"I'm drawing my own manga as part of the official series."
Volume Two Hundred and Sixty-Two, "Devil Fruits, Buy One Get One Free," Akaba was feeling frustrated.
Because there was no marking at the border of the Land of Water, they could only walk to the border of the Land of Fire first, then take a boat to reach the Land of Water.
But this was just a performance. Why did he, as a supporting character, have to run so far?
"Can't your Flying Thunder God teleport directly?"
Eno Uchiha turned his head slightly.
The Flying Thunder God requires markings. Although Akaba had been to the Land of Whirlpools before, that was ages ago.
"I can't do it right now, but didn't I leave one of my kunai with you?"
Akaba chuckled.
As long as Eno Uchiha reached the border, he'd be able to instantly teleport over.
Although it would consume a massive amount of chakra, the Yin Seal stored plenty of chakra, so there was no need to worry about running out.
"No way."
After a brief pause, Eno Uchiha firmly rejected the unfair suggestion.
Let them run all the way, while in the end, he simply flies over?
That sounds way too convenient. Especially when watching his three clansmen panting heavily, while he himself remained completely unharmed and looked not even slightly tired—clearly much stronger in terms of taijutsu than his companions.
No.
He might even be stronger than himself.
Eno Uchiha saw through everything and wanted to expose him outright, but considering this guy's sensitive personality, he ultimately restrained himself forcibly.
Throughout the rest of the journey, Akaba would often fall behind on purpose, but after certain intervals, he would use the Flying Thunder God to reappear beside them.
Initially, Eno Uchiha felt rather annoyed, but for the sake of future happiness,
"By the way, is that the Land of Whirlpools over there?"
Arriving again near Eno Uchiha, Akaba activated his sensor abilities and sensed something strange.
It was a hidden chakra presence.
Akaba frowned slightly.
This feeling...
"Yeah, the Land of Whirlpools. It should be ruins by now, under Mist ninja control."
Eno Uchiha sighed heavily.
It's said that when the rabbit dies, the fox weeps. What happened to the Uzumaki clan today could very well be the Uchiha's fate tomorrow.
Not giving him more time to grieve, Akaba summoned Little Yumekuma.
Enhanced by secret techniques,
his senses sharpened even further.
Right.
This feeling... could it be Black Zetsu?
"Is your mission urgent? If not, can I check out the Land of Whirlpools first?"
"Hmm, sure, no problem."
"Great."
Before the words faded, Akaba had already vanished from the spot.
At the same time, he opened the System Panel and exchanged the ten thousand points he'd accumulated recently for ten Spirit Points.
With a ten-point increase, this sensation became somewhat clearer, allowing him even to confirm where this unusual sense originated.
When nobody else was around, Akaba directly activated his Kaleidoscope Sharingan, created an eye inside an illusion, and then made it real at a distant location.
On a tree far from Black Zetsu, a "fruit" with an eye sprouted.
The next second, Akaba "saw" him.
Dressed like a Mist ninja, yet wearing a hood upon his head—as if unwilling to reveal his face. Since the eye existed between reality and illusion, even Black Zetsu didn't immediately notice it.
Not only that, but Black Zetsu now seemed to be accompanied by two youths.
At the same time, as soon as Akaba saw him, he immediately deactivated his Sharingan.
Hmm, they followed us here?
Akaba deactivated his Sharingan. The next moment, he noticed Uchiha Eno approaching from behind.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing much. I just sensed possible remaining members of the Uzumaki clan nearby, although there's a very dangerous Mist jonin over there as well."
Akaba spoke gravely. Of course, in truth, even he didn't know exactly what level that Mist ninja was. He had merely looked through his illusory Third Eye for less than a second.
"Let's go check it out."
Uchiha Eno thought for less than a second before deciding to head over and take a look.
For him, completing the mission was just an afterthought. His main purpose was to put on a show for three promising but misguided Uchiha.
Who their opponent was didn't matter at all.
Though unsure about Black Zetsu's exact intentions here, Akaba was more than happy to see him cause trouble—especially since the guy was sneaking around trying to trick members of the Uzumaki clan. It involuntarily reminded him of Madara Uchiha's Rinnegan—the infamous Uchiha traitor.
Could it *really* be that Madara has awakened the Rinnegan earlier than expected?
He couldn't quite understand.
The four of them moved quickly and soon approached the location where Black Zetsu and the two Uzumaki youths were situated.
Black Zetsu turned toward them.
This chakra... it's that violent little brat from the Sakuma clan.
"Is something the matter, sir?"
"Not really."
Black Zetsu grabbed one of the two boys. These two youths had been selected by him due to their decent potential, though among them, the boy on his left clearly had superior talent. If someone truly chased them down, as a last resort, he would run away with the child on his left.
There was no way he could fight.
Black Zetsu knew his limits well—he was good at hiding and escaping, but direct combat?
Even in a puppet body, there'd be no way he could win.
"Rogue ninja from Mist, release those Uzumaki clanspeople."
Uchiha Eno arrived on the scene.
Both children had red hair—clearly descendants of the Uzumaki clan.
Behind Uchiha Eno, three other Uchiha quickly arrived as well. Surprisingly, Akaba wasn't seen nearby; instead, he hid not far away without approaching.
Uchiha... So they've finally arrived.
Black Zetsu glanced over briefly before forming hand seals. Instantly, thick mist spread across the area.
But the next second, he was pulled into an illusion.
However, Black Zetsu remained calm. Looking around, everything was blank—there wasn't anyone or anything in sight.
Judging from the structure of the [Genjutsu], this technique belonged to the Sakuma clan. Clearly, the caster hadn't even intended to harm him with the illusion—it was simply meant to stall him for a second or two.
He quickly emptied his consciousness, feigning unconsciousness under the [Genjutsu]. For an entity like Black Zetsu whose existence revolved around consciousness, doing so wasn't difficult.
Less than a second later, Black Zetsu broke free from the [Genjutsu].
No hesitation needed. Fighting one against five? He wasn't crazy.
Returning immediately to his original form, he once again regained his characteristic invisibility and became impossible to sense or detect. At the same time, the covered child's presence also got hidden completely.
Akaba wanted to chase after him, yet Black Zetsu's chakra signature was extremely difficult to distinguish. Coupled with how fast he could flee while carrying a child, by the time Akaba tried chasing, the target had already disappeared completely.
He'd been outmaneuvered.
He felt somewhat reluctant but could only softly sigh, accepting reality.
Indeed, Black Zetsu was truly too troublesome to deal with.
The remaining Mist rogue ninja was directly defeated by Eno Uchiha without even having the chance to activate his Kaleidoscope Sharingan. After all, this Jonin was genuinely weak. Being outnumbered four-to-one was absolutely a one-sided beating.
If something like that could trigger a "Guardian Heart," that would be too ridiculous.
The Mist Jonin felt frustrated. He had woken up suddenly and found himself mysteriously here, getting beaten up by four members of the Uchiha clan all at once.
During this trip outside, Black Zetsu felt particularly annoyed.
Although he had successfully taken a child back with him, he had lost his host body, making it inconvenient to stay near the child for now, so he needed to find a new host.
Additionally, due to confusion mixed with the mist, he seemed to have mistakenly brought Akaba along instead.
Black Zetsu left a message before departing, telling the child to settle in first.
After capturing one child, he wasn't in a hurry to continue working yet. Instead, uneasily, he decided to return temporarily to Madara's side to keep an eye on things.
But when he arrived, he scanned his surroundings and asked:
"Where is Madara?"
Gone. Just like that.
Only a short while after stepping away, Madara had already vanished without a trace. He went to check the woodcutter's house on the mountainside where Madara often forced the woodcutter to buy manga.
Strangely enough, a pile of money had appeared outside the woodcutter's door, and he was holding the money helplessly while looking around in confusion.
"It seems Madara has no intention of returning here. Damn that hateful brat!"
"If I get another chance, I must eliminate him, or else he'll become an endless source of trouble."
Black Zetsu secretly fumed.
Regardless of whether Sakuma Akaba had stumbled into this accidentally or acted deliberately, he had already become a serious threat to Black Zetsu's grand plan.
Even if defeating Sakuma Akaba meant losing access to new manga, compared to saving his mother, manga was trivial, and there was no hesitation needed.
He began searching for traces of Madara.
It took him more than half a day before finally detecting faint residual clues leading toward the Land of Water.
Black Zetsu couldn't understand: although the Land of Water was secluded and unlikely to be discovered by people from Konoha, it otherwise offered little attraction.
Madara forcing himself to go there despite still integrating his physical state—what exactly was he aiming for?
Had this guy perhaps completely lost his mind?
Black Zetsu felt exhausted, as though he were playing the role of a father whose child had run off the moment he stepped away for just half a day.
For Black Zetsu's plans, Madara was the most critical link. Since that idiot had gone to the Land of Water, he had no choice but to keep following Madara's trail to track him down.
Meanwhile, Akaba remained completely unaware of what was happening elsewhere.
Following their original plan, they were sailing toward the Land of Water. The two locations were quite distant from each other, so previously few ships traveled between them, but lately, due to the "Grand Line," many wandering ninjas and wandering samurai had been heading for the Land of Water.
Because of that, more boats had appeared along the coastlines.
Along the journey, Akaba heard many stories about the "Devil Fruits." Among those traveling aboard the same ship to the Land of Water, many were actually rushing there specifically for this Devil Fruit.
A mere fake Devil Fruit had actually drawn so many people from all over to the Land of Water? Too absurd.
This was just a replica—if it were the real deal, wouldn't everyone go completely mad?
Actually, Akaba's catalog contained quite a few Devil Fruits available for redemption—from Luffy's Rubber Fruit to the latest Sand-Sand Fruit introduced in newer story arcs.
However,
Not knowing whether only one fruit could be consumed, Akaba wasn't daring to redeem and eat just yet.
There was a chance he could only eat one, and taking it without thinking would mean deciding on an ability. Since he hadn't yet figured out which power he wanted best, he hadn't seriously considered it.
He glanced at it briefly.
The cheapest was the "Whispering Fruit," which had appeared in the Multiple Shadow Clones water story arc within the Thousand Dragons Saga that Akaba had illustrated earlier—it cost around 500 points.
With the points Akaba currently had, if he truly wanted to change abilities, he could exchange for this right away.
Five hundred points wasn't much.
Akaba searched around a bit and found another fairly affordable fruit: the Bull-Bull Fruit's Wild Bull Form.
This fruit allowed one to transform into a human-shaped wild bull, gaining the speed and impact power of a bull.
Granted, within the Fire Shadow World, the power of a wild bull wasn't particularly impressive.
Even so, compared with the Whispering Fruit, it was somewhat stronger. Hence, it required 1,000 points.
Combined, both fruits totaled only 1,500 points.
Akaba thought about it and formed a plan—exchange for the Whispering Fruit first and sell it off.
That wouldn't be all, though.
Later, he'd secretly track down the buyer, subject him to a good dunk in seawater, and even throw in the second fruit as a bonus.
Perfect.
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