The Reason (Seeking Follow-up Reads)

The man stood rooted to the spot and answered in a dull voice:

"My name is Nakajima Kotaro. I'm a black market merchant. I came back because one of the Bird Country black market merchants' cash vaults is here. I wanted to take advantage of this time to pick up whatever I could."

"Go on." Mo glanced at the passage behind Nakajima Kotaro with his Clairvoyance and instantly spotted the piles of banknotes.

Nakajima Kotaro continued in that dull voice:

"Kakuzu attacked the underground black market merchants affiliated with the Land of Birds because they had deliberately given him false information about a bounty target. After Kakuzu arrived at the location in the intelligence, he was ambushed and surrounded. Enraged, Kakuzu slaughtered all the black market merchants within the Land of Birds. I heard he is still searching for his targets now."

As his words fell, the air sank into silence. Mo suddenly recalled the intelligence Terada Yusuke had provided earlier. Combining it with this information, he instantly pieced together the cause and effect of the incident.

One or more high-ranking figures in the Land of Birds had set their sights on Kakuzu. They colluded with one another and, based on Kakuzu's long-standing habits of operating in the black market, made a deal with the Land of Birds' black market merchants to lure Kakuzu to their ambush site.

It was simply that those foolish nobles and black market merchants had never expected Kakuzu's strength to far surpass their imagination, resulting in this tragedy.

But... why had the nobles of the Land of Birds suddenly targeted Kakuzu?

The question lingered in Uchiha Mo's mind for barely a second before he found the answer: Earth Grudge Fear...

Besides granting its owner powerful ninjutsu, Earth Grudge Fear possessed another ability that nobles coveted beyond measure—immortality...

Having finally resolved one concern, Mo's lips curved into a faint smile.

"Then why did you survive?"

"This humble one was not a black market merchant affiliated with the Land of Birds, or rather, I had not officially joined them yet. During the Second Shinobi World War, I was abandoned by the original black market collective due to certain matters and became an independent trader. After drifting around for several years, I arrived in the Land of Birds. Since this humble one knew how formidable Kakuzu was, I ran as soon as I caught wind of it."

Mo nodded. "Hand over all the sealing scrolls on you."

The secret chamber inside this hidden passage was filled to the brim with cash. Since Nakajima Kotaro had returned to collect money, he must have brought sufficient storage tools with him. Otherwise, he could never have carried away such an enormous amount of cash alone.

Sure enough, as soon as Mo finished speaking, Nakajima Kotaro immediately pulled several sealing scrolls from beneath his robe.

Mo reached out and took them, then stepped into the hidden passage.

A quarter of an hour later...

Mo reappeared on the surface. The only difference from when he had gone down was that his formerly shriveled ninja tool pouch had become stuffed full.

More than three billion in cash. Black market merchants truly were filthy rich. Even Uchiha Mo, who had never cared much for money, found his mood brightening considerably.

Although the Naruto world had many different currencies, they were generally interchangeable. Aside from their designs, their denominations and overall formats were fairly similar. In terms of purchasing power, one ryo was roughly equivalent to ten yen. By that calculation, Mo had gained a full 1.2 billion yuan from this trip!

In the shinobi world, a bowl of Ichiraku Ramen cost around thirty yuan. As long as Mo did not stockpile hundreds of millions of explosive tags, this money would be enough for Shisui and him to live on for a lifetime.

He looked up at the sky, then sprinted toward the capital of the Land of Birds.

Things had progressed exceptionally smoothly. The very first large black market had given Uchiha Mo all the intelligence he wanted, so Mo decided to head to the mission's destination first and wait for the team to arrive.

As the sun gradually sank westward, Mo finally reached Bird Capital. He first found a restaurant to fill his stomach, then rented a single room at a fairly decent inn.

After nearly a full day and night without proper rest, coupled with the high-intensity journey, even Mo felt somewhat exhausted.

Judging from the team's pace, Team 8 should still be some distance away. They would not reach Bird Capital until tomorrow evening at the earliest, so Mo could get a good rest.

At the border of the Land of Rain, somewhere underground.

A mass of black sludge slowly separated from White Zetsu's body, then sped toward the Land of Birds, leaving behind only White Zetsu underground, scratching his head in confusion.

"Bird Capital?"

Black Zetsu muttered to himself with a frown. Memories from White Zetsu flashed through his mind—the backs of that group... For some reason, the youth in the middle with a braided ponytail and an Uchiha-standard robe looked especially familiar.

He pondered bitterly for a long time, yet even after entering the Land of Birds, he still had no clue.

Shaking his head, Black Zetsu temporarily gave up searching his memories.

Over the past thousand years, he had seen far too many people. It was perfectly normal to occasionally encounter one or two figures who seemed familiar but whom he could not remember.

Elsewhere, near Bird Capital.

A tall man raised his head to look at the distant palace, which was fairly grand in size, then stepped into the capital.

The man wore a tightly wrapped hood. Other than his green eyes, no part of his face was exposed. Yet that alone, along with the dense stitch marks covering his body, made him look particularly horrifying.

"Don't think that hiding in the daimyo's palace means this old man won't dare go in and kill!"

The man snorted coldly and vanished from the spot.

The moon set and the sun rose as time slowly passed.

When the outline of Bird Capital appeared on the horizon, the three members of Team 8 all let out a sigh of relief without prompting.

"Finally... cough... it's finally almost over... cough cough."

Asuma spoke as though a heavy burden had been lifted. "Once this mission is done, I'm definitely going back to have a proper feast!"

As he spoke, he turned his head. His gaze suddenly landed on Kurenai Yuhi, and the upward curve of his lips stiffened. With a hint of bitterness, he continued:

"When we get back, I need to have the old man get me a suitable weapon. Nintaijutsu really is more useful than pure ninjutsu..."

Hayate Gekko became interested upon hearing that and eagerly agreed:

"Right... cough cough! Right? I think having a weapon... cough... would be better too. How about you get a ninja sword as well, Asuma? Cough cough! Teacher Mo just happens to be an expert swordsman!"

Asuma glanced at the indifferent Uchiha Mo beside him as the words fell. He pursed his lips and replied:

"Forget it... I'm not suited for that kind of weapon..."

The group continued talking as they drew closer to Bird Capital.

Yet less than half an hour later, just as the team was about to arrive at Bird Capital, a strange man appeared and blocked their path...