At this moment, Terumi Mei’s lovely face still bore a sweet, i look. She forced a polite smile and said:

  “Lord Senshi, I don’t have any requests to hire you for the time being. You could tour around the Kirigakure and hire me as yuide, so I show you all the sights and sery here.”

  She barely got the words out when she saw that Senshi was already far in the distance, waving goodbye. She offered him no new issio wanted him to hire her as a tuide? Absolutely absurd!

  After parting ways with Terumi Mei, Senshi went off to meet up with Kakuzu and Kisame.

  Kisame saw him ing, rubbing his hands in satisfa:

  “Yarimasune—so we’re heading off to capture the Tailed Beast nht? Gotta say, you were looking ahead. You’ve kept this red-haired little brat of the Uzumaki with you all along, waiting precisely for this day, yeah?”

  Kakuzu also this and chimed in:

  “Indeed. I heard that in Konoha, they’ve always sealed the ails inside an Uzumaki. After all these years, Konoha’s Tailed Beast is have been minimal.”

  Kisame nodded:

  “Exactly. The Uzumaki ’s life ford sealing teiques are extraordinary, perfectly suited to hosting a Tailed Beast.”

  Karin: “???”

  Her adorable face was now full of shock. So that’s what it was? Did Senshi keep her around specifically to make her the Jinchūriki for a Tailed Beast? Surely not?!

  Tears already glimmered in Karin’s eyes. She had believed all this time she was his cute little assistant!

  Hearing Kakuzu and Kisame’s words, Senshi’s expression was as if he’d seen a ghost.

  When people are speechless, they often ugh. Senshi’s foot came flying in, kig the two of them squarely on the backside, sending them sprawling:

  “What kind of nonsense is that?! When did I ever say I was going to use Karin as a Jinchūriki?!”

  After finishing, Senshi saw Karin’s eyes welling up with tears. He reached out to ruffle her red hair.

  “You believe everything they say? Don’t fet, I said you shouldn’t die off prematurely before you actually prove useful—otherwise, I’d be at a huge loss.”

  Hearing this, Karin broke into a smile amid tears, nodding early:

  “Uood, Senshi!”

  Senshi oo, then further messed up the hair he’d already ruffled. Just moments ago on the verge of tears, Karin now ched her little fists, pounced onto Senshi’s back, and deployed her “Unbreakable Seven-Day Lock of giness.”

  With his personal “massager” activated, Senshi headed off toward the Kiri’s bck market.

  Kakuzu and Kisame watched him depart, dumbfounded.

  “Hey, hey… we’re just leaving like that? What about the anization’s mission?”

  Kisame eyed Senshi’s retreating figure, speaking up.

  Senshi merely waved a hand without looking back:

  “Rex, everything’s going acc to pn!”

  her Kakuzu nor Kisame trusted him in the slightest. This fellow’s thinking was so uable. Especially Kisame—he had been seriously injured by Senshi not long ago, and only recovered swiftly thanks to Samehada’s healing. If Senshi refused to hahings personally, the Kirigakure would definitely keep heavy watch around that ke now. Even if Kakuzu and Kisame were strong enough to seize the Tailed Beast, they couldn’t just waltz off with the Three-Tails right under everyone’s nose.

  With er choice, Kisame could only look to Kakuzu:

  “Now what?”

  Kakuzu shook his head:

  “We do what he says. Let’s just go bad report truthfully to Pain.”

  Kisame had no other pn. Thus they left.

  On the Blood Mist side, Hōzuki Getsuki and Karatachi Tachii soon reve their hideout. Their faces looked grim.

  “We ’t let that damned merary run wild again!”

  …

  During these past few days in the Kirigakure, Senshi’s eime ent sweeping the bck market for missions. Even though the Kiri had deed, it was still one of the Five Great Shinobi Vilges—a camel may be skinny but still rger than a horse. The number of missions here far surpassed that of the Ame.

  Every day, he would plete tasks, then sit down with Karin ting money until their hands cramped.

  In the Kiri’s bck market, at the main hall…

  A certain shinobi arrived and smmed his fist on the ter, gring at the manager:

  “Why are there no missions posted?!”

  The manager sighed:

  “No missions have e in, so what I post?”

  The shinobi, whurly roamed the Kiri bck market, found it impossible to believe:

  “No missions, how that be?!”

  He smashed the ter again. The manager gave him a resigned look and pulled out a staission request forms:

  Seeing that stack, the roaming shinobi momentarily rexed—so there were missions, after all. But on reading them, he was fbbergasted:

  [Target: Fire Daimyō Yamashita Kenshin]

  [Reward: 1,000,000,000 ryō]

  [Target: Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen]

  [Reward: 1,000,000,000 ryō]

  [Target: Fourth Raikage, A]

  [Reward: 800,000,000 ryō]

  Staring at these bounty requests, the roaming ninja’s head buzzed. Could he possibly take on such missions?!

  He tossed them aside, gl at the manager:

  “All the other missions? Where are they?”

  The manager shrugged:

  “Most were taken by Kakuzu, the rest by Uzumaki Senshi.”

  Hearing Senshi’s he man swore inwardly. Rumors about what happe the Kiri’s bck market had already spread: an insane duo known as the “Task-Dev Maes,” “Eternal ission Engagers,” or “Mission Killers,” had emerged there. They’d repeatedly cleared the entire market daily—three times in one day, at the peak! They simply didn’t let anyone else get any jobs.

  “Dammit, that mission-killing fiend has holed up in the Kiri and refuses to leave?!”

  Just then, the hall’s doors swung open. Senshi and Kakuzu entered, dropping off a staissios on the ter.

  “o save me any missions for tomorrow. I’ll be leaving the Kirigakure then.”

  The bck market manager breathed a huge sigh of relief. He’d been worried these Kiri-based rogues would starve with no jobs left if Senshi stuck around forever.

  And the wandering ninja, who was uo get any tasks just moments before, instantly brightened:

  At st, that demon is leaving. He ran outside in tears of joy, h to all the other freencers: “He’s finally going! That damned mission-killer is heading off—woohoo!”

  Within minutes, much of the Kiri’s wandering ninja popution was weeping with relief:

  “Oh, Six Paths above, that monster’s leaving the Hidden Mist at st!”

  “We couldn’t get a single job these past few days!”

  “Let’s hope he never es back!”

  Ihe bck market hall, after dropping off his task results, Senshi watched as Karin and Kakuzu gleefully ted money while sitting on the floor. Their smiles gradually morphed from manic to dht depraved. Kisame, them, kept wing:

  “Tsk… Are you guys do?”

  At length, once Karin’s hand cramped from ting, she looked at Senshi questioningly:

  “I keep hearing people g outside. What’s happening?”

  Senshi thought for a bit, then said matter-of-factly:

  “They’re probably so touched that this mission-king is leaving. With me here, a flock of prospective ts was bound to e. Hahaha.”

  Then he left, money in tow, heading out of the Kirigakure. Along the way back to the Ame, Senshi naturally took o escort ission.

  Just as he was about to board a carriage, Kakuzu stopped him:

  “Wait. We’re simply heading baow?”

  Kakuzu’s pale green eyes filled with doubt. Somethi off: by his experience, Uzumaki Senshi never left a job half-done.

  Senshi asked in a casual tone:

  “What’s wrong with going back?”

  Before Kakuzu could say anything else, Kisame couldn’t help scoffing:

  “You fot the real mission? The one Pain gave us? The one we came here to do in the first pce?”

  Senshi—so uned—waved his hand:

  “Mission’s done. Let’s go.”

  He climbed onto the carriage, calling for Karin. Kakuzu and Kisame stared, baffled.

  “Huh?? That’s it? We gotta hand in ay result?!”

  Kakuzu looked ready tue, but Senshi refused to eborate:

  “Stop nagging, get on board. The mission’s finished.”

  He had no desire to expin about the forced summoning tract he’d used ohree-Tails. If the Kiri found out, they might find a way to annul it—that would make this whole trip pointless.

  “Tch, you’ll have to face Pain yourself ter,” Kisame grumbled. He settled into the carriage with a resigned sigh. Traveling with Senshi had its pros and s. On the plus side, they traveled in fort, never short on big paydays. The minus was that this guy erpetual mission maniac. He might even be using wood es to alternate shifts with his main body.

  Ohing was certain: he’d do exactly what he wanted. No more, no less.

  Bleam