As he walked into the meeting hall, Kakuzu looked dazed—like he’d been utterly drained. Seeing him in such a state rendered everyone speechless.

  Kakuzu had the Earth Grudge Fear teique; losing his head typically wouldn’t pose much of a problem. But now he looked as if he were pletely squeezed dry. What oh had happened?!

  Orochimaru couldn’t resist poking fun when he saw Kakuzu:

  “Kakuzu, what oh has Uzumaki Senshi been doing to you? You look severely worn out—don’t tell me Earth Grudge Fear has its limits?”

  Kakuzu was in such a stupor he didn’t even hear Orochimaru’s jab. Without a word, he found a spot to sit a. Partnering with Senshi these past weeks had worn him down to a husk.

  Once Senshi and Kakuzu arrived, Pain spoke calmly:

  “During this period, the anization’s revenue is ten times higher than before.”

  All of Akatsuki reacted with obvious surprise. It wasn’t a mere 30–40% increase; it was tenfold—a 1000% jump in earnings!

  Hoshigaki Kisame bared his rows of sharp teeth, sounding puzzled:

  “Does that mean the anization has some new ine source?”

  Like a normal shinobi vilge, Akatsuki fuself by taking a cut—fifty pert—of any ission its members pleted. So Kisame naturally assumed some other reveream must have appeared.

  Pain shook his head:

  “No. The reason for su increase is that Kakuzu and Uzumaki Senshi’s duo has pleted a massive number of issions.”

  The entire group exged gnces again. These two were ag almost beyond reason. Their efforts had pushed the anization’s ine up by a factor of ten—an incredible feat.

  While everyone was still reeling, Pain tinued:

  “Retly, more and more people have been ing to the Amegakure fur shinobi assigs, as well as posting requests on the bck market.”

  “But the vilge’s own ninja have been running into a serious issue—many of them ’t get any jobs. A lot of ninja pin they barely afford to eat.”

  Now that Nagato (through Pain) trolled the vilge, a more prosperous Amegakure would obviously be him. But iy, it wasn’t growier at all. A vilge ’t thrive on a handful of powerful shinobi alos mid- and lower-level ninja are the foundation of that “tower.” They gee most of a vilge’s wealth and, if they mature, bee the geion of elite shinobi or even mainstays. If those middling yers struggle to survive, they might desert. Should that happen, the vilge would be on the brink of colpse. Naturally, Nagato and Akatsuki didn’t want that oute.

  Zetsu gaped:

  “What do you mean? If more ts are bringing missions here, shouldn’t that make it easier for the vilge’s ninja to find work and help it develop?”

  He couldn’t grasp why an increase in requests meant local Ame ninja were getting fewer jobs. Osu spoke, Pain shot a displeased look at Uzumaki Senshi.

  “Ask our new recruit about that.”

  Everyone’s eyes turo Senshi, who was off in a er ting money. Startled by their looks, he gave an embarrassed ugh before answering sheepishly:

  “I’m just doing my part for the anization!

  I fully endorse Akatsuki’s vision—tinuously taking on issions is my ‘Way of the Ninja.’

  Also, if any of you need a ninja for hire, just e to me—I’ll give you a 5% dist! And if you have leads on ts who o hire someone, pass them to me. Once I’m paid, I’ll split off 5% to you!”

  At first, Senshi seemed self-scious. The more he spoke, though, the more ear he became. Clearly, when it came to mission work, he was dead serious—no joke at all. Karin, meanwhile, could only facepalm. It was ohing for him to scoop up every outside ission, but now he was trying to do business with his own teammates as well.

  All eyes shifted questioningly to Kakuzu. He sat in the er, still looking half-dead. In Akatsuki, he was sidered the “king of hustle.” Yet somehow, Senshi had driven him to this state—just how eously driven was Senshi?

  Zetsu gnced bad forth between the sprawled Kakuzu and the money-ting Senshi:

  “Are you telling me Uzumaki Senshi’s even more enthusiastiissions than Kakuzu?”

  Pain nodded seriously:

  “Precisely. Based oel I have,

  ever since Senshi joined, he’s been w day and night without pause. He uses es to handle lower- and mid-tier issions.”

  “On top of that, he literally clears out the bck market three times a day—m, afternoon, and evening. So nearly every ission posted there ends up being snapped up by them.”

  “People in the bck market call them the ‘Mission Killing Mae.’ Their record, as far as I know, was 171 jobs pleted in a single day. That’s why the Ame’s mid- and lower-level ninja aren’t getting any work.”

  When Pain finished, everyone looked at Senshi and Kakuzu in a mix of awe and disbelief. Were they even human, w nonstop like that for a whole month? And to maximize ce, Senshi had even used Wood es.

  Itachi had once used shadow es to attend the Ninja Academy on his behalf, thinking that was as extreme as it got. Now he realized there was always a higher mountain. Senshi just smiled shyly.

  “I’m only doing what I should for the anization.”

  Then he handed a money box to Karin:

  “Karin, t the ission fees from earlier. We were in a rush to get to the meeting, so I didn’t have time.”

  Karin nodded aly got to work. Meanwhile, Senshi took out a thick wad of mission slips—big as a diary. Kisame’s jaw dropped as he stared, turning to Itachi.

  “Ichi—Itachi-san, that’s… all ission slips?”

  The sight of those papers—maybe fifty or sixty in total—had Kisame’s mind reeling. Under everyone’s astonished gaze, Senshi began cutting the deission slips like pying cards. Then—schwick—tree branches sprouted from him, f Wood es. He gave one e a mission slip to handle, and tinued s through the rest.

  “He…he just used Wood Release?!”

  Orochimaru shot to his feet in arm, inwardly in turmoil. Impossible…aside from the First Hokage, no one should be able to master Wood Release. And now this madman was sending a Wood e on a mission—even in the midst of a meeting! Everyone else was equally stuhey g Kakuzu with sympathetic eyes.

  At st, Kakuzu snapped back to the real reason he’d e. He mustered his energy to speak:

  “I’m in bad shape. For the while, I shouldn’t be going to the bck market at all. The anizatioo reassign a parto Senshi—or let him operate solo.”

  He fixed his gaze on Pain and Konan, hoping they’d switch his assig. tinuing like this, he was going to end up as shattered as Zetsu’s split form. Ideally, let Pain’s Six Paths go along with Senshi—one side already dead, the other unstoppable. They’d be perfect for each other.

  But the request to switch was denied. Under Kakuzu’s pleading stare, Konan—her blue hair draped in the bck-red cloud robe—shook her head.

  In Akatsuki, Kakuzu once partnered with Orochimaru, but the results from pairing with Senshi were much better. Konan’s cool voice expined:

  “So far, you and Senshi make the most effit pair. No one else here match your—or his—mission speed. The two of you have done exceptionally these past weeks, boosting Akatsuki’s reveenfold. We’ve never been so well-funded. If we keep gathering mo this pace, we start the final pn sooner.”

  Her reasoning was sound, and Kakuzu had al.

  Bleam