After the quarterfinal matches of the Chunin Exams ended, Konoha and Amegakure emerged as the biggest winners.
They effectively monopolized all eight slots in the quarterfinals!
Originally, to the five great nations and the medium- and small-scale countries, Amegakure had always seemed like a very closed-off village.
It was only after Senshi became famous on Amegakure's black market, and then spread his reputation to the black markets of the surrounding shinobi villages, that Amegakure gradually attracted more attention from the rest of the ninja world.
Still, nobody could have anticipated that in just half a year, this small Amegakure would develop into a small but extraordinarily powerful shinobi village.
During these Chunin Exams, Amegakure ninja directly took more than half of the quarterfinal spots.
Had Uzumaki Karin not withdrawn from the exam for unknown reasons, Amegakure would likely have claimed three-quarters of the quarterfinal berths!
After the quarter final lineup was announced, many people in the stands turned to look in a certain direction.
Seated there was a red-haired youth with a carefree, almost slouchy air, alongside a red-haired young woman.
These two were, of course, Uzumaki Senshi and Uzumaki Karin.
It could be said that without Senshi, Amegakure would not enjoy the flourishing prosperity it does today.
On one hand, Senshi is the instructor of the six elite genin from Amegakure.
On the other hand, he was the prime advocate for Amegakure's rapid progress.
From current information, one could summarize this shinobi named Senshi as "invincible at doing missions," "invincible at teaching," and "invincible in strategic vision."
Moreover, all three "domains" he's skilled in can be hired with money.
Because of that, the daimyo and top officials of the five great nations, as well as the leaders of other major forces throughout the shinobi world, have all become intensely interested in Senshi.
No matter how difficult their requests might be, there's no doubt they can commission Senshi to fulfill them.
As they considered these possibilities, everyone also began leaving the stands.
Senshi was more or less aware of what they were thinking.
Bringing Karin and the other six here for the Chunin Exams all in one go was, in fact, his own form of publicity.
A moment ago, when the heads of so many different factions in the ninja world were watching him with burning eyes, of course he noticed.
And as for whatever tasks they had in mind—he was open for discussion, all of it negotiable.
Not only was he happy to take on missions and grind them out, but the small fry in his mercenary group—hungry for work—could likewise take on large quantities of commissions.
Senshi felt that in this joint Chunin Exam held by Konoha and Sunagakure, from the moment he brought along Karin and the other six—despite not doing all that much—he had no idea how many times he'd "won" already.
It was like a gambler hitting the jackpot on every spin—he'd completely "won it all."
While Senshi was winning big, naturally Onoki and Rasa were "losing big."
Kumogakure and Kirigakure both maintained cooperative ties with Senshi, and Konoha—just like Senshi—ended up in the winner's circle this time.
As for Sunagakure and Iwagakure, they were comparatively miserable:
Not only did they fail to get anyone into the quarterfinals, they also ended up as stepping stones for the meteoric rise of Konoha and Amegakure.
At that point, both Onoki and Rasa had begun seriously wondering how they could partner up with Senshi to resolve their current predicament.
Obviously, they couldn't rush; they had to think carefully before taking action.
After all, hiring Senshi cost an enormous commission.
In the ideal scenario, they would pay as little as possible while reaping as many benefits from Senshi to aid their village's development.
With the top-sixteen round over, there would be a three-day break.
During those three days, most people took it easy, but one person stayed busy:
Orochimaru, who was in his laboratory conducting further research on Senshi's chakra.
At his side, Kabuto watched Orochimaru's work attentively.
"Orochimaru-sama, it seems Senshi's chakra is quite different from that of the majority of ninja?"
Hearing that, Orochimaru nodded. "Long ago, Senshi captured the Three-Tails, Isobu. I analyzed its chakra."
"From that moment, I realized Tailed Beast chakra is more 'advanced' than ninja chakra—superior in every respect."
"Senshi's chakra is very much 'high-level' in that same way, but it's on a wholly separate development track from Tailed Beast chakra."
Kabuto, pondering this, asked, "In other words, Orochimaru-sama, does that mean we could artificially create a Tailed Beast from Senshi's chakra?"
Orochimaru: (O_O)???
Kabuto's comment left Orochimaru's face full of question marks: "This kid sure dares to think big!"
But Orochimaru did not outright dismiss the notion. After all, it was all high-level chakra, and in many respects, Senshi's chakra was even more advanced than Tailed Beasts'.
If one thoroughly researched Senshi's chakra, maybe it would indeed be possible to create a chakra life form akin to a Tailed Beast.
At the moment, Orochimaru had yet to learn of the Zero-Tails' existence, or else he might be absolutely certain that Senshi's chakra could indeed produce Tailed Beast–type creatures.
Still, Orochimaru had no need to make Tailed Beasts; what he wanted most right then was to use Senshi's chakra to develop a perfected version of the Eternal Chakra Elixir.
Glancing at the devices containing Senshi's chakra, Orochimaru sighed.
"We likely won't see a major breakthrough for a while. We'll have to buy more of Senshi's chakra to continue our research."
Kabuto asked, "Orochimaru-sama, would you like me to go invite Lord Senshi now, to purchase his chakra?"
Orochimaru shook his head. "No, wait until I've made two more chakra-storage devices."
After that, Orochimaru and Kabuto tinkered with the existing storage units, upgrading them to dramatically increase their capacity.
The upgraded devices could each hold about the total chakra of 15 Kakashis.
Once they'd finished everything, Orochimaru told Kabuto to go find Senshi.
Kabuto soon departed for the inn where Ame's team was staying.
Senshi was not the slightest bit surprised to see Kabuto. He recalled that when he commissioned Orochimaru for capturing the Two-Tails, he had sold Orochimaru a large amount of chakra then. With Orochimaru's business booming, he must have already used up that core raw material.
Upon recently learning that Orochimaru had earned 1.2 billion ryō in one fell swoop, Senshi had even mused about "splitting the winnings."
So seeing Kabuto arrive, Senshi's eyes gleamed with satisfaction.
Kabuto bowed politely. "Lord Senshi, Orochimaru-sama invites you to his laboratory to discuss a collaboration."
Hearing that, Senshi nodded and brought Karin with him to Orochimaru's lab.
Entering, he spotted three chakra-storage devices connected to transparent glass cylinders. Besides those, the lab also contained a display rack holding Tier-1 through Tier-4 versions of the Eternal Chakra Elixir.
Senshi greeted Orochimaru with a carefree grin. "Hey, Snake-Bro, got any good tasks for me to handle again?"
Catching sight of Senshi's mischievous grin made Orochimaru's heart ache. He, too, had learned much from all his dealings with Senshi. Forcing his own sinister smile, Orochimaru said, "This mission is quite simple…"
He had hardly started when Karin peered around Senshi and said, "Senshi, let's go. This vile man is obviously looking down on you, throwing you a simple mission!"
Orochimaru: (O_O)???
He'd labeled the mission "simple" specifically to lowball Senshi. He knew by now that if he didn't find a way to press the price down, Senshi would certainly name an outrageous figure. But neither could he let Senshi leave, so he hastened to clarify, "No, that's not what I meant. I only meant that, for you, it's straightforward—because all I want is to purchase your chakra."
Worried Karin would stir up more trouble, he simply laid it out. Little did he expect that, while Karin stood by calmly, it was Senshi who became problematic. Once he realized Orochimaru's true intent, the grin on Senshi's face abruptly shifted into a look of helplessness.
Orochimaru: (O_O)???
Seeing Senshi's sudden change in expression left Orochimaru baffled. Wasn't this a trivial matter for him? Last time he'd only had to press his palm to the device and it was done. So why the long face now?
In the next moment, Orochimaru heard something that almost made his eyes pop out.
Senshi sighed. "Snake-Bro, I'm all out of reserves now. Last time, it was only because we're good pals that I gave you such a large quantity of chakra all at once. Losing that much chakra that fast, even I can't handle it."
Hearing that, Orochimaru inwardly cursed.
Nonsense! Last time you discharged a ton of chakra and looked absolutely fine! Clearly Senshi just wanted to quote a sky-high price.
Nonetheless, Orochimaru had no choice, as he still needed more of that chakra. Mulling it over, he decided to negotiate.
Smiling wickedly, he said, "But last time you gave me a huge sum of chakra with no sign of fatigue. Your total chakra must be enormous, so providing that much again shouldn't be hard."
Senshi kept shaking his head. "Snake-Bro, you only saw me looking fine. Really, I was forcing myself!"
Again Orochimaru cursed inside: "Forcing yourself," my foot—clearly you're trying to fleece me. But since Orochimaru needed Senshi's chakra indefinitely, he carried on. Pointing to the three upgraded storage devices, he said, "What if I pay you 200 million ryō to fill these three units with chakra? Is that acceptable?"
But Senshi shook his head once more. "That quote's way too low, and I can't possibly have that much chakra. I told you: last time was at a discounted 'family and friendly price,' and I only did it so your research would go smoothly."
Hearing that, Orochimaru just wanted to let out a rage-filled shout—but he dared not do so in front of Senshi. Forcing himself to stay patient, he said, "Senshi, two hundred million ryō would buy two Yamata no Orochi Fruits. If I'm paying two hundred million purely for chakra, that is perfectly fair from any angle. Once you expend your chakra, you can replenish it with time. It won't affect you at all."
Again Senshi shook his head. "Snake-Bro, heavens know, losing that much chakra at once is a real strain."
From behind Senshi, Karin popped out to echo him: "Exactly. When Senshi loses so much chakra at once, it really takes a toll on him—he can't even savor my cooking properly!"
Orochimaru was exasperated. Every time he pocketed some money, Senshi swooped in to gouge him. Yet he had plenty of outflows too, and his methods of earning were high-risk—who knew when they might stop working? With a profound helplessness, Orochimaru asked, "Fine, then name your price."
Senshi sighed deeply, raising three fingers in obvious reluctance. Seeing that, Orochimaru's furrowed brow finally smoothed. He'd wondered how high Senshi might go, but it turned out to be just three hundred million. So Orochimaru promptly agreed: "Three hundred million? Done!"
But Senshi waved him off. "Snake Bro, that's not 300 million— I meant three times your original quote."
That nearly made Orochimaru spit blood on the spot. "Three times my opening? That's six hundred million?! Are you insane?!"
Before Senshi could explain, Karin put her hands on her hips, smirking, "Senshi, you should punch him—he's insulting you!"
Orochimaru felt drained. When did I insult Senshi? Desperate to avoid trouble, he clarified, "I'm not insulting him—just strongly expressing my shock. And I absolutely can't accept that price! Let me be frank: once your chakra is turned into potions, I'll earn about 1.2 billion. But in the entire process—from market research to product marketing, R&D, production, finding customers, after-sales service—there are huge costs. If you just supply the raw materials but pocket half the profits, that's not right, is it?"
Senshi feigned confusion. "I see nothing wrong with it. My chakra is precious, after all!"
Inwardly, Orochimaru seethed at the absurdly high figure. He wasn't lying that the cost of developing the Eternal Chakra Elixir was not trivial; if he paid what Senshi demanded, he'd do all the work only for Senshi to reap the biggest reward. So Orochimaru dug in: "No way. I can offer at most three hundred million for the chakra. I'm not going through all this just to break even, or worse, lose money."
Senshi dug in, too. "Snake-Bro, heavens know, losing that big chunk of chakra at once really does hurt. Besides, I only do it because we're such close friends. If it were somebody else who wanted to do business with me, they'd first have to become equally good friends."
Now Orochimaru had a splitting headache. He wanted that chakra, but he sure didn't want to shell out six hundred million. Forking out that sum would make him the "ultimate sucker." While he hesitated, Karin poured more salt in the wound.
"Senshi, Orochimaru obviously isn't sincere about working with you. He starts by offering a super-low price, then when you say your fair number, he hems and haws—no sincerity. He's messing with you!"
Startled, Orochimaru hurriedly explained, "I'd never dare mess with him! It's just six hundred million is far too high, and I have to think carefully!"
Karin went on, "You're not treating Senshi as a real friend. You're making 1.2 billion; what's wrong with giving Senshi half? Without his chakra, you wouldn't be making any money at all!"
Orochimaru was practically trembling. "That's just sophistry! I already said the R&D and sales process also cost a lot!"
At that moment, Senshi offered another proposal. "Snake-Bro, if you really don't want to spend six hundred million, I can do four hundred million worth of chakra. I'll only fill two of those storage units instead of all three."
Hearing that, Karin immediately tacked on, "Orochimaru, at that price you're getting a great deal from Senshi!"
Orochimaru: (O_O)!!!
He truly wanted to throttle these two red-haired devils. For a hundred million you could buy a Tailed Beast, yet here he had to pay double to buy some chakra. Still, after carefully reconsidering, he had no choice but to grit his teeth and capitulate.
"Fine—six hundred million. But you have to fill all three storage units. Also, once we fix the price at two hundred million per unit, it can't be raised later on for any reason."
Though even two hundred million a unit was high, Senshi refused Orochimaru's condition. "Snake-Bro, you're forgetting that I'm still growing. Next time you buy my chakra, it's going to be even more advanced, so how could the price remain the same?"
"Urk—!" Orochimaru turned dizzy and almost fainted on the spot. Kabuto rushed to check on him: "Orochimaru-sama, are you all right?"
Orochimaru was shaking with rage, but could only swallow it. Senshi's shamelessness truly had no bounds. Even after swindling him six hundred million this time, he was blatantly saying prices would keep climbing in future deals.
In the end, Orochimaru, though furious, was powerless to do anything about it. So he muttered, "I will hire you for six hundred million ryō. Fill these three storage units and supply me with enough material for my research."
[Mission Accepted!]
[Client: Orochimaru]
[Goal: Provide enough chakra for Orochimaru's research!]
[Commission Reward: 600 million ryō]
[Mission Rank: S]
[Mission Bonus: 600,000 Employment Points!]
When this alert echoed in Senshi's head, he grinned ear to ear. Indeed, Snake-Bro was the best—another six hundred million plus six hundred thousand employment points in one deal. It was going to pay for countless "extras" and "treasures!"
After issuing the commission, Orochimaru produced six checks of 100 million each, practically grinding his teeth as he handed them to Senshi. "So, three days? Think you can fill these upgraded devices by then?"
Senshi's face turned icy. "Snake-Bro, don't be a stranger! I'll handle this for you right away—no need for three days. I'll finish before you know it."
With that, he walked over to the three upgraded storage devices. Watching him go, Orochimaru smirked inwardly. He had said each upgraded device held the entire chakra supply of fifteen Kakashis, making forty-five Kakashis total for all three. 0.45 of a Naruto, by his calculation. Likely Senshi would only fill one of them before reaching his limit.
But the moment Senshi pressed his hand on the first device, Orochimaru blinked, and suddenly warning lights started blinking wildly—the container had reached maximum capacity! Not only that, it was on the verge of bursting.
"Stop, stop—switch to the next device before this one explodes!" Orochimaru yelled.
Senshi frowned. "Your upgraded storage device's capacity is not so great." He murmured to himself that it only held fifteen "Kakashis," which was hardly cost-effective for what Orochimaru spent.
But that wasn't the end of the shock. Senshi then effortlessly filled the remaining two devices, leaving his own condition completely untouched.
Orochimaru and Kabuto stared as though at some freakish monster. In their eyes, such colossal chakra reserves would make even a Tailed Beast suspect that Senshi was the one with a bottomless well of energy. Indeed, after dumping so much chakra, he wasn't even breathing hard.
Even as Orochimaru stood there reeling from surprise, he felt inflamed. Senshi's chakra capacity was obviously astronomical, yet he'd still extorted Orochimaru for six hundred million. Orochimaru realized he'd need new plans going forward—like more deals with Senshi, akin to the Yamata no Orochi Fruit business.
After the transaction concluded, Orochimaru turned to Kabuto. "Kabuto, show our guests out."
He had no desire to see Senshi and Karin's beaming faces a moment longer. Just thinking of how Senshi had squeezed six hundred million from him made him feel unable to breathe.
Senshi declined the courtesy. "No need, Snake-Bro. Karin and I will just look around a bit and then head off."
Inwardly, Orochimaru cursed, "Please, just get out of here!" But he didn't dare say so aloud, returning instead to his research. Kabuto stayed at their side without leaving.
They took only a few steps when Kabuto shouted in alarm, "Karin, don't press that—!"
Too late. Karin had already poked a button, throwing the entire laboratory into darkness. Luckily, Kabuto reacted quickly and pressed another switch, restoring power. Grimacing, he said, "Lord Senshi, Karin—please avoid touching any switches or reagent bottles. The one just now cuts power to the entire Konoha, redirecting all the village's electricity to this device."
Karin's big watery eyes sparkled. "So the whole village blacked out just now?" She couldn't help wanting to press that button a second time.
Looking serious, Kabuto confirmed, "Yes, the entire village lost power for a few seconds."
Seeing Karin so eager, Senshi felt a twinge of déjà vu—it reminded him of Naruto's mischief. Hoping to avert further chaos, he grabbed Karin and barred her from messing around.
Soon she was pointing at a different reagent bottle. "What about this thing?"
Again, Kabuto yanked her away in time: "That's a corrosive agent whose potency is on par with Acid Release. Hugely dangerous—just a drop on your skin would probably melt half your arm."
Karin whined to Senshi, "Senshi, look at the awful stuff Orochimaru researches in here—it's gotta be for evil purposes!"
Orochimaru, who was busy using instruments to test a fresh sample of Senshi's chakra, nearly choked at hearing that. He explained wearily, "It's for extracting special mineral materials."
Naturally, Karin didn't care. She just wanted to hassle Orochimaru. She and Senshi, with Kabuto accompanying them, then arrived at another rack of potions.
Kabuto took the initiative to introduce them: "Lord Senshi, these are potions Orochimaru-sama developed after extensive study of your chakra. They increase cellular activity and can partially repair long-term injuries in a ninja's body, boosting overall vigor. These five vials are the Tier-1 through Tier-5 versions."
As he spoke, Senshi picked up the potions to examine them. He quickly noticed each contained a portion of his chakra—not raw, but refined by Orochimaru, then added in small amounts. The Tier-1 had the least, the Tier-5 a bit more.
Given his prior experiences with the One-Tail, Two-Tails, Three-Tails, and Six-Tails, Senshi realized that once Orochimaru refined his chakra, it displayed some of the same advanced properties typically exclusive to Tailed Beasts. He casually asked, "Snake-Bro, why not refine the chakra further in these potions?"
Orochimaru's voice carried a sinister smirk. "Refining it this far is nearly the limit of my present technology." He said no more—Senshi, being just a black-market mercenary, wouldn't comprehend the complex tech. Telling him would be pointless.
In Senshi's mind, though, a new idea took shape: He could refine his own chakra the way Orochimaru had—yet do it dozens of times better. Orochimaru's refined chakra was already pretty effective, so if Senshi refined his own, it would surely be even more potent. Forming this plan, Senshi decided to try it once he got back.
He turned to Orochimaru. "All right, Snake-Bro, I'm out of here. Call me if you've got any more jobs." With that, he triggered the space teleportation ability of his Kāma and vanished from Orochimaru's lab.
Once he'd gone, Orochimaru and Kabuto exhaled heavily in relief. Kabuto asked curiously, "Orochimaru-sama, are we really nearing the limits of how far we can refine Lord Senshi's chakra?"
Orochimaru shook his head. "With our current apparatus, we can still raise the purity by over ten times. But that'd be way too costly. Our goal is the perfect version of the Eternal Chakra Elixir, plus using each successive 'good enough' product to rake in huge profits from that old monkey Sarutobi and all those daimyo. Producing some ultra-high-purity version now is nowhere near a truly perfect product, and giving it to Sarutobi would be a waste. It's not part of our research focus."
Kabuto nodded, dropping the subject.
…
Outside Konoha, on the main road back to the village, a group of eight figures appeared—one adult and seven kids: Kakashi, along with Naruto and six other "little hotshots." If Karin hadn't gone off on missions with Senshi, that would have made eight children.
At that moment, Kakashi was bringing up the rear, mainly watching Raimon Yukika and Raimon Hayate. He'd noticed that while Naruto and the others had been powering up at breakneck speed, those two seemed more like him—using missions as training but seeing only modest results.
~~~
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