Phantoms, the Akatsuki Appears

"This mission really is a pain."

Several days later, inside an inn in the Land of Waves, Kitagawa Gen sat at the head of the bed, looking rather worried.

Kakashi had gone to meet the client, so Kitagawa Gen naturally stayed behind.

But looking at that exclusive mission on the panel, he felt a bit of a headache too.

He had accepted the mission. It was impossible not to be curious about the reward for the first exclusive mission he had ever encountered!

It was just that the target of this mission, barring any surprises, was Obito Uchiha.

"Following the normal course, we should run into him, but how many years from now is that?"

He was extremely sensitive to time. After all, a beginner reward had been stuck for thirteen years; no matter how generous the reward was, it still made him a little unable to hold it together.

"Maybe I can think of some other way."

Kitagawa Gen muttered to himself. Right now, his desire for these rewards was far beyond ordinary. Maybe this was the key to developing his bloodline!

Especially since Kakashi, that old best friend, meant Obito Uchiha was practically covered in treasure.

As the number one "Six Paths tailor" in the ninja world, aside from that Sharingan, not a single thing on him belonged to himself.

Even at this stage, there were plenty of good things on him. If Kitagawa Gen could get even one of them, it might accelerate his own development.

"If there were something like an arm, that would be perfect!"

Since there would already be an arm, if he could use him to dig up a grave...

Kitagawa Gen didn't even dare imagine it!

"But things still need to be done step by step. I should go train a bit."

Hurriedly suppressing his thoughts, Kitagawa Gen got up, intending to head out and practice.

Kakashi was still reliable. On the way to the Land of Waves, he had already taught Kitagawa Gen the Chidori technique.

However, he had also kept warning him that this technique required maintaining high-speed movement, and that only when paired with the Sharingan could it better show its effect.

Otherwise, during the charge, it was very possible to create an opening for the enemy and end up hurting himself.

Kitagawa Gen understood all of this, but from the very beginning, he had never intended to use the original Chidori!

His target had always been the Sixth Hokage, who relied on taijutsu to take down fifty jonin, and his trump card—Purple Electricity.

"This place isn't bad."

Walking down the street, Kitagawa Gen looked at the bustling crowd and couldn't help tilting his head.

However, he also knew that this place was one of the best areas in the Land of Waves.

Most of the Land of Waves was still about the same as the village of that bridge-building expert Tazuna in his memories.

As he walked, he suddenly saw an alley filled with red lights, and that immediately made him slow down.

"Is this... Jiraiya's happy place?"

Kitagawa Gen blinked, and his heart suddenly surged a little. He wondered if he should go in and take a look.

Jiraiya was a "negative example" among ninjas. If he wanted to prove Jiraiya was wrong, it seemed he would only be able to make an objective evaluation after experiencing his "happiness."

"With the Transformation Technique, I should be able to sneak in, right?"

Kitagawa Gen rubbed his chin. He was still hesitating over whether to go in with the mindset of a visitor and witness it for himself, but in the next instant, his brows suddenly furrowed.

He sensed two powerful streams of Chakra flickering in and out not far away!

The Otsutsuki bloodline had also granted him a certain degree of perception, which made him even sharper.

Who are they...

Thinking silently to himself, he pretended nothing was wrong and turned around. Then, after a hurried glance, he immediately lowered his head.

Only, his gaze became somewhat strange, because he had seen two guys wearing black cloaks with red clouds!

And at that moment, his system flashed again.

"Hey, assemble already. Why are you ninjas so unreliable?"

The next day, at the gathering area in the Land of Waves.

A group of samurai dressed like farmers frowned as they looked at Kakashi and Kitagawa Gen, who had arrived right on time. The leader said unhappily,

"You're late, and you're so conspicuous. Are you even qualified ninjas? And you cost so much money."

"First of all, we are all qualified ninjas, certified by Konoha."

Their attitude made Kitagawa Gen raise an eyebrow, but Kakashi remained very calm in the face of such provocation. He said indifferently,

"Second, we aren't late. The timing is just right for us to set out directly. Lastly, you didn't pay that much. If you had money, you could hire a better setup."

"You—"

Kakashi's words made all the samurai present especially displeased, but he only smiled and took a book out of his Ninja Tool Pouch.

"All right, everyone. Don't we still have to travel? We can set off now."

"Hmph, we're leaving."

The leading samurai snorted coldly, then still waved his hand and announced their departure.

The others immediately went to lift up a palanquin, and the party officially set out.

"Tch, what a show."

Kitagawa Gen glanced at the palanquin. It was covered tightly, and the noble sitting inside had never shown their face from beginning to end.

"And these guys' attitude really is annoying."

"We're taking money to do a job. Why bother paying that much attention to them?"

Kakashi tilted his head and glanced at those samurai, then lowered his head again and continued reading.

"Besides, didn't you say you ran into two extremely dangerous guys? If we really are that unlucky, then these people can still help us."

After he returned to the inn last night, Kitagawa Gen had told him about the matter in detail.

Even if many things could not be explained too clearly, two extremely dangerous ninjas were still enough to put Kakashi on guard.

"That's true. It's just that relying on them probably won't do much."

Kitagawa Gen nodded, then quickly shook his head again.

"Teacher Kakashi, did you ask the village for reinforcements? Those two guys probably won't be easy for us to deal with."

Although he had only taken a hurried glance through the crowd, there was absolutely no way he could mistake the Akatsuki's clothing.

As for who those two were...

Damn it, no matter who they were, they would be hard to deal with. At least right now, he really felt they would be difficult.

Especially after thinking it over, he seemed to recall something.

"A palanquin, samurai who look like farmers... why does this seem so much like the mission Biwa Juzo took Itachi Uchiha on?"

But if it was those two...

Kitagawa Gen suddenly had an idea, but he couldn't help glancing at Kakashi.

He remembered very well that Itachi Uchiha had once taken Kakashi down in an instant, even if that had been caused by Kakashi's insufficient understanding of the Mangekyō Sharingan.

Wasn't it also that incident that led to Kakashi gaining Kamui three years later?

Thinking of this, Kitagawa Gen's gaze changed a little.

He had to carry this mission through, and he also had a plan!

"Don't worry, nothing will happen."

Seeing Kitagawa Gen fall silent, Kakashi's exposed eye curved into a crescent.

"I'll protect you. But speaking of which, how is your mastery of Lightning Release coming along?"

"Not bad."

After figuring things out, Kitagawa Gen's face also gained a smile.

"But I've also run into some problems. After all, I can't use it the way Teacher Kakashi does, so I plan to put more effort into shape transformation and nature transformation."

The two of them walked at the very back, talking as they went.

With Kakashi's Lightning Release knowledge, and the Otsutsuki bloodline as well, Kitagawa Gen already had a clear understanding of "Purple Electricity."

In his view, "Purple Electricity" was similar to Kumogakure's "Black Lightning." Both were products of pushing shape transformation and nature transformation to the extreme within a single Release technique!

In truth, Sasuke's "Chidori Sharp Spear" could also be considered an attempt at shape transformation. It was just that Sasuke, who had the Sharingan, did not need to walk too far down that road.

Kakashi, however, had lost the Sharingan, and therefore put in great effort.

His future use of this technique also explained Kitagawa Gen's guess very well.

What he needed to do now was make Kakashi understand his train of thought. Whether Kakashi could help or not didn't matter; at least he needed to know how this technique came about.

"The idea is very good, but the difficulty is very high."

Kakashi rubbed his chin and gave his opinion.

"It's said that even the Third Raikage only created a prototype. If you really complete it, you'll be breaking new ground."

"I already have some ideas."

Kitagawa Gen smiled, but as soon as he finished speaking, his brows suddenly furrowed.

Not only him, Kakashi also raised his head and looked ahead.

At that moment, not far from them, two men wearing black cloaks with red clouds had already come into view!

"Oh, there are two Konoha ninjas too?"

"Senior Kakashi, long time no see."