40- Kakuzu: I Fought Against Hashirama

Senju Tobirama: "This appearance seems familiar..."

Senju Hashirama: "Madara, what do you think?"

Uchiha Madara: "..."

Oh shit!

What's wrong with this kid?

The waist-length, spiky hair is obviously imitating me!

"Obito, that mask looks familiar too..." Black Zetsu remarked to Obito beside him.

If he remembered correctly, Obito had dressed like this before.

The spiky hair, just like Madara's, with a tiger-striped mask on his face.

Could it be that the Uchiha clan has a habit of mimicking Uchiha Madara?

---

[Entering the underground black market.]

[The place was spacious, but dimly lit. A few scattered figures roamed inside. Some were wearing masks, most likely the staff of the underground market. One of them was dealing with a green-eyed ninja in a black robe adorned with red clouds. The ninja carried a corpse over his shoulder, probably here to collect a bounty.]

[One of the staff members approached Sasuke:]

["Looks like you're a new customer. What do you need? We offer all kinds of deals here—place bounties, collect bounties, sell information, buy secrets, trade goods, you name it! As long as you can pay, we'll provide."]

[Sasuke controlled his voice, replying in a deep tone, "What secret techniques do you have? Give me a rundown."]

[The staff handed over a large booklet. Sasuke flipped through it casually. It contained several powerful jutsu, both common and rare, but none of them particularly caught his attention. If he needed anything like this, he could just learn it from Kakashi.]

[Although Mr. Kakashi knows many flashy and often useless jutsu...he still knows a lot!]

[Sasuke then turned to the section on secret techniques.]

["Tsk, is this all?" Sasuke muttered, feeling somewhat disappointed. "Don't you have Cloud Village's Lightning Style armor?"]

[He'd heard from Kakashi that his Lightning Style stimulation technique was copied from Cloud Shinobi's Lightning Armor.]

[The staff member replied, slightly annoyed, "No!"]

[If they had something as valuable as Lightning Style armor, Raikage would have overturned the entire black market by now!]

[After asking a few more questions, Sasuke finally got to his real purpose: "Do you have any Sharingan here?"]

[This was what he truly wanted to know. Where did all the Sharingan go after the Uchiha clan was annihilated? It wasn't possible that all of them were destroyed.]

[Kakashi only has one Sharingan, and he's earned the title of "Copy Ninja" throughout the ninja world with just that. It couldn't be that the massacre resulted in all of the Sharingan being lost!]

[The staff member rolled his eyes beneath his mask. "No Sharingan here, but we do have information on them. Interested?"]

["Tell me."]

["The Uchiha clan still has one descendant, recently graduated. We can sell you information] about him, his Jōnin instructor, and his teammates."

[Sasuke's lips twitched. Asking around and receiving intel about himself wasn't what he had] in mind. Obviously, he wasn't going to pay for his own information.

[Without acknowledging the offer, Sasuke asked again, "Any intel on the Uchiha massacre?"]

[The staff member replied, "We have some clues about Uchiha Itachi, want those?"]

[Sasuke's heart skipped a beat. He tried to keep his emotions in check, thinking it through. He had no idea of Uchiha Itachi's current strength, but it was clear he was no match for him yet. Even if he had clues about Itachi, what could he do? Cry, beg for the truth? Impossible.]

["I don't need that. Anything else?"]

["No, that's really it! If you want more on the Uchiha massacre, why not head to Konoha and ask the Third Hokage? He surely knows more than we do."]

[The staff member's irritation was evident. Major secrets like that would only be known by Konoha's higher-ups, not in an underground black market. Despite the network of ninja they catered to, this was far beyond their reach.]

[Sasuke sighed internally. With no leads from the black market, where would he go to uncover the truth next?]

---

Ohnoki: "..."

Fourth Raikage: "Oh, Ohnoki, my expectations of you are so misplaced!"

Orochimaru's vertical brown pupils gleamed with excitement. If there were no leads in the underground market, Sasuke might eventually come to him for answers.

---

[Exiting the underground black market.]

["Hey, you! Stop right there!" A voice suddenly called from behind.]

[Sasuke turned around to see the green-eyed ninja in the red cloud robe. He held a box, presumably the bounty he'd just collected.]

["You look familiar. Who are you?" Kakuzu asked, narrowing his eyes, fixating on Sasuke's hair.]

["I'm...Uchiha Madara," Sasuke responded with a calm expression.]

[He had transformed himself to resemble Uchiha Madara, after all.]

["..."]

[Kakuzu stood silent for a moment.]

[Was this kid really claiming to be Madara? Who'd believe such nonsense? Does he think everyone can live as long as he has?]

["Heh, no matter who you are. Hand over all your money, and I'll let you walk away," Kakuzu said, his green eyes glowing with intent. "I've fought Konoha's First Hokage before, and we had our wins and losses. Now, let's see how strong this 'fake' Uchiha Madara is."]