Robbery

As they walked, Hidan glanced at Kakuzu. Though he could not see Kakuzu's face, he could clearly sense that Kakuzu was in a good mood. He counted money as he walked.

Hidan, on the other hand, wore a deadpan expression, bored and unhappy enough to yawn repeatedly. What was so great about money, anyway? As expected, he simply could not understand. "Kakuzu, who's the next target?"

Kakuzu ignored him. Only after carefully counting the money and confirming the amount was correct did he respond, "Hengye, a rogue ninja from Iwagakure. According to the intel, he's up ahead. But this guy is very skilled at hiding with Earth Release ninjutsu, so keep your eyes open. If you let the money get away because of you..."

Before Kakuzu could finish, Hidan picked at his ear and interrupted with an annoyed expression. "Got it, got it. You know you can't kill me, so quit saying that every time."

"..." Kakuzu did not respond to Hidan's provocative tone. He walked on in silence. The point of saying it was to tell Hidan to take things seriously. As for whether it worked, it was better than nothing.

Hidan cleaved his scythe into the earth. Numerous deep pits carved by his scythe surrounded him. "Ahhh, this is so annoying!!" He had thought things would get more fun once it was time to kill someone. Who would have expected it to turn into this kind of situation?

The thought made Hidan flare up, and his next strike caused even more destruction than before. Yet it still did not hit... He stood up dejectedly and watched Kakuzu slowly seal off the area, cutting off Hengye's escape routes. Whatever. They would get him sooner or later.

With that thought, Hidan decided to rest, looking as though life held no meaning. How could this guy run so well? He must have put all his talent points into escaping!

As he pulled out his scythe, he suddenly noticed that it had finally drawn blood. Hidan's mood brightened at once.

After preparing the ritual, Hidan stabbed a kunai into his own heart and let out a satisfied breath.

"Lord Jashin, accept my sacrifice!"

At the same time, in an open clearing ahead, half of Hengye's body suddenly shot out of the ground. Blood spilled from his mouth, and there was a hole in his heart identical to Hidan's. He looked bewildered. "Why?" He had clearly escaped that meat grinder of an area. He had run for so long, only to end up like this. The next moment, he stopped breathing.

Kakuzu looked coldly at Hidan, then walked over and pulled the still wide-eyed Hengye out of the ground. Since this man was involved in some of the village's secrets, they had to bring back his body intact to collect the bounty. "Your religion is really a pain. Once you've had your fun, clean up quickly. It's time to go."

"What do you know? This is a ritual! A ritual!"

However, just as Kakuzu was about to leave, a strange fellow suddenly appeared before them. Wearing a white mask, he stared at them while constantly shifting his limbs into different poses. No one knew what he was doing.

Kakuzu's green eyes fixed on him for a moment before he remembered. Wasn't this the worthless guy from before, the one without a bounty? Come to think of it, that new Akatsuki member from earlier had also worn a white mask.

Uchiha Gen, who had been following them all along, had been considering which entrance pose would look the coolest. Realizing he had already been spotted, he chose to lean against a tree with his arms crossed. "This mountain wasn't opened by me, and this tree wasn't planted by me, but if you want to pass through here, leave behind the toll!"

Kakuzu: "..."

Another idiot like Hidan?

Unaware of Kakuzu's thoughts, Hidan finished cleaning up and slung his scythe over his shoulder. Seeing this, he looked somewhat surprised and asked Kakuzu, "You didn't kill him right away this time? You know him?"

"..." The main reason Kakuzu had not attacked was that he estimated he could not kill him in one blow. Ignoring Hidan, Kakuzu asked Uchiha Gen, "Are you that newcomer?"

Uchiha Gen thought for a moment. Hmm... it seemed he had forgotten that Kakuzu had seen him in the projection. But it was not a big deal. He had not planned on using Uchiha Gen's abilities anyway. He put on a puzzled look and said, "What newcomer? Don't change the subject. Thirty-five million ryo, not one ryo less. Pay up, and you can leave."

Kakuzu: "..."

Hidan burst out laughing beside him, nearly laughing himself to tears. "This kid actually wants to rob Kakuzu of his money! Hahahahaha, I'm dying! Kakuzu, if you can't kill him, I'll definitely make fun of you for this every day from now on..."

"...Shut up!"

Anger flickered across Kakuzu's face as he extended his hand. A mass of black threads shot from his arm toward Uchiha Gen.

But just as they were about to reach Uchiha Gen, several golden chains blocked them. Uchiha Gen smiled. "Want to see whose ropes are stronger?"

The moment Kakuzu saw those golden chains, he recalled the Uzumaki Clan in its prime. Could those chains be Adamantine Sealing Chains? Thinking of the sealing power they possessed, things seemed to be getting troublesome...

Seeing Kakuzu hesitate and fail to continue attacking, Hidan asked, "Hey, hey, need help?"

Kakuzu was not a stubborn man. Frowning, he said, "Yes. Watch out for his chains. Don't let them bind you. Those things can seal."

While they spoke, Uchiha Gen planned to test whether he could enhance the Adamantine Sealing Chains with Susanoo. After using it, he had not expected the Adamantine Sealing Chains to suddenly become sixteen chains, radiating terrifying pressure.

Uchiha Gen sensed that he could impose a certain degree of lockdown over this space. Thinking that, he did exactly that. The chains circled the three of them, forming a barrier around them.

Kakuzu immediately felt the flow of chakra within his body slow down. What was going on?!

Something was wrong. Kakuzu looked at Uchiha Gen with alarm and anger. What kind of monster was this guy?

But when he turned around, he saw Hidan still swinging his scythe at Uchiha Gen, utterly unaware of the situation. "Hidan, stop!" Kakuzu cursed Hidan as an idiot internally, but he could not let him die meaninglessly like this.

The next moment, a chain directly swatted Hidan back, smashing him into the ground and creating a massive crater.

Thanks to the traits of his immortal body, that blow had dealt practically zero damage to Hidan. He slowly sat up from the giant crater, somewhat irritated. "Hey, do you know that hurts?!" Even as he said that, he realized the gap in their strength and did not charge forward again.

Uchiha Gen did not care about any of that. He repeated, "This is a robbery! Thirty-five million ryo. Pay, and you can leave. But write your names on the money. Both of you have to write them."

"???" Kakuzu was a little confused. Based on the strength Uchiha Gen had displayed, if he wanted the money, he could just take them out and claim it himself, could he not?

Or was it that... Kakuzu pondered for a moment. This guy could not maintain that level of power for long? But then another contradiction arose. Who the hell used a chakra-consuming ultimate move the moment they met someone?!

If Uchiha Gen knew what Kakuzu was thinking, he would certainly agree. Just activating this ninjutsu would have already consumed two-thirds of his chakra if not for his Reanimated Body, and every attack required an enormous amount of chakra to sustain.

But who told Uchiha Gen that he no longer cared about chakra consumption at all?