Rumble!
The moment Kakuzu unleashed his close-range compound jutsu, it was blasted straight back at him by a single [Shinra Tensei].
The repulsive force of the technique, combined with the power of his own jutsu, slammed into him with devastating might.
In an instant, the three remaining hearts within his body shattered.
And just like that, the legendary bounty hunter—Kakuzu, the top enforcer of the underground exchange—met his end atop the nameless bandit stronghold in the mountains of Iwami.
Rokuro stepped forward, looking down at Kakuzu's corpse. His face, with its black stitching and lifeless eyes, resembled that of a puppet more than a man.
"Kakuzu's power definitely reached the Kage-class," Rokuro muttered to himself. "Maybe not among the strongest of them, but certainly not weaker than the Third or Fourth Kazekage. A regular jōnin wouldn't stand a chance against him. I had to use all my trump cards today, but honestly... that fight wasn't too bad. I guess ninja tools really are my way forward."
He was quite pleased with the outcome. As for who would replace Kakuzu in Akatsuki's future roster, or whether his death would affect their tailed beast collection plans—that wasn't Rokuro's concern.
"Huh? Still alive?"
To his surprise, Rokuro sensed a faint chakra signature—it was that bandit leader, the one called Kurote. Somehow, the man had survived, limping and dragging himself down the mountain, badly wounded.
With a flash of his body flicker, Rokuro appeared before him and grabbed him by the neck, lifting him off the ground.
His Sharingan spun to life, twin tomoe whirling. He immediately cast a genjutsu.
Even though the double tomoe version didn't amplify illusionary power much, Kurote was merely a chūnin—and not a properly trained one at that. There was no way he could resist.
Within seconds, his consciousness was trapped. His eyes went dull, his body stiff—like a puppet waiting for orders.
"Talk. What exactly happened today? How did you manage to hire Kakuzu?"
During the battle, Rokuro hadn't had time to think, but now that it was over, something about the whole situation felt off.
After all, though the Hidden Villages had impressive reputations, they were, at their core, mercenary organizations—governed by strict confidentiality.
Mission ranks—D, C, B, A, and S—didn't just represent difficulty. They also indicated secrecy level.
This bandit extermination mission, given that Kurote was a shinobi, had been classified as B-rank. In theory, no one outside the mission—not even other Konoha shinobi—should have known about it.
And yet, Kurote had somehow learned of it beforehand—and even managed to hire a powerhouse like Kakuzu as his bodyguard. Nothing about that added up.
As Kurote recounted the events under genjutsu, the scent of conspiracy grew stronger.
"You're saying someone contacted you two days ago, and even hired Kakuzu for you—paid in full?" Rokuro asked.
"Yes," Kurote answered dully. "At first, I didn't believe it. But when I arrived at the underground exchange, Kakuzu was already there waiting for me."
There was no way a man under genjutsu could lie. And the timing matched perfectly—two days ago was the exact day Rokuro had accepted the mission.
Someone had leaked the mission intel the moment he took it, then set everything up in advance.
"Do you know who Kakuzu is?" Rokuro continued.
"I've heard of him," Kurote replied mechanically. "He's infamous in the underground bounty circles. Hunts high-value targets every few months. Some tried to ambush him for his rewards once… none of them were ever seen again."
"It must cost a fortune to hire him."
Kurote nodded faintly. "Kakuzu never takes jobs under ten million ryō. This time... at least that much."
Rokuro chuckled coldly.
"That's quite an investment. To have that kind of intel access and that much money to spend… who else could it be but him?"
If this had been any other world, Rokuro might have hesitated. But this was Naruto's world.
And in this world, nine out of ten conspiracies could be traced back to one man—Shimura Danzō.
Given that the leak came from Konoha's own intelligence division, the culprit might as well have signed his name on it.
After confirming the details, Rokuro extracted one last piece of information—the location of the Fire Country branch of the underground exchange—then swiftly ended Kurote's life, sealing both his head and Kakuzu's corpse into separate scrolls.
Only after that did he locate Mitarashi Anko and wake her up.
"Rokuro? What happened? Where are we? Do you have any five-color dango? I'm starving…"
Still dazed from unconsciousness, Anko blinked groggily. Rokuro ignored her and began rummaging through the ruins of the mountain stronghold.
Most of the place had been obliterated by the previous barrage of jutsu, but gold and silver didn't burn so easily—and Rokuro had no intention of leaving any behind.
Even mosquito legs are still meat, as the saying goes.
"Ah! What about that corpse-faced guy? That rogue ninja—Kakuzu?"
Anko's memories snapped back, and she leapt up like a startled rabbit, scanning the area warily.
"Relax," Rokuro said without looking up. "I already sealed his corpse. Come help me look for money. This mountain stronghold's been collecting tolls for years—there's bound to be some treasure left. Whatever we find, we keep. No need to report it to the village."
Anko's eyes widened. The signs of devastation all around them made it clear: this had been the work of a jōnin-level battle—an elite skilled in large-scale ninjutsu.
A taijutsu-type jōnin could never cause this much destruction.
"Wait... did the village send backup? No, that's impossible—the timing doesn't fit. Then... was it you?"
Rokuro didn't bother replying.
Seeing that, Anko wisely dropped the question. She now realized that Rokuro had been concealing his strength all along—and that it was he, not Kakuzu, who had knocked her out earlier.
As Orochimaru's disciple, she might still be a bit naive, but she certainly wasn't stupid.
The evidence before her spoke volumes—and she wasn't about to invite trouble by prying further.
The two of them spent the next two hours turning over every inch of the wreckage.
Sure enough, they unearthed quite a bit of gold and silver—roughly twenty million ryō in total. A very generous haul.
For genin-rank shinobi, that was an enormous sum. Even if this mission were upgraded to A- or S-rank afterward, their official pay wouldn't come close to that.
You could tell just by looking at Naruto's example.
After all his missions and penny-pinching, his entire savings barely covered a few nights of Jiraiya's drinking bills.
And his very first mission had been against Zabuza and Haku—an A-rank job by any standard.
Or take Maito Dai, the "Eternal Genin." Despite years of service, he could hardly afford daily expenses. That's how little genin were paid.
But the silver lining was that whatever you found during a mission—like treasure or valuables—was yours to keep.
The village didn't take a cut.
There was no way to track or regulate such spoils anyway, so the rule was simple: as long as your team agreed on a story, you kept what you found.
And so, Rokuro's very first mission ended in complete success.
Two hours after the pair left, a small squad of shinobi arrived at the ruins of Mount Iwami.
They stood frozen for a moment, staring at what had once been a mountain stronghold—now nothing but scorched rubble.
"Report this to Lord Danzō. Immediately."
END OF CHAPTER
35 CHAPTERS AHEAD!!
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