Chapter 46 – The Treasurer and the Rhinoceros
Kakuzu knelt on one knee, all four masks shattered. For a body kept alive by stitches alone, this level of damage had pushed him to the brink of collapse.
"What… was that dōjutsu?"
Kakuzu coughed violently, emerald eyes locked on the Kunai pressed to his heart.
He had seen plenty of bizarre jutsu in the Ninja World—the Second Hokage's Flying Thunder God, the First Hokage's Wood Release, even Kumogakure's savage Lightning Release secrets. Yet those ten seconds just now had shattered everything he thought he knew.
No movement, no flow of Chakra—just instant result.
"I told you: don't compare me to the dead."
Yahiko withdrew the Kunai, looking down at the Ninja World's longest-lived profiteer.
"In my world, the process means nothing. The only future you'll ever see is your own inevitable defeat."
Kakuzu panted heavily, glancing at the two Pains standing on the tree limb, still yet to act. Those violet Rinnegan remained as indifferent as gods, as though a fight that could have killed an elite Jonin ten times over was nothing more than a roadside cockfight.
"When the bet's lost, you pay up."
With effort, Kakuzu rose, tore off his tattered mask, and revealed a mouth laced with sutures. Though his damaged heart screamed in agony, the fear of death had left his eyes, replaced by a razor-sharp calm.
Or rather, a merchant's shrewd assessment.
"As long as you can meet the price, selling my life to monsters like you isn't impossible," he said, pressing a hand to his wound. "But let's be clear: I don't take jobs without pay. The day the organization can't cover salaries, I'll harvest your heads for the bounty."
Even now he haggles—truly Kakuzu.
"A salary?"
Yahiko chuckled, and the sound sent a chill down the old monster's spine.
"Kakuzu, to me your habit of crawling through the bounty house's dog-holes for a few million ryō is like a little girl collecting shells on a beach."
You understand money, but you don't understand capital."
Kakuzu narrowed his eyes. "Oh? Since you know my name, you should know what ninety years of savings look like. No one in the Ninja World grasps money's power better than I."
"Can your hoard buy the capital of a Great Nation? Can it sway the outcome of a Five-Kage Summit?"
Yahiko stopped a meter away, gaze dissecting the miserly view of wealth.
"The old Akatsuki was a mercenary crew doing odd jobs for small countries. The new Akatsuki won't just earn money—it will redefine the Ninja World's entire order."
"Redefine the order?" For the first time, Kakuzu felt the red-haired brat's mind was harder to read than his strength.
"I want you as Akatsuki's Chief Financial Minister. Keep Amegakure's coffers permanently full."
"You're insane. But…" greed crystallized in Kakuzu's emerald eyes, "damn, it sounds tempting."
"So, deal?"
"Deal."
Kakuzu dropped to one knee—submission to strength, and to a money-making scheme beyond his era.
"But first, Boss," he looked up, pointing at the gaping hole in his back, "I need a fresh batch of hearts."
Yahiko glanced at the corpses. The Grass-nin Kakuzu had just killed were too weak to meet Earth Grudge Fear's standards.
"The mud of the Land of Grass won't do." He turned southeast. "We need powerful summon beasts. In all your years, heard any rumors?"
Kakuzu brushed the dirt from his clothes and stood.
"If you want strong summons, don't miss the taboo of the Land of Waterfalls."
"The Village behind the falls?"
"In Death Gorge they've caged a one-horned colossal rhino."
Kakuzu's cold grin returned. "The brutes used it as a strategic weapon. Its charge can flatten a fortress; its hide's too thick for even my Earth Spear. Too unruly, so they sealed it a century ago."
"A rhino, huh?"
Yahiko pictured the future staple of the Animal Path—the beast that, in the original tale, could fling Gamaken aside. Perfect for breaking enemy lines.
"Lead the way."
Yahiko turned, his cloak flapping in the breeze.
"And in Takigakure we'll find fresh hearts for your Earth Grudge Fear.
...Three days later.
The border of the Land of Waterfalls was shrouded in perpetual mist, visibility nil.
Thunderous cascades filled the ears; the air was so damp it felt wringable. This was the Land's natural defense—a labyrinth of waterfalls.
"The gorge ahead," Kakuzu said.
He now wore a neat black robe with red clouds. No suitable hearts yet, but his jutsu had stitched the cracks for now.
He pointed to a bottomless rift vomiting crimson miasma—an ugly scar amid emerald greenery.
"Takigakure set dozens of barriers here, not just to keep the beast in, but to hide the stench of blood."
"Barriers like these are nothing to the Rinnegan."
Deva Path Pain stepped forward, violet ripples stirring. In his vision the seemingly empty gorge entrance was laced with Chakra threads.
Touch one, and Anbu would arrive within three minutes.
"No need for demolition."
Yahiko raised a hand, stopping Nagato from unleashing Shinra Tensei. He slid a Kunai etched with complex Seals toward Kakuzu.
"You can sense the core nodes of the barrier?"
Kakuzu caught it, surprised. "A space-formula tag? You want to teleport in?"
"No."
Yahiko's smile turned playful. "You go first. As a Taki defector, you know the layout. Before they spot you, I'll bring the other two in."
"Using me as bait?" Kakuzu's eyes widened.
"Your first mission for Akatsuki. I need to see your skills, or I'll have you guarding the gate in Amegakure."
"Tch, capitalists are all the same shade of black."
Kakuzu cursed under his breath, yet moved like black smoke, vanishing into the gorge's fog.
Yahiko waited, hands behind his back.
Soon a deep, savage roar rolled from the depths.
The roar made the waterfalls flow backward for an instant; the earth trembled as though a titan were waking.
Yahiko opened his eyes, orange bangs veiling cold light.
"Let's go watch our new hire's job interview."
He rested his hands on Deva Path and Animal Path.
Buzz—!
The three vanished.
They reappeared inside a hollowed-out mountain. Golden Seal formulas blazed across the walls.
At the center, a thirty-meter beast—ebony as iron—rammed the stone in frenzy: a colossal one-horned rhinoceros.
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