Chapter Thirty-Eight: The Mission

The attendant pressed the bell, calling someone to come and take away Matsutsuki Kohei’s corpse. After a while, a person returned carrying a box.

“Sir, here is your bounty,” he said respectfully, clearly impressed by Yu Higashino’s feat of knocking out Kakuzu.

“Thank you.” Yu Higashino accepted the box and offered his thanks.

He opened it, revealing piles of money.

Staring at the cash, Yu Higashino felt a bit troubled. What should he do with it? Money was never something he cared much about. He had few material desires and could generate money at will—however much he wanted, it was just a number to him.

The reason he insisted on receiving a commission was simple: he preferred straightforward transactions, devoid of messy favors. With a commission, it was a clean deal—once completed, neither party owed the other anything.

He found owing others troublesome, and being owed was just as bothersome.

But back to the matter at hand—the box full of money.

As Yu Higashino pondered how to deal with it, his gaze fell upon Kakuzu, lying motionless in the distance.

After a few moments of thought, Yu came up with an idea.

Taking the money, he walked over to Kakuzu.

“Stop pretending. I know you’re fine.”

Indeed, Yu Higashino had long noticed Kakuzu was feigning unconsciousness—perhaps fearing Yu might attack him again, or simply embarrassed to wake up.

After Yu spoke, Kakuzu didn’t react, remaining utterly still.

“A beating can cure both amnesia and feigned fainting,” Yu remarked coolly.

Still, Kakuzu gave no response.

Frowning, Yu Higashino decided to use his trump card.

He opened the box of money and tossed it in front of Kakuzu.

“Do you want the money?”

Kakuzu still didn’t move, but just as Yu began to doubt his strategy, he noticed Kakuzu’s whole body was trembling ever so slightly.

It was working after all.

“I’m not familiar with the bounty hunter business. I’d like someone to guide me. If you agree, all this money is yours.”

Yu Higashino had little experience with ninja intelligence gathering, approaching targets, or the overall process of completing a mission. For his writing, he wanted to experience it firsthand.

After Yu finished speaking, Kakuzu remained silent.

“During the time you guide me, any mission rewards are yours.”

When Yu said this, he noticed Kakuzu struggling even more, yet he still didn’t rise.

“Such a nuisance,” Yu thought, losing patience.

He wrapped sword energy around his foot and kicked Kakuzu hard.

With a thunderous crash, another hole appeared in the wall, and Kakuzu slid down from it onto the floor.

This time, he stood up swiftly.

“Sir, I am willing to serve you.”

Indeed, nothing cures like a good beating.

Ignoring Kakuzu, Yu Higashino returned to the counter.

“Besides bounty missions, do you have any other types of tasks here?”

“Yes,” the attendant replied promptly, having witnessed the earlier scene. “But the rewards aren’t as generous as the bounty missions.”

“That’s fine. What kinds of tasks do you have? May I take a look?”

“Of course, sir.”

The attendant produced another booklet and handed it to Yu Higashino.

It contained a wide variety of missions—from clearing out bandits to destroying entire nations.

Yu leafed through it slowly, searching for a suitable mission.

By now, Kakuzu had picked up the money Yu had tossed on the floor and moved to stand beside him.

Yu glanced at him, remembering something.

He asked, “Have you joined Akatsuki yet?”

“Sir, what is Akatsuki?” Kakuzu replied, puzzled.

“Never mind,” Yu answered perfunctorily. He’d been wondering why Kakuzu wasn’t wearing the iconic black cloak with red clouds—now he realized Kakuzu hadn’t joined Akatsuki yet at this point in time.

Yu continued searching for missions. Kakuzu stood at his side, his emotionless eyes sizing Yu up repeatedly.

[Age: roughly late teens to twenties. Possesses power that can easily threaten my life. Unknown abilities, unknown identity, unknown weaknesses, unpleasant personality, odd behavior, unknown motives... In short, best to go along for now.]

Kakuzu survived so long not just because of his Earth Grudge Fear technique, but also his keen sense of timing and judgment.

Yu had no idea what Kakuzu thought of him; he was simply focused on finding a suitable mission. Yet after searching for quite a while, he still hadn’t found one.

He turned to Kakuzu. “See if there’s a task here that suits us.”

Kakuzu took the booklet Yu handed him, but didn’t flip through it. Instead, he said, “Sir, compared to these missions, bounty tasks offer higher rewards and are much simpler.”

“No matter. Let’s pick something from here.”

Bounty missions only yielded money, but Yu hoped for a chance to earn gratitude and thus gain skills.

Without further argument, Kakuzu began looking through the booklet.

A long time passed.

“Sir, I think this mission is quite good.”

Yu took the booklet and looked at the page.

[Assist in attacking the Land of Grass.]
[Issuer: Land of Waterfall]
[Details: …]

In recent years, the big five nations—Fire, Wind, and the rest—hadn’t seen any major wars, but the smaller countries were constantly at odds. According to the mission details, the Land of Waterfall and the Land of Grass were currently at war.

Yu glanced at Kakuzu’s forehead protector. “Land of Waterfall? Aren’t you a rogue ninja from Waterfall Village?”

“If you have a grudge against the Land of Waterfall, you could take this mission instead.”

With that, Kakuzu flipped the page, which read:

[Assist in attacking the Land of Waterfall.]
[Issuer: Land of Grass]
[Details: …]

Yu considered briefly. Both missions seemed decent—helping one side defeat the other would likely earn their gratitude.

But which side to help?

“Kakuzu, which mission do you think is better?”

“Attack the Land of Waterfall. I know it inside out—completing the mission should be much easier,” Kakuzu replied coldly.

“How heartless,” Yu remarked, then decided, “Let’s take the mission to attack the Land of Waterfall.”

He turned to the attendant. “If we want to take this mission, what should we do?”

“One moment, sir.” The attendant began operating the computer.

Soon, she copied information from the computer onto a slip of paper and produced two scrolls from beneath the counter.

“Sir, these are your identification certificates proving you’re registered with our exchange. Take them and go to the address on this slip. Find the person listed there; they will arrange the rest for you.”

Yu looked over the scrolls and the slip of paper.

“All right.”