New Week
New Chapter.
Powerstones Please
.....
Ninja World
Past Encounter 7 Years Ago.
_
"You're leaving?"
Kakuzu asked, watching as the young man gathered his belongings from their makeshift camp.
"Thought I'd head on home. I've had enough fun here."
Kakuzu's eyes narrowed slightly. "Home? Where?"
"Quite far away. Can't get there unless I take you with me." The young man paused, glancing back with those oddly mature eyes. "Wanna come?"
"No." Kakuzu's response was immediate and indifferent. In response, the young Just chuckled "Figured as much." Seemingly unsurprised by the rejection.
"I couldn't even take you if I wanted to. Haven't perfected the Travel process for anyone but me. Could kill you."
THUD!
THUD!
THUD!
The young man was stunned, turning to see Kakuzu leave.
"Hey! Where're you going?"
"We have no more business to discuss"
The financial arrangements were settled, the publishing contracts signed. Their professional relationship could continue through correspondence.
Since there was nothing more, Kakuzu had other places to be. He had bounties to attend to.
"Wait." The voice stopped him mid-stride. "We should talk about your Akatsuki business."
Kakuzu's shoulders tensed imperceptibly. "What about it?"
"Just making sure it won't interfere with our arrangement. I'd hate for my investment to get vaporized because you picked a fight with the wrong village."
"I have no intention of dying," Kakuzu replied coolly.
"Only an idiot would. But what if you do?" The question was asked with casual curiosity, as if discussing the weather. "Hypothetically speaking. Would you give up the Akatsuki then?"
Kakuzu almost snorted. "If I die, then my recruitment won't matter because I'd already be dead. No use recruiting a dead man."
"Hmm... That is true." The young man touched his chin in deep thought before standing up from the cliff's edge where he'd been sitting. Then, impossibly, he pierced his arm into empty air, and space itself seemed to rupture.
"Alright that's ... No, that's my gaming pad. Also no, that's my Zanpakuto. That, should be the Hellbat armor. Cap's shield, Mjholnir, Gungnir, Another devil fruit ... Ugh, that transported human corpse i forgot to throw out. Gotta deal with that later. Jin Woo's blades ..."
Under Kakuzu's stunned gaze, the young man pulled out a small wooden box.
"Here." He tossed it to Kakuzu with casual indifference.
Kakuzu caught it reflexively and opened the lid. Inside were five small, round objects that looked like dried beans. "What's this?"
"Those? Probably the most expensive things in the world right now." He said the language that would get Kakuzu's most attention.
"Beans? You expect me to believe beans are that expensive?"
The young man's eyes shifted, taking on an otherworldly red glow, and he smiled—not the friendly expression from before, but something far more dangerous.
"What are you ...." Kakuzu felt all the hairs on his body stand on end. His threads immediately moved instinctively to defend himself but it was of no use. Twin beams of crimson light erupted from his eyes, zigzagging through the air with perfect precision. The heat was so intense that Kakuzu's lower body was severed and incinerated before he could even register the attack.
One attack. Dead.
Or he should have died, or would have died. But the young man was already moving, walking to his bisected form and placing one of the small beans in his mouth.
The effect was instantaneous and impossible. Flesh regrew, organs reformed, and within seconds Kakuzu stood whole again, completely restored.
"This is..." Kakuzu stared at his perfectly regenerated body in disbelief.*
"The strongest healing plant in the world. I know. Very powerful, and can heal any injury as long as you're still alive. No side effects. One could be sold for a billion ryo."
Kakuzu felt something break inside his chest—not physically, but the part of him that calculated worth and value. He nearly roared at the casual waste of something so precious.
"These aren't easy to come by, even for me," the young man continued, his voice taking on a more serious tone. "I take a visible risk every time I get them. Let's just say I'm smuggling them under the nose of different guys named Zeno, and leave it at that."
Kakuzu could barely understand half of what he just said. His entire attention absorbed by such a miraculous healing drug.
The young man was right. Selling a few could cause Kakuzu to become the richest man in the Ninja world. All that money .... However, the fantasy was quickly interrupted.
"You're right—a dead man has no recruitment value. So I'm giving you these. Don't try to sell them, reverse engineer them, or mass-produce them. They're too special. You can't, and you won't succeed. You'll only destroy them. They're more valuable than yours or Hidan's immortality."
At the mention of that name, Kakuzu's eyes sharpened. "Hidan?"
"Oh, yeah. I forget you haven't gotten that far yet." The young man's smile turned cryptic, making Kakuzu narrow his eyes but not ask further.
"Since you'll probably be dead before you leave the Akatsuki, I'm giving you this insurance. Only use them in life-or-death scenarios when you know you've run out of options and hearts. Once you do use one..." The young man's expression grew serious. "You quit the Akatsuki and work full-time for me. Forever. Deal?"
Kakuzu remained silent for a long moment, processing the implications. Finally, he turned around and began walking away.
"Deal."
Behind him, the young man let out a slight smile.
"Later Kakuzu."
Kakuzu didn't respond at first, until he got to the end of the rocky path, he turned back to where the young man had been sitting. The cliff was empty.
"You think you know a guy," Kakuzu muttered to himself. "How cryptic."
---
Ninja World, Present Day,
THE LAND OF FIRE
The constant drizzle had finally ceased, leaving behind only the lingering smell of wet earth and the occasional drip from overhanging branches. Kakuzu's footsteps echoed in the desolate terrain as he made his way through the rocky outcroppings, the heavy sack containing Hidan's dismembered parts weighing down his shoulder.
"Hey, Kakuzu," came the muffled voice from within the bag. "Why are you betraying the Akatsuki? I thought we had a good thing going with the whole 'collecting bounties and spreading Jashin's glory' routine."
Kakuzu's pace didn't falter, but his grip on the sack tightened slightly. "I have helped the Akatsuki for long enough," he replied, his voice carrying the weight of finality. "It's not worth throwing my life away getting involved more in their plans. Plus, I made a deal with someone a long time ago."
"Deal? What deal?" Hidan's voice became more insistent, though still muffled by the thick canvas.
Kakuzu didn't respond, his footsteps automatically adjusting to navigate a particularly rocky section of the terrain.
'If not for that bean...' His mind flashed to the confrontation from a week ago, the image of Kakashi Hatake's lightning blade piercing through his chest—twice. 'I would have died.'
He remembered the scene vividly, every detail burned into his memory with perfect clarity.
'That was the first time I had ever been pushed to losing all five hearts.' He mentally catalogued the sequence: one heart lost to Hidan's ritual jutsu when the idiot had gotten careless, the first and final hearts pierced by Hatake's lightning blade. As for the middle two...
Another image flashed through his mind—the devastating power of the Nine-Tails jinchuriki. That technique had been unlike anything he'd encountered. It hadn't just destroyed his hearts; it had obliterated his entire chakra system, severed his chakra pathways at the cellular level. Even if he had somehow survived, he would never have been able to wield chakra again.
"One by one, the new generation will catch up to you. And in the end, they'll surpass you."
Those had been Hatake's last words before driving the lightning blade through Kakuzu's final heart. The man's final statement to both him and the world—a prophecy that had nearly come to pass.
Kakuzu's hand unconsciously moved to his chest, where the fatal wound should have been. The Senzu Bean had done more than heal him; it had restored him completely, as if the damage had never occurred. But the memory of that moment—the feeling of his life slipping away—remained crystal clear.
It was the second time he experienced the rejuvenating feeling of absolute regeneration. It was also the second time he felt the same massive heartbreak.
One Billion Ryo. Wasted just to survive an encounter for what? To capture a Jinchuriki?
Enough was enough. That alone was why he finally decided to leave the Akatsuki. Not just because of the deal he'd made with Ryota, but because staying with the organization was no longer worth the risk. The new generation was indeed catching up, and he had no desire to be caught when they finally surpassed their predecessors.
Not to mention he already made a sizable profit just from Managing the income that came from Ryota's many novels. He had been publishing them throughout the years according to Ryota's plan to keep the heat rising and the money flowing.
Earnin more than a hundred Million Ryo a year for himself was easy compared to his past days of bounty hunting. Spending days to weeks tracking a single individual for a mere Two to Five million ryo reward. Although he couldn't cash in the Senzu Beans, just the fact that he wasted them like this made him feel like he had lost a billion Ryo.
To Kakuzu, nothing mattered more than the money.
Nothing. The Akatsuki could kiss his fat ass for all he cared.
He was done. Plus he had already captured a Tailed beast anyway. One who when it was discovered that she was captured, could make him lose a large amount of his profit cuts. Why the hell did he even agree to Join the Akatsuki to begin with? The more he thought, the more infuriated Kakuzu became.
Luckily, it seemed the Jinchuriki wasn't dead yet. Apparently some kind of sealing Jutsu that could block the Tailed beast extraction that exuded a detestable energy signature.
He didn't need to think twice to know who it came from. For now, his plans were simple. Take a detour through the land of rain to avoid more Konoha Shinobi out for his blood.
Then, head towards the land of Hot springs to collect the latest remuneration from the Novel royalties.
Next option? Of course contact his employer to deal with his pain issues. Lowy, kinda, but Kakuzu didn't have any other option. He couldn't defeat pain by himself, hence to get out of this, he needed to bring in big guns. Both were lifetime servitude contracts, and one paid extremely well and could ensure his safety. The other was going to make him the enemy of the Ninja world.
Kakuzu would be a fool if he didn't know which to pick. As for Hidan still in the bag? .. Truth was he hadn't thought about what to do with him yet.
"Huh?" As he navigated around a large boulder, Kakuzu suddenly felt the distinct sensation of being watched. His eyes immediately scanned the sky, settling on a bird flying overhead. But this wasn't any ordinary bird—it was completely white with precise black markings, looking more like an ink drawing brought to life than any natural creature.
"A scouting jutsu," he identified immediately, then snorted with disdain. "Another group. How typical."
"What's happening, Kakuzu?" Hidan's voice called out from the bag, detecting his partner's change in demeanor.
"We're being followed again," Kakuzu replied curtly before picking up his pace, transitioning from a walk to a steady run. The terrain ahead was mountainous and desolate, with sparse vegetation clinging to the rocky outcroppings.
He moved with practiced efficiency across the uneven ground, his chakra control automatically adjusting his balance and providing additional grip where needed. Years of experience had taught him how to navigate quickly through hostile territory.
For now, Kakuzu didn't want to engage in another fight. His recent actions had been quite blatant. As long as he was in the area, Konoha would definitely attack with full force.
Even Senzu Beans didn't give him the courage to fight against an entire Ninja village. And he only had two left.
Glancing back, Kakuzu noticed the ink bird had vanished.
'It's gone...' His eyes snapped forward as he detected movement ahead. 'What?'
A shadow was rushing directly toward him—not a physical shadow, but the telltale darkness of a specific jutsu he recognized all too well.
'Dammit! This annoying technique again.' Kakuzu reacted with decades of combat experience, quickly shifting his momentum and dodging to the side as the Shadow Possession jutsu streaked past where he would have been.
'That cunning brat is here. This must be the first stage of a coordinated attack.'
Without hesitation, he dropped the bag containing Hidan's parts and began forming hand seals for his Earth Grudge Fear hardening technique. His instincts proved correct—in the direction he'd dodged, plants erupted from the supposedly barren ground in violent torrents.
"Wood Style: Binding Roots!"
Thick tendrils of wood burst from the earth with unnatural speed, wrapping around Kakuzu's arms and legs before he could complete his defensive jutsu. The wood was stronger than normal—infused with chakra and growing even as it bound him.
'Dammit!'
Unable to form hand seals with his hands restrained, Kakuzu found himself effectively neutralized. The shadow he'd dodged earlier curved back around, connecting with his own shadow and completing the paralysis.
Silence settled over the rocky terrain. Kakuzu, thoroughly bound by both wood and shadow, remained calm despite his predicament.
"Well, well. Double binding insurance," he said conversationally. "Should I be flattered?"
"You should be," came a cold reply from the shadows.
Under Kakuzu's watchful gaze, several figures emerged from their concealment. Some faces were familiar—particularly the spiky-haired young man with the pineapple-like hairstyle wearing a Jonin vest.
"Hmph. It's you," Kakuzu's eyes focused on the newcomer with recognition.
"Yeah. It's me." Nara Shikamaru replied, removing his camouflage cloak. His expression was dead serious, cold as winter ice. "I'm glad you remember."
The rest of the strike team revealed themselves in sequence. Kakuzu recognized several: the pink-haired medic-nin, the large boy who could expand his body parts, and the one who possessed a limited version of the First Hokage's legendary Wood Style. Others were less familiar but clearly skilled—a white-eyed girl bearing the distinctive features of the Hyuga clan, and a bespectacled young man whose presence seemed almost negligible despite clearly being part of the team.
Seven in total. However, Kakuzu immediately noted a significant absence.
'The Nine-Tails jinchuriki isn't here.'
"You've packed quite the crowd to deal with only two Akatsuki members," Kakuzu observed with dark amusement. "I see the Nine tails holder is absent. Trauma from our past encounter?"
"Trust me, you're worth it," Shikamaru replied, his voice carrying barely controlled anger. "After all, it takes a lot of effort to kill a cockroach with a life as tenacious as yours." He picked up a small stone from the ground. "I promised Naruto I'd get you. Gotta make sure you die right this time."
"Is that so?"
"That's right. For Ino and Kakashi-sensei, we're gonna make sure you pay." Shikamaru's grip tightened on the stone. "Of course, that's what I would say... if you were real."
Without warning, he hurled the stone at the discarded bag containing Hidan. Upon impact, both the bag and its supposed contents dissolved into ordinary water.
"Hmm. You knew," Kakuzu said, his tone more statement than question.
"It was obvious the moment we 'caught' you. It was too easy."
"Clever as always, little brat," Kakuzu acknowledged before his form similarly dissolved into a puddle of water.
"So he was just a water clone?" one of the team members asked.
"Yeah. These Akatsuki bastards aren't easy to mess with," Shikamaru replied, already turning away from the dissipating water. "Come on, let's go. We need to be ready to reinforce Team Guy once they make contact with the real targets."
Without another word, the seven shinobi leaped away across the mountainous landscape, their forms quickly disappearing into the rocky terrain.
---
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