Chapter 73: Invitation...

Amegakure, Late Afternoon.

Hidan and Kakuzu stepped into the black market, dropping several wrapped heads onto the table in front of the client.

"All the ninjas you placed bounties on are in there," Kakuzu said.

The client opened the bundles, verified that the targets were correct, and paid promptly. Clearly, this particular client wasn't someone to be trifled with; if the payment had been stingy, Kakuzu would have had no qualms about taking the client's head as well to recover his losses.

Having received his payment, Kakuzu scanned the bounty board and frowned. There were quite a few postings, but most of them were either low-paying or required a lot of tedious work. As an ancient, battle-worn shinobi, Kakuzu couldn't spend his days running around doing everyone else's errands like feeding pets or babysitting, right?

In that moment, Kakuzu suddenly pictured Senshi in his mind. If only Senshi were here now… With his Wood-Clone technique, Senshi could've easily breezed through all those trivial tasks, leaving the more profitable missions for them—no need to even pick and choose. So convenient.

"Phew…" Kakuzu sighed heavily. Never realized how troublesome life would be without Senshi around. His Earth Grudge Fear technique was nowhere near as convenient as Senshi's Wood-Clones for rapidly handling multiple assignments.

Eventually, Kakuzu picked out one bounty that at least looked decent and somewhat profitable. Right then, Hidan—who'd been standing silently to one side—spoke up.

"Kakuzu, are you serious about taking more jobs? Are you out of your mind? Don't you value your life at all?"

Hidan stared at him in disbelief. Ever since joining Akatsuki, they hadn't stopped working for a second. Hidan was getting fed up. He joined Akatsuki to spread his faith, not to get bogged down in endless chores. With Kakuzu dragging him from one job to another, he had no time to preach the word of Jashin.

Kakuzu felt a twinge of annoyance. At first, he'd thought Hidan was a decent partner. He'd even lowered his usual mission workload to avoid scaring off the newcomer—after all, even someone with immortality might get bored if forced to do tasks at the breakneck pace Senshi used to work at. Kakuzu considered himself reasonable. And here Hidan was, complaining at only a fraction of the usual intensity.

"All right, let's take a short break," Kakuzu said. He considered it pretty generous—ten minutes was plenty. After all, when he was with Senshi, they'd practically worked non-stop, back-to-back missions without respite.

But Hidan only grew more agitated, feeling this was the final straw. He snapped, "A break for just a few minutes? You really are insane, Kakuzu! If someone else wants these bounties, they can have them. I'm done doing this with you."

With that, Hidan spun around and walked off, as though afraid Kakuzu would try to stop him. Kakuzu frowned, watching him go. "Why doesn't that guy have any passion for missions?"

He let out a deep sigh. Since Senshi left, my income has obviously taken a massive hit, he thought gloomily. This doesn't bode well.

So he accepted one more bounty, completed it halfheartedly, and returned to his own place. Approaching his front door, Kakuzu spotted the faint footprints Senshi had left behind, triggering a wave of nostalgia. He mumbled something under his breath, then opened the door, mind churning with the idea of possibly talking to Nagato about re-teaming with Senshi.

Perhaps it was a case of 'daytime thoughts, nighttime dreams', but Kakuzu suddenly thought he was hallucinating. There in his room—where Senshi was absolutely not supposed to be—was Senshi himself, sitting casually on Kakuzu's bed with his legs crossed.

Noticing Kakuzu enter, Senshi waved cheerfully. "Yo, Kakuzu, long time no see!"

Kakuzu froze for a second at the familiar voice. Then, a possibility struck him—he slammed the door with a bang and began to regulate his breathing, trying to calm his disordered chakra. This has to be a genjutsu, he told himself. There's no way Senshi would conveniently appear right after I was just thinking about him. Besides, Senshi should be out on a job around this time. How could he be in my house?

Once he was sure he'd steadied himself, Kakuzu pushed the door open again…

Inside, Senshi was still there, grinning as though nothing had happened.

Senshi, who'd just been greeting Kakuzu, was left staring at the now-shut door, question marks practically floating over his head. "What… the heck? What's Kakuzu playing at now?"

Before Senshi could get up and check, Kakuzu opened the door a second time and swore loudly, "Dammit, it's not a genjutsu—it's really you, Senshi! What are you doing back here?"

Senshi shrugged. "What do you mean, what am I doing? Of course I'm the real deal. I'm back because I finished my mission. What, you're not happy to see me?"

At those words, Kakuzu wore a complicated expression. Yes, he'd missed their glory days of high-efficiency mission-taking—and the large profits that came with them. But to have Senshi suddenly show up like this made him anxious rather than excited.

It wasn't that Kakuzu disliked or feared Senshi. He had indeed felt nostalgic for their partnership. But Senshi's frenzied approach to mission after mission was inhuman. Kakuzu wasn't mentally prepared to jump right back into that 24/7 workaholic lifestyle. Reacclimating to Senshi's pace was daunting.

Kakuzu's mood wavered between wanting more money with faster efficiency and worrying about being worked to death by Senshi's insane schedule. He stared at Senshi with an extremely conflicted gaze.

Seeing that look, Senshi felt a chill run down his spine. What's with him? I'm just cracking a joke—why the intense stare?

Fearing things might get out of hand, Senshi quickly said, "The reason I'm here is actually important. I've created a mercenary corps. Do you want to join?"

~~~

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