Was the Villa Technique Finally Within Reach?

At those words, Uzumaki Shixia casually walked to the center of the formula and sat down.

This formula seemed to be a research formula Orochimaru had developed.

After Uzumaki Shixia sat down, he felt a peculiar pulse scan his chakra.

Once he had completed his preliminary examination of Uzumaki Shixia, Orochimaru's expression became a sight to behold.

He had absolute confidence in the Research-Assistance Formula he had developed. There was nothing wrong with his observations!

That left Orochimaru utterly shocked!

What... is going on with this guy?

How did he achieve this quantity and purity of chakra?

His affinity for lightning release chakra has even reached the level of a tailed beast.

His physical strength probably rivals the legendary Third Raikage's-or even surpasses it.

This body! It's incredible. It's perfect!

This is the perfect vessel I need!

Looking at Uzumaki Shixia sitting cross-legged in the center of the Research-Assistance Formula, Orochimaru could barely resist the urge to seize his body.

But the terrifying quantity of chakra inside Uzumaki Shixia, his unbelievable physical strength, and his masterful Lightning Release...

All kept Orochimaru rational and calm.

Without sufficient preparation, he would be absolutely no match for Uzumaki Shixia.

Bzzzt-

After a period of observation, Orochimaru's Research-Assistance Formula slowly faded away.

Orochimaru's voice also reached Uzumaki Shixia's ears.

"That will do. We'll end this session here."

As he spoke, Orochimaru was also considering whether to hire Uzumaki Shixia to seize Nagato's Rinnegan or Uchiha Itachi's Sharingan.

With Uzumaki Shixia's terrifying strength, the two of them might even succeed in taking Nagato's Rinnegan if they worked together.

But Orochimaru ultimately chose not to do so. He intended to study Uzumaki Shixia over the long term, then seize this body as his reincarnation vessel.

Once he possessed this perfect vessel, he could seize Uchiha Itachi's Sharingan and Nagato's Rinnegan himself.

Of course, Uzumaki Shixia had no idea Orochimaru was already planning so far ahead.

After cooperating with Orochimaru's research, he took Karin and left this hideout.

Once they had left Orochimaru's place, Karin looked up and spoke to Sixia.

"That man has bad intentions toward you. You should be careful."

At her words, Sixia raised a hand and patted Karin's head, messing up her hair despite her indignant look.

"Ahahaha..."

"I'm not the one who needs to be careful. Lord Orochimaru is."

Orochimaru no longer posed a threat to him. He was no longer someone Orochimaru could manipulate.

Besides, as a mission fanatic, he was bound to be considerably stronger with each passing day.

Orochimaru couldn't do anything to him now. In the future, he would only be forced to put his many talents to work in Sixia's service.

Still, Sixia had yet to decide what he wanted to do in the future, or what work he would have Orochimaru do for him.

Should I establish the Strongest Mercenary Organization in the Shinobi World and take on the Ōtsutsuki Clan?

That was a good idea, but for now, he just needed to grind missions like crazy and grow stronger.

Once he reached the strength of a Humanoid Ten-Tails, or even surpassed it...

He could point at the Ōtsutsuki Clan's heads and ask just how much psychological damage one mighty slap would inflict on them.

Orochimaru's unexpected visit had given Kakuzu a good half day of rest.

Had Kakuzu known what Uzumaki Shixia would put him through over the next two weeks, he would have been extremely grateful to Orochimaru.

The Akatsuki had been around for a long time, and over those long years, Kakuzu had seen plenty of newcomers join.

There had been no shortage of highly motivated people among them.

But after a while, they inevitably began to slack off.

In Kakuzu's opinion, Uzumaki Shixia would very likely be the same.

This time, however, he was wrong. Ever since he had formed a two-man team with Uzumaki Shixia, every day had been packed.

He even had the strange impression that Uzumaki Shixia somehow squeezed forty-eight hours out of a twenty-four-hour day.

His body could rotate between multiple hearts, so his heart wasn't exhausted.

But mentally, he simply couldn't take it anymore.

Uzumaki Shixia was like an emotionless mission machine. He was either carrying out a mission or on his way to one.

Just like now, when Kakuzu and Uzumaki Shixia were heading toward another mission site.

Looking at the stars filling the night sky, Kakuzu could only stare upward in speechless despair.

He could no longer remember whether this was their forty-eighth or forty-ninth mission of the day.

In the past, he wouldn't have spared low-paying missions a glance.

But that lunatic Uzumaki Shixia accepted every commission mission that came his way.

The two of them had even made a name for themselves at the Amegakure Black Market.

Ninja and faction leaders from Amegakure and the many surrounding ninja villages, large and small, all knew about the Amegakure Black Market's Mission-Grinding Duo.

If it was a commission mission, those two would almost always accept it, and they completed their missions with astonishing efficiency.

Even more amazingly, despite completing missions at such speed, they still maintained a one-hundred-percent success rate.

Kakuzu knew all of this, but he couldn't feel happy about it at all.

Watching Uzumaki Shixia flip through the mission slips in his hand as they traveled, Kakuzu felt as though his head was about to split open!

Maybe I should accept a mission to assassinate the Land of Fire's daimyo, so Uzumaki Shixia and I can get some rest in prison?

Uzumaki Shixia flipped through the mission slips as he walked, carrying Karin on his back.

Karin was still a little girl. She couldn't follow Uzumaki Shixia on nonstop missions the way Kakuzu could.

When he had noticed her nodding off as she walked earlier, Uzumaki Shixia had simply told her to climb onto his back.

Half an hour later, Kakuzu and Uzumaki Shixia arrived at a hot spring inn to rest, having completed their fiftieth commission mission of the day.

Without caring whether Uzumaki Shixia agreed, Kakuzu spoke before returning to his room.

"We're taking tomorrow off. We'll resume missions the day after!"

Uzumaki Shixia flatly refused. "No! We can't betray Leader Nagato's trust or the organization's expectations!"

This time, Kakuzu ignored Sixia and went straight back to his room to rest.

He couldn't even bring himself to call Uzumaki Shixia out. Was Sixia really doing this to live up to their leader's trust and the organization's expectations?

That brat Uzumaki Shixia clearly valued money more than his life!

He would rather work himself to death on a mission than stop his nonstop grind.

Some ninja followed a ninja way of becoming Hokage and protecting their village!

Uzumaki Shixia's ninja way, meanwhile, boiled down to one thing: never stop making money!

At that moment, Uzumaki Shixia had no idea his trusty teammate was already falling apart.

He took Karin back to his room, then put her on the bed so she could get some proper rest.

He took that day's commission mission payments and system rewards out of his system space and began drawing prizes.

Now that they had made a name for themselves, the number of missions available was incomparable to before.

The commission points he had earned over the past several days had actually topped ten thousand.

Uzumaki Shixia looked at his system panel.

[Commission points: 10102]

He grinned from ear to ear.

But as he kept grinning, his expression suddenly changed.

He couldn't help it. He had earned so much today that his mouth had started cramping from smiling.

What a bumper harvest of commission points!

"Give me those draws!"

[Deducted 10000 commission points from the host! Remaining commission points: 102.]

[Drawing...]

[Congratulations! The host has obtained:]

[Shuriken ×3]

[Kunai ×3]

[Ninjutsu: Lightning Release: Lightning Burial level +1]

[Chakra quantity ×1 Kakashi]

[World affinity level +1]

...

[Congratulations! The host's shinobi world affinity has reached C rank. Unlocked kekkei genkai: Wood Release.]

[Congratulations! The host has obtained Wood Release. Current rank: D.]

[Congratulations! The host has learned a new ninjutsu: Wood Release: Cutting Sprigs.]

[Congratulations! The host has learned a new ninjutsu: Wood Release: Wood Clone Technique.]

[Congratulations! The host has learned a new ninjutsu: Wood Release: Wood Transformation Technique.]

Huh? What's going on?

Drawing world affinity somehow unlocked Wood Release?

Was my Villa Technique finally within reach?

The next day, dawn had barely broken.

Bang-

With a dull crash, Uzumaki Shixia burst through the door into Kakuzu's room.

Naturally, Kakuzu refused to get up no matter what. He needed-rest!

But what Uzumaki Shixia did next left Kakuzu dumbfounded!

Uzumaki Shixia actually hoisted him onto his shoulder and headed to the Amegakure Black Market to pick up missions!

Bringing Kakuzu along when accepting missions at the Amegakure Black Market was absolutely necessary.

Kakuzu had been accepting missions at the Amegakure Black Market for a long time.

Thanks to his formidable strength, his mission success rate was extremely high.

Before Uzumaki Shixia's meteoric rise, he had always held the top spot at the Amegakure Black Market.

He was the best-known ninja there.

Many people had even heard that he had once attempted to assassinate the First Hokage of Konoha, who bore the title of God of Shinobi.

That feat naturally elevated his reputation even further!

With Kakuzu's sterling reputation backing him, getting a huge number of missions at the black market was easy.

Although Uzumaki Shixia had recently risen to fame as well, his influence still couldn't compare to Kakuzu's.

After all, Kakuzu was an old OG from the First Hokage's era.

In Konoha, the Fourth Hokage had already died in battle, forcing the Third Hokage to take charge again.

Throughout all that time, Kakuzu had continued to dominate black markets everywhere.

A veteran black market operator like him had become a brand in his own right, trusted by countless employers and guaranteed to satisfy them.

The reason Uzumaki Shixia had been able to carry such a thick stack of mission slips lately...

Was partly that he was gradually becoming the black market's rising star.

And partly that he had Kakuzu and his sterling reputation at his side.

Moreover, he and Kakuzu had been grinding missions like crazy lately.

They accepted almost every commission mission, regardless of the pay.

That left many employers feeling as though good fortune had fallen into their laps without warning.

After all, Kakuzu had previously taken almost nothing but high-paying bounty missions.

Even if people knew the Amegakure Black Market had an extremely reliable veteran like Kakuzu, they couldn't hire him.

Now things were different. Uzumaki Shixia and Kakuzu had joined forces, and they accepted commission missions without worrying about the pay.

For the vast majority of employers who needed ninja to work for them, this was nothing short of a godsend!