Chapter 21 - Chapter 20

What appeared in Arata's sight was a woman wrapped in paper wings. Her crouched body stood up slowly, and the paper wings also separated from the woman and merged back into her body as if they were never there in the first place.

She lowered her head, revealing her face at the same time.

She looked quite gorgeous: the purple eyeshadow on her eyes, the little piercing on her lower lip, a red cloud robe with a black background, and purple-blue nail polish on her hands and toes.

Her pale golden eyes looked around and finally settled on Arata. "Are you the client?" The voice was cold, like an angel who did not receive any warmth from the world.

"Yes, my name is Kobayashi Arata." Arata nodded and introduced himself.

"Akatsuki Organization, codename Angel." The woman asked with a blank face, "Where is the mission target?"

"That building."

Arata pointed at the towering Gato Building in the center of the Land of Waves and said, "The enemy has more than four experienced jounins, including Kirigakure Momochi Zabuza, another one of the Seven Swordsmen, Raiga. The former Iwa Ninja Hoshi Maruyama, and the ninja from Kumogakure, Zanzuka."

"Okay." The woman responded lightly and said, "Your companions have already paid a commission fee of ten million ryo. If it's only these four, I will refund you twenty thousand ryo after the mission is completed."

"I'm not talking about money." Arata scratched his head and said, "I mean, don't you need to prepare something to deal with those four?"

"No, it's just four useless rebels," the woman said in a clear voice.

"Oh, okay. It's up to you." Arata didn't persuade her any further.

"Does the target live or die?" the woman asked again.

"If you can, try to keep them alive," Arata thought for a moment and said. "I plan to convince them to join my team."

To convince them?

The woman raised her eyebrows slightly as if she wanted to say something, but she swallowed the words as soon as they reached her lips.

This kid had quite a lot of money, but his thinking was a bit naive at the same time.

Can those vicious criminals be reformed? If they could be influenced, would they still be such rebellious ninjas?

Sigh!

What the other person thinks has nothing to do with her. She is no longer the nosy girl she was before.

After taking the money, she just needed to follow the instructions of her contractor.

"That." Arata paused and then said, "Can you take me along with you?"

"If you want to do this, it will become a part of my mission to protect you." The woman looked calm and said without sadness or joy, "I will not return your money later on then."

"It's fine, I don't expect a refund either," Arata muttered softly.

The woman said nothing more and put her arms around Arata's waist. The paper wings behind her spread out once more, and both of them soared into the sky.

"Wow, it's really flying!" Kushina sounded a little excited and said, "I didn't expect that there is such a technique in the ninja world! What is the origin of this female ninja, and where did you find the talent?"

"Hey, Kushina-san, don't you know about her?" Arata asked doubtfully.

"Should I know her?"

"She is also one of Jiraiya's disciples. She was taken in by Hidden Rain Village. But I didn't expect that it would be her who took over our mission this time. I thought it would be someone else from the Akatsuki organization."

"Jiraiya's disciple? That old pervert? Oh, yes! I remember it now! Not long after Minato became Hokage, he mentioned it to me when he came to our home for dinner! But he told me that they were already dead. How come they are still alive?"

"One is dead and two are alive."

"Oh… They are quite pitiful."

"Pitiful?" Arata was stunned and said in a strange tone, "Well, you could say that! On one hand, they have to collect a lot of wealth by doing missions like this, and at the same time, they have to collect nine tailed beasts... They have to work so hard. It's so pitiful!"

"What?" Kushina's eyes widened in the Soul Pearl, and she couldn't find the passage: "They are trying to collect all the nine tailed beasts?"

"Uh-huh." At this point, Arata said frankly and dropped his mocking tone. "By the way, the guy your husband suspected of being Uchiha Madara is also a member of the very same organization."

"How could this happen?!" Kushina felt as if she was struck by lightning.

"There's no need to panic." Arata remained calm and said lightly, "The current situation is that they are not aware of us, and they are still hiding from the world. Besides, the infuriated man who is suspected to be the legendary Uchiha Madara does not get along with Jiraiya's two disciples."

"Suspected to be Madara Uchiha's lover?" Kushina felt weird when she heard Arata's words. Her mind kept spinning from all this new information.

"It's hard not to be jealous of the divine powers, Kushina-san." Arata sighed.

"Arata-kun, can you please speak properly so I can understand what you are saying?" Kushina said in a threatening tone.

"It's Obito! That Uchiha Madara wannabe is actually Obito..." Arata stopped speaking in circles and said directly, leaving Kushina speechless and stunned.

Kushina, who was in the Soul Pearl, felt that her whole world was shattered when she heard Obito's name. The same boy she once treated like her own child and little brother. The kid she and her husband gave their love and affection…