At the entrance of the bookstore.
Uehara Naraku looked down at the map of the Ninja World he had just bought and couldn't help but complain: "Boss, your map is quite abstract..."
"Ahahahaha..."
The bookstore owner scratched the back of his head and laughed awkwardly, "There's nothing that can be done about it. The most detailed maps can only be crafted by the big Ninja Villages. This kind of map won't hinder your travels too much anyway!"
All the lifelines of the Ninja World are actually controlled by ninjas. Unless a Ninja Village is willing to deploy ninjas to gather terrain intelligence, who else would be willing to pay a high price to make a more precise map?
Uehara Naraku glanced at him speechlessly and tapped his finger on the position of the Land of Water on the map. There was only a circle in the place representing the sea, and he finally couldn't help but say: "But isn't the size of the Land of Water a bit too large?"
"Are you heading to the Land of Water, young man?"
The bookstore owner's expression instantly became tense, and he leaned in to whisper in Uehara's ear, "Don't go there, I've heard many merchants never returned! No matter who goes to the Land of Water, they will be killed by the ninjas there!"
"...Alright, got it."
Uehara Naraku reluctantly put away the simplified map.
The Hidden Mist Village in the Land of Water was still under the rule of the Fourth Mizukage Yagura, a puppet Mizukage controlled from behind the scenes, who continued to implement the blood mist policy, keeping the Land of Water isolated from the outside world and theoretically refusing any outsiders entry.
In the Hidden Mist Village, hidden within the blood mist, not only was conflict among the village's own ninjas not prohibited, but it was encouraged.
The person manipulating Yagura seemed to fear that the Hidden Mist Village wouldn't collapse, using the blood mist policy to slowly drain its vitality, tormenting all the Hidden Mist ninjas.
If they could treat their own people so harshly, how much worse would they treat outsiders?
Flipping through the abstract map in his hand, Uehara Naraku planned his route to the Land of Water, choosing the fastest and safest path.
The quickest route at the moment was to head east from the Land of Rain into the Land of Fire, from there enter the Land of Waves, and then take a sea ship from the Land of Waves to the Land of Water.
This route had its advantages.
Though he might encounter Konoha ninjas along the way, there was no worry about danger. Except for the Third Hokage and Might Guy, there wasn't really anyone else to be afraid of...
Except for Hatake Kakashi.
If there was a way to infiltrate Konoha using another identity, he could complete many miscellaneous sub-tasks within Konoha Village.
The system's sub-tasks contained the most tasks related to Konoha's many ninjas, which wasn't surprising, as it was the home of the main characters of the Ninja World!
What weighed most on Uehara Naraku's mind was that this route led directly to the Land of Waves.
If the Land of Waves was now occupied by Caddo, that smuggling tycoon surely knew the way to the Land of Water, and he must have some connection with the Hidden Mist Village.
Uehara could completely control Caddo, use him to enter the Land of Water, or obtain intelligence about Hoshigaki Kisame from Caddo.
The Akatsuki organization's tasks were truly troublesome. Just recruiting Hoshigaki Kisame into the organization consumed so many brain cells.
The system wouldn't help at all; it only issued tasks continuously. How great it would be if he had a White Zetsu by his side—White Zetsu was most adept at gathering intelligence...
This thought flashed through Uehara Naraku's mind.
If he really had a White Zetsu next to him, it would mean the mysterious masked man and Black Zetsu had ill intentions, and Uehara would definitely twist off that White Zetsu's head on the spot.
At that moment, someone suddenly patted Uehara's shoulder.
Uehara Naraku turned around to see a girl with a somewhat sweet appearance, though her smile was a bit exaggerated.
Seeing Uehara turn back, the girl blinked her eyes curiously and asked, "Hello… do you know what it feels like to poop?"
"..."
What kind of devilish question is this!
Just now, Uehara Naraku had thought of White Zetsu, and hearing such a strange question reminded him instantly of how Uchiha Obito encountered those odd-thinking White Zetsus in the sealed underground base!
Uehara Naraku's expression immediately turned cold, and he grabbed the girl's neck, pressing her against the wall, saying in a low voice, "Hey, are you White Zetsu?"
"..."
The girl's expression stiffened upon hearing Uehara's words, and her eyes flickered as she shushed and said, "What are you talking about? I don't understand..."
Uehara Naraku didn't believe her for even a moment.
Because the system in his head chimed with a 'ding,' indicating a sub-task had been completed.
Sub-task: See through White Zetsu's disguise (1/1), task completed, reward skill: Innate Illusion.
Innate Illusion: The ability to disguise oneself as any creature until harmed or using skills will break the disguise. Consumes 100 chakra points with a cooldown of 2 seconds.
Uehara Naraku's brow immediately relaxed.
After seeing through White Zetsu's disguise, he obtained a skill similar to White Zetsu's miraculous Transformation Jutsu, and it was even more extraordinary.
The skill Innate Illusion came from the surviving member of the Fog-Tailed Race, Floral Spirit Nico's talent skill, allowing him to transform into any creature in the Ninja World.
For example, turning into a small cat.
Now the White Zetsu who transformed into a girl didn't know this; it still pretended to be frightened, trying to cover up: "Let go of me, I don't know what you're talking about, I just wanted to say hi to you..."
"Out of so many people, you just had to come to me!"
Uehara Naraku grabbed her neck firmly, twisted it, unable to suppress his emotions, and cursed aloud, "Damn it, still pretending in front of me!"
He already received the system reward, didn't he!
The townspeople in the small town saw Uehara Naraku kill a person on the street and looked alarmed, one of them, seemingly braver, asked, "Hey, kid, why did you kill her?"
"Because she insulted my intelligence."
Uehara Naraku replied without turning his head, only watching as the girl's corpse turned into a hideous white humanoid monster.
Exactly in the form of White Zetsu.
Ding...
The system in Uehara's mind chimed.
Sub-task: Kill a White Zetsu of the Ninja World (1/1), task completed, reward: Mayfly Jutsu.
Mayfly Jutsu: Merges oneself with the earth and plants, allowing fast movement underground and among plants. During the Jutsu, all breath is severed, consuming 3 chakra points per second on the surface.
"Wowaaaa!"
The villagers of the small town, seeing such an ugly monster for the first time and witnessing such a bloody scene, screamed and scattered!
Uehara Naraku ignored them, only took out a Sealing Scroll and sealed the corpse into the scroll. Whether to use it to slander Zetsu and the masked man to Konan and Pain, or keep it as a future Reanimation sacrifice, both options were open.
After Uehara casually left the town, a space-time vortex appeared silently on a rooftop, and the mysterious masked man pressed his mask in frustration: "Those White Zetsus are useless beyond measure! If it doesn't work, it's better to find another suitable spy..."