Chapter 24: Since the mission has already been turned in, doesn't that mean I can accept a new one?

After the system notification finished, Uzumaki Si Xia was completely stunned.

Why did this super lottery require completing the mission first before granting the reward? Was it because this mission had a clear objective? What a waste of excitement.

Si Xia shook his head. Still, this mission to capture a Tailed Beast was quite lucrative. One job, two paychecks. With this in mind, he hoisted the soundly sleeping Karin onto his back, a move he had performed countless times before. He then navigated with practiced ease to Kakuzu’s door and kicked it open!

"Bang!"

Following the door-shattering sound, Si Xia’s death-knell voice reached Kakuzu’s ears. Kakuzu had just figured it was about time to rest, and feeling a wave of exhaustion, he had prepared to sleep. He never expected that Si Xia, that mission-crazed thug, would barge right in! For a split second, one of Kakuzu’s hearts nearly gave out from the shock.

"Little Kaku!"
"Stop sleeping, stop sleeping!"
"There's another mission!"

Kakuzu: "..."

After letting out a sigh, Kakuzu kept a straight face and said seriously, "It is rest time now! Didn't we just hand in a mission?"

Si Xia replied as if it were only natural, "Yeah, and since we just handed in a mission, that means we’re free to take on a new one, right? The reward for this new mission is incredibly generous! Little Kaku, how can you waste precious mission time on such a meaningless activity as sleeping?"

Kakuzu shook his head, "I am resting no matter what you say this time! I won't go on any missions unless I've had proper rest."

"Sigh!" Si Xia exhaled, "I guess there’s no helping it then."

With that, he carried Karin on his back and slung Kakuzu over his shoulder, heading toward the lounge shared by Itachi Uchiha and Kisame Hoshigaki.

"Knock, knock, knock!"

After he knocked, Itachi opened the door, looking at him with a calm expression. "What is it?"

Si Xia said casually, "Itachi-san, for the next mission, I need Kisame’s help. I’ve already spoken to Pain about this."

Hearing this, Itachi stepped aside. Not far behind him, Kisame was sitting on the sofa with a relaxed posture. Kisame had, of course, overheard the conversation between Si Xia and Itachi.

"Heh!"
"Looks like another exhilarating battle is waiting for me."

Kisame rose from the sofa, feeling quite expectant about this mission. Could there really be a mission that even a guy like Si Xia found troublesome?

At this moment, Kakuzu had already wriggled out of Si Xia’s armpit. Seeing the excitement in Kisame’s eyes, he couldn't help but feel a twinge of sympathy. When he first started working with Si Xia, he had been just as excited.

Kisame didn't delay. He grabbed his great sword, Samehada, and left with Si Xia’s group.

On the road from the Land of Rain to the Land of Water, a merchant caravan was traveling. In the last carriage of the caravan, there were four figures. These four consisted of two middle-aged men, a lazy-looking handsome youth, and a beautiful young girl who was extremely curious about her surroundings. They were, of course, Si Xia’s party. The reason they were with the merchant caravan was that Si Xia had taken an escort mission on the way.

"Heh, so you can even travel like this?"
"You even take an escort mission to hitch a ride while on your way to another mission."
"Uzumaki Si Xia, I really have to hand it to you."
"You deserve to make that money!"

Kisame leaned against the carriage, giving a thumbs-up and clicking his tongue in wonder. After all, when he and Itachi went on missions, they almost always relied on their own two legs.

Furthermore, Si Xia never wasted a single minute. In the four-person team, the newcomer was still marveling and looking around, while the veteran had already seized the time to lie flat, not missing a single chance to sleep. Working with Si Xia was no joke. He was a "mission thug." No, wait! A "mission perpetual motion machine." As long as there were missions, he could continue performing them indefinitely. After all, he had plenty of chakra, and his wood clones were just sitting idle anyway.

"Kakuzu, is this how you and this kid always perform missions?" Kisame, full of energy, chatted quite comfortably with Kakuzu.

Kakuzu originally didn't want to engage with Kisame, so he turned over to find a more comfortable position, facing away from him. But in the end, he gave Kisame a piece of well-meaning advice. "Hurry up and get some rest."

After saying that, Kakuzu fell silent. Teaming up with Si Xia was basically working a 24/7 shift. At any time of the day, Si Xia might take on a mission that required both of them to move out. This kind of situation happened seven times a week, at any hour—morning, noon, or night—meaning it could occur at any given moment. This had forced Kakuzu to develop the habit of grabbing any opportunity to rest while on the road. Otherwise, let alone him, even Orochimaru—who was said to be the furthest from death in the ninja world—would have been worn to the bone!

"Swish—"

At that moment, a wood clone of Si Xia arrived in the carriage using the Body Flicker Technique, covered in the scent of blood. Si Xia nodded and said casually, "The escort mission is complete. Now, we can just wait to arrive at our destination."

As it turned out, he was absolutely right. The rest of the journey was smooth and uneventful. The group of four followed the caravan and entered the Hidden Mist Village without any trouble.

...

After the Fourth Mizukage, Yagura Karatachi, died, the village once known as the "Village of the Bloody Mist" gradually began to restore communication with the outside world under the management of the Elder Gengetsu. Otherwise, entering the Hidden Mist Village would have been quite a troublesome affair.

Upon arriving in the village, Si Xia led the group to find an onsen inn to rest. It couldn't compare to the inns in the Land of Hot Water, of course, but being able to stay in an inn was good enough; there was no need to be so picky.

At the inn, Kisame smiled and said, "It’s been a long time since I’ve been back to the Hidden Mist. Before the mission starts, I’m going out alone to look around and get a feel for the situation."

Kakuzu replied without hesitation, "Before the mission starts, I need to conserve my energy. Don't disturb me with other trivial matters." It was clear that he had been overworked for a long time and was severely sleep-deprived.

Si Xia didn't push it this time and took Karin directly to the Hidden Mist Village’s black market. The black market here wasn't as blatant as the one in the Hidden Mist’s counterpart in the Land of Rain. The Hidden Rain was completely under Pain’s control, and Pain tacitly allowed the existence of the black market. It increased the village's income, boosted the earnings of its ninjas, and provided a way to gather intelligence. Three birds with one stone—of course, Pain would allow it. In other villages, especially the major ones, the black market had to stay in the shadows and operate secretly. In some villages, a proper black market might not even exist at all.

This made Si Xia wonder if he should set a small goal: to become the boss of the entire ninja world’s black market! To make the black market where missions are posted and accepted run smoothly across the entire world? That way, no matter where he went, it would be easy to complete and hand in his missions.

Using his "Mind’s Eye" sensory ability, Si Xia wandered around the Hidden Mist Village for a good while before finding the location of the black market. It was tucked away in a corner of a busy street, a quiet spot amidst the noise.

When Si Xia and Karin arrived, the black market manager’s eyes lit up. A handsome red-haired man, a red-haired girl, and black cloaks with red clouds! It matched! Everything matched! The name "Uzumaki Si Xia" was now famous in all the major black markets. He was the "mission-killing machine" who had single-handedly emptied out the Hidden Rain’s black market. But Si Xia’s range of activity was mostly around the Land of Rain. Why had he come to the Hidden Mist?

Seeing Si Xia and Karin, the manager knew he had hit the jackpot! His intuition was completely correct, as Si Xia immediately placed a stack of mission slips on the counter.

"These are?" the manager asked, somewhat puzzled.

Si Xia said casually, "Mission slips. I’ve already completed all of these, and the reports are detailed on the slips." As he spoke, he took a box out of his system space and opened it; inside were various strange and bizarre items. "These are the proofs of completion. Feel free to inspect them."

The manager looked at the thick stack of slips in his hand, which felt like a deck of playing cards, his eyes dazed. Black markets in different villages were, to some extent, connected. Many missions could be handed in at black markets in nearby villages. The manager carefully read through the mission reports and inspected the proofs. Once finished, he nodded and said, "The total reward for these missions is 2.2 million ryo. Do you want cash or a bank check?"

Si Xia clicked his tongue. That was a bit low! Sigh, well, he hadn't run into any tough characters along the way anyway. "After completing so many miscellaneous tasks, the total pay barely reaches the fraction of a single major bounty?" He added, "Give me half in cash, and the rest in a bank check."

The manager nodded and immediately went to process it. Karin, the human money-counting machine, went to work. Si Xia patted Karin’s head and said, "I’m going to look at the mission board here; I’ll leave the money counting to you." Karin nodded earnestly.

Si Xia walked over to the mission board and began to browse.

[Target: Elder Gengetsu]
[Bounty: 30 million for capture / 15 million for kill]
[Description: Assassinate the current de facto leader of the Hidden Mist, Elder Gengetsu. Under his leadership, the village has deviated from the established path of the Fourth Mizukage, and he will lead the village to ruin!]

Looking at this slip, Si Xia guessed it was a bounty placed on Gengetsu by the remnants of the Fourth Mizukage’s faction. He quickly began to look at the second slip.

[Target: Mei Terumi]
[Bounty: 20 million for capture / 10 million for kill]
[Description: Elite Jonin of the Hidden Mist, powerful, a loyal lackey of Gengetsu, and his future successor. If the village remains in their hands, it will surely be doomed!]

Si Xia couldn't help but chuckle when he saw this one. The slip included a photo of Mei Terumi along with other details. In the photo, she was wearing a blue robe with a deep neckline, showing off her proud figure, and her long bangs covered her right eye, making her look both mature and seductive.

Si Xia flipped through a few more slips and found that those being targeted were all high-ranking officials of the Hidden Mist. When he saw another slip, he almost laughed out loud.

[Target: Chojuro]
[Bounty: 10 million for capture / 5 million for kill]
[Description: A lackey’s lackey! A genius of the Hidden Mist, wielder of the twin blades Hiramekarei, and one of Mei Terumi’s confidants.]

Si Xia was truly amused this time; the description of Chojuro on the slip was actually "a lackey’s lackey." To put it bluntly, he was the underling’s underling. Besides, those guys hiding in the shadows of the Hidden Mist were far too dismissive of the future Sixth Mizukage, Chojuro. The bounty on him was a mere 10 million ryo.

Si Xia, of course, wasn't just looking at these bounties for fun. He intended to take every single one of them. He could accept all these bounty missions in Kakuzu’s name.