Chapter 46: Obito: Mere Sixia, nothing special at all

After much deliberation, paying 1 billion taels to hire Uzumaki Shixia to bring him a living member of the Uchiha clan seemed to be the only option.

To be more precise, after turning around in circles for quite a while, Uchiha Obito remained his sole option.

Seeing Orochimaru deep in thought beside him, Shixia was not in a hurry. He prepared to wait for Orochimaru to thoroughly digest this information.

At the same time, he thought to himself: "Orochimaru shouldn't be unable to scrape together 1 billion taels, right?"

"1 billion taels sounds like a lot, but in reality, it isn't much."

After waiting for a while and seeing that Orochimaru's expression was still shifting uncertainly, Shixia had no choice but to speak up.

"Orochimaru, have you made up your mind?"

Orochimaru paused and asked, "Are there really only the last three living members of the Uchiha clan left in the ninja world?"

Shixia nodded with a serious expression: "That's right. A mercenary never lies. My honesty and reliability are obvious to everyone in the Akatsuki organization. Don't tell me you weren't aware of this."

Orochimaru continued to inquire: "Is the intel accurate that unless one has a matched pair of Sharingan, one cannot fully unleash the power of the Sharingan?"

There was no help for it. After careful consideration just now, Obito should indeed be his only choice.

And to turn Obito from having one eye into having two eyes, there was an easier method.

Shixia had a channel to acquire Sharingan; as long as Obito was captured, another Sharingan could be transplanted into him.

However, if it had to be Obito's original, matching pair of Sharingan, that would require moving against Konoha.

Right now, he had no desire to confront Konoha head-on.

Shixia nodded without hesitation: "Naturally. Don't doubt my professionalism."

Upon hearing this, Orochimaru continued: "Do you happen to have a matched pair of Sharingan on hand? Why not just transplant them to Uchiha Obito to replace his single eye?"

Shixia realized that Orochimaru truly lived up to his reputation as a researcher, as his perspective was indeed quite tricky.

Logically speaking, transplanting a matched pair of Sharingan to Obito should allow all the abilities of the Sharingan to be used normally.

Shixia pondered for a moment before explaining: "The abilities of Mangekyo Sharingan are vastly different. Some abilities are extremely useful, while others have limited utility."

At this point, Shixia thought of a very special Mangekyo Sharingan ability, which was the infamous Amaterasu.

Judging from its description, this ability was immensely powerful.

It could ignite everything it touched and burn it completely to ashes before finally extinguishing.

Yet in actual combat, the greatest achievement of this ability was claiming one of the arms of the Fourth Raikage, A.

When sparring with other ninja, this ability was frequently easily countered by such simple tricks as shedding one's clothes.

After thinking deeply for a while, Orochimaru did not make an immediate decision.

Looking at Shixia, he said seriously: "I need to combine all the information I learned today and think very carefully before I can make a decision."

Orochimaru needed some time to seriously think, analyze, and weigh the pros and cons.

Hearing Orochimaru's words, Shixia did not mind and casually said:

"Take your time thinking. Once you've figured it out, get the money ready. You pay, I work."

After quoting an astronomical price to Orochimaru, Shixia left Orochimaru's base, taking Karin with him.

Orochimaru's research capabilities were formidable, but he had very little interest in making money.

Consequently, his research breakthroughs were rarely used to turn a profit.

Shixia had no idea whether Orochimaru would be able to pull off the exorbitant sum he had demanded.

Probably... yes?

After all, this was Orochimaru!

As the two emerged from Orochimaru's base, Karin asked casually:

"Shixia, is there any specific food you've been craving?"

"I can study culinary arts specifically for it!"

Hearing this, Shixia shook his head.

"Karin-chan, the path of cooking is a long journey."

"It's enough for you to learn to make some simple foods for now, like instant noodles, for instance."

Karin was stunned for a second, but a moment later she realized that Shixia was teasing her!

"Shixia, you're crushing a culinary genius!"

Karin crossed her arms angrily in front of her chest, pouting her little mouth with a displeased expression.

Seeing Karin's puffing, cute appearance, Shixia only felt the urge to ruffle her smooth red hair into a bird's nest.

Oh, you foolish little sister, tsundere is already out of style!

The corners of Shixia's lips curved up slightly as he suddenly had a stroke of genius.

The "Fright Apple" he had drawn previously—

It would be just right to use it to coax Karin.

The "Fright Apple" was a unique fruit from the Toriko world.

Upon being frightened, the facial pattern on the apple would change and acquire a level.

The greater the fear the Fright Apple experienced, the more exaggerated its expression would become, and the higher the level it would attain.

The maximum level for a Fright Apple was 100. Shixia was also a bit curious about what an 80-level Fright Apple actually tasted like.

With that thought, he retrieved a Fright Apple from the system space.

The higher the level of the Fright Apple, the better the texture and taste.

A Fright Apple of such a high level was undoubtedly an incomparable delicacy.

To put it without exaggeration, even Danzo would want to betray the village just after tasting it!

Having obtained two 80-level Fright Apples, Shixia walked up to Karin with a smile.

"Karin-chan, I have some really delicious fruit for you. Do you want to eat it?"

Hearing this, Karin turned her little head away.

Then she said in a soft, sweet voice: "Since you've put it that way, I'll reluctantly give it a try."

Thinking back to what she said, Shixia chuckled and handed one of the Fright Apples over.

At first, Karin thought the delicious fruit Shixia mentioned was just a regular apple.

The moment she reached out her little hand to take the apple from Shixia's grip, she was so startled she nearly jumped, wearing an expression of utter disgust.

"Ah—"

"Ugh, Shixia, this fruit is so ugly!"

"This fruit looks so creepy right off the bat!"

"It doesn't look edible at all!"

Seeing Karin's tiny, expressive face, Shixia couldn't help but be immensely amused.

This was a goodie obtained only from a medium-level draw; how could it possibly taste bad?

So Shixia chuckled and said: "Karin-chan, you can't judge an apple by its cover, just like my handsomeness cannot be measured."

As he spoke, he picked up the ugly-looking Fright Apple in his hand and took a bite.

"Crunch!"

With that single bite, it felt as though an electric current flashed instantly across Shixia's mind.

The fresh and sweet apple aroma burst forth on Shixia's taste buds.

A refreshing sensation filled his entire being.

Every single cell in his body seemed to be shouting out at that moment: "Delicious," "Delicious," "It's simply too delicious!"

Then Karin saw Shixia start to savor this extremely strange-looking fruit with an expression of sheer enjoyment.

An indescribable fruity fragrance also began to diffuse through the air.

Karin couldn't help but swallow hard.

Having spent this much time with Shixia, Karin was certain that Shixia was definitely enjoying fine food right now and not putting on an act.

Furthermore, in Karin's eyes, Shixia was indeed the most handsome.

Since he was using his handsomeness as a guarantee, he wasn't playing tricks on her.

Thinking of this, Karin licked her cherry lips and took a bite.

"Crunch!"

In an instant, an electric current darted continuously through her mind.

The wonderful gustatory experience traveled from the tip of her tongue to the root, and then spread throughout her entire body, making every cell in Karin's body feel as though it had frozen in place!

"This..."

"How can there be such a delicious fruit?"

"A fruit that looks like an apple is actually miraculously delicious!"

At that moment, Karin was utterly dumbfounded!

Just like Shixia, she devoured the bizarre-looking Fright Apple clean down to the core.

Even after finishing one Fright Apple, Karin still felt a lingering sense of wanting more.

Shixia smiled at Karin and said, "Well, did I lie to you?"

"Yeah!"

Karin savored the lingering satisfaction.

"Shixia, I'm going to work hard too and learn to cook delicious food!"

Hearing Karin say this, Shixia immediately replied with a mental 'you really don't have to.'

Among the Uzumaki clan, he had never seen anyone with good cooking skills.

He even suspected that Naruto didn't suffer too badly from drinking expired milk.

It was very likely because Namikaze Minato had eaten too much of Kushina's dark cuisine, developing a certain "toxin resistance," and then passed this resistance on to Naruto.

Naturally, he wouldn't dampen Karin's enthusiasm for learning culinary arts.

Karin was still young, so one could only say her future was full of promise.

At that moment, someone suddenly blocked their path, prompting Shixia to cast a casual glance.

Upon looking, he instantly became amused; the newcomer was actually an acquaintance!

Standing on the shaded path was a figure draped in a gray robe, wearing a tiger-striped mask over his face.

This person was none other than Uchiha Obito—the guy who went by the moniker of Uchiha Madara and successfully tricked Nagato into going off the deep end!

Shixia was pleasantly surprised.

His luck was quite good today!

He had just schemed to have Orochimaru capture Obito, and the man himself had delivered himself right to their doorstep?

Upon seeing the other party, Shixia didn't expose his identity, instead wearing a sly smile.

"Oi~ isn't this the mysterious masked man? What are you doing blocking my path? Are you planning to hire me for a mission?"

Across the shaded path, upon hearing Shixia's words, Obito chuckled and spoke up: "That's right. I have quite a few mission commissions on hand, and only a powerful ninja like Your Excellency Shixia is capable of handling them."

While speaking, Obito approached Shixia unhurriedly and steadily.

If Shimura Danzo were here, he would likely blurt out: "Evil Uchiha brat, stay away from me!"

However, the person facing Obito was Shixia, so Shixia paid no mind to Obito closing in.

Hearing Obito's somewhat suspicious remark just moments ago, Shixia asked with lingering interest:

"Let's hear it, what kind of commission is it?"

Without answering directly, Obito casually spoke as he continued walking forward.

"Your Excellency Shixia might as well take a guess, seeing as the mission I want to commission is..."

By this point, the distance between Obito and Shixia had already closed significantly.

Therefore, before he even finished his sentence, he directly made his move!

"Whoosh—"

Arriving right in front of Shixia, Obito abruptly reached out to grab him.

Obito let out an arrogant Uchiha laugh.

"Morada!!"

Obito's strike came with extreme suddenness.

Who could have guessed that this fellow was chatting and laughing amicably just a moment ago, only to flip faces in the next instant!

His attack was exceptionally sudden, and the speed of his strike was astonishingly fast.

In order to forge a world with Rin, he had struggled hard and kept his goals crystal clear; hence, his actions were not only decisive and free of hesitation, but also ruthless.

When he said he would wipe out the entire clan, he wiped out the entire clan!

Yet, seeing Obito's movement, Shixia merely smiled playfully.

The split second Obito launched his attack, he had perceived it right away.

His current strength was at the Super-Kage level, putting a vast gap between Obito's power and his own.

To an ordinary Kage-level ninja, Obito's surprise attack might have caught them off guard.

But given Obito's speed of attack, in his eyes, it was no different from a turtle.

Obito's trajectory of attack was played out in slow motion, frame by frame, right before his eyes.

He could easily dodge it now, or simply slam Obito into the ground with a single slap.

However, seeing Obito reach out to grab him, he offered no resistance, merely watching Obito with amused interest.

He did this for two reasons!

First, it was unnecessary; he was extremely familiar with Obito's moves.

Obito's sudden act of hostility clearly stemmed from an intent to teleport him into the Kamui dimension.

Teleportation, was it? As if treating it like something only he could do.

Besides, for a guy playing with colored contact lenses to try and pick a fight with someone like him playing with tattoos was utterly ridiculous!

Second, Shixia wanted to see what Obito was trying to achieve by suddenly attacking him.

Logically speaking, Obito had no reason to make a move against him.

What he was doing right now didn't seem to conflict in any major way with Obito's schemes.

Not only that, but he had even captured the Three-Tails Isobu in advance.

Instead of bringing gifts to express gratitude in person, Obito had actually ambushed him on the road—it was truly baffling.

Since Shixia had completely zero intention of resisting, Obito's hand landed solidly on Shixia's shoulder.

Grasping Shixia's shoulder, Obito felt pleasantly surprised, even somewhat smug.

He had reviewed Shixia's intel and estimated that even with a sudden assault, his success rate would be under ten percent!

However, he had Kamui to rely on; Shixia was a taijutsu ninja who specialized in Lightning Release, so even if he couldn't win, he could easily remain undefeated with the help of intangibility.

That was why he came!

Yet he never dreamed that he would succeed so effortlessly!

While activating his dojutsu, Obito couldn't help but ponder to himself inwardly.

"Ha!"

"It looks like the intel obtained from Nagato and other channels had quite a few problems."

"All that intelligence uniformly talked about how formidable Uzumaki Shixia was."

"According to the reports, I shouldn't have had any chance of succeeding this time."

"And yet, upon truly clashing with Uzumaki Shixia this time, this guy isn't nearly as formidable as the reports claimed; he fell into the trap so easily!"

At least for now, Obito felt that Shixia's strength was mediocre at best.

Little did he know, another thought had actually flashed through Shixia's mind just a moment ago.

That was to seize him by the throat, imitate the tones of the Second Hokage and Shimura Danzo, and drop the line:

"Evil Uchiha brat, is that all you've got?"

Obito was lucky; Shixia was in a good mood today and had no intention of crushing his spirits.

The moment Obito's dojutsu activated, a transparent vortex ripple instantly enveloped Shixia.

The next instant, Shixia was directly transported by Obito into the Kamui dimension.

"Hum—"

Inside the Kamui dimension, a burst of transparent vortex ripples materialized.

Shixia's body landed atop a towering cubic block.

One had to admit, the Sharingan of the Uchiha clan was truly wondrous.

When awakening their eyes, they would acquire certain fascinating abilities based on their personal states and psychological activities.

If one had sufficient luck and boundless imagination, the awakening of the Sharingan might yield abilities that defied the heavens.

Just like Obito-boy's Kamui, it was still quite formidable in the era of colored contacts.

When the era of tattoos descended, however, Kamui's situation became somewhat worrisome.

Because any ninja possessing a "Karma" seal possessed space-time teleportation capabilities, allowing them to go wherever they pleased.

Obito-boy's Kamui was an ability he only attained because the person he cherished most died right before his eyes.

As a result, when any tattooed guy could teleport through space, how was Obito-boy supposed to survive in the ninja world?

Therefore.

Being brought to this place by Obito, Shixia remained completely calm, without a shred of panic.

If he so wished, he could even give Obito a good scare.