Never Mind Kakuzu-This Man Wouldn't Even Spare a Tailed Beast?

Sixia's words left Mui momentarily stunned.

He looked closely. The young man not far away was indeed Muku.

But the next instant, his pupils abruptly contracted!

Muku's body was rapidly mutating.

Muku, who had been perfectly fine just a moment ago, was swallowed completely by darkness in an instant.

Then a hideous monster appeared before them, with four sharp, snow-white fangs, no head, a face fused with its abdomen, and enormous wings.

This monster was named Gō, and it could read and manipulate people's minds.

With its ability to perceive others' thoughts and its incredible movement speed, it could evade almost any attack.

More terrifying still, its strength was extraordinary.

The monster's appearance shocked Mui so badly that his mind briefly went blank.

He could hardly accept it. If even the legendary ninja tool of the Sage of Six Paths couldn't resurrect his son, did that mean he would never see his son again?

And what exactly was the relationship between this monster and his son?

Had the Box of Ultimate Bliss turned his son into this monster?

Mui also had another deep-seated question: why did Sixia know so much about the Box of Ultimate Bliss?

The Box of Ultimate Bliss had always been Kusagakure's secret treasure. Even he didn't know many of its secrets.

Now that it had been opened, everything had unfolded exactly as Sixia had described!

Just then, Sixia's voice rang out beside Mui's ear, pulling him from his thoughts.

"Mui, this monster isn't your son. Don't do anything foolish."

"Stand back. Let me handle it."

Before Sixia finished speaking, lightning release chakra instantly covered his entire body.

His figure flashed as he launched a fierce attack at Gō.

The monster truly lived up to its ability to read and manipulate minds.

The moment Sixia attacked, it had already fled into the sky.

But against Sixia, who was practically a Humanoid Ten-Tails, its mind-reading ability wasn't nearly as effective.

For one thing, its speed couldn't keep up.

For another, it would soon get an early taste of what it meant to be ruled by fear.

"You'll never hit me!"

Gō's voice rang out after it dodged Sixia's first attack.

Sixia grinned at that.

He had only been testing Gō's abilities just now. He hadn't yet decided what to do with it.

But Gō's abilities and strength were both impressive. At the very least, it could serve as a rare summoning beast.

Of course, once Gō was killed, it would return to the Box of Ultimate Bliss.

Sixia planned to see whether beating it into submission would make it return on its own.

"Lightning Release: Lightning Oppression Horizontal Chop!"

Sixia appeared in front of Gō once more.

This time, Gō undoubtedly sensed fear in advance!

It had read Sixia's thoughts, but it couldn't keep up with his speed. There was no way to dodge this blow!

Boom!

Sixia viciously swung a knife-hand strike wrapped in lightning release chakra!

The strike combined brute force with a razor-sharp edge!

Gō's strengths lay in four areas.

Powerful attacks and swift movement.

Then there were its abilities to read and manipulate minds.

While fighting Sixia, it could perceive the thoughts in his mind.

That allowed it to dodge in time whenever Sixia attacked.

Unfortunately, Sixia surpassed it in both speed and attack power.

As a ninja whose mastery of Lightning Release had reached extraordinary heights, Sixia was faster than it, too.

After the Rumble-Rumble Fruit enhanced his physique, Sixia was almost completely immune to its mind-manipulating methods.

Other ninja might have found this monster troublesome.

But against Sixia, Gō was completely countered!

Now Sixia's Nintaijutsu, Lightning Oppression Horizontal Chop, slammed viciously into Gō's shoulder.

An immense force struck the monster, and Sixia knocked it out of the air with a single blow!

Thud!

A heavy, muffled impact rang out as Gō crashed into the ground.

Whoosh!

It beat its wings, trying to take flight again.

At the same time, it learned that Sixia intended to close in quickly and attack with Lightning Oppression Horizontal Chop.

Having read Sixia's thoughts, Gō tried to dodge again.

But the thought of dodging had barely formed when Sixia's voice rang out.

"Lightning Release: Lightning Oppression Horizontal Chop!"

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

This time, lightning swirled around Sixia's entire body as lightning release chakra poured out of him without end.

Bam! Bam! Bam!

Each time Sixia brought his knife-hand down, Gō predicted the strike perfectly, yet it simply couldn't dodge!

"Lightning Release: Liger Bomb!"

After delivering a brutal beating, Sixia suddenly seized Gō!

The lightning release chakra covering his body surged violently.

Gō plummeted from midair toward the ground below like a falling star!

Boom!

Rumble!

Suddenly, a terrifying crash like a thunderclap rang out.

Smoke and dust instantly billowed in every direction.

The shattered stone ground sent countless fragments flying.

When the clouds of dust cleared, Sixia was, naturally, completely unscathed.

Gō, however, had been slammed senseless, its chakra thrown into utter chaos.

Yet Sixia still didn't stop. He continued his assault.

"Lightning Release: Lariat!"

Boom!

Using this Nintaijutsu, Sixia struck with both hands, pummeling the monster with more than a dozen blows.

"Aaargh!"

Gō let out a series of agonized screams, then turned into a stream of black chakra and fled back into the Box of Ultimate Bliss.

Clatter!

Click!

Once Gō's chakra returned, the sound of moving machinery came from within the Box of Ultimate Bliss.

The next moment, the Box of Ultimate Bliss sealed itself again.

Watching Gō finally turn into black chakra and flee, Sixia fell into thought.

Is this thing a chakra life-form, just like a tailed beast?

When I'm in my elemental state, could I count as a kind of chakra life-form, too?

Even after Sixia made short work of Gō, Mui and the others remained somewhat dazed.

Although Sixia had thrashed Gō throughout the fight, everyone still acknowledged the monster's strength.

With their discerning eyes, they could naturally see how extraordinary Gō was.

That monster had predicted almost every one of Sixia's attacks.

But Sixia's mastery of Lightning Release was so extraordinary, and his speed surpassed Gō's by so much, that Gō had been utterly overwhelmed.

Mui had just imagined what would happen if he fought Gō himself.

He realized that, with his attack speed, almost none of his ninjutsu or Taijutsu could hit Gō.

After Sixia beat Gō back into the Box of Ultimate Bliss, Mui and the others approached.

Mui's expression was grim.

Resurrecting his son with the Box of Ultimate Bliss was something he had spent years planning.

But now the outcome was completely different from what he had imagined, leaving him deeply distressed.

Mui glanced at the distant Box of Ultimate Bliss.

He began considering how to deal with this dangerous ninja tool.

"After absorbing a large amount of chakra, the Box of Ultimate Bliss will become fully charged."

"If it opens again someday and that monster named Gō escapes, it'll be difficult to deal with."

"Should we sink this dangerous ninja tool to the bottom of the deep sea?"

"Or should we keep studying this Ninja Tool?"

As soon as that last thought arose, Mui abandoned the dangerous idea.

If the monster inside the Box of Ultimate Bliss were incredibly powerful, it might indeed be worth risking further research.

But while the monster inside was extremely dangerous to them,

it was utterly insignificant to a ninja of Uzumaki Shixia's caliber.

Something of such limited value certainly wasn't worth risking their lives to study.

While Mui was considering these matters, Sixia spoke to him with a smile.

"Mui, it's true that the Box of Ultimate Bliss is a legendary ninja tool belonging to the Sage of Six Paths, but you saw what happened just now."

"Once this ninja tool opens, it doesn't grant any wishes. It only releases a terrifying monster."

"You're getting into deep waters with this ninja tool. Kusagakure might not be able to handle it."

Mui nodded earnestly at his words.

With Kusagakure's current strength, dealing with Gō would be extremely difficult.

Even after Kusagakure had some time to grow, facing a monster like that would inevitably result in heavy casualties.

Mui frowned and looked at Sixia. "Lord Sixia, do you have a good way to deal with this dangerous ninja tool?"

Sixia immediately nodded solemnly. "Leave this ninja tool to me!"

This time, before Mui could speak, Elder Ghost Horse, who stood nearby wearing a horse-shaped zodiac mask, spoke up.

"Absolutely not!"

"No matter what, this is Kusagakure's ninja tool!"

"Besides, didn't you say we were getting into deep waters?"

"If it's such a bad thing, why do you want to take it away?"

Sixia answered with undisguised contempt.

"Elder Ghost Horse, if you paid any attention to news from the outside world, you wouldn't ask such a shallow question."

"Of course I know this ninja tool involves deep waters that Kusagakure can't handle."

"But I'm different. At the Kirigakure Black Market, they call me an ocean of missions. This little bit of water is nothing!"

"So I'll be taking this dangerous ninja tool with me."

Naturally, Elder Ghost Horse was unwilling to let Sixia take such a powerful ninja tool so easily.

But Sixia silenced him completely with just a few words.

"That monster named Gō isn't dead."

"It returned to the Box of Ultimate Bliss on its own. Who knows when it might come out again?"

"Are you sure you don't want me to take this ninja tool away?"

Sixia's words made the expressions of Elder Ghost Ox and the others beside Elder Ghost Horse change.

After a brief discussion, Elder Ghost Ox, who wore an ox-shaped zodiac headpiece, spoke on their behalf.

"Lord Sixia, if Mui has no objections, we should leave this ninja tool in your custody."

Sixia might have been exaggerating the danger, but he might also have been telling the truth!

If Sixia was right and Gō escaped again, Kusagakure could face total destruction!

In that case, letting Sixia take this dangerous ninja tool and gaining his friendship in return was a much better deal.

Besides, everyone could see that Sixia had a very good relationship with Mui, Kusagakure's current de facto leader.

Giving Sixia this ninja tool as a favor would also deepen the friendship between Mui and Sixia.

With a powerful Kage-level ninja like Sixia as Kusagakure's friend, who needed some two-wheeled, self-propelled ninja tool?

After Elder Ghost Ox made his position clear, Sixia turned his gaze to Mui.

Mui slowly nodded.

Keeping this thing in Kusagakure would be a lurking danger.

The village currently had no one powerful enough to defeat that monster.

"Oh, right, Mui. Does that mean this mission is complete?"

At those words, Mui took out a check redeemable for twenty million ryō at a Money House and handed it to Sixia.

As Sixia accepted the check from Mui, a system notification sounded.

[Long-Term Commission Mission completed!]

[Employer: Mui]

[Mission objective: Capture a tailed beast]

[Mission payment: 20 million ryo]

[Mission rank: S-Rank]

[Mission rewards: 4,000 Commission Points, one Super Draw]

His Commission Points had reached an impressive total. Kirigakure had let Uzumaki Shixia rake in a fortune.

His Commission Points had already broken into five figures.

He had enough for a full 120 ten-pulls.

He also had two Super Draws.

Once he returned and turned in the tailed beast mission, he could rake in another haul.

This was freaking awesome.

Afterward, Sixia dismissed the Three-Tails and put the Box of Ultimate Bliss into System Space.

Mui had already seen Sixia use this sort of "Space-Time Ninjutsu" many times, so he was hardly surprised anymore.

With matters in Kusagakure settled.

Sixia wasted no time, leaving Kusagakure with Kakuzu and Karin.

After traveling some distance, Sixia stopped.

Seeing him suddenly stop, Kakuzu asked in confusion, "What is it?"

Sixia said casually, "I used a Wood Clone to pick up an escort mission. Wait a little longer, and the caravan will be here."

Kakuzu was already used to news like this. There was no need to say more.

Carrying out missions while traveling had become a habit ingrained in Uzumaki Shixia's bones.

The road from Kusagakure to Kirigakure had once been dangerous, but it had been fairly safe lately.

The reason was simple: after Kusagakure and Amegakure allied, their ties had grown much closer.

This stretch of road, an essential route between Amegakure and Kusagakure, had also become far more important, and both villages had stationed plenty of ninja there.

The three returned to Amegakure without incident.

Sixia sought out Pain again to turn in the tailed beast capture mission.

Word that Sixia, Kakuzu, and Kisame had captured a tailed beast had already spread through the Akatsuki.

This time, besides Konan and Pain, who were in the clearing in Amegakure.

The other members of the Akatsuki had come as well.

"Summoning Technique!"

Boom-

White mist rose, and dust billowed in all directions.

A moment later, Three-Tails Isobu appeared before everyone, his appearance drastically changed.

When they saw what Three-Tails Isobu looked like now, everyone turned to Sixia with strange expressions.

Konan's mouth twitched as she looked at the Three-Tails, reduced to skin and bones and less than half his original size.

What exactly had this guy done to the tailed beast?

In a room in Amegakure Tower, Nagato, confined to the Life-Support Device, wore an equally strange expression.

"How did that guy Uzumaki Shixia leave a tailed beast looking so sickly and emaciated in just a few days?"

The other members of the Akatsuki also looked at Sixia with suspicion and bewilderment.

Kakuzu, who knew the truth, naturally could not be bothered to explain it to everyone.

He had already found a comfortable spot to sit down, rest, and recover his strength.

Every extra word meant one less second of recovery.

An essential skill for partnering with Uzumaki Shixia was learning to squeeze in rest whenever an opportunity arose. Otherwise, sooner or later, you would work yourself to death.