Chapter 192: I Found You, Kakuzu!
In the Land of Earth (土の国, Tsuchi no Kuni), near the heavily disputed border, lay an underground exchange house.
The air here was a toxic, stagnant soup. It was always filled with the strange, sharp smell of cheap alcohol, stale sweat, old blood, and the metallic tang of fear.
Under the dim, flickering, oil-fueled lights, rogue ninja (抜け忍, Nukenin) and bounty hunters of all kinds gathered. They were shadows huddled over tables, talking in hushed, guttural tones.
Their eyes, paranoid and shifty, vigilantly scanned everyone who entered, every hand that moved too quickly.
This was a lawless land. It was also a paradise for those who worshiped money.
Kakuzu liked the smell here. It smelled like profit.
Thud.
He threw a blood-soaked, heavy cloth bag onto the counter, the sound cutting through the low murmur of the room.
The Fat Manager, a man whose smile was as greasy as his hair, was responsible for exchanging bounties. He twitched an eyelid at the sound, but his practiced, fawning smile never wavered.
He carefully untied the bag. A human head, its eyes wide with the unseeing terror of its final moment, rolled out and stopped, staring up at the ceiling.
"Iwagakure (Village Hidden in the Stones) rogue ninja, Kuroishi," Kakuzu spoke. His voice was a low, dry rasp, like stones grinding together.
"Bounty: thirty million ryō."
His eyes, hidden in the shadow of his cowl, were filled with the cold, undiluted greed and desire for money.
The Fat Manager dared not delay. He immediately called for someone to verify the kill.
Kakuzu leaned his tall frame against the counter, folding his arms. He enjoyed the gazes of awe, and more importantly, fear, that were cast his way.
He hadn't experienced this simple, powerful feeling in a long, long time.
Ever since that old bastard, Shimura Danzō, tricked him... and ever since he had that encounter with Uchiha Akira... Kakuzu had been hiding.
He had been hiding like a common street rat.
He was terrified of Uchiha Akira coming after him, especially after the news had spread like wildfire: Uchiha Akira had become the Godaime Hokage (Fifth Hokage).
Kakuzu had barely stepped foot in an exchange house since that day.
During this time, Kakuzu abandoned his beloved, profitable bounty hunting career. He was careful. He was discreet. He went into hiding, and he hated it.
It wasn't until recently that Kakuzu had joined a new, promising organization.
They called themselves "Akatsuki."
The leader of the organization, a man who called himself "Pain" and was revered as a "God," possessed the legendary, mythical Rinnegan. His power was so absolute, so profound, it was suffocating.
Under the protection of such a powerful, S-rank organization, Kakuzu's long-dormant heart—the one that beat only for money—finally stirred to life again.
So, Kakuzu resumed his old profession. He returned to his most beloved, most sacred career.
Of course, the Land of Fire (火の国, Hi no Kuni) was an absolute no-go zone.
Kakuzu didn't want to be caught by that monster, Uchiha Akira, and rubbed into the ground again. Once was more than enough of that humiliating experience.
But the Shinobi World was vast. There were plenty of places to make money.
Why restrict himself to the Land of Fire? He could make money in other places just as well.
"Kakuzu-sama," the Fat Manager's voice broke his reverie. "Your bounty. Thirty million ryō. Please, count it."
The man pushed several heavy, clinking bags of cash towards Kakuzu, his fawning smile wider now.
Whoosh—
Kakuzu casually opened one bag. He didn't need to count it. He could smell it.
He took a deep, sensual breath, looking at the stacks of pristine cash inside.
Ah… this was the smell.
The smell of money. So fragrant. So pure. So intoxicating.
The long-lost sense of pleasure, of completion, made Kakuzu let out a comfortable, rattling groan.
Just then, the squeaking, rusted hinges of the exchange house door announced a new arrival.
A middle-aged man, dressed in plain, worn-out traveler's clothes and looking somewhat down on his luck, walked in.
The man looked around furtively, his eyes wide, like a mouse entering a den of snakes. He looked like someone who hadn't seen much of the world.
When his gaze swept over the imposing, dark figure of Kakuzu at the main counter, his body visibly stiffened.
He then immediately lowered his head, pulling his worn cloak tighter, and quickly walked to another, smaller counter, pulling out a low-level, crumpled bounty warrant worth only a few hundred thousand ryō.
Kakuzu didn't pay any attention to such a small fry.
In his world, people were divided into two types: those who were valuable (either in cash, or in hearts), and those who were not.
This man clearly, utterly, belonged to the latter.
However, what Kakuzu didn't know—and couldn't possibly care about—was that this "worthless small fry" in his eyes, a man named Tanaka Jin, was a Chūnin belonging to the Konoha Intelligence Department.
And he was one of the dozens of spies Uchiha Akira had personally planted in various underground exchange houses, all for a single purpose.
Tanaka Jin's heart was pounding so wildly at this moment, he was afraid it would burst from his chest.
It's him!
The Takigakure (Hidden Waterfall) forehead protector... with the nukenin slash through it.
And those... those eyes. The strange, glowing, sickly-green eyes, visible even in the dim light.
It was exactly as the Hokage-sama's intelligence report had described!
S-rank rogue ninja. Akatsuki member. The "Immortal" treasurer.
Kakuzu!
Oh my god... after almost a year... a solid year of sitting in this rat-infested hellhole, pretending to be a bottom-feeder... I finally found him!
Tanaka Jin forced his trembling hands to suppress the excitement and the paralyzing terror in his heart.
He turned to the counter, pretending to casually exchange his meager bounty, haggling over a few ryō just to seem authentic.
His peripheral vision, however, was locked onto Kakuzu, terrified that the S-rank monster would disappear in the next second.
He had to inform Hokage-sama. Immediately!
After getting his small pouch of coins, Tanaka Jin didn't linger for a moment. He bobbed his head gratefully to the manager and almost fled the exchange house.
He forced himself to walk. Walk. Don't run.
The second he hit the dark, winding alley outside, Tanaka Jin ran.
He ran wildly, his heart in his throat, rushing into a small, dead grove of trees near the exchange house. He only stopped, gasping for breath, after confirming that no one, and nothing, was around.
From inside his robes, he carefully took out a uniquely shaped, three-pronged kunai.
This kunai was not for throwing. It was engraved with complex and profound golden fūinjutsu runes, glowing faintly in the dark.
It was the token Uchiha Akira had personally given them. It contained the spatial coordinates for Amenominaka.
[Inorin's Note: Amenominaka is an extremely high-level spatial ninjutsu. In this story, it is a Mangekyō Sharingan ability of Akira, and he has created these special kunai to act as teleportation beacons, similar to the Fourth Hokage's Hiraishin (Flying Thunder God) kunai.]
As long as it was activated, Uchiha Akira could sense it, no matter where he was, and use it as a beacon to arrive at that location.
"Hokage-sama said... as long as chakra is infused into it, he will be able to sense it."
Tanaka Jin took a deep, shuddering breath. He held the kunai in his shaking hands.
He no longer hesitated. He infused his chakra into the kunai.
Buzz—!
The golden runes on the kunai instantly lit up, blazing for a second. They emitted a slight, visible spatial fluctuation—a ripple in the air—and then just as quickly returned to silence, the light fading.
After doing all this, Tanaka Jin collapsed to the ground, his back against a dead tree, panting heavily.
His mission was complete.
Now, it was up to Hokage-sama.
Meanwhile, in Konoha Village (Village Hidden in the Leaves).
Hokage Office.
Uchiha Akira was sitting in the main seat, his pen moving silently. He was reviewing a detailed intelligence report on Sunagakure's (Hidden Sand) recent movements, submitted by the Anbu.
Just then, Akira's movements suddenly paused. His pen stopped.
He felt it. A faint, but incredibly clear, spatial fluctuation.
The fluctuation came from a special kunai he had personally made.
He had distributed these kunai to dozens of his most trusted, deep-cover intelligence personnel. He had allowed them to disperse, to infiltrate underground exchange houses and intelligence black markets throughout the Shinobi World.
Their goal was only one—to find the Akatsuki's treasurer, Kakuzu.
"Finally…" Akira whispered to the empty room. "Have I found you?"
Uchiha Akira closed his eyes, leaning back in his chair. He carefully sensed the coordinate information transmitted by that kunai.
"Within the Land of Earth… a location I've never been to."
His Amenominaka, though powerful, was not without its limitations. He could not directly teleport to a place he had never set foot in, or a place where he had not left spatial coordinates.
However, this activated kunai... it pointed the way.
Uchiha Akira could use that kunai as a beacon, a gateway, to cast Amenominaka and arrive in that area.
On the other side.
In the dead grove.
Tanaka Jin was leaning against the tree trunk, his nerves frayed, vigilantly observing his surroundings, his hand on his own weapon.
Suddenly, the space in front of him twisted, without warning.
It didn't explode. It simply... distorted, like a heat haze, bending the light around it.
A figure, calm and absolute, slowly stepped out from the center of that distorted space, as if stepping out of a doorway.
The newcomer had a subtle, faint smile on his face.
It was Uchiha Akira.
"Hokage-sama!"
Tanaka Jin trembled with a mix of excitement, awe, and terror upon seeing Uchiha Akira's figure. He immediately scrambled to his feet and bowed deeply.
"No need for formalities."
Akira raised his hand. An invisible, gentle force supported Tanaka Jin, stopping his bow.
"Is the target still there?" Akira asked, his voice calm, as if asking about the weather.
"Yes! Hokage-sama!" Tanaka Jin quickly replied, his voice shaking.
"The target, Kakuzu, is in the exchange house just ahead, exchanging his bounty. After confirming the target, I didn't dare to alarm him. I immediately came out to activate the coordinates."
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