"Since they keep passing the buck among themselves, we can only resort to our own methods to recover the debt. After all, isn't it only right to repay what you owe?"
At this moment, Hakushi placed both hands on the table, resting his chin casually, and asked Kakuzu with a smile.
"Hehe... That's right, paying off debt is indeed the right thing to do. I just didn't expect that you were already planning against the Land of Wind so early. The ambition of the military is quite grand."
Kakuzu also smiled. Rather than harboring ill intentions, he might have found something very amusing instead.
He didn't know about the military's plans because he had no interest at all in work other than debt collection.
He could make these guesses only based on a sufficient foundation of intelligence, arriving at an answer that best aligned with the interests of the Land of Demons.
But he hadn't expected that the first target for the Land of Demons to strike would be a country on the level of the Five Great Nations.
"Well then, I'll leave the debt collection work for the Land of Wind to you, Mr. Kakuzu."
"I understand. Collecting debt from a country is indeed an unprecedented challenge, but I'll do it well."
Kakuzu remarked, accepting Hakushi's request.
Perhaps, soon he would witness some very interesting events—the era of the Five Great Nations dominating the Ninja Realm might be about to end once and for all.
However, what does this have to do with him?
He's merely a Debt Collector.
Debt collection is his primary job.
Whether the debtor is an individual, organization, or country, all are treated equally by the Debt Collector.
No one can surpass a Debt Collector's obsession with money.
◎
A bright and sunny morning.
The Daimyo of the Land of Wind got up normally and dressed with the help of the maid, when suddenly she let out a low exclamation, seemingly witnessing something incredible.
"What's wrong?"
The Daimyo of the Land of Wind's bloated, slightly aged face wrinkled in displeasure over the maid's fuss.
"Lord Daimyo, this..."
The maid picked up a clean sheet of white paper from the bedside, its back showing a red color, with red characters clearly written on it.
"What's this? Did you place it here?"
The Daimyo squinted his eyes; he didn't recall placing such paper by the bed last night.
"No, I just found it."
"Look what's written on it."
"Yes."
The maid nodded tremblingly, unfolding the paper on which two characters, 'repay debt,' were written in bright red paint.
Repay debt?
The Daimyo of the Land of Wind frowned; these characters reminded him of a very unpleasant matter.
Who on earth slipped this paper in?
With such doubts, he took the paper from the maid, squeezed it hard into a ball, tossed it on the ground, and quickly walked out of the room.
Stepping outside, the Daimyo of the Land of Wind suddenly noticed two Ninja Guards at the door had somehow already fallen unconscious.
In the courtyard, red and white colors intertwined.
On white paper smeared with red characters, whether on the walls, columns, pond edge, or even the floor, such white paper was pasted everywhere.
And every piece of white paper was uniformly marked with the two characters 'repay debt.'
The Daimyo's face, filled with anger, began to tremble violently; the characters 'repay debt' on the white paper caused his eyes to sting unbearably.
Who could it be?
Who could be so bold, daring to run wild in the Daimyo's Mansion without caring for their life?
And considering the unconscious Ninja Guards at the door, and the complete indifference of the other ninjas hidden in the shadows to the happenings in the courtyard, the Daimyo immediately realized something, displaying a fearful expression.
If someone can silently knock out the Ninja Guards by his side, if this person had the intention to kill him, wouldn't it be...
The Daimyo of the Land of Wind shivered, fear rising from the bottom of his heart.