Chapter 51: Doubts
The glaring sunlight at the base entrance caused Su Xiao to squint. If an ordinary person were to stay in a dark environment for a long time, such blinding sunlight would surely cause permanent damage to their vision. However, Su Xiao's eyes quickly adapted to the intense light.
Carrying Samehada on his back and with the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki on his shoulder, Kisame stood at the base entrance. His mouthful of shark-like teeth was particularly conspicuous. Behind Kisame stood a young girl.
This girl's figure was somewhat slender, around eighteen or nineteen years old. Roughly estimating, she was about 1.6 meters tall. When standing behind Kisame, who was a full 1.95 meters, she appeared very petite.
The girl behind Kisame noticed Su Xiao observing her. She tilted her head and looked back at him. A few strands of hair slid down from her ear to her cheek. Her black eyes were very bright, like two black gemstones.
"Huh?"
The girl seemed quite surprised. Judging by her expression, she appeared to have seen Su Xiao before.
At this moment, the girl was somehow wearing a set of Akatsuki uniforms. Paired with her short hair that reached her neck and those black gemstone-like eyes, she appeared both pure and energetic, yet also had a sense of mystery—though this mystery was hard to detect.
"Kisame, where did you pick this one up from?"
Su Xiao spoke. He recognized who this "girl" was. This young lady might already be an adult, but her clear eyes made her seem very lively. The last time they met was in the Land of Iron. She was a female Worker.
When they first met, this female Worker was being chased by samurai from the Land of Iron, while Kisame was in the process of capturing the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki. How did the two of them meet? And judging by Kisame's tone, they seemed to be acquaintances.
"I ran into her while capturing the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki in the Land of Iron. I searched for a long time before finding this guy."
Kisame pointed to the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki, Killer Bee, on his shoulder. In fact, Kisame's ability to capture the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki was thanks to Su Xiao. In the original story, during Kisame's battle with the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki, his weapon "Samehada" suddenly betrayed him.
Or rather, it wasn't Samehada's betrayal. The one fighting at the time wasn't the real Kisame, but a White Zetsu clone that looked exactly like him and could use his abilities. Of course, this White Zetsu clone was controlled by Kisame. As for the real Kisame, he was hiding in a place no one would expect—inside his own sword, Samehada.
This reduced risk but also had drawbacks. When Kisame tried to have the White Zetsu clone capture Killer Bee alive, Samehada suddenly "betrayed" him, claiming it preferred the Eight-Tails' chakra. In other words, between White Zetsu and the Eight-Tails, Samehada liked the Eight-Tails' chakra more.
The situation at the time put Kisame in a difficult position. He had originally only been attempting to capture the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki. If he failed, he planned to stay hidden inside Samehada and let Killer Bee take the sword, allowing him to gather intelligence and find a better opportunity to capture the Eight-Tails.
However, the opportunity was better than Kisame had imagined. Killer Bee was already very weak, so Kisame unmerged from Samehada and suddenly appeared. This second Kisame startled Killer Bee, who immediately thought it was a clone.
At that moment, Samehada had "betrayed" Kisame and was being held by Killer Bee. Now that the real Kisame appeared, Samehada immediately attacked Killer Bee. This was a sword with its own consciousness, or more like a type of artificial lifeform.
Sensing trouble, Killer Bee immediately tried to retreat. His rap teacher was nearby, and Killer Bee was afraid Kisame would kill him.
Kisame wasn't particularly fast, but he excelled in prolonged battles. The two began a chase. After a long time, they reached the coastal area near the Land of Iron. After traveling across the sea for a while, Killer Bee could return to Kumogakure's territory.
Ninjas could walk on water by concentrating chakra on the soles of their feet, but most couldn't sustain long-distance travel across the sea due to insufficient chakra.
As the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki, Killer Bee had no shortage of chakra. Although Kisame was also known for his massive chakra reserves, if he continued to exhaust Killer Bee like this, he would be the first to collapse, as he relied on absorbing enemy chakra through Samehada to freely expend it.
Just as Killer Bee was about to escape, another pursuit force arrived. This force consisted of a large group of samurai chasing a young girl. Coincidentally, Kisame recognized this girl and knew she had an ability very useful for pursuing enemies.
So Kisame helped the black-eyed female Worker deal with her pursuers, and in return, she assisted Kisame in chasing Killer Bee. The result was that Killer Bee was caught by Kisame as soon as he reached the seaside and was ultimately defeated.
As for why Kisame said capturing the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki was thanks to Su Xiao, it was because Su Xiao had killed the Fourth Raikage. In the original story, the Fourth Raikage went to support Killer Bee, and the two brothers joined forces to kill the Kisame-like White Zetsu clone in an instant.
Kisame briefly recounted the process of capturing the Eight-Tails.
"I originally planned to infiltrate Kumogakure, but capturing the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki directly was more important."
Kisame looked somewhat tired and travel-worn, which was understandable since he had chased Killer Bee almost across the entire Land of Iron.
"The right choice."
Obito also agreed with Kisame's approach.
"As for the newcomer you're recommending, which ninja village is he a missing-nin from?"
Obito was now the leader of the Akatsuki. If Kisame wanted to recommend a new member, he needed Obito's approval. Of course, this was just a formality. This was no longer the era of Nagato leading the Akatsuki. Obito himself knew that as the leader, the only one in the Akatsuki who completely obeyed his orders was White Zetsu. To command Kisame, he needed a reasonable reason.
"A missing-nin from Konoha. She's a sensory type, not strong in combat, but she has a very special Kekkei Genkai."
Hearing Kisame mention a Kekkei Genkai, Obito's eyes lit up. The Akatsuki was in dire need of manpower.
From the brief exchange between Kisame and Obito, Su Xiao gathered some information. First, this female Worker wasn't entering the Naruto world for the first time. During her previous entry, she had met Kisame and even unlocked a personal favorability system.
As for the female Worker's identity as a "sensory-type ninja," that wasn't surprising. Most Workers chose to master some auxiliary abilities to seek protection from Contractors. Workers without auxiliary abilities would need to spend Paradise Coins to hire protection.
However, what was puzzling was that this female Worker had entered the Naruto world twice. There were two possibilities: either she was very unlucky, or she wasn't a Worker at all and had other motives.
The second possibility wasn't very high, as the gap between entering an open world was considerable. Would someone scheme for so long just to disguise themselves as a Worker and infiltrate the Akatsuki? Moreover, very few Contractors disguised themselves as Workers when entering derivative worlds, as that would bring many troubles.