Kakuzu might not have recognized the name Nadare Rōga, but after thinking it over, Xuan Yu remembered who he was.
Nadare Rōga was one of the Snow Ninja Trio from the Land of Snow, serving the country's current false daimyo, Kazahana Dōtō.
The Land of Snow's original daimyo had been Kazahana Dōtō's older brother. But Dōtō coveted the daimyo's position, murdered his brother, and seized power, becoming the country's false daimyo.
Afterward, to eliminate all loose ends and claim the Land of Snow's treasure, he kept hunting down the true heir to the daimyo's title: his niece, Kazahana Koyuki.
As Xuan Yu swiftly reviewed everything he knew about the Land of Snow, Kakuzu's pale green eyes stared indifferently at the two wandering ninja before them.
The ninja who had just invited Xuan Yu and Kakuzu over was struggling to breathe under Kakuzu's imposing presence.
Fortunately, he managed to speak despite his trembling voice. "Recently, the two of you have displayed an astonishingly high rate of completing missions in the Grass Country, with a one hundred percent success rate. Lord Nadare Rōga greatly admires your abilities and would like to work with you."
Hearing this, Xuan Yu couldn't help but grin.
He hadn't expected that the whirlwind of missions he and Kakuzu had been tearing through in the Grass Country's Black Market over the past few days would bring them this kind of benefit.
Kakuzu had taken plenty of missions in the past, but never at such an intense pace. Outside of industry insiders, not many people would have paid attention to him.
This time was different. In just one week, they had swept up roughly a third of the missions in the Grass Country's Black Market.
Any ninja in the Grass Country or the surrounding areas who was even a little well-informed would have heard something about it by now.
Now that he knew Nadare Rōga wanted to work with them, Xuan Yu naturally wouldn't turn down a paying client.
He waved a hand and, not caring in the slightest what Kakuzu thought, said to the two wandering ninja, "Lead the way!"
Kakuzu was a little displeased with Xuan Yu's decision to act on his own, but he said nothing.
A while later, led by the two wandering ninja, Xuan Yu and Kakuzu met their client in a forest near the Black Market.
But contrary to what Xuan Yu had expected, the one who actually wanted to hire them wasn't Nadare Rōga. It was Kazahana Dōtō.
The Snow Ninja Trio, including Nadare Rōga, stood respectfully behind a middle-aged ninja with a powerful presence and a fierce gaze.
An ordinary person might not have known who he was, but Xuan Yu recognized him at a glance: the Land of Snow's false daimyo, Kazahana Dōtō!
Kazahana Dōtō scrutinized Kakuzu and Xuan Yu, then said in a low voice, "I'll skip the formalities. I have two missions I'd like to entrust to you."
"Both missions are extremely difficult. Are you confident you can handle them?"
"What are the missions?" Kakuzu asked without a trace of emotion. Given his and Xuan Yu's abilities, there were very few missions they couldn't take.
Whether they would accept Kazahana Dōtō's missions, however, depended on what they entailed.
Kazahana Dōtō wasted no time. "The first mission is to capture two criminals from the Land of Snow: Kazahana Koyuki and Sandayū Asama. The Land of Snow has sent out a large force to hunt them for years, but we still haven't caught them."
"The second mission is that the Land of Snow is very interested in Tailed Beasts. Can you capture one for us to study?"
Once he had finished, Kazahana Dōtō fixed Xuan Yu and Kakuzu with a sharp, intent gaze and waited for their answer.
He wanted to capture his niece, Kazahana Koyuki, because she had the Hexagonal Crystal, which could unlock the Land of Snow's ancestral treasure.
He wanted to study Tailed Beasts because the Land of Snow was a country that had poured everything into technological development.
They had developed versatile Chakra Armor capable of both offense and defense, along with Chakra Devices for all sorts of purposes.
But for the Land of Snow to grow from a small country into a great one, it needed to go further still.
After investigating the matter, Kazahana Dōtō had concluded that the fastest way to increase the Land of Snow's strength was to acquire the power of a Tailed Beast.
Far too many factions in the Ninja World wanted Tailed Beasts, and most of them were controlled by the Five Great Shinobi Nations.
Kazahana Dōtō knew that although the Land of Snow had developed well and grown powerful, it still wasn't in a position to openly provoke the Five Great Shinobi Nations.
But he could still hire capable mercenaries to try to acquire a Tailed Beast.
With the Land of Snow's technological prowess, obtaining a Tailed Beast's power would undoubtedly give the country's overall strength a major boost.
Across from Kazahana Dōtō, Kakuzu was rather disappointed by the missions.
He had thought that Kazahana Dōtō and the Snow Ninja Trio were powerful enough to offer some worthwhile commissions.
But he wasn't interested in either of Dōtō's missions.
The first was a manhunt, and it would be difficult. If the Land of Snow hadn't managed to find them in all these years, there was no way he and Xuan Yu could find them easily.
As for Kazahana Dōtō's mission to study a Tailed Beast, he and Xuan Yu couldn't carry it out. The Akatsuki also needed to capture Tailed Beasts, so they couldn't hand one over to Kazahana Dōtō.
Kakuzu didn't waste any time. He left them with a single sentence and turned to go.
"Those missions conflict with ours. Find someone else."
As Kakuzu left, Xuan Yu went with him.
He knew what Kakuzu meant by the missions conflicting: the Akatsuki also needed Tailed Beasts.
But as far as Xuan Yu was concerned, there was no conflict at all!
The Land of Snow wanted to study a Tailed Beast and gain control of its power. They hadn't said they had to keep it in the Land of Snow.
Once they were done studying it, he could simply take the Tailed Beast away, couldn't he?
Besides, Kazahana Dōtō was a treacherous usurper who had murdered his own brother. After taking Dōtō's mission, Xuan Yu could also take a mission from Kazahana Koyuki and help her reclaim the country.
At the thought, Xuan Yu's eyes lit up. If he played his cards right, this mission would let him kill three birds with one stone. He'd come out way ahead!
If this whole plan worked, he had no idea how much commission he could earn.
Most likely, he'd get another transformative jutsu—or at the very least, two Growth Gift Packs—and earn the future daimyo of the Land of Snow's immense gratitude!
But he couldn't complete this mission with Kakuzu. He'd have to go solo!
For now, he'd leave with Kakuzu, then send his Chakra Clone back to find Kazahana Dōtō and the others.
In the forest, Kazahana Dōtō watched Xuan Yu and Kakuzu leave, looking disappointed.
He'd thought that there was no smoke without fire, and that Kakuzu and Xuan Yu might surprise him.
Kakuzu's reputation in the Black Market was legendary, and Uchiha Genba, at his side, was a rising star there as well.
Recently, the two of them had swept up a vast number of missions with unbelievable efficiency and a one hundred percent success rate.
Under normal circumstances, those two should have accepted his commissions.
But Kakuzu had brushed their entire group off, citing a conflict with his missions.
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