Motonami Uchiha felt exhausted.
After the Uchiha joined Konoha, he had become somewhat overconfident, believing that after exposing so many negative effects, no one would target the Uchiha again.
Not long ago, he even hoped Akaba would depict things more dramatically to shock the clan into awakening and advancement.
Now it turned out worse—people weren't just aiming for their eyes; they wanted the entire body too.
If one of the last remaining Uchiha was taken over by another soul, it truly would be a tragedy beyond measure.
He was quiet for a long while, then let out a heavy sigh. "I've heard [Dead Demon Consuming Seal] is real—an existence where one pays with their soul to summon the Shinigami. Perhaps there really are eyes capable of evading death and techniques allowing souls to transfer into other bodies."
"Uh, then should I withdraw the manga?"
Akaba couldn't quite read Motonami Uchiha's thoughts.
If he wanted the manga removed, he should've come yesterday instead of hesitating until today when he discovered him at the village gate organizing a queue.
"It's better to be safe than sorry—hiding things won't stop thieves, but making ourselves strong will. The main thing is to grow stronger ourselves—to develop countermeasures against [Living Corpse Reincarnation]."
Motonami shook his head.
His thoughts were actually clear, but somehow, he couldn't bring himself to say them out loud.
Akaba was smart, though initially slow on the uptake, he now began to understand.
Everyone knows that when it comes to researching techniques, Orochimaru is the top ninja in the village—in terms of research capabilities, even the Third Hokage, known as the Professor Ninja, might fall slightly short.
If one wished to seek someone to develop countermeasures, naturally Orochimaru would be the top choice.
Yet in the manga, it was precisely Orochimaru who developed [Living Corpse Reincarnation] himself.
Isn't this asking the thief to teach how to catch a thief?
This whole situation was a real psychological mess!
Akaba didn't know what to reply immediately—for Orochimaru indeed had an interest in the Sharingan. If Motonami Uchiha offered himself up willingly, Orochimaru would likely be delighted.
But regarding ways to counter [Living Corpse Reincarnation]...
In the manga, Sasuke eventually became the vessel for Orochimaru's reincarnation, but seemingly managed to consume Orochimaru's soul using his Sharingan and Cursed Seal power, preventing the transference from succeeding.
Still, Sasuke was a special case.
Being the reincarnated vessel of [Indra Chakra] definitely influenced various aspects. Otherwise, if merely having [Three Tomoe] could resist [Living Corpse Reincarnation], then Orochimaru's painstakingly researched ninjutsu would practically amount to a joke.
Thinking about it, Akaba could only say, "To truly counter soul possession, we'd need to address multiple fronts—at minimum, either strengthen your soul itself or create some sort of mark, imprinting the body as yours."
"Eh?"
Motonami Uchiha looked at Akaba in surprise.
The former point he understood: strengthening soul power naturally helped resist soul-based attacks. But clearly, this method wouldn't work for children.
How could a child's soul possibly compete with an adult's?
Unless the adult's soul was already badly damaged.
However, the method of imprinting one's own mark...
He pondered deeply and after a minute or two, finally grasped Akaba's meaning. "You're saying that for this kind of soul-stealing ninjutsu, the conditions must be extremely strict, with a series of prerequisites. As long as we disrupt one part of it, the opponent's difficulty in stealing will increase?"
"Just a guess. Purely a guess."
Akaba nodded.
These were merely his personal speculations without any confirmation from the manga. He repeated this twice specifically to prevent Motonami Uchiha from shifting blame later.
Motonami Uchiha fell into deep thought.
If the body was like a house, Living Corpse Reincarnation would be like a thief picking the lock, expelling the weak child and seizing the house for himself. Whereas marking the body with one's own "imprint" was similar to installing an additional security door.
To some extent, it was effective.
Motonami Uchiha understood this clearly too, though he knew it only worked "to some extent." Still, it was better than nothing. Compared to his unrealistic idea of awakening the Mangekyo Sharingan or something similar, Akaba's proposal was clearly more practical.
He took a deep breath and bowed deeply. "Thank you, Mr. Akaba."
"No problem. After all, this mess was my doing in the first place."
Akaba shook his head.
Living Corpse Reincarnation—this jutsu seemed to have been developed only by Orochimaru in the manga. He didn't understand its underlying principles, but judging from the exchange rate, it was an extremely advanced kinjutsu costing no less than 5,000 Points!
Because it dealt with the domain of souls—an area shrouded in mystery—very few people could truly master it.
Akaba was very curious about this technique but had no immediate need for it, so he wasn't interested in exchanging for it at the moment.
The same went for the [Cursed Seal].
The [Cursed Seal] was a weakened version of Sage Mode and definitely not what Akaba sought. Right now, he already possessed the Mangekyo Sharingan, Flying Thunder God, and other ninjutsu techniques. Combined with his current strength, they were more than enough to handle most battles.
These random side skills could wait for now—he'd focus on upgrading his Attribute Points first.
He had accumulated over 7,000 Points during this time—enough to exchange for more than thirty Attribute Points!
"Still, thank you again, Mr. Akaba. If you ever need help, I've got your back."
Motonami now had a clear goal. While their clan wasn't known for its research capabilities, when it came to techniques tied to the clan's destiny, they absolutely wouldn't allow outsiders to meddle.
"No thanks needed. I just provided a small suggestion."
Akaba shook his head slightly.
Deep down, he understood that this was Motonami's indirect way of showing goodwill—even possibly hinting at an alliance—but he couldn't accept.
The chief of the Military Police was Motonami Uchiha himself, while the vice-chief was Akaba's own father. This was a balance of power. If the Sakuma clan became too close to the Uchiha, the village leadership would inevitably grow suspicious. The final result would either be the weakening of both the Uchiha and Sakuma clans' powers, or the emergence of another powerful clan strong enough to counterbalance them.
Either way, neither outcome was what Akaba wished to see.
Of course,
though there was no need to formally acknowledge any debt, Motonami wouldn't be foolish enough to forget today's debt of gratitude—at critical moments, this favor might prove extremely valuable.
"I'm off."
There were still plenty of things waiting for him at the manga shop; he didn't have time for idle chatter here.
Akaba had a massive headache, still reeling from being unfairly blamed for disturbing the peace. He had no idea what kind of punishment the Third would hand down this time.
Ugh, this sucks.
Right now, all he wanted was to light up a cigarette and relieve his stress.
When Akaba returned to his manga shop, he found a crowd gathered outside, all engrossed in reading comics. More than half of them were members of the Akimichi clan. The tables were piled high with food, and these guys were casually eating as they read.
"Magical Mapo Tofu!"
"Oh wow! Dragon Dumplings—they look delicious!"
"Only glowing food is worth eating. What am I even munching on? Ugh! These cheap dishes don't fill me up at all!"
A bunch of foodies groaned loudly, shouting as they shoveled more and more food into their mouths. Their stomachs seemed bottomless—it looked like they'd never be full.
Akaba wiped cold sweat from his brow. At this rate, he felt like every restaurant in Konoha should give him a cut of their profits. Today's revenue alone was probably enough to cover a month's worth of business normally.
"Kid, your manga really is good. It made me hungry too. Are these dishes real? Can you actually cook them?"
Torifu Akimichi said excitedly.
"Uncle Torifu, how could I have time to cook right now? I need to go handle things with the Third."
Akaba replied helplessly.
"Hiruzen? Hah, no problem. I'm coming with you. The Akimichi clan fully supports you on this."
Torifu said firmly, "If you feel like you need more backup, I can call in some old friends to back you up too."
"No way. Please, just don't make things worse."
Akaba hastily declined.
The matter could be small or huge. Going over there was just to apologize. But if a group showed up demanding special treatment, that'd turn into a whole other situation.
Besides, he really hadn't been slacking off last night—if anything, staying up late justified oversleeping slightly.
"Alright then... but your manga really is amazing. It's such a shame that there's only one volume, and it ends way too soon."
Torifu sighed.
Wish it were longer...
Akaba ignored him. If he followed *Chuugakkou Shounen Toppaman* exactly, once the Dark Cooking Association showed up later, it would turn into a full-on fantasy cooking tale—ridiculous stuff, like grilling sea turtles or roasting fish by setting the whole boat on fire.
It was better to keep only the essence—the most exciting parts—and avoid wasting space spouting nonsense.
After entrusting the store to Sakuma Yunlang with a few words, Akaba headed straight for the Hokage Tower.
Inside, the Third sat at his desk looking quite troubled.
"You brat, always getting me into trouble."
"Don't talk like that—you've already forgotten all the benefits I've brought you?"
Akaba sat down discontentedly.
Even the most patient person has a breaking point. Moreover, today's incident barely involved him anyway—it was perfectly reasonable for him to vent a little frustration.
"Cough, take a look at this."
The Third tossed over a Message Scroll. Judging from the markings, it seemed to originate from the Land of Water—and judging from the format, it appeared to be an official diplomatic communication.
Akaba accepted it curiously.
The Land of Water?
He unrolled it and read the contents carefully:
"Your village's citizen, Sakuma Akaba, has defamed our village through his manga, subtly accusing us of brutal governance under the 'Bloody Mist' system and of oppressing users of Bloodline Limits (Kekkei Genkai). We request your immediate cessation of publication of such defamatory material, restoring justice to the Hidden Mist Village."
"Also, due to the release of the King of the Pirates manga, the number of troublemakers in the Land of Water keeps increasing. This has significantly impacted our nation's security and reputation. We hope your country can control the content of the aforementioned manga; otherwise, we won't exclude the possibility of using force."
Akaba didn't bother reading further.
This letter seemed formal and reasonable on the surface, but it clearly reeked of excuses.
Probably related to not achieving their objectives during the war with the Land of Whirlpools.
The Third sighed, saying, "Mist failed in the Land of Whirlpools and suffered heavy losses, but they have no clear evidence that Konoha was involved. They can only resort to this method to save face. However, our village has already been greatly weakened from consecutive wars and needs time to recuperate."
"Don't worry. If they want to come, let them. We're not scared here."
"You kid."
The Third rubbed his forehead. Although Mist wouldn't likely launch a full-scale war, assassinations were unavoidable.
Akaba threw the message scroll back onto the table.
With Mist's capabilities, at most they could only manage assassinations, and that's only if he left the village. If he remained in the village, even with tenfold courage, Mist wouldn't dare to conduct covert assassinations there.
As for the assassins they'd send, at most they'd dispatch members of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist.
<><><><><><><><>
Thank you for reading! Your support will keep me updating!
~ Every 50 Powerstones = **4 Bonus Chapters** this weekend!
<><><><><><><><>
~ 100+ Advanced Chapters Available on Patreon!
~ More *Free* Chapters and Books Available on Patreon!
patreon.com/Tansnovel
<><><><><><><><>