Orochimaru found the whole thing amusing, but Kakuzu looked as grim as if he were attending a funeral.
He honestly had no idea how Akatsuki handled its secrecy for something like this to happen!
Inside Amegakure's tower, Nagato and Konan had spotted the group of four long before they arrived.
If Kakuzu and Orochimaru had brought Uzumaki Shixia over, Nagato would not have found it strange.
But Uzumaki Shixia bringing Kakuzu over left Nagato rather puzzled.
Nagato sat at the edge of the tower, watched the scene below for a while, then asked casually.
"That man is Uzumaki Shixia, the one who's quite famous on the black market, isn't he?"
Uzumaki Shixia had quite a reputation on the black market. Even Nagato had taken notice of him.
However, Nagato felt that Uzumaki Shixia was not like them, so he had never considered recruiting him.
Konan nodded. She was also wondering what Uzumaki Shixia was doing at the tower.
"He seems very familiar with this area. From the looks of it, he's here for us."
Nagato was not particularly concerned.
At least for now, Uzumaki Shixia was not an enemy Nagato felt he needed to take seriously.
Not long after Konan and Nagato finished talking, footsteps sounded nearby.
Nagato looked in that direction and saw Uzumaki Shixia with a red-haired girl beside him.
That familiar hair color!
That man had once told him that this hair color was a distinguishing feature of the Uzumaki Clan.
War had scattered the Uzumaki Clan far and wide.
Seeing three Uzumaki descendants from different backgrounds in the same place was exceedingly rare.
Nagato glanced at Uzumaki Shixia only once before turning to Kakuzu.
"What's going on?"
Kakuzu replied calmly.
"I believe Uzumaki Shixia would be a suitable addition to Akatsuki."
Kakuzu did not mention that Uzumaki Shixia had initially refused to join, only to volunteer shortly afterward.
As far as Kakuzu was concerned, Uzumaki Shixia's brain had probably been malfunctioning at the time.
But whether his brain worked properly did not matter, as long as he could work for Akatsuki.
Hearing this, Nagato continued, "What about his abilities?"
This time, Kakuzu drew a breath before saying, "He's very capable!"
"His success rate for commission missions accepted on the black market is one hundred percent!"
"That's the only record of its kind in the history of Amegakure's black market."
"We crossed paths on a mission not long ago, and he destroyed two of my hearts."
Nagato and Konan knew Uzumaki Shixia was probably a fairly capable ninja, but they had not expected him to be this strong.
If he could destroy two of Kakuzu's hearts in combat and emerge unscathed, his abilities already met Akatsuki's standards.
Nagato then turned his gaze toward Uzumaki Shixia.
"Do you want to join Akatsuki? Why?"
Uzumaki Shixia answered without hesitation.
"Leader Nagato, I'd be delighted to join Akatsuki!"
"As for why, naturally, it's because Mr. Kakuzu invited me. I have to show him some respect."
Kakuzu's face twitched involuntarily at those words.
Nagato and Konan remained expressionless, though inwardly they were somewhat speechless.
Could Uzumaki Shixia's excuse possibly sound any more fake?
Still, there was nothing suspicious about his background.
He had lived in Amegakure since childhood. Apart from leaving for commission missions, he spent practically all his time in the village, so he could not have ties to other ninja villages.
After a brief silence, Nagato nodded.
"You may join Akatsuki, but there will be an observation period."
"During that time, you'll operate in a two-man team with Kakuzu. He'll be your observer."
"Once the observation period ends, we'll tell you some of Akatsuki's core secrets..."
Uzumaki Shixia cut Nagato off without mercy.
"No problem, but I have a few conditions."
At those words, Nagato's gaze shifted slightly.
Uzumaki Shixia did not have just one condition, but several.
Akatsuki had already recruited quite a few powerful ninja, but Nagato had never encountered anyone quite like Uzumaki Shixia.
"Let's hear them."
Nagato wanted to know what these conditions were.
Konan, Kakuzu, Orochimaru, and Karin also turned their eyes toward Uzumaki Shixia.
Sixia cleared his throat, then spoke.
"First, I must join Akatsuki as a hired mercenary."
"Second, the organization must pay me monthly. It doesn't have to be much, just 100,000 ryo, the reward for an A-rank mission. That's not unreasonable, right? I took two of Kakuzu's lives in three seconds. You can verify my record. My strength is guaranteed."
Having Sixia expose his defeat in front of everyone left Kakuzu a little embarrassed.
Sixia ignored that little interruption and kept going.
"Third, if the organization assigns me black market missions, I'll only accept commission missions."
"Fourth, she comes with me."
Sixia patted Karin's shoulder, making it clear that he intended to bring her along.
He had asked for only 100,000 ryo because he knew he already had quite a few demands. Asking for too much money on top of that could easily backfire.
Besides, he could always jack up the pri-
Ahem. Being good at identifying his employer's needs was also one of his strengths.
If there were no missions, he would create them.
A mere payment was a minor issue.
As for why he emphasized commission missions, that was because of the system.
Commission missions and bounty missions were the two main categories of black market work.
Bounty missions generally involved killing people without asking questions or seizing treasures.
The client offered a bounty and designated a target. A ninja accepted and completed the mission, then collected the bounty from the black market. That constituted the entire process.
Commission missions, on the other hand, came in all varieties, from cleaning and finding lost pets to temporarily serving as part of a Daimyo's outer security detail.
Other ninja might not care which of the two types they took.
But Sixia was different.
The strongest mercenary system only responded to commission missions. Completing other types of missions would not earn him any system rewards whatsoever.
His conditions seemed rather demanding. Nagato did not respond immediately, instead looking thoughtful.
After a brief consideration, Nagato gave a simple answer. "No."
Uzumaki Shixia was capable enough to join Akatsuki.
But his demands were simply too bizarre.
Akatsuki's missions were often quite dangerous.
Bringing Karin along was definitely not a good choice for Uzumaki Shixia.
Of course, that issue was easily resolved.
When carrying out particularly dangerous missions, Uzumaki Shixia could leave Karin at an Akatsuki base.
What truly troubled Nagato was Uzumaki Shixia's insistence on joining only as a hired mercenary.
Akatsuki's goal was lofty, which made the organization's secrecy and stability extremely important.
Having him join on a mercenary basis seemed unreliable no matter how Nagato looked at it.
After Nagato spoke, Kakuzu hesitated for a moment before speaking up.
"Let him join. For a wandering ninja like him, Akatsuki is an excellent place to call home."
"I believe he'll change his mind after some time."
After joining Akatsuki, Uzumaki Shixia would operate in a two-man team with Kakuzu.
Thus, once Kakuzu spoke up, Nagato had to take his wishes into consideration as well.
After a little thought, Nagato nodded. "For the foreseeable future, Uzumaki Shixia will be operating alongside you."
"If you see no problem with it, let him work with you on a trial basis for now."
Nagato trusted Kakuzu completely, because if there was a problem with his partner, Kakuzu would turn that partner into a corpse.
Orochimaru smiled. "I wonder how long this newcomer will survive."
Once Nagato finally approved Uzumaki Shixia's entry into Akatsuki, the system notifications arrived at last.
[Host has joined Akatsuki and successfully accepted a long-term commission mission!] [System reward 1: Super draw attempts ×1]
Upon hearing the notifications, Uzumaki Shixia immediately opened the system panel in delight.
"Draw!"
As for Kakuzu's team being a death squad, he did not care in the slightest.
He was incredibly excited about this super draw from the system!
[Drawing super reward...] [Congratulations, host! You have drawn an SSS-rank reward: Rumble-Rumble Fruit (Shinobi World adaptation)!]
Holy shit! The Rumble-Rumble Fruit!
He checked the Rumble-Rumble Fruit's panel and grinned from ear to ear!
[Name: Rumble-Rumble Fruit (Shinobi World adaptation)!] [Description: SSS-rank. The Rumble-Rumble Fruit is a treasure originating from the Pirate World. It has now been adapted to the Shinobi World, with its side effects removed!] [Development level: D] [Currently unlocked abilities] [Mantra: Perceive every movement within a certain radius.] [Lightning Finger: Release lightning through the fingers to attack a target.] [Teleportation: Transform into an electric current to move through the surrounding electric field or travel through conductors.] [Lightning Bolt: Transform an arm into lightning and condense a massive lightning pillar to attack nearby targets or precisely strike targets within Mantra's range.] [Lightning Flash: Transform into lightning and release light and heat to become immune to all physical attacks.] [Discharge: Release lightning in all directions without blind spots for an indiscriminate attack.]
The other members of Akatsuki had no idea what Uzumaki Shixia was doing.
At that moment, everyone looked at him rather strangely.
Although few members of Akatsuki were normal, Uzumaki Shixia was still far too much of an outlier even among them.
He wanted to bring a beautiful girl along on missions, and he would only accept commission missions.
That was one thing, but now, for no apparent reason, he had suddenly started grinning creepily.
And the smile tugging at his lips was growing increasingly impossible to suppress.
It was even becoming downright perverse.
Nagato's gaze could not help turning grave.
This team just kept getting harder to lead.
Before you continue