The moon hung high, and the stars shone brilliantly.
The Black Market in the Grass Country was definitely not a good place to admire the night sky. Besides, Xuan Yu and Kakuzu, walking down the street, had no interest in the scenery at all.
Xuan Yu was cheerfully heading for the Bounty Exchange hall, planning to raise all four of his attributes to 10,000 first, then level up the Mystical Palm Technique to lv10.
Kakuzu's dark green eyes were filled with murderous intent as he watched Xuan Yu. He'd been putting up with him for a long time!
Before Xuan Yu joined the Akatsuki, he'd made Kakuzu miserable. After Xuan Yu joined the Akatsuki, he still made him miserable.
In short, Xuan Yu might as well never have joined the Akatsuki.
At that moment, Kakuzu was also planning how to get rid of Xuan Yu.
But since killing him wouldn't be easy, Kakuzu was thinking more about how to exploit him.
As he watched the Bounty Exchange draw nearer, Kakuzu thought, The Earth Grudge Fear Secret Technique gave me five hearts. While one heart works normally, the other four can rest.
Since this kid loves grinding missions so much, I might as well rotate through my five hearts while grinding with him. Once he's exhausted, maybe I can kill the annoying brat and recoup my earlier losses with interest.
At the thought, a cruel smile crept across Kakuzu's mouth beneath his mask.
Xuan Yu didn't know about Kakuzu's plan, but he knew all about Kakuzu's abilities.
That was why his next attribute to raise was stamina.
Once his stamina was high enough, a single one of his hearts could outperform five or six of Kakuzu's.
Even now, the gap between them in stamina was only about thirty percent.
As soon as they earned their commissions, he could invest points in his stamina. That would steadily narrow the gap between them.
From Kakuzu's perspective, Xuan Yu would just keep getting stronger the more missions he ground out, as if he could never grow tired.
Xuan Yu didn't dwell on it for long. He and Kakuzu had already entered the Bounty Exchange hall.
Kakuzu walked straight over to the Black Market manager behind the counter and said in a flat voice, "Give me a copy of every mission posting at this Bounty Exchange."
Xuan Yu cut in. "Kakuzi, what's with you? We need two copies of the mission postings, obviously. Otherwise I'll have to borrow yours to read. What a hassle."
Kakuzu couldn't be bothered to respond.
The Black Market manager saw that Xuan Yu and Kakuzu had arrived together and were wearing the same uniforms. Judging by Xuan Yu's attitude toward Kakuzu, they were clearly on good terms.
That was enough reason for the manager to prepare a copy for Xuan Yu as well.
"Please wait a moment, gentlemen. I'll get those ready for you."
Normally, mercenaries couldn't take missions from the Bounty Exchange like this, but Kakuzu was no ordinary mercenary.
Most Black Market managers had probably seen Kakuzu grinding missions at the markets they now managed, long before they became managers themselves.
A man's reputation preceded him.
After nearly eighty years as a Black Market mercenary, it was only natural that Kakuzu had a few privileges there.
The Black Market manager wasn't gone long. He soon returned with two neatly compiled sets of mission postings and handed one to each of them.
Kakuzu turned and left as soon as he got his copy.
Xuan Yu didn't linger in the hall either. As they left the Bounty Exchange, he casually skimmed the mission postings.
Kakuzu didn't look at the missions. Instead, he told Xuan Yu, "Let's not start them yet. We're going to the next Black Market to take more missions."
He'd spent the past few days gathering information about missions, so he had a general idea of what was available at the nearby Bounty Exchanges.
"Take more missions?" Kakuzu's words made Xuan Yu grin.
He was looking to earn more money so he could snowball his growth as quickly as possible.
He'd still been wondering how to get Kakuzu to take him to more places to pick up missions, and now Kakuzu was suggesting it himself.
"Right. We're going to the next Black Market to take more missions." Kakuzu kept walking without looking back, making it clear through his actions that his decision wasn't up for debate.
But Kakuzu had no idea that Xuan Yu had no intention of limiting the number of missions he took.
As far as Xuan Yu was concerned, there could never be too many mission postings.
Kakuzu had expected Xuan Yu to say something after he suggested they go to the next Black Market for more missions.
But after asking that first question, Xuan Yu said nothing more.
Since Xuan Yu was quiet, Kakuzu didn't care either. He went straight to the second Black Market in the Grass Country and took every mission posting there.
Before Xuan Yu could start working on the missions, Kakuzu spoke again. "Let's not start yet. According to my information, the missions at another Bounty Exchange are worth taking too. We'll keep going and pick them up."
"Sure." Xuan Yu gave a slight nod and didn't object.
His easy acceptance made Kakuzu frown slightly.
Why is this kid so calm? No normal person would react like this. There are so many missions that even if we worked nonstop without sleeping, we couldn't finish them all in less than seven days and nights.
What's he up to now? Or does he have no idea what this many missions means?
Kakuzu couldn't figure it out, so he asked outright.
"Do you have any thoughts about my plan?"
Xuan Yu immediately asked, "Are we going to complete every mission posting at three Bounty Exchanges this time?"
Kakuzu sneered inwardly. Xuan Yu's tone clearly carried a hint of discontent because there were too many missions, but that was exactly the effect Kakuzu wanted.
He said casually, "It may look like a lot, but with our abilities, every mission posting at three Bounty Exchanges is nothing. For the organization's growth, and so we can earn more money, our two-man team should take on missions from three Black Market Bounty Exchanges at a time from now on."
After saying this, Kakuzu stopped and looked at Xuan Yu, a hint of amusement hidden deep in his eyes.
At that rate, Xuan Yu would earn back the money he'd swindled from Kakuzu before long.
Sure enough, as soon as Kakuzu finished laying out the plan, Xuan Yu voiced his dissatisfaction.
"What? From now on, we're always taking missions from three Bounty Exchanges at a time?" Xuan Yu looked rather angry.
Kakuzu didn't care about his anger at all. He calmly nodded, then added a teasing remark.
"For a proper mercenary, that's already a very low standard."
Xuan Yu nodded emphatically this time. "Exactly, Kakuzi. That's what I mean. With our abilities, why set the bar so low? Are you taking it easy or something?"
Kakuzu: (O_O)???
Before you continue