Since they were on someone else's turf, Takeshi worried that any commotion might draw in shinobi. Without hesitation, he took the two little ones straight to Kakuzu's room and knocked on the door.
"Didn't I tell you not to bother me unless it's important? I'm counting my—"
Before Kakuzu could finish, the piles of banknotes covering his bed were swept onto the floor in one go by Takeshi, clearing a space for himself and the two kids to sit down and rest.
"You!"
Kakuzu's eyes widened with fury, his green irises practically shooting lasers. He didn't care about appearances as he dropped to the floor and scrambled to gather the money, terrified he might miss even a single bill.
"To desecrate money like this… you'll never be blessed with wealth!"
He carefully brushed the dust from the bills, grumbling under his breath.
"Tch, this isn't the time to be worrying about money. The samurai guarding the ship have all gone to the bow. Something's probably going on."
Takeshi's tone carried the frustration of someone scolding an unteachable fool. Even now, Kakuzu was still thinking only about cash.
"Hmph, so what? Whoever dares to make a move, just kill them all. Maybe some of them even have valuable bounties."
Kakuzu didn't seem particularly concerned.
In his view, unless Hashirama or Madara came back to life, there was no one in the entire shinobi world who could truly kill him.
…Well, except for the child-shaped mobile artillery standing right next to him.
"Hmm? Looks like you hit the mark."
Just as he was about to stash the bills into his inner pocket, Kakuzu froze mid-motion, his entire body tensing.
"A bunch of shinobi have boarded the ship."
...
"Everyone in the hall—squat on the deck and don't move! Rich folks hiding in your rooms, get your money ready and wait for us to come collect!"
The rough voice blasted through the ship's speakers. On the deck lay the severed heads of samurai, along with a few corpses of crewmen who had tried to resist.
"Who are these people?"
Locking the cabin door, Takeshi shielded the two little ones and glanced toward Kakuzu, who was peeking through the small window.
"A bunch of shinobi with different forehead protectors, plus a few rōnin mixed in. Looks like pirates from the area."
"Pirates? Are they insane? This is a ship from the Land of Water. Don't they fear the Land of Water sending Kirigakure after them in retaliation?"
Takeshi was genuinely surprised. Even in its weakened state, Kirigakure was still one of the Five Great Hidden Villages—not something mere pirates could afford to provoke.
Wasn't this pure suicide?
"Most people willing to pay for a ride on this kind of ship value their lives. When something like this happens, they usually choose to hand over their wealth to avoid disaster. Once the pirates take their loot and retreat, they can hide away under false identities for a while. Even if Mist-nin come looking, they won't find them."
Kakuzu sounded very familiar with the process—familiar enough for Takeshi to seriously suspect he'd been involved in such raids himself.
Seeing Takeshi's distrustful gaze, Kakuzu curled his lip and shook his wrist.
"I'd never bother with something that low-profit. I just learned about it while raiding one of their hideouts."
Compared to robbing passengers, Kakuzu much preferred robbing the robbers.
It saved the trouble of collecting money one by one, and there was no need to split the take with anyone.
"I take back what I said earlier. Looks like you really are destined to be rich."
It was rare for Kakuzu to hear Takeshi praise him. Coupled with the expression on his face, Takeshi quickly understood what Kakuzu intended to do.
"Yeah… making a little extra on the side doesn't sound bad."
Patting the kunai hidden on him, Takeshi felt like fate was practically handing him money.
"It's just a shame… once we finish this job, it won't be easy to find another ship this comfortable."
Outside the Five Great Nations, smaller countries only used cheap ships, nowhere near as comfortable as the luxury vessel they were on now.
Wait—why was he even using the words 'finish this job'?
Hopefully that wouldn't scare the two kids…
Takeshi glanced at Kimimaro and Haku.
Hmm. Kimimaro already had his bone blade ready, wearing his usual cold expression—no sign of fear there.
As for Haku…
The boy still wore his usual faint smile.
...
The pirates' vessel was a fairly large fishing boat, with two shinobi guarding it.
The two chatted idly, completely unaware that Takeshi and the others had already climbed aboard from the stern.
"Samurai really are useless relics of the past. Boss took down three of them with a single move."
"Heh, you clearly haven't seen the real thing. Those samurai were all weak. The real elites stay at the sides of daimyō and nobles. Back when I was in Kusagakure, a jōnin from our village tried to assassinate a daimyō. He was cut down in one swing."
"Seriously? A jōnin killed in one strike?"
The other pirate clearly didn't buy the story.
"Of course! I was in the pursuit squad—I saw it with my own eyes. He didn't even get the chance to use ninjutsu."
"That's terrifying… Wait, brother, you were in Kusagakure? What made you defect and come here?"
The Kusagakure pirate's face darkened.
"Don't even mention it. I was doing fine as a chūnin until the village was attacked by unknown shinobi. Just because I fled during battle, they pinned the blame on me. I had no choice but to risk breaking out of prison."
"Come to think of it, I should thank Konoha's White Fang. If they hadn't come to the village looking for someone, I wouldn't have gotten the chance to escape."
"White Fang? What a stupid title—it sounds like a joke."
Clearly, this pirate hadn't fought in the Third Shinobi World War and had no idea who the "White Fang" really was.
"Tch. Judging by your forehead protector, you're from Takigakure. No wonder you don't know. The White Fang is—"
Before he could finish his explanation, the main pirate raiding party returned from the cruise ship, hauling away large amounts of cash and interrupting their conversation.
The twenty-plus man crew obviously had no sensory-types among them. Once they confirmed everyone was accounted for, they set off toward their base without noticing that four extra people had boarded.
"Boss really is the best. No wonder—coming from a Great Hidden Village and being a jōnin, taking out those samurai was easy."
As the cruise ship drifted farther away, the grunts on the pirate boat counted their loot while heaping flattery on their leader.
"Enough chatter. Count it properly—this is our food money for the foreseeable future."
The pirate called Boss wore a scratched Kirigakure forehead protector, marking him as a Mist-nin.
"Hm. Shark teeth—just what I'd expect from a Mist-nin."
Peering through the gaps in their hiding spot, Takeshi confirmed the man's appearance and gave Kakuzu a discreet nod.
"Once we hit land, we make our move."
Kakuzu understood Takeshi's signal and began planning right away.
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Pls Drop some Power Stones
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