I Have Three Ways to Solve This

At this stage, the Akatsuki's top priority was amassing money.

Only then could they quickly move on to the next stage: capturing tailed beasts to create Tailed Beast Weapons and making the other necessary preparations.

Kakuzu naturally couldn't argue with Konan, but inwardly, he thought,

No! Absolutely not!

No matter what, I can't stay on the same team as Uzumaki Shixia!

Sure, making money is a great pleasure for me too.

But that Uzumaki Shixia values money more than his life.

If I keep teaming up with him, even if a mission doesn't kill me, I'll work myself to death running between them!

Whatever it takes, I have to find a way to change partners!

Orochimaru, who used to go on missions with me, would definitely be a good choice!

At that thought, Kakuzu turned his gaze toward his old partner, Orochimaru.

Orochimaru had his own problems, but compared with Uzumaki Shixia, he was far, far better.

At least Orochimaru wouldn't madly churn through missions without stopping, like some perpetual-motion mission machine.

The moment Kakuzu looked his way, Orochimaru started admiring the scenery, pretending not to notice Kakuzu's pleading gaze.

As Orochimaru surveyed his surroundings, he sneered inwardly.

Heh! With more money for the organization's operations, research funding will rise too.

At this stage, the Akatsuki is mostly saving money. Its biggest expense is funding my experiments and research.

Besides, I've already hired Uzumaki Shixia to assist with my research on a long-term basis.

You're asking the wrong person, Kakuzu.

Kakuzu had no idea what Orochimaru was thinking.

But the look on Orochimaru's face immediately told him that Orochimaru had no intention of teaming up with him again.

That only made Kakuzu start missing the good things about Orochimaru.

Orochimaru was the man furthest from death in the Shinobi World. Forming an immortal duo with him

was still better than forming an overworked duo with Uzumaki Shixia.

For a moment, Kakuzu felt a terrible headache coming on.

Konan studied Kakuzu's haggard face and couldn't help feeling a little sorry for him.

For a long time, Kakuzu had been the Akatsuki's star worker, tirelessly running errands for them.

Now he looked utterly drained. No matter how she looked at him, he was a sorry sight.

But if even Kakuzu, who possessed the secret technique Earth Grudge Fear, couldn't endure going on missions with Uzumaki Shixia,

then sending anyone else with Uzumaki Shixia would be even less suitable.

Moreover, Kakuzu had a well-established reputation when it came to missions.

Pairing him with Uzumaki Shixia was a true union of powerhouses.

Whether accepting missions or carrying them out, everything went smoothly.

Still, seeing Kakuzu looking so weak and limp, Konan said,

"You and Uzumaki Shixia will continue carrying out missions as a two-man team."

"But Pain will adjust the village's mission system to place some restrictions on Uzumaki Shixia."

After Konan finished, Pain spoke up as well.

"Although you caused Amegakure a little trouble earlier, it hasn't affected the bigger picture."

"From now on, the village's mission system will change. Some low-difficulty missions will no longer enter the black market."

"The village will make dedicated mission assignments for shinobi who can't obtain missions."

"When you accept and carry out missions in the village from now on, you won't need to hold back."

"You can go all out completing them!"

Having discovered Uzumaki Shixia's intense interest and talent in carrying out missions, Pain had no intention of suppressing him.

He would adjust the village's mission system so the village could develop normally while giving Uzumaki Shixia more room to shine!

The lower- and middle-tier shinobi were the foundation of a shinobi village.

If something went wrong with them, the entire village would collapse.

Amegakure would serve as the Akatsuki's base for a long time to come, so nothing could be allowed to go wrong with it.

But Uzumaki Shixia and Kakuzu had performed exceptionally well on their missions over the past month.

He hoped Uzumaki Shixia would maintain that performance, or even carry out more missions with Kakuzu.

Kakuzu: "???"

Pain's words left Kakuzu dumbfounded!

Pain was actually adjusting the village's mission system to give Uzumaki Shixia even more room to operate!

He was even telling him to go all out on missions!

Was that something a human being would say?

He was Uzumaki Shixia's teammate now. He had to go on missions with him.

So please, couldn't they treat him like a human being?

Making him run all over the place alongside an Uzumaki Shixia who had free rein to carry out missions was clearly an attempt to work him to death!

Yet Uzumaki Shixia was dissatisfied with Pain's words!

No matter how they put it, he would still have fewer missions available for a while.

His strength had grown so quickly because he had been grinding missions nonstop, even using Wood Clones to grind them.

Unless they were long-term commission missions or commission missions with enormous payouts, the system rewards he received were actually quite small.

The only reason he had become so powerful in such a short time was that all those little gains had accumulated into something great!

How could he accept being barred from taking those low-difficulty missions?

"I disagree!"

"I can take fewer missions of that kind, within reason, but I can't stop taking them altogether."

Uzumaki Shixia immediately voiced his opposition.

He possessed the Shinobi World Mercenary System. As long as he kept grinding missions, he could race down the road to greater strength!

Restricting the number of missions he could accept meant stopping him from growing stronger. Naturally, that was unacceptable.

Pain's expression didn't change at all when he heard Uzumaki Shixia's words.

He said calmly, "Don't be impatient. I have other arrangements for you!"

"Recently, Amegakure has been taking in huge numbers of shinobi missions of every kind."

"That has had an impact on the surrounding shinobi villages."

"Because of this, and the earlier matter involving Karin Uzumaki, Kusagakure is extremely dissatisfied with us."

"I intend to hire you to handle these matters."

Upon hearing that Pain had a mission for him, Uzumaki Shixia once again gave the Akatsuki a textbook demonstration of changing his attitude in an instant.

A moment earlier, his face had been full of indignation. Now he was positively beaming, all smiles.

Pain, Konan, Zetsu, Uchiha Itachi, Orochimaru, and the other Akatsuki members immediately understood one thing.

When dealing with Uzumaki Shixia, as long as a mission was involved, anything could be negotiated.

After learning that this mission involved Kusagakure,

Uzumaki Shixia began recalling the information he knew about it.

Kusagakure seemed to be a village with no ninjutsu legacy of its own. Its specialty was studying and researching other villages' ninjutsu.

As such, its shinobi might know a little of all kinds of ninjutsu.

Although Kusagakure was a small village, the clashes between its factions were intense!

After quickly reviewing what he knew about Kusagakure, Uzumaki Shixia looked at Pain and asked,

"What exactly do I need to do for this mission?"

Pain said casually,

"The most valuable thing in Kusagakure is now in your hands."

"The clients who used to post missions in Kusagakure have chosen to come to Amegakure instead because of the reputation you've built."

"These two things have directly caused Kusagakure's hostility toward our village to rise sharply. They're plotting to sabotage us."

"Since you were largely responsible for both, you need to resolve them."

"You can handle it however you like, as long as Kusagakure's shinobi don't cause Amegakure any damage."

"This will count as an S-Rank mission. The payment is one million ryo."

Pain clearly already understood Uzumaki Shixia's personality very well.

Unless he assigned work to Uzumaki Shixia in the form of a commission mission, he might not be able to get the fellow to do anything at all.

Although he had a few minor flaws, it had to be said that Uzumaki Shixia was extremely reliable when it came to getting things done.

His one-hundred-percent mission success rate was absolutely genuine.

When Pain finished, Uzumaki Shixia couldn't help rejoicing inwardly.

Oh? There's a deal this good?

I'm just sitting here in the Amegakure Tower, and missions are falling into my lap?

But it seems there's more potential to explore in this mission!

Kusagakure's shinobi are good at learning and research.

Why not...

After Sixia gave Kusagakure's circumstances some serious thought, several excellent ideas suddenly came to him.

"Ahem..."

After clearing his throat twice, Uzumaki Shixia said,

"I have three ways to solve this."

"The worst option is for me to kill every shinobi Kusagakure sends."

"But I don't recommend it. There's little point, and it won't bring any lasting benefits to Amegakure or the organization."

"After those Kusagakure shinobi are killed, there might even be more trouble down the line."

"A better option is to capture those Kusagakure shinobi alive and take them in as peripheral members of the Akatsuki."

"The Akatsuki currently has few core members, and its peripheral membership isn't large either."

"The best option is to subjugate Kusagakure. Ideally, we would bring it under our control!"

After finishing, Uzumaki Shixia looked at Pain and waited for him to decide.

Pain: "???"

Uzumaki Shixia's words left him stunned.

In a situation like this, wasn't the only solution to slaughter every hostile shinobi?

Pain was certain that Uzumaki Shixia hadn't been joking.

Uzumaki Shixia genuinely intended to capture Kusagakure's shinobi alive and turn them into peripheral Akatsuki members.

He was even considering subjugating all of Kusagakure and taking control of it.

Utterly baffled, Pain asked, "What would I want Kusagakure's shinobi for?"

"Don't you know that the many weak shinobi in Amegakure are already an enormous burden to me?"

Pain had phrased it very tactfully.

Put bluntly, what use would recruiting that bunch of weaklings from Kusagakure be to the organization?

If not for the village's normal operation and development, there would be no need for Amegakure's weak shinobi to exist either.