A dim yellow candle was burning on the table in the room.
The candle flame was small, and a wisp of faint black smoke rose straight up with the heat, until it was disrupted by the airflow caused by a soft cough.
Kakuzu opened his eyes and looked at the coughing child.
Oda Hideyoshi.
He was the target of Kakuzu and Hidan's mission.
The mission was simple: make sure Oda Hideyoshi was in their hands and not taken by anyone else.
The mission deadline wasn't long either. Once the Water Garden Festival ended, they could throw Oda Hideyoshi to Saito Ayane and the mission would be over.
But such a simple task, one that could be given to a few Genin, no, even servants, had caused the Water and Fire countries to spend a lot of money to bring in Akatsuki members.
Hidan was stupid, but Kakuzu wasn't.
There had to be something fishy going on. Combined with the fact that the Water Garden Festival had invited Linto, Kakuzu had guessed early on that this was a setup targeting Linto.
The people from the financial group didn't hide anything from him, saying bluntly that they wanted to deal with Linto, and Oda Hideyoshi was a part of the plan. As long as Kakuzu could complete the mission, he could ask for anything.
"Ask for anything?"
"That's right, anything... we, have money."
Kakuzu narrowed his eyes, savoring the honesty in the other party's words.
It was intoxicating.
Just then, the formation carved on the table made a soft "pop" sound.
A wisp of smoke spread out. Kakuzu waved his hand to dissipate it and picked up a scroll.
He opened the scroll, read the information inside, and Kakuzu sneered.
"Hidan, get ready to work."
"Work?"
Hidan, who was sleeping, got up and yawned widely. "Isn't our mission just to watch this brat?"
Kakuzu threw the scroll over.
"The Water Country Daimyo isn't dead. Their smear campaign messed up, and they want us to clean up the mess."
"While ensuring this kid isn't grabbed, add additional task one: kill the Water Country Daimyo, Oda Ieyasu."
"Hey, wait a minute? Didn't it also add task two."
Hidan flipped the scroll over and said, "Additional task two: Take out Linto."
Kakuzu looked back at Hidan in silence.
Anyone who's ever worked a job will understand what Kakuzu's look meant.
Kakuzu really wanted to chop off Hidan's head, throw it in the river, sprinkle soap powder on it, and wash it thoroughly to see if it could make his brain a little smarter.
Kakuzu shook his head, giving up on explaining to Hidan.
"Kill the Water Country Daimyo, and protect this kid from being taken. That's our mission, anything else isn't within our job description."
Hidan shrugged, indicating that he didn't care.
The reason he wanted to kill Linto was simply because Linto had killed the white-haired leader, out of gratitude.
But Hidan also knew that showing kindness depended on timing.
Since this wasn't the right time, there would always be another chance.
Hidan thought of another question: "However, Linto has a strange little vine that can lock onto targets regardless of distance. How are we going to deal with that?"
"That thing."
Kakuzu looked at the brown-haired man sitting in the corner, meditating, and chuckled:
"Don't we still have our friend from Konoha?"
"Right, Mr. Yamanaka."
Yamanaka Fu slowly opened his eyes, his gaze sharp.
"Don't misunderstand, we aren't friends. The reason I'm helping you is just to..."
"Make Konoha great again."
…
Terumi Mei came over, looking at the flame: "How is it?"
Linto was using mind writing to target Oda Hideyoshi, but Oda Hideyoshi was tossed in the corner, the viewpoint was very limited, dark.
She could only determine that the Akatsuki organization was involved, but couldn't deduce the exact location from her mind writing, nor did she know who had come this time.
"Forget it, we'll know when we get there."
Linto said to Terumi Mei, "You stay here to protect the Daimyo, try to prevent him from being killed."
Zabuza was a pure ninja - If he can, he can. If he can't, he can't. He scratched his head:
"What does 'try' mean?"
"It means, if you can hide, hide. If you can't hide, fight. If you can't win, throw him down and run."
Linto said seriously, "To me, your lives are more important than his."
Oda Ieyasu chuckled dryly, turned his head away, tactfully pretending not to hear.
The safest approach would naturally be for everyone to act together, but only Linto could fly. Bringing so many people would definitely affect Linto's speed.
It had been almost ten minutes since the explosion at the Daimyo mansion, the longer it was delayed, the more variables there would be.
The Water Garden Shrine parade float had already set off, heading towards the Daimyo mansion - after all, it was a parade they'd been preparing for a year, and unless the people above told them to stop, they could only continue as planned. When the masses arrived at the Daimyo mansion with the parade floats, the financial group's new representative would announce the Daimyo's death to the world and that Linto was the culprit. The people planted in the crowd would simultaneously promote the harm Linto posed.
If possible, Linto hoped to resolve this unrest before it all happened.
"Hermit Purple"
Purple vines wrapped around Linto's arm, he bent his knees slightly, and the rubble nearby broke free of gravity, floating slowly.
With a loud boom, a gust of wind rose, and Linto took off, chasing after the vine's guidance.
From high altitude he could clearly see the festive atmosphere in Kyoto, with lights everywhere. Linto soared through the air.
The vines roughly locked onto a range, and he landed, searching bit by bit for that dark little house.
Soon, Linto noticed something was wrong.
"The target is moving?"
Linto understood that the other party had probably received news from the Daimyo mansion, figured he'd be coming, and moved its position while carrying Oda Hideyoshi.
Mind writing was activated again.
As expected, Oda Hideyoshi was hidden in a gray robe, walking on a crowded street. Based on the street background...
Linto swept his gaze below, glancing over each person.
Found it!
Gray robe, wearing a white tengu mask, bulging in his arms, obviously holding something.
Just as Linto's gaze locked onto the other party, under the ninja's acute sense, the other party also sensed the gaze from above and suddenly looked up -
Time stop.
Linto descended, taking a "child" from the other party's arms.
As soon as he held them, he felt something was wrong.
Too light.
How could a five-year-old child be this light?!
Linto pulled open the cloth wrapping the "child" and saw a child-sized scarecrow with a blank charm attached to its head.
Was he tricked?
What means did the other party use to deceive Hermit Purple?
Mind writing was a purely causal ability.
Just then, a ripple touched the scarecrow, and its "breath" was transmitted over. Linto heard the soul echo of a child -
"Help... save me..."
Linto's pupils constricted as he stared at the scarecrow in his hands.
"Oda Hideyoshi's soul is in this scarecrow's body! And..."
The stickiness in his palm, the scarecrow was seeping blood.
Linto pulled open the weeds and looked inside, seeing a heart slowly beating under the cover of many black fleshy lines.
The heart was small, definitely not an adult's heart.
Oda Hideyoshi's soul and heart... this was the enemies means of misleading Linto.
Kakuzu didn't know what Hermit Purple's specific abilities were, or what means he would use to track them, but the ninja's means were nothing more than a few:
Bloodlines, souls, or things like Orochimaru's cursed seals and the Fourth Hokage's Flying Thunder God seal.
Kakuzu inspected Oda Hideyoshi's body, there were no cursed seals or charms, it was very clean, and the only remaining methods were the bloodline and soul connection between it and Oda Ieyasu.
Other people might not be able to do this... but Kakuzu and Yamanaka Fu were experts.
Linto tore the fleshy lines and used ripple energy to maintain the slow beating of the heart, sheltering the young soul inside. Then, he stared coldly at the tengu mask.
"Star Platinum."
Star Platinum's tall, muscular figure appeared.
"Smash him!"
Star Platinum took a deep breath.
"Ora!!!"
A punch was thrown, shattering the tengu mask.
But behind the mask there was no face, only countless fleshy lines.
"So it's Kakuzu."
When he captured Konan, Linto had obtained intel on the Akatsuki organization's elders from her memory.
Kakuzu was still the fighting accountant that Pain personally "invited" back back then.
Star Platinum threw a second punch, shattering this Earth Grudge Fear's heart.
Time resumed flowing.
A puddle of melted bloody water remained on the ground, along with the delayed exclamations of passers-by, Linto took off into the air, holding the scarecrow. Mind writing was activated again, this time using the scarecrow as the "cause" and its flesh as the "effect".
Hermit Purple pointed in one direction.
That was the direction Linto had come from.
They were after Oda Ieyasu, this was a diversion tactic to lure Linto away.
"Heh——"
Linto chuckled and rolled up his sleeves, and drawing the Rupture Greatsword from "Rift."
Golden ripple flames wrapped around the Rupture Greatsword.
A storm howled as Linto disappeared, and above the sky, a smear of golden fire streaked across, igniting the night sky's clouds, the flames spreading outward...
Like a golden eye floating in the sky, slowly opening.
---
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