No Emotion

The sky was pitch black, with the moon hanging quietly and casting a soft glow that provided the only light in the darkness.

"..." Sasuke looked at the surrounding mess, his gaze lingering for a moment on the destroyed tent. The ground was pitted and cratered, looking like a disaster zone ravaged by Explosive Tags.

The local animals and insects had long since fled due to the earlier battle; the silence was so profound that Sasuke could hear his own heartbeat. In a few hours, dawn would break, and this location was still quite a distance from Konoha.

Sasuke inexplicably felt like a child abandoned by his parents, though he had no evidence to support the thought. At this realization, his shoulders shuddered, and he felt a sudden chill.

After hiding his forehead protector, Uzumaki Reikawa tried his best to lead the pursuers further away from Sasuke. Since White Zetsu were following him, he couldn't let the Sasuke of this era be targeted.

If it weren't for the fact that using Instantaneous Shift was easy to expose, Uzumaki Reikawa could have run even further. Just as he felt he had gone far enough, several Kunai suddenly embedded themselves in the ground before him, and two figures appeared: one wearing a white mask and the other an orange swirl mask.

Upon seeing Uzumaki Reikawa, Obito initially mistook him for Nagato. Fortunately, thanks to the mental preparation provided by White Zetsu, he maintained his Tobi persona, giggling as he said to "Uchiha Gen," "Na-na, intern newbie, see that red-haired guy? Do you want to try and see if you can recruit him?"

"..." "Uchiha Gen" felt extremely complicated; having a clone cause trouble for another clone was truly speechless.

Just then, Uzumaki Reikawa's chakra was nearly exhausted, and he dissipated into a poof right before their eyes.

Although he knew the reason, "Uchiha Gen" looked at Obito with a mocking gaze and shrugged: "Intern senior, it seems the White Zetsu followed the wrong person."

Back at the main body, standing in place and receiving the information from that period, he felt a wave of emotion as he saw that the skin for Uzumaki Reikawa was available for use again. Without using special methods, making money was truly difficult.

Just a moment ago, Uchiha Gen had visited the casinos in the Land of Earth using the same method he had employed in the Land of Fire. However, in just half a day, before he could even earn 3 million ryo, the major casinos seemed to have a chain reaction and refused entry to any unfamiliar faces.

Seeing them act this way, Uchiha Gen gave up on the idea. The poorer the place, the stingier they were. Now that things had reached this point, thinking about the remaining 32 million-plus ryo made it feel like a truly distant number.

After obtaining the signatures of Tsunade and Itachi, the system rewarded Uchiha Gen with two experience cards. Surprisingly, perhaps because there were two cards, Uchiha Gen could choose whether the other one would restore his sense of smell, touch, or pain—though he could also continue to choose taste.

Uchiha Gen chose touch. Combined with the Uzumaki Reikawa skin, one could say that Uchiha Gen was now indistinguishable from a living person as long as he wasn't injured, though the time limit was only one day.

However, this also led to a strange sight on the street: Uchiha Gen wanted to touch everything he saw. As for that large pile of excrement... well, he skipped that.

"Hmm..." Just as Uchiha Gen appeared distracted and was about to walk past the pile, he noticed no one was around. He suddenly stepped back, quickly pulled out an Explosive Tag, and flicked it onto the pile. After adjusting it, the power of this tag wouldn't be enough to hurt anyone.

After throwing the tag, Uchiha Gen felt a surge of excitement. However, just as the tag exploded, to his surprise, a passerby suddenly stepped out of their house and walked right past that spot...

For a moment, the roar of the passerby and the sight of them covered in... the scene was too beautiful. Uchiha Gen glanced over, wanting to hold back his laughter but failing. He snuck away quickly, only able to silently pray: My apologies.

After much thought, Uchiha Gen decided that the best place to make full use of these two experience cards was undoubtedly a hot spring. Since he lacked a sense of smell, Uchiha Gen didn't know if he stank, but he looked clean enough, and he could use a wash anyway.

Due to geographical reasons, the hot spring Uchiha Gen chose was man-made, but that wasn't a big issue. With a private room and a generous tip, the boss happily sent a waiter to buy food.

Feeling the clear water flow across his fingertips, the sensation of being alive... Uchiha Gen's eyes flickered under the lamplight, and the hostility in him dissipated significantly. Recalling what his clones and he himself had done these past few days, Uchiha Gen realized his reverence for life seemed to be growing weaker.

Even things he had previously felt repulsed by didn't seem like much now. That's right, Uchiha Gen had already decided to go to the Bounty Exchange and target those with notorious records; after all, if Uzumaki Reikawa didn't return, he would be branded a rogue ninja.

Although there were few "clean" people listed at the Bounty Exchange, if one picked and chose carefully, there would be some targets.

Because he was a big spender, a while later, a beautiful black-haired woman came in to deliver his meal. She wore only enough clothing to cover the essentials, her skin was as fair as milk, and her full red lips were naturally parted. She picked up a strawberry, slowly moved it past her chest, and leaned forward, gesturing to feed it to Uchiha Gen. The atmosphere was ambiguous, and combined with the rising mist, it was enough to tempt one's desires.

"..."

Uchiha Gen remained expressionless. It was beautiful, and the atmosphere was well-set, but those were the only words he could use to describe the woman's performance. As for any other emotions, he felt absolutely none... even though he wasn't a casual person...

Despite all the hints, Uchiha Gen's eyes remained clear. He looked at the beauty with a gaze of pure appreciation and acted as a heartless eating machine. This left the woman feeling frustrated—had her charm faded?

After Uchiha Gen left, the boss was surprised to see the woman's clothes still intact: "Tomomi, you actually failed?"

Tomomi looked frustrated. Although Uchiha Gen was quite handsome and her type, the thought of him looking at her as if she were a painting, remaining a heartless eating machine despite her best efforts, made her stomp her feet in annoyance: "...That guy is just not working!" With that, she returned to her room to sulk.

After leaving the comfort of the hot spring, Uchiha Gen put his mask back on and activated his Sharingan to observe the situation of the people around him. He easily discovered the location of the underground Bounty Exchange.

Upon entering the Bounty Exchange, the atmosphere immediately turned murderous. Everyone around wore an expression that said, "I'm not to be trifled with, stay away."

Arriving at the mission reception area, the first thing he saw on the upper row was a bounty for Asuma: "..."

A bit further down was a bounty issued by Iwagakure for one of their own jonin who, not wanting to go to the battlefield, had killed his comrades and fled. Just as Uchiha Gen was considering whether to take this mission...

He suddenly saw a ninja with green eyes, his face half-covered, carrying several heads over to turn in a mission.