Chapter 53: He's Still Just a Child—You Won't Even Spare Him?

“???!!!”

“Is he really Sasuke Uchiha?”

Orochimaru’s expression was a mixture of shock and astonishment. He never expected that, quite by chance, a living member of the Uchiha clan would appear before him.

However, after scrutinizing Sasuke from head to toe, Orochimaru lost interest.

The boy before him was still just a little kid, probably not even ten years old.

What use was such a small child to him?

Even for the legendary geniuses of the Uchiha clan, at this age, it was nearly impossible to develop the Sharingan to any profound level.

If he were to choose this child as a vessel, he would have to figure out how to awaken his own eyes as well.

More importantly, some members of the Uchiha clan were still wielding a single tomoe Sharingan well into their seventies or eighties.

If this boy were in a similar situation, who could he appeal to?

Despite his thoughts, Orochimaru couldn’t help but ask with a sly grin, “How much?”

Shisui: “???!!!”

Shisui had only been teasing Orochimaru casually a moment ago, just making small talk.

He never imagined that Orochimaru would dare to ask the price so bluntly.

If the price was right, this deal might actually go through.

Shisui looked surprised and exclaimed, “I was just joking! You actually want him?”

“He’s just a child! You won’t even spare a kid?”

“Oho…”

Orochimaru sneered coldly to ease the awkwardness.

Then he said, “If you have time to waste on words, you’d better hurry and bring me the person I want.”

With that, Orochimaru turned around and left in exasperation.

But in his heart, he was still pondering.

If there were no other options, trying to nurture this young Uchiha Sasuke wouldn’t be a bad idea.

Wasn’t there still Uchiha Obito now?

Obito had already awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan.

Choosing Obito would be much better than this little brat Sasuke, wouldn’t it?

After Orochimaru left, Sasuke remained on high alert, staring intently at Shisui.

Both Orochimaru and Shisui gave him a very dangerous feeling.

When Shisui had eagerly saved him earlier, Sasuke thought he was a kind-hearted person.

But judging by Shisui’s conversation with Orochimaru, he didn’t seem like a good person at all!

Now, Sasuke labeled Shisui as a trafficker familiar with Uchiha Itachi — a very dangerous man.

Sasuke’s heart grew anxious.

“Damn it!”

“I shouldn’t have come to the outskirts of the village to train!”

“Given the vast power gap between him and me, I need at least five more years of training, maybe even longer, before I stand a chance against him.”

“Right now, I’m not only no match for him—I can’t even run away!”

“What should I do?”

Shisui noticed Sasuke’s inner turmoil.

The foolish brat was looking for a chance to escape.

But earlier, Shisui had only been joking around with Orochimaru.

As for capturing Obito…

What? Uchiha Obito?

That kid was hardly human anymore.

The ninja world had been thrown into turmoil by him; countless shinobi had died either directly or indirectly because of him.

Better not let him create another world with Rin, sending him to Rin’s world would be more reasonable.

While Sasuke was nervous and ready to bolt at any moment, Shisui couldn’t help but laugh and reached out to mess up Sasuke’s hair, which looked as if it had been stiffened with gel.

“Relax, I was just teasing Orochimaru.”

“No matter what, I’m not a trafficker.”

“If you feel unsafe here and want to go home, then go ahead.”

Hearing this, Karin’s eyes sparkled with delight.

Seeing Sasuke’s messy hair made her even happier.

“Hehe~”

Finally, she wasn’t the only one having bad luck; Shisui had started to torment other kids.

Sasuke frowned in displeasure and turned his head away after his hair was ruffled.

But after confirming Shisui wasn’t planning to take him away, he didn’t leave immediately.

His expression darkened as he looked at Shisui seriously and asked, “Where is Uchiha Itachi?”

Shisui raised his eyebrows. “You want to see Uchiha Itachi?”

Sasuke’s tone turned icy cold. “I will personally kill him!”

Shisui suddenly had a strange idea.

What if he told this little kid all the truths, making it so that his hatred wouldn’t fuel his growth or the development of his Sharingan?

Would that make Uchiha Itachi furious?

After all, Itachi had put a lot of effort into provoking Sasuke, turning him into a vengeful avenger burdened with deep hatred, pushing him to get stronger and awaken his Sharingan.

Knowing the whole truth, the next time Itachi met Sasuke, he’d surely suspect his method of awakening was wrong.

His foolish brat had grown up for so many years and still only wielded a double tomoe Sharingan in front of him.

Clearly, he had wasted his potential.

Shisui found this scene amusing but still refrained from such a cruel act.

Looking at Sasuke with a playful smile, Shisui said, “If you want to avenge Itachi, you’re still far from ready. Go back and train properly.”

With that, Shisui took Karin and left the place.

Sasuke watched Shisui’s departing figure unwillingly.

His fists clenched tightly, grinding with rage!

But he also knew Shisui was right.

Uchiha Itachi was once a genius of the Uchiha clan.

His talent was far greater than Sasuke’s, so Sasuke would have to work much harder to gain the strength to take revenge!

With that thought, Sasuke silently made up his mind.

“Extra training!”

“Must train harder!”

“The current training intensity is not enough! Far from enough!”

“Today, I’ll train for two more hours!”

Having made up his mind, he didn’t waste any time and immediately began a more rigorous workout.

Elsewhere, after walking for a while with Karin, Shisui was suddenly asked a question.

“Lord Shisui, do I have a chance to defeat Itachi?”

“Uh…”

Karin’s question caught Shisui off guard.

Itachi relied on talent, and Karin relied on the enhancements he gave her.

Logically, a boosted fighter shouldn’t be a match for a naturally gifted one, right?

After some thought, Shisui said, “Karin-chan, if you want to fight Uchiha Itachi, you still need to grow.”

Karin asked earnestly, “How much more do I need to grow?”

Shisui adopted a serious expression and placed his fist above Karin’s head, showing her height, “At least this much. No less!”

“Damn it! Shisui’s teasing me like a child again!”

“I’m not asking how tall I need to grow!”

Karin knew Shisui was messing with her; she didn’t mean that kind of growth.

“Wait…”

“I seem to have forgotten something!”

After teasing Karin for a while, Shisui suddenly recalled something very important.

A jolt of realization struck his mind instantly!

The Uchiha clan was one of Konoha’s most prestigious families.

Since Konoha’s founding, the Uchiha had been its largest clan.

From then until now, how much wealth must the Uchiha have accumulated?

After the Uchiha clan’s downfall, Sasuke became the sole heir to their legacy.

Danzo was not greedy, but now that Orochimaru was involved, he might have his eyes on this fortune.

Third Hokage could not possibly seize all of the Uchiha’s wealth in such a short time either.

All of the Uchiha clan’s assets were now in Sasuke’s name.

Sasuke very likely was one of Konoha’s wealthiest figures.

Realizing this, Shisui was shocked.

“I was deceived by Sasuke’s childlike appearance!”

“I nearly missed the fact that Sasuke was a fat, juicy opportunity right under my nose!”

Shisui lamented, “Shisui Uzumaki, you have been negligent!”

“You were really too careless!”

“This fat lamb almost slipped past you!”

Without delay, Shisui turned back immediately to look for Sasuke.

“Shisui, why do you look so grim?” Karin jumped onto Shisui’s back, whispering curiously into his ear.

Just a moment ago, Shisui’s face was full of smiles, but now it had turned gloomy.

Without thinking, Shisui replied, “I lost some money.”

“Huh?” Karin was puzzled. “No way, even if a sow learned to climb trees, Shisui wouldn’t lose money. How much did you lose?”

A big question mark hovered over Karin’s small head.

Shisui’s money was stored using space-time ninjutsu; losing it seemed impossible.

Shisui lamented bitterly, “Not confirmed yet, but I might have missed out on several hundred million.”

“Missed out on hundreds of millions?” Karin’s cute face showed confusion.

...

While Shisui and Karin retraced their steps, Sasuke did not return to the village nor go anywhere distant.

Instead, he found a relatively safe cliff to resume his cliff-climbing training.

More precisely, he was doing extra training!

“Phew—”

Sasuke was hanging on the cliff, recalling the words of the red-haired youth from earlier.

The man had claimed to be a friend of Uchiha Itachi and bluntly said Sasuke was far from ready for revenge!

How dare he underestimate him!

He would train hard, get stronger, and eventually kill that man!

As Sasuke prepared to climb higher, a dark crimson black hole suddenly appeared.

In the next moment, Shisui’s figure abruptly appeared before Sasuke.

Everything seemed complicated, but it all happened in an instant!

Sasuke was just a bit stunned when suddenly someone was beside him.

It was like daydreaming in class and suddenly turning around to meet the homeroom teacher’s abyssal gaze!

“Ah!”

“Clatter, clatter…”

Shisui used space-time ninjutsu to appear suddenly, scaring Sasuke so much he nearly fell from the cliff.

Small stones tumbled down the cliffside at that moment.

“It’s you!”

“What are you doing here?”

“Have you regretted it and come to capture me?”

Seeing Shisui appear again, Sasuke grew nervous.

He was almost certain Shisui had come to capture him.

“Anyone who can be friends with someone like Uchiha Itachi can’t be a good person!”

Sasuke stared at Shisui with extreme caution.

“Uh…”

Shisui was a little embarrassed.

Seeing the undisguised hostility and wariness in Sasuke’s eyes, he awkwardly cleared his throat.

“Cough, cough…”

“Don’t worry, I didn’t come to capture you.”

Shisui felt a bit helpless.

The consequences of teasing a kid came so fast?

Apparently, Sasuke had labeled him a villain, and the first impression was terrible.

But that didn’t matter much. Shisui knew quite a bit about this dumb brat.

On the cliff, Sasuke didn’t believe Shisui’s words.

He quickly climbed up and, once at the top, asked cautiously, “Why have you come to find me?”

Sasuke’s vigilance and suspicion didn’t faze Shisui much.

He decided to skip the small talk and cut straight to the topic Sasuke cared about most.

With a slight smile, he looked at Sasuke and said:

“Sasuke, you really want to see Itachi, right?”

“I can take you to meet Itachi and provide you with a lot of information about him.”

Shisui wanted to add that he was one of the three great intel ninjas of the shinobi world, alongside Jiraiya and Ōtsutsuki Uru, known as the Intelligence Uzumaki Shisui.

What he said wasn’t an exaggeration.

He knew basically everything Jiraiya and Uru knew, plus information they didn’t.

So calling himself one of the three great intel ninjas was no problem, right?

“Uchiha Itachi!”

Upon hearing Itachi’s name, Sasuke’s face grew icy cold.

His eyes filled with murderous intent, and his emotions surged.

“???!!!”

His fists clenched and creaked once again.

Although he wanted to see Itachi and take revenge, Sasuke remained wary of Shisui.

He looked coldly at Shisui and asked, “You’re really that kind-hearted? To take me to find Uchiha Itachi?”

Shisui waved his hand dismissively.

“It’s useless to take you to Itachi now. Listen carefully.”

He rubbed his hands and put on a professional, serious expression before introducing himself.

“Sasuke Uchiha, listen up.”

“Standing before you is the strongest mercenary in the shinobi world, Uzumaki Shisui!”

“I am the nightmare of the black market in all the great ninja villages, the mission crusher, the wandering ninja’s nightmare.”

“I have completed countless mercenary missions.”

“All my missions have been accomplished efficiently and in record time.”

“I am the only ninja in the black market with a 100% success rate.”

“As for my records fighting the Tailed Beasts of Kirigakure and other powerful ninjas, they are countless and insignificant.”

“In short, if you hire me with a generous commission, I can complete any task you assign me!”

Shisui spoke at length, listing his accomplishments to Sasuke.

Sasuke was dumbfounded by his “great achievements.”

After a long moment, he snapped back to reality and asked skeptically, “How much to take me to see Uchiha Itachi?”

Seeing Sasuke’s attitude, Shisui was delighted—he knew the deal was sealed!

But just taking Sasuke to see Itachi would be useless.

Sasuke was too weak and still a child; meeting Itachi would only cause more emotional trauma.

So Shisui began bundling services—he would provide full mercenary support to earn the maximum fee.

After some thought, Shisui said:

“It’s pointless for you to go look for Itachi now.”

“Even your current training will only make you grow slowly.”

“Listen carefully.”

“If you want to find Itachi and defeat him,”

“You need a powerful ninja to be your private tutor and train you intensively!”

“I can not only take you to Itachi but also serve as your tutor, giving you the special training necessary to become capable of defeating Itachi.”