True to His Feelings, Enraptured

Riu stopped outside a restroom on the outskirts of the Land of Fire.

Don't get the wrong idea. With Hashirama Cells, Riu did not need to eat, and naturally had no need to use the restroom either. He had come because the nearest Bounty Exchange was located inside this restroom.

"Wait here," Riu told Yūhi Uzuki behind him, then dragged Hokai's corpse into the restroom.

Whoosh! The moment he entered, Tobi detached himself from Riu's body.

"What is it?" Riu asked.

"It's rare to visit a human restroom. I want to study the urge to poop..." Tobi remained as obsessed with bowel movements as ever.

"Don't get shit on yourself..." Everyone had their own ambitions, and Riu could not be bothered to manage this guy. After giving him that warning, he walked to the wall and gave it a light push. Bang! A hidden door dropped open, and Riu stepped through it.

The dimly lit Bounty Exchange contained a row of refrigerated cabinets for storing corpses.

Bang! Riu casually threw Hokai's corpse onto the floor and said coldly, "Pay up!"

The person in charge of the Bounty Exchange was a bearded man. Leaning against a desk with a cigarette between his lips, he examined the corpse on the floor.

Hokai's face had already been restored by Zetsu enough to remain identifiable... But this was the first time the bearded man had seen a corpse damaged to such an extent. He could not help looking up, scrutinizing the young man before him with deep unease.

The boy's age was seriously at odds with the prey he had brought in.

But judging people by appearances was an exceedingly foolish thing to do in the ninja world. Especially during wartime, there was no shortage of ninjas who possessed extraordinary strength at a young age. The boy before him was likely one of them...

The bearded man set down his cigarette, stepped forward, placed Hokai's corpse into a cabinet, then checked the bounty register. He marked a red X over Hokai's page, took a cash box from the safe, and placed it before Riu.

The black market had its rules. Neither side asked unnecessary questions. One handed over the body, and the other collected the money.

Unlike Kakuzu, Riu did not bother counting the money. He picked up the cash box and turned to leave.

"You're here for the first time, right? Aren't you going to count it?" After the transaction was complete, the bearded man lit another cigarette and could not resist asking Riu's retreating back.

Riu stopped but did not turn around. "No need."

The bearded man wore a meaningful expression. "In times like these, trusting people so easily is not a good thing. Aren't you afraid I might shortchange you, or that the money might be fake?"

Riu turned around and said impassively, "Wouldn't that be even better? Then I'd have a reason to kill all of you and take all your money for myself..."

Those casually spoken words contained the confidence of absolute strength!

The cigarette at the bearded man's lips froze. Even a man like him, who dealt with corpses year-round, felt a chill run down his spine. He means it...

Steadying himself, the bearded man hurriedly said, "You must be joking, little brother. Our organization only earns money from the dead; we never cheat the living. We look forward to working with you again."

Riu withdrew his gaze and headed outside.

He certainly would not be returning anytime soon, because he did not have much need for money.

When he left the Bounty Exchange, the sight before him left Riu speechless. Tobi was squatting in front of a latrine, poking at a long-dried lump of shit with a wooden stick.

"Can you stop using Wood Release for this kind of hobby..." Riu said.

Plop! Tobi tossed away the stick, clapped his hands, and said, "I just invented a technique even more powerful than Wood Release."

"What technique?" Riu asked.

"Ninja Art: Feces Release!" Tobi formed hand seals.

Nothing happened. The air was utterly still.

"Huh?? Did it fail??" Tobi scratched his head awkwardly.

The cramped space was filled with an air of stupidity. Riu suddenly felt that even the air had become much more idiotic...

"What a flavorful technique..." Riu coldly mocked, then walked outside.

Tobi spread his hands and was about to cover Riu again, only to be rejected by him. "No thanks. You smell like shit..."

Riu opened the cash box, threw a stack of money onto the ground, gave Tobi a look, and walked out.

"Meh, whatever..." Tobi shrugged, picked up the money, and sank into the ground.

Yūhi Uzuki, who had been waiting outside, finally saw Riu's true face.

He was actually so young! Xiyang did not know Obito. She was merely astonished that someone with such strength was a boy who looked even younger than her!

"Where are we going next?" Xiyang steadied herself and asked.

"To where I live, a hundred li from here," Riu said.

"A hundred li? Even if we traveled at full speed without rest, it would take two days and two nights." Xiyang said.

"No. Just the time it takes to blink..."

Riu placed his hand on Xiyang's shoulder. The Three-Tomoe Sharingan transformed into the Mangekyo Sharingan!

Whoosh!

A Kamui Vortex appeared...

"Th-This is... a space-time ocular technique!!" In her astonishment, Xiyang was sucked into Kamui, followed immediately by Riu himself.

The vortex vanished.

A hundred li away, inside an underground base.

Xiyang looked at the unfamiliar surroundings before her—the White Zetsu scattered everywhere and the mysterious Demonic Statue—and her emotions churned...

About a minute passed.

Rumble, rumble! Tobi's head emerged from the ground.

"Too slow," Riu said.

"It's not like I can ignore the limits of space like you..." Tobi spoke the plain truth.

"Did you prepare everything?" Riu asked.

After Tobi fully emerged from the ground, he placed a box on the floor.

Riu said to Yūhi Uzuki, "Your room is ready. It's next to mine. This box contains a change of clothes prepared for you, along with some ninja boxed meals. Make do with them for now. I'll carve out a hot spring specifically for you to bathe in soon..."

After explaining all this, Riu ignored Yūhi Uzuki's astonished expression, picked up the cash box, and headed toward his bedroom.

After standing there blankly for a moment, Yūhi Uzuki followed behind Riu.

At the door to his room, Riu stopped.

"If you have nothing to do at night, stay in your room. Don't wander around the base. If you need anything, call for Zetsu—the white guys..."

With that said, Riu pushed open the door and entered his room.

Creak. In the dead of night, the door to the room next to Riu's quietly opened. Under the dim light, Yūhi Uzuki stepped outside...

She paused before Riu's door, considering whether she should rush in and attack him now. But she quickly shook her head and gave up. She was not stupid; she knew it would not be that easy to succeed...

"At the very least, I should first find out what secrets this place is hiding..." Yūhi Uzuki looked toward the room at the end of the corridor, its iron door tightly shut.

The other rooms in this corridor all had wooden doors. Only that one was sealed behind a thick iron door. Xiyang guessed that it must be hiding some major secret.

She quietly made her way over and stopped outside the iron door. After confirming that no traps had been set outside it, she looked up at the skylight above.

She released Chakra from the soles of her feet and walked up the wall. Reaching the skylight, she took out a small mirror and extended it inside. Through the image reflected in the mirror, she saw the scene within the stone chamber!

Large experimental equipment filled the room. What caught her attention were the cylindrical vessels filled with green liquid. Each held a person, but the surface of the vessels was blurry, so she could not make out their faces. She only knew that many tubes seemed to be connected to their bodies.

Drip... drip!

At the end of the apparatus was an outlet. Every so often, a drop of golden blood fell into a glass tube.

The glass tube was already nearly one-third full.

Standing before the equipment was a tall, slender man. His white robe gave him an otherworldly air, his long hair lent him a bewitching charm, and a hemp rope tied into a peculiar shape at his lower back made his silhouette seem steeped in mystery. He was intently watching the experimental equipment...

For some reason, Yūhi Uzuki found that person's back somewhat familiar. It looked just like the back of an extremely dangerous and terrifying man whom Konoha's ANBU had long been watching!

"Hmm?"

At that moment, the man stopped what he was doing and slowly turned around. Xiyang suddenly felt as though an invisible hand had seized her heart, leaving her utterly unable to breathe.

Hiss!!

A serpent's vertical pupils, brimming with intense killing intent.

"Ahh!!!" Xiyang cried out. Unable to keep her footing, she fell to the ground...

Her heart pounded wildly as she gasped for breath. There's no mistake, absolutely no mistake. That was Orochimaru, one of Konoha's legendary Sannin. H-How could he be in a place like this!!

Tap, tap, tap. Footsteps stopped behind her.

"Didn't I tell you to stay in your room and not run around?" Riu asked, looking at the still-shaken Yūhi Uzuki.

"I..."

"Go back and sleep," Riu said.

Inside the stone chamber.

"Orochimaru-sama..." Kabuto cast Orochimaru an inquiring look.

"Pay her no mind. Let her do as she wishes," Orochimaru said hoarsely.

"Yes." Kabuto withdrew.

"Heh heh. It seems Yu-kun may be powerful, but he is also an Uchiha boy true to his feelings. Whether my most perfect creation can bring about a miracle in Yu-kun truly is something to look forward to..." Orochimaru watched the drops of golden blood collecting in the glass tube, a rapturous smile on his lips.