After these past few enters with Uzumaki Senshi, Kakuzu had e to realize just how odd this fellow truly was. So when Kakuzu saw Senshi behaving like this now, he felt surprisingly calm. In the Akatsuki, having the occasional fit didn’t matter as long as it didn’t hinder pleting missions.

  “e with me,” Kakuzu’s voice reached Uzumaki Senshi.

  Senshi did not refuse. Taking Karin along, he followed Kakuzu away. Kakuzu led Senshi to an unoccupied room iower.

  “From now on, this will be your p this hideout, for both of you.”

  Then he said to Senshi, “As for your uniform, I’ll bring it to you ter.”

  Hearing this, Senshi interrupted, “Not just for me—get one for her, too.”

  Speaking, he patted Karin on the shoulder. Kakuzu’s face twitched slightly, but he chose not tue over minor details.

  Before long, Kakuzu returned with two sets of bck cloaks patterned with red clouds and handed oo Senshi. His tone was casual:

  “Take the rest of today off. Starting tomorrow, you’ll begin official missions.”

  Senshi gave a slight nod. “No problem, I’ll be ready to start tomorrow.”

  After Kakuzu left, Karin asked curiously, “So we’ll be living here for a while?”

  Senshi walked over to a retively -looking coud plopped down, shaking his head.

  “We probably won’t e back here often. Most of the time, we’ll be out on various missions. Of course, you stay here if you like.”

  Karin sniffed and said, “Hmph! I’m not staying here. I’m following you! I told you I be really useful.”

  Logically, remaining in the hideout or in Amegakure would be safer for her. But in Karin’s mind, stig with Uzumaki Senshi was the safest option of all.

  “Hahaha…”

  Hearing Karin’s insistence, Senshi couldn’t help ughing. He got up, walked over to the young girl, and pyfully ruffled her bright red hair. Karin pursed her lips, looking as though her world was ending.

  When diime came, someone from Akatsuki’s logistiit delivered meals to their room. After dinner, Karin washed up ao her own room to sleep, while Senshi headed to the tower rooftop to experiment with the Rumble-Rumble Fruit’s powers.

  An unimaginable burst of lightning coursed through him. Bright arcs of electricity crackled wildly around Senshi. Members of Akatsuki soon appeared at various vantage points in the shadows, all taken aback by what they saw. Aside from Kakuzu, most didn’t truly grasp the extent of Senshi’s abilities until now. They were shocked by the purity of his Lightning Release chakra and the sheer power of his lightning jutsu.

  Rumble—

  BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

  The phenomenon caused by Senshi’s tests sted some time befradually subsiding. His exceptionally pure Lightning Release chakra and tremendous aptitude fhtning teiques made a deep impression on everyone.

  Having finished experimenting with the Naruto-adapted Rumble-Rumble Fruit, Senshi was in an incredibly good mood. He didn’t linger on the rooftop in the cold breeze, instead returning to the room he shared with Karin. After a quick wash, he went to sleep.

  An invisible eleagic field soon spread outward from him in all dires. Roughly oh of Amegakure y within his field’s radius. Thanks to the “Mantra” ability, he could sense every slight disturbahin that range.

  Nothing else happehat night.

  The m, Senshi and Karin got up early and washed. After ging into the bck cloak with red clouds, Senshi took Karin to meet Kakuzu, and the three of them left the Amegakure tower for the bck market.

  Both Kakuzu and Senshi were regurs in the bck market with good reputations, so it wasn’t hard for them to take on missions. However, when Kakuzu tried to accept a bounty mission, Senshi stopped him.

  “I’ll only do ission jobs.”

  Kakuzu could only sigh. “It’s not like there’s an endless supply of ission tasks. If you don’t want to take part in a bounty mission, just wait nearby while I ha.”

  For Kakuzu, most targets were small fry, not worth teaming up for. But Senshi shook his head.

  “No do. Only ission jobs. Wait a sec!”

  He suddenly realized something, startling Kakuzu, who wondered what was wrong now.

  Say Kakuzu hires me to help him with a bounty mission—would that trigger the system’s reward?

  At that thought, Senshi brightened up. If that worked, then from his perspective all missions could bee “issions”! Turning to Kakuzu, he said:

  “Kakuzu, you hire me to help you on bounty hunts. I’ll just take half the pay.”

  Kakuzu’s eyes went wide. He muttered, “Hand over half of the reward…to hire Uzumaki Senshi?”

  It wasn’t impossible. sidering Senshi’s power now, if the two worked together, they could handle any job short of assassinating a Kage. Rifling through his pocket, Kakuzu pulled out a staission slips and found one.

  “This one’s a bounty on sade ninja from Amegakure. There are ten of them, scattered around outside the vilge, which is too much hassle. That’s why I’ve been putting it off. The bounty’s not bad—20,000 ryō per head. Uzumaki Senshi, I’ll pay you 100,000 ryō total if you help me clear it.”

  [New issioed!]

  [t: Kakuzu]

  [Goal: Assist Kakuzu in eliminating the Amegakure renegades]

  [Reward: 100,000 ryō]

  [Difficulty: B-Rank]

  [System Bonus: 100 ission Points]

  Seeing this system prompt, Senshi was momentarily stunned.

  “Whoa, did I really just exploit this loophole?”

  Overjoyed, Senshi realized he could farm ission tasks even more effitly this way!

  From then on, Senshi followed Kakuzu in a frantic mission spree, urning anything down. With their bined power—practically a crushing for Amegakure—they pleted missions at an astounding pace. Uhe range of Senshi’s “Mantra,” targets had o hide. A job that would normally take Kakuzu three to five days was now finished almost effortlessly.

  By nightfall, the three took rooms in an inn. Kakuzu, thhly exhausted, handed 30,000 ryō to Senshi. Under normal circumstances, Kakuzu wouldn’t bother with low-paying tasks, but their efficy was so high that the bck market was running out of missions to dole out.

  [ission pleted!]

  [Reward: 30 ission Points]

  Hearing the system prompt, Senshi was delighted. Over the past days, he’d piled up a wealth of rewards, rocketing forward on his path to being a “humanoid Ten-Tails.”

  The m, at first light, Kakuzu—who had barely in dooken by loud banging on his door:

  Bang, bang, bang!

  Senshi’s voice rang out from the hallway:

  “Kakuzu! Big Bro Kaku! Lord Kaku! Open up! No sg—time for more missions!”

  Kakuzu felt a massive headache. Is this guy even human?

  They’d been running missions nonstop all day yesterday, and now before sunrise, Senshi wao head out again?!

  Bang, bang, bang—

  The insistent knocks kept ing. Kakuzu y there in bed, utterly drained. His teal-greeared at the door, a out a weary sigh. The grayish tint to his face seemed ated by big dark circles under his eyes.

  “This…monster… For half a month straight now, he hasn’t stopped. He’s been running missions non-stop. Does the guy ever rest? Is money worth risking your life like this? Why does he have so muergy?”

  Before meeting Uzumaki Senshi, Kakuzu had thought of himself as the ultimate mission addict. But upon witnessing Senshi, he had to admit he was far behind. Yesterday they’d worked from m to night, and now he was back at it at the crack of dawn. Didn’t he get tired? How was he always so full of vigor?

  With a sigh, Kakuzu rolled over, deg to ighe knog.

  Meanwhile, out in the hall, Senshi was cheg his status s:

  [Name: Uzumaki Sensh

  [Gender: Male]

  [Age: 18]

  [ission Points: 225]

  [Chakra Natures: Fire (B), Wind (C), Lightning (SSS), Water (B), Earth (B), Yang (B), Yin (B)]

  [Chakra Capacity: SSS+ (your reserves surpass most Tailed Beasts, akin to a perpetual motion mae)]

  [Physical Strength: SSS (far strohan steel; ordinary ninjutsu hardly harm you)]

  {Talents}

  [Heavenly Thunder: Greatly boosts Lightning Release affinity and probability of drawing lightning-type rewards]

  [Rumble-Rumble Fruit (Naruto-adapted): SSS-rank treasure from the One Piece world, side effects removed]

  [Development Level: A]

  [Unlocked Abilities]

  ? Mantra: Sense all movements within a certain radius

  ? Lightning Finger: Fire off lightning through your fiips

  ? Lightning Teleportation: Transform iricity to move through electric fields or ductive materials

  ? Inazuma (Thunderbolt): Turn your arm into lightning to form a colossal thunder n, striking surrounding targets or pinpointing any within your Mantra range

  ? Lightning Form: Bee lightning itself, releasi and light to e physical attabsp;

  ? Discharge: Bst electricity in a 360-degree radius without discrimination

  ? Divine Punishment: dense a pilr of lightning for sustained bombardment of an enemy

  ? Electrotherapy: Use electrical current to revive a stopped heart, making it beat again

  ? Lightniallurgy: Melt metals with electricity to reshape them, potentially creating ons

  ? Lightning Shockwave: Gee a supersonic shockwave amid crashing thunder, knog baing attabsp;

  ? 30 Million Volts: Thunder Beast: Gather lightning into a wolf shape for a destructive strike

  ? 30 Million Volts: Thunderbird: Gather lightning into a bird shape for a swift aerial assault

  [Kekkei Genkai: None]

  {Teiques}

  [Substitution Jutsu: S-level]

  [Lightning Release: Lightning Ball: S-level]

  [Lightning Release: Lightning e: A-level]

  [Lightning Release: Earth Walk: S-level]

  [Lightning Release: Heavy Current Rage: SS-level]

  [Lightning Release: Lariat (Lightning Plow Hot Knife): S-level]

  [Lightning Release: Lightning Burial: A-level]

  [Chidori: A-level]

  …