After leaving the bounty exchange, Menma and Kakuzu arrived at an empty clearing.
"Kid, if you're not already on a bounty list, put the money down and leave. I might just spare your life," Kakuzu rasped from beneath his mask as he stored his suitcase of cash into a storage scroll.
Kakuzu was an extremely arrogant man.
After all, he was a veteran from the same era as the First Hokage, Senju Hashirama. He had even once attempted to assassinate him—though he had been gravely injured by Hashirama's Wood Release, Kakuzu still loved to boast:
"I'm a man who fought the God of Shinobi."
Since defecting from Takigakure decades ago, Kakuzu had lived as a bounty hunter. His only true passion in life was money.
To him, villages, comrades, and bonds were worthless. Only money would never betray him.
"You think someone capable of killing a Cloud Village envoy wouldn't be worth a bounty?" Menma chuckled beneath his mask, standing a few meters away while setting his suitcase aside.
"Fair point. Even if you don't have a bounty, dragging your corpse to Kumogakure should still fetch a decent price," Kakuzu sneered before swiftly forming hand seals.
"Earth Release: Earth Spear!"
Sharp stone spikes erupted from the ground around Menma, stabbing upward like a forest of spears.
Menma leapt into the air, his robe fluttering in the wind.
'Perfect timing!' Kakuzu thought with a calculating gleam.
His right arm suddenly shot out—Earth Grudge Fear activated!
Black threads burst from his joints like venomous serpents, propelling his detached arm straight toward Menma's chest.
This was one of Kakuzu's favorite tactics.
Force the enemy into the air, rob them of mobility, then launch a sudden, unavoidable strike directly at the heart.
He had killed countless ninjas with this trick.
But Kakuzu's pupils abruptly shrank.
Because instead of falling back down, the masked man simply hovered in midair—looking down at him calmly.
"Troublesome…" Kakuzu muttered.
In all his years roaming the ninja world, he had rarely encountered an opponent who could float freely in the air.
His black threads twisted and expanded into a massive net, trying to trap Menma.
Menma casually tossed several kunai through the web toward Kakuzu.
"Hmph."
Kakuzu easily dodged them.
"Is that all you've got, brat—?!"
Before he could finish mocking, thunder roared behind him.
He spun around—but a sharp pain had already pierced his back.
A hand wrapped in dark-purple lightning stabbed clean through Kakuzu's body, shattering one of his hearts.
"What—when did—?!"
Feeling one of his mask-hearts collapse, Kakuzu swung his thread-connected arm at the attacker—only for the figure to dissolve into smoke.
A shadow clone.
"Gahhh!" Kakuzu collapsed to the ground.
Silence fell over the battlefield.
"That trick really is convenient," Menma mused, twirling a kunai in his fingers.
Transforming a clone into a kunai, tossing it behind the enemy, then striking from their blind spot—this was one of Naruto Uzumaki's classic tactics.
Simple, yet deadly effective.
Most shinobi could never defend against it.
In the chaos of high-speed combat, no one had the luxury of tracking every single kunai they dodged.
On the ground, Kakuzu lay motionless.
If this had been anyone else, they would assume the fight was over and approach to collect the corpse.
But Menma knew better.
Kakuzu had five hearts. Playing dead was practically a hobby of his.
Back in the original timeline, even Kakashi had been fooled once after piercing Kakuzu's heart with Raikiri.
Floating above, Menma spoke coldly:
"If you keep pretending to be dead, I won't mind crushing the remaining four hearts as well."
!!!
Kakuzu's eyes snapped open in shock.
He slowly rose to his feet, hunched over. A bulge protruded from his back.
Rip—
A black mask-monster tore through his cloak and disintegrated into smoke—one heart gone.
Panting heavily, Kakuzu stared up at Menma with deep wariness.
"How… do you know that?"
"The secrets of Takigakure?" Menma replied calmly from above. "To me, the ninja world holds no secrets."
He extended two fingers.
"Now you have two choices."
"Work for me… or have your remaining four hearts crushed."
Menma hovered like a god, his killing intent unmistakable.
"Do I really have a choice?" Kakuzu let out a dry, bitter laugh before slowly dropping to one knee.
He was nothing if not pragmatic.
This man not only knew his deepest secret, but had destroyed one of his hearts with a single move.
Refusal meant death—plain and simple.
Land of Lightning – Port City
Several of Cardo Company's merchant ships were docked at the harbor. Laborers hurried back and forth under the shouts of their foremen.
Cardo stood on the deck, barking orders as usual.
Then his small eyes suddenly caught sight of two figures approaching in the distance.
The moment he recognized the one in front, his body trembled.
He scrambled down the gangplank as fast as his short legs could carry him.
On the docks, the newly-recruited Kakuzu silently followed behind Menma, his cyan eyes filled with confusion.
"My lord! My lord!" Cardo rushed over breathlessly and bowed deeply.
"You've returned!"
He then noticed the tall, menacing figure behind Menma.
"And this gentleman is…?"
"Kakuzu," Menma said calmly. "This is Cardo—the member of our organization in charge of earning money. Your current task is to accompany him and protect his business operations across the ninja world."
"You'll receive a fixed salary. You're also allowed to review Cardo Company's accounts. And of course—you may continue working as a bounty hunter on the side, as long as you don't leak any information about the organization."
"Hmph. Not a bad deal," Kakuzu grunted, a faint smile forming beneath his mask.
A steady paycheck, continued bounty work, and access to a major company's finances—it certainly softened the sting of defeat.
After assigning Kakuzu to Cardo and sending the two off to begin their work, Menma turned his gaze once more toward Kumogakure.
It was time to head for the Cloud Village.
And deliver a little "local specialty" from home.
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