No Ambush, Kakuzi is Still Too Green and Needs More Practice!

With that, Xuan Yu and Kakuzu swept through all the missions in the Grass Country black market, the parts of the Land of Fire black market adjacent to the Grass Country, and the Land of Rivers black market before finally returning to the Land of Rain.

In the Land of Rain, Xuan Yu did not restrain himself in the slightest, still sweeping through every single mission in the Land of Rain's black market like a hurricane.

The consequences of his frantic mission-grinding were a mix of good and bad.

On the positive side, his four-dimensional attributes and ninjutsu levels had all improved during this period.

He still had plenty of sweat left from his hard work, which would allow him to improve even further.

On the negative side, there were quite a few—four, to be exact!

The high-ranking officials of the Land of Rivers and the Grass Country were extremely dissatisfied with their behavior of frantically scouring the black markets of both nations.

After all, they were not practicing sustainable development in those black markets; they were simply exhausting the pond to catch all the fish.

Then there were Heavenly Path Pain and Konan, who also had some opinions about his and Kakuzu's behavior in the Land of Rain's black market, for the same reason: it disrupted the mercenary ecosystem of the Land of Rain.

The remaining two negative aspects were that the black markets of the Land of Rivers, the Grass Country, and the Land of Rain had all been thoroughly picked clean, meaning there would be far fewer missions available in the near future.

Furthermore, after more than a month of continuous, sleepless, and grueling combat, while Xuan Yu was completely fine, Kakuzu looked like he was ready to go meet the Sage of Six Paths at any moment.

After clearing out all the missions, Xuan Yu and Kakuzu returned to Amegakure to face Heavenly Path Pain's reprimand.

Previously, when he and Kakuzu had been overdoing it with the missions, Heavenly Path Pain had tried to recall them, but Xuan Yu had been too busy grinding to return immediately.

Now that everything was finished, he could go back and have a proper talk with the Akatsuki leadership.

Amegakure, the high tower.

Including Heavenly Path Pain and Konan, the current members of Akatsuki were basically all present.

The expressions on the faces of Heavenly Path Pain and Konan were not pleasant at this moment.

The expressions of the others in Akatsuki varied; Zetsu's black-and-white face was full of a mocking smile—if nothing went wrong, Xuan Yu was about to be in trouble.

Orochimaru wore a gloomy smile; he didn't care whether Xuan Yu would be in trouble or not, and in his view, Heavenly Path Pain would at most give Xuan Yu a stern warning and wouldn't actually do anything to him.

Beside Orochimaru, Kisame Hoshigaki bared his sharp, white shark-like teeth and chuckled mockingly, "Previously, the partners of that guy Kakuzu were all short-lived. I thought Xuan Yu would also die accidentally during some mission, but unexpectedly, these two are quite compatible and have caused quite a bit of trouble together."

After Kisame finished speaking, Sasori corrected him, "A more accurate way to put it is that Xuan Yu has caused quite a bit of trouble. As far as I know, the recent actions of Kakuzu and Xuan Yu were all led by Xuan Yu."

While everyone was discussing, Kakuzu and Xuan Yu appeared not far from the group.

Upon seeing the two, everyone in Akatsuki was shocked.

Because Kakuzu was appearing here, trembling and supported by Xuan Yu.

His eyes were bloodshot, he had dark circles that couldn't be any deeper, and he looked withered, as if he could drop dead at any moment.

Heavenly Path Pain asked suspiciously, "What happened? Were you ambushed?"

Konan and the others had similar thoughts.

Anyone could see that Kakuzu truly looked half-dead, as if he could kick the bucket at any second.

Hearing Heavenly Path Pain's question, Xuan Yu waved his hand with a smile and said, "Brother Men, nothing like that. Kakuzi is just too weak; he still needs to train. He ended up like this just from grinding a few missions."

Heavenly Path Pain: ...

Behind Heavenly Path Pain, Nagato was speechless.

The moment he saw Kakuzu, he really hadn't expected that Kakuzu hadn't been ambushed, but was simply exhausted from grinding missions.

Since Xuan Yu and Kakuzu hadn't been ambushed, they could move straight to the point.

Under Nagato's control, Heavenly Path Pain looked at Xuan Yu with indifferent eyes and asked, "Why did you recklessly grind missions in the black markets of the Land of Rivers and the Grass Country? The high-ranking officials of both countries have communicated with Amegakure about this matter more than once. Your behavior has had a very negative impact on the black markets and the mercenaries of both countries!"

"Although Akatsuki is a mercenary organization that needs to grind missions to raise funds, I never said that Akatsuki members could act recklessly outside, did I?"

Facing Nagato's accountability, Xuan Yu said nonchalantly, "The so-called opinions of the high-ranking officials of the Land of Rivers and the Grass Country are just the opinions of a few. Besides, mission requests are placed on the black market specifically for mercenaries to accept. If the mercenaries of those two countries can't take them, it just means they need to train more, not that my mission-clearing ability is too strong."

"To take a step back, what does the state of those two countries' black markets or the situation of their mercenaries have to do with us?"

Heavenly Path Pain was not very satisfied with Xuan Yu's explanation, but he suppressed the first question and began to ask the second.

"Not long ago, when you were frantically grinding missions in the Land of Rain, I tried to recall you. Why didn't you return?"

The half-dead Kakuzu finally waited for his chance and quickly said, "I received the order and was ready to return to the base immediately, but this brat kept dragging me out to grind missions!"

"Is that so?" Heavenly Path Pain looked at Xuan Yu with indifferent eyes, his expression extremely unfriendly.

Xuan Yu remained unbothered: "Not at all. As soon as I received the mission, I took Kakuzi and rushed back to the base; we just happened to grind a few missions on the way."

Heavenly Path Pain: ...

Konan: ...

Xuan Yu's sophistry left both Heavenly Path Pain and Konan completely speechless.

Xuan Yu wasn't grinding a few missions on the way back; he was clearly grinding missions and bringing them back as an afterthought.

His devil-may-care attitude made Heavenly Path Pain realize that reasoning with him wouldn't work; he would have to start with a warning, and if he didn't listen, he would have to use force.

Heavenly Path Pain said coldly, "The Land of Rain and Amegakure are the foundation of Akatsuki's development and cannot be compromised. Any behavior that has a negative impact on Amegakure and the Land of Rain is a hostile act that shakes the foundation of Akatsuki."

"Whether it is the Land of Rivers and the Grass Country becoming hostile toward Amegakure, or the mercenaries of Amegakure being affected, these are all acts that harm Amegakure. Such things are absolutely not allowed to happen in the future!"

After Heavenly Path Pain finished speaking, he looked at Xuan Yu with extreme coldness, hoping that Xuan Yu would face his mistakes.

But Heavenly Path Pain didn't expect Xuan Yu to flick his fingers and say dismissively, "Leader, if you want to put it that way, that's not how it works! What Kakuzi and I have done during this time has far more benefits than drawbacks!"

"Nonsense!" Heavenly Path Pain retorted coldly, his eyes indifferent.