Since We'd Already Turned In the Mission, Couldn't We Take a New One?

After the system notification sounded, Uzumaki Shixia was dumbfounded.

Why did he have to finish the mission to get this Super Draw?

Was it because this mission had a clearly defined objective?

He had gotten excited for nothing.

Sixia shook his head.

Still, this mission to capture a tailed beast was very profitable.

One job, two paychecks.

With that thought, Uzumaki Shixia picked up Karin, who was snoring away, and settled her on his back with practiced ease.

Then, just as smoothly, he walked to Kakuzu's door and kicked it open!

Bang!

Once the door burst open, Uzumaki Shixia's death knell reached Kakuzu's ears.

Kakuzu had checked the time earlier and, with waves of exhaustion washing over him, had decided to go to bed.

He had never expected Uzumaki Shixia, that mission maniac, to burst through his door the moment he lay down!

For one fleeting instant, one of Kakuzu's hearts almost stopped dead.

"Little Kaku!"

"No sleeping! No sleeping!"

"We've got another mission!"

Kakuzu: "..."

After sighing, Kakuzu said sternly, "It's time to rest! Didn't we just turn in a mission?"

Uzumaki Shixia replied as though it were only natural:

"Exactly. Since we've already turned in the mission, can't we take a new one?"

"The rewards for this new mission are incredibly generous!"

"Little Kaku, how can you waste precious mission time on something as pointless as sleeping?"

Kakuzu shook his head. "No matter what you say, I'm resting this time!"

"I'm not going on a mission until I've rested properly."

"Ah!" Uzumaki Shixia sighed. "Then there's nothing I can do."

With that, he carried Karin on his back and Kakuzu over his shoulder as he headed to Uchiha Itachi and Kisame's room.

Bang, bang, bang!

After his barrage of knocking, Uchiha Itachi opened the door and looked at him calmly.

"What is it?"

Uzumaki Shixia said casually, "Itachi-san, I need Kisame's help with the next mission."

"I've already discussed it with Pain."

At that, Uchiha Itachi stepped aside.

A short distance behind him, Kisame was sprawled boldly on the sofa.

Of course, Kisame had heard Uzumaki Shixia's conversation with Uchiha Itachi.

"Heh!"

"Looks like another good, all-out fight is waiting for me."

Kisame rose from the sofa, rather looking forward to this mission.

There was actually a mission even Sixia found troublesome?

By then, Kakuzu had wriggled out from under Uzumaki Shixia's arm.

Seeing the excitement in Kisame's eyes, he couldn't help feeling a little sorry for him.

He, too, had been excited when he first started doing missions with Uzumaki Shixia.

Kisame wasted no time.

He picked up Samehada and left with Uzumaki Shixia and the others.

On the road from Amegakure to Kirigakure, a merchant caravan was making its way along.

Four figures sat in the caravan's last carriage.

They were two middle-aged men, a handsome, laid-back young man, and a pretty girl who was curious about everything around her.

Naturally, they were Uzumaki Shixia and his companions. They were traveling with the caravan because Uzumaki Shixia had picked up an escort mission along the way.

"Heh, so this is another way to travel?"

"Even on your way to a mission, you take an escort job to hitch a ride."

"Uzumaki Shixia, you've really got it figured out."

"No wonder you make so much money!"

Leaning against the carriage, Kisame gave him a thumbs-up and marveled aloud.

After all, when he went on missions with Uchiha Itachi,

they usually relied on their own two legs.

And Uzumaki Shixia didn't waste a single minute of his time.

Among the four of them, the newcomer was still marveling and looking around curiously, while the veteran had already seized the chance to lie down, refusing to miss a single opportunity to sleep.

Going on missions with Uzumaki Shixia was no joke.

Uzumaki Shixia was a "mission maniac."

No, wait!

A "perpetual mission machine."

As long as there were missions, he could keep doing them nonstop.

He had plenty of chakra anyway, and his Wood Clones had nothing else to do.

"Kakuzu, is this how you and this kid always do missions?"

Brimming with energy, Kisame chatted with Kakuzu in a relaxed, easygoing manner.

Kakuzu hadn't wanted to bother with him. He rolled over into a more comfortable position, turning his back on Kisame.

But in the end, he still offered Kisame a well-intentioned warning.

"Rest while you can."

With that, Kakuzu said nothing more.

Working missions with Uzumaki Shixia meant working twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.

At any hour of the day, Uzumaki Shixia might pick up a mission that required them both to head out.

That happened seven times a week, whether morning, afternoon, or night. In other words, it could happen at any moment of any day.

It had taught Kakuzu to grab whatever rest he could while traveling between missions.

Otherwise, never mind him-even Orochimaru, supposedly the man furthest from death in the shinobi world, would be worked to the bone every day!

Whoosh!

Just then, one of Uzumaki Shixia's Wood Clones appeared in the carriage with the Body Flicker Technique.

He reeked of blood.

Uzumaki Shixia nodded and said casually,

"This escort mission is finished. Now we just need to sit back and wait until we reach our destination."

As it turned out, he was entirely correct.

The rest of the journey passed without incident.

The four of them entered Kirigakure smoothly with the caravan.

After the Fourth Mizukage, Karatachi Yagura, died, the former Bloody Mist Village had gradually begun restoring contact with the outside world under Genji's administration.

Otherwise, even entering Kirigakure would have been quite a hassle.

Upon arriving in Kirigakure, Uzumaki Shixia took the others to a hot spring inn to rest.

Naturally, Kirigakure's hot spring inns couldn't compare with those in the Land of Hot Water.

But having an inn to stay in was good enough. There was no need to be so picky.

Once inside the inn, Kisame said with a smile, "It's been a long time since I came back to Kirigakure."

"Before the mission starts, I'll go out on my own and have a look around. I'll gather some information while I'm at it."

Kakuzu, meanwhile, said without hesitation, "I'm going to rest and build up my energy before the mission. Don't bother me with anything else."

Clearly, he had been overworked for a long time and was desperately short on rest.

This time, Uzumaki Shixia didn't force him. He simply took Karin to Kirigakure's black market.

Kirigakure's black market wasn't as brazen as Amegakure's.

Amegakure was currently under Nagato's complete control, and Nagato tacitly permitted the Amegakure Black Market to exist.

The Amegakure Black Market increased both the village's income and its shinobi's earnings, while also providing intelligence.

Three benefits in one-of course Nagato allowed it to exist.

In other shinobi villages, especially the major ones, black markets could only operate secretly in a shady gray area.

Some shinobi villages might not even have a proper black market at all.

That got Uzumaki Shixia thinking. Should he set himself a modest goal and become the boss of all the black markets in the shinobi world?

Could he make black markets where people posted and accepted commission missions freely accessible throughout the entire shinobi world?

That way, wherever he went, turning in missions and accepting new ones would be easy.

Using Mantra's sensory abilities, Uzumaki Shixia wandered around Kirigakure for quite a while before finding the Kirigakure Black Market.

It was tucked into a quiet corner of a bustling district.

When Uzumaki Shixia arrived with Karin, the black market manager's eyes lit up.

A handsome red-haired young man, a red-haired girl.

The Black Sky, Red Clouds Robe!

It matched!

Everything matched!

Uzumaki Shixia's name was now famous across the various black markets.

The "Mission-Killing Machines" who had single-handedly cleared out the Amegakure black market's missions.

But Uzumaki Shixia's activities had mostly centered around Amegakure.

What brought him to Kirigakure?

The moment the black market manager saw Uzumaki Shixia and Karin, he knew he was about to hit the jackpot!

He was absolutely right.

Because Uzumaki Shixia promptly placed a stack of mission sheets in front of him.

"What are these?"

The black market manager asked in confusion.

Uzumaki Shixia said casually, "Mission sheets. I've already completed all these missions. Each sheet has a detailed mission report."

As he spoke, Uzumaki Shixia took a box from his system space and opened it, revealing an assortment of strange objects.

"These are the proofs of completion. Feel free to inspect them."

The black market manager stared dazedly at the thick stack of mission sheets in his hand, like a deck of cards.

The black markets in the various shinobi villages were connected to a certain extent.

Many missions could be accepted or turned in at a nearby village's black market.

The black market manager carefully read the reports on the mission sheets, then inspected the proofs of completion.

Once he was done, he nodded and said,

"The total payment for these missions is 2.2 million ryo."

"Would you like cash or a bank check?"

Uzumaki Shixia clicked his tongue at that.

That wasn't much!

Oh well. He hadn't run into anyone particularly tough along the way.

"After completing all these miscellaneous missions, the total barely amounts to a fraction of the last job's payout?"

Sixia said casually, "Half in cash, and the rest in a bank check."

The black market manager nodded and immediately went to handle it.

Karin, the human money-counting machine, naturally sprang into action as well.

Sixia patted Karin's little head and said,

"I'm going to look through the mission sheets here. I'm counting on you to count the money."

Karin nodded earnestly.

Uzumaki Shixia walked over to the mission sheets and began browsing them.

[Bounty target: Genji]

[Bounty amount: 30 million for capture alive / 15 million for a kill]

[Mission description: Assassinate Genji, Kirigakure's current de facto ruler. Under his leadership, Kirigakure has abandoned the course established by Lord Fourth Mizukage. He will lead Kirigakure to destruction!]

After reading the mission sheet, Uzumaki Shixia guessed that remnants of the Fourth Mizukage Karatachi Yagura's faction had placed this bounty on Genji.

Uzumaki Shixia soon moved on to the second mission sheet.

[Bounty target: Mei Terumi]

[Bounty amount: 20 million for capture alive / 10 million for a kill]

[Mission description: An elite jonin of Kirigakure with formidable strength, she is Genji's loyal lackey and his future successor. In their hands, Kirigakure is certain to fall beyond salvation!]

Uzumaki Shixia couldn't help grinning when he saw this mission sheet.

It included a photograph of Mei Terumi, along with other detailed information.

In the photograph, Mei Terumi wore a blue robe with a plunging neckline that showed off her stunning figure. Her long bangs covered her right eye, giving her a mature, alluring look.

Uzumaki Shixia flipped through a few more mission sheets and found that all the bounty targets were high-ranking members of Kirigakure.

When he came across another mission sheet, he nearly laughed out loud.

[Bounty target: Chojuro]

[Bounty amount: 10 million for capture alive / 5 million for a kill]

[Mission description: A lackey of Genji's lackey! A Kirigakure prodigy, wielder of the twin swords Hiramekarei, and one of Mei Terumi's trusted aides.]

This time, Uzumaki Shixia really did laugh. The mission sheet actually described Chojuro as a lackey of Genji's lackey.

To put it bluntly, he was the underling of Genji's underling.

And those people lurking in Kirigakure's shadows were seriously underestimating Chojuro, the Sixth Mizukage.

The bounty on him was a mere 10 million ryo.

Of course, Uzumaki Shixia wasn't just reading these bounty mission sheets for a laugh.

This time, he intended to accept every mission.

He could accept all the bounty missions under Kakuzu's name.