Planning the Next Batch of Fragments

Back home, Uchiha Yufeng looked around the empty room.

Uchiha Yufeng lay on his bed, pondering his next steps.

"The cards that can still grow are Uchiha Sasuke, Yakushi Kabuto, and young Senju Tobirama."

"Uchiha Sasuke... at the moment, aside from squeezing a few more fragments out of Orochimaru, everyone else is either on cooldown or hasn't even been born yet! For the cooldowns, I'll have to wait at least a year, so I can only set that aside for now."

"As for Yakushi Kabuto, I've already squeezed nearly all I can from Yakushi Nonō. That only leaves Orochimaru..."

"The young Senju Tobirama card... Tsunade, Danzo, the Third Hokage, and the rest can all yield some fragments. Comparatively speaking, this card's fragments should be possible to collect within a short time."

After analyzing the situation, Uchiha Yufeng ultimately set his immediate sights on the young Senju Tobirama card.

Tsunade would be leaving Konoha soon, but he had two working legs. Naturally, he could sneak off and find her himself.

A few more fragments were bound to drop.

That big fat sheep of the gambling world would probably lose even her underwear within days.

When that happened, he could bring her some money along the way. She would probably be grateful enough to cry.

He had her completely figured out!

As for those from the Third Hokage's generation who had ties to the Second Hokage, he would probably see Third Hokage Sarutobi Hiruzen the most often.

The Third Hokage?

Uchiha Yufeng's heart stirred. Wasn't it just about supporting the Will of Fire?

He had been putting on that act skillfully for years!

And after using the Yakushi Kabuto card—the spy with exceptional acting skills—this would be even easier to handle.

"I still don't want to give up on Orochimaru. I need to keep in contact with him whenever I can! After all, the temptation of fragments for two growable cards is truly hard to resist..."

The reason he had chosen to advance the Mangekyō Sharingan Sasuke card was that the Mangekyō's Dojutsu had a natural restraining effect on Orochimaru.

That unpleasant incident in the laboratory was likely still on both of their minds.

Someone like Orochimaru might come for him at any time and suddenly stab him in the back.

With the Mangekyō Sharingan Uchiha Sasuke card active, he would at least have some confidence when facing Orochimaru.

Before advancing the card, Uchiha Yufeng had worried whether the snake-style ninjutsu within his body would be affected.

The reason was that in the original story, Uchiha Sasuke, after awakening the Mangekyō Sharingan, no longer used snake-style ninjutsu.

That was because Uchiha Itachi had previously removed all of the White Snake's power from his body.

Moreover, the Sasuke card he had obtained through advancement was clearly the Hawk Sasuke version wearing an Akatsuki Robe.

After Uchiha Yufeng asked the system, it explained the matter.

The cards were separate, and the abilities of a card would not disappear after another was used.

Therefore, after activating Uchiha Sasuke with the awakened Mangekyō Sharingan, all of Shippuden Uchiha Sasuke's abilities remained available as well. He could still use the Curse Mark's power and fly with wings; none of those abilities would vanish.

Furthermore, the Sharingan on the cards were separate too.

Even if the Mangekyō Sharingan truly went blind from overuse, he still had Shippuden Sasuke's Three-Tomoe Sharingan to continue using normally.

Having sorted out his future plans, Uchiha Yufeng let out a long breath.

"Time to sleep!"

Uchiha Yufeng turned over and closed his eyes.

Day turned to night, and in the blink of an eye, it was the next day.

At their usual spot in Konoha Forest, everyone else had already arrived by the time Uchiha Yufeng got there.

"Yufeng, you're seriously lacking in punctuality!"

Yuhi Shinku, who was doing a handstand on a tree branch, snorted when he saw Uchiha Yufeng arrive.

He used Body Flicker to descend from the tree.

"Sorry, Shinku Sensei. On my way here, several old ladies needed help crossing the street, so I was delayed for a while!"

Uchiha Yufeng smiled brightly, his face full of apology.

Yuhi Kurenai, who knew Uchiha Yufeng's personality, secretly curled her lips.

Those were Obito's lines...

Since when had you ever helped an old lady across the street!

"Alright, now that everyone is here, we'll continue with the D-rank Mission we didn't finish yesterday this morning. Once it's done, I can take on some C-rank Missions to give you some practical experience!"

At those words, delight flashed through Yuhi Kurenai's and Uzuki Yugao's eyes.

After all, they had already spent an entire day doing D-rank Missions yesterday and had gained some understanding of them.

They simply did little to improve their strength, while being tedious, exhausting, and troublesome.

At first, they might still have had some enthusiasm, but after doing D-rank Missions nonstop, the two of them were starting to lose patience.

Fortunately, there were not many D-rank Missions left to take. The whole team worked quickly, and by now, only a few missions remained.

"Yes!"

The two immediately perked up and answered loudly.

Yuhi Shinku raised his gaze and looked to Uchiha Yufeng, seeking his opinion.

Seeing this, Uchiha Yufeng helplessly spread his hands.

"Me? Anything's fine..."

"Come to me to choose your D-rank Missions! Hurry up, everyone. There are only these three D-rank Missions—try to finish them before ten this morning!"

"Yes!"

The three accepted their D-rank Missions and headed off in different directions.

Uchiha Yufeng picked a mission to find a cat. With the keen perception of his eyes, even without activating his Sharingan, he quickly found the mission target in the area marked by the client.

After turning in the mission, he returned to the meeting point and saw that the other teams had yet to return.

With a leap, he jumped onto a large tree and leaned against it to rest.

Before long, Minato's Team arrived.

Namikaze Minato, who was leading them, glanced up at the tree. When he saw Uchiha Yufeng resting there with his eyes closed, he froze slightly.

"Sensei, what is it?"

Seeing Namikaze Minato's reaction, Kakashi could not help asking.

"Nothing!"

"What time is it?"

Kakashi's dead-fish eyes glanced at the sky before turning toward Nohara Rin.

"A little past nine..."

Hearing that it was past nine, the displeasure on Kakashi's face grew even stronger.

"Kakashi, Rin, let's rest here and wait for Obito!"

Namikaze Minato spoke gently.

"Sensei, you spoil him too much. He's already a ninja, yet on just the second day after being assigned to a team, he's already ignoring the time like this! In the future..."

Namikaze Minato smiled.

Before he could say anything, the sound of footsteps approached.

"Minato-sensei, Rin, I'm here!"

Nohara Rin pointed at the watch on her wrist, while Uchiha Obito scratched his head with a foolish grin.

"Sorry. On my way here this morning, I saw an old lady crossing the street, so I got delayed..."

"Pfft!"

Uchiha Yufeng, who had been resting in the tree, burst out laughing when he heard Uchiha Obito's words.

He had used the exact same excuse for waking up late today.

"Who? Who's there?"

Hearing the laughter, Uchiha Obito's expression immediately darkened, and he shouted in his loud voice.

Seeing this, Namikaze Minato let out a faint sigh.

Teaching students truly was not easy!

"Yufeng? Why are you here?"

When she saw Uchiha Yufeng jump down from the tree, Nohara Rin immediately stepped forward, her face full of surprise.

"What? It's Yufeng?"

Uchiha Obito still had a hand seal formed, ready to blast the person in the tree with a Fire Release...

When he saw Uchiha Yufeng, he could not help freezing.

Uchiha Yufeng pointed at the large tree.

"I finished my mission, so I came here to rest for a while."

"Finished your mission? Really? Aren't you slacking off again? You did plenty of that at the Ninja Academy!"

Uchiha Obito looked deeply skeptical. Back at the Ninja Academy, Uchiha Yufeng did nothing but sleep.

He never did anything proper.

They had only graduated not long ago, so Uchiha Obito did not believe Uchiha Yufeng had suddenly changed his ways.

"I think so too!"

Kakashi snorted coldly from the side, equally suspicious of Uchiha Yufeng.

Uchiha Yufeng spread his hands.

"Believe it or not. Do you think I'd get paid for lying to you two?"

"What's your mission today, Yufeng?"

Namikaze Minato asked Uchiha Yufeng with his usual gentle expression.

Ever since Uchiha Yufeng had climbed down from the tree, the two members of his squad, who had been at each other's throats, had unexpectedly "joined forces."

To Minato, that was a good sign.

"A cat-catching mission!"

Uchiha Yufeng turned to look at Namikaze Minato.

Capable, steady, gentle...

As expected of Minato. That smile of his was as warm as a little sun.

"The Chunin Exams for the second half of the year will be held in two months. Are you planning to participate, Yufeng?"

At those words, the three children immediately turned to look at Uchiha Yufeng.

"Me?"

Uchiha Yufeng spread his hands.

"How could I possibly enter? I can't hide from it fast enough. I heard... people die in the Chunin Exams!"