Chapter 167: Since when has Akatsuki become so strong?

In fact, Hanzō was quite familiar with Kakuzu.

Sometimes when Amegakure encountered some trouble, they would post missions on the black market.

Kakuzu had accepted several of them. His work was extremely efficient and flawless, though when it came to collecting the reward, he was stingy down to the last cent, making him seem a bit petty.

Kakuzu said flatly, "Indeed, it is this old man."

There weren't many who could refer to themselves as "this old man" in front of the Hanzo of the Salamander, but Kakuzu happened to be one of them.

The Hanzo of the Salamander didn't have the energy to fuss over such a form of address; instead, his eyelid twitched wildly.

"You actually joined Akatsuki? Why?"

He couldn't understand, why would a well-known expert like Kakuzu, who always worked alone, suddenly join an unknown organization?

Kakuzu's gaze was resolute, full of the aura of someone ready to die for his cause.

He glanced at everyone, if he didn't put on a show now, then when?

He said loudly, "Because, Akatsuki is my home. I love Akatsuki more than I love myself."

"Anyone who dares to stop me from earn... cough cough, anyone who dares to oppose Akatsuki is my enemy, even a demigod is no exception."

Kakuzu's impassioned speech almost moved himself to tears.

Honestly, if he were alone facing Hanzō, he absolutely wouldn't dare act this tough.

Ever since his failed assassination attempt on Hashirama, he knew there were some people in this world he couldn't afford to provoke.

Although he liked making money, he was also very cautious.

Hanzō might not compare to the true god that was Senju Hashirama, but he was at least still one of the top powerhouses of the ninja world.

At the very least, Kakuzu believed he couldn't pull off the feat of singlehandedly challenging three great nations and surviving.

So, if he were still just a bounty hunter, he'd probably avoid Hanzō in his daily life.

But now things were different.

He had Akatsuki backing him, with the Shura of the ninja world, Uchiha Madara, standing in front of him.

By his side was also the wielder of the Rinnegan, Nagato.

And... that mysterious, youthful-looking, yet terrifying Uchiha Obito.

What Hanzō? What demigod? He wasn't scared of a damn thing.

So, he confronted him fearlessly.

'Is this what it feels like to have an organization backing you?'

Hanzō felt a flicker of anger in his heart. Kakuzu was strong, yes, but in his eyes, that was about it.

If it weren't for the overwhelming pressure Madara was giving off, he'd want to teach Kakuzu a lesson to help him remember his place.

But now, he instead turned his gaze to another person in Akatsuki's group, someone else who didn't seem simple: Sara.

And the more he looked, the more familiar she seemed.

He even widened his eyes.

"You are... the Purple Robed Dragon King? Impossible!"

"Aren't you the leader of a city in the Land of Wind? Why are you here?"

In the entire Third Great Ninja War, not counting the veteran powerhouses, among the rising stars, the most well-known were the duo of A and B from the Land of Lightning, and Rasa and the Purple Robed Dragon King from the Land of Wind.

In fact, since the Land of Wind was a victorious nation, the names of Rasa and the Purple Robed Dragon King were even more prominent than the A-B combo.

One had already become the Fourth Kazekage, while the other, as a regional ruler, had a certain legendary status, on par with a village's kage in some sense.

Hanzō couldn't understand how Akatsuki managed to recruit such top-tier individuals. Two of them, no less.

Sara smiled and said, "Akatsuki is an organization that yearns for peace, so I came to visit and found their clothes very nice, their nail polish pretty, so I joined."

Hanzō had a hundred curses in his heart.

If a yearning for peace could attract the Purple Robed Dragon King, he'd immediately become a peace fighter and proclaim to the world that he loved peace more than Akatsuki.

If nail polish and fashion could recruit the Purple Robed Dragon King, then although it'd be improper for a rough man like him to wear nail polish... he could make that sacrifice.

'What kind of bullsh*t reason is this?'

'Damn, Akatsuki's luck is just too damn good!'

Hanzō was burning with envy, jealousy, and hatred.

Then, he suddenly realized something.

'Hiss—'

He inhaled sharply.

Counting their leader, Akatsuki currently had three people at Kage-level. If all were considered forces of the Land of Rain and could work together, he might actually dare challenge the Five Great Nations again.

'Can there be more people like this in Akatsuki?'

Hanzō instinctively shifted his gaze to Sasori.

There was something off about Sasori's aura too, which gave him an uneasy feeling.

Thankfully, after rummaging through his mind, he couldn't recall a corresponding powerhouse linked to Sasori.

'Wait—no!'

Suddenly, some memories from the Second Ninja War floated up.

'That old lady who liked puppets had a son, also a redhead, and looked a bit like this guy.'

'Although that guy was killed by Konoha's White Fang, Sakumo Hatake...'

Still, Hanzō asked Sasori the question on his mind.

"What's your relation to Chiyo of Sunagakure?"

Sasori froze for a moment, then spread his hands helplessly, "You can tell from that? Seriously?"

"Oh well, I'll just tell you. Chiyo is my grandmother, but now I count as a missing-nin from Sunagakure. I have nothing to do with that village anymore."

'Damn, even Chiyo's grandson joined Akatsuki?'

Even if no one knew exactly how strong he was, he didn't look weak.

Hanzō was completely speechless now. He had to admit, Akatsuki had won his respect.

He really didn't understand how Akatsuki had become so powerful in such a short time.

'Is it... because of him?'

Hanzō glanced at Madara, and suddenly had the illusion that he was being stared down by an apex predator, he quickly looked away.

He continued looking at the rest of Akatsuki.

Soon his gaze swept over Obito, but this time, he just glanced briefly before moving on.

'Just a regular kid, not worth mentioning.'

As for the rest of the Akatsuki members, he was far more familiar with them.

Many of them were defectors from his side, just a ragtag bunch, not worth mentioning.

Only the founders, Yahiko, Nagato, and Konan, were worth paying attention to.

But even so, Akatsuki was already strong enough. In terms of power, thanks to their elite members, had they already surpassed his own forces.

He instantly realized, 'This so-called collaboration might not be so simple.'

He first made a guilty remark, "Your strength... is beyond my expectations. But I must remind you, the Legendary Sannin were once defeated by my hand..."

Then he added, "Of course, I am a man who yearns for peace. I won't resort to violence lightly. In fact, I strongly agree with Akatsuki's ideals. If we can sit down and talk, let's sit down and talk, right?"

Madara shot Hanzō a rather annoyed look, 'What kind of low-level act is this guy trying to pull in front of me?'

But since they weren't here to start trouble, he signaled an Akatsuki member to bring over a chakra-powered control device they had prepared, and presented it.

"Hanzō, we have a batch of machines like this in our hands."

"One fixed price, one hundred million ryo. I'll give you a discount: one for ten million. Prepare the money within a day."

Hanzō's eyes instantly widened.

'What the hell. You might be strong, but you can't just rob people like this!'

'Taking out some unknown machine and asking for one hundred million ryo?'

'Is this cooperation or outright robbery?'

It wasn't just Hanzō, other members of Akatsuki looked speechless at how Madara was handling things.

Yahiko hurried to explain, "Lord Hanzō, it's really not expensive."

"This is a machine that can convert chakra into energy. Just input chakra and it'll produce electricity."

"We've calculated: with ten of these devices and ten chunin inputting chakra daily, all the inactive sewage treatment systems in the Land of Rain's sewers can be restarted. You know what that means, right?"

Suddenly, Hanzō widened his eyes.

His breathing grew rapid, "You're saying... it's all real?"

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