"Did you see how my kunai went flying?" Karin asked as she jumped proudly about, "It just cut the guy's kunai right in two and flew right through his head!" Her little hands went flying all over the place as she acted out the battle once more, not a single detail forgotten.
"What I saw," Kakuzu answered, "was you wasting not one, but two perfectly fine kunai to kill a worthless genin." He said, acting as if it had been his kunai that had been broken. "A waste, a terrible waste."
"They weren't yours, so why do you care?" Karin asked, confused.
"Because a wasted tool is a wasted tool," he said, "And this mission has been a waste of my time. I have spent more money on travel than I will make from this bounty after all your cuts."
Karin looked at him as if he had grown a second head. The concept of money was something she was familiar with, but not in the way Kakuzu was, the pure greed he had was something else.
"Does money really mean so much to you?" she couldn't help but ask.
"You don't get it, little brat, money is everything! It's the single most important thing in the entire world, and you just wasted so much of it on this tiny bounty, four explosive tags, four!" he started to go off again, complaining about all the tiny things.
I couldn't help but sigh as I listened to him. "Let me remind you that you picked this bounty, so you knew very well that it was a low-reward one." I reminded him, not that it would do much good, as the old man loved to complain.
"Even a little money is still money!" he shot back. "And I wanted to make some money, not waste it," he argued, his face red with frustration.
"Then you should be happy that Karin's tools won't be taken from your share, at least you still made a profit," I said calmly. "I was the one who made a loss here."
When all was said and done, this small bounty we had just taken was indeed not worth all that much, far from the big million-ryō ones.
Normally, I would never have bothered taking one like this, but to Kakuzu, all money was worth earning.
So yes, using four explosive tags was indeed causing Karin a loss with how small her cut would be, even the full bounty was hardly worth the time, much less after the Akatsuki's cut.
"Hey, hey!" Karin said, clearly not wanting to be ignored, "When are we going back to Ame again? I wanna see Mom, I have so many cool stories to tell." she said, wanting to go back and brag to her mother about her victory.
It was her nature, she was a child who enjoyed showing off her victories, and there was nothing wrong with that.
"Soon," I said, "Kakuzu can't keep taking one bounty after the other without going back, even if he wants to." I reminded the old man, who looked at me, clearly not happy about the reminder.
He really didn't want to go back, going back meant he had to hand over their cut of the money, and it meant that once more, he would be unable to work while I stayed in the village.
Both were things he clearly wanted to avoid at nearly all cost, but also things he knew that it was only a matter of time before he had to do.
Another day, another bounty, another walk with Kakuzu dragging the body behind him as he walked, leafing through the Bingo Book, trying to find any bounties near here, or far more likely, just committing them all to memory.
Dreaming of cashing them all in, after all, the Bingo Book didn't really have bounties as much as it had profiles of well-known and famous people, mostly shinobi or samurai, and with that profile, often came a price.
Kakuzu suddenly turned his head towards me, his eyes narrowed.
"Just noticed something, nothing to worry about." I told him, not explaining further.
"What, what?" Karin asked, curious as to what was happening.
Kakuzu didn't bother answering; he just gave me a hard look, a warning that I shouldn't try anything, that he was watching me.
I also didn't answer Karin; I just reached out and ruffled her hair, something that made her pout angrily as she crossed her arms, fully projecting her unhappiness at being treated like a child.
What she had missed, but Kakuzu hadn't, was that I made a Shadow Clone and sent it out. For someone on my level, it wasn't difficult to do something like that without a big cloud; it was merely a bit more difficult without it.
As we continued in silence, my clone shot through the forest towards its target, a White Zetsu that was calling me over.
I had naturally been aware that they were following us, keeping an eye on us to ensure we didn't try to flee the Akatsuki, just another way for Nagato and Obito to control us.
A measure of control that was now under my firm hand.
"What is it?" I asked as I reached him.
"Hello," the White Zetsu said, looking at me curiously.
"Why did you call me out?" I asked him, not wanting to waste my time on this fool's small talk.
"I was told to inform you, I'm not sure why I was told to do that, but" he said, clearly curious, but just shrugging his shoulders, knowing he wasn't meant to know all things. "Orochimaru and Sasori are moving towards you. If you continue down this road, you will likely encounter them." The White Zetsu told me.
Now that was interesting. I highly doubted they were here on official Akatsuki business, which likely meant they wanted to know more about the immortal monk, and that wasn't hard to imagine. Both were eager to find him for their own selfish reasons.
All the better for me.
"Very well, do nothing, I will meet with them," I told the White Zetsu before dismissing myself, sending the information back to the real body.
"So, what's happening?" Karin asked, clearly not having forgotten my earlier action.
"Nothing important," I said dismissively.
"Then why did you..." she started to ask, but I cut her off.
"Sometimes, as a shinobi, you must do things that you cannot explain to your teammates," I said, my tone leaving no room for argument.
I didn't want to explain myself, as while Kakuzu might suspect he was being monitored, I wouldn't go reveal to him that I was getting intel from the spies watching us.
Sure, he likely knew that I would know if we were being watched, my Byakugan was revealed after all, and while Kakuzu didn't know the range of my vision, he would never dare to underestimate it; he was far too experienced to make such a mistake.
One should always overestimate the enemy; only then would one never be surprised.
It took a few hours more of walking, mostly in silence, with Karin complaining about the smell or just wanting to talk a little to escape the boredom, before I finally saw the two enter the range of my Byakugan.
They were impossible to mistake, after all, how often did someone see a human puppet? Not to mention that Orochimaru was more snake than human at this point, and while they both looked normal enough on the surface, my eyes saw what was underneath.
I saw it, the countless modifications Orochimaru had done to himself, the summon seals written all over his body, on the inside, allowing him to summon his snakes from everywhere, not to mention all kinds of wrongness that was his body.
Sasori, on the other hand, was a true work of art. Sure, it was mostly wood and chakra metal, but the way he went about turning that into a puppet body for himself? He had clearly thought through every detail, recognized the weaknesses in people, and done his best to correct them.
Turning the perceived flaws of the human body into strengths. There was a simple brutality to it, and honesty.
Many shinobi were raised to be weapons, to think of themselves as weapons, as tools for their villages, and Sasori had taken this lesson to heart, turning himself into a true weapon.
Far more effective than when I had first made the White Zetsu, even if the base material was far more important for the outcome. Still, it was without a doubt the height of the puppet craft.
"It seems we are about to have some company," I said, breaking the silence.
Kakuzu's head snapped up, his senses on high alert. "Who?" he asked, his hand already moving towards the pouch on his leg.
"Orochimaru and Sasori," I said, my tone calm.
He stopped dead in his tracks, the body he was dragging falling to the ground with a dull thud. "What do they want?" he asked, a hint of suspicion in his voice.
"Don't worry, I doubt they are here for a fight, nor to steal your money; they are likely here to learn more about the immortal monk, after all." I paused, turning my head to him. "Not everyone already has ways of staying alive forever."
I could see the chakra inside him rumble angrily as I reminded him that I knew his secret. But he didn't say anything, didn't do anything but just grumble and pick up the body again. "Don't get in my way," he told me as he started walking again.
"I know Orochimaru! His name is in the Bingo Book! The Sannin!" Karin said excitedly, "Is he as strong as they say?" she asked, clearly excited to meet such a famous person, and not scared at all.
"He is strong," I said, not wanting to get into a longer explanation with her right now. "But don't bother him, you hear? He isn't a nice person, and he isn't here to be your friend." I warned her.
She pouted a little but nodded. "Okay," she said, though I could see the curiosity in her eyes. She was a child, after all, and the Sannin were legends.
It didn't take long for them to show up, Orochimaru walking out of the forest with that unnerving grace he always had, his golden eyes seeming to look right through me. Sasori followed, a few paces behind, his wooden body making no sound as he moved over the forest floor.
"Kaguya-hime," Orochimaru said, his voice a smooth, sibilant hiss that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. "What a... pleasant surprise."
"Orochimaru," I said, my tone neutral. "What brings you to this neck of the woods?"
Orochimaru let out a smile, the creepy kind that only someone like him could, a smile that could give lesser children nightmares. "Why, immortality of course."
(End of chapter)
Support me at patreon.com/unknownfate - for the opportunity to read up to 30 chapters ahead.