Marvel: Trading with Worlds

Sarutobi Tribal Land

"Minato, what took so long? What happened?"

Nara Shikaku and his team had been waiting for a long time for Namikaze Minato, but they suddenly noticed that Minato, who was always cheerful and sunny, seemed incredibly disappointed today, as if he had suffered a great blow and lost all his energy.

Jiraiya, worried, asked, "Minato, what's wrong with you? We separated for a while—why have you become like this?"

In his mind, Namikaze Minato was a tenacious character with outstanding strength, almost the most perfect ninja. 

Nothing could usually bring him down. But now, he appeared crushed, as if his will had been shattered.

"Senior Shikaku, what's the real situation with the ballots?" Minato suddenly raised his head and looked at Nara Shikaku, his eyes filled with unwillingness.

"I miscalculated, Minato. It was my fault."

Seeing Minato's expression, he had already guessed that Minato might know about the Fourth Hokage election results, so he couldn't help but apologize.

"They might have noticed our private actions, and they made countermeasures. I thought this was Minato's last chance to make a comeback, but..."

"It's not your fault, Senior Shikaku..." Minato smiled weakly in response, even speaking in a faint voice, "It's because I didn't do enough. It has nothing to do with you."

After hearing the conversation between the two, Jiraiya was still confused. He only knew that Minato's vote count was low, but he thought that was a normal occurrence.

To be honest, even if he himself had participated in the Fourth Hokage race, he wouldn't have been able to outmatch Tsunade and Orochimaru's network, not to mention that Minato had received more than 40 votes.

"Master Jiraiya, the only ones who voted for Minato were the ninjas of Ino-Shika-Chō and the Sarutobi clan, you, and the Daimyo of the Fire Nation. The rest of the Jōnin didn't support Minato—they all voted for Orochimaru."

Nara Shikaku hesitated for a moment but then told Jiraiya the harsh truth: The greatest hero of the Battle of Kannabi Bridge, the Yellow Flash of the battlefield, had, when it came time to run for Hokage, received no support except from the ninjas who had invested in him beforehand.

Minato always paid attention to his relationships with his fellow villagers, but this was precisely why this blow hit him so hard.

"What!? No one voted for Minato? What's going on, Shikaku?" Jiraiya asked, incredulously. Minato had earned more than 40 votes—apart from them, there should have been at least 30 others who voted for him. 

How could no one vote?

After hearing Nara Shikaku's explanation, Jiraiya became furious. "What do these bastards think about electing Hokage? And that Kain, who actually used money to buy Jōnin in the village—they agreed to that?"

Akamichi Choza tried to comfort Minato. "More than half of Minato's votes were cast by the other party. It seems like they want to undermine your confidence. Minato, they're afraid of you."

"No, this is a trick. The other side won't be afraid of me at all," Minato thought to himself, closing his eyes. 

He saw many reactions from Kain, but the one thing that was missing was fear. His Yellow Flash—once something that made enemies tremble—didn't seem to faze the opponent at all.

Just like what Kain said, why would a ninja with no status or power attack the Lord of the Fire Nation?

As long as Namikaze Minato dares to act, he will be branded a rebellious ninja, and all ties with Konoha will be severed. 

After Kain finished speaking, Minato realized that he didn't even have the courage to resist.

While Namikaze Minato was lost in his sorrow, Jiraiya was thinking about Kain.

Fifteen million ryo per person. Even if it's an S-level mission, you still have to complete fifteen.

This is without the village's commission.

If you complete an S-level mission from the village in exchange for rewards, a single person will have to take on three tasks.

More than ten S-level missions, considering team shares and other expenses, and a Jōnin might not be able to save that much money in five or six years.

One hundred people means 1.5 billion, two hundred people means 3 billion!

What others see is Kain's wealth and generosity, but what Jiraiya sees is danger. This guy is a serious threat. He is disrupting the ninja system. Prophecy?

Jiraiya suddenly thought of the prophecy and subconsciously began to associate Kain with the prophecy of the Great Toad Sage. 

The more he thought about it, the more he felt Kain matched the prophecy's description of someone who didn't belong to the ninja world. It was too similar.

"Minato, cheer up. If you give up after one failure, you'll let us down too much."

Sarutobi Hiruzen's voice was deep. "Now we must prepare. Before the Hokage succession ceremony, Orochimaru hasn't exercised Hokage's power on a large scale yet, so we need to act."

"Yes, I understand, Lord Hokage."

Hearing this, Namikaze Minato forced himself to lift his spirits and respond, but only he knew what was truly going on inside his heart.

"Orochimaru has changed."

After everyone looked at him, Sarutobi Hiruzen fell silent for a while before speaking. "He's no longer the student I could read. Lurking, waiting, and striking with a fatal blow at the most critical moment. Once he becomes Hokage, the ninjas from our four clans will definitely be targeted. Before Orochimaru becomes Hokage, we must make our move."

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