Waiting

"These guys could run like sewer rats. Good thing I finally found them all."

In the small grove, the Black Shadow Ninja opened the bounty scroll in his hand and compared it to the four skeletal corpses on the ground, then nodded lightly.

He then removed the black mask from his face, revealing Yota’s features.

"The Munch-Munch Fruit and the Dark-Dark Fruit really are a perfect match. From now on, absorbing other people’s Chakra won’t require me to eat living people."

"Besides, the modification space inside my body has already merged with the Dark Space. Even when carrying out modifications, I can use the Dark Space directly instead of swallowing things into my stomach."

"I can even store all sorts of materials directly in the Dark Space. With a single thought, I can modify my body directly. I won’t have to play that I Eat Myself game anymore. And I can have all kinds of modification modes, switching between them with a single thought."

It could be said that with the help of the Munch-Munch Fruit, the Dark-Dark Fruit’s infinite gravitational pull had become the Star Absorbing Skill and Heaven Devouring Magic. The Dark-Dark Fruit handled the attraction, while the Munch-Munch Fruit handled the digestion.

Meanwhile, the Munch-Munch Fruit’s self-modification had become transformation modes. The Munch-Munch Fruit handled the transformations, while the Dark-Dark Fruit’s space stored all kinds of materials. Both Fruits had greatly increased in power and practicality.

Moreover, during this time, Yota had tested the Dark-Dark Fruit’s silencing effect. These ninjas were not like Devil Fruit users, who would lose the ability to use their Devil Fruit abilities the moment they were caught by a Dark-Dark Fruit user. However, the Dark-Dark Fruit’s power could absorb the Chakra within their bodies.

With their Chakra being drained away like floodwaters, few ninjas could still control the Chakra in their bodies and perform ninjutsu normally. Thus, while the Dark-Dark Fruit’s power could not be considered an absolute silencing technique in the ninja world, it was still an extremely powerful disruption ability. It could also directly drain others’ Chakra to increase his own strength, sparing him the trouble of "eating people" with the Munch-Munch Fruit.

After cutting off the heads of those ninjas, Yota headed straight for the nearest Black Market. Although he was worth a considerable sum and did not actually need the Black Market’s rewards, working for the Black Market at least kept his intelligence well-informed and gave him more opportunities to fight.

"Still, the timing is about right. The Nine-Tails’ Rampage should happen within the next few months. Once I turn in these heads, I should just leave."

The moment Yota entered the Black Market, the entire place fell silent. Every Bounty Hunter Ninja looked at him with fear, wariness, and reverence.

Over the past few months, several hundred missing-nin and Rogue Ninjas of all kinds had died at Yota’s hands. They had either possessed overwhelming numbers or exceptional skills of their own, yet not a single one had been capable of resisting Yota. Yota himself had not even suffered a scratch.

Many people guessed that Yota already possessed Kage-level strength. In the Bounty Hunter Ninja line of work, Kage-level strength was practically equivalent to Madara Uchiha or Hashirama Senju in a major ninja village. Over all these years, Kakuzu was the only Kage-level expert among the Bounty Hunter Ninjas.

After all, with Kage-level strength, one could basically establish a small force of their own. They would not need to fear pursuit from ninja villages and could live freely wherever they went. Why bother being a Bounty Hunter Ninja?

For that reason, Kage-level experts held an especially powerful deterrent over these Bounty Hunter Ninjas.

"Is the boss here? I’m cashing in bounties!" Yota threw out several shriveled heads. At first, he had worried that the Dark-Dark Fruit had ruined the heads so badly that the Black Market would not be able to identify them. However, the Black Market apparently had its own method of reconstructing faces from bones, saving him quite a bit of trouble.

"Yes, yes." The Black Market boss wore a somewhat ingratiating smile as he began handling the shriveled heads. He identified them quickly and started settling Yota’s payment.

After receiving his money, Yota spent some more on the latest intelligence. Once he finished reading it, he left directly.

"The time should be about right. The Chakra I gained from hunting during this period is secondary. What matters most is that I’ve completed all my Chakra natures. It can be said that I can now learn the vast majority of ninjutsu in the entire ninja world!"

"Konoha, I’m back!"

"This is so boring… When is that damned Nine-Tails going to show up?"

In an inn in Konoha, Yota sighed.

In truth, infiltrating Konoha was neither particularly easy nor particularly difficult.

Although Konoha was a militarized fortress, it still had to open its gates for business. As long as one had no criminal record, getting in was quite easy.

Yota had long since been listed as a dead ninja. A nobody like him would probably not be recognized by more than a few people even if he appeared in Konoha without changing his appearance. Besides, six years had passed. He had grown from ten to sixteen, and he had altered his facial structure somewhat with the Munch-Munch Fruit. No one could possibly tell who he was now.

When he had worked as a Bounty Hunter Ninja, Yota had always worn a mask. Therefore, he truly had no criminal record now. Combined with his current wealth, entering Konoha had not been difficult at all.

As for Anbu surveillance… Konoha had at least several thousand people passing through every day. If an Anbu ninja were assigned to every single person, Konoha might as well stop doing anything else.

However, important locations such as the Anbu, Root, Hokage Building, and Sealing Team were all guarded by dense barriers and Anbu ninjas. Only places like commercial districts and residential areas allowed free movement.

Yota had been in Konoha for nearly a month now. Since delays could lead to unforeseen complications, he knew that most merchants who came to Konoha would not stay for long. They only came to discuss business and hire a few ninjas. Therefore, once someone remained for more than a month, Konoha’s ninjas would pay closer attention to them.

During this time, he had looked into things around Konoha and discovered that his former companions and chunin instructor had all died on the ninja battlefield. It made him somewhat sad, but he also could not help feeling that his decision back then had been wise.

Even that chunin instructor, who had been so cautious in both personality and ninjutsu selection, had died. It was easy to imagine that if Yota, who had only possessed cannon-fodder strength at the time, had gone as well, he would merely have added another death to the tally.

Aside from asking about his former companions, Yota had not wasted this time. With his eagle eyes and Observation Haki, he had gained a clear understanding of some of Konoha’s hidden bases. All he had to do was wait for the Nine-Tails’ Attack, then take advantage of the chaos to fish in troubled waters.

His eagle eyes were one thing, but Observation Haki was an ability the entire Naruto World had never seen before. Those barriers did have some obstructive effect, but it was not particularly effective. Yota had already located more than half of those places.