Half a month later, on Konoha Mountain behind Konoha.
"Hey, hey, hey, start closing off the mountain. Close it off now. The race starts in ten minutes," Dave said into the phone.
"Roger, roger," came the voice over the phone.
"Wait, Kakuzu still isn't here?" Dave asked in confusion, looking at the empty chair beside him.
"Manager Kakuzu hasn't arrived yet. Wait, a car just came up from the foot of the mountain. It's Manager Kakuzu!" the person on the other end exclaimed.
"All right, close off the mountain first. I'll give him a call." Dave nodded.
Then he hung up and called Kakuzu.
"Kakuzu? Why are you only getting here now? The race is about to start. Do you not want your share of this month's profits?" Dave asked angrily.
"Kid, I'm not commentating anymore. I've signed up to compete," Kakuzu's calm voice came from the other end.
"Holy shit, are you kidding me? I'm supposed to commentate all by myself?" Dave was dumbfounded for a moment before he roared.
"Relax, I've already found someone to replace me. I paid good money to hire a professional. He should be there by now," Kakuzu replied, utterly unruffled.
Commentating? Heh, where was the future in that? Not only would he have to work himself to death commentating on this race, but that stingy brat Dave was only paying him thirty thousand ryo in total.
He'd heard the winner would receive a million ryo, along with the title of Konoha Mountain Racing King. The entire race would also be recorded and posted online. These days, it wasn't just people in the village online; the whole Land of Fire could watch it.
Kakuzu had no interest in glory or anything like that. He was in it for the million.
"It had better be,