It was fortuhat, thanks to Senshi’s month of nonstop missions, the anization’s finances had swelled substantially. Otherwise, Nagato wouldn’t have had the funds to pay such a hefty ission.

  He lifted his head, addressing Senshi once more:

  “The anization will pay you 36 million ryō to subjugate Kusagakure.”

  [New issioed!]

  [t: Nagato, Leader of Akatsuk

  [Objective: Subjugate Kusagakure]

  [Reward: 36 million ryō]

  [Difficulty: S-Rank]

  [System Bonus: 36,000 ission Points]

  Senshi was thrilled. 36,000 ission points—enough for 36 ten-pulls. This single mission was set to be a massive windfall.

  I month, despite doing scores of tasks in the Ame, S-rank jobs were scard often involved assassination of notable targets in the Land of Fire like the daimyo, the Twelve Guardian Ninja, or evehird Hokage himself. He wouldn’t have minded pig them up, but Kakuzu had refused, saying Akatsuki was still in a dormant phase and couldn’t do anything too extreme. Hence, Senshi had only been rag up a rge quantity of smaller issions, the “quality” being far lower. He’d felt quite envious.

  “All right, Boss,” he said, rubbing his hands happily. “No problem—leave it to me.”

  Pain nodded curtly. “Go.”

  Wasting no time, Senshi motioo Karin, walked over to Kakuzu, and cpped him on the shoulder.

  “All right, Little Kaku, enough dawdling. Time to set off!”

  Kakuzu let out a long, weary sigh. He’d rather hahe assig alohan be dragged along on Senshi’s endless spree of side missions. Grahere were advao teaming up with him—Senshi’s success rate was 100%, and he was unbelievably effit. While Kakuzu’s body gradually wore down, his earnings tio climb. That said, he couldn’t even begin to rest.

  In the end, he had no choice. So, he followed Senshi out of the Amegakure, joined by Karin. Soon, they were making their way down the road.

  Knowing they were returning to Kusagakure made Karin nervous. There, she and her mother had beeed like “living medie bags.” Whenever a Kusa ninja was ihey would force her or her mother to let them bite them, healing their wounds. Her memories of Kusagakure were dark and painful.

  Senshi seemed to recall that, for with a small grin he ruffled Karin’s hair, ign her protests:

  “o worry. Once we arrive, I’ll beat down every st person who bit you—one by one.”

  Karin blinked, suddenly realizing that, pared to the Kusa ninjas, Senshi was likely more terrifying. And once he pleted this new mission, he’d bee even stronger. Not only that, a future alliaween Kusagakure and the Ame might lead to more tasks, letting him power up endlessly via the merary system.

  Plus, there was a big job waiting ba Kusa—someone from the Kusa no Jitsu fa named Mui, who wao capture a Jinchūriki to harvest a massive amount of chakra and unlock the “Box of Ultimate Bliss,” a certain legendary ninja tool. Mui only needed chakra, so there was no flict with Akatsuki’s Tailed Beast pns. In other words, they shared a goal. Mui could bee either an ally to Akatsuki or a t. In short, even before finishing this mission, Senshi felt like he’d already “won.”

  …

  Kusagakure was small, located between the great powers—the Land of Fire, the Land of Earth, and others. From those nations’ perspective, it was a vital buffer zone, but for Kusa itself, caught in the crossfire of multiple Shinobi Wars, it was hardly a blessing. Their scale was small, their politics voluted, and they had no Kage. Outwardly, they had a “vilge head.” Behind the ses, two major fas—Kusa no Jitsu and Kusa no Hana—fought for trol.

  Now, three figures wearing bck robes patterned with red clouds walked along a road toward Kusagakure. Leading them was a red-haired young man with a handsome, zy air, as if he were just out for a stroll. Obviously, that was Senshi. o him, Karin followed anxiously—returning to the pce of her traumatic childhood cast a gloomy pall. She sighed inwardly:

  “So I’m heading back to that cruel pce, huh... They treated Mother and me as nothing but healing tools.”

  Her mother’s healing stitution allowed them to be used as human medical supplies. If a Kusa ninja got wouhey’d bite them and rapidly heal. Karin’s mother kept treatment until she burned out, expending all her chakra and losing her life. Worried Karin might follow the same fate, she had died in despair.

  After walking a bit, Senshi sensed Karin’s mood s further. He lightly patted her head again, saying:

  “Don’t fret. We’ll drop by your house first and teach those fools a lesson. I’ll aveh you and your mother.”

  Karin murmured a grateful “thank you” in a choked voice. If she’d been older, maybe Senshi would have let her take revenge personally—but at the moment, she was only around ten. He didn’t want to force her into that.

  Trailing behind them was Kakuzu, silent for a while before finally posing a question:

  “How exactly do you pn on subjugating Kusagakure?”

  It was hardly a trivial task. Kakuzu, in all his years of missions, had never received su assig. Without breaking stride, Senshi answered casually:

  “Simple. Ght to the vilge head and the cil elders. We bribe or recruit whoever’s willing; those unwilling, we dispose of.”

  Kakuzu mulled that over, then shrugged. “Keep the obedient ones for bor, kill the rest. Simple but effective.”

  They’d gone a bit farther when Senshi’s expression shifted slightly. His “Mantra” sense (from the Rumble-Rumble Fruit) was stantly active, giving him wide perception. Just retly, after a month of frenzied mission-grinding, he’d raised the fruit’s development to S-level, dramatically extending his range.

  Karin, too—via her Kagura’s Mind Eye—picked up on something and urgently alerted them:

  “Enemies approag—there’s an ambush in the forest ahead!”

  At that, Kakuzu’s demeanor sharpened. In this past month, he’d growo Karin’s warnings, but he was surprised by how, moments earlier, Senshi had already shown signs of deteg them. He realized Senshi’s sensory prowess was eveer than Karin’s. Internally, he was astonished:

  “So he not only wields an absurd Lightning Release, he also outperforms Karin in perception...”

  Even as he marveled, the Kusa ninja swiftly closed in. The wide road was empty, yet they knew unseen foes were lurking nearby.

  Swish, swish, swish!

  In an instant, a volley of shuriken rained down, ing from all dires to block off all escape routes.

  Shup—

  Senshi simply took Karin and flickered aside; Kakuzu likewise vahe Kusa ninjas froze, uo see how they’d moved so quickly.

  BOOM—

  A crackle of thunder erupted as Senshi shot across the battlefield in a split sed. Lightning arcs smashed the Kusa ninjas, leaving them in shambles.

  “Aah! Spare me—!”

  They screamed in terror, but many didn’t even mahat before being dispatched. Then:

  g!

  Senshi reappeared beside Karin, while Kakuzu stood with arms folded a short distance away. He asked:

  “Why not keep at least one alive to interrogate for information?”

  Senshi answered offhandedly:

  “Look at these small fry. Do they look like they know anything?”

  Kakuzu snorted faintly, not replying. If it had been his decision, he’d have kept the squad leader for at least some intel. But oh well.

  At that moment, the ones lying in ambush farther ahead realized something had gone wrong. Karin sehe shift and quickly reported:

  “The ninja in the forest have retreated—they’re probably running back to Kusagakure to raise an arm.”

  “What do we do?”