Three days later, in a black market near the Land of Water's border with the Land of Earth, Kakuzu, wearing a Takigakure forehead protector and a black veil obscuring his face, was currently examining the newly updated black market bounties.
Kakuzu was truly a survivor. Back in Mushiking Valley, he had ambushed Hibari, and just as he was about to take Hibari's life, Hashirama arrived on the scene.
A furious Hashirama then instantly obliterated Kakuzu with a Deep Forest Emergence. It was fortunate that Kakuzu had stored extra hearts, and that the Seven-Tailed Beast helped him to tie up the situation, allowing him to catch his breath and find an opening to escape, thus barely surviving.
Afterward, as his mission to assassinate Hibari failed, he didn't pursue Reigetsu for payment. Instead, he became a missing-nin on his own.
However, he lived a very comfortable life. His unwavering belief in money had allowed him to accumulate a vast fortune. So, even though he was a wanderer, his days were quite leisurely.
But he was someone who couldn't stay idle. Even after joining the Akatsuki later, he would still try to earn 'travel expenses' during missions, almost delaying their itinerary several times and drawing complaints from his partner, Hidan.
Currently, he was still free and had no partner. As the saying goes, "one person eats his fill, the whole family is not hungry." He was incredibly free, so no one restricted his actions. Thus, he entered 'crazy work' mode, constantly accumulating his wealth.
Kakuzu was, after all, a master and a rogue shinobi. He certainly wouldn't do ordinary manual labor. Moreover, his identity was not well-regarded, so he wouldn't receive many mercenary missions. Therefore, his 'work' was basically found on the black market.
Taking bounties to kill someone today, collecting rare materials for someone tomorrow—these were the things he had been doing in recent years.
However, in the past two years, he had somewhat regretted agreeing to Reigetsu's request to assassinate Hibari. The reason was simple: he had begun to 'admire' Hibari.
Of course, this wasn't admiration for his strength or other aspects, but rather a certain 'admiration' for the way the guy made money.
In his opinion, his own rate of earning money was already very fast. He diligently took missions and earned money every day, making him one of the rare 'wealthy shinobi.'
But then, Hibari turned out to be even better at making money than him. In just a few years, hot pot chain restaurants under the 'New Cuisine' brand had even opened in the Land of Water. He himself had gone to try it and, surprisingly, it was truly delicious!
Even that was fine; at most, it was a small fortune. But who would have thought that not long after, the Land of Fire's Mitsumine Group would suddenly emerge?
In just two or three years, it had become the 'supernova' of the business world. Recently, he even heard that the Mitsumine Group had started mining in the Land of Fire. This made Kakuzu incredibly envious.
Mining! That was like directly digging money out of the ground!!!
Who wouldn't be envious?
'If I hadn't assassinated that Hibari back then, maybe I could've cleared my name, found an opportunity to approach him, and learned some amazing methods from him... Sigh, Reigetsu, you've really harmed me deeply. Not only did you almost get me killed by the First Hokage, but you also made me lose such a good opportunity. If I ever meet you again, I'll definitely give you a good beating.' Kakuzu thought unhappily.
As for the grudge between Kakuzu and Hibari, he actually bore no ill will towards Hibari. Although he nearly died there, he was the one who initiated the assassination attempt on Hibari, so he resented Reigetsu, not Hibari.
However, what truly infuriated him was that because of this incident, he had thoroughly offended Hibari, to the point where he couldn't even bring himself to approach him, let alone 'learn' things and wealth-generating methods from him.
So, when it came to animosity, it was Hibari who had a grudge against Kakuzu, not the other way around.
After a brief moment of reflection, Kakuzu's gaze shifted to the new bounties posted today.
"Assassinate the Land of Earth's Daimyo... Hehehe, this bounty must have been put out by someone from the Land of Water..." Kakuzu chuckled as he looked at this mission.
Although the subsequent colossal reward of tens of millions of ryo greatly tempted him, he also knew very well that the Land of Water's Daimyo had died not long ago.
Now, the Daimyos of other countries were probably on edge, treating every bush as a foe, and had certainly strengthened their guard.
Especially the Land of Earth, which surely feared such retaliation from the Land of Water. Thus, successfully assassinating the Daimyo was unlikely, and he might even lose his own life.
Therefore, while Kakuzu was tempted by the reward, he didn't actually intend to 'challenge' this high-difficulty mission. Even if he miraculously succeeded, he would be hunted by Iwagakure shinobi from the Land of Earth for the rest of his life.
His gaze shifted to the second bounty, and Kakuzu's interest was piqued.
"Assassinate Konohagakure shinobi, unlimited quantity, priority in the Land of Hot Water? 100,000 ryo for a Genin, 300,000 ryo for a Chunin, 500,000 ryo for a Jonin, with additional rewards based on special identity and renown, no upper limit?" Kakuzu murmured softly.
As a master who constantly operated in the black market, he naturally had to keep abreast of intelligence and world affairs. He was aware of the struggle between Kumogakure and Konohagakure in the Land of Hot Water, and he knew very well that it would soon escalate into war.
At this point, there was no need to even think about it; this bounty must have come from Kumogakure, intended to turn the tide of the war in their favor.
Because in Kakuzu's opinion, this war had no real predictability. Kumogakure, without allies and staking everything, basically couldn't be a match for Konoha, the 'Five Village Overlord.' Kakuzu even thought that if a large-scale war truly broke out, it was highly likely that the war would end with Konohagakure's victory within three to five months, perhaps even sooner.
Therefore, it was perfectly normal, even 'reasonable,' for Kumogakure to resort to such 'despicable and low-down' means of seeking external help to turn the tide of the war. After all, the war didn't stipulate that external aid couldn't be sought, right? The victor dictates the terms!
He briefly committed this bounty to memory, thinking that if the opportunity arose, he'd earn a little something. Then, Kakuzu's gaze shifted to the third item.
Upon seeing this, he was completely captivated.
"Massive bounty for purchasing Kaguya clan corpses from the Land of Water, unlimited quantity, triple the real-time market price! Substantial bonus offered for large shipments!!??" Kakuzu murmured in surprise.
He then quickly scoured the black market for the current 'market price' of Kaguya clan corpses.
That's right, corpses were graded. For the three great shinobi clans—the Uchiha clan, the Hyūga clan, and the Senju clan—any ordinary corpse would fetch a million ryo. Among them, the most expensive were those from the Hyūga clan, sometimes even soaring to five million ryo, especially the intact Byakugan eyes from the Main House.
And these were always in short supply!
However, such situations rarely occurred. Even if they did, they were mostly bought back by the Hyūga clan themselves. The other two clans were no different.
Although the Kaguya clan wasn't one of these three great clans, they still possessed the Shikotsumyaku Kekkei Genkai, and their bloodline was similarly 'priced' by many who coveted it. Compared to ordinary experimental corpses, their bodies were also very expensive.
"Found it..." Kakuzu flipped open a small booklet to the pages listing the acquisition price for Kaguya clan corpses.
"800,000 ryo... Hehehe, that's really expensive. It'll definitely get even higher in a few days with this bounty," Kakuzu grinned upon seeing the price, unconsciously chuckling.
800,000 ryo was already considered a high price. An ordinary corpse usually cost tens of thousands of ryo, or even less. During wartime, some could even be had for a few hundred ryo. For a shinobi, it was typically around 100,000 ryo at most, and hardly anyone would even buy those. The most sought-after were special corpses, especially those with Kekkei Genkai bloodlines.
And three times 800,000 ryo was 2,400,000 ryo. One Kaguya clan corpse was almost worth two S-rank mission rewards. This showed just how tempting the price was.
This wasn't even the half of it. Kakuzu estimated that in a couple of days, the price of Kaguya clan corpses would rise, perhaps from 2,400,000 ryo to 3,000,000 ryo!
This was just one corpse. If he could get ten or eight, wouldn't he immediately earn tens of millions of ryo?
"The Land of Water and the Land of Earth should be at war right now, so there will inevitably be casualties on the battlefield. The Kaguya clan are notoriously belligerent, so their casualty rate should be high. This money is practically just picking up corpses on the battlefield... If I'm lucky, I might even run into a few I can easily kill, earning another several million... What a good deal!!!" Kakuzu calculated inwardly, thinking excitedly.
He then didn't bother looking further. All thoughts of assassinating the Land of Earth's Daimyo and Konohagakure shinobi instantly vanished from his mind. He only wanted to rush to the battlefields of the Land of Water and Land of Earth to 'collect corpses.'
Thinking of this, Kakuzu turned and left the black market without hesitation, heading towards the Land of Earth at top speed, fearing someone else would snatch his business.
In Kakuzu's eyes, the financier behind this bounty must be an extremely wealthy individual. This was just the beginning. If he could collect a large quantity of these Kaguya clan corpses, he would not only receive the generous reward but also an additional bonus. More importantly, he might even get to meet the financier behind this.
If he could establish some kind of cooperation with this rich individual, wouldn't he then have 'money rolling in' for the rest of his life? It made him a little excited to think about it!
Of course, at this moment, Kakuzu didn't know that the wealthy individual frantically 'collecting corpses' was actually Hibari, the very person with whom he had a past grudge.
And Hibari himself was unaware that the black market bounty he had put out for Kaguya clan corpses had essentially 'hooked' that scoundrel, Kakuzu.
If these two with old grievances were to actually run into each other, who knows what spectacular sparks might fly.
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