Mahito Appears

Kirigakure—Mizukage Office. Mei Terumi held her teacup with practiced elegance, but her gaze was unusually sharp.

She studied the bounty notice Ao had presented. "Well, well. This is shocking news."

Her red lips parted. "Obito Uchiha... A hero everyone thought was dead became a demon who attacked his own village. Konoha is even darker on the inside than I imagined!"

Ao's pale eyes flickered. "Lady Mizukage, now that Konoha has issued a bounty notice, what should we do next?"

Mei set down her teacup, a chill flashing through her eyes. "Raise the village's alert level. Contact Konoha and issue a joint bounty notice. Match their reward!"

"Ao, personally lead a team to investigate everything connected to that name in secret. The blood Kirigakure shed must not have been for nothing!"

At an underground Bounty Station, all kinds of desperate outlaws crowded around a huge bounty board deep inside a filthy tavern.

When a new bounty notice went up, its reward followed by a long string of zeros, the entire place fell silent for a second. Then an uproar erupted.

"Hey, hey! Is that for real?! You could live like a king for several lifetimes on that!"

"Obito Uchiha? That mysterious man on the Canopy Screen? He's worth that much?!"

A seasoned hunter with a scarred face studied the list of crimes and sucked in a breath. "Controlled the Nine-Tails, possesses the Mangekyō Sharingan... Shit, this target isn't just tough. He's a monster!"

A young hunter beside him rubbed his hands together excitedly. "What are you scared of? No risk, no reward! Find him and take him down!"

The old hunter sneered and took a swig of liquor. "Go ahead, kid, if you've got the guts. A monster like that will kill you before you know it. You might get your hands on the reward, but you've got to live long enough to spend it!"

Yet greed and calculation glinted in his own eyes.

That staggering bounty threw the entire underground world into a frenzy.

Amegakure—inside a tower, Konan emerged from a swirl of paper and placed a report before Pain.

"Konoha has issued an S-rank bounty notice for Obito Uchiha." Her voice was cool, betraying no emotion.

Pain's Rinnegan remained unmoved. He merely glanced at the report. "Pointless. It seems he can no longer keep his identity completely hidden."

Konan frowned slightly. "Will this affect our plan? Konoha and the entire Shinobi World will be watching."

"We proceed as planned," Pain said coldly. "The world's gaze will ultimately turn to the power of a god. As for his problem, let him handle it himself."

"If he can't deal with a nuisance like this, then he was never worth much."

His tone carried a faint detachment and a lingering distrust of Obito.

Konan fell silent for a moment, then nodded. Her body dissolved into paper once more, leaving Pain alone to watch the rain that never stopped falling over Amegakure.

In a secret base, Obito Uchiha stood alone atop a stone pillar. Zetsu slowly rose from the ground, bringing news.

"Hee-hee-hee! You're famous now, Obito!" White Zetsu said with theatrical glee. "Konoha put an enormous price on your head! Now the whole Shinobi World wants to find you!"

Black Zetsu added in a low voice, "You'll need to be more careful from now on."

"Konoha seems to have obtained some solid evidence."

Obito Uchiha gave a low, indifferent chuckle. Through an opening in his Swirl Mask, his Sharingan glowed crimson. "Hmph. This is nothing more than Hiruzen Sarutobi's last desperate struggle."

"A bounty notice? A reward? In the new world to come, none of it will matter."

He slowly clenched his fist, his voice thick with scorn. "Let them search. Their greed and fear will only hasten their destruction."

In fact, Obito Uchiha was right. Bounties in the Shinobi World were much like those in the world of One Piece: they were a measure of strength.

During the Third Shinobi World War, almost every village's Kage had a bounty placed on their head. Yet by the time the war ended, not one of them had been killed by a bounty hunter.

As always, the Canopy Screen appeared to begin its broadcast for the day.

[Minato's kunai flew straight into a nearby tree.]

[But the next moment, a blue-haired young man covered in stitches appeared beside it, toying with the Snake Talisman.]

["Oh? Did you spot me?" Mahito tilted his head, wearing a smile as innocent as a child's—and utterly cruel.]

["Who are you? Why are you here?" Minato Namikaze's voice was calm, but a special kunai engraved with the Flying Thunder God Technique's formula had already slipped silently into his hand.]

[The stranger had been watching him from the shadows all along. He was far more likely to be an enemy than an ally.]

["Oh, you're cautious! Strictly speaking, I'm one of the people helping Konoha!" Mahito tilted his head as though admiring a work of art.]

["Impossible! I'm Konoha's Fourth Hokage. If we had an ally as powerful as you, I would know something about you."]

[Minato's hand was ready to form a seal at any moment and activate the Flying Thunder God Technique again.]

["Oh, we're really just spectators looking to give things a little push."]

["When you're watching a wonderful play, don't you want to take part in the final act?" He drew closer, his fingers twisting and changing shape without any apparent thought.]

[Minato's gaze sharpened as he tried to draw out more information. "We? What are you after?"]

[As he questioned Mahito, he silently calculated the positions of the Flying Thunder God kunai scattered around them.]

[Mahito let out a delighted chuckle. "What am I after? Hmm... If I had to say, I want to hear what kind of beautiful sounds a 'perfect' soul like yours would make when I knead and twist it in despair and pain."]

["Like this!"]

[Before the words had left his mouth, Mahito's arm transformed and stretched. Like a twisted tentacle, it shot toward Minato's heart at astonishing speed.]

[But all he caught was empty air.]

["What?" The smile froze on Mahito's face.]

[Minato appeared like a ghost beside the Flying Thunder God kunai he had lodged in the tree, just behind Mahito.]

["So fast! Just what I'd expect from the 'Yellow Flash'!" Mahito reacted instantly, lashing his twisted arm backward like a whip!]

[But Minato vanished again. The next second, Mahito felt an icy touch from above.]

["Flying Thunder God: Second Step."]

[Minato's voice was like a whisper from the Reaper. Somehow, he had already placed his hand on Mahito's head.]

[During his first dodge, Minato had seized the chance to mark Mahito with the Flying Thunder God formula.]

[Now he had used that mark as the destination for a second jump.]

["**Rasengan!**"]

[A sphere of tightly compressed chakra erupted from Minato's hand, unleashing tremendous force that tore through everything in its path!]

[**Boom!** Mahito's head and upper body were ripped apart and crushed by the violent chakra! Flesh and blood sprayed in every direction!]

[The battle seemed to be over already.]