He wiped the blood from his lips and tasted it, his excitement growing. "The Cult Leader is dead. What about the others?"
He grinned. "Kill them all for Lord Jashin."
A chill came from the scythe. "Hmm? Right, Lord Jashin would not like worthless trash."
"So I should keep gathering believers and offer the deaths of the strong?" He scratched his head. "Sounds hard, but if it is Lord Jashin's will, I will do it."
Dragging the heavy scythe, he walked out of the laboratory, barefoot in spreading blood. Each step left a clear red footprint.
At the same time, in the Konoha base within the Land of Moon.
A notification rang in Yunchuan Hyuga's mind, awarding Reality Points. Watching through the Four Scythe Child, Yunchuan Hyuga smiled faintly.
Religion truly was the best lie. With Hidan alive, there would be endless rewards.
"Yunchuan."
Jiraiya's serious voice pulled him back. "You want to launch an air raid on the Kumogakure base?"
Inside an abandoned public toilet near the border of the Land of Hot Water, the place was damp, dark, and filled with a sharp stench. Anyone in a hurry would rather use the woods than step into such a place. No normal person would choose this location.
Kakuzu ignored the foul air and walked inside, looking at the brick wall covered with moss. He reached out and pressed a spot with light force. A soft click and a faint creak followed.
The entire wall slid inward without a sound, revealing a narrow stairway that could fit only one person. Kakuzu kept a blank expression as he stepped down the stone stairs. His figure was soon swallowed by the darkness.
This place was a transfer station for the dead. Bounty Exchange.
"Mr. Kakuzu, please follow me."
A man with a vicious scar across his face approached with great respect, though he paused in surprise when he saw Kakuzu. This man was used to seeing him carry bodies on his back, a sight that always left a strong impression. This time felt different.
He said nothing more and assumed Kakuzu had struck too hard and the body was too damaged to show. Perhaps it had been sealed inside a Sealing Technique Scroll instead.
As they went deeper, the two entered a wide room where cold air brushed against the skin. Before them stood a wall like a honeycomb that stretched into the shadows. Uniform metal drawers filled the wall, each marked with blurred numbers.
This was the shelving used by Bounty Exchange to store its goods. The scarred man turned and gestured. "Please."
Seeing the man pull out only one drawer, a low and unclear snort came from beneath Kakuzu's mask. He removed a specially made large-capacity Sealing Technique Scroll from his back and spread it flat on the ground. He formed hand signs and slammed it down.
With a loud burst of white smoke, dozens of bodies appeared out of nowhere, dumped like trash into a small hill of corpses. Several bodies rolled down and struck the floor by the scarred man's feet with dull thuds. The number was far too many.
Thick, warm dark red blood spread across the floor, and the heavy smell of blood and rot overwhelmed the room. The scarred man sucked in a breath, only to choke slightly on the stench. His nerves, hardened by years of handling corpses, finally gave way under the scale before him.
In over ten years on the job, he had seen bodies carried, dragged, and hidden in many ways. He had never seen an entire hill of corpses dumped at once. The sight left him shaken.
"Are all of these people with bounties on them?" he asked before he could stop himself. His face changed at once, and he hurried to explain. "Sorry, Mr. Kakuzu. I am not doubting your credit, it is just the number."
"All of them," Kakuzu said calmly, not caring about his loss of composure. "Some had low bounties and would not fit, so I did not bring them." There was a trace of regret and annoyance in his tone.
"As expected of Mr. Kakuzu," the scarred man said, wiping cold sweat away and forcing out dry praise. Kakuzu shook his head slightly.
"I did not kill them," he said with a complex tone. "If I act, the bodies are either intact or turned to ash." The scarred man looked at the severed limbs and heads, and the fear frozen on their faces mixed with unease. He swallowed with effort.
While feeling chilled, he also felt curious. Who had done this, and how did this lone and famous immortal have a companion now?
The scarred man took out the black market bounty register and checked each body one by one. Names were crossed off like entries in a ledger of life and death. After a long time and several careful checks, he finally spoke.
"One hundred and thirty-four million ryo."
He trembled as he reported the total and carefully brought out several suitcases. He pushed them toward Kakuzu with both hands.
Seeing the suitcases of banknotes, Kakuzu's breathing grew heavier. As one of the strongest bounty ninja, he held unmatched prestige in the black market. Each time he completed a bounty, Bounty Exchange advanced the payment to save him time.
Even so, Kakuzu opened the boxes on the spot. The green light of the bills reflected in his dark green eyes as he began counting them one by one. His movements were smooth and practiced, and his focus did not waver.
The soft sound of bills sliding echoed in the silence like a strange chant. The scarred man smiled helplessly. "Mr. Kakuzu, we are old clients already. Do you really need to count every note in front of me?"
"No," Kakuzu said without looking up, his voice muffled by the mask. "In this world, only money can be trusted."
He was an immortal ninja who had walked through long years, dating back to the earliest days of the villages. Once an elite of Takigakure, he had been sent to assassinate the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju. He was defeated by Wood Release.
He barely escaped with his life, only to return to disgrace and severe punishment. To someone who had risked his life for the village, this was a cruel betrayal. Filled with hatred, Kakuzu broke out of prison and deserted.
He took the village's treasured Forbidden Technique and the hearts of all its leaders. After being abandoned by all, he wandered the Ninja World alone for decades. In the end, he understood one truth.
Only money would never betray him, and he would never betray money. Money was his true companion, and everything else meant nothing. This belief had guided him since joining the bounty ninja.
When the counting finally ended, Kakuzu frowned slightly. Under the scarred man's helpless gaze, he began counting a second time. He repeated it three times before pulling out a single bill.
"There is one hundred extra. Be more careful next time," he said flatly, with an icy firmness. The scarred man bowed his head at once.
"Sorry, Mr. Kakuzu." Though helpless, his attitude stayed proper. He understood that this man treated money as faith itself and enjoyed earning and counting it.
With the bounties Kakuzu had earned over decades, he could have retired long ago and lived in wealth. Yet he did not, and aside from belief and obsession, the scarred man could think of no other reason.