I'd rather make mistakes than do nothing

Mui wanted to extract the Tailed Beast's chakra to open the Box of Ultimate Bliss.

Besides, Pain hadn't said whether he wanted a plump, healthy Tailed Beast or a malnourished one, had he?

Pain and Konan naturally had no way of knowing.

Uzumaki Shixia was a menace!

After spending some time with him, Kakuzu had become sleep-deprived and malnourished, leaving him in terrible physical condition.

That alone was bad enough!

But when sent to capture a Tailed Beast, he would actually leave even the beast malnourished!

Kisame and Kakuzu both breathed a sigh of relief at Uzumaki Shixia's words.

They were very worried that their young companion would do something stupid, run off to a feast, and forget the mission the organization had assigned them.

They were even more worried that Uzumaki Shixia would be blinded by a pretty face.

When the two of them returned to the Akatsuki, all they would be able to tell Pain was:

Something terrible happened!

Their young companion, Uzumaki Shixia, had become obsessed with women and couldn't be trusted with important work.

Fortunately, that worst-case scenario hadn't happened yet.

Not only was Uzumaki Shixia thinking clearly, but his confidence was through the roof.

Aside from agonizing a little over the feast, he hadn't lost any of his enthusiasm for the mission!

Sixia patted Kisame on the shoulder and said,

"Lead the way. There's a huge lake near Kirigakure, and our target is hiding in it."

Kisame: "???"

Kakuzu: "???"

Mei Terumi: "???"

Gonbei and his two companions: "???"

Sixia had really outdone himself. One casual remark had left all six people present utterly baffled.

Kisame really wanted to say, Wait, come on, man. You don't actually know where the Three-Tails is, do you?

Then why did you swear to Pain that you knew where to find a lone Tailed Beast?

And that we'd easily bring that lone Tailed Beast back on this trip!

The corner of Kisame's mouth twitched, and he couldn't help speaking up.

"Kirigakure is surrounded by lakes. Pretty much nothing but lakes."

"Whatever kind of lake you want, I can find one and take you there."

"But I don't know which of those many lakes holds our target."

Sixia grew angry at that. "What good are you, then?"

He didn't keep freeloaders on his team!

Karin served as a supporting scout, provided emotional support, and acted as a human money-counting machine.

Kakuzu helped them secure missions as their "century-old business with a sterling reputation." When necessary, he could also serve as their secondary damage dealer, while doubling as human money-counting machine number two.

If Kisame didn't even know which lake near Kirigakure held the Three-Tails, wasn't the guy completely useless?

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

Kondo Yano led a group of Blood Mist ninja onward, repeatedly using the Body Flicker Technique.

As they traveled, one of the ninja spoke up apprehensively.

"Lord Kondo Yano, are we really going to do this?"

"If the Three-Tails goes berserk, the village will suffer too!"

Kondo Yano gave the ninja a cold glance before replying.

"Our influence in the village is steadily weakening. So..."

"I'd rather make mistakes than do nothing."

"We'll provoke the Three-Tails into going berserk. Once Genji and the others find themselves helpless against it..."

"We'll show ourselves and use our secret technique to control the Three-Tails, sending it back into the lake."

"That way, the Blood Mist ninja can once again become the heroes who saved the village."

"Only the Blood Mist ninja can save Kirigakure!"

The entire conversation between Kondo Yano and the Blood Mist ninja took place within the reach of Uzumaki Shixia's Mantra.

He then realized that Hozuki Mugetsu, Karatachi Takiichi, and Kondo Takashi combined weren't as suited to scheming as Kondo Yano.

This spur-of-the-moment move by Kondo Yano completely outclassed those three clowns.

Greatness needs no explanation!

This guy absolutely deserves to stay!

That was Uzumaki Shixia's assessment of Kondo Yano.

With talent like this in Kirigakure, why would he ever worry about running out of Commission Missions from the village?

Even on the spur of the moment, Kondo Yano had managed to cook up something this big.

Given time to develop and plan properly, he would surely come up with plenty of new tricks to pull in Kirigakure.

And then the Commission Missions would come rolling in, wouldn't they?

After discovering Kondo Yano's plan, Sixia casually told the people beside him,

"Follow me. I know where the target is now."

"Everything is going according to plan!"

Kisame and the others exchanged glances.

How was any of this going according to plan?

This was clearly off the rails!

Every one of them was absolutely certain that Uzumaki Shixia had no idea where the Three-Tails was.

Kisame and Mei Terumi's group immediately followed Uzumaki Shixia, using the Body Flicker Technique to travel.

Kisame and his companions were following Sixia to carry out the mission to capture the Three-Tails.

Mei Terumi and her companions, meanwhile, were keeping an eye on Sixia to see what they were about to do.

After following Sixia for a while, they caught sight of Kondo Yano and his companions.

At that moment, Sixia's voice reached their ears.

"Kondo Yano and his companions plan to use a secret technique to provoke the Three-Tails into going berserk and destroying the village."

"Mei Terumi, are you going to handle this yourselves, or hire me?"

Sixia was undoubtedly becoming increasingly adept at getting two-or even three-payoffs out of the same job.

As the strongest weapons of the major Shinobi Villages, anything involving Tailed Beasts was a major matter for every village.

Still hurrying onward, Mei Terumi asked anxiously,

"Is there still time to stop them?"

Sixia shook his head.

"It looks like we're already too late."

In another direction, Kondo Yano and his three companions arrived on the surface of a large lake.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

The four gathered chakra beneath their feet and stood firmly on the water.

Their hands rapidly formed hand seals, then they all slapped the surface of the water!

Boom!

The entire lake trembled.

Before long, a terrifying, berserk presence began spreading outward from the depths of the lake.

A cruel smile appeared on Kondo Takashi's face as he said,

"The show's about to begin. Let's go!"

As soon as he finished speaking, he and the three ninja beside him vanished with the Body Flicker Technique.

The lake, which had been calm for who knew how long, suddenly churned with surging waves and violent turbulence.

Splash-!

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

Wave after wave washed against the shore.

The entire lake now seemed like a glass of red wine being swirled in someone's hand.

Rumble!

The ground began to rumble and shake as well.

A savage presence burst skyward from the lakebed a moment later.

Boom-!

Amid countless dancing columns of water, large and small, an enormous gray, turtle-shaped Tailed Beast rose from the depths.

Its body was immense, covered in gray armored scales, with three long tails trailing behind it.

This Tailed Beast was Kirigakure's powerful Tailed Beast Weapon, the Three-Tails Isobu!

The enormous commotion soon alerted everyone in Kirigakure.

Large numbers of the village's ninja rushed over immediately.

Mei Terumi's group, of course, reached the scene faster than the others.

Seeing the Three-Tails rise from the lake in a furious state, Mei Terumi sank into despair.

Kirigakure currently lacked the fighting strength to deal with the Three-Tails.

Though the Blood Mist faction might eventually show up to clean up the mess,

there was no telling how many people would die in the Tailed Beast's rampage before then.

With no other choice, Mei Terumi could only hire Uzumaki Shixia to defeat the berserk Three-Tails.

She looked at Uzumaki Shixia and asked, "If we hire you, what will you do?"

Sixia answered casually, "I'll defeat the Three-Tails and make it return to this lake."

Mei Terumi nodded.

"All right. On behalf of Kirigakure, I offer you ten million ryo to defeat the Three-Tails, prevent it from harming the village, and make it return to this lake."

[New Commission Mission detected!]

[Employer: Kirigakure]

[Mission objective: Defeat the Three-Tails, prevent the berserk Three-Tails from destroying the village, and make it return to the lakebed.]

[Mission payment: 10,000,000 ryo]

[Mission rank: S-Rank]

[Mission reward: 10,000 Commission Points]

Sixia was delighted to receive this Commission Mission.

Once again, he'd managed to get three payoffs out of a single job.

The Akatsuki wanted the Tailed Beast, Mui wanted the Tailed Beast, and Mei Terumi needed him to defeat the Three-Tails.

He could complete all three missions without any conflict between them.

After Mei Terumi issued the mission, Sixia smiled. "Happy to help."

"But have those Kirigakure ninja fall back."

Once the Three-Tails went berserk, large numbers of Kirigakure's ninja had come to stop it, unafraid of death.

Their courage was commendable, but they lacked the strength to stop the berserk Three-Tails.

Hearing this, Mei Terumi immediately called out.

"Everyone, retreat immediately!"

"Help evacuate the nearby villagers. Don't stay here."

Mei Terumi's words did have an effect.

Many of Kirigakure's ninja immediately took action.

Other ninja said, "We'll stay and hold off the Three-Tails. The rest of you, carry out Lady Mei Terumi's orders."

Seeing some ninja leave while others remained, ready to die, Mei Terumi was furious.

You think your ninjutsu, which can't even compare to the Uchiha's little flames, can stop the Three-Tails?

Those ninja, however, had already begun rapidly forming hand seals.

"Water Release: Water Shockwave!"

Splash-!

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

Dozens of ninja cast the ninjutsu together, creating an impressive spectacle.

Enormous waves formed one after another.

The water surged toward the Three-Tails at tremendous speed, then barely submerged its front claws.

Isobu: "???"

Even in its berserk state, Isobu was still somewhat puzzled.

Was that a ninjutsu attack just now? I didn't feel a thing.

Seeing the Three-Tails hesitate, the many Kirigakure Ninja on the shore were overjoyed!

"It's working!"

"Keep going! Keep going!"

"Don't let Isobu get near the village!"

"Water Release: Water Shockwave!"

The dozens of Kirigakure Ninja were tremendously excited.

Mei Terumi's face darkened with frustration; what on earth was the point of these people's attacks against the Three-Tails!

Sure enough, Three-Tails Isobu was already pushing through the relentless surging waves and rapidly closing in on the crowd.

The ninjutsu cast by the numerous Kirigakure Ninja felt like nothing more than a gentle scratch to Three-Tails Isobu.

Mei Terumi shouted out a warning once again, "Fall back! Everyone, fall back immediately!"

Gonbei likewise roared at the top of his lungs, "Get out of here! Hurry up and leave!"