Too Much? I Meant, Who Can Grind Through This Many Quests?

The bright moon hung high, and the galaxy sparkled brilliantly.

The Black Market in the Grass Country was certainly not a place to enjoy the night view, especially since neither Xuan Yu nor Kakuzu, walking along the street, had any interest in the scenery.

Xuan Yu was happily heading toward the Bounty Exchange hall, mentally calculating his plan to first raise all four of his attribute stats to 10,000 points, and then upgrade his Healing Jutsu to level 10.

Kakuzu's dark green eyes, however, were filled with murderous intent as he looked at Xuan Yu; he had been tolerating Xuan Yu for far too long!

Before Xuan Yu joined the Akatsuki, he had been extremely annoyed. After Xuan Yu joined the Akatsuki, he remained extremely annoyed.

In a word, Xuan Yu's joining the Akatsuki was simply a waste.

At this moment, he was also calculating how to get rid of Xuan Yu.

But considering that finishing off Xuan Yu would be no easy task, Kakuzu was thinking more about how to exploit him.

Watching the Bounty Exchange draw nearer, Kakuzu thought to himself, The Earth Grudge Fear Secret Technique allows me to possess five hearts simultaneously; while one heart works normally, the remaining four can rest.

Since this brat loves grinding missions so much, I might as well use my five hearts in rotation to grind with him. When he is exhausted, I might just be able to kill this annoying brat and recoup my previous losses with interest.

Thinking of this, a cruel smile couldn't help but curl the corners of his mouth beneath his mask.

Xuan Yu was unaware of Kakuzu's plan, but he was very clear about Kakuzu's intelligence.

Therefore, his next priority for stat allocation was his stamina attribute.

As long as his stamina attribute went up, a single heart of his would be stronger than five or six hearts combined.

Even now, the gap between him and Kakuzu in stamina was only about 30%.

As soon as they earned their bounty, he could allocate points to his stamina, and the gap between him and Kakuzu would continue to shrink.

In Kakuzu's eyes, it would simply seem as though the more missions Xuan Yu grinded, the more vigorous he became, as if he would never tire.

Xuan Yu didn't dwell on these thoughts for long, as he and Kakuzu had already entered the Bounty Exchange hall.

Walking inside, Kakuzu headed straight for the Black Market manager behind the counter and said in a voice devoid of emotion, "Give me a copy of all the mission requests from this Bounty Exchange."

Xuan Yu chimed in, "Kakuzi, what's wrong with you? Mission requests should obviously be taken in duplicate. Otherwise, I'll have to keep leaning over to look at yours; how inconvenient."

Kakuzu couldn't be bothered to respond to Xuan Yu's remark.

The Black Market manager saw that Xuan Yu and Kakuzu had arrived together, were wearing the same uniform, and judging by Xuan Yu's attitude toward Kakuzu, their relationship was clearly not bad.

With these observations, the manager had sufficient reason to prepare a copy of the mission requests for Xuan Yu as well.

He immediately said, "Please wait a moment, gentlemen, I will prepare them for you right away."

Normally, mercenaries coming to the Bounty Exchange could not accept requests in this manner, but Kakuzu was undoubtedly no ordinary mercenary.

By the time most Black Market managers had even taken their positions, Kakuzu was likely already grinding missions in the very markets they now managed.

A man's reputation is like the shadow of a tree.

Nearly eighty years of life as a Black Market mercenary had granted Kakuzu certain small privileges, which was only natural.

The manager did not leave for long before returning, handing the two sets of organized mission requests to Kakuzu and Xuan Yu respectively.

After receiving the requests, Kakuzu turned and left.

Xuan Yu didn't linger in the hall either; on his way out, he casually flipped through the missions on the list.

Kakuzu didn't look at the missions, instead telling Xuan Yu, "Don't be in a rush to start. We're going to the next Black Market to pick up more missions."

He had been organizing intelligence related to missions for the past few days, so he had a rough idea of what tasks were available at the surrounding exchanges.

"Keep picking up missions?" Kakuzu's words made Xuan Yu happy.

He was currently looking to earn more money to let his snowball effect develop rapidly.

Just as he was wondering how to get Kakuzu to take him to pick up more work, Kakuzu had taken the initiative himself.

"Right, let's head to the next Black Market to pick up more." Kakuzu continued forward without looking back, using his actions to tell Xuan Yu that his decision was not up for debate.

But Kakuzu could never have guessed that Xuan Yu had no intention of taking on a reasonable amount of work.

To Xuan Yu, mission requests were the kind of thing that were always better in greater numbers.

Kakuzu had originally expected Xuan Yu to say something after he proposed heading to the next market.

However, after asking that one question at the beginning, Xuan Yu had nothing more to say.

Since he wasn't talking, Kakuzu didn't care, heading straight to the second Black Market in the Grass Country to accept all the mission requests.

Before Xuan Yu could even start grinding, Kakuzu spoke again, "Don't be in a rush to execute these yet. According to my intel, there is another Bounty Exchange with requests well worth taking. We'll continue to the next one."

"Mm." Xuan Yu nodded slightly, offering no objection.

His attitude made Kakuzu frown slightly.

Kakuzu thought to himself, Why is this brat so calm? No matter what, this isn't how a normal person should react. With this much work, even if we grinded without sleep or rest, it would be impossible to finish everything in seven days and seven nights.

Is he planning some other trick, or does he simply not understand what this much work entails?

Kakuzu couldn't figure this out, so he simply asked.

"Do you have no thoughts on my mission plan?"

Xuan Yu asked without hesitation, "Are we going to complete all the mission requests from three Bounty Exchanges in a row this time?"

Kakuzu inwardly sneered. Xuan Yu's tone clearly held a hint of dissatisfaction due to the sheer volume of missions, but this was precisely the effect he desired.

He spoke casually, "These missions may seem numerous, but with our strength, all the commissions from the three Bounty Exchanges are nothing. For the better development of the organization, and for us to earn more money, our duo will henceforth accept missions starting from all three Black Market Bounty Exchanges."

Having said this, Kakuzu stopped. Deep within his eyes, a hint of amusement flickered as he looked at Xuan Yu.

By grinding missions with such a volume, the money Xuan Yu had previously swindled from him would be earned back in no time.

As expected, after Kakuzu finished outlining the mission plan, Xuan Yu immediately voiced his displeasure.

"What? From now on, we'll accept missions starting from all three Bounty Exchanges?" Xuan Yu said with feigned anger.

Kakuzu paid no mind to his anger, merely nodding calmly and adding a teasing remark.

"For a qualified mercenary, this standard is already very low."

Xuan Yu nodded in agreement this time, saying, "Right, Kakuzi, that's what I mean. With our strength, do we need to set such a low mission standard? Are you just trying to take it easy here?"

Kakuzu: (O_O)???