After parting ways with Hyuga Shin in Iron Country, Kakuzu and the other three left the country.
Iron Country was unsuitable for the organization's development. Its people were too conservative.
It was good that they hadn't fallen under the Six Paths chakra system, but the problem was that their other ideas were just as conservative.
So after taking a brief look around Iron Country, the four members of Spark left.
They mainly planned to visit countries with underground black markets.
The Black Market was a good place, full of ninja resources and capable people.
Otherwise, they wouldn't have been able to survive in such a dog-eat-dog environment.
Those with real ability were almost all shrewd and resourceful.
After all, Inoue Hirohiko had built his career in the Underground Black Market.
But reality wasn't so kind. Their recent trip to the underground black markets hadn't turned up any promising talent.
At the underground black market in the Land of Rice, a neighboring country of Iron Country, two people had caught Kakuzu and the others' attention. They were quite strong, at the Elite Jonin level.
But unfortunately, the two had no sense of discipline at all! They were unwilling to be constrained and rejected Kakuzu's invitation without even hearing him out.
They had even tried to attack Kakuzu at one point. Perhaps they recognized him later, because they stopped acting tough and ran off.
This left the four-man team worried about the organization's growth. At this rate, it would be far too slow!
But there wasn't much they could do for the time being. The leader wasn't with them, and Orochimaru was under their thumb, so Kakuzu could only take charge and hold things together for a while.
That kept the pressure on Kakuzu high.
After leaving the Black Market, the four