Kakuzu

"That was decisive..."

Sakumo landed nearby and crouched to examine the corpses.

"They're from the Hannya Group of the Land of Woods. They can use ninjutsu proficiently, so they should be official members."

"More and more people have been slipping in to take advantage of the chaos lately..."

Sakumo turned to Kamizuki, who had begun setting up the tent, and asked meaningfully, "Kamizuki... was that your first time killing someone?"

As far as he knew, Kamizuki had never left Konoha since childhood. He shouldn't have had any opportunities to gain experience in bandit dens.

Even someone as detached as Orochimaru had frozen for a moment when he killed someone for the first time.

After setting up the tent, Kamizuki began putting together the stove.

"You're wondering why I can stay so calm, aren't you, Sakumo-senpai?"

"I am a little curious."

Sakumo helped ignite the firewood with Fire Style and smiled faintly. "I don't mean to blame you. When facing an enemy who has shown killing intent, it is naturally best to kill them immediately."

"Many people have to suffer a few losses before they understand that. I was the same."

"There isn't any special reason."

Kamizuki heated the oil with practiced ease, fried the seasonings until fragrant, then added the ingredients. "Once you've died once, you understand."

Unlike his future nephew, Itachi Uchiha, who might one day jump off a cliff, Kamizuki had truly died once and come back to life.

Kamizuki said flatly, "I kill to survive. If I interfere with someone else's survival and get killed for it, that would be only natural too."

"If you're prepared to be killed, then taking a life won't weigh on you."

"Is that so..."

Sakumo did not know why a young boy would have such thoughts, but it had to be an unpleasant memory, so he did not ask further.

He took an intelligence sheet from his robes. It showed a masked ninja with green eyes.

The data listed on it made one thing clear: this was an extremely dangerous individual.

A bounty hunter active in the Underground Black Market of the major nations, a Takigakure rogue ninja known as the Immortal Ninja—Kakuzu.

"No wonder you dared to provoke someone like this."

Sakumo's expression turned grave as he said in a deep voice, "It's good to have resolve, but if an extreme situation arises..."

"I should say this in advance: I'll abandon the mission."

According to Konoha's rules, employment between ninja also had to go through the mission hall. Orochimaru had issued Sakumo this job under the standards of an A-rank mission.

Choosing to abandon the mission would leave a blemish on Sakumo's flawless ninja record.

Kamizuki had asked Orochimaru to search for Kakuzu's whereabouts.

Ninjutsu might have seemed useless in the far later stages, but if Kamizuki truly could not use any ninjutsu at all, he would have been targeted to death long before reaching that point.

The ideal situation would naturally be finding a tailed beast to serve as a charger and using its Chakra to cast ninjutsu.

But what were tailed beasts?

They were ultimate weapons that the first Kage of every village had paid heavily to buy from Konoha. Did he think they would just hand one over because he asked?

After thinking it over, the thing that best suited his needs as an external Chakra source was...

Earth Grudge Fear!

A secret forbidden technique of Takigakure, it was essentially a biological modification technique, a life-form made of black tentacle-like veins.

Kakuzu had achieved "immortality" through this ability. As long as one of his five hearts remained, he would not die.

Based on Kamizuki's memories, Earth Grudge Fear could split apart and fight independently, which showed that it was a separate life-form with simple awareness.

If he could seize it...

Kamizuki took the intelligence sheet and smiled faintly. "Orochimaru-sensei once said that a ninja's battle is a battle of intelligence."

"Fortunately, you're only a notorious ninja who became famous for One Thousand Years of Death. Otherwise, if he were on guard, this would be difficult."

"Huh?! What do you mean, notorious ninja?! The White Fang of Konoha is a resounding name!"

As Sakumo pointed at Kamizuki, Lulu, who was standing on his shoulder waiting for dinner, hissed at him with a disgusted expression. "Hiss! Stay away! You stink!!"

"How could that be... I wash my hands often..."

Dogs were experts at tracking over long distances, able to follow a specific target through countless scents.

At close range, however, cats had a special organ called the vomeronasal organ, giving them more refined powers of identification.

Humans could not smell the scent on Sakumo's fingers, but Lulu could.

That forced Sakumo to carry his food farther away, isolated by one person and one cat.

Hmph!

One Thousand Years of Death attacked a Chakra vital point, instantly stripping the opponent of their defenses. It was the most perfect taijutsu!

As long as you used it once, you would definitely understand!

Moonlight spilled through gaps in the clouds, casting mottled shadows through the forest.

Kakuzu moved quickly. After all, time was money.

He carried a sack over his shoulder. Inside was a Konoha rogue ninja he had hunted in a border town that morning, a Chunin with a bounty of six hundred thousand ryo.

Chunin from other villages did not carry bounties as high as Konoha's, so Kakuzu liked the Land of Fire very much.

However, during the time when the Second Hokage ruled, he had not dared enter this blue ocean for bounty hunters because he was wary of the Senju brothers.

Kakuzu's green pupils narrowed slightly as he instinctively sensed that something was wrong.

Without slowing his pace, he casually swept his gaze over the surroundings.

There were no Chakra fluctuations nearby. In the bushes to his right, he could hear a wild rabbit's heartbeat.

The forest was quiet, with only the sound of his footsteps crushing fallen leaves.

Something was wrong. It was too quiet!

A feeling stirred within him, and he suddenly looked up.

Under the moonlight, a black-haired figure dressed in black stood on a tree branch, a long blade hanging across his lower back.

Kakuzu froze for a moment when he saw that young face.

It was not because he was surprised that he had failed to sense Kamizuki's Chakra reaction, but because...

"No bounty..."

Kakuzu searched through the bounty database in his mind, found no trace of Kamizuki, and sighed softly.

He casually flicked out a shuriken, sending it straight at Kamizuki's brow.

A brat wandering around in the middle of the night was bound to die sooner or later.

Old Kakuzu was kind-hearted, so he would give him a quick death.

Boom!!!

The air exploded as the shuriken shattered into fragments, and the youth's figure streaked through the moonlight like a slash of black.

What?!

Kakuzu had no time to think. Faced with the attack that arrived in an instant, black tentacles surged from his chest and wove themselves into a shield.

Boom!!!!

It felt as though he had been struck by a speeding train. His body flew backward like a cannonball, smashing through three large trees in succession.

Amid the dust, Kakuzu ignored the dented tentacle shield on his chest and turned to look at the flattened sack...

My... six hundred thousand ryo...

Kakuzu tore off his mask, black threads writhing in his mouth in a terrifying sight.

"Brat... you'd better give me a reasonable explanation..."

"Otherwise..."

Terrifying killing intent burst from his green pupils.

"Don't even think about dying quickly!!!"

"My name is Uchiha Kamizuki. In the black market, an Uchiha should be worth quite a bit, right?"

Kamizuki smiled faintly and walked closer step by step.

"How's that explanation, Mr. Kakuzu?"

Uchiha...

Kakuzu had originally wanted to ask why someone with such outstanding concealment abilities, someone whose Chakra reaction even he had failed to detect, had not launched a sneak attack.

But if he was an Uchiha, then it made sense.

Those people... were always so arrogant, so utterly unaware of their limits!!