Recruit Him! The Akatsuki Needs Talents Like This!

Deep in the forest, Kakuzu stared intently at Xuan Yu, unmistakable wariness in his eyes.

The strength Xuan Yu had displayed far exceeded Kakuzu's expectations.

He had even realized that if he gave it everything and fought Xuan Yu to the death right now, he still wouldn't gain the upper hand.

Once he understood that, Kakuzu immediately concluded that the fight couldn't continue.

Kakuzu's thoughts raced as he silently considered, I'll withdraw for now and report what happened to Konan. Let her decide how to deal with this guy.

Having made up his mind, Kakuzu said no more. He flashed away and decisively retreated.

He had come to find Xuan Yu today intending to kill the brat and recover the money he had lost earlier, with interest.

Since that goal now seemed difficult to achieve, he naturally wouldn't waste any more time here.

Xuan Yu made no attempt to pursue Kakuzu as he retreated.

After all, he was counting on Kakuzu to keep taking missions and earning bounties, giving him another chance to fleece him.

Only after Kakuzu had vanished completely did Xuan Yu give the Ninja Cats lurking nearby an instruction. "Keep watching him from a distance, and don't start a fight. When the mission's over, I'll treat you to Silvervine Drink."

As soon as Xuan Yu finished speaking, all the Ninja Cats answered in unison with a chorus of "meow," then flashed away and spread out to resume their surveillance.

This time, however, things went differently than before.

After retreating, Kakuzu didn't immediately take on another mission. Instead, he wandered around the Black Market, accepted no contracts, and asked around for information about Xuan Yu. Then he hurried back to the Akatsuki.

Rain fell without end over Amegakure, its steady patter shrouding the village in a curtain of rain all year round.

Kakuzu appeared once again on the platform atop the tower.

"Whoosh..."

Countless sheets of paper came hurtling in from the distance. As they neared Kakuzu, they quickly gathered and joined together, transforming in the blink of an eye into a beautiful blue-haired woman, a rose adorning her hair.

Seeing Kakuzu return, Konan said in surprise, "I thought this mission would take you much longer to complete. I didn't expect you back so soon. Your efficiency is as impressive as ever."

As far as Konan was concerned, Kakuzu had returned so quickly because he had already completed the mission. Otherwise, he wouldn't have shown up here.

The possibility that Kakuzu had failed hadn't even crossed her mind.

The few times Kakuzu had been bested by Xuan Yu before had ultimately been because Xuan Yu had fought dirty and kept ambushing him.

This time, Kakuzu had gone after Xuan Yu specifically. Surely the boy couldn't avoid a bad end.

But as soon as Konan finished speaking, Kakuzu lowered his voice awkwardly. "I failed the mission."

Konan: (O_O)???

Konan froze on the spot.

Several seconds passed before confusion finally spread across her beautiful face. "Why?"

Kakuzu sighed. "Not long ago, I happened to run into him in a forest near the Empty District. He was as fast as lightning. Even giving it everything I had, I couldn't land a hit."

"Then he showed off an utterly terrifying mastery of Taijutsu. When he used Leaf Whirlwind, he kicked up rapidly spinning currents of air that formed a small tornado. It hit me head-on and sent me flying."

Kakuzu's account left Konan struggling to believe what she was hearing.

The Akatsuki's intelligence network was extremely powerful.

They knew every powerful ninja in Konoha's Uchiha Clan inside out.

Yet their files didn't contain a single word about Uchiha Genba.

That was more than enough to show that Xuan Yu was just an unremarkable Uchiha who wasn't worth their attention.

And yet now, this very Uchiha, dismissed as mediocre, had proven troublesome even for Kakuzu.

After a brief pause, Konan looked at Kakuzu and asked, "What do you plan to do about Uchiha Genba?"

Kakuzu had already given the matter some thought.

He answered without hesitation:

"I came up with two plans. The first is to play it safe: the Akatsuki could send several members to join forces and hunt down Uchiha Genba, eliminating him once and for all so he can never threaten the organization again."

"The second plan is to invite Xuan Yu to join the Akatsuki. I looked into him at the Black Market—he's a Konoha rogue ninja with ulterior motives. Konoha's records say he has no talent as a ninja and is merely a civilian member of the Uchiha Clan, but clearly that isn't the whole story."

"He deliberately hides his strength, defected from Konoha, and has long been prowling the Black Market, preying on other mercenaries and stealing their bounty targets. In my view, the Akatsuki needs talents like him!"

To put Kakuzu's words another way: "Uchiha Genba has no regard for the ninja code and is a menace to society!"

It would be a terrible waste not to recruit a talent like him into the Akatsuki.

"Let's go with the second plan," Konan decided at once.

She agreed with Kakuzu. Xuan Yu really was the sort of talent the Akatsuki urgently needed.

The Akatsuki was now growing rapidly and needed to recruit more powerful ninja.

After Konan made the call, Kakuzu shared another piece of information he had picked up.

"While investigating Uchiha Genba at the Black Market, I also found out that he's been trying to get his hands on all kinds of ninjutsu lately. If we want to persuade him to join the Akatsuki, we might have to meet that need first."

The Akatsuki's members had joined for all sorts of reasons.

Some agreed with the organization's ideals, some needed its protection, and others were spies who had infiltrated it.

But Xuan Yu clearly had no such need to join the Akatsuki.

In other words, the Akatsuki would have to meet some of Xuan Yu's demands before he might consider joining.

Konan thought Kakuzu had a point, though she wasn't particularly concerned about it.

Konan waved a hand dismissively. "The Akatsuki has ways to acquire ninjutsu, so we can meet Xuan Yu's needs. Besides, I think he's probably a ninja with a talent for Taijutsu but no talent for ninjutsu. We can placate him by giving him a few techniques."

Kakuzu: (O_O)???

Kakuzu was taken aback, then nodded.

Konan was right. Xuan Yu might well have no talent for ninjutsu.

After all, Kakuzu had fought Xuan Yu so many times and had never seen the brat use a single ninjutsu technique.

That being the case, a few techniques would be more than enough to keep Xuan Yu busy for a while.

Having sorted everything out, Kakuzu set off once more to recruit the talent that was Xuan Yu.

Meanwhile, at the Black Market in the Empty District, a group of wandering ninja had gathered, seething with anger as they discussed killing Xuan Yu.

"That bastard named Xuan Yu—I'll kill him if it's the last thing I do! I worked so hard to hunt down a bounty target worth five million ryo, and he snatched it away in the blink of an eye!"

"You've still got it easy. He only stole from you once. Me? That little bastard stole a target from me before, and now he's taken another bounty worth a million ryo!"

"Hey, I've got it worst, okay? The target I worked so hard to hunt down was worth a mere five hundred thousand ryo, and he still stole it from me!"

"We have to get rid of this menace! Otherwise, the Empty District Black Market will never know peace!"