Heavenly Path nodded, answering Konan's question from earlier.
He said nothing more and simply gazed down at Amegakure in silence.
Konan also fell quiet. She was quite concerned about Xuan Yu's situation, since it was connected to the Akatsuki.
As for what was happening in the Leaf Village, it might be important to the Ninja World as a whole, but she did not care all that much.
As far as she could tell, the conflict between the Uchiha Clan, the other clans of the Leaf Village, and the Konoha High Command had little to do with the Akatsuki.
At the Black Market in the Grass Country, Xuan Yu had no idea that Heavenly Path and Konan were keeping an eye on him while he was out on missions.
These past few days, his main body and his Chakra Clones had been furiously grinding through missions with the Ninja Cat Clan's help.
His relentless pace had made the stack of mission requests in his hands dwindle at an astonishing speed.
He had now finished all the missions ranked C or higher.
Next, he planned to have his Chakra Clones keep grinding through D- and C-rank missions, while he went to find Kakuzu and deliver the bounty targets Kakuzu had hunted to the Black Market in the Empty District.
After stretching, Xuan Yu said to a Ninja Cat nearby, "Take me to Kakuzi. I wonder how he's doing with his missions."
"Meow~" The Ninja Cat called out, then leaped into the air and hurried off in a certain direction.
Meanwhile, Kakuzu had completed only a third of his missions.
He hadn't pulled an all-nighter and worked himself to the bone like Xuan Yu. Instead, he had been completing them at a normal pace.
On top of that, he was slower than Xuan Yu, and his Earth Grudge Fear mask creatures couldn't help him share the workload the way Xuan Yu's Chakra Clones could.
So when Xuan Yu appeared before him, Kakuzu had just finished a third of his mission requests.
When he saw Xuan Yu, Kakuzu asked in an emotionless voice, "What is it?"
Xuan Yu grinned. "Kakuzi, what else would I come to see you for? I'm here to lend you a hand, of course!"
Kakuzu said nothing. It would have been enough if Xuan Yu didn't get in his way—now he was claiming he'd come to help.
But Kakuzu didn't want to waste time talking to him, so he got straight to the point. "Why aren't you grinding through missions? What are you doing here?"
Xuan Yu pulled out a stack of bills and slapped them against his palm, speaking casually. "Kakuzi, you really underestimated me. I've practically finished my missions. My clones can handle the few trivial ones I've got left."
"See how good I am to you? The moment I finished my missions, I came straight over to help."
Kakuzu stared at him for a moment, then asked, "What did you say? You've finished your missions?"
His voice was calm, but inside, he was anything but.
If Xuan Yu was telling the truth, then he was a monster.
There had been so many missions, some of them even S-rank. How long had it been, and Xuan Yu had already finished almost all of them?
Did Xuan Yu never sleep?
Xuan Yu patted Kakuzu on the shoulder. "Do you really need to ask? It's been several days. Even if I were taking it easy, I'd have finished most of them by now. How are your missions coming along?"
Xuan Yu sounded so certain that Kakuzu was starting to believe he really had finished most of his missions.
But he refused to answer Xuan Yu's question.
Xuan Yu had nearly finished all his missions, while Kakuzu had only completed a third. How could he admit that?
Still, Kakuzu's silence didn't matter. The Ninja Cat Clan had been keeping tabs on him, so Xuan Yu already knew how many missions he'd completed.
Seeing Kakuzu say nothing, Xuan Yu couldn't help scolding him with exasperation. "Kakuzi, look at you. You've been using your mission time to sleep again, haven't you? Otherwise, you'd have finished your missions by now."
"But don't worry. I'll handle the support work. You can focus on killing everything in your path, and leave the rest to me."
"Not necessary." With those three words, Kakuzu headed straight for the next mission location.
The situation had caught him completely off guard.
He had thought he would finish his missions long before Xuan Yu, then watch Xuan Yu struggle miserably under the mountain of work.
But things had turned out the exact opposite.
Xuan Yu was absolutely determined to help Kakuzu with everything except the actual help Kakuzu wanted.
As soon as Kakuzu left, Xuan Yu followed him.
After Kakuzu completed a mission, he understood what Xuan Yu had meant by handling support.
Once they had taken down a bounty target, Kakuzu did as usual and prepared to carry the body to the Bounty Exchange to turn in the job.
But the moment he moved, a gust of wind swept past him.
In the next instant, the bounty target he had killed moments ago was already slung over Xuan Yu's shoulder.
Xuan Yu glanced back at him with a cheeky grin. "Kakuzi, hurry up and get to your next mission. I'll turn this one in for you."
Kakuzu snapped, "Put the body down! You're getting in the way of my work!"
Xuan Yu didn't listen. He burst into a full sprint, pushing the Body Flicker Technique to its limits. After a few flickers, he vanished from Kakuzu's sight.
All Kakuzu could do was glare after him, grinding his teeth in frustration.
Kakuzu silently made up his mind. I can't grind through missions with this brat like this again. His Clone Technique is unusual, giving him a huge advantage with D- and C-rank missions.
I can't take those kinds of jobs anymore. I'll only take missions ranked B or higher, then make this brat do them with me. I'll grind him to death!
Once he had made up his mind, Kakuzu picked up the pace.
Then he discovered that Xuan Yu was like some kind of monster, appearing and disappearing without a trace.
Every time Kakuzu killed a bounty target, Xuan Yu would show up almost immediately, sling the body over his shoulder, and run off.
Xuan Yu's movements were so smooth and decisive, so perfectly executed, that Kakuzu found his skill painful to watch.
Once Kakuzu began grinding through missions without sleep, his efficiency finally improved.
After another three and a half days, he had finished all the remaining missions and started splitting the money with Xuan Yu.
Just like before, Xuan Yu actually followed the rules this time and took only 75 million ryō.
Seeing Xuan Yu behave so properly, Kakuzu couldn't help suspecting that something was wrong.
But he couldn't figure out what it was.
Still, none of that mattered. What mattered was that it was time to get back at Xuan Yu.
He hadn't rested during this stretch, and neither had Xuan Yu. But Kakuzu had the Earth Grudge Fear Secret Technique, while Xuan Yu had to tough it out with his body alone.
He would keep grinding through missions until Xuan Yu was completely exhausted.
After putting away the check for 75 million ryō, Kakuzu said flatly, "We've cleared at least a third of all the missions at the Black Markets in the Grass Country, maybe more. I plan to clear every remaining mission in the Grass Country's Black Markets in one go, then move somewhere else. What do you think?"
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