Su Xiao rested on the ground for a moment before heading to the spot where he had fought against Hashirama. Soon, he found a thick arm and the lower half of A Mu’s body.

Holding these parts of A Mu, Su Xiao came to stand in front of A Mu, who was lying on the ground at this moment. Those big bull eyes were staring straight at the sky, with a slightly sorrowful look in them, knowing that it had to go through Su Xiao’s healing again.

"Looks like it’s time for some significant treatment--."

Su Xiao examined A Mu’s injuries. The Iron-blooded Fierce Bull A Mu began to tremble; this guy hadn’t even flinched when facing Hashirama head-on, but now, A Mu was scared.

"Woof."

Bubu Wang barked from the side, suggesting to give it a ’major repair,’ mocking the silly bull for its previous teasing of it.

Su Xiao checked the progress of the large-scale plot event, which had already reached the Second Stage, Resurrection of Madara, specifically, the early part of the Second Stage.

Originally, Su Xiao planned to change the Third Stage, making the Third Stage become the Strongest Madara, but from the current situation, the probability of Otsutsuki Kaguya appearing had decreased from 100% to around 40%.

Su Xiao had provided Madara with a lot of information before. If Madara, having obtained so much information, still wasn’t wary of Kakuzu, then it could only be said that he’s not cautious enough.

Pride is Madara’s greatest weakness, but it no longer concerns Su Xiao.

After the fight with Hashirama, Su Xiao came to a clear realization: the Third Stage of the Ninja World War is something he can’t participate in at his current state. Even if he hides now, it’ll be of no use. The Ninja Union Army will dig three feet to find him, with the most diligent being Tobirama Senju and Hiruzen Sarutobi.

Su Xiao’s involvement in the Second Stage of the Ninja World War is already quite strenuous. He can use the advantage of intelligence to evade temporarily, but he can’t hide until the whole war is over.

Moreover, simply hiding brings no benefit and will cause the plot event’s rating to drop significantly.

Having already experienced Hashirama’s strength, Su Xiao knew that even a weakened Hashirama was hard to deal with, and at his peak, Hashirama would undoubtedly kill Su Xiao.

Hashirama is that strong, and when the Third Stage fully begins, there will appear 4 to 5 characters even stronger than Hashirama, such as Naruto Uzumaki (Six Paths Mode), Uchiha Sasuke (Single Rinnegan + Six Paths), Guy (Eight Gates Open), Uchiha Madara (Six Paths Mode + Ten-Tails), and possibly Otsutsuki Kaguya.

If Otsutsuki Kaguya doesn’t appear, then Su Xiao’s adversaries are Six Paths Naruto + Rinnegan Sasuke + Eight Gates Guy.

If Su Xiao accidentally encounters any of them, his journey through Reincarnation Paradise is almost certainly over. This isn’t about underestimating himself; on the contrary, it’s self-awareness.

Many Contractors don’t actually die from the dangerous Derived Worlds but from their swelling inner selves. If one becomes increasingly arrogant after gaining power, they are not far from death.

Now that the Second Stage has just begun, Su Xiao can exit the large-scale plot event within two hours of the start of each stage, which isn’t considered forced withdrawal.

There’s a reason large-scale plot events are divided into three stages; Reincarnation Paradise doesn’t want to trap the Contractors to death, especially as the Third Stage’s power system jumps massively.

By the time the Third Stage comes, even Super Shadow levels can’t make a ripple; those Six Paths level are nothing to mess with.

If the risk and benefits are equal, but there’s a 99% or more likelihood of death? The answer is to retreat immediately.

As Su Xiao was preparing to submit the Main Task and end the large-scale plot event, a sneaky figure approached.

"Hey, brother. Want to buy some medicine?"

A man wearing a black hood was waving from a distance.

Su Xiao looked at him in surprise, thinking, is this guy crazy? Selling medicine at a high price during a large-scale plot event?

"No, thanks."

"Sorry for bothering, I’ll take my leave."

The hooded man turned to leave, on his back was a red maple leaf pattern.

"So he’s from Red Maple."

Su Xiao immediately guessed the identity of the hooded man. This guy came from a commerce association with an ’enormous’ reputation, which Contractors ’fondly’ called the stupidest commerce association ever, without exception.

As for the feats of the Red Maple Commerce Association, Su Xiao didn’t even want to recall them; those deeds were idiotic beyond belief, these people were truly quirky among the quirky.

After the Red Maple people left, Su Xiao chose to submit the Main Task.

[Reminder: The Main Task - Prologue of the Ninja World War has been completed.]

[Checking that the Hunter is currently in a large-scale plot event - The Fourth Ninja World War.]

[Checking...]

[The large-scale plot event Second Stage has begun for 1 hour and 46 minutes, not reaching 2 hours, thus can interrupt normally.]

[Large-scale plot event settlement in progress...]

[Settlement complete, Hunter has experienced 57% of large-scale plot time, performance: excellent.]

[You have received the following rewards.]

[You’ve gained 51.3% of World Source, now totaling 86.8% of the World Source.]

[You’ve gained Permission Level added Lv.2, now with Permission Level Lv.25 (Hunter Permission).]

[You’ve gained Grandmaster’s Power (1/10).]

...

Seeing these three types of rewards, a smile appeared on Su Xiao’s face. His efforts up to now were totally worth it.

Previously, it seemed there was little risk for Su Xiao in the Ninja World War, but that wasn’t so. Right now, he might as well be in a Fourth-tier Derived World. Since the start of the Second Stage of the Ninja World War, Su Xiao’s goal had shifted from killing enemies to surviving.

Precisely for this reason, he chose to create the opportunity to fight Hashirama. After defeating Hashirama, an even greater risk appeared.

Orochimaru was also on the battlefield, and Su Xiao had pinned a lot of blame on him. If Orochimaru performed Edo Tensei on Hashirama again, who knows what would happen, though the probability isn’t high; it’s not impossible either.

If Hashirama is indeed resurrected, will he come to eliminate Su Xiao again after just being slain by him? The answer is he definitely will; Hashirama knows how dangerous Su Xiao is.

The space-time power enveloped Su Xiao, and his body gradually became transparent.

A few kilometers away, inside a cave.

"Hmm~ hmm~"

Tsunade was trussed up with iron chains, her eyes full of humiliation. Who would have thought that she, the dignified Fifth Hokage, would end up tied and thrown into a semi-sealed cave.

Su Xiao hadn’t forgotten about this Light Gold Treasure Chest with Tsunade, but he didn’t have the time now. If he doesn’t leave the Naruto World in the Second Stage, it’ll be difficult to leave once the Third Stage begins.

He’s slightly exhausted, Dragon Slash urgently needs repair, he’s out of healing items, Mana Value is down to just 363 points, Shinfuru is too weak to heal, hiding in the ’cave’ Su Xiao created, and A Mu is cut in half, while Bubu Wang is seriously injured.

Under such circumstances, every extra minute spent in the Naruto World involves significant risk.

However, Su Xiao’s harvest in the Naruto World this time is already very plentiful, no, it should be said it’s the most abundant ever. If he can convert all his gains into strength, his power will make a huge leap forward.