Chapter 58: Good News
Karin rolled up the sleeve of her clothing, revealing her pale arm densely covered with teeth marks.
Su Xiao looked at the teeth marks, feeling no desire to bite down. He pulled open the collar of Karin's shirt, finding teeth marks on her shoulder as well.
After searching, Su Xiao saw that Karin's arms and shoulders were full of teeth marks. He couldn't possibly bite her feminine features—that would be too dirty—but her pale neck had no marks, so he bit down there.
"Not there... ah~"
Karin tilted her head back, her face flushing red.
After biting through Karin's neck, a rich surge of life force flowed into Su Xiao's body. His already half-cooked left hand began rapidly shedding dead skin, regenerating, and soon recovered.
A few minutes later, Su Xiao released his bite. Karin touched her neck—there was no bleeding, only teeth marks.
Su Xiao removed the arm guard from his left arm and poured out the dead skin inside. Aside from being slightly paler, his left hand had no other issues.
"Such a convenient ability."
Su Xiao looked at Karin. Although her ability was useful, it couldn't be used repeatedly.
In the original story, Sasuke had bitten Karin too many times, causing a large number of her cells to mix into his body. Eventually, Sasuke's daughter didn't resemble his wife at all but looked similar to Karin, even inheriting Karin's nearsightedness.
With his injury healed, Su Xiao channeled Azure Steel Shadow energy into his left arm, quickly cleansing the cells belonging to Karin.
The capture of the Four-Tails was complete, and a notification from Reincarnation Paradise appeared.
[Four-Tails capture complete.]
[You have obtained 6% World Source.]
[You have obtained 1000 Akatsuki Contribution Points.]
...
Capturing the Four-Tails yielded some World Source, but the amount couldn't compare to capturing the One-Tail. Although the World Source was less this time, the Akatsuki Contribution Points were a full 1000, 400 more than for capturing the One-Tail.
The reason was simple: last time, although the One-Tail was successfully captured, it alerted Konoha and Sunagakure. From the Akatsuki's mission completion perspective, the previous mission was far less clean than this one.
Enter the Land of Earth → Find the Jinchuriki → Lure the Jinchuriki out → Defeat the Jinchuriki → Retreat unscathed. The entire process took less than two days without alerting anyone else, so naturally the Akatsuki Contribution Points were higher than last time.
The three of them brought the dying Four-Tails Jinchuriki and headed toward the border of the Land of Earth. This time, the sealing location was in the Land of Iron, which was quite far from the Land of Earth.
Riding on Bubu Wang's back, Su Xiao wore a contemplative expression. He was thinking about how to quickly kill Itachi—no, it should be to let Itachi and Sasuke meet soon, so Itachi could take his leave. That would be more efficient, and since he had an agreement with Obito, he didn't plan to break it.
According to the progression of events, once Itachi died, Nagato would soon attack Konoha, and only then could Su Xiao's main mission be completed.
As for attacking Konoha alone, Su Xiao had never considered that—it would be suicide.
...
The journey was uneventful. A few days later, the three arrived smoothly at the Land of Iron. During this time, Su Xiao injected several bottles of basic alchemical medicine into Rōshi to keep him alive.
The Land of Iron was still covered in heavy snow. The three stood before a large snowy mountain. Kisame began forming hand seals, and a section of rock face on the mountain trembled, scattering snow to reveal a cave entrance.
The three walked into the cave. A cold wind carrying snow blew in from the entrance, and firelight flickered inside the cave. This was the location for sealing the tailed beasts.
According to the original plan, four tailed beasts were to be sealed together this time: the Three-Tails, Four-Tails, Six-Tails, and Eight-Tails. Of course, this was under the assumption everything went smoothly.
"It seems someone has arrived early. As expected of the leader."
As soon as Kisame entered the cave, he saw Tendo Pain inside. Lying at Tendo's feet was a Jinchuriki—the Six-Tails Jinchuriki, a long-haired handsome man whose specific name Su Xiao couldn't remember.
"Good speed."
Tendo nodded to the three.
"With this, we just wait for Deidara's team and Kakuzu's team."
Su Xiao found a spot in the cave and sat down. The cave fell into silence.
This silence lasted for an entire day. Bubu Wang rolled around bored until the cave opened again. A cold wind blew in, and a massive creature was thrown into the cave—it was the Three-Tails, in its wild state, without a Jinchuriki.
"Senior Deidara, we're so fast, we must be first."
"Of course, hmm."
Deidara and "Obito" walked into the cave.
"Ahh, there are people faster than us. Disappointing."
Obito hung his head with drooping hands, looking defeated.
"That's because you were useless during the mission. Are you here to be comic relief?"
"Even Senior Deidara noticed that. As expected of a senior, haha."
Deidara and "Obito" entered the cave.
"Too slow."
Tendo was somewhat dissatisfied. With the Akatsuki capturing tailed beasts so frantically, the Five Great Ninja Villages would surely become alert.
"Now only one pair is left."
Su Xiao sat cross-legged in the cave, maintaining Dragon-Slaying Flash. Although the [Divine Afterglow] scabbard had the function of repairing Dragon-Slaying Flash, daily maintenance was necessary.
"No need to wait for them."
Tendo spoke.
"Oh?"
"Could it be..."
"It seems the combination of the Fourth Raikage and the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki lives up to its reputation. They actually took out the Zombie Duo."
Everyone assumed Hidan and Kakuzu had died at the hands of the Fourth Raikage and the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki.
"Hidan and Kakuzu died at the hands of a mysterious force. That force probably sent over a hundred people to surround them."
Hearing Tendo's words, Su Xiao immediately thought of something. He opened the [Derivative World Contact Platform].
"Oh? These guys are unexpectedly tough."
From the fragments of conversation on the Derivative World Contact Platform, Su Xiao figured out who had killed Hidan and Kakuzu—the Blood Gate Adventurers.
Hidan and Kakuzu might have been targeted by Blood Gate before even finding the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki. The contractors knew their data, which rendered half of Hidan's abilities useless.
As for Kakuzu, over a hundred second-rank contractors surrounding him was enough to kill him, especially since Blood Gate Adventure Group leader Stan was not just an ordinary second-rank contractor.
In the Naruto world, not only Su Xiao had gained benefits; the Blood Gate people had also reaped a rich harvest.
Compared to the Blood Gate Adventurers, the Divine Emperor Adventure Group chose other ways to gain benefits. It was said that Divine Emperor had already connected with Danzo and was working for Konoha.
As for Gulu, whom everyone was looking for—that murderous, candy-loving little girl had vanished into thin air, taking a set of Demon Hunter equipment with her. The three large adventure groups were gnashing their teeth in frustration.
The Naruto world was vast, and each faction's main missions were different, which greatly reduced friction between contractors.
"Since everyone is here, let's begin. This will take at least four days."
Tendo summoned the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path, and the long, tedious sealing process began.
If Su Xiao guessed correctly, this would be his last time participating in sealing a tailed beast. After this, his focus would shift to Itachi.
As the three tailed beasts were sealed together, Tendo noticed something unusual about the Four-Tails. After all, it was captured by Kisame, so some of the tailed beast's chakra being absorbed was barely normal.
However, the Four-Tails had been drained too harshly by Su Xiao, looking like it might kick the bucket at any moment.
"Bai Ye, is this your ability?"
Tendo looked at Su Xiao.
"Yes."
Tendo said nothing more. After all, Su Xiao had helped the Akatsuki capture two tailed beasts. Kisame glanced at Su Xiao, the corners of his mouth lifting. Itachi pretended not to notice.
Four days later, Su Xiao stretched lazily. These four days had been unbearably boring. Bubu Wang had even started chasing his own tail, spinning faster than a top until he almost threw up and stopped.
"Excellent. Now only the Eight-Tails and Nine-Tails remain. Capture these two tailed beasts as soon as there's an opportunity."
Tendo glanced meaningfully at Itachi, who remained silent. Earlier, he had requested Tendo that the Nine-Tails be his target.
Just as everyone was about to leave and go their separate ways, Konan spoke.
"There's important news. Orochimaru is dead."
Hearing Konan's words, a smile appeared on Su Xiao's face.