Freelancer in the Ninja World

It was fortunate that, thanks to Senshi's month of nonstop missions, the organization's finances had swelled substantially. Otherwise, Nagato wouldn't have had the funds to pay such a hefty commission.

He lifted his head, addressing Senshi once more:

"The organization will pay you 36 million ryō to subjugate Kusagakure."

[New Commission Detected!]

[Client: Nagato, Leader of Akatsuki]

[Objective: Subjugate Kusagakure]

[Reward: 36 million ryō]

[Difficulty: S-Rank]

[System Bonus: 36,000 Commission Points]

Senshi was thrilled. 36,000 commission points—enough for 36 ten-pulls. This single mission was set to be a massive windfall.

In the last month, despite doing scores of tasks in the Ame, S-rank jobs were scarce—and often involved assassination of notable targets in the Land of Fire like the daimyo, the Twelve Guardian Ninja, or even the Third Hokage himself. He wouldn't have minded picking them up, but Kakuzu had refused, saying Akatsuki was still in a dormant phase and couldn't do anything too extreme. Hence, Senshi had only been racking up a large quantity of smaller commissions, the "quality" being far lower. He'd felt quite envious.

"All right, Boss," he said, rubbing his hands happily. "No problem—leave it to me."

Pain nodded curtly. "Go."

Wasting no time, Senshi motioned to Karin, walked over to Kakuzu, and clapped him on the shoulder.

"All right, Little Kaku, enough dawdling. Time to set off!"

Kakuzu let out a long, weary sigh. He'd rather handle the assignment alone than be dragged along on Senshi's endless spree of side missions. Granted, there were advantages to teaming up with him—Senshi's success rate was 100%, and he was unbelievably efficient. While Kakuzu's body gradually wore down, his earnings continued to climb. That said, he couldn't even begin to rest.

In the end, he had no choice. So, he followed Senshi out of the Amegakure, joined by Karin. Soon, they were making their way down the road.

Knowing they were returning to Kusagakure made Karin nervous. There, she and her mother had been treated like "living medicine bags." Whenever a Kusa ninja was injured, they would force her or her mother to let them bite them, healing their wounds. Her memories of Kusagakure were dark and painful.

Senshi seemed to recall that, for with a small grin he ruffled Karin's hair, ignoring her protests:

"No need to worry. Once we arrive, I'll beat down every last person who bit you—one by one."

Karin blinked, suddenly realizing that, compared to the Kusa ninjas, Senshi was likely more terrifying. And once he completed this new mission, he'd become even stronger. Not only that, a future alliance between Kusagakure and the Ame might lead to more tasks, letting him power up endlessly via the mercenary system.

Plus, there was a big job waiting back in Kusa—someone from the Kusa no Jitsu faction named Mui, who wanted to capture a Jinchūriki to harvest a massive amount of chakra and unlock the "Box of Ultimate Bliss," a certain legendary ninja tool. Mui only needed chakra, so there was no conflict with Akatsuki's Tailed Beast plans. In other words, they shared a goal. Mui could become either an ally to Akatsuki or a client. In short, even before finishing this mission, Senshi felt like he'd already "won."

…

Kusagakure was small, located between the great powers—the Land of Fire, the Land of Earth, and others. From those nations' perspective, it was a vital buffer zone, but for Kusa itself, caught in the crossfire of multiple Shinobi Wars, it was hardly a blessing. Their scale was small, their politics convoluted, and they had no Kage. Outwardly, they had a "village head." Behind the scenes, two major factions—Kusa no Jitsu and Kusa no Hana—fought for control.

Now, three figures wearing black robes patterned with red clouds walked along a road toward Kusagakure. Leading them was a red-haired young man with a handsome, lazy air, as if he were just out for a stroll. Obviously, that was Senshi. Next to him, Karin followed anxiously—returning to the place of her traumatic childhood cast a gloomy pall. She sighed inwardly:

"So I'm heading back to that cruel place, huh... They treated Mother and me as nothing but healing tools."

Her mother's healing constitution allowed them to be used as human medical supplies. If a Kusa ninja got wounded, they'd bite them and rapidly heal. Karin's mother kept offering treatment until she burned out, expending all her chakra and losing her life. Worried Karin might follow the same fate, she had died in despair.

After walking a bit, Senshi sensed Karin's mood souring further. He lightly patted her head again, saying:

"Don't fret. We'll drop by your house first and teach those fools a lesson. I'll avenge both you and your mother."

Karin murmured a grateful "thank you" in a choked voice. If she'd been older, maybe Senshi would have let her take revenge personally—but at the moment, she was only around ten. He didn't want to force her into that.

Trailing behind them was Kakuzu, silent for a while before finally posing a question:

"How exactly do you plan on subjugating Kusagakure?"

It was hardly a trivial task. Kakuzu, in all his years of missions, had never received such an assignment. Without breaking stride, Senshi answered casually:

"Simple. Go straight to the village head and the council elders. We bribe or recruit whoever's willing; those unwilling, we dispose of."

Kakuzu mulled that over, then shrugged. "Keep the obedient ones for labor, kill the rest. Simple but effective."

They'd gone a bit farther when Senshi's expression shifted slightly. His "Mantra" sense (from the Rumble-Rumble Fruit) was constantly active, giving him wide perception. Just recently, after a month of frenzied mission-grinding, he'd raised the fruit's development to S-level, dramatically extending his range.

Karin, too—via her Kagura's Mind Eye—picked up on something and urgently alerted them:

"Enemies approaching—there's an ambush in the forest ahead!"

At that, Kakuzu's demeanor sharpened. In this past month, he'd grown used to Karin's warnings, but he was surprised by how, moments earlier, Senshi had already shown signs of detecting them. He realized Senshi's sensory prowess was even better than Karin's. Internally, he was astonished:

"So he not only wields an absurd Lightning Release, he also outperforms Karin in perception..."

Even as he marveled, the Kusa ninja swiftly closed in. The wide road was empty, yet they knew unseen foes were lurking nearby.

Swish, swish, swish!

In an instant, a volley of shuriken rained down, coming from all directions to block off all escape routes.

Shup—

Senshi simply took Karin and flickered aside; Kakuzu likewise vanished. The Kusa ninjas froze, unable to see how they'd moved so quickly.

BOOM—

A crackle of thunder erupted as Senshi shot across the battlefield in a split second. Lightning arcs smashed the Kusa ninjas, leaving them in shambles.

"Aah! Spare me—!"

They screamed in terror, but many didn't even manage that before being dispatched. Then:

Clang!

Senshi reappeared beside Karin, while Kakuzu stood with arms folded a short distance away. He asked:

"Why not keep at least one alive to interrogate for information?"

Senshi answered offhandedly:

"Look at these small fry. Do they look like they know anything?"

Kakuzu snorted faintly, not replying. If it had been his decision, he'd have kept the squad leader for at least some intel. But oh well.

At that moment, the ones lying in ambush farther ahead realized something had gone wrong. Karin sensed the shift and quickly reported:

"The ninja in the next forest have retreated—they're probably running back to Kusagakure to raise an alarm."

"What do we do?"