Devouring Tailed Beasts

Catherine stood at the entrance of the cave, focusing as she sensed her surroundings and tried to contact Ran through the Team Space. Yesterday, Ran had told her that there was a Reincarnator in this world calling herself Heaven’s Will. She was extremely dangerous, possessed tremendous prestige within the Konoha Faction, and could already influence Konoha’s upper-level decisions to a certain extent.

She had not expected the beast-like Mercenary Tao not to kill Uchiha Shisui and Uchiha Itachi for their drops. Theoretically, killing those two would certainly yield substantial rewards. There should at least have been a B-rank Anomaly Point.

Especially Uchiha Itachi. As an important Plot Character, he had a tremendous impact on the world’s timeline, involving such key events as the early Uchiha Clan Downfall Arc, the Uchiha Sasuke Growth Arc, and the Impure World Reincarnation during the later Fourth Great Ninja War.

Catherine had not expected Mercenary Tao’s true combat power to be so terrifying. Although Uchiha Shisui might have underestimated him, instantly crushing Shisui before he had activated his Mangekyō Sharingan or Susanoo—such speed and explosive force were among the very best even compared to the Strong-tier Reincarnators she had seen.

It was an absurd speed that even if the Sharingan could track it, an ordinary ninja’s body would be unable to react.

At that moment, Catherine looked toward Hiranaka Hana, who was carefully tending to the heavily injured and unconscious Uchiha Itachi, and finally understood. Mercenary Tao’s Main Mission had to be different from hers.

This woman was probably connected to his Main Mission. Thinking of what such special missions usually entailed, they were either activation trials for some special sequence or ability, or… the rumored card trials within the Space.

There had long been rumors in the Space that Mercenary Tao had once taken part in hunting down the remnants of Team 9527. Now it seemed highly likely that the cards in the hands of those Team 9527 remnants had been taken by Mercenary Tao.

Though she understood all this, she did not dare reveal the slightest abnormality, afraid Mercenary Tao would casually kill her as well. Thus, she acted exceptionally cooperatively, even taking out a considerable amount of her team’s healing medicine to keep the two Plot Characters alive.

Uchiha Shisui instantly understood the situation before him. His and Itachi’s disappearance would inevitably place the Uchiha Clan in an extremely dangerous position. After all, Konoha’s upper ranks already knew that many within the clan intended to rebel.

Without his mediation, coupled with the embellishment of those with ulterior motives, a brutal civil war had already been successfully brewing.

Not only that, Konoha’s instability would bring this brief period of peace to an end. A Konoha consumed by internal conflict would become the shared target of the other Four Great Ninja Villages. The other four nations would all seek to carve up the fertile lands of the Land of Fire…

All manner of horrifying scenarios surfaced in Shisui’s mind. His lips twitched a few times as he felt genuine pain.

What made him blame himself even more was that all of this had been caused by his arrogance.

If… he had used Susanoo the moment they met, would he have already suppressed this man?

He began to regret it. He had almost never experienced failure. His overwhelming talent had meant he had rarely encountered any real adversity.

That was why Uchiha Shisui had been able to retain that almost naive kindness.

He could not see Konoha’s oppression of the Uchiha because he was strong, and no one dared do anything to him.

Nor could he see the plight of the other clan members. He could not understand why those Uchiha had been driven step by step into such a desperate position.

"Do you regret it, Uchiha Shisui?"

Bai Cangshu looked at the young powerhouse with great interest. From his face, the resilience of his bones, and other details, he could roughly infer that Uchiha Shisui was not yet twenty years old. (There are many bugs in Naruto’s timeline, so Shisui’s age has been slightly adjusted here to avoid the situation where an eight- or nine-year-old Shisui made such a great name for himself during the Third Shinobi World War.)

In terms of sheer power alone, with Susanoo and the ocular power of the Mangekyō Sharingan, even without using Kotoamatsukami, Shisui could absolutely enter the ranks of Kage-level fighters.

But there was a considerable flaw in his mentality. No, perhaps it was not Uchiha Shisui who had a problem, but this world.

The Naruto World was different from the One Piece World. Those who held kindness in their hearts often ended up becoming obsessed because of their own hearts and convictions. Assimilated by this dark world, they gradually turned more and more extreme.

Bai Cangshu had expended tremendous mental effort to suppress the surging Satsui no Hado, leaving his mind somewhat scattered.

Uchiha Shisui said nothing, but Bai Cangshu had already received the answer he wanted.

"Then, do you agree to my deal?"

"If you refuse, I will kill Uchiha Itachi right now. Perhaps I won’t gain much, but his life and those eyes of his would still be fine rewards for me."

Bai Cangshu’s tone was calm. He was not bluffing. If Uchiha Shisui refused, he truly would choose to kill the two of them here and claim this portion of the rewards first.

His subsequent plans might be affected to some extent, but Reincarnators had far too many options if all they wanted was immediate profit.

The only thing that could make a Reincarnator give up immediate gains was greater profit. Bai Cangshu was willing to spare Uchiha Shisui and Uchiha Itachi because he wanted more. But if he could not get it, the two of them were still worthwhile rewards.

"Itachi… is he still alive?"

Uchiha Shisui spoke. He knew he had already compromised, but Shisui could not deceive himself. He had always placed tremendous expectations on Itachi, whom he regarded as a younger brother.

In his view, Itachi was the one both the Uchiha and Konoha had been waiting for.

The one who could truly lead the Uchiha Clan into Konoha and forge peace had always been Itachi, not him.

Itachi possessed talent even greater than his own, as well as exceptional vision and thoughtfulness. He was naturally skilled at considering many matters and had a calm disposition… Itachi had to live.

At that moment, Uchiha Shisui discovered the selfish desire he had concealed beneath his great kindness.

Bai Cangshu lifted the unconscious Uchiha Itachi. Nearly all the bones in his body had been shattered, and his internal organs had suffered severe damage as well. If not for the Reincarnators’ medicine, he would have essentially been forced to bid farewell to his ninja career in this world. Whether he could even survive would depend entirely on whether he was lucky enough to last until someone like Tsunade could treat him.

Shisui touched Itachi’s body and heard the faint breathing that was nearly gone. He… had no choice.

"I still don’t know who you are or what you want."

Seeing Uchiha Shisui relent, Bai Cangshu knew his objective had been achieved.

A gentleman could be manipulated through righteousness. Uchiha Shisui was unquestionably a good man. He possessed power, yet was unwilling to kill. Bai Cangshu used that mindset, using Uchiha Itachi and the war about to erupt to bind this powerful Uchiha to himself.

"You can call me… Mercenary Tao."

"As for my goal, naturally it is… world peace. Heh."

Bai Cangshu’s tone was strange, making him sound exactly like an ambitious schemer. Yet Uchiha Shisui had no room to bargain at this point and could only say in the end,

"If you intend to harm Konoha, then even if you kill Itachi and me, you will not get what you want…"

"Tsk, tsk."

Bai Cangshu interrupted Uchiha Shisui’s threat and said indifferently,

"Relax. A place like Konoha is not what I want for now. First, you Uchiha should do what you are best at."

"Tailed Beasts. I’ve never sampled the taste of a Tailed Beast before. Tell me, if I eat one, will I obtain Tailed Beast Chakra like Kinkaku and Ginkaku of Kumogakure?"

Catherine took out the precious Holy ARM, preparing to treat Uchiha Shisui’s injuries. She lowered her head to hide the shock in her eyes.

Eat a Tailed Beast?!

This was Mercenary Tao’s goal?

The next moment, she realized that Mercenary Tao had Gourmet Cells!