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Hidan stood within the ritual circle drawn in fresh blood, holding a necklace and continuously chanting.
Beside him lay a ninja covered in blood, life status unknown, collapsed on the ground.
Kakuzu took out his ledger, crossed off one of the names, while simultaneously estimating how much bounty this latest prey would bring to the Akatsuki. After a while, he had already calculated the account twice, yet Hidan was still muttering over there. This couldn't help but make him complain, "Too slow, Hidan! Do you know how much time this delays us?"
"Ah, don't distract me! Now I have to start all over again!" His prayer interrupted, Hidan also scratched his head in annoyance. "Lord Jashin cares a lot about these details! I can't help it either!"
Kakuzu shook his head and sighed deeply. He was someone who greatly valued efficiency. His previous partner, due to being clumsy, was finished off by him along with the target.
Hidan was his new partner. His skills weren't bad, and battles ended quickly. But he insisted on performing this ritual of sacrificing to Lord Jashin, which wasted even more time than before.
Half an hour later, Hidan, who had been lying motionless on the ground, finally completed the ritual. He jumped up instantly, saying excitedly, "Lord Jashin was very satisfied with this offering! Let's quickly find the next target!"
"Finally finished? But speaking of which, does that so-called Lord Jashin of yours actually give you any feedback?"
Hidan wasn't pleased hearing this. "Hah? Are you doubting Lord Jashin? Well, I can't blame you, after all, you haven't personally witnessed the greatness of Lord Jashin yet! How about it? Want to join the Jashin cult? I'll personally baptize you!"
Kakuzu looked at the excitedly grinning Hidan. No matter how he looked at it, he felt this so-called Jashin probably didn't exist at all. He immediately shook his head. "No need. Let me see the next target... hmm, the remaining ones are all small fries not worth much money."
Kakuzu flipped through a few more pages of his ledger, then looked at one particular bounty.
[Name: Vortex of War (Duo)]
[Bounty: 40 Million Ryo (Provided by Konoha)]
[Last Known Location: Vicinity of Tanzaku Quarters]
[Activities: Descendants of the Uzumaki clan, suspected siblings. Ruthless and merciless personality. Originated from Kusagakure. Attacked Konoha twice causing heavy casualties, killed Konoha high-ranking official Nara Shikaku, seized the ninja sword from S-rank rogue ninja Kisame Hoshigaki. Highly likely the source of chaos in the ninja world.]
Kakuzu looked towards the distance, precisely in the direction of Tanzaku Quarters. "Well then, let's take a slight detour."
Wujie and Karin had already followed Tsunade to Tanzaku Quarters. The small town they were previously in could no longer satisfy Tsunade; she craved new gambling dens!
However, after Wujie helped her bankrupt several more gambling dens, her gambling addiction diminished considerably.
Because she felt like she was just a heartless cheating machine. The large bundle, like a small mountain, carried by Shizune was entirely filled with money won by Wujie.
No matter what she bet on, as long as Wujie bet on the opposite side, he was guaranteed to win. The money flowing out of her hands seemed to get gold-plated in the gambling den owner's hands, returning multiplied...
But this kind of thing lacked any excitement!
This wasn't gambling at all!
Moreover, recently she had even been labeled as part of a cheating gang and explicitly banned from entering gambling dens!
Above Tanzaku Quarters, on the plains near Tanzaku Castle.
Wujie and Karin sat facing each other on rocks, refining chakra. The Star was radiating between them. The chakra refined by the two was quickly dyed purple by the radiation, then returned to their bodies, forming a cycle, continuously modifying their bodies.
"Cough cough." Wujie coughed lightly.
Karin immediately looked over with concern. "Brother Wujie, what's wrong? Is the radiation eroding your body?"
"No, it's nothing." Wujie shook his head. "It's just that my compatibility with physical energy isn't that good. Just like Akahoshi from Hoshigakure, he could also practice the Peacock Method, but its power was worlds apart compared to Natsuhi's. How about you? Do you feel any discomfort?"
Karin also shook her head. "No. And it feels like there's no burden at all. I feel like I could keep cultivating like this indefinitely."
"That's good." Wujie lowered his head in thought for a moment, then asked, "How is your Peacock Method training going? Can you achieve what I requested before?"
"Mostly, there's no problem." Karin nodded, then asked again somewhat unconfidently, "But can we really do that kind of thing? I've never heard of anyone being able to do that."
Wujie smiled and replied, "Rest assured. Just because it hasn't happened before doesn't mean it won't happen in the future. Besides, I believe in our mutual understanding. If even we can't do it, then no one in this world can."
Karin also smiled. After a short while, she spoke again, "Do we need to be so guarded against her? I feel like Tsunade's hostility towards us isn't that great."
Speaking of this, Wujie sighed lightly. "Honestly, we have too few bargaining chips. Tsunade doesn't urgently need anything special either. Besides her deceased relatives, what she values most is Konoha. There are too few things about her I can leverage. I really have no confidence in persuading her. Therefore, we must have the ability to protect ourselves should negotiations break down... no, even protect ourselves from both her and Jiraiya. Placing all hope entirely on one's own words isn't something a qualified villain should do."
It was truly hard to say what Tsunade's final decision would be.
Orochimaru had once offered to revive her relatives as a condition for her to heal his hands, but even then, Tsunade ultimately refused the deal to protect Konoha.
Karin nodded, then stopped refining chakra and began practicing the Peacock Method instead.
At least when Wujie needs her, she can't hold him back.
Wujie also stopped refining chakra and began cultivating the Yin Seal Tsunade had taught him.
The two cultivated for the better part of the day. In the afternoon, a dejected Tsunade returned with Shizune. Clearly, she had been denied entry by the gambling dens again this time.
But Shizune, holding Tonton, seemed to be in quite a good mood. She had probably already deposited all the money.
This might be the first time in all these years they had engaged in the activity of saving money.
Tsunade sat on a rock, resting her chin on her hand, watching the two boredly. After a while, she scratched her head, truly idle and restless, and walked over to Karin's side. "Come on, let me see how far your Monstrous Strength training has progressed."
Karin said "Oh" and stood up. Tsunade also extended her palm towards her.
"Come on! Use your full strength!"
"Mm!" Karin took a deep breath, then slowly concentrated a large amount of chakra into her arm as Tsunade had taught her, and then...
Violently unleashed it!
Karin straightened her legs, swung her waist, her arm swung fiercely, and her fist heavily struck Tsunade's palm!
BANG!!!!!!!!!!
The shockwave produced by the huge sound, superimposed with the spreading airflow, instantly blew the nearby large trees until they swayed violently!
"Huu..." Karin exhaled, then looked expectantly at Tsunade. "How was it?"
Tsunade's mouth twitched. Should I tell the truth? Even she herself didn't have such refined chakra control at this age!
"Well... it's not bad, I guess. Mm, your progress is just a tiny bit faster than I expected."
"Is that so?" Karin lowered her head somewhat disappointedly.
Seeing her like this, Tsunade felt a bit embarrassed and scratched her cheek. "No need to be so disappointed either. You performed very well, at least better than I expected. I'm already very satisfied."
Compared to Wujie, whose thoughts were inscrutable, Tsunade had a better impression of the straightforward Karin.
Besides, if they could give up their so-called revenge and just follow her into retirement like this, that might not be bad either.
Tsunade looked towards Wujie, sitting aside studying the Yin Seal, and said to him, "You try too."
Wujie smiled and shook his head. "Thank you for your concern, but my progress isn't as good as Karin's. I can only barely use it. If I don't concentrate, I might even injure myself."
"If you could put down the scroll and listen properly to my lecture, this wouldn't happen."
"Division of labor is still more reasonable. Karin doesn't need to spend time practicing the Yin Seal either; she just needs to learn how to release the seal. I'll handle the rest for her. This way, efficiency will be higher. After all, we still have many things to do and can't stay here too long."
Tsunade's expression turned somewhat unhappy. She said to Wujie, "Is revenge really that important? Worth dedicating your entire life to?"
Wujie smiled. "Perhaps it won't take that long at all. Besides, haven't you also been unable to forgive yourself all this time?"
Tsunade's eyes narrowed. "Speaking of which, you seem to know quite a lot. Where did you get all this information?"
"I naturally have my own channels."
Just as the two were looking at each other, Karin suddenly turned to look at Wujie. "Orochimaru's chakra signature has appeared. The target is right here."
"Orochimaru!? What's he doing here?" Tsunade was startled, then immediately looked at Wujie. "Did you lure him here?"
Wujie spread his hands innocently, then said with a smile, "You're wrongly accusing me. I have no entanglement with Orochimaru. However, you might already know, I heard he lost the use of his hands in the battle with the Third Hokage, and you are publicly acknowledged as the best medical ninja in the entire shinobi world. Do you think there might be some connection between these two?"
Tsunade took a deep breath, glanced sideways at Wujie. "Nothing good has happened since meeting you two!"
Wujie just smiled, wondering who helped her earn all that money in her savings account.
"Sigh, forget it." Tsunade shook her head. "Since Orochimaru has found us, let's just avoid him."
Wujie, however, retorted at this moment, "What kind of person Orochimaru is, I think you know better than I do. If he can't find you, he absolutely won't give up. It's best to meet him. That's more dignified than dodging around wretchedly, only to be caught by him in the end anyway."
Tsunade naturally understood Orochimaru, knew he was someone who would resort to any means to achieve his goals, and had numerous subordinates. Indeed, no matter what, avoiding his tracking was impossible.
It was just that Wujie's way of putting it was still so annoying to her!
Karin came to Wujie's side. Shizune also moved to Tsunade's side. The group remained where they were, waiting for a while, before the figures of Orochimaru and Kabuto Yakushi appeared within their line of sight.