Kakuzu: I Don't Know, I'm Not Sure, It Has Nothing to Do with Me!

Konan waved her delicate hand and asked in displeasure, "Kakuzu, where's the payment for this mission? And where's your partner this time?"

At Konan's questioning, an intensely vexed expression crossed Kakuzu's face.

He answered glumly, "My partner died unexpectedly while carrying out the mission."

Hearing this, veins popped on Konan's snow-white forehead, and a black "well" character seemed to appear between her brows.

The Akatsuki didn't forbid members from dying on missions, but with Kakuzu's partners "dying unexpectedly" so often, even the Five Great Shinobi Villages couldn't withstand that kind of thing, let alone the Akatsuki.

Konan's expression immediately darkened. Somewhat irritated, she said, "Kakuzu, this isn't the first time one of your partners has 'died unexpectedly.' There have also been rumors for a while that you deliberately killed them."

As soon as Konan finished speaking, Kakuzu grumbled inwardly, That's not just a rumor! Those stupid partners of mine all died because I accidentally killed them on purpose.

Of course, he could only think something like that. He absolutely couldn't say it in front of Konan, or Deva Path Pain and Konan would settle accounts with him later.

While Kakuzu grumbled to himself, Konan kept her eyes fixed on him and continued her stern questioning. "The organization is in need of manpower right now, and finding suitable new members isn't easy. For the sake of the Akatsuki and its other members, I need you to give a reasonable explanation for what happened this time."

After saying this, Konan stared unblinkingly at Kakuzu with her cold, beautiful eyes, waiting for him to explain himself.

Kakuzu felt even more aggrieved and sighed inwardly.

If he could kill an unlucky teammate and still collect the bounty, then he could put up with a few scoldings from the organization's leaders. After all, a person only lived once, and they must never let money get away.

He'd grit his teeth and accept Konan and Pain's reprimands.

The problem was, this time Uchiha Genba had stolen his hard-won prize—not once, but three whole times!

At the thought, Kakuzu took a deep breath, forced down his frustration, and began to explain in detail. "Strictly speaking, this mission didn't fail. I successfully eliminated the bounty target I was assigned to hunt."

"However, during the mission, my partner and I had absolutely no teamwork. He made a mistake and died unexpectedly. I'd planned to take the bounty target's corpse to the Bounty Exchange for the reward, then bring my partner's body back. But the moment I completed the mission, I was ambushed!"

"An ambush?!"

Konan's beautiful eyes narrowed, surprise showing on her exquisite face.

After all, Akatsuki members were usually the ones who ambushed others. These days, it was rare to hear of anyone daring to attack them.

Kakuzu nodded emphatically. "That's right. I'd just completed the mission when I suddenly faced an extremely dangerous attack. The attacker was someone who seemed to be a Konoha Ninja. He had monstrous strength on par with a Tailed Beast, as well as unimaginable speed."

His gaze darkened as he recalled what had happened. "I'd just killed the bounty target when, without warning, a huge boulder came hurtling at me with incredible speed. Faced with the sudden attack, I instinctively ducked to dodge and tried to locate the attacker. But in that split second, he snatched both the bounty target's body and my partner's."

Kakuzu's account left Konan dumbfounded. She couldn't help asking, "Didn't you chase after him?"

Konan's question brought all of Kakuzu's pent-up frustration spilling out.

Kakuzu let out a long sigh and said angrily, "I did! I swear, even when I fought Hashirama Senju, I never moved that fast! But even then, I couldn't catch that shameless brat!"

The resentment and helplessness in Kakuzu's voice helped Konan understand the situation.

When Kakuzu had once fought a shinobi of Hashirama Senju's caliber, he must have run for his life.

And now he was saying he'd run even faster than he had back then. That meant his attacker had been exceptionally skilled at speed.

Besides, there was no shortage of speed specialists in Konoha Village, so it made sense that Kakuzu couldn't catch someone like that.

After considering this, Konan gave a slight nod. "So, your mission wasn't a complete failure after all. If things hadn't gone wrong along the way, you would have completed it. Still, I need a clearer explanation about your partner's death."

At the mention of that, Kakuzu wanted to shrug and say, I don't know, I'm not sure, it has nothing to do with me.

But he knew he probably couldn't get away with the same excuses as before.

Besides, he'd already managed to pin the blame for the missing bounty target's body on Genba. He might as well blame Genba for his partner's death, too.

After thinking it over, Kakuzu put on a serious expression and said, "According to my investigation, the person who ambushed me was Uchiha Genba, who's been active around the Bounty Exchange in the Black Market of the Empty District. The Uchiha Clan of the Leaf Village has all kinds of mysterious techniques. I suspect that while my partner and I were fighting the bounty target, Uchiha Genba interfered with us using genjutsu or some other means, causing my partner to make a fatal mistake. Judging by what happened afterward, my partner was probably one of Genba's targets in this operation, so he had every reason to kill him."

After delivering this elaborate account, Kakuzu quietly watched Konan, waiting for her decision.

Konan stared at Kakuzu's earnest face, feeling rather troubled.

What Kakuzu said was more or less plausible, but she couldn't shake the feeling that something was off.

But this clearly wasn't the time to look into those details.

What was done was done. There was no point saying more. The most pressing thing was to accept reality and consider how to minimize their losses.

After a moment's thought, Konan asked, "What do you plan to do about this Uchiha Genba?"

Genba had provoked Kakuzu time and time again, and Kakuzu was already furious.

Before Konan had even finished speaking, Kakuzu answered without hesitation, his voice low. "To make sure that shameless bastard doesn't interfere with my missions or those of the other members again, I plan to take some time to find a chance to kill him and recover all the bounty money I've lost, with interest!"

Konan nodded slightly. "All right. This shinobi's presence has already had a seriously adverse effect on the Akatsuki's operations. Is there anything you need the organization to do for you?"

Konan didn't actually know why Genba kept picking fights with the Akatsuki, but that didn't matter.

If Genba was determined to obstruct the Akatsuki's growth, then he had to be eliminated as soon as possible.