Meanwhile.
What Kyo, who was reading a book, didn't notice was,
Across the bustling street, on top of a distant building, a figure was intently watching everything.
That was the masked man, Uchiha Obito, who had secretly followed him.
Back when Kyo left,
He had directly found an opportunity to leave the White Zetsu, "Guruguru" alone to pose as Tobi and deal with Orochimaru.
He himself, after changing clothes, came to secretly follow Kyo,
He wanted to know what ulterior motive did this mysterious guy have.
However, when he saw Kyo arrive at the shopping street and directly enter the bookstore, he was immediately puzzled.
'This guy, could he really just be here to buy a book...'
'Am I overthinking it?'
A moment later.
Kyo entered the noodle shop.
A few more minutes passed.
Then he saw Kyo come back out using some kind of Body Flicker, seemingly holding a book with a yellow cover or something.
'Hmm...?'
'Could this be some kind of special Ninjutsu scroll?'
Beneath the mask, Obito's gaze narrowed slightly as he made a bold guess.
He decided that later, in his Tobi identity, he would subtly investigate this matter.
After all,
A book that would make a powerhouse of Kyo's level make a special trip to obtain must certainly be no ordinary thing.
Obito also didn't believe it would be a common book.
...
A moment later.
Obito returned, merged with the White Zetsu again, then put on his mask, once more transforming into Akatsuki's intern, Tobi.
And the moment his transformation was complete, he just happened to see Kyo return.
"Let's go. Set out back to Amegakure."
At this moment, Kyo's face bore a faint, warm smile, as if he were in a very good mood.
He spoke directly to Orochimaru and the masked man as soon as he arrived.
Hearing this,
Orochimaru naturally had no objection; he just nodded and followed along.
After all, he was still contemplating his own grand plans and had no time to consider these small details.
But Tobi suddenly rushed forward, exclaiming exaggeratedly:
"Hey, Kyo-senpai!"
"What did you go do just now? Was it a date?! Or did you go buy something delicious?!"
"Hey, tell me about it!!"
Tobi immediately activated his old-school otaku mode, circling around Kyo and going "Hey, hey, hey" non-stop.
Kyo frowned.
'This guy is really annoying. No wonder Deidara wants to blow him up with bombs every day. Serves him right.'
"Nothing much. Just went to buy a book."
Kyo decided to be straightforward; it didn't really matter anyway.
But,
Hearing this, Tobi seemed even more excited, saying:
"Wow! It's a book?!"
"I love reading books the most! What kind of books does Kyo-senpai like to read?! Can you show me?!"
"The Tale of the Gutsy Shinobi."
"Hmm... Eh?"
The masked man was momentarily stunned.
'This name... why does it sound somewhat familiar?'
And at that moment, Kyo suddenly revealed a strange smile, then, from within his voluminous black robe, he directly pulled out two books with brown covers.
On them were clearly written several large characters:
— The Tale of the Gutsy Shinobi!
— Author · Jiraiya.
"???"
The moment they saw these two books, not only the masked man, but even Orochimaru beside him was dumbfounded.
'Ah, this...'
'Isn't this Jiraiya's debut novel?'
The famously unsellable book in the Shinobi World.
'This guy has such poor taste? He actually likes reading this trash?'
However,
Kyo ignored their bewildered expressions.
Instead, with a smile on his face, he suddenly directly forced the two books into the hands of Orochimaru and Obito respectively,
Then, smiling at them, he stretched out his hand and said with a chuckle:
"I'll give you a discount."
"One hundred ryo per person. Come on, pay up."
"???"
'Damn!'
'Are you trying to sell us something here?!'
'Why are you suddenly selling books without another word???'
Completely baffled by Kyo's series of bewildering actions, Orochimaru and the masked man were both completely confused and couldn't figure it out.
Nevertheless, they still subconsciously took out One hundred-ryo bills.
But what they didn't know was,
At the very moment their money was handed to Kyo, a system notification sound was ringing in his mind—
[ Side Mission: Sell copies of Jiraiya's novel, "The Tale of the Gutsy Ninja" to any five or more Kage-level or higher Shinobi (2/5), completed for two people, three more needed, reward unknown. ]
Kyo immediately revealed a smile, getting one step closer to the goal again.
'Heh heh,'
'Forced sales really do count as sales, huh.'
However, Obito beside him, after receiving the book and flipping through it, frowned deeply beneath his mask.
'No, this isn't right—'
'How is this possible...'
'The book he was holding when he came out of that shop definitely wasn't this one!'
'Tch... this guy, is he trying to hide something after all?'
'As expected,'
'No matter how I think about it, it's too strange.'
Beneath the mask, Obito's gaze flickered secretly, and a growing obsession gradually arose in his heart.
He decided, after returning to Amegakure,
He would have Konan personally investigate just what that mysterious yellow book this guy had obtained really was!