Top Secret? Big News!

The Uchiha Clan had once stood alongside the Senju Clan as one of the strongest great clans of the Warring States Period. Their bloodline carried exceptional talent for Fire Release, along with the powerful Kekkei Genkai known as the Sharingan.

Even after the Senju Clan vanished, they still inspired fear in every major ninja village.

Any intelligence related to the Uchiha was worth a fortune, let alone information from inside Konoha that was said to be capable of shaking Konoha itself—or even sparking a terrible war that would utterly destroy the Land of Fire.

The appearance of the name Uchiha in such intelligence was shocking, yet it also gave people a sense of sudden realization. Of course it was them.

To Reincarnators, however, the Uchiha Clan represented an excellent Bio-Implant in the form of the Sharingan, the Indra’s Bloodline hidden within that clan, and even the bloodline of the cosmic Otsutsuki Clan.

It was likewise a path leading toward great power, something every Reincarnator who entered this world sought to acquire.

The name seemed to possess a magical power. Ayai, whose will had fiercely resisted the hypnosis and refused to decrypt the message, swiftly lost all mental resistance. He could no longer suppress the urge to decipher this intelligence.

Catherine perked up. At this point, she could no longer worry about the possibility that this might lower their reputation with the Konoha Faction. She keenly realized that siding with Mercenary Tao might yield even greater returns.

She quickly hypnotized Ayai and had him stumble through the entire decryption process. Since it was encoded text, some portions contained errors and omissions and required more detailed decoding work, but the general meaning had already been interpreted.

As she watched Ayai write out the decrypted text, her pupils contracted and her heart began pounding. She had a premonition that this mission might be far from simple.

The Uchiha Clan intends to rebel. Konoha is on the brink of civil war.

Just two short lines contained a tremendous amount of information.

Without sparing another thought, she handed the coded message to Mercenary Tao, who was still taunting and mocking that Plot Character. Catherine noticed that Mercenary Tao’s mental state seemed somewhat unusual. Reincarnators of his level generally looked down on Plot Characters with an innate air of pride.

Like the Four Demons before them, they basically did not treat Plot Characters as "people." They were capable of doing anything.

Yet Mercenary Tao appeared to be deliberately provoking resentment and hatred within this Plot Character.

Was there any point in that?

Since Bai Cangshu had not yet fused the Heart of the Thunder Emperor, he could not cultivate the Mantra ability produced by Enel’s Drop Card. But if he had been able to read minds at that moment, he would certainly have explained it to Catherine with great interest.

He too was curious about what meaning things like the heart truly held. It was the truth he had been searching for during this period.

Could hearts like Corey and Cindy’s really nurture power as extreme as that of Black King Luffy in the end?

Bai Cangshu stared at the decrypted message, but one finger shot forward.

Whirr~

Golden energy howled violently. The next instant, it fired out like a laser.

Pfft!

Catherine instinctively released her grip. Then she saw that the Jonin from Kumogakure had already stopped breathing, a finger-width hole bored through the position of his heart.

That was… the Dodon Ray?!

Catherine lowered her head and stepped back twice. In her estimation, Mercenary Tao’s danger rating had risen even further: speed as swift as the wind, ghostly movements that rode the wind itself, defense that blades could scarcely harm, strength capable of easily breaking the limbs of Jonin-level enemies, and now, a high-grade energy projection ability capable of instantly killing opponents.

Damn it, was Mercenary Tao really going to become one of those powerful Martial Artists from the Dragon Ball World?

Catherine weighed the combat strength she and Ran could unleash with all their trump cards revealed. She found that even if she seized the initiative with Mental Shock, their odds of victory were extremely low. And if Ran’s first barrage after transforming failed to kill Mercenary Tao, one of them would most likely be instantly killed, while the other would be caught and killed as well because of the difference in speed.

Huff~

Catherine slowly exhaled a breath of stale air, completely abandoning any thought of becoming his enemy. The only fortunate thing was that this world was a peaceful, team-cooperation mission world, so Reincarnators would not produce Scarlet Drops by fighting one another. That would presumably reduce Mercenary Tao’s desire to hunt the two of them considerably.

"Judging from the current timeline, this is probably the point before the Uchiha Clan launches its rebellion."

Catherine began laying out her information and deductions, while Ran added his own thoughts.

"Mm. Combined with the contents of Main Mission 1, if this intelligence is leaked, there is indeed a considerable chance that the other ninja villages will launch a war."

"What should we do, Mr. Mercenary Tao? Should we bring this intelligence back to Konoha first and trigger the next phase of the mission?"

"With the reputation this intelligence brings, we can probably gain the right to participate in the next stage of operations. With our… no, with your strength, there is a good chance you can harvest the Sharingan and Bloodline Items from the Uchiha Clan!"

Ran’s tone rose slightly. Mercenary Tao’s forceful inspection of the intelligence had brought an unexpected gain.

As Bai Cangshu listened to the two of them, his gaze continued to drift toward the woman, who had fallen into confusion after hearing so much that she could not understand at all.

He did not tell them that his Trial Mission and their Main Mission were fundamentally different. Moreover, he and Konoha were not necessarily in the same faction.

The first stage of Bai Cangshu’s Trial Mission, Utmost Benevolence and Goodness, required him to protect Hiranaka Hana for seven days. It said nothing about how this intelligence was to be handled.

In other words, according to the space’s judgment, even if Hiranaka Hana handed over this intelligence, she would still be hunted afterward.

After this intelligence was gone, who would continue hunting this woman?

The corner of Bai Cangshu’s mouth curled upward. He had already formed a guess about how this world would develop.

All that remained was figuring out how to obtain his own rewards amid those developments.

Bai Cangshu said nothing, and Ran gradually calmed down as well. He knew that the initiative over what happened next was not in his hands at all. Though it appeared that Mercenary Tao was cooperating with the two of them, that was not truly the case.

Standing before him, Ran understood that this was no partnership. It was an absolute relationship of domination. Out of fear, neither he nor Catherine dared oppose Mercenary Tao’s decisions.

At that moment, the eastern sky began to brighten. Bai Cangshu suddenly had an idea.

He looked at the two of them with an amused gaze, but the question he asked seemed unrelated.

"Are you two a permanent team?"

Ran nodded, not understanding why.

Bai Cangshu tossed him the original intelligence report and said,

"Then you can take this intelligence back to Konoha now and complete your Main Mission."

Ran looked puzzled, but Catherine had already understood. With a bitter smile, she said,

"So I am being kept behind as a hostage, am I?"

Bai Cangshu lightly waved a finger, correcting her wording.

"No. You are my collaborator."

He looked at Ran again and continued,

"You only have… hm, three days. Three days from now, if you still have not completed the mission, I cannot guarantee what will happen to you two. Heh…"

Bai Cangshu’s smile was cruel and dangerous. Catherine suddenly understood what he intended.

Mercenary Tao wanted to release that intelligence and throw the ninja world into chaos?!