Rumors about the Hidden Cloud had swept through the ninja world like wildfire, but as days passed with no follow-up attacks, the panic slowly faded.
The story, however, didn't.
An unknown attacker from the sky.An explosion that wiped out a huge part of Kumogakure.No one knew who had done it, so people simply gave that mysterious force a name—
"Heaven's Punishment."
Because the attack came from above, "天惩" stuck.
And while the world debated this new terror, the culprit himself didn't even know he had just been branded with a dramatic title.
Right now, Amamiya Kenichi and Sasori had just arrived back at the Akatsuki base in the Hidden Rain.
Originally, Kenichi had planned to head straight back to his own lab.
But since he'd failed to recruit Jūzō Biwa, he at least had to explain himself to Nagato.
So: detour to the boss.
He didn't expect, however, to bump into his teacher in the hallway.
"Oh, it's you, Kenichi," Orochimaru said, lifting a hand in a lazy wave. "How did your mission go?"
He looked exactly the same as always—pale skin, snake-like eyes, lazy smile—
But Kenichi still caught it.
Sensei… looked taller.
Before, Orochimaru had been just a little shorter than him.
Now they were basically eye-level.
"…Did Sensei just hit a growth spurt?" Kenichi thought, staring for half a second.
Was it because Yūki's body was still growing?
Or had Orochimaru used some kind of height-adjustment disguise on top?
Either way, not important.
"Teacher, that guy Jūzō Biwa wasn't really up to standard. Sasori killed him," Kenichi reported with a grin, as if he'd just come back from grocery shopping instead of botching a recruitment and assassinating one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen.
"Hm. I see. Then go give your report to the leader," Orochimaru replied mildly. "I'll wait for you at the barbecue shop."
He smiled in that harmless, gentle way of his that somehow made it more unsettling.
Sasori, standing to the side, couldn't help glancing between them.
He remembered very clearly what Kenichi had told him before:
"My teacher Orochimaru is actually a girl."
Not "woman."
Not "lady."
Girl.
That detail stuck with Sasori.
Orochimaru, though, was a legendary Sannin.
His age definitely wasn't "girl" territory anymore.
Yet now, looking carefully, Sasori could see nothing feminine at all.
No curves, no softness, no obvious signs.
So… was this look also a disguise?
"Got it, Sensei," Kenichi answered and turned toward the inner corridors with Sasori.
If he'd known what was going through Sasori's head, he would've patted his shoulder and said very seriously:
"This is the power of ninjutsu, my friend."
Even in his previous world, Orochimaru could've been a terrifying scientist or a terrifying makeup artist.
With ninjutsu on top?
Asia's Four Great Dark Arts would probably have to rename themselves the Four Heavenly Kings.
And, as everyone knew, Four Heavenly Kings always end up having five people.
Orochimaru watched Sasori's curious gaze for a heartbeat, understood exactly what he was wondering, and lost interest immediately.
Puppet techniques were interesting, sure…
But right now, they weren't at the top of Orochimaru's priority list.
Kenichi and Sasori pushed open the heavy door into the main chamber—just in time to nearly run into Kakuzu, who was walking out.
Kakuzu looked… satisfied.
Kenichi's eyes lit up unconsciously.
If Akatsuki had a "Rich List," in his mind it looked like this:
Konan – probably owns a printing factory for explosive tags.
Kakuzu – a walking financial institution with centuries of saved-up bounties.
Sasori – Three Kazekage's worth of materials and no sense of restraint.
Itachi – most likely left the village carrying a portion of the Uchiha clan's inheritance.
Konan was self-explanatory. Six hundred billion tags didn't appear out of nowhere.
Kakuzu's entire existence screamed "money dragon sleeping on his hoard."
Sasori had a Third Kazekage puppet. You didn't get that kind of asset by being broke.
And Itachi… well. The Uchiha clan had been one of Konoha's two great dōjutsu families.
You didn't wipe out a clan like that and leave behind a poor ghost town.
If Itachi had quietly taken a share of the clan's savings when he left, he could literally coast for life.
Kenichi watched Kakuzu go with the kind of look most people reserved for luxury cars.
"Yu. How did your mission go?"
Nagato's voice echoed from the shadows—the Deva Path Pain standing under dim light, ripple-patterned eyes fixed on Kenichi.
"It failed. I don't think Jūzō Biwa is really suited to join us," Kenichi replied with an easy shrug.
Trash-tier swordsman.
And that was after giving him a handicap: fighting both him and Sasori at once.
"And after that?" Nagato asked, tone flattening. "You asked me if the organization had taken Konoha's war bounties, didn't you?"
There was a trace of dissatisfaction in his voice.
Nagato's biggest headache wasn't ideals.
It was money.
Everything the organization needed—safehouses, intelligence, weapons, supplies—bled funds.
Yu was strong, yes.
But strong members who didn't bring in much income were… stressful.
"Oh, right. I did ask that," Kenichi scratched his head. "But… how exactly are we supposed to collect Konoha's payment?"
"No proof, no bounty, right?"
Nagato's fingers tightened slightly.
"…What did you do?"
"Ah, I kind of… blew up the Hidden Cloud," Kenichi said casually. "Not sure how many ninja died, but it should be a decent number, yeah?"
Nagato almost nodded.
He really did.
So it was him after all. Then maybe—
Wait.
Wait.
His mind stuttered, then jerked back like a broken puppet.
"…It was you?" he repeated.
The Deva Path's body jerked upright with a crack of tension. He slammed his hand down on the table—only for the force of his Shinra Tensei to blast the whole thing away, wood exploding and skidding across the floor.
"Yup. Sasori helped too," Kenichi said matter-of-factly. "The Fourth Raikage looked pretty pissed, so I didn't dare go down and ask about the bounty."
"…"
Nagato slowly sat back down.
For a long moment, the only sound in the room was the faint dripping of rain outside.
He had heard every rumor.
He knew about the explosion.
He'd even been tracking commissions from both Konoha and Kumo.
He'd been funding missions, sending Kakuzu and Orochimaru to wage proxy war for cash…
And this idiot had quietly walked off, conducted a weapons test, and turned a quarter of Kumogakure into a smoking crater.
Without telling anyone.
"If we can prove it was you," Nagato finally said, massaging the bridge of his nose, "we could, in theory, claim a very large sum."
His tone suggested he was already mentally calculating how many missions they'd no longer need to take… and how many painkillers he was going to need after dealing with the fallout.
Kenichi, meanwhile, simply thought:
Great. So that's one successful test and future funding. Perfect.
He smiled brightly.
Science was expensive.
But sometimes, if you blew things up beautifully enough…
Other people would help pay the bill.
(Note: Want more? Read up to Chapter 129+ early on patreon.com/nakai01. A single Power Stone from you = more bonus chapters from me.)