"I…"
Shikamaru had originally intended to subtly probe the guy's attitude.
Having faked his death and been away from the village for years, he assumed Uchiha Kaito would be evasive when meeting old comrades. He was curious how Kaito would explain himself—both to him and to his younger brother, Uchiha Sasuke in the village.
Hell, he even wanted to see the guy squirm a little.
But never in his wildest dreams did he expect…
This guy just admitted it outright!?
Not even bothering to pretend???
The situation had taken such an unexpected turn that all the carefully prepared words Shikamaru had intended to use to test Kaito were now useless.
After hearing Kaito's blunt admission, Shikamaru's ears rang, his mind buzzing.
He stood there dumbfounded, thoughts racing, unaware that his mouth was still hanging open or that his pupils were trembling slightly.
Kaito might as well have outright declared…
"I'm a missing-nin now. Come at me, Konoha shinobi, if you dare."
Ino, too, realized what was happening. The moment the words left Kaito's mouth, her legs gave out, and she collapsed to the ground.
Fate seemed to be playing a cruel joke on her. After years of finally coming to terms with Kaito's death, here he was, standing before them all, grinning as if to say…
"Hey, I'm fine! Oh, and I'm a missing-nin now."
Ino had fantasized countless times about Kaito miraculously returning from the dead.
But now that she was actually seeing him again…
She realized she wasn't as happy as she thought she'd be.
"Total: 35 million ryo."
"Honored guests of Konoha, will you be paying in cash? Or with a storage scroll?"
Kakuzu couldn't care less about what these Konoha ninja were thinking. His face was alight with greed as he shook the bulging sack in his hands, urging them to cough up the money.
As if worried the three kids couldn't scrape together the sum, Kakuzu helpfully added,
"If you don't have enough, you can trade Asuma instead."
The words sent a shock through all three of them. They whipped their heads toward Kakuzu, eyes wide with disbelief.
Back on their graduation day, Asuma had proudly pointed to his own head and boasted…
"Standing before you three brats is a shinobi worth 35 million ryo…"
"No need." Shikamaru refused flatly, shooting a glance at Uchiha Kaito before addressing Kakuzu's outstretched hand. "We don't have that much on us right now. I'll have someone deliver it later."
The ever-accommodating Kakuzu merely nodded a few times before pulling out a small calculator from his robes, muttering to himself.
"That's fine."
"But I'll need interest."
Beep beep beep—
The calculator's cheerful chirps filled the air as Kakuzu demonstrated his professionalism before finally quoting them the price.
"Seven days. 40 million."
A man who dealt with money as often as Kakuzu didn't actually need a calculator. It was mostly to avoid seeming too blatantly extortionate right off the bat.Hearing this made Kaito's eye twitch, not to mention Shikamaru and the other two. After listening to this, they genuinely felt Kakuzu might as well have just robbed them outright.
"I'm not forcing you."
Kaito spread his hands, putting on an innocent expression. "If you don't have the money, just leave. Worst case, I'll find someone else later."
Hiss—
Kakuzu sucked in a sharp breath at his boss's words, his admiration for him reaching new heights.
So…
This was Kaito's way of making money?
In Kakuzu's eyes, the boss was exploiting these so-called "righteous individuals" and their pity for civilians. As long as they still wanted to protect the people, they'd obediently hand over their money with both hands.
The others shared similar thoughts.
"You bastard…"
"Our ninja village won't let you get away with this…"
The crowd grew furious, but Kakuzu, as if anticipating this, swiftly stepped forward and loomed over them, raising his sizeable foot to measure the dimensions of their faces.
"Pay up first, then curse!"
"If you want to pay in installments… you can write an IOU now."
At this point, Kakuzu suddenly realized his actions resembled robbery. Remembering his boss's earlier instructions, the dutiful enforcer quickly added the pre-rehearsed line to salvage the Sect's image.
"Mere mortals could never glimpse the secrets of immortality."
"Taking your money is already the greatest opportunity of your lives!"
But his words were utterly misplaced. Instead of salvaging anything, they only enraged the ninjas further.
"Kaito…"
"Why… why would you…"
While Kakuzu was busy roughing up the "customers," Ino stepped forward ahead of the others and approached Kaito.
Even now, she could hardly believe that Kaito was still alive…
"It's you… isn't it?"
"Why… why did you…"
Ino's emotions were in turmoil. Before she could even finish a sentence, tears welled up in her eyes.
And now, the mystery buried in her heart for years was finally unraveled.
For five years, she had faithfully visited the grave every month, leaving a bouquet of sunflowers and some homemade snacks.
But Sasuke, for some inexplicable reason, had started showing up at Kaito's grave at noon every day, shamelessly eating the offerings.
She had once caught him red-handed at the cemetery. When she demanded why he would desecrate his deceased brother's grave like that, his response had been…
"Good riddance." "Rot in hell." "Damn bastard." And other such irreverent words.
At the time, Ino had assumed Sasuke had changed drastically after the massacre of his clan. But now, she finally understood why he had worn that infuriating smirk…
Seeing Ino like this, Kaito's face darkened.
"Don't ask!"
"It was all my father spreading rumors in the village that I was dead!"
Uchiha Fugaku's actions had become a lifelong stain on Kaito's reputation. Over the years, even the clan's ancestors had heard of this absurdity.
Back then, the ancestors had laughed about it all night.
An entire night!
Without stopping once!
Ino didn't respond, still crying, while Shikamaru took the opportunity to comment.
"Your Uchiha clan…"
"Really isn't like normal people."
Kaito understood the jab in Shikamaru's words and waved over Kakuzu, who was still busy collecting money."Kakuzu, add another 2.5 million ryo for this pineapple-head kid!"
"Uchiha Kaito, you..."
After Kakuzu's business pitch, most of the ten 'righteous individuals' on-site had signed IOUs on blank sheets of paper and pressed their fingerprints.
The content of the IOUs was minimal, occupying less than a tenth of the paper, which also meant Kakuzu had plenty of room for future... adjustments.
A lot.
This time, the ten 'righteous individuals' were accepted as reserve disciples of the Amegakure Sect, and in the process, they unknowingly incurred a terrifying debt of 35 billion.
As for the three from Konoha, Kakuzu still had some sense—he didn't secretly alter the IOU amounts. What was agreed upon was what was written.
Afterward, they followed Kaito toward Amegakure. Along the way, Ino couldn't help but smile whenever she saw Kaito's back, occasionally muttering...
"He really is just as handsome as ever."
Shikamaru couldn't stand this woman. Rolling his eyes on the spot, he puckered his lips and poorly mimicked Ino's earlier tone.
"He's... not as good-looking as Kaito."
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