Chapter 17: One Hundred Million Exploding Tags
After the meeting ended, everyone left the base one after another.
Konan looked at Uehara Naraka with a worried expression, chiding him, "Naraka, I told you, Akatsuki's affairs are not something you should be involved in."
"Konan-sensei..."
Uehara Naraka looked somewhat downcast and lowered his head.
Pain shook his head and gently dissuaded her, "Konan, we must maintain fairness. Uehara is a member of the organization; he cannot be an exception."
"But he's still a child..."
Konan looked down at Uehara Naraka and said, "When we were this age, we were just following Jiraiya-sensei around, hadn't learned any ninjutsu. Although Naraka's power isn't weak, he's going to the Land of Water, which has always been closed off to outsiders. Jūzō Biwa died there. What if something happens to Naraka there..."
"It won't happen, Sensei."
Uehara Naraka spoke up to soothe her emotions, preventing her from saying anything more ominous.
"Alright, there's no need to worry."
A small black rod appeared in Pain's palm. He walked up to Uehara Naraka, "Uehara, have you learned the Summoning Technique?"
"Uh, not yet..."
The boy looked slightly embarrassed. He hadn't learned the orthodox Summoning Technique of the ninja world yet, but his own summoning skills only required a thought to complete.
Currently, he only had one summoning contract: Justice Colossus Galio. However, summoning Galio required 3000 chakra points, and his stats were far from sufficient.
"I will teach you the Summoning Technique now."
After speaking, Pain began demonstrating the hand seals for the Summoning Technique, explaining as he formed them, "The Summoning Technique is the simplest space-time ninjutsu. Before forming the seals, you need to use your own blood as a contract to summon the contracted entity."
After Pain finished demonstrating the Summoning Technique hand seals to Uehara Naraka and saw him nod to indicate he had memorized them, he handed over the small black rod in his hand, "If you encounter danger in Kirigakure, insert this chakra receiver into your body, then immediately use the Summoning Technique. Understood?"
"Yes."
Uehara Naraka nodded with a strange expression, because at that moment, a 'ding' sounded in his brain.
Side Quest Complete: Learn the Summoning Technique (1/1). Mission Complete. Reward: Summoning Contract: Nautilus, the Titan of the Depths.
Summoning Contract: Summon Nautilus, the Titan of the Depths. Chakra Cost: 2000 points.
Uehara Naraka felt the system's summoning contracts were a complete pitfall. Whether it was the Justice Colossus or the Titan of the Depths, his chakra was insufficient. He could only find ways to complete Advancement Quests or save up money to buy some chakra-enhancing equipment.
Fortunately, he could summon other things.
Uehara Naraka accepted the chakra receiver from Pain's hand. This type of chakra receiver existed on each of the Six Paths of Pain, and Nagato, hidden behind Pain, controlled their actions and inputted chakra into them through these receivers.
Besides these functions, another use was summoning.
Konan beside them was an example. Because the small piercing under Konan's lip was also a chakra receiver, she could be summoned by the Animal Path Pain, or she could summon the Six Paths of Pain herself.
Due to the existence of chakra receivers, besides being powerful, the Six Paths of Pain were effectively a type of summoning entity, similar to ninja beasts.
Uehara Naraka had always suspected this. Now, seeing Pain hand him the black rod, he understood everything. This chakra receiver could help him summon Pain—any one of them could save his life.
Pain wasn't gentle like Konan and had always had a poor attitude towards him. Who would have thought this guy was actually a tsundere?
Uehara Naraka sighed inwardly, looked at the two present, and asked probingly, "Konan-sensei, Lord Yahiko, did you feel that the masked intern senpai earlier was a bit strange...?"
To maintain his persona as the legacy of the original Akatsuki, Uehara Naraka had to continue calling Pain "Lord Yahiko"; conversely, Konan generally called him Pain.
Pain nodded, glanced at Konan, and explained, "His identity is indeed somewhat different from others'. Like Konan just now, I also suspected he might act against you... So, when you head to the Land of Water, I will warn him not to do anything unnecessary."
"..."
Uehara Naraka's expression was subtle.
Twelve years had already passed since Yahiko died in battle, why were you still so naive? You're twenty-seven this year, right?
If the mysterious masked man wanted to harm him, he didn't need to act himself at all. Just manipulating Kirigakure's Fourth Mizukage, Kisame Hoshigaki, and others would achieve his goal.
This was something Konan and Pain had never considered.
This was also due to a lack of intelligence.
Uehara Naraka wasn't particularly afraid of the masked man's little tricks. Now that he had Intervention, a skill granting short-term invincibility, and Flight Technique, a flying skill, he could naturally escape whenever he wanted.
If the mysterious masked man still wanted to stir up trouble behind the scenes, Uehara Naraka wouldn't mind translating the meaning of "surprise" for him!
However, Konan immediately gave Uehara Naraka a surprise. She took out several sealing scrolls from her person and handed them to Uehara.
Just as the boy looked at the scrolls with a somewhat puzzled expression, Konan ruffled his hair and explained softly, "Inside are one hundred million exploding tags..."
Uehara Naraka: "..."
Even though he understood Konan's techniques, he was still shocked by the concept of one hundred million exploding tags. How long would it take him to use that many?
Moreover, the 'ding' sound from the system in his brain was ringing non-stop, seeming like it was about to crash.
When Uehara Naraka checked the system panel in his brain, he only saw a pile of completed quests, leaving him dumbfounded.
Side Quest: Collect one Ninja World Exploding Tag (1/1). Mission Complete. Reward Skill: Infinite Multiplication Exploding Tags Technique.
Side Quest: Collect one hundred Ninja World Exploding Tags (100/100). Mission Complete. Reward: 100 Gold Coins.
Side Quest: Collect ten thousand Ninja World Exploding Tags (10000/10000). Mission Complete. Reward: 150 Gold Coins.
Side Quest: Collect one hundred thousand Ninja World Exploding Tags (100000/100000). Mission Complete. Reward: 200 Gold Coins.
Side Quest: Collect one million Exploding Tags (1000000/1000000). Mission Complete. Reward: 250 Gold Coins.
Side Quest: Collect ten million Exploding Tags (10000000/10000000). Mission Complete. Reward: 300 Gold Coins.
Side Quest: Collect one hundred million Exploding Tags (100000000/100000000). Mission Complete. Reward: 350 Gold Coins.
Besides the rewards listed above, Uehara Naraka observed further. There were still four or five subsequent exploding tag quests remaining, with the final task capping at collecting six hundred billion exploding tags.
Uehara Naraka couldn't help glancing at Konan. His teacher was truly too generous, giving him a few scrolls that allowed him to complete a whole bunch of quests...
Konan thought he was shocked by the number of exploding tags. She reached out, helped him stuff the sealing scrolls into his ninja tool pouch, and said softly, "I can make exploding tags myself. One hundred million isn't a particularly large number. Your safety is the top priority."
"...Yes, Sensei."
Uehara Naraka nodded, but inwardly thought about the Infinite Multiplication Exploding Tags technique rewarded by the system. Unfortunately, it was a system skill and couldn't be taught to Konan.
But this technique came from the ninja world.
Uehara couldn't help but start scheming. If he got the chance, he definitely had to make a trip to Konoha's Forbidden Jutsu Archives and get the training method for the Infinite Multiplication Exploding Tags technique for Konan...
If the woman with the most exploding tags in the ninja world obtained the Infinite Multiplication Exploding Tags technique... he wondered if the mysterious masked man could withstand it when he tried to act against Konan...
(End of Chapter)