Chapter 103: Return
Su Xiao sat on the ground to rest for a moment, then walked toward the spot where he had previously fought Hashirama. Soon, he found a thick arm and the lower half of Amu’s body.
Su Xiao picked up these parts of Amu and came before him. At this moment, Amu was lying on the ground, his cow eyes staring blankly at the sky, a hint of melancholy in his gaze. He was about to undergo Su Xiao’s treatment again.
“Looks like a major repair is needed…”
Su Xiao assessed Amu’s injuries. The Iron-Blooded Fierce Bull, Amu, began to tremble. This guy hadn’t even flinched when facing Senju Hashirama head-on earlier, but now, Amu was cowering.
“Woof.”
Bubu Wang barked from the side, meaning, “Give him a ‘full overhaul,’ let this dumb bull learn his lesson for tossing me around earlier.”
Su Xiao checked the progress of the major plot event. The event had already entered the second phase, “Revived Madara,” or more precisely, the early stage of the second phase.
Originally, Su Xiao had planned to alter the third phase, turning it into “The Strongest Madara.” Based on the current situation, the probability of Kaguya Otsutsuki appearing had dropped from 100% to around 40%.
Su Xiao had provided Madara with a lot of intelligence earlier. If Madara, with all that information, still wasn’t wary of Black Zetsu, then it could only be said that he was too careless.
Arrogance was Madara’s greatest weakness, but that was no longer Su Xiao’s concern.
After fighting Senju Hashirama, Su Xiao clearly realized one thing: the third phase of the Ninja War was definitely not something he could participate in now. Even if he hid, it would be useless. The Allied Shinobi Forces would dig three feet underground to find him, with Tobirama Senju and Hiruzen Sarutobi being the most enthusiastic.
Su Xiao’s participation in the second phase of the Ninja War was already somewhat forced. He could use his intelligence advantage to evade temporarily, but he couldn’t hide until the entire war ended.
Moreover, simply hiding yielded no benefits and would instead severely lower the rating of the major plot event.
Su Xiao had already experienced Senju Hashirama’s strength. Even a weakened Hashirama was difficult to deal with. If he were at full power, Su Xiao would be 100% dead.
If Hashirama was this powerful, then when the third phase fully began, there would be 4 to 5 plot characters stronger than Hashirama, such as Naruto Uzumaki (Six Paths Mode), Sasuke Uchiha (Single Rinnegan + Six Paths), Guy (Eight Gates Fully Opened), Madara Uchiha (Six Paths Mode + Ten-Tails), and Kaguya Otsutsuki (possible appearance).
Assuming Kaguya Otsutsuki didn’t appear, then Su Xiao’s enemies would be Six Paths Naruto + Rinnegan Sasuke + Eight Gates Guy.
If Su Xiao encountered any one of them by chance, his journey in Reincarnation Paradise would most likely end there. This wasn’t Su Xiao boosting the enemy’s morale; on the contrary, it was self-awareness.
Many contractors don’t die from dangerous derivative worlds but from inflated egos. If one gains power and gradually becomes arrogant, death is not far off.
Now that the second phase had just begun, Su Xiao could withdraw from the major plot event within two hours of each phase’s start. This wasn’t considered a forced exit.
The reason the major plot event was divided into three phases was that Reincarnation Paradise didn’t want to completely screw over the contractors. After all, the power system in the third phase grew by leaps and bounds.
By the third phase, even Super Shadow-level characters couldn’t afford to be careless. Those Six Paths-level beings were not to be trifled with.
Risk and reward were proportional, but what if the death rate exceeded 99%? The answer was to retreat immediately.
Just as Su Xiao was about to submit the main mission and end the major plot event, a sneaky figure approached.
“Big bro… want to buy some medicine?”
A man in a black hood waved from a distance.
Su Xiao looked at him with some surprise. This guy… was he risking his life for money? Selling medicine at high prices during a major plot event?
“No.”
“Sorry to bother you. Farewell.”
The hooded man turned and left. On his back was a pattern of red maple leaves.
“So, it’s someone from Red Maple.”
Su Xiao immediately guessed the man’s origin. This guy came from a merchant guild with a “huge” reputation. Contractors “affectionately” called the Red Maple Merchant Guild the dumbest guild in history, bar none.
As for the deeds of the Red Maple Merchant Guild, Su Xiao didn’t want to recall them. Those deeds were so stupid they hurt the brain. These people were a bunch of oddballs among oddballs.
After the Red Maple person left, Su Xiao chose to submit the main mission.
[Prompt: Main Mission: Prelude to the Ninja War has been completed.]
[Detected that the Hunter is currently in the major plot event: Fourth Ninja War.]
[Detecting…]
[Phase 2 of the major plot event has been active for 1 hour and 46 minutes, not yet reaching 2 hours. Normal interruption is possible.]
[Major plot event settlement in progress…]
[Settlement complete. The Hunter has experienced 57% of the major plot event. Performance: Excellent.]
[You have received the following rewards.]
[You have obtained 51.3% World Source. Total World Source now: 86.8%.]
[You have obtained an additional Authority Level Lv.2. Current Authority Level: Hunter Authority.]
[You have obtained Grandmaster Power.]
Seeing these three rewards, a smile appeared on Su Xiao’s face. His desperate persistence until now was completely worth it.
Earlier, Su Xiao seemed to face little risk in the Ninja War, but that wasn’t the case. He was now essentially in a fourth-rank derivative world. From the start of the second phase of the Ninja War, his task shifted from killing enemies to survival.
That was why he chose to create an opportunity to fight Senju Hashirama. After defeating him, an even greater risk emerged.
Orochimaru was also on the battlefield. Su Xiao had shifted quite a bit of blame onto him. If Orochimaru used Impure World Reincarnation on Hashirama again, who knew if Hashirama would be resurrected? The probability was low, but not impossible.
If he was resurrected, would the Hashirama Su Xiao had just killed come after him? The answer was definitely yes. Hashirama knew how dangerous Su Xiao was.
Space-time power enveloped Su Xiao, and his body gradually became transparent.
Several kilometers away, inside a cave.
“Ugh… ugh…”
Tsunade was tied up with iron chains, her eyes full of humiliation. Who would have thought that she, the Fifth Hokage, would be bound and thrown into a semi-sealed cave?
Su Xiao hadn’t forgotten about Tsunade, the pale gold chest, but he had no time. If he didn’t leave the Naruto world during the second phase, leaving in the third phase would be much harder.
He was slightly exhausted. Dragon-Slaying Flash urgently needed repairs. His recovery items were used up. His mana was only 363 points. Karin was too weak to heal and was hiding in the “cave” Su Xiao had created. Amu was cut in half, and Bubu Wang was severely injured.
Under these circumstances, every extra minute spent in the Naruto world carried significant risk.
Moreover, Su Xiao’s gains in the Naruto world this time were already substantial—no, it was the most bountiful harvest ever. If he could convert all these gains into strength, his power would increase by a large margin.