The Shinobi World's grinding king and Mission Perpetual Motion Machine had earned his reputation

Kisame saw nothing wrong with his reasoning. Sixia was leading this mission, after all.

Leaving early before the mission was complete had also been Sixia's decision.

Once they returned to the Akatsuki, he could explain it to Pain himself.

Some time later, the merchant caravan finally reached the outskirts of Amegakure.

Sixia and the other three climbed down from the caravan's carriage.

After turning in the mission, Sixia sent a Wood Release clone to notify Pain and Konan to meet them in a clearing near Amegakure.

Pain and Konan had no idea what Uzumaki Shixia was up to, of course, but they went anyway.

Sixia, Kakuzu, Kisame, and Karin all gathered in a clearing near Amegakure.

They had not waited long before Konan and Pain descended from the sky.

The two looked slightly puzzled at the sight of Sixia's group.

Still, Pain trusted Sixia. His mission success rate had always been a hundred percent.

Whatever had happened, he should have brought the Three-Tails back this time.

Upon seeing Pain, Kisame shook his head. "Pain, we failed to capture the Three-Tails."

Both Pain and Konan were surprised.

With Uzumaki Shixia and his two teammates' strength, capturing even the Nine-Tails should have been no problem, let alone the Three-Tails.

Konan asked in confusion, "What happened?"

"Were you discovered by Kirigakure's ninja?"

"Did their interference keep you from bringing the Three-Tails back?"

Kakuzu shook his head. "That wasn't the reason."

"Uzumaki Shixia is extremely strong. He completely overwhelmed Three-Tails Isobu."

"But after thoroughly beating Isobu into submission, he let the Three-Tails return to the lake instead of capturing him."

"So our mission failed."

Pain paused, then looked at Sixia. "What happened? Did the mission really fail?"

He did not believe Uzumaki Shixia would fail under those circumstances.

Sure enough, Sixia chuckled. "Who said the mission failed?"

Pain nodded. "Then where is the Three-Tails?"

That made much more sense to him.

If Uzumaki Shixia and his two teammates had gone out together and still failed to capture the Three-Tails, that would have been absurd.

"Summoning Technique!"

Without wasting any time, Sixia swiftly formed hand seals, then slammed his hands onto the ground!

Boom!

Dust spread outward, and white smoke billowed up.

An instant later, the enormous Three-Tails Isobu appeared before Pain and Konan.

Kakuzu, Kisame, and Karin naturally saw the Three-Tails again as well.

"Hmph!"

The Three-Tails was thoroughly displeased after being summoned here.

Hard ground surrounded him on all sides. Was this any place for a tailed beast?

Pain was stunned by the sight before him.

He had never imagined Sixia had grown strong enough to force a tailed beast into a Summoning Contract.

Konan's gaze was also filled with shock as she looked at Sixia.

She had investigated and compiled the initial intelligence on him.

She was therefore certain that Sixia had been nowhere near this strong at the start.

But he was growing far too quickly!

You reaped what you sowed. How could the Shinobi World's grinding king progress slowly?

His reputation as a mission harvester was hardly undeserved.

He might have been standing here talking to Pain and the others.

But his many Wood Release clones were still accepting, carrying out, and turning in missions all over the place.

Even Kuromaru, the ninja dog summon he had acquired not long ago, had joined the mission-running ranks.

Pain was very satisfied to see the Three-Tails.

He said casually, "Move the Three-Tails to..."

Before he could finish, Sixia dismissed the summon.

Pain's already cold expression grew even darker.

"What is the meaning of this?"

Kisame and Kakuzu also turned their gazes toward Sixia.

Sixia laughed it off. "Heh, don't rush. Don't rush."

"I need to use this tailed beast first."

"Once I'm done, I'll send him over."

Pain's expression shifted several times. So that was what this was about.

He had been wondering why Uzumaki Shixia had changed his ways and had not immediately brought up his mission payment upon seeing him.

For capturing the Three-Tails, Pain had given Sixia a commission mission, while Mui had issued a long-term commission mission.

Sixia intended to take the Three-Tails to Mui first and max out his mission rewards. He had already worked out what he would say.

After a brief silence, Pain finally nodded. "Bring the tailed beast back as soon as you're finished using him."

"No problem."

Sixia smiled and nodded, then set off for Kusagakure with Karin and Kakuzu.

Kusagakure was a village that excelled at learning and research.

Though they had no ninjutsu legacy of their own, they had learned many techniques from other villages.

The reason this village had failed to develop properly was that they had chosen the wrong path!

As everyone knew, they possessed neither the terrifying combat prowess of the Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju, nor Orochimaru's survival skills.

They could not afford to run wild the way Tobirama Senju, Orochimaru, and later Kabuto Yakushi did.

What they truly needed to do was stay behind the front lines, learning, researching, and developing ninjutsu.

Of course, Kusagakure's ninja could explore not only ninjutsu, but also ninja tools and the Shinobi World's technology.

The entire burden of advancing the Shinobi World's technology could not rest on Orochimaru's shoulders.

On this trip to Kusagakure, Sixia intended to have a proper discussion with Mui about that.

During his previous visit, he had already helped Mui take down Village Chief Chenye and the others.

Now Mui had the final say in how Kusagakure would develop.

The thought of unlocking another Super Draw shortly filled Sixia with excitement.

Before long, the three arrived at Kusagakure's gates.

Once a Kusagakure ninja recognized the visitors, he approached and spoke politely.

"Lord Uzumaki Shixia, please come in."

Mui had evidently instructed them to let Uzumaki Shixia straight through whenever he visited.

Sixia nodded and entered Kusagakure.

Then he looked at the ninja. "Where is Mui? Take me to him."

"Yes, sir."

With that said.

The Kusagakure ninja led the way, taking Sixia and his two companions to see Mui.

With the entire village now under Mui's control, it had seen some development.

Previously, Kusagakure had been riddled with factions, with its two major camps, the Grass Fruit and the Grass Flower, locked in a prolonged struggle.

With everyone busy scheming and plotting against each other, the village had naturally struggled to develop.

With Sixia's help, Mui had swept up Chief Chenye, Elder Ghost Horse, and all the others in one go.

The village was no longer plagued by so much infighting and petty intrigue.

Even without any particularly strenuous effort to govern it, the village was gradually improving.

Guided by the Kusagakure ninja, Sixia's group soon reached Mui's office.

Small villages like Kusagakure generally did not appoint a "Kage."

But Mui was powerful and held all of Kusagakure's authority in his hands. He was effectively its Kage without the title.

Mui was very surprised to see Sixia and his two companions in his office.

"Lord Sixia, has something happened?"

Mui could not figure out why Sixia had come to Kusagakure.

He had already sent a wood clone to Amegakure and settled the cooperation between their villages with Konan.

Sixia must have come for something else this time.

At that, Sixia gave him an enigmatic smile. "I've completed the mission you commissioned!"

"What?!"

Mui was so shocked that he shot to his feet.

He stared at Sixia, his eyes filled with disbelief.

"You've already completed it?"

"So soon? How long has it even been?!"

"Are tailed beasts really that easy to catch?"

He had worked toward this goal for who knew how long!

Yet Sixia had accomplished it so effortlessly. How could that efficiency not astound him?

He had even considered that Sixia might need at least five years to complete this long-term commission mission.

He had never imagined that, far from taking five years, Sixia would finish it in less than a month.

Faced with Mui's incredulous gaze, Sixia nodded firmly.

A jinchūriki would have been slightly more troublesome, since each one was closely watched by their ninja village.

But a lone tailed beast without a jinchūriki, like Three-Tails Isobu, was naturally easy for him to capture.

Sixia quickly continued, "Is the site ready?"

"Tailed beasts are enormous. The site needs to be large enough to hold one."

As beings made of chakra, tailed beasts could change their size.

But Three-Tails Isobu did not seem particularly bright, so Sixia decided not to discuss such matters with him.

Besides, Sixia had forced Isobu into becoming his summon. He probably would not be willing to follow his instructions.

Mui immediately replied, "Lord Sixia, please follow me."

"I've prepared everything."

Sixia nodded. "Lead the way."

As they followed Mui, the residents of Kusagakure they passed looked much better off than during Sixia's previous visit.

Thinking back to Mui's story in the original work, Sixia knew he was not actually a piece of work like Danzo. He had merely been blinded by obsession.

Sixia sighed, but spoke up anyway.

"Before you begin, though, Mui, I need to tell you something. That ninja tool may not be able to grant your wish."

Mui suddenly stopped in his tracks.

After a moment of silence, Mui said, "According to Kusagakure's records, the Box of Ultimate Bliss is a treasure of the Sage of Six Paths."

"All it takes to open the Box of Ultimate Bliss is an enormous supply of chakra."

"Once opened, the Box of Ultimate Bliss can grant a wish."

"Long ago, Kusagakure nearly conquered the Shinobi World using this ninja tool."

Mui trusted Sixia quite a bit.

But while he trusted Sixia, he also trusted history.

He did not believe there was anything wrong with the village's records, handed down from ancient times.

Sixia shook his head.

"I don't know why Kusagakure has records like that."

"But opening the Box of Ultimate Bliss won't grant a wish. It will only bring destruction and fear."

(If you can't see the image above thanking yesterday's donors, it's still under review. This character was actually designed based on the description of Konan's appearance.)