Just a Thieving Thief

Josuke kept smiling and handed the young monk a few bills. When it came to social graces, Josuke was first-rate.

The young monk's eyes lit up at the sight of the money. There was no shame in making money.

How much could being some lousy young monk possibly pay?

This was much more practical. So he asked ingratiatingly,

"Benefactor, what would you like me to do?"

Josuke sneered. I still prefer that rebellious look of his. Heh.

Ahem.

Getting down to business, Josuke spoke in a gentle manner.

"Could you please call Benefactor Kū out from inside? Tell him someone is here to see him."

The young monk nodded and pressed his palms together devoutly. "Amitabha. Benefactor, please wait a moment."

Before long, Kū arrived at the scene.

Josuke narrowed his eyes. So this is Kū? The one who stole the Nine-Tails' chakra. He possesses the Nine-Tails' chakra, a thief... though he wasn't the one who stole it.

Those things aren't yours. I'll take them back for you!

Josuke did not waste words and directly used a sealing technique, sending it toward Kū (I am Ying). As for what sealing technique it was, who knew? It could extract tailed beast chakra, and it was recorded in the sealing techniques.

Oh, right.

Although the theft of the sealing techniques had been overshadowed by the Third Hokage's death, Tsunade had not stopped investigating after taking over as Hokage. Yet she had failed to uncover the slightest clue.

So the blame had been pinned on Orochimaru. Damn, that was actually spot-on. One guess, and they got it right.

Back to Kū. Caught by iron chains, Kū sensed Josuke's hostile intent. He was undoubtedly someone who had come to take his life.

So he held nothing back and unleashed his trump card.

He directly activated his strongest Nine-Tails tailed beast transformation—the Nine-Tails tailed beast cloak form!

Josuke smiled. Was that all?

Too weak. Josuke shook his head and intensified the sealing technique in his hand. Activating the second stage of his cursed seal, he directly pinned Kū to the wall.

Kū grunted in pain. His tails transformed into fists and slammed into Josuke's armor. Kū sneered inwardly. His fists had always been unstoppable. Anyone who sought to obtain this power had been reduced to dust beneath them.

But to his utter surprise, nothing happened to the fist he had been so proud of. At that moment, the tailed beast's transformed fist was like one that had struck an iron plate.

It shattered apart.

Seizing the opening, Josuke used Wood Release on Kū!!

Wood Prison Technique!

It directly restrained Kū's three tails and all four limbs. Josuke only had one thing to say about it: he really was too weak, not even one-tenth as strong as Naruto. Or perhaps Josuke himself was simply too strong.

Josuke thought to himself.

With that, he sped up the process in his hands. The sealing technique activated in an orderly fashion, and a mosquito-bite amount of Nine-Tails chakra entered Josuke's body.

There was none of the enormous, evil chakra he had imagined. On the contrary, the absorption process was exceptionally easy, practically effortless.

That's it?

Josuke was thoroughly disdainful of this power.

The chakra reserves were far too low, only around the level of a jonin. No wonder he could only appear in the early stages.

Kū still showed signs of life even now. He had not died at all and was doing just fine.

That was most likely because the amount of chakra was too small, but it should be enough, Josuke thought.

He then left the place and continued onward along the nearby road.

...(Should Asuma live or not? Let him live... I'll just make up a method.)

After leaving the Fire Temple, Josuke finally arrived at the place where Kakuzu and Hidan had fought Asuma.

The battle had long since ended. Asuma's heart had been pierced, and his life was already in critical condition. The only reason he could still speak was because he was holding on with his final breath.

Shikamaru, Choji, and Ino had already cried themselves into a mess.

Asuma's eyes gradually became hollow and unfocused.

"Ino, even though you're strong-willed, you're very good at taking care of others. I'm leaving those two clumsy fools, Shikamaru and Choji, to you..."

Ino forced back her tears. This was the only time since Josuke that she had cried like this.

"Mm..."

"Oh, and one more thing... don't lose to Sakura... whether in ninjutsu... or love."

Asuma had no strength left. He thought it was probably time for him to go see his father.

At the end of his life, dying beside his students did not seem so bad.

Asuma closed his eyes.

Josuke arrived at the scene at that moment. What he had brought for Asuma was a newly developed treatment serum from Orochimaru.

"Move aside!"

Shikamaru and the others were still immersed in grief when the sudden voice interrupted them.

Before the three could agree, Josuke forced Orochimaru's treatment serum into Asuma's mouth. Not long ago, Josuke had also become one of Orochimaru's subordinates.

So he had voluntarily offered to help Orochimaru with something.

Orochimaru was not picky and told Josuke to do whatever he wanted. So Josuke set his sights on the treatment serum Orochimaru had been researching. This serum differed from ordinary medicines.

This serum only worked in near-death situations. It could keep someone hanging onto their last breath and prevent them from dying until rescue medics arrived. It sounded exceptionally miraculous, but it had never undergone any human testing.

Therefore, even Orochimaru did not know how effective it was, or whether it had any side effects or negative consequences.

This time, Josuke used Asuma as the lab rat. Asuma was going to die anyway, so he would see if he could save him.

That was how the earlier scene came about.

The serum was easily fed into Asuma's mouth. Whether it would work or not was up to his fate. Good luck, Asuma.

Josuke then intended to get up and leave.

However, Shikamaru called out to him.

"Hey, what exactly are you after? Even if Asuma-sensei is going to die, do you still have to torture him like this?"

Thinking of the grief from earlier, Shikamaru could not help cursing himself. It was all because of his mistake that Josuke had found an opening.

He immediately used the Shadow Imitation Technique to restrain Josuke.

By all accounts, this was their first clash.

"What am I after? I only wanted to treat Asuma. Don't you believe me?"

Josuke said.

Shikamaru would not believe Josuke's explanation. Instead, he told Choji to take out a kunai and prepare to attack Josuke.

"I'm telling the truth. I really came to treat Asuma. He still has one breath left in him. I advise you to hurry and get him medical treatment, or it'll be too late."

Shikamaru did not believe any of it. Just as he was about to make a move, Ino grabbed him from behind.

"Shikamaru, stop!! He's right, Asuma-sensei really seems to still have one breath left!"

Shikamaru and Choji were stunned. Shikamaru quickly told Choji to stay alert while he cautiously checked Asuma's breathing. Sure enough, he still had that final breath.

Without time to worry about anything else, Shikamaru hurriedly told Choji to use the Multi-Size Technique, grow larger, and carry Asuma away. He and Ino followed behind, but Ino suddenly said she wanted to stay behind.

The situation was urgent, so Shikamaru and Choji did not say anything...