Senshi's words made Mui freeze for a moment.
He took a closer look; sure enough, the young man in the distance was indeed Muku. But almost immediately, his pupils contracted sharply!
Muku's body began changing at high speed. Only moments earlier, he'd been fine, yet in the blink of an eye, darkness completely swallowed him up.
And then, a hideous monster—one with four sharp, snow-white fangs, no head, a face merged with its abdomen, and huge wings—appeared before them.
This creature was called "Satori", and it possessed the ability to read people's minds and beguile them. Because it could see into others' thoughts and move at high speed, it could almost evade any attack. Even more terrifying was its astonishing physical power.
Mui was so shocked by its appearance that he momentarily lost himself. He couldn't accept this outcome. Even the legendary ninja tool of the Sage of Six Paths couldn't bring his son back to life…did that mean he would never see his son again? Also, what was the connection between this monster and his child? Had the Box of Ultimate Bliss transformed his son into that thing?
On top of that, Mui also had a deep question: how did Senshi know so much about the Box of Ultimate Bliss? After all, it was a secret treasure of Kusagakure, and even Mui himself didn't know many of its mysteries. Yet seeing how things played out, it was exactly as Senshi had foretold!
Just then, Senshi's voice rang in Mui's ear, pulling him out of his thoughts.
"Mui, that monster isn't your son. Don't get confused. Fall back—I'll handle it."
Before he had even finished speaking, Senshi's entire body was already enveloped in Lightning-Style chakra. With a flash, he launched himself at "Satori."
Indeed, this monster's power to read and beguile people's minds was no joke. The moment Senshi attacked, it predicted his strike and flew skyward to escape. However, faced with someone as fast and strong as Senshi—"a human Ten-Tails," so to speak—Satori's mind-reading ability wasn't so helpful.
First of all, it couldn't keep up with his speed. And secondly, it would soon understand true fear.
"You won't be able to hit me!"
After dodging one of Senshi's attacks, Satori's voice echoed. Hearing this, Senshi broke into a grin.
Just now, he'd merely been testing out Satori's capabilities, unsure yet how he wanted to deal with it. Satori had solid abilities and strength—worst case, maybe it could be turned into a rare summoning beast. That said, if it were killed, it would simply retreat back into the Box of Ultimate Bliss. Senshi planned to see if, after beating Satori down, it might surrender willingly.
"Lightning Style: Horizontal Chop!"
Senshi's figure reappeared right in front of Satori. This time, Satori clearly sensed a flood of terror. It had read Senshi's intent, but it simply couldn't match his speed and had no way of dodging this blow!
Boom—
A hand-chop wreathed in crackling Lightning chakra slashed down brutally. The power behind it was both mighty and razor-sharp!
Satori's strengths lay in four key areas: powerful attacks, swift movement, mind-reading, and mental manipulation. While fighting Senshi, it could see everything going through his head—enabling it to dodge the moment he initiated an attack.
Unfortunately, in both speed and raw power, Senshi was superior. He was a true master of Lightning Release. Furthermore, ever since he'd enhanced his body with the "Rumble-rumble Fruit", he was all but immune to any mental manipulations. Another ninja might have found Satori extremely tricky; but against Senshi, Satori was completely outmatched.
Using the "Horizontal Chop," Senshi's hand struck Satori's shoulder with immense force, knocking the monster clean out of the air and slamming it down onto the ground below.
Crash—
With a heavy thud, Satori crashed into the earth.
Whoosh!
Spreading its wings, it tried to take off again. At the same time, it realized Senshi intended to close in for a rapid flurry of attacks using "Lightning Brutality Horizontal Chop." Though Satori knew Senshi's plan from reading his thoughts, it still couldn't dodge in time.
Senshi's voice rang out: "Lightning Style: Lightning Brutality Horizontal Chop!"
Slash! Slash! Slash! Slash!
This time, lightning arced across Senshi's entire body. His internal Lightning-Style chakra was surging nonstop.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
As each of Senshi's hand-chops rained down, Satori predicted them all but still couldn't get out of the way!
"Lightning Style: Thunderbolt!"
After dishing out a flurry of hits, Senshi seized Satori in a sudden grapple. Lightning chakra roared across his entire body. In an instant, Satori was driven down from midair, hurtling earthward like a falling star.
Boom—
Rumble…
A deafening explosion shattered the surroundings. Dust flew in all directions. Chunks of rock, blasted apart by the impact, hurtled through the air. As the dust cleared, Senshi of course stood there unharmed, while Satori lay sprawled on the ground, dazed and its chakra in disarray.
Even then, Senshi didn't let up. He attacked once more.
"Lightning Style: Backhand Chop Assault!"
Boom—
Left and right, Senshi pounded the monster with a dozen punches. Satori let out a series of piercing shrieks and then dissolved into a mass of black chakra, fleeing back into the Box of Ultimate Bliss.
Clang! Clack!
When Satori's chakra returned, there was a sound of mechanical movement from inside the box. Moments later, the box snapped shut again.
Senshi watched Satori's final retreat as it transformed into black chakra and slipped back inside, pondering thoughtfully.
"So this thing is a chakra-based life form, like a tailed beast? In elemental form, I guess I could also be considered a chakra-based life form."
In any event, Senshi had dealt with Satori in just a few moves. Mui and the others were still somewhat dazed. Although Satori had been utterly suppressed the entire time, they could see it was undoubtedly dangerous. From their vantage point, Satori had predicted all of Senshi's attacks, but because Senshi's Lightning Release far outclassed Satori's speed, it never had a chance.
Mui had briefly pictured himself facing Satori and realized that with his own attack and jutsu speeds, he'd hardly stand a chance of landing a blow.
When Senshi sent Satori packing back into the box, Mui and the others approached, all wearing grim expressions. Mui, in particular, looked awful. He had spent years planning to resurrect his son through the Box of Ultimate Bliss, only to discover the truth was nothing like what he'd imagined.
Gazing at the box in the distance, Mui began thinking about how to handle such a dangerous item.
"The Box of Ultimate Bliss can be fully charged if it absorbs a large amount of chakra. If it ever opens on its own and that monster Satori comes out again, that'll be a nightmare. Maybe I should just sink it to the bottom of the ocean? Or keep researching it?"
He immediately abandoned that second notion—there was no point in studying something so dangerous. While Satori was indeed strong enough to be worth researching, to Senshi, it was almost trivial. There was no reason to risk their lives over something so useless for their level.
As Mui was wrestling with his thoughts, Senshi smiled and said, "Mui, the Box of Ultimate Bliss really is a relic of the Sage of Six Paths, but as you just saw, it can't grant any wish. Once it's opened, it simply releases a terrifying monster. It runs very deep—and I'm not sure Kusagakure is equipped to handle it."
Mui nodded gravely. Given Kusagakure's current strength, dealing with Satori would be exceedingly difficult. Even after a period of development, facing that monster would bring heavy casualties.
Frowning, Mui looked at Senshi and asked, "Lord Senshi, do you have any good ideas for dealing with this dangerous tool?"
Senshi nodded seriously. "Hand this relic over to me!"
Before Mui could respond, Elder Guima—wearing a horse-themed mask—immediately objected. "Absolutely not! This is a Kusagakure treasure, no matter what! Besides, you just said it's incredibly dangerous. Why do you want it?"
Senshi snorted dismissively. "Elder Guima, if you had any idea what goes on outside this village, you wouldn't ask such a naive question. Yes, I'm well aware that this relic runs deep, and you guys can't handle it. But I'm different. In the Kirigakure black market, I'm known as the 'Ocean of Missions'—this is nothing."
"So let me take this dangerous ninja tool off your hands."
Of course, Elder Guima was reluctant to let such a powerful relic go so easily. But Senshi shut him down with just a few words.
"That monster Satori isn't dead—it fled back into the box. Who knows when it'll reappear? Are you sure you don't want me to take this ninja tool away?"
Hearing this, Elder Guiniu and the others looked at each other, expressions changing. After a brief exchange, Guiniu spoke up:
"Lord Senshi, if Mui has no objection, then please take the box for safekeeping."
Senshi might be fearmongering, or he might be telling the truth. Either way, if Satori came out again, Kusagakure might be doomed. In that case, it was much wiser for them to hand over the relic to Senshi, forging a stronger alliance in the process. And everyone could see Senshi already had a good relationship with Mui, who basically held all the power in Kusagakure. Giving him the relic as a gesture of goodwill would only strengthen their ties. Having a powerful ninja like Senshi as an ally was worth more than some finicky old artifact.
Seeing Guiniu's stance, Senshi turned his gaze to Mui. With a slow nod, Mui agreed. Keeping it in Kusagakure would be a ticking time bomb—nobody here was strong enough to defeat that monster.
"Oh, right—Mui, this completes your commission, yes?"
At that, Mui took out a check worth twenty million ryō (which could be cashed at a money exchange) and handed it to Senshi. Senshi accepted it and heard the system prompt in his mind:
[Long-term Commission Complete!]
[Employer: Mui]
[Commission Objective: Capture a Tailed Beast]
[Reward: 20 million ryō]
[Mission Rank: S-rank]
[Mission Reward: 4,000 Employment Points, plus one 'Super Draw']
At this point, his Employment Points were quite substantial—he had already made a huge haul from Kirigakure. The total had exceeded five figures, enough to do 120 "ten-times draws" and still have two Super Draws. He'd earn yet more once he handed over the tailed beast to Pain. He was practically swimming in rewards.
Afterward, Senshi released the Three-Tails from his Summoning Contract and stored the Box of Ultimate Bliss in his system's space-time dimension. Mui had seen him use dimensional storage jutsu many times before, so it no longer surprised him.
With Kusagakure matters settled, Senshi wasted no time. Together with Kakuzu and Karin, he departed for Ame.
After traveling for a while, Senshi stopped. Kakuzu looked at him curiously and asked, "What's wrong?"
Senshi replied offhandedly, "One of my Wood-Style clones accepted an escort mission. The caravan should be along soon, so let's wait a bit."
Kakuzu, long accustomed to this, said nothing further. Undertaking missions continuously while on the move was simply part of Senshi's nature by now.
The route from Kusagakure to Kirigakure had once been perilous, but lately it was much safer. Why? Because after Kusagakure and Amegakure allied, there was a lot more traffic. Both villages had stationed plenty of ninja along this vital road.
Without any trouble, the three reached Amegakure again. Senshi went straight to Pain to deliver the captured tailed beast.
Word had already spread through the Akatsuki that Senshi, Kakuzu, and Kisame had managed to capture a tailed beast. This time, in the open area of Amegakure, not only Pain and Konan arrived—several other Akatsuki members showed up as well.
"Summoning Jutsu!"
Boom—
White smoke gushed upward and billowed out in all directions. A moment later, the Three-Tails Isobu appeared before everyone. But its appearance had changed dramatically.
Seeing the Three-Tails now so emaciated—practically skin and bones, and much smaller than before—everyone's expressions turned peculiar. Konan, her gaze on the wasted-looking Isobu, couldn't help but twitch at the corners of her mouth.
What in the world had that guy done to the beast?
In a room atop Amegakure's tower, Nagato—hooked up to his life-support system—was equally stunned.
"Just a few days without seeing Uzumaki Senshi and he's turned the tailed beast into a starved husk?"
The rest of Akatsuki looked at Senshi with doubt and confusion. Kakuzu, who knew the truth, couldn't be bothered to explain. He simply found a nice spot to sit and recover his strength. Partnering with Senshi meant you needed to seize every chance to rest—otherwise you'd die of exhaustion sooner or later.
~~~
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