Freelancer in Naruto

Night fell as the sun set and the moon rose.

That evening, Senshi took Karin along to find Fū.

Fū was reading at the time and didn't notice when Senshi and Karin appeared behind her.

Senshi was already extremely skilled at capturing Tailed Beasts.

He appeared behind Fū and, with a casual knife-hand strike, knocked her out cold.

Though Karin and Fū had been vying for the title of "best little assistant," seeing Senshi about to seize Fū's Tailed Beast made Karin frown.

"Senshi, are you really going to take Fū's Tailed Beast? She's one of our mercenary group members."

Senshi waved off her concern. "Foolish Karin. Am I taking Fū's Tailed Beast? Nonsense—I'm freeing it."

"Tailed Beasts originally roamed free, right? But then they were all sealed inside ninja. I'm simply letting the Beast regain its freedom."

"And besides, no one else knows how to do this high-level 'Tailed Beast Partition Technique.' If someone else forcibly extracted her Tailed Beast, Fū would end up dead. I'm doing this for her sake."

Karin: (O_O)???

"So you're saying Fū and the Seven-Tails should thank you?"

Senshi gave a bashful smile. "No need, no need. This is just my duty."

As he spoke, he patted Fū on the shoulder, undoing her seal, and began pulling out the Seven-Tails, Chōmei.

Karin pondered for a second, asking, "Won't that hurt her mission efficiency, losing the Tailed Beast like this?"

Senshi replied matter-of-factly, "Why would it? I already gave her the Crystal Release Bloodline; everything is going according to plan." He said it with complete seriousness.

He had never intended to give Fū any Bloodline in the first place. She herself had come with money she'd saved up, buying it from him.

But Karin didn't know that. Hearing his words, the girl's small, adorable face lit with admiring awe.

"As expected from Senshi—he even thought that far ahead!"

Joking and chatting away, Senshi soon dragged out Chōmei the Seven-Tails.

"One Finger Nukite!"

Without pausing, Senshi executed his well-practiced Tailed Beast cutting method in one fluid motion.

Chōmei looked at Senshi and Karin, trembling. It had long since heard the ominous rumors about these two red-haired fiends.

Senshi turned his gaze to the Beast, speaking lightly: "Keep my actions strictly confidential. Don't go telling your Jinchūriki or anyone else. Understand me?"

Chōmei nodded like a pecking chick. Of course it understood. Among the nine Tailed Beasts, aside from itself and the Eight-Tails, the rest had all been captured, after all.

After subduing Chōmei, Senshi glanced at Karin, who wore a shy grin as she held out her hand.

"Senshi, since I'm helping you store the Tailed Beast, don't I get a storage fee?"

Senshi didn't reply, only flicked Karin gently in the forehead and said, "Careful, that's a 'forehead-flick warning!' Rephrase your request!"

Indeed, if the Seven-Tails wasn't even part of an official "capture" mission, awarding Karin a "storage fee" would violate his mercenary principles.

At once, Karin patted her chest emphatically: "Senshi, leave Tailed Beast storage to me! As a top-tier assistant, this is my duty!"

"Hmph, that's more like it." Senshi tossed the Seven-Tails to her, and Karin promptly sealed it into the Kamui dimension.

That meant only the Eight-Tails remained uncollected.

Senshi considered it—since he'd eventually need to capture the Eight-Tails, why not tonight?

"All right, let's go to Kumo," he said.

"Huh?" Karin was taken aback—did they really have to dash over to Kumo right now?

Senshi explained, "Might as well snatch the Eight-Tails too. That way, we won't need to bother capturing Tailed Beasts anymore, just wait to sell them."

Talking as they went, he activated his Kāma space-time power, heading for Kumogakure.

Although Killer Bee was formidable and the Eight-Tails was likewise no pushover, Senshi appeared behind Bee and dispatched him with a single blow.

Inside Bee's consciousness, the Eight-Tails realized right away that something was off.

"Crap! So they're here for me after all! It's not like I even ate anything fancy…"

Sure enough, once Bee was knocked out, Senshi lifted his Iron Armor Seal.

Suddenly freed from its host, the Eight-Tails felt Senshi pulling it out.

That put Gyūki in a panic. Though he frequently severed a tentacle to escape scrapes, this time it clearly wouldn't help him slip away.

But he decided to try anyway.

Out in the open, Senshi was about to fully remove the Tailed Beast and do his "knife-hand strike" when he noticed that the Eight-Tails, cunning as ever, had split itself in two.

So a portion of Gyūki's chakra remained in Bee, while the main chunk of the Tailed Beast body reappeared in front of him and Karin, trembling.

Karin clicked her tongue. "Eh? Did that big guy cut itself?"

Senshi had a hunch. "That's just some fancy trick. And Gyūki, you're different from the others. You often do that sever-and-regenerate trick, so any lost chakra of yours might be the fastest to recover. No playing around."

Realizing its gambit had been exposed, the Eight-Tails had no choice but to come out fully. Attempting real resistance was pointless. Bee himself had been casually taken out, so the Tailed Beast couldn't bring its synergy with the Jinchūriki into play.

After pulling out most of Gyūki's chakra, Senshi neatly finished it off.

"One-Finger Nukite—slash!"

And just like that, the Tailed Beast was physically split into one large chunk and one small chunk. The tentacle Gyūki had severed earlier quickly reintegrated with the main piece.

Glancing at the subdued Beast, Senshi said casually, "Be a good boy and keep what happened hidden. You get it, yeah?"

Gyūki nodded furiously. At least this outcome wasn't wholly catastrophic. As long as part of its chakra remained in Bee, its consciousness wouldn't dissolve. Better yet, it could regenerate the lost portion of chakra.

Having concluded his instructions, Senshi promptly tossed the Eight-Tails to Karin, who skillfully sealed it away into Kamui space.

Now, aside from those already sold, all the Tailed Beasts were in Senshi's hands. Once Obito and Madara had enough money, he'd sell them the lot.

With that, Senshi and Karin returned to Ame. He didn't bother visiting Hidan, so as not to disrupt Hidan's mission schedule and hamper potential employment points. If the group needed "team-building" or something, he could just yank Hidan over by space-time ninjutsu.

While Senshi and Karin successfully captured Tailed Beasts, Orochimaru and Kabuto were also advancing their research. Kabuto, having acquired the two Sukuna fingers, had already consumed them. The resulting power-up only made him more eager to save money and buy more.

Meanwhile, the items Orochimaru had purchased from Senshi proved extremely useful. He had already used one Momotarō Dumpling to tame a mutated, berserk Manda. He wanted to use the other two dumplings on the Daimyō of the Land of Fire and the Land of Lightning, reasoning that controlling those two lords would massively simplify his quest for funds.

But there were issues—those two Daimyō were already quite old. Even with the Eternal Chakra Elixer, they might croak at any moment, so it might not be worth burning up precious dumplings.

Right then, in one of Orochimaru's labs, a condemned criminal put on the Stone Mask. Just as Senshi claimed, the vile mask transformed the man into a vampire-like creature boasting monstrous strength.

Fueled by that unexpected power, the criminal got cocky and looked at Orochimaru and Kabuto with hostility. Orochimaru and Kabuto, eyes fixed on him, commented:

"Huh, not bad at all," Orochimaru said, after sizing him up.

Kabuto nodded. "Indeed. Lord Senshi's merchandise might be expensive, but it usually delivers."

Even as they spoke, the "vampire" lunged, brandishing speed beyond human limits. Kabuto considered taking him down on the spot, but Orochimaru stopped him. "Wait. Let's see how this monstrous form performs."

This condemned man had been just an ordinary civilian, yet now he possessed ninja-like speed and monstrous might. Orochimaru saw promise.

With a twitch of Orochimaru's fingers, a venomous snake slithered forth to do battle.

Swoosh—

The snake opened its mouth wide, spitting out the Kusanagi Sword.

Slash—

Its blade cut the convict's shoulder, slicing even the bone. But while blood gushed, the vampire's body quickly regenerated, though it cost him a hefty portion of blood.

Orochimaru and Kabuto looked on in amazement.

"Indeed," Orochimaru said. "The monster produced by the Stone Mask is exactly like Senshi described."

"A mere civilian, turned into a vampire with frightening abilities. But the drawbacks are still enormous."

Kabuto agreed. Then he asked, "Lord Orochimaru, shall we proceed with the sunlight test?"

Orochimaru nodded. Snakes pinned the prisoner in place, while Kabuto pressed a switch to retract part of the lab's roof. Harsh sunlight poured onto the vampire's body.

"Uaaaaagh!"

A shrill scream tore from the vampire's throat as the sunlight scorched him. In agony, face contorting, he shrieked ever more chillingly. Soon enough, the rays obliterated him.

Observing that, Orochimaru frowned. Vampires made by the Stone Mask had great cost-efficiency for small nations lacking strong ninja. But the glaring weakness was that they could be easily killed by sunlight.

He mulled it over and said to Kabuto: "Enough human-based trials. This Stone Mask alone is far too flawed. We'll have to use it in tandem with something else—like the Blacklight Virus."

Kabuto asked, "If we can't test on humans, how do we measure the results properly?"

Orochimaru smiled darkly. "Open your mind. We can't do it ourselves—but that doesn't mean Senshi can't. As Root's leader, I can't have the reputation of performing taboo experiments on living people. But Senshi might have a better way of supplying what we need. Let's talk to him again."

So he promptly reached out to Senshi. Because they were discussing "test subjects," Orochimaru chose a forest outside Konoha as the meeting spot.

Senshi, upon receiving Orochimaru's request, eagerly arrived.

"Snake Bro, why meet out here this time?"

In the past, they'd always dealt with Orochimaru's lab. Now Orochimaru was in some random woodland near Konoha.

Clearing his throat, Orochimaru said, "That Stone Mask tool is simultaneously outstanding and extremely flawed. If we can't fix the drawbacks, it's basically worthless. Yet I still plan to combine it with the Blacklight Virus—letting the two offset each other's weaknesses. If it works, it'll be huge. But for that, I need a lot of experimental subjects, ideally people with fairly decent potential, not just civilians."

Senshi realized the reason Orochimaru had chosen such a remote locale. As Root's new leader, not to mention being active in the Five Great Nations, Orochimaru was more mindful of his public image now.

However, Senshi also wasn't going to just kidnap living "test subjects." So he thought: What other solution is there?

He was still pondering that when the ground behind him suddenly split, and a White Zetsu popped out.

White Zetsu ignored Orochimaru and addressed Senshi directly: "Lord Senshi, Master Madara is looking for you."

Senshi was instantly delighted; he was currently desperate for big sums of employment points to unlock the advanced draw, and if Obito and Madara were summoning him, they might have come to buy Tailed Beasts. Perhaps they'd saved enough money.

He wondered how many they'd purchase at once.

But as these thoughts ran through his mind, Senshi sized up White Zetsu and felt a surge of joy—he'd just been stuck about how to supply Orochimaru with "experimental subjects," and right here was the perfect solution.

Turning to Orochimaru, Senshi exclaimed, "Snake Bro, how about using this guy?"

Orochimaru frowned. "What is that thing? Looks a lot like Zetsu."

Inside, Senshi suppressed a laugh: What do you mean 'like?' This literally is part of Zetsu.

But outwardly he said, "It's the perfect test subject you've been after. Look, do whatever experiments you want on it—no one's going to complain that you used a living person."

Suspicious, Orochimaru asked, "You sure it's human?"

Senshi shrugged. "He's sort of human, but not exactly."

In truth, White Zetsu originally was human from a thousand years ago, but now obviously wasn't. Orochimaru wouldn't mind using him as a "person."

Although Orochimaru didn't fully get it, studying White Zetsu made him realize the creature indeed seemed extremely valuable. A moment earlier, White Zetsu had snuck so silently close that Orochimaru never sensed it. Combining Stone Mask and Blacklight might produce a fearsome minion if tested on Zetsu.

Hence, Orochimaru said, "I'll take it."

At that, White Zetsu stared in confusion. Just earlier it found Senshi and Orochimaru quite interesting, but overhearing them haggling about making it an "ideal test subject" was horrifying.

In a panic, White Zetsu shouted, "You can't do this to me! I've bled for the Akatsuki, contributed so much! Let me go!"

Senshi responded by smacking him on the head. "Nonsense. All that supposed devotion… Did Nagato see it?"

Zetsu was speechless—if he said "Nagato saw it," Senshi would retort that Nagato was blind now, so how could he see anything?

Trying a different tactic, Zetsu pleaded, "I have important intel for you, Senshi!"

Senshi just shrugged. "Whatever you had to say, I probably already know. No need to worry about it. Going to Snake Bro's place will do you good, not harm. Off you go now."

Zetsu refused to back down, but Senshi promptly knocked him unconscious with a single blow, then handed him to Orochimaru.

Still uneasy, Orochimaru asked, "Didn't he come to see you for something? You never heard him out."

Senshi was nonchalant. "Probably doesn't matter. I've got a good guess. Now then, Snake Bro—how many of these White Zetsu do you want?"

Orochimaru frowned. "How many? Are there that many around?"

Senshi quickly shook his head. "No, no, not many. In fact, extremely rare." Inside, he scolded himself for almost blurting out that White Zetsu existed in the thousands.

He needed to extort Orochimaru properly. Telling him, "I can get as many as you want," would be self-sabotage.

So turning earnest, he said, "This thing's regeneration is strong. You can do any experiment you like, and it even possesses some Wood Release. Absolutely a dream come true as research material."

Orochimaru was now quite keen. Observing White Zetsu's extraordinary traits, plus hearing it had Wood Release, he thought it was the perfect test subject.

Studying White Zetsu from head to toe, Orochimaru asked, "So, how do I get it…?"

Senshi interrupted: "Snake Bro, the question is, 'How much must I pay to acquire such a rare research specimen?'"

Orochimaru rolled his eyes. Fine, he got it. "All right. So how many ryō for this 'rare research specimen'?"

Casually, Senshi said, "Selling it at cost: three hundred million each. Not out to profit, y'know. Just making friends."

Orochimaru: (O_O)???

No way. This chunk of pale thing cost as much as two Sukuna fingers put together? Heck, even Kabuto had paid three hundred million total for them.

But then Senshi "bargained" with himself: "But, since we're already friends, I'll let you have it for two hundred million."

Zetsu, who in the Fourth War would be mass-produced and used like cannon fodder, was here being sold for two hundred million apiece.

Having stated "two hundred million," Senshi paused. Orochimaru weighed it. On the one hand, the prospective gains—top-tier subject plus a bit of Wood Release—looked promising. On the other, the price was insane.

Eventually, Orochimaru asked, "If I do these experiments, you're sure it'll be no trouble for me? I can't have a scandal about using living humans."

Senshi threw an arm around Orochimaru's shoulders. "Snake Bro, you're overthinking. Sure, Zetsu's usable like a human, but it isn't actually human. If any busybody tries to complain, show them what Zetsu really is—some kind of walking plantlike monster. Obviously not a normal person, right?"

Orochimaru found this logic convincing. Plenty of weird ninja exist, but they remain human. Zetsu wasn't.

Settled in his mind, Orochimaru said, "I'll buy two to start. That's four hundred million total. I'm hiring you, Senshi, for four hundred million to provide me with two White Zetsu."

[Commission Accepted!]

[Client: Orochimaru]

[Mission Objective: Help Orochimaru acquire two White Zetsu!]

[Payment: 400 million ryō]

[Mission Rank: S-rank]

[Mission Bonus: 400,000 Employment Points!]

Hearing the system's prompt, Senshi was overjoyed. Two hundred million a pop!

Orochimaru had only limited knowledge of White Zetsu. He decided for now on just two, one for direct research and one as a backup. If it turned out truly ideal, he might order more later.

Senshi handed over this White Zetsu to Orochimaru, then said, "Snake Bro, you keep this one to study while I figure out how to get you the other."

Orochimaru nodded and left, carrying the unconscious Zetsu. Once Orochimaru was gone, Senshi mused, Obito and Madara must have saved up enough to buy Tailed Beasts.

Perfect timing indeed—he needed the extra Employment Points to unlock the advanced draw. Off to see how much they'd collected.

Meanwhile, at the Land of Earth black market, Madara and Obito had partly replicated Senshi's methods, adopting the same high-volume mission spree.

The black market run by Iwazō was once again the focus of many. Their mission capabilities were incomparable to Senshi's, but matched or exceeded folks like Sasori, Deidara, Karin, or Senshi's other "rookies."

Because of their efficiency and success rates, gold-laden clients converged on that black market. They came from near and far, boosting Madara and Obito's earnings further. Both men were delighted. Obito thought privately, Copying Senshi's "homework" is so satisfying. No wonder Senshi and the others made fortunes—it really works!

Like them, local black market managers and new sponsors were equally thrilled. Sponsors needed reliable mercenaries, managers needed top results, so under that synergy, Obito and Madara steadily amassed large sums of money—ready, presumably, to buy Tailed Beasts.

~~~

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