Obito it is! I'll pay that fee!

Karin had already activated her eternal Mangekyō Sharingan and summoned her pink Gundam.

Hearing Karin's words, Sixia smiled with narrowed eyes.

"Don't worry. We were just talking business."

"But he didn't seem sincere enough."

After saying that, Sixia couldn't help grumbling to himself.

Obito had come looking to pick a fight without even preparing enough money for the commission. What a waste of his time.

Still, it wasn't all bad. At least he now had a handle on Obito's movements.

Yes, in that brief span of time, Sixia had already left a mark inside Obito's Kamui Dimension.

If he wanted to catch Obito, there was no way Obito could escape.

Just then, a figure bounded through the woods and arrived before them.

The ninja who had tracked them down was none other than Orochimaru.

As Orochimaru approached, he saw Karin enveloped in her pink Susanoo.

The sight of the dazzling eternal Mangekyō Sharingan in Karin's eyes filled Orochimaru with envy.

After fighting Itachi, he had realized just how terrifying the Sharingan was.

If Sixia was willing to sell Karin to him, that would save him a lot of trouble.

But Orochimaru didn't bring it up. He worried that Karin would come charging at him in her Gundam, and that would be quite a headache.

His attack on Itachi had also taught him a lesson!

Professional work was best left to professionals!

If he had sent Sixia to deal with Itachi, the outcome would surely have been different.

Of course, Sixia had already said he didn't want to break with the Akatsuki, so he wouldn't capture Itachi.

Under those circumstances, Obito had become Orochimaru's only option.

After finding Sixia, Orochimaru let out a helpless sigh.

Then he got straight to the point. "Sixia, Obito it is! I'll pay that fee!"

Sixia hadn't expected Orochimaru to return so soon. After all, the price he had quoted was anything but low.

It wasn't tens of millions of ryō, but a staggering commission fee of one hundred million ryō.

Of course, Orochimaru would certainly get his money's worth by hiring him.

Across the entire Shinobi World, there probably wasn't another mercenary who could take this job.

After all, Obito had Kamui. Without space-time ninjutsu, catching the guy was simply impossible.

Obito's other Sharingan was with Kakashi, old Mr. Fifty-Fifty.

An ordinary mercenary would struggle even to uncover that information.

Let alone rush into Konoha and take Kakashi's Sharingan.

In truth, the Sharingan was as much a burden to Kakashi as it was a boon.

He didn't have the Uzumaki Clan's constitution or their vast reserves of chakra to power the Sharingan.

Nor did he have Hashirama cells that would let him use the Sharingan freely.

Finally, he only had one Sharingan, which limited its value.

And judging by his later development of Lightning Release Ninjutsu: Purple Lightning, which didn't require the Sharingan's assistance...

Even without the Sharingan, this Konoha prodigy could have forged a different path to greatness.

On the shaded woodland path, Orochimaru waited for Sixia's reply after finishing his pitch.

As far as he was concerned, only Sixia could complete this mission.

Sixia thought so too, though he would be better off avoiding the main gate when he went to Konoha.

The reason was simple: the two ninja guarding Konoha's main gate might be Six Paths-level security guards.

After all, whether it was Nagato or anyone else who invaded Konoha later, they almost never used the main gate.

Otherwise, they probably wouldn't have made it past Six Paths Izumo Kamizuki and Six Paths Kotetsu Hagane.

And that wasn't all. There were precautions to take after entering Konoha, too.

Inside Konoha, chunin, special jōnin, jonin, elite jonin, and even the Kage weren't worth worrying about.

But if you ran into a Konoha genin, you had to be on the highest possible alert.

It sounded like something out of Konoha Mysteries, but it was absolutely true!

Back then, Kirigakure's mighty Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist had been unaware of this crucial intelligence.

That was why, during their invasion of Konoha, a single Konoha genin had reduced the illustrious Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist to a merry trio.

There were plenty of other examples.

Take Konoha's eternal genin, Maruboshi Kosuke. Kisame Hoshigaki needed a full forty-four hand seals to perform Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique.

This eternal genin of Konoha needed only four hand seals to unleash Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique.

Other people might not know these bits of intelligence that sounded like Konoha Mysteries, but Sixia knew them inside out.

So he wasn't planning to turn down Orochimaru's commission mission.

The only question was whether Orochimaru could afford such a hefty fee.

Sixia looked at Orochimaru and asked exactly that.

"Orochimaru, you've already put together one hundred million ryō?"

"You have so many research bases, so much equipment and material to buy, and a whole crowd of subordinates to support."

"Can you really cough up one hundred million ryō? You'd better not be messing with me. The consequences would be serious."

"Your research burns through money. Can you really save up one hundred million ryō for this commission?"

Sixia knew Orochimaru quite well, and as he casually rattled off those details, laying all of Orochimaru's secrets bare...

Orochimaru's expression turned extremely ugly.

What mattered most in the Shinobi World?

There were many answers to that question, but one of them was undoubtedly-intelligence!

Why?

Asuma Sarutobi of the Twelve Guardian Ninja, Jiraiya of the Legendary Sannin, and Kirigakure's Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist...

All of them had paid a bloody price because of failures in intelligence.

Orochimaru's research bases were scattered all across the Shinobi World.

He possessed a powerful intelligence network and numerous subordinates working for him.

For his own safety, he could move freely between his various hideouts.

That left both Konoha and the Akatsuki unable to do anything about him.

Yet Sixia had casually revealed all this vital information about him. It would have been strange if Orochimaru hadn't looked upset.

After a moment of silence, Orochimaru said, "I don't have it right now, but I will soon."

Orochimaru was unwilling to pay that sum out of his own pocket, and he couldn't afford it anyway.

But he had a way to obtain the money.

As long as Sixia accepted the mission, he could get moving and secure the funds.

He had no intention of messing with Sixia, either. Given the enormous gap in their current strength...

If he dared try anything underhanded, Sixia might turn right around and accept a commission from Konoha to arrest him, capturing him on the spot as a missing-nin.

Orochimaru soon continued.

"According to the information you gave me earlier, Obito's other Sharingan is in Konoha. So you can get started right away. I hope you'll bring me a whole, intact Uchiha when the time comes, not a one-eyed Uchiha!"

Unfortunately, Shisui was already dead. Otherwise, that handsome fellow who could use Susanoo with one eye would have objected.

[Ding! New commission mission detected!]

[Employer: Orochimaru]

[Mission objective: Capture Obito and retrieve his other Sharingan.]

[Payment: 100 million ryō]

[Mission rank: S-Rank]

[Mission reward: 100,000 commission points]

With a mission notification finally appearing again, Sixia stopped hesitating.

This meant Orochimaru wasn't playing any tricks. He really had a way to produce the staggering one hundred million ryō needed to hire Sixia for this mission.

After hearing Orochimaru out, Sixia nodded casually.

"Relax. Leave it to me. I'm a professional!"

Orochimaru believed that completely.

After all, there probably wasn't another ninja in the entire Shinobi World who had completed so many commission missions while maintaining a one-hundred-percent success rate.

When it came to capturing a living Uchiha, Sixia had only been talking nonsense with Orochimaru before.

He hadn't believed Orochimaru would actually hire him for the mission at such an exorbitant price.

Now that Orochimaru had really come to him, he couldn't help thinking to himself.

Orochimaru is actually serious. I wonder if he suddenly wised up, or if something gave him a shock.

After Sixia agreed to accept the commission mission, Orochimaru asked another question.

"How long will you need to complete this commission mission?"

Instead of answering, Sixia asked, "How soon do you need me to complete it?"

Orochimaru considered it, then said, "Can I see a living Uchiha with both Sharingan intact in three months?"

Sixia nodded decisively. "No problem. You can count on me!"

"All you need to do is prepare the commission fee you owe me, then sit back and wait for the news!"

Of course, Orochimaru had no doubts about Sixia's professional abilities.

So after entrusting the mission to Sixia, he prepared to secure the commission money.

He would have to find a sucker to foot the bill.

His name might contain the character for "big," but he certainly wasn't a big sucker.

Meanwhile, at Konoha's Root Base.

"Achoo!"

Shimura Danzō sneezed for no apparent reason.

He couldn't help thinking, There are only a handful of those inherently evil Uchiha left. Can't they give it a rest?

Clearly, his sudden, unexplained sneeze had to have something to do with the inherently evil Uchiha Clan!

Shimura Danzō probably would never have guessed that, convoluted as the chain of connections was, this incident really did involve the Uchiha Clan!

Orochimaru wanted to hire Sixia to capture a living Uchiha, but he couldn't bear to pay for it, so he could only turn to his old friend.

And if Shimura Danzō wanted Orochimaru to help him with certain experiments and research, he would have to pay up.

In other words, because of the Uchiha Clan, he would indirectly lose one hundred million ryō!

Back with Sixia, after Orochimaru left, he also prepared to carry out the mission.

If he were being asked to deal with another living Uchiha, Sixia might have needed to weigh the pros and cons.

But dealing with Obito, the Shinobi World's resident shit-stirrer who hid his tears in Kamui, required no consideration at all.

Besides, Obito had flashed his fancy contact lenses at him not long ago, showing absolutely no respect for his tattoos!

As for Orochimaru, he hadn't been bluffing Sixia.

As soon as he left Sixia, he contacted Konoha's First Pot Kage, Shimura Danzō, intending to squeeze some research funding out of him.

Many of Danzo's undertakings depended on technical support from Orochimaru, his highly paid specialist.

Without it, there would be very little that one-eyed old man could accomplish.

As Orochimaru traveled alone, he was in an excellent mood.

He thought to himself, That brat Uzumaki Shixia's abilities are beyond question.

And judging by Itachi's performance and what I currently know about the Sharingan...

The Uchiha Clan really does provide perfect vessels.

Once I have an Uchiha body, with my talent, I'll be able to bring out the full extent of the Uchiha Clan's power in the shortest possible time.

As Orochimaru set his plans in motion, Sixia got moving as well.

Karin came up beside Sixia and asked curiously.

"Sixia, are we going to catch Obito next, and visit Konoha too?"

The Land of Whirlpools and Konoha had been exceptionally close allies.

Unfortunately, when the Land of Whirlpools fell, Konoha had been too occupied with its own troubles to lend its little brother a hand.

As a descendant of the Uzumaki Clan from the Land of Whirlpools, Karin was familiar with Konoha, her homeland's former ally.

She was quite curious about Konoha, but she had never visited it.

Karin was delighted that she could go sightseeing in Konoha-scratch sightseeing-that she could accompany Sixia to Konoha on a mission this time.

After Karin asked, Sixia nodded earnestly.

"That's right, Karin. We're going to be busy again."

"But before we go to Konoha, I need to tell you about Konoha Mysteries."

Confusion appeared in Karin's dazzling Uchiha contact lenses. Tilting her head, she asked, "Konoha Mysteries? What's that?"

Sixia said with a completely straight face, "It's a collection of little-known, special intelligence about Konoha."

Hearing that, Karin nodded and began listening attentively.

As Sixia led her onward, he said casually.

"First, try not to use the Sharingan in or around Konoha."

"Otherwise, there's a good chance you'll be disposed of as one of the inherently evil Uchiha."

"Second, if you meet a ninja dressed like a green kappa monster, never mention youth in front of him."

"Anything related to youth could cause a ninja dressed like that green kappa monster to behave abnormally."

"And another thing..."

Sixia told Karin all sorts of information about Konoha, one piece after another, without pausing.

Karin listened so intently that she was just short of pulling a little notebook out of her Kamui Dimension to jot down Sixia's nonsense.

After all, according to Sixia, Konoha had more talent than it knew what to do with.

Two ninja suspected of possessing Six Paths-level combat power could only work as gate guards.

Another ninja with Six Paths-level combat power had been forced by the fierce competition to abandon his ninja career and switch to running a ramen shop.

After teasing Karin for a while, Sixia activated Kāma's space-time transportation ability.

A dark red, black hole-like Space-Time Portal formed in front of him and Karin.

The next moment, when they reappeared, the two were back in their room.

Sixia said casually, "Karin-chan, pack up. We're heading out on a long trip!"

"Okay!"

At his words, Karin bustled around the bedroom, packing things up.

Then she went to the kitchen and put the kitchen utensils, cookware, and other items into her Kamui Dimension.

Her use of the Sharingan was still at the stage of stir-frying with a Gundam.

Back when the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju, had seen Madara Uchiha use Susanoo to armor a tailed beast, he had thought Madara was very creative.

If he saw Karin stir-frying with a Gundam, he would surely marvel at how Madara Uchiha's creativity had found a successor in her.

Whether Karin had inherited the Uchiha's power was hard to say, but she had definitely inherited their creativity!

Once Karin finished packing, Sixia hurried with her to Kakuzu's door and kicked it open!

This time, however, the scene he had imagined-Kakuzu jumping out of bed in fright-failed to materialize.

Inside his room, Kakuzu sat calmly on the bed with his legs leisurely crossed.

It looked as though he had been waiting for Sixia all along.