Chapter 55: The Star Has Ruined Me!

Sijia suddenly had an idea.

Karin’s talent for medical ninjutsu was even greater than Haruno Sakura’s.

Sakura was able to become a medical ninja because of her extremely minute and precise control over chakra.

Karin, however, was a descendant of the Uzumaki clan with a special constitution and the innate ability of physical healing, making her a natural-born medical ninja.

Especially her healing capability, which was potent enough to save Tsunade even when she was severed in two.

Perhaps he should take Karin to find Tsunade?

If she were to study under Tsunade and follow the path of a medical ninja, she would undoubtedly surpass her master and outshine the blue.

She could become a medical ninja on par with Princess Tsunade, or perhaps even greater.

And if that somehow proved impossible, Sijia would simply find a way to make it possible.

As night fell, Sasuke soon began to rest.

Karin was not sensitive to sleeping in unfamiliar places, and with Sijia by her side, she felt completely secure.

When bedtime arrived, she drifted straight off to sleep.

"Hum—"

A dark red black hole vortex appeared on the roof of this Konoha apartment building.

Sijia’s figure soon stepped out from within the dark red vortex.

"Heart Net!"

Upon appearing here, Sijia did not waste any time and immediately activated his Mind's Eye ability, the Heart Net.

Gradually, the entire village of Konoha was enveloped by his Heart Net.

He intended to locate Kakashi.

For Kakashi, the Sharingan was a double-edged sword, and in the long run, its disadvantages arguably outweighed its advantages.

Because he possessed only a single Sharingan, he was unable to utilize the vast majority of its abilities.

Furthermore, due to the astronomical chakra consumption of the Sharingan, the dog head sculpted into his Earth Style: Mud Wall was the ultimate manifestation of his stubborn pride.

Without the Sharingan, he would no longer exist in a state of perpetual exhaustion.

He would be able to leverage his own innate talents to develop ninjutsu far more effectively.

By the time he was around twelve years old, he had already become a Jounin.

Most ninjas at that age were likely only just becoming Genin.

Take Uchiha Sasuke, for instance; in the original course of the world, when he reached the age of twelve, he had just been assigned to Team Kakashi, preparing for the Chunin Exams.

Perhaps it was because his Sharingan was Obito's relic and will...

That even though he realized the Sharingan had both pros and cons, he never gave it up.

However, Kakashi no longer needed to agonize over this; Sijia would help him make that difficult decision.

"Hmm?"

Yet, after scanning back and forth across Konoha multiple times with his Heart Net, Sijia failed to discover Kakashi's whereabouts anywhere in the village.

"He's actually not in the village? Did Kakashi leave the village to execute an Anbu mission elsewhere?"

During this period, Kakashi should still be an Anbu operative.

He frequently traveled to various locations to carry out missions for the Anbu.

Discovering that Kakashi was not in the village, Sijia’s figure quickly vanished.

Had Princess Tsunade been in the village, he might have been interested in meeting this Princess of Konoha.

However, during this timeframe, Princess Tsunade was likely at some gambling den engaging in yet another high-stakes gamble, or perhaps transforming into her youthful guise to evade gambling debts.

At this thought, Sijia considered that hiring Tsunade as Karin’s private tutor seemed entirely feasible.

Besides, he was not short on money; the funds he acquired from grinding missions were now merely numbers to Sijia.

He simply could not spend it all.

Doing so could even be considered a good deed—it would lighten Princess Tsunade's debt burden while finding a wonderful teacher for Karin.

Of course, this matter required further consideration.

Princess Tsunade currently suffered from hemophobia, and resolving that issue would be no simple task.

Having confirmed that Kakashi was not in the village, Sijia executed a spatial teleportation and returned to his room.

Early the next morning, in accordance with yesterday's agreement, Sijia brought Sasuke and Karin to a clearing in the forest to guide Sasuke in his ninjutsu training.

First, he explained the essentials of hand seals to Sasuke.

"Snap!"

"Lightning Release: Lightning Ball!"

Sijia clapped his hands together, and whatever he called upon materialized instantly.

Possessing the ultimate Shinobi-world version of the Rumble-Rumble Fruit had enhanced and evolved his physical constitution, which, combined with his long years of arduous training, made all the difference.

Now, executing such a basic Lightning Release ninjutsu required no hand seals from him at all.

He merely clapped his hands together, and whatever he wished for appeared.

"Zzzt! Zzzt! Zzzt! Zzzt!"

The Lightning Release: Lightning Ball ninjutsu allowed the user to condense a variable number of brilliant golden-yellow lightning spheres in front of them to attack targets.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

This time, Sijia casually condensed nine brilliant golden lightning spheres and blasted them toward the distance.

Even though he had merely acted on a whim, it still obliterated a vast swathe of the distant forest.

Still, it was no major issue; he quickly continued casting another ninjutsu.

"Wood Release: Afforestation Technique!"

Sijia clapped his hands together, letting Sasuke witness the casual extravagance possessed by a user of the Wood Release Sage Body.

The trees that Sijia had destroyed moments ago rapidly grew back in an extremely short span of time, returning entirely to their original state.

Having witnessed the sheer power of Lightning Release: Lightning Ball, Sasuke became intensely interested in the ninjutsu.

Before practicing, however, he still asked a question: "Teacher Sijia, if you used this ninjutsu at full power, what kind of effect would it have?"

Sijia replied without a moment's hesitation: "Have you ever seen a sea of stars?"

Hearing this, Sasuke fell utterly silent.

He understood his teacher's meaning: if Teacher Sijia were to execute the Lightning Release: Lightning Ball ninjutsu at full strength, the lightning spheres he condensed would resemble a sky full of stars, forming a dazzling, brilliant expanse of golden cosmos.

A ninjutsu of that tier would be sufficient to destroy a shinobi village, or perhaps even annihilate a small nation, wouldn't it?

Sijia was unaware of the thoughts running through Sasuke's mind, but he truly had no intention of using a ninjutsu of that caliber to destroy any villages or nations.

Sasuke quickly began forming hand seals to execute Lightning Release: Lightning Ball.

His talent for Lightning Release was exceptionally high, and after repeatedly attempting it several times, he finally succeeded in launching the ninjutsu.

Though he only managed to condense a single lightning sphere, and due to imperfect chakra control, the golden-yellow sphere quickly dissipated...

For a shinobi of his age, achieving this much was already quite remarkable.

While Sijia was guiding Sasuke in ninjutsu training out here, Danzo was also taking action.

Leaning on a cane that felt as heavy as a thousand pounds, Danzo walked slowly and heavily toward the Konoha Treasury, his mind fraught with conflicting thoughts.

"Damn that Orochimaru!"

"Conducting experimental research is astonishingly expensive!"

"Previous times aside, this time he actually expects me to prepare one billion ryo in research funds for him all at once."

"Aside from the Konoha Treasury, where else in Konoha could possibly produce one billion ryo?"

"Damn it, if I had known, I wouldn't have nationalized that transaction I intercepted earlier."

He walked while deep in thought.

After a while, he arrived at the entrance of the Konoha Treasury.

As the aide to the Hokage, no ninjas stopped him along the way.

He had amassed considerable wealth for Konoha; even when drawing from public funds, no one would dare obstruct him.

After all, in most cases, he utilized the funds for official business. He didn't even have descendants—one had to remember that the daily food and clothing expenses of the entire Sarutobi clan combined could match his personal expenses for several years.

Yet one billion was simply too massive a sum; the moment Hiruzen discovered it...

"Hoo—"

Arriving at the threshold of the Konoha Treasury, Danzo once again began to hesitate.

One billion ryo was equivalent to the cumulative lifetime wealth of some twenty Jounin.

And not just ordinary Jounin; they would at least need to be Jounin of Sarutobi Asuma's caliber to possess that kind of earning power.

If replaced with ordinary Jounin, the number would likely double.

That would mean nearly forty ordinary Jounin working themselves to the bone without food or drink for the better part of a lifetime to accumulate such a fortune.

And now, he, Shimura Danzo, was about to misappropriate this sum of funds from the village.

After lingering in doubt for a long time, Danzo finally made up his mind!

As long as Orochimaru's experiment succeeded completely...

The village would once again master Wood Release as powerful as that of the First Hokage, and Konoha would become great once more, strong once more, and stand atop the ninja world once more.

And he, Shimura Danzo, after transplanting Wood Release and relying on the merit of cultivating a Wood Release ninja for the village, would be more than qualified to become one of the greatest Hokage in Konoha's history.

With this thought, Danzo hesitated no longer, drew out his key, and unlocked the treasury doors!

...

Much like everywhere else in the ninja world, the Land of Fire possessed a vast underworld of black markets.

As a mission-harvesting machine, the strongest mercenary in the black market, and one of the Three Ninja of Underworld Intel (self-proclaimed), Sijia naturally had to pay a visit to the black market within the Land of Fire upon arriving in its territory.

The area surrounding Konoha Hidden Village was vibrant and diverse.

Not only was there a Land of Fire black market here, but rumor also had it that one of Orochimaru's research bases was hidden nearby.

Perhaps while Konoha ninjas were scouring the four corners of the ninja world in search of Orochimaru...

Orochimaru was leisurely conducting his experimental research right at a research base near Konoha village.

Konoha was the largest, most prosperous, and comprehensively strongest shinobi village in the ninja world.

Consequently, the black market surrounding Konoha was also a mixed bag of dragons and serpents.

The more people there were, the more conflicting interests arose, leading to a greater number of clashes.

Certain missions that could not be entrusted to ninjas through normal channels had to be commissioned to the mercenary shinobi within the black market instead.

Not only were these commissioned missions numerous, but many of them possessed difficulty ratings that seemed exceptionally high, even to Sijia.

Naturally, such ultra-high-difficulty commission missions were accompanied by the temptation of astronomical bounties.

At this moment, Sijia was browsing through the black market mission request forms with keen interest.

[Bounty Target: Kiyomi Fukuda]

[Mission Requirement: Assassinate the target and bring back the corpse.]

[Mission Bounty: 7.8 Billion Ryo]

Seeing this particular mission request form, Sijia remained entirely unfazed.

Because in other black markets, he had already seen bounty requests for this big shot before.

Moreover, as one of the Three Ninja of Underworld Intel, he lacked any further information regarding this individual.

He only knew the person's name and the fact that they carried a 7.8 billion ryo bounty on their head.

Aside from that, he possessed no additional intelligence.

Otherwise, he definitely would have seized this astronomical fortune.

Regarding this big shot, he harbored a half-baked hypothesis:

This person was the ultimate controller of all exchange shops—meaning all black markets—across the entire ninja world.

Black markets were scattered everywhere throughout the ninja world, yet the true mastermind behind them remained a mystery.

By placing an astronomical bounty on his own head, if any powerful ninja attempted to turn against him, he could undoubtedly strike first.

Even if he had formidable enemies to deal with, they could simply come to the black market first and accept this sky-high bounty.

Sijia was deeply intrigued by this immense wealth, but lacking intelligence, he could only shelve the thought for the time being.

Promptly, he moved on to review the second mission request form.

[Bounty Target: Kenshin Yamagami]

[Mission Requirement: Assassinate Kenshin Yamagami, the Daimyo of the Land of Fire.]

[Mission Bounty: 1 Billion Ryo]

"Tsk tsk, as expected of the Daimyo of the Land of Fire; his life is worth thirty Sarutobi Asumas."

Sijia knew full well where the Daimyo of the Land of Fire resided.

However, if he were to go and knock off the Daimyo of the Land of Fire, all future commissions related to the Land of Fire would have nothing to do with him anymore.

Such an act of killing the goose that laid the golden eggs was something he must never do.

[Bounty Target: Utakata]

[Mission Requirement: Capture the Six-Tails Jinchuriki, Utakata.]

[Mission Bounty: 50 Million Ryo]

Sijia had also seen this mission request form in other black markets.

He had no idea who had posted it, but it clearly lacked ambition.

To capture a Tailed Beast Jinchuriki, shouldn't the bounty at least be one hundred million ryo?

[Bounty Target: Princess Tsunade]

[Mission Requirement: Find Princess Tsunade and help the client recover gambling debts!]

[Mission Bounty: 100 Million Ryo]

"What the hell?"

"Just how much gambling debt has Tsunade run up outside?"

"Why is someone directly offering a 100 million ryo bounty to find her for debt collection?"

This was the first time Sijia had laid eyes on this mission request form.

He reckoned the client must have figured that posting this bounty in a black market near Konoha would make it easier to track down Tsunade.

Yet, finding Tsunade was no easy feat.

Furthermore, the greatest difficulty of this mission was that once Princess Tsunade was found, one was also expected to help recover her gambling debts.

Wasn't this just making a mockery of people?

If Princess Tsunade could pay off her gambling debts, why would she be going into hiding in the first place?

Sijia shook his head and continued browsing through the remaining mission request forms.

At the same time, he couldn't help a sigh of inner emotion.

"What a pity, Kakuzu didn't come this time."

"Troublesome. Not a single bounty mission can be accepted."

"With just myself, the left-hand-to-right-hand trick is completely impossible to pull off."

"Sigh..."

"Kakuzu has truly let me down!"

After a long session of sighing and lamenting, Sijia led Karin out of the Land of Fire black market hall.

...

Meanwhile, deep within the Akatsuki base.

The figure of Uchiha Itachi had once again materialized before Kisame Hoshigaki.

Not long ago, the leader of Akatsuki had assigned Itachi a mission that required him to execute it alone.

Itachi had just now returned from completing that mission.

Under normal circumstances, Akatsuki members operated in pairs.

However, exceptions existed, and Pain would occasionally assign missions to a single member or multiple members simultaneously.

Upon approaching Kisame, Uchiha Itachi asked casually:

"During this period, has anything special happened?"

What Itachi actually wanted to know was intelligence regarding Uzumaki Sijia.

Upon his return, he hadn't seen that fellow anywhere.

Ever since Sijia joined Akatsuki, Itachi's hazard assessment of him had been steadily climbing.

"Special things?"

Uchiha Itachi nodded expressionlessly.

Kisame grinned broadly. "Would Uzumaki Sijia leaving Amegakure count?"

Uchiha Itachi furrowed his brow slightly: "Where did he go?"

"Konoha!"

With that, Kisame let out a cold laugh and continued:

"Heh, that guy actually tried to trick me into going with him this time."

"I'm not stupid; I'd rather keep my life to serve the organization."

Upon hearing this, Itachi maintained a calm exterior, but inside, a tempest of towering waves had already erupted!

"!!!!!!"

"Are you kidding me? That guy actually went to Konoha?"

Learning this news, Uchiha Itachi could no longer remain calm!

Sijia’s temperament was something no one in Akatsuki was unaware of.

Even an insider like Kisame had nearly been sold out by Sijia back in Kirigakure.

He was a dangerous individual who lacked any principles or bottom line in pursuit of his missions.

For such an extremely dangerous character to head to Konoha village...

As an elite ninja originating from the Anbu, Uchiha Itachi possessed exceptionally well-informed channels.

Judging from the intelligence he had gathered, the surroundings of Konoha village were far from peaceful.

For a long time, someone had been offering bounties in the Land of Fire black market to collect various children possessing Kekkei Genkai.

Konoha's reputation as the premier great village could deter petty villains—meaning, generally speaking, black market mercenaries wouldn't dare lay a hand on Konoha's people.

However, the smaller shinobi villages scattered around the Land of Fire frequently suffered incidents.

Just because other black market mercenaries dared not infiltrate Konoha Hidden Village to capture children with Kekkei Genkai...

Did not mean Sijia wouldn't dare.

Itachi’s current evaluation of Sijia could be summed up in a single phrase—doing whatever he pleased with absolute zero bottom line!

Possessing the terrifying combat power of Kage-level or even super-Kage-level, Sijia had always acted completely uninhibited during his missions.

At this thought, Uchiha Itachi’s brow knitted slightly, his expression shifting subtly.