"You mean the cook made a scene at my Exchange?!"
Deep underground, Black Zetsu stared at White Zetsu, who had come to report, incredulous — a huge question mark appearing on his brow.
It turned out the White Zetsu who had been in the Exchange earlier hadn't left quietly; he had sneaked into the hall to check the identity of the troublemaker.
What he discovered was a problem: the one causing a ruckus at the Exchange was none other than Uchiha Renya!
Keep in mind — that fellow is the cook favored by Black Zetsu!
White Zetsu hurried over immediately to report to his boss, Black Zetsu. It happened that Black Zetsu had been inspecting the Exchange recently, so he learned the news right away.
"That's right."
"Why did he come to make trouble at the Exchange?!" Black Zetsu asked, baffled.
Wasn't the cook traveling around the shinobi world recently? How did he suddenly show up at the Exchange to cause a fuss?
Had someone at the Exchange provoked him?
Black Zetsu didn't care in the least about the Exchange's losses — he only wanted to know Renya's motive for this trip.
An Exchange is just an Exchange; if one disappears, there will be others all across the shinobi world. He didn't care about that kind of loss.
But there was only one cook for his mother!
Previously, Black Zetsu had discovered that someone at the Exchange had posted a bounty of three hundred million on Renya's head — a price on par with the five great shinobi villages' Kage-level bounties!
For the cook's life, Black Zetsu had ordered that no Exchange in the shinobi world may issue any bounty on Renya.
And no information about Renya may be sold on the black market!
The cook's safety came before everything!
Indeed, the underworld was still Black Zetsu's territory.
White Zetsu could use the subtle Myriad Insect technique to gather intelligence undetected — spying was effortless for him.
It was precisely because he could do that that Black Zetsu had built the black market.
…
"It seems the cook came to rob the bounty hunters…"
"Rob?" Black Zetsu murmured softly. "Looks like the cook's short on money."
So that explained why Renya had gone to the Exchange for no apparent reason — he'd gone because he was broke and came to rob them.
If the cook didn't have money, then give him some. Consider it advance pay for the meals he'll make for my mother in the future — an early salary draw.
Money never meant much to Black Zetsu; it was merely a tool to win people over.
In his view, reviving his mother was the only thing that truly mattered; everything else was insignificant.
Of course, anything involving his mother was important — including the person who would cook for her in the future.
"Make arrangements to have the staff transfer the Exchange's money to the cook," he said.
"Yes!"
…
"The Exchange may not publish bounties on me?" Renya's eyes widened in shock; his voice rose several degrees. "Are you kidding me?"
"Renya-dono, this is the boss's order." The old shopkeeper looked embarrassed.
So the young man before him was someone the boss had specially instructed them to favor.
"Why is your boss doing this?!" Renya slammed the table in anger. "I want to complain — I'll report you!"
He couldn't understand how he had incurred the Exchange boss's favor; being treated like this was utterly beyond belief!
No wonder nobody had tried to assassinate him along the way — turns out the Exchange had been forbidden from posting bounties on him.
He'd never heard of such a ridiculous requirement in his life!
An Exchange forbidden to post bounties was like a cold medicine that couldn't cure a cold.
The old shopkeeper's mouth twitched; Renya wanted to file a complaint. If it had been someone else, the boss would have probably sent people to chop them up and feed them to dogs.
There had been people who tried to rob the Exchange before, like Renya, but none of them ever left alive.
No one needed to guess who had pulled the strings behind the Exchange.
As time went on, fewer and fewer people dared to make a play for the Exchange.
"Where's your boss? Let him come out!" Renya flipped up his straw hat, revealing a pair of crimson eyes. "I want to talk to him."
He wanted to ask why the Exchange boss was targeting him!
"Sorry." The old shopkeeper bowed and explained, "I have no news of the boss."
He'd been a shopkeeper all his life and had never seen the legendary boss, let alone known the boss's whereabouts.
"Forget it." Renya sighed helplessly. Since he couldn't see the boss, there was nothing to be done.
If there can't be a bounty, so be it. From another angle, it simply meant no bounty hunters would come after him.
Imagine Renya and Danzo doing a mission together; any bounty hunters would target Danzo — there's no bounty on Renya at all!
Renya could only comfort himself with that thought.
Although discovering that the Exchange couldn't put a bounty on him didn't earn him any direct cash, at least he had successfully taken a large sum.
Overall, he was reasonably satisfied.
Just as Renya was packing the money he'd taken into a storage scroll and preparing to leave, somebody moved at incredible speed and appeared in the Exchange.
"You brat, hand over all the money on you!" Kakuzu greedily stared at the piles of cash stacked not far away.
That money was enough to pay his bounties for a year!
Indeed, robbery was the quickest way to make money!
Renya, about to stuff the cash into his storage scroll, suddenly heard a familiar voice.
Isn't that voice his walking ATM — Kakuzu?
"Kakuzu, I've been looking for you." Renya turned and showed a dazzling smile. "Long time no see. Have you been making money these years?"
His long-awaited cash dispenser had finally shown up — could he not be happy?
He hadn't expected to meet Kakuzu this time, but what a pleasant surprise — the golden toad had come right to him!
"You… you're here?!" Kakuzu felt like the sky had fallen when he recognized Renya's face.
Every encounter with Uchiha Renya had ended badly for him…
The first time he tried to assassinate Senju Hashirama he ran into Renya; not only did the boy poison him, but he got himself into considerable debt for the antidote.
The second time he tried to kill Senju Tobirama he ran into Renya again; he repaid the debt from buying the antidote, then was beaten half to death by Tobirama and fled in disgrace.
Years later, he met Renya again — what would happen this time?
Anyway, nothing good was going to happen…
"Don't come any closer!" Kakuzu shouted as Renya walked toward him.
"Don't worry, I'm just here to take your money. I'm not going to kill you," Renya said softly, afraid Kakuzu would turn and run.
If Kakuzu fled, getting the money would take much more effort.
Kakuzu: "???"
Robbing him of the money he'd earned with such difficulty felt worse than killing him!
"Bastard, I'll kill you!"
After years of training, Kakuzu had fully mastered the power of resentment and fear.
Today, he wanted to wash away the shame of the past with blood!
"Prepare to die, brat!"
...
Three minutes later…
Kakuzu lay on the ground with his four hearts shattered, bruised and beaten like a dead dog, forced to watch Renya squat and count the money he had earned with such hardship over the years.
"Can you at least leave me a little…"
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Pls Drop some Power Stones
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