What Have You Got for Me, Bro Snake?

From his status panel, his total chakra had already surpassed SSS-Rank and reached SSS+.

SSS-Rank chakra was the level of most tailed beasts.

SSS+ Rank chakra put his total reserves on par with the Eight-Tails and Nine-Tails.

But SSS+ Rank chakra was not the system's limit.

He could still increase his chakra reserves.

Previously, both his total chakra and physical strength had been at tailed beast level.

But he had certain shortcomings: he had not developed his ninjutsu very far.

By now, that problem had been thoroughly resolved.

Over the past two weeks of frantically grinding missions.

Most of his ninjutsu had reached A-Rank.

Not only that, he had raised his mastery of the Rumble-Rumble Fruit to A-Rank, unlocking most of its abilities.

The abilities the Rumble-Rumble Fruit gave him had comprehensively supplemented and enhanced his ninjutsu.

That made Uzumaki Shixia even more eager to grind missions and grow stronger.

As he pounded on Kakuzu's door, he mulled things over.

Let's set a modest goal: enter the Ten-Tails' league as soon as possible!

Get my chakra reserves, physical strength, and ninjutsu power up to at least the Ten-Tails' level.

When Kakuzu took on missions, he focused on completing them properly.

When Uzumaki Shixia took on missions, he approached them with the same relentless mindset he had used to grind practice questions in his previous life.

As a result, by the time Kakuzu was exhausted in both body and mind.

Uzumaki Shixia felt they had barely gotten started. Little Kakuzu was already giving out?

Just then, a pale-faced man with shoulder-length black hair and eerily strange eyes arrived at the place where Uzumaki Shixia and his two companions were staying.

He was an old acquaintance of Uzumaki Shixia's: Orochimaru!

Orochimaru was a ninja with a strong sense of purpose and meticulous plans. Another ninja might have been passing through.

If he showed up here, he had definitely come with a specific purpose.

Upon seeing Orochimaru, Uzumaki Shixia spoke without a care.

"What are you doing here?"

To the vast majority of ninja, Orochimaru was dangerous.

But to Orochimaru, Uzumaki Shixia was probably the dangerous one.

Orochimaru flicked out his long, slender tongue with a sinister air. "I've come to discuss a business deal."

At those words, Uzumaki Shixia's expression changed in a second.

The indifference on his face instantly became a beaming, enthusiastic smile.

"Bro Snake! You're practically my own brother! What have you got for me?"

"Run into something troublesome and need to hire me to handle it?"

Seeing Uzumaki Shixia's transformation, Orochimaru could not stop his face from twitching.

A moment ago, Uzumaki Shixia had been looking at him like a stranger, and now he was suddenly this enthusiastic.

After hearing Uzumaki Shixia's questions, Orochimaru shook his head.

"No mission. I want to buy her."

Orochimaru raised a hand and pointed at Karin, who had come up behind Sixia at some point.

Karin had heard the commotion outside and come out to see what was happening.

She had never expected trouble to fall into her lap while she was simply sleeping at an inn.

Orochimaru had actually come here to buy her?

Karin grew rather nervous.

Lately, she had been accompanying Sixia and Kakuzu as they ground through missions.

Karin had seen plenty of Sixia's true colors.

Calling him money-grubbing and willing to risk his life for cash would not have been an exaggeration at all.

Faced with Orochimaru's proposed deal, Karin was a little afraid Sixia would agree.

After spending this time with him, Karin had realized she could not leave Sixia! Nor did she want to!

Karin had no idea her worries were entirely unnecessary.

Sixia was frantically completing missions not for the payment, but to grind missions and grow stronger!

Sure enough, once Uzumaki Shixia learned why Orochimaru had come, he put on another textbook display of changing expressions.

He rolled his eyes and turned away, no longer bothering to look at Orochimaru.

"Not interested."

He had thought Orochimaru had a mission for him, only to find that the man had come to buy his mascot.

Karin had yet to mature, but she could already use the Mind's Eye of the Kagura to scout their surroundings, making her a decent assistant.

Besides, grinding missions with Kakuzu, an old man nearing a hundred, was incredibly dull.

Whenever they discussed current news or amusing stories, the generation gap inevitably got in the way.

Having a little girl around made things much more entertaining. How could he possibly sell Karin?

But even after Uzumaki Shixia rejected him, Orochimaru did not give up immediately.

He stayed where he was, apparently considering another plan.

Orochimaru began wondering whether he should simply take Karin by force.

Noticing the hint of danger in Orochimaru's gaze, Uzumaki Shixia could not help smiling.

Since obtaining the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, he had not encountered a single opponent worth fighting.

As one of the legendary Sannin, Orochimaru was certainly strong!

But then Uzumaki Shixia suddenly remembered something very important!

He had received extremely generous rewards for accepting his first long-term commission mission!

Those lavish rewards had left him hungry for more.

The look he gave Orochimaru grew dangerous.

Could he talk Orochimaru into issuing him a long-term commission mission too?

Just as Orochimaru lost patience and was about to make a move.

Uzumaki Shixia raised a hand to stop him. "Wait!"

Orochimaru paused at those words, while Karin could not help growing nervous again.

She blinked pitifully up at Uzumaki Shixia, unable to stop wondering whether he had changed his mind.

When Uzumaki Shixia had flatly rejected Orochimaru earlier, Karin's anxious heart had finally settled.

Now that Sixia had suddenly stopped Orochimaru, her heart was in her throat again.

She stammered in a soft little voice, "Are... are you going to sell me?"

Tiny tears were already welling up in her beautiful crimson eyes.

Seeing her look so pitiful, Sixia found it terribly amusing.

Unable to resist, he reached out and flicked Karin on the forehead.

"What are you thinking?"

"How could I possibly sell you?"

Hearing that, Karin felt a little reassured.

She was rather touched.

But then she remembered Uzumaki Shixia's way of doing things and timidly asked another question.

"What if he offers more money?"

Uzumaki Shixia froze. After giving it serious thought, he answered with equal seriousness.

"Although my principles and boundaries have always been very flexible."

"This is still nonnegotiable."

If it were anything else, more money would certainly open the door to negotiation.

Selling Karin would not benefit Sixia in any way.

Money?

He was the hardest-working man in the shinobi world, already rich enough to rival a nation. Why would he need money?

Across from Sixia, Orochimaru had initially thought Sixia had changed his mind and wanted to sell Karin to him.

Now, it seemed Uzumaki Shixia was toying with him.

But after some thought, Orochimaru still abandoned the idea of using force.

When Sixia had consumed the Shinobi World Improved Rumble-Rumble Fruit earlier, it had produced a tremendous phenomenon.

At the time, Orochimaru had also observed the changes in Sixia from the shadows.

Sixia was extremely powerful. Rather than snatch a test subject from him, it would be better to hire him to capture other subjects.

Uzumaki Shixia's principles and boundaries were flexible, while Orochimaru's thinking was flexible.

Orochimaru smiled and said to Uzumaki Shixia.

"How about I hire you to capture some children with kekkei genkai from other shinobi villages?"

"I'll pay you 200,000 for every target who meets my requirements!"

In Orochimaru's mind, Uzumaki Shixia would certainly not refuse this commission mission.

Given Uzumaki Shixia's greed, he had absolutely no reason to turn it down.

[Long-term commission mission detected!]

[Employer: Orochimaru]

[Mission objective: Orochimaru has hired you to capture children with kekkei genkai.]

[Mission payment: 200,000 ryo each.]

[Mission rank: B-Rank]

[Mission reward: 200 commission points each]

Looking at the system notifications, Uzumaki Shixia was a little astonished.

Two hundred commission points each?

Orochimaru really was willing to spend big!

But few of the children he captured would meet a good end.

"That's certainly a very tempting mission!"

"But I refuse!"

"I won't do something that vile."

Although Sixia had few boundaries, he disdained trafficking children to grind rewards.

He stopped there without saying anything more.

If he kept talking, he was afraid he might slip up and say, "You'll have to pay extra."

Yet this was a commission mission he would not accept even for more money.

At those words, Orochimaru stared at Sixia for a while.

After much hesitation, he decided against fighting Sixia and snatching Karin from him. Instead, he simply turned to leave.

Whoosh-

But the moment Orochimaru turned, Sixia used the Body Flicker Technique and appeared behind him.

A faint smile curled Orochimaru's lips. "Something else?"

Sixia nodded earnestly, then began pitching himself.

"Lord Orochimaru, speaking of test subjects, what do you think of me?"

"Strictly speaking, I meet every requirement to become one of your test subjects!"

Orochimaru: "..."

Hearing Uzumaki Shixia say that, Orochimaru felt somewhat angry.

Did he look like an idiot?

How could Sixia say something like that to him?

Or was Uzumaki Shixia's mind truly wired in a very abnormal way?

Was this a ninja who could not be understood through normal logic?

Sixia's voice interrupted Orochimaru's thoughts.

"Lord Orochimaru, I'm also a descendant of the Uzumaki Clan."

"My constitution is unusual too, with a certain degree of self-healing and healing ability."

"No matter how you look at it, I must have considerable research value, right?"

At those words, a sinister smile spread across Orochimaru's lips.

Rather than study those traits in Uzumaki Shixia, he was more interested in studying the man's bizarre thought processes.

Although there were plenty of people in the shinobi world whose minds worked abnormally.

Orochimaru had only met two ninja so far who were both abnormal thinkers and exceptionally powerful.

One was Uzumaki Shixia, standing before him. The other was Jiraiya, whom he thoroughly despised.

As Uzumaki Shixia pitched himself to Orochimaru, Karin could only cover her face.

She could not bear to watch. She really could not.