why is this girl so hot-tempered? Does she need to be disciplined?'
But he was here for business, so he could only suppress his anger and speak in a calm tone.
"Listen, don't test my patience unless you want me to beat you until you cry. I'm not here to argue with you, but to give you a chance, a chance for Iwagakure to turn things around."
"An opportunity? What kind?" Kurotsuchi's voice lowered slightly, intimidated by Naruto's threat.
Regardless of anything else, she believed this scoundrel would actually hit her, and more importantly, she knew she couldn't win. The thought of being overpowered was humiliating.
"Iwagakure has been developing for so many years, and it's understandable that it has been thinking about preparing for war all day long. After all, the Shinobi World is not peaceful." Naruto said slowly.
"But wasting all your energy on that kind of thing is a dead end. I can make Kumogakure and Sunagakure stand down. How about cooperating to develop technology together?"
"Wait, what did you say?" Kurotsuchi frowned and looked at Naruto, "What kind of joke is that? Our village doesn't need technology, and we'd never cooperate with enemies."
"Oh really?" Naruto finally couldn't hold back his anger anymore and stood up, "You'd rather have the hard way, huh? I already told you… this isn't a request."
"Besides, are you deaf? I can get Kumogakure and Sunagakure to work together. So asking them to deal with other village won't be a problem either."
He took a deep breath, his expression turning cold.
"So you want a fight, is that it? Do you really think that old fossil Onoki can hold out forever? Believe me, the next time you want to see him, you'll be staring at the stars in the sky!"
Kurotsuchi froze, her mind reeling from the threat.