Empty District.
In a patch of woods not far from Cat Granny's Weapon Shop, Xuan Yu was training with great enthusiasm.
Anyone who knew what was going on would recognize the sounds as a ninja training nearby.
Anyone who didn't might think a Tailed Beast was plowing through the woods!
After a brief test, Xuan Yu found that the Leaf Whirlwind Taijutsu he'd "created" at the cost of a hundred million ryo was astonishingly powerful!
Of course, the Leaf Whirlwind's ferocity had a lot to do with his Strength attribute of 3,000 and Speed attribute of 4,000.
With all those factors combined, even a casual Leaf Whirlwind kick could unleash a fearsome Whirlwind Fierce Kick.
The howling gust could blow boulders taller than a person clean away, sending them flying like cannonballs.
With this devastating Taijutsu and his current superhuman physical abilities, Xuan Yu felt he could handle many kinds of combat situations with ease.
Still, Xuan Yu knew he had to keep working hard to earn commissions and collect all kinds of ninjutsu.
Otherwise, if he ran into a ninja with special abilities, he might still have no way to deal with them.
Take the Flying Thunder God Technique, for instance. No matter how fast he moved, he couldn't possibly outrun a Space-Time Ninjutsu over a short distance.
If he ran into someone who had mastered Flying Thunder God right now, he'd have no way to stop them.
Xuan Yu trained as he mulled over these things.
Just then, an orange-red Ninja Cat appeared on a nearby branch and drawled lazily, "Hey, kid! That guy you asked us to keep an eye on has shown up again. When are you treating us to Silvervine Drink?"
At the news, Xuan Yu's face lit up.
The "guy" the Ninja Cat meant was, of course, Kakuzu—the cash cow he'd been thinking about nonstop.
The Ninja Cat Clan in the Empty District were masters of intelligence gathering.
It was thanks to their help that he knew Kakuzu's whereabouts so well. Every time, he could find Kakuzu with pinpoint accuracy and snatch the prize right out from under his nose.
As for the Silvervine Drink the Ninja Cat had mentioned, it was a special beverage beloved by the Ninja Cat Clan.
Whenever the Ninja Cat Clan provided Xuan Yu with information, he would generously treat them to a round of Silvervine Drink.
After all, he made anywhere from several million to tens of millions of ryo each time he went out. It was only right to spend a little money rewarding his information-gathering buddies.
After hearing that Kakuzu had turned up again, Xuan Yu replied readily, "When this job's done, I'll treat you all to your fill! For now, take me to Kakuzu."
The orange Ninja Cat was pleased with his promise. "Follow me!" it called, then sprang away in a flash, leading Xuan Yu toward Kakuzu at a run.
Xuan Yu figured Kakuzu had gone out to take another bounty job.
If so, he needed to get there first and keep watch nearby, so he could swoop in the moment Kakuzu finished the job and claim the fruits of his labor.
It wasn't that he only preyed on Kakuzu. It was just that Kakuzu was powerful and made money efficiently, so Xuan Yu had asked the Ninja Cats to keep a closer eye on him lately.
In fact, Xuan Yu treated all ninjas who could earn big bounties the same way.
If the Ninja Cats started watching some other high-yield ninja, he'd intercept them on the way back and pocket the fruits of their victory too.
In the end, taking bounty jobs in the Ninja World wasn't about fighting alone. It was about letting the mantis stalk the cicada while the oriole waited behind.
As an obscure nobody like him, he couldn't land any decent big jobs on the Black Market.
So rather than work hard on his own, he'd wait for someone else to risk their life completing a job, then swoop in and take the prize.
His unsportsmanlike behavior had already spread through certain parts of the Black Market, earning him a poor reputation.
But so what? Surely he didn't have to let his reputation get in the way of money, right?
Besides, he had a system that let him "grow stronger through hard work," which gave him all the more reason not to let money get away from him!
With the Ninja Cat leading the way, Xuan Yu soon reached Kakuzu's vicinity.
He took a closer look and saw that Kakuzu had returned to the same mountain road where he'd carried out his last job.
Realizing Kakuzu was out alone this time, Xuan Yu couldn't help clicking his tongue and chuckling. "Tsk, tsk. Did Konan and Pain figure it out that quickly? They realized Kakuzu's too hard on his teammates during missions, so they made him work alone."
Then he wondered, "Weren't Akatsuki members supposed to go on missions in pairs and keep an eye on each other? Why would they let Kakuzu go alone?"
Muttering to himself, Xuan Yu concealed his presence and followed at a distance.
As Xuan Yu pondered this, Kakuzu on the road ahead seemed to sense something.
"Whoosh!"
Kakuzu suddenly swung his arm behind him, sending a Kunai flying through the air toward the woods!
His target was a Ninja Cat following him from a distance.
Kakuzu's attack was swift and fierce, but the Ninja Cat was incredibly agile too.
In the blink of an eye, the Ninja Cat sprang aside and deftly dodged the sudden Kunai.
Kakuzu might not have been able to catch up to Xuan Yu, but he could easily catch a mere Ninja Cat.
In the past, Kakuzu had mostly ignored the Ninja Cats that occasionally appeared nearby.
They couldn't hurt him, and no one on the Black Market had put a bounty on Ninja Cats. He couldn't be bothered wasting his strength on a few cats.
But this time was different. He'd realized that these strangely appearing Ninja Cats were probably connected to that despicable Xuan Yu.
Since he couldn't find Xuan Yu himself, capturing a Ninja Cat and interrogating it might be a good idea.
Just as Kakuzu blurred forward and was about to catch the unlucky orange cat, a fist-sized rock suddenly shot toward him like a rocket, with a sharp "Whoosh!"
Kakuzu snorted. "You shameless brat. Finally decided to show yourself?"
As he spoke, he instantly used Earth Release: Earth Spear. His skin turned as hard as stone, making his whole body tough enough to crush rocks with ease.
"Bang!"
Kakuzu smashed Xuan Yu's thrown stone to pieces with one punch. Fragments flew everywhere.
The Ninja Cat took the opportunity to escape, leaping onto Xuan Yu's shoulder in a few bounds.
After rescuing the Ninja Cat, Xuan Yu greeted Kakuzu with a cheeky grin. "Hey, Kakuzi, don't get so worked up! Instead of picking a fight with a cat, you should spend that energy making money. All right, all right, I won't interrupt your job. Go on and make your fortune. I'm out of here!"
After saying that, Xuan Yu pretended to prepare to take off with the Ninja Cat on his shoulder.
With his current strength, he wasn't actually afraid of Kakuzu.
But there was no need to get into a fight with Kakuzu right now. After all, once Kakuzu finished the job, Xuan Yu still planned to swoop in and take the prize.
If he picked a fight with Kakuzu now and ruined the job, wouldn't that get in the way of his own income?
Like he said, you couldn't let money get in the way, right?
"You're not going anywhere!"
Seeing Xuan Yu about to run off, Kakuzu hurriedly barked at him.
"Oh?"
Xuan Yu stopped at the sound of Kakuzu's voice and looked at him with interest, curious what Kakuzu was up to.
In the past, he'd always avoided Kakuzu when he could and steered clear of a direct confrontation.
After all, with his old level 9 Leaf Whirlwind and his attributes back then, he might not have been able to beat Kakuzu.
But things were different now. His attributes and skills had all been upgraded.
If Kakuzu insisted on a fight, Xuan Yu didn't mind using the chance to test the power of his level 10 Leaf Whirlwind in real combat.
Kakuzu said in a low voice, "I have something to discuss with you!"
He said he had "something to discuss," but the way Kakuzu kept closing in hardly suggested he wanted a calm conversation. He clearly intended to take Xuan Yu's life.
Before he'd even finished speaking, Kakuzu pushed his Body Flicker Technique to its limit and lunged at Xuan Yu like a ghost.
The five Earth Grudge Fear mask monsters attached to his body all opened their enormous mouths, ready to attack at any moment!
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