Kakuzu: The God of Economics Has Arrived

[Lord Pain, after you and the Angel left, Amegakure no longer had the standing to speak with the Five Great Shinobi Villages.

The Seventh Hokage never fulfilled his promise to help Amegakure develop!

He merely mentioned it to the others, and the Five Great Shinobi Villages gave us a chance to make money—by processing the waste produced by their development, all kinds of toxic and hazardous waste that they could not handle!

The Land of Rain is now filled with poisonous gas. Even the rain is corrosive.

Some of us once tried to go to Konoha to demand answers, but we were beaten out immediately.

Konoha has never regarded Amegakure as a friend. They believed that it was the Seventh Hokage who saved and revived their elders and family members, and that it had nothing to do with Lord Pain. Lord Pain, you were merely a defeated man...]

Nagato was utterly baffled by much of what the letter said.

For instance, who was the Seventh Hokage? And why had he cooperated with them?

But Nagato could still grasp what had generally happened.

The key word was [revival].

Since there had been a [revival], it had to be his Samsara of Heavenly Life Technique.

It was hard to believe that, in the future, he had actually sacrificed his life to revive Konoha's people?

And chosen to trust someone from Konoha to help Amegakure develop?

After looking once more at the future photographs of Amegakure that Shirozumi had taken, Nagato chose to believe.

"We failed? Or does that mean that as long as I'm not influenced by that Konoha Ninja, I can succeed..."

Nagato clutched his head in turmoil. At last, he raised his head and looked at Shirozumi. "What is your goal?"

Nagato had a peculiar personality. He could make his own decisions, but all the specific options were always presented to him by others.

At first, Yahiko had given him options. Later, Jiraiya had given him options, and then Naruto.

It was like Fang and Du's Strategy—you could not say that Du Ruhui had no mind of his own.

The same was true now. Faced with "predestined failure," Nagato did not know how to change it, so he decided to seek the advice of Shirozumi, this future leader of Amegakure.

"I want to become Akatsuki's think tank and strategist, and make decisions regarding the development of the Akatsuki Organization and Amegakure."

Shirozumi spoke bluntly.

"...There's no problem with letting you make decisions for Amegakure, as long as the decisions you propose convince both of us. But Akatsuki... its members will find it difficult to follow your commands."

Konan spoke up, pouring cold water over Shirozumi.

"Has Akatsuki held a gathering recently?"

Shirozumi smiled as he asked Konan.

"What?"

Konan frowned.

A few days later.

Inside a cave outside Amegakure, covered in barriers, the major members of the Akatsuki Organization gathered.

However, two people were absent.

Uchiha Itachi and Kisame Hoshigaki.

Shirozumi had told Nagato that Uchiha Itachi was a spy sent by Konoha.

He told Nagato that, whether he believed it or not, Itachi should not be allowed to attend this gathering, and that he could leave the matter of dealing with him afterward to Shirozumi.

Keeping Uchiha Itachi away alone would have been too obvious, so they simply assigned Itachi and Kisame a mission to gather intelligence on Konoha.

It also gave Itachi a chance to go back and take a look. Surely, he would not refuse.

"Where are Itachi and Kisame? Don't tell me someone took them out? And who's this, a new member?"

Hidan stood there brazenly, pointing at Shirozumi, the only unfamiliar face.

"Suzaku and Nanto have another mission. This is Shirozumi. He has come to apply to be Akatsuki's strategist."

Pain stood atop the platform, his voice echoing throughout the cave.

"What?! I don't need some strategist telling me what to do!"

Hidan immediately shouted, then took the scythe from his back and pointed it at Shirozumi. "Hey, brat, believe me, I'll sacrifice you to Lord Jashin right now!"

The other Akatsuki members watched coldly in silence.

They thought the same way. None of them wanted some strategist giving them orders.

Just as Konan had said before, every member of the Akatsuki Organization was a prodigy, and all of them were Rogue Ninja. There was simply no way they could meet Shirozumi's demands.

"May I ask who handles Akatsuki's finances?"

Ignoring Hidan's words, Shirozumi set up a small blackboard and spread a sheet of paper over it.

"What the hell are finances?"

Hidan asked in confusion.

"It's money, idiot."

Kakuzu glanced at his foolish teammate and spoke in a muffled voice.

Then, Kakuzu's gaze was drawn to the contents of the white paper on Shirozumi's blackboard.

"Under the development of Amegakure's previous Leader, Salamander Hanzo, Amegakure completed significant advances in steam-powered mechanization.

Although Amegakure's ninjas aren't particularly strong, these machines can entirely replace manpower, producing all kinds of everyday light industrial goods for sale to the Five Great Nations and earning vast amounts of money."

"If starting capital is a problem, I happen to have some confidential information here.

Gato, a wealthy man from the Land of Waves, has seized the bridge the people pooled their money to build. The people want to hire ninjas to deal with Gato, but they have no money.

To that end, they even came up with a way to conceal the mission's difficulty, hoping to lower the reward in order to hire ninjas.

Akatsuki can take this mission. They only need to pay a symbolic one or two ryo as the reward.

If possible, we could even establish a long-term partnership with the Land of Waves.

The Land of Waves lies between the Land of Fire and the Land of Water, making it a strategic point between ocean and land.

If the Land of Water wishes to develop in the future, it will inevitably need to pass through the Land of Waves to reach the mainland. Otherwise, it would have to make a huge detour, which wouldn't be worth the loss.

Occupying this place would also provide a considerable and continuous source of income."

Shirozumi explained as his finger tapped the white paper on the blackboard.

The more Kakuzu listened, the brighter his eyes became.

Shirozumi's plan was entirely feasible, and the way he casually tossed out all those "technical terms" proved that he truly was a seasoned expert!

"Hey, Kakuzu, hey! Don't let him fool you!"

Seeing Kakuzu completely immersed and unable to pull himself out, Hidan hurriedly ran in front of him and waved his hands.

When he got no response at all, Hidan glared viciously at Shirozumi. "So what if you can make money? What qualifications do you have to command us in other matters?"

"The Leader's policy is to gather the Nine Tailed Beasts, create deterrence, and forge peace under high pressure.

The direction of that plan is correct. There's no problem with it. It's far more reliable than trying to maintain peace through love.

It just has a few flaws.

We can discuss those flaws later.

Based on this theory of deterrence alone, I have a plan here that is countless times easier than collecting Tailed Beasts, yet its effects would be almost as good."

Shirozumi ignored Hidan again and spoke.

"Oh? What plan?"

This time, even Pain was interested.

Over the past few days, Shirozumi had only discussed Amegakure's future with Nagato and Konan. He had not mentioned anything else.

They had also told Shirozumi the current year.

By Konoha's calendar, it was Konoha Year 60—exactly "the most crucial year in the original story."

Everything from stealing the Scroll of Sealing, the Land of Waves, the Land of Snow, the Chunin Exams, Sasuke's defection, and so on happened around this year.

"For this plan to remain effective, Santai must leave. He can't be allowed to know about it."

Shirozumi spoke calmly.

"What?! Why should I leave?! You little brat, are you using this to settle a personal grudge?!"

Hidan instantly flew into a rage.

Shirozumi had already piqued his curiosity, yet now he wasn't going to let him hear it?

Swish—

Hidan's scythe skimmed past Shirozumi at high speed. Shirozumi caught the rotating scythe by its handle and threw it back.

"Hmm?"

Seeing Shirozumi steadily catch and throw back Hidan's suddenly launched, rapidly spinning scythe, Kakuzu gave him a slightly appraising look.

Being able to do that meant his Taijutsu and reaction speed had both reached a certain level.

After throwing back the scythe, Shirozumi patted his sleeve.

"I'm not settling a personal grudge. And Santai, when you have time, train your Taijutsu and your brain a little more. Otherwise, be careful not to get taken out by a Chunin."

"You! &*￥#"