Chapter 235: Top Secret? Big News!
Uchiha. A clan that once stood alongside the Senju as the most powerful great family of the Warring States period. A bloodline blessed with a high affinity for Fire Style, and which possessed the powerful Kekkei Genkai known as the [Sharingan].
Even after the Senju clan faded, they remained a force that all the great shinobi villages feared.
All intelligence related to the Uchiha was priceless, let alone a piece of intel from inside Konoha, one claiming to be able to shake the village to its core, and even trigger a terrible war that could destroy the Land of Fire.
For the name [Uchiha] to appear in such intel... it was shocking, but it also gave a sense of "of course it would be them."
And in the eyes of Reincarnators, the Uchiha clan corresponded to the [Sharingan], an excellent piece of bio-armor, as well as the latent Indra bloodline, and even the bloodline of the alien Otsutsuki clan.
This was a sequence that pointed to a powerful future, a prize that every Reincarnator who entered this world would covet.
The name seemed to have a magical power. Ayai, whose will had been fiercely resisting the hypnosis, immediately lost his mental defenses. He felt an uncontrollable urge to decipher this intelligence.
Catherine felt a jolt of energy. At this moment, she could no longer be bothered about potentially lowering her reputation with the Konoha faction. She had a keen sense that perhaps siding with Mercenary Tao would yield even greater profits.
She quickly forced the hypnotized Ayai to stumble through the full decryption. Although it was a cipher, and parts of the decryption would be flawed or missing, the general meaning was successfully interpreted.
She looked at the decrypted text Ayai had written. Her pupils shrank, and her heart began to pound. She had a premonition that this mission was not going to be simple.
[The Uchiha clan intends to rebel. Konoha is on the verge of civil war.]
Two short lines, yet they contained so much information.
She didn't have time to think about anything else. She handed the text to Mercenary Tao, who was still taunting and mocking the story character. Catherine found that Mercenary Tao's mental state seemed a bit... off. Logically, a Reincarnator of his level should have a natural, condescending arrogance toward story characters.
Like the original [Four Fiends], who basically didn't even see story characters as "people" and were capable of anything.
But Mercenary Tao seemed to be intentionally provoking the resentment in this story character's heart.
What was the point of doing that?
Kaito Shirogane hadn't forged the [Thunder Emperor's Heart] yet, so he couldn't learn the [Mantra] ability from Enel's drop card. But if he could read minds right now, he would have been delighted to explain it to Catherine.
He, too, was very curious about what the [Heart] truly meant. This was the truth he had been seeking for some time.
Would a [Heart] like [Coby's] or [Cindy's], in the end, truly brew the ultimate power of the [Black King, Luffy]?
Kaito Shirogane's eyes were on the deciphered text, but his finger suddenly pointed out.
Vmm~
A golden ki howled, and the next second, it shot out like a laser.
Pfft!
Catherine instinctively let go. She watched as the KumogakureJounin went limp, all life gone. There was a hole, the width of a finger, where his heart should be.
That's... the Dodon Ray?!
Catherine lowered her head and took two steps back. In her assessment, Mercenary Tao's danger-level had just risen again. Speed as fast as the wind, ghostly movements that rode the gales, a defense impervious to blades, the strength to easily snap a Jounin's limbs, and now, a high-grade energy-projection ability capable of an instant kill.
Damn it, is Mercenary Tao really turning into one of those powerful martial artists from the Dragon Ball world?
Catherine weighed her and [Rampage]'s combined combat power, with all their trump cards revealed. She found that even if she used a mental-shock to get the first move, their chances of victory were extremely low. And if Rampage's initial transformed attack failed to kill Mercenary Tao, one of them would be instantly killed, and the other would be hunted down and killed due to the speed gap.
Huu...
Catherine slowly exhaled a shaky breath, completely extinguishing any thought of opposing him. The only good news was that this was a "peaceful" type of Team Cooperation world. Fighting other Reincarnators wouldn't produce Crimson Drop Cards. This would likely lower Mercenary Tao's desire to hunt them.
"It seems the current timeline is the node just before the Uchiha clan launches their rebellion."
Catherine began to lay out her information and judgment. Rampage added on.
"Yeah. And based on Main Mission 1, if this intel gets out, there's a good chance it will cause the other villages to start a war."
"...What do we do, Mr. Mercenary Tao? Do we take this intel back to Konoha and trigger the next phase of the mission?"
"We could probably use the reputation from this intel to gain entry into the next phase. With our... no, with your strength, we could very likely harvest [Sharingan] and [Uchiha Clan] bloodline items!"
Rampage's voice was rising with excitement. Mercenary Tao's act of forcibly reading the intel had brought an unexpected windfall.
Kaito Shirogane listened to them, but his gaze was still, in a seemingly careless way, fixed on the woman, who was now confused after hearing so many things she couldn't understand.
He didn't tell them that his Special Trial was not the same as their main mission. And, that he and Konoha were not necessarily on the same side.
Kaito Shirogane's trial mission, [Supreme Benevolence and Goodness], Phase 1, was [Protect Hana Hiranaka for 7 days]. It said nothing about what to do with the intel.
This meant that in the Nexus's judgment, even if Hana Hiranaka handed over this intel, she would still be hunted.
And after she loses this intel, who would still be hunting this woman?
A smile touched Kaito Shirogane's lips. He already had a guess as to this world's developments.
All that was left was to figure out how to reap his own harvest from it.
Kaito Shirogane said nothing. Rampage gradually calmed down. He knew that he had no control over their next move. Although it looked like he and Catherine were cooperating with Mercenary Tao...
...standing in front of him, Rampage understood. This wasn't cooperation. This was total domination. He and Catherine were too afraid to ever oppose his decision.
At this moment, the eastern sky began to whiten. A plan suddenly formed in Kaito's mind.
He looked at the two with a playful glint in his eye, but he asked a seemingly unrelated question.
"...Are you two a fixed team?"
Rampage nodded, confused.
Kaito Shirogane tossed the original, uncoded intel to him.
"...Then you can take this intelligence report back to Konoha and complete your main mission."
Rampage looked confused, but Catherine understood instantly. She gave a bitter smile.
"So, I'm to be left behind as a hostage, is that it?"
Kaito Shirogane waggled his finger, correcting her.
"No. You're my collaborator."
He then looked at Rampage and continued:
"You have... hmm, three days. After three days, if you haven't completed your mission, well... I can't guarantee what will happen to you. Heh..."
Kaito Shirogane's smile was cruel and dangerous. Catherine suddenly understood his plan.
Mercenary Tao... he wants to leak the intel and throw the entire shinobi world into chaos?!
(End of Chapter)