The next morning after Naruto returned to the village, he took out a pirated copy of Akatsuki from the attic and put it on his body, ready to join the most righteous organization in the Shinobi World, the Akatsuki, at any moment.
Because Sasuke had to follow the others to clean up the streets of Konoha, he could only embark on the journey of looking for members of the Akatsuki alone...
…
"WHO THE HELL IS USING MY NAME!?"
Kakuzu looked at the corpses on the ground and fell into deep thought.
Two years ago, on what seemed like an ordinary day, Kakuzu had visited the underground bounty station as usual, and then he saw that there was a bounty for his head...
540 million ryo!!!
At one point, he surpassed the Biju's Jinchuriki of several villages, as well as Asuma Sarutobi who was always on the list.
And he's at the top bounty on the board!
For a money-obsessed freak like Kakuzu, his first thought was to cash in his own head.
But after some consideration, he realized that while he could have five hearts, he only had one head, so he gave up the idea.
So here comes the question...
Why the hell was his head worth so much?
Before Kakuzu could figure out the problem, he was ambushed 37 times that same day, including by Shinobi from the Kirigakure, Iwagakure, Sunagakure, and Kumogakure.
Even Shinobi from Konoha came after him.
It wasn't until after a massive battle in the Land of Grass that the attacks finally stopped.
No one knew why.
However, Kakuzu realized that the reason his head was so valuable was because there was a thief who pretended to be him and robbed a large amount of money using his name.
Not only did he was framed for crimes he didn't commit, but he didn't even get a single ryo out of it!!
Kakuzu felt like all five of his hearts were about to explode from rage-induced cardiac arrest.
"Damn it!"
"When I catch that little bastard, he's gonna wish he was never born!"
Right now, the only thing that could lift Kakuzu's spirits was the bounty station's missions.
Remembering that the Akatsuki's leader had assigned him to gather intelligence on the Kyubi's Jinchuriki, he pulled out a photo of a certain yellow-haired brat, carefully memorized his face in his mind, and walked towards the bounty station.
'Come to think of it, the Kyubi's Jinchuriki bounty was second only to my own...'
'Why not take this opportunity to exchange that yellow-haired brat's head for money?'
When Kakuzu's mind was filled with the yellow-haired figure, Naruto was already inside the underground bounty station, curiously scanning the bounty board.
Kakuzu, 540 million ryo.
Uzumaki Naruto, 200 million ryo.
Uchiha Sasuke, 190 million ryo.
Hatake Kakashi, 150 million ryo.
Naruto was not surprised that he, Sasuke, and Kakashi were on the list. After all, there were always people who were jealous of their talents when Team 7 was on a mission.
Getting bounties placed on them was only natural.
As for the reason why Kakuzu was at the top of the list, Naruto guessed that this mission was most likely a reward offered by several gambling dens' bosses.
It's no big deal.
What Naruto found interesting was that out of all the bounties offered for their Team 7, Sakura had the lowest bounty.
It was only 200 ryo.
Not even enough for a bowl of charsiu ramen.
It can be said that Sakura's bounty wasn't just low, it was downright insulting.
And the description under her bounty read:
[Haruno Sakura: Suspected to be a peripheral member of the sinister Scientific Truth Society...]
Isn't this looking down on his Sakura-Bro?!
No matter what, she was at least the former leader of the Scientific Truth Society!
And seeing the dust-covered state of her bounty slip, Naruto knew had even glanced at this mission worth less than a bowl of ramen.
But, Naruto still took this bounty slip into consideration for the personal safety of his teammate, and maybe show it to Sakura later.
'Instead of always yelling about catching up to me and Sasuke, Sakura-Bro, maybe you should focus on the fact that her 200-ryo bounty wasn't even a fraction of ours.'
"Brat, move aside."
Just as Naruto accepted the bounty, a strong voice suddenly rang in his ears.
Without even turning around, he caught a glimpse of the familiar black robe with red clouds pattern from the corner of his eye.
'Kakuzu!!'
'I didn't expect that I would find an Akatsuki's member on my first try!'
'This must be my lucky day!'
Kakuzu also noticed this yellow-haired brat. The two looked at each other, and the world seemed to freeze at this moment.
'This must be my lucky day!'
'I actually met Uzumaki Naruto, the Kyubi's Jinchuriki!'
Kakuzu narrowed his eyes slightly, and his hands hanging by his legs twitched. He was ready to take the head of the yellow-haired man at any time.
But then, something unexpected happened...
"Hello, Senpai!"
"Please let me join your organization!"
"I am Kurosaki Ichigo, a Shinobi from Kusagakure who has been training for two and a half years!"
Kakuzu: "???"
When Kakuzu heard the Kyubi's Jinchuriki spout some random name, he fell silent for a moment, and even gave up the idea of taking action.
But seeing the boy's serious and enthusiastic attitude, Kakuzu actually started doubting himself, wondering if he had really recognized the wrong person.
He even pulled out the photo of the Kyubi's Jinchuriki from his pocket, glancing between it and the young man in front of him.
In the photo, the Kyubi's Jinchuriki is still about 13 years old, but it is not difficult to see that the young man who calls himself Kurosaki Ichigo is 100% the Kyubi's Jinchuriki, Uzumaki Naruto!
'What the hell was this kid playing at?'
'Is he mocking me?'
'Also, weren't all the Shinobi from Kusagakure already wiped out?'
Kakuzu had zero tolerance for imposters these days.
He looked at the young man coldly, with murderous intent growing in his heart.
"Are you sure your name is Kurosaki Ichigo?"
"Yes! Senpai!"
"Please let me join you in protecting the world!"
"I also want to be a Savior who saves the world!"
Kakuzu fell silent again.
'Savior? Protecting the world?'
'Since when was the Akatsuki like that?'
'Isn't Leader's plan to collect the Biju and then attack the Great Shinobi Villages??'
When he thought of the Kyubi's Jinchuriki willingly walking up to him and saying something about justice and being a Savior while asking to join the Akatsuki, Kakuzu suddenly feel like an old man who just couldn't keep up with the younger generation's logic anymore.
Kakuzu opened his mouth but said nothing, yet it seemed as if he had said everything.
'Uzumaki Naruto.'
'Do you even hear the nonsense you're spouting?'
'I may be old, but I'm not blind.'
Finally, the exasperated Kakuzu placed the photo in front of the young man. In order to prove the authenticity of what he thought, he also pointed to the photo of the bounty poster of the Kyubi's Jinchuriki next to him.
Kakuzu wasn't falling for this act.
And he had come to one conclusion.
'This Uzumaki Naruto... has a problem with his brain.'
When Naruto saw the photo in Kakuzu's hand, the smile on his face gradually disappeared.
"Heh."
"I was just looking for you, actually."
Seeing that the other party was standing there stupidly without reacting, Kakuzu took out a kunai and was about to stab Naruto's neck.
But just when the kunai was about to touch the skin on the yellow-haired young man's neck and sent his head flying, Kakuzu abruptly stopped.
Naruto didn't put up any resistance, and he didn't even move.
But Naruto, who had been empty-handed a second ago, was now holding a solid gold brick.
"Senpai, can I join you guys now?"