Who are you calling a stable boy?!

The Akatsuki organization has a rule of holding regular meetings.

Of course, since the organization is mostly made up of rogue ninjas, it's hard to say where they are or what they do outside of missions. So, instead of trying to get these problematic individuals to regularly gather somewhere for a meeting, it would be better to think about how to get them to get along.

Therefore, each gathering is a communication between the organization's members using projections formed by magic.

The advantage of doing this is that, under normal circumstances, no one will be absent.

In other words, a situation like this, where two people are suddenly absent at the same time, is unusual.

"Where is Kakuzu's group?"

Payne spoke.

Nowadays, all of Xiao's operations are conducted in pairs.

However, both members of Kakuzu's group were absent.

"Heh, maybe Kakuzu killed his partner again and then defected?"

Orochimaru's laughter was sinister.

Knowing that Orochimaru had always been at odds with Kakuzu, who was in charge of finances, Pain didn't take Orochimaru's words to heart.

If it were said that Orochimaru had betrayed the organization, Pain would seriously consider it.

"Absolutely brilliant."

Payne looked at Jue.

"Kakuzu did indeed kill his new partner."

Absolutely refuse the Dao.

"Huh? Kakuzu!"

Pipa Juzo called out.

He is a person who values ​​his companions, and for this reason, he is at odds with Kakuzu, who is quick to kill his partner for money if they don't agree with him.

"However, that happened during a previous mission. At that time, Kakuzu had no intention of defecting at all."

To be absolutely truthful.

The previous mission was quite difficult, and Pain arranged for Zetsu and Kakuzu to work together.

After the mission was completed, the two sides naturally separated.

In other words, Kakuzu's disappearance occurred after that.

Where did he go in the end?

"As usual, he's off to do business. He should be heading to the Land of Earth by now."

Even after the end of World War III, many countries continued to frequently employ bounty hunters.

But among the major powers, only the Land of Earth remains.

Given Kakuzu's personality, he'll naturally go wherever the money flows.

Payne fell silent.

The disappearance of an organization member is different from their direct death.

Moreover, Kakuzu has been in charge of the organization's finances for many years and knows the organization's cash flow very well.

If we can confirm that he is dead, things are simple: we just need to find out the forces that killed Kakuzu and then seek revenge.

But if Kakuzu, who is missing, is still alive, that would be very troublesome.

Whether he was arrested or actually defected, it was troublesome for the organization.

Normally, Payne would delegate tasks like finding people to Zetsu.

But right now, he's doing other tasks.

The mission is quite special, and even Jue cannot spare the time to attend to other matters.

"...Orochimaru, you're still within the Land of Rice Fields, aren't you?"

"Oh? Does this mean I need to go find Kakuzu, Boss?"

"After you and Sasori reunite, enter the Land of Earth to search for Kakuzu's whereabouts."

"I'd be happy to help, but..."

Orochimaru asked with a smile, "After we find it, what does the leader want us to do?"

"Bring it back to the organization."

Payne's answer was straightforward.

“If Kakuzu resists, kill him.”

-

Kakuzu could actually guess what would happen if the organization discovered he was missing.

They might be here to rescue him.

But it's more likely they came to kill him.

It mostly depends on which group the leader will ultimately send to find him.

...I guess it's Orochimaru and Sasori.

Oh.

That would greatly increase the likelihood of them coming to kill him.

After much deliberation, Kakuzu could only arrive at this conclusion.

Thinking about it this way, the future seems bleak.

On the contrary, during the days he spent with Zheng Jing and Aizen, Kakuzu discovered that he had a long-lost feeling in his heart.

Well...

Is it a sense of security?

Perhaps it was because, even though they saw his red cloud and black robe, the two of them, who were holding him, showed no interest in probing for information about the organization.

These past few days, Aizen and Zheng Jing have asked him a lot of questions.

Aizen only asked about chakra training and the knowledge of ninjutsu, taijutsu, and genjutsu. At most, he learned about the secrets of Earth Grudge Fear from him.

However, compared to the secret technique of Earth Grudge Fear, Aizen was clearly more interested in the knowledge of illusion techniques.

Zheng Jing's explanation was even more baffling.

After Zheng Jing discovered that he had long since stopped needing to eat and drink, having survived thanks to the Earthly Grudge, he began to wonder when he stopped needing to defecate and urinate.

Such questioning was far removed from the severe torture that Kakuzu had previously envisioned.

It's hard to say whether this counts as a form of torture...

But to be honest, it was precisely these kinds of questions that gave him a sense of reassurance.

So much so that Kakuzu began to worry when he thought that the organization would eventually send someone to find him, and that it was very likely Orochimaru and Sasori to come looking for him.

However, it was not the organization that first approached them.

"Be careful, they are Konoha's ANBU."

Standing beside the cart, Kakuzu whispered a reminder to Zheng Jing and Aizen in front of him.

Along the way, he discovered that Zheng Jing and Aizen were like hermits who had lived in seclusion for too long, highly skilled but ignorant of worldly affairs.

Upon seeing the eight secret agents jump out and surround the three of them from four directions, Kakuzu instinctively spoke up.

"I can see it, I can see it."

After getting off the cart, Zheng Jing scratched his cheek and looked around at the eight members of the secret service.

"Judging from this situation, it doesn't seem like we've come to the wrong person. I'm thinking, we haven't done anything along the way."

Indeed, nothing much was done.

At least it didn't nearly turn an entire city upside down like it did in the Land of Fields.

After all, the Land of Fire was a powerful nation, and even in cities near the border, the people were able to live in peace after the war.

Having entered the Land of Fire, Zheng Jing and his companions have stopped in two cities and traveled along the official road, but they have not seen any more refugees or bandits.

To be precise, they haven't even encountered a bounty hunter.

Unexpectedly, the next bandits they encountered were Konoha's Anbu.

"..."

Kakuzu remained silent.

He knew that Zheng Jing and Aizen hadn't done anything along the way.

The problem is that nothing was done.

—These two actually let him brazenly enter the city within the Land of Fire while wearing Akatsuki robes.

After the Third Shinobi World War, while the organization's name might not be known throughout the world, there was certainly a document about it on the desks of the high-ranking officials in various ninja villages.

After all, the organization at this stage is ostensibly an armed organization that has absorbed many rogue ninjas and whose core business is selling weapons.

For the five great nations, which are supported by powerful ninja villages, such an organization is a useful weapon when needed, but a pest when not needed. Naturally, none of them can tolerate such an organization coming uninvited.

This is precisely why Kakuzu felt that Zheng Jing and Aizen were naive and ignorant of the ways of the world.

He knew that the people from Konoha would arrive sooner or later.

So......

Want to give it a try?

Take this opportunity to escape!

Chapter 178: Sigh, Uchiha

"DOMO, Konoha's Anbu lords, Desu the Demon Slayer."

With his hands clasped together, Zheng Jing greeted the members of the secret service.

Eight members of the secret service were deployed, which means two squads were dispatched.

Seeing that Zheng Jing remained calm and composed in the face of danger, even managing to introduce himself so calmly, the two squad leaders exchanged a glance, and the older one spoke up.

“Your Akatsuki organization dared to infiltrate the Land of Fire. Now that you have been exposed, you should obediently surrender and there will still be a chance to get a lighter sentence.”

"A few more rude people."

With a slight pout, Zheng Jing glanced sideways at Du: "Old Deng, he's looking for you."

"...Do they look like they're only here to see me?"

"What, is there something between me and Lao Lan involved in this?"

Zheng Jing raised an eyebrow and looked at the squad leader of the dark unit who had spoken.

"No way, huh?"

The secret agents remained silent, but silently answered Zheng Jing with their actions.

Seeing the secret agents begin to tighten their encirclement, Zheng Jing shook his head and suddenly pointed with his finger.

"Certainly."

In an instant, the secret agents stopped in their tracks.

Seeing this, Kakuzu couldn't help but rub his temples.

run away?

Of course he wanted to escape.

But these Konoha ANBU really do create opportunities for him to escape.

In the end, the only thing these Konoha ANBU did for him was let him know that Zheng Jing's strange control methods could turn into mass control at any time.

"Here."

As Kakuzu was feeling distressed, Zheng Jing raised his hand, took out a bundle of hemp rope about the thickness of an average person's wrist from his backpack, and threw it into Kakuzu's arms.