A temporary lull fell over the rippling surface of the ke.

  Terumi Mei, Gonbee, Ao, and Chōjūrō all simultaneously swallowed hard, sweat beading on their foreheads.

  If Uzumaki Senshi accepted Terumi Mei’s proposal, thehing would be fine.

  But if he rejected this long-term employment pn, the four of them would be done for today.

  Senshi’s power went far beyond the Kage level—one could say he had reached that realm but then surpassed it by a wide margin. Among the historic Kage-level ninja of the Five Great Nations, there likely weren’t many who could defeat him.

  At this point, Senshi wasn’t really hesitating—he was just double-cheg his “mission panel.” The previous long-term assig he’d worked so hard to acquire. Yet this time, a new one had e along quite easily.

  Recalling that, his face broke into a professional smile.

  Not only did he possess uionable bat power, but his ability to haasks was just as solid.

  “I accept your vilge’s hiring proposal!”

  “Once your vilge pays the first part of the ission, we talk missioails.”

  Hearing that, Terumi Mei’s heart finally settled. Gonbee, Ao, and Chōjūrō all breathed a deep sigh of relief as well.

  In the past few mihey had mao avert a massive crisis for the vilge! All thanks to Terumi Mei—if not for this beautiful, brilliant, and (in truth) still-unmarried dy’s quick thinking, the four of them would already have been “packed up” by Senshi and handed over to the Blood Mist fa.

  After calming herself, Terumi Mei retrieved a check from her wallet—ohat could be cashed for 10 million ryō—and gave it to Senshi.

  [You have successfully accepted a new long-term ission!]

  [t: The Kirigakure]

  [Objective: Assist Terumi Mei in suppressing the vilge’s internal instability]

  The momeook the check for 10 million from Terumi Mei, Senshi heard the system’s prompt in his mind. Just like with the previous mission, this one also only awards the Super Draw after pletion, which was quite vexing.

  Still smiling, Senshi looked at Terumi Mei and her group.

  “We discuss the missioails now.”

  Those words sparked excitement in Terumi Mei, Gonbee, Ao, and Chōjūrō. For now, they had only paid 10 million and already hired a ninja whose strength rivaled that of aire vilge’s Kage to help them solve a problem—quite a bargain for them. One side was happy to hire, the other side happy to be hired.

  And it certainly helped that Uzumaki Senshi took on missions with total itment. If he did accept a job, he never failed.

  Terumi Mei inhaled deeply, steadying her excitement. She gazed at Senshi early:

  “Lord Senshi, my idea is for us to locate the Blood Mist upper echelon. If you could show your strength in front of them... if you personally take down a major ninja on the Blood Mist side, that’d be perfect.”

  After Terumi Mei’s suggestion, Ao stepped in to add:

  “Yes—if you strike a blow against the Blood Mist followers, they’ll have to think twice about making any move ter. They might be so intimidated by your power that they’ll just stay in line.”

  As soon as they fihey looked at Senshi with anticipation. If Senshi agreed, it really would be money well spent for them. But Senshi just shook his head:

  “That pn’s no good. Do you even know where these people are hiding?”

  Sure enough, none of them—Terumi Mei included—could answer. If they’d had clear ihey would have already targeted the key figures. Unfortunately, suformation was far too scarce.

  Terumi Mei sighed, regret etched on her lovely face:

  “I’m sorry… The Kiri currently doesn’t have enough intel.”

  Gonbee, Ao, and Chōjūrō shared in that disappoi. Now that they’d hired an ultra-powerful ninja like Senshi, it was a shame not to capitalize on it fully.

  But as they were feeling down, Senshi gave a little chuckle and rubbed his hands as though he had an idea:

  “I actually have a way to track them down.”

  Terumi Mei blurted out almost reflexively:

  “What is it?”

  Right after speaking, she realized it might be dangerous—she knew Senshi well enough now to suspect he had his own motives. Gonbee, Ao, and Chōjūrō could not guess what hidden trouble might lie here, so they simply waited.

  Senshi didn’t keep them guessing: he took out the same stack of ission slips from before. The very first one was the “Waerumi Mei” slip.

  Terumi Mei: “???”

  Gonbee: “???”

  Ao: “???”

  Chōjūrō: “???”

  All four were stunned—did he think their money wasn’t enough? Had he taken the payment and refused to do the job? Seeing their looks of shock, Senshi quickly realized they’d misuood. Sure, his moral lines in mission-taking were quite “flexible,” but he wouldn’t just pocket their money, skip the job, and kill them.

  Clearing up the fusion, Senshi spoke:

  “My method is very simple: I’ll capture all four of you alive and hand you over to the Blood Mist. Then I’ll follow i to see where they take you. With your status, if they mao seize you, they definitely won’t handle you at some low level. They’ll bring you to their top brass. At that point I show up and take them down in one blow. How’s that sound?”

  Hearing this, Chōjūrō instantly jumped:

  “No way, no way! If they kill us immediately instead of taking us to their leader, we’d never see them. Not to mention they’d seal our chakra, and we’d have no ce to fight back.”

  Chōjūrō finished, and Senshi patted him firmly on the shoulder:

  “Kid, you don’t trust my strength, huh? If I’m in the shadows, what could possibly g? Besides…”

  Just as he trailed off, he showed them a type of Lightning Release the four had never seen.

  Zzzt-zzzt-zzzt!

  Suddenly, his body crackled with pure lightning chakra. In a blink, he transformed iricity and seeped int on Terumi Mei’s hand.

  “Th-this…?!”

  Terumi Mei stared at the ring on her hand, eyes wide, cheeks flushed with disbelief. Gonbee, Ao, and Chōjūrō were likewise utterly sck-jawed. Senshi had verted his entire body into lightning—something typical only of living chakra forms like Tailed Beasts. Or was his lightning affinity on the same level as a Tailed Beast’s? Moreover, to hide ihe ring without any visible chakra flow… If she hadn’t seen it herself, she would never believe it.

  With that little demonstration, Senshi used the ability from his “Rumble-Rumble Fruit”: fully turning his body into lightning-chakra and moving/hiding in a ductor. Having fully mastered his own powers, he could do so without harming Terumi Mei in the slightest.

  Seds ter, that bolt of lightning emerged again and reformed into Senshi in front of them. Even with his chakra subdued as much as possible, its immensity still shocked the four from the Kiri. In their eyes, Senshi’s chakra reserves must be close to that of a Tailed Beast. Unbeknownst to them, Senshi had already stepped into the Ten-Tails range, doubling the usual Tailed Beast capacity or more.

  Witnessing this, Terumi Mei’s team finally somewhat agreed to Senshi’s pn. Then again, in Terumi Mei’s mind: even if they refused, he’d force them to ply anyway. She could see how he was stantly gng from them to the bounty slips.

  Terumi Mei pursed her lips in resignation:

  “Fine, Lord Senshi, t your pn.”

  Right after—

  Crack, crack, crack!

  Tree branches sprouted, and several Wood es familiar from the Konoha style emerged. With Senshi’s near-infinite chakra, each e still carried high-level power. Many jōnin from smaller vilges wouldn’t eve one of his es.

  Splitting off a few Wood es, Senshi said breezily:

  “Stay here for now—don’t wander off. I’ll go grab my panion, then we’ll head to the bck market and ‘deliver the mission.’”

  Though uled, Terumi Mei’s group nodded after some thought. Their hearts still pounded with ay. Meanwhile, Senshi left the keside to rejoin Kisame, who looked dazed. Senshi patted him on the shoulder:

  “—got another job to do.”