Land of Rain, at the border.

  A gentle drizzle fell, drifting with the wind.

  Amid the curtain of rain, a caravan of merts hurried on.

  In the ter of the voy, Uzumaki Senshi sat at ease.

  Inside one of the wagons, he faced another person, chatting away.

  He looked about eighteen or een years old, with a striking head of red hair.

  Suddenly, a lone figure appeared in the middle of the road.

  He wore a bck robe adorned with fiery cloud patterns, fluttering in the rain.

  A Takigakure headband hung askew on his forehead, bearing a long ssh.

  A gray-white hood g to his scalp, and behind a bck half-mask gleamed a pair of cold, pale-green eyes.

  “Creak—”

  A soft sound shattered the stillness of the rainy night.

  Ihe wagon, Mizunai—seated opposite Senshi—was startled by the sudden otion.

  He couldn’t help but slide the door open slightly, peering outside with furrowed brows.

  “What’s going on out there?”

  He appeared somewhat frail for a middle-aged man, and tension further draihe color from his face.

  Senshi, perched in one er of the carriage, cast a sharp look at the figure in the rain before letting out a pyful chuckle.

  “Tsk tsk, Lord Mizunai, you’ve really run into bad luck this time. A rather big deal just showed up.”

  At those words, Mizunai’s heart tightened. But seeing only a single silhouette in the downpour, he rexed a little.

  “Don’t spout nonsense. My guards are all handpicked, each of them worth ten men in a fight. There’s o fear just one person.”

  Senshi g him, lips curving higher. His airy tone carried a hint of mockery:

  “That man is Kakuzu—formerly of Takigakure’s assassination squad, top five on the bck-market most-wanted list. Ba the Great Ninja War, he even crossed fists with the First Hokage of Konoha. A living legend.”

  Mizunai’s face went pale at once. He’d heard tales of the First Hokage’s terrifying might, and a ninja who had once faced that Hokage…

  Struggling to stay posed, Mizunai forced a retort:

  “You greedy brat, don’t try sg me. Why would such a formidable ninja e after me for no reason?”

  Before Senshi could reply, a menag pressure suddenly permeated the air.

  Swish!

  Like a gust of wind scattering a shadow in the dark, Kakuzu’s form vanished, leaving only a blur behind.

  In the instant, he appeared silently behind one of the guards.

  tless bck threads, like the tentacles of Death itself, thrust straight through the guard’s chest. In a heartbeat, the man’s heart was ripped to shreds in a spray of blood.

  Thus began the abrupt, brutal sughter.

  Like a phantom otlefield, Kakuzu used his Earth Grudge Fear to manipute those bck tendrils, hunting his targets with grim precision.

  her the caravan guards nor the ninja Mizunai had hired at great expense could muster the slightest resistance—before Kakuzu, they were as helpless as fish on a chopping block.

  Seeing this, Mizunai’s face turned ashen. Soured down his brow like rain, soaking his colr.

  At that moment, Senshi cast a roguish grin.

  “Lord Mizunai, do you need me to deal with him?”

  No sooner had he spoken than Mizunai practically roared, “What’re you waiting for? Hurry and go!”

  Senshi merely rubbed his fiogether, chug.

  At his shameless behavior, Mizunai nearly burst a blood vessel. But with a deadly enemy present, he grit his teeth and choked back his anger, silently cursing this wandering shinobi of the Rain as a pauper who’d never seen money.

  “Uzumaki Senshi, aren’t you a ninja? Once hired, you should do your duty!”

  Senshi shook his head repeatedly, quite unlike any hot-blooded protagonist who preaches the ‘Way of the Ninja.’

  He wagged his index finger in front of Mizunai.

  “No, no, no. I only agreed to protect you personally, my lord. As for yuards and the other shinobi—sorry, they’re not my responsibility.”

  “You…”

  Mizunai’s teeth ched. Those guards and attendants had been carefully chosen from far and wide, each bringing crucial skills he needed for his operations in the Hidden Leaf. Losing even one was a wreng blow.

  Taking a long breath to steady his fury, he asked, “How much?”

  Before he could even finish, Senshi raised two slender fingers, a ing glint in his eyes.

  Mizunai’s expression flickered. After a brief calcution, he ground his teeth:

  “Fiwo thousand ryō it is. Get out there right now and save my men!”

  But Senshi just rolled his eyes, as though he’d heard a joke.

  “Huh? You’re not kidding, right? He’s goo-head with the First Hokage.”

  Mizunai’s face turned green. He forced himself to spit out words:

  “Twenty thousand ryō!”

  Senshi folded his arms, shaking his head in clear dissatisfa.

  “Lord Mizunai, are you short on siy or short on money?”

  Mizunai ractically grinding his mors to dust.

  “Two huhousand ryō!!”

  “Deal.”

  At Senshi’s reply, a transparent panel appeared before his eyes:

  [New issioed!]

  [t: Mizuna

  [Objective: Rescue Mizunai’s subordinates.]

  [Fee: 200,000 ryō]

  [Difficulty: A-rank]

  [Reward: 200 ission Points]

  Senshi smiled, satisfied. Mizunai’s fee was generous, but for Senshi, it was merely the ig on the cake. What he truly valued was the system’s lucrative bonus.

  Ever since arriving in this world, every time he pleted a ission, the system would reward him with points acc to the amount paid. issioriggered by the t’s request; the higher the price, the richer the reward; and those points could be used to draw for all kinds of prizes.

  Wasting no time, Senshi accepted the mission.

  In the blink of an eye, he flickered like a ghost, appearing opposite Kakuzu.

  Whoosh!

  A pierg whistle cut through the air.

  Kakuzu’s hands wove seals, activatih Style: Earth Spear, thrusting at one of the caravan’s guards.

  The guard’s face went pale, as though he could feel death looming.

  But in that split sed—

  “Lightning Style: Elbow Bolt!”

  Senshi shouted, lightning surging over his right arm, electriakes dang.

  After tless missions, he had built up a monstrous physical strength and huge chakra reserves. One might truly call him a walking Tailed Beast—though he’d never pare himself to the ails, of course.

  Boom!

  A deafening bst tore through the night as fists collided in midair!

  Kakuzu’s arm, strengthened by the Earth Spear jutsu, turned jet-bck, seemingly able to withstand any blow.

  Yet Senshi’s punch struck with overwhelming power, a force that shook even Kakuzu, sending him skidding backward and carving two long furrows in the ground.

  Regaining his footing, Kakuzu’s eyes glinted with surprise, log onto the young shinobi.

  “So…it’s this kid…”

  He swiftly steadied his breathing and calmed himself. As a regur in the Rain’s bck-market underworld, Kakuzu reized Senshi—though they’d rarely spoken, they had crossed paths.

  Now Kakuzu’s gaze grew even sharper, searg Senshi for the slightest vulnerability. But Senshi showed no sign of arm. Kakuzu realized that his earlier failure artly due to his own carelessness. Still, he remained fident: he had not yet revealed his trump card.

  Just then, Senshi spoke again:

  “Kakuzu, why not fet this job? Go take on something else.”

  Kakuzu’s forehead veins bulged in anger. He gred at Senshi, biting out his words:

  “Damn kid!”

  “Secret Teique: Earth Grudge Fear!”

  Without further talk, Kakuzu’s chakra fred dramatically. Provoked by Senshi’s taunt, he unleashed his full power immediately.

  Seeih Grudge Fear activated so soon, Senshi looked startled, as though he’d spotted a pig climbing a tree.

  “Really? Yoing all-out the moment we meet? It’s not easy gathering those hearts. o lose them all here.”

  Kakuzu did not reply. With a roar, he released one of the Earth Grudge Fear masks, which shot at Senshi like a ghost.

  “Fire Style: Searing Migraine!”

  From the Fire mask’s gaping maw, a wave of fmes burst forth, rushing toward Senshi like a seething tidal wave, threatening to swallow him whole.

  Then, almost simultaneously—

  “Wind Style: Pressure Damage!”

  The Wind mask let out a sharp screech, spewing a giant pressed wind sphere that instantly ed into a violent gale. Wind fed fme, the bze swelling in iy, and in the blink of an eye, Senshi was engulfed in a sea of fire.

  A satisfied smirk crossed Kakuzu’s fae that froze almost immediately.

  Within the raging fmes, Senshi’s figure abruptly burst into a cloud of white smoke, leaving behind only a wooden log.

  “Lightning Style: Bad Chop!”

  Senshi’s speed was like lightning, a streak of brilliance sshing across the night sky.

  In a fsh, he reappeared behind the Fire mask’s heart. With lightning-wreathed hands, he sliced it apart, leaving it scorched and smoking.

  Seizing that opening, Senshi gathered his chakra and lu the Wind mask in a blur. Blue arcs of electricity crackled wildly around him, illuminating the battlefield in a flickering gre. In that brief instant, his lightning-charged hand cut through the Wind mask as though slig hot butter, annihiting it irike.