Freelancer in the Ninja World

Mui stepped up to Elder Guima and slammed his palm down.

Buzz—

Two intersecting black sealing patterns instantly appeared on Elder Guima's body. From that moment onward, all of Kusagakure's top brass—including Village Chief Chiya—were under Mui's control.

"What do we do next?"

Having subdued Elder Guima, Mui turned his head to ask Uzumaki Senshi. Together, the two of them had moved with astonishing speed, using Fire Release: Heavenly Prison to seal every one of Kusa's higher-ups. Now Kusagakure was effectively in Mui's hands—or rather, in Senshi's hands as well.

Senshi mulled it over and then said to Mui:

"Next, keep a close eye on these Kusa elders.

I've already agreed to our partnership—no need to worry. You must know my reputation in the Ame's black market."

"Tomorrow I'll lead the team back to the Amegakure; in the meantime, you handle what's left here in Kusa."

Mui nodded slightly. He did trust both Senshi's reputation and his power, and for now, there was simply no better partner available to him.

Once he finished speaking with Mui, Senshi returned to the Kusagakure inn for the night. Nothing else happened until morning.

…

Early the next day, Senshi took Karin with him to knock on Kakuzu's door.

Swish—

To Senshi's surprise, Kakuzu slid the door open just as he was about to knock. Compared to all that non-stop mission work in the past, this assignment—subjugating Kusagakure—had been far more leisurely for Kakuzu. Yesterday, after signing the relevant agreements with Kusa's leaders, he had returned to his room at the inn to rest. Ever since partnering with Senshi, he'd seldom had a proper night's sleep, so it was a rare treat to get one.

Seeing Kakuzu, Senshi greeted him with a grin:

"Morning, Kaku. Everything's sorted here in Kusa. Now we'll head back to Ame to hand in the task, then get started on the next one."

Hearing that last line about a "next" mission, Kakuzu felt like it was overkill; his pleasant mood from sleeping in evaporated instantly.

Soon enough, the three reached Kusagakure's gates. Unlike when they arrived, this time the higher-ups were all there to see them off—Chief Chiya, Elder Guima, Elder Guihou, and so on. None of them came by choice, of course; it was clearly Mui's idea. While Kakuzu hadn't actually participated in last night's operation, he knew at least the basics of what those leaders had gone through.

Karin, on the other hand, was a bit taken aback—she'd fallen asleep after dark and was unaware of the late-night events. Seeing all these formerly high-and-mighty bigwigs now sending them off, she assumed that after Kusa became a vassal to the Ame, these lofty figures had bowed their heads.

Right before leaving Kusagakure, Senshi spoke up to Mui:

"You come with me back to the Ame so you can meet with their upper management."

…

Amegakure tower, inside a room equipped with life-support systems: this was where Nagato and Konan's real bodies were. After a brief conversation, Konan asked:

"Do you think Senshi's plan will succeed?"

Nagato nodded:

"He's got a good plan, and he's capable of carrying it out. If he and Kakuzu fail, I'll send the Six Paths of Pain to handle it."

"As we gather Tailed Beasts and make our Tailed Beast weapon, it's inevitable we'll stand against the five great nations. Rallying a number of mid-level or small villages to our side, and selecting promising shinobi from among them to train as our elites—that's an excellent idea."

Though Nagato had faith in Senshi and Kakuzu, he didn't yet believe they'd already succeeded in subjugating Kusa. At that moment, Nagato's expression changed slightly. Noticing this, Konan asked:

"What's wrong?"

Nagato's face showed confusion:

"They're back."

He was monitoring the entire Amegakure, so naturally he spotted Uzumaki Senshi's group of four swaggering through the downpour. Konan wondered:

"Back so soon? Did they fail or give up? They haven't even spent three days in Kusa—how could they have subjugated it so quickly? Realistically, just scouting out the situation should've taken at least two or three days."

Nagato couldn't answer for sure, but after a moment's thought he replied:

"Judging by their demeanor, it doesn't look like they failed or gave up. They're almost at the tower. We'll see for ourselves in a moment."

At that point, Senshi, Kakuzu, and Karin were heading for Akatsuki's base within the tower. Mui, coming as Kusagakure's emissary, wasn't brought up to the organization's quarters; Senshi had him wait in an inn somewhere in Amegakure.

Plenty of people were at Akatsuki's base. All were surprised to see Senshi and Kakuzu back so soon. They knew the pair had left not long ago for the mission—who would've guessed they'd return so quickly?

As Senshi and Kakuzu headed to see Pain, the other members gathered in the tower's plaza, curious as to why they were back.

Standing near Uchiha Itachi was Kisame—pale-skinned, shark-like. With a glance at Senshi and Karin, Kisame asked:

"Hey, Itachi-san, how come Kakuzu and that new kid are back so soon? I thought their mission was to subjugate Kusagakure. Is capturing an entire shinobi village these days really so easy?"

Kisame's face was full of puzzlement. Itachi shook his head, also clueless about how the pair could have returned so abruptly. Orochimaru, Sasori, and Zetsu were there as well, all eyeing them with curiosity.

The three soon arrived before Pain himself, who looked at Senshi impassively:

"Did you run into trouble?"

Senshi paused momentarily, then answered offhandedly:

"Trouble? Nah. What trouble could we possibly have? Taking down a place like Kusa is no big deal."

Pain, Konan, Orochimaru, Sasori, Kisame, and Zetsu all turned to stare at Senshi, astonished. Even going out on a short camping trip would've taken longer than that, so if Senshi wasn't lying, the mission's speed was insane.

Pain fixed Senshi with a level gaze:

"Explain how the mission went."

Senshi summarized succinctly:

"Kakuzu and I entered Kusagakure, then…"

He recounted their operation in Kusa step by step. When finished, he retrieved the contract that Kakuzu and the Kusa higher-ups had signed, pulling it from his spatial storage. Most in Akatsuki already knew Senshi had some kind of Space-Time ninjutsu, so no one was especially stunned to see him produce documents from nowhere.

By the time Pain heard the entire mission report, he was inclined to believe the subjugation was indeed successful. And seeing the actual signed agreement only solidified that certainty—Senshi and Kakuzu had truly completed their mission. Pain's face remained expressionless, but behind that, Nagato, controlling him from the life-support chamber, was extremely shaken.

Sure, Kusa was only a medium-to-small shinobi village, but it couldn't be subdued that easily. For Senshi to do it in a swift, overwhelming manner was impressive even by Nagato's standards.

Others in Akatsuki were also shocked. Orochimaru narrowed his serpentine eyes and scrutinized Senshi with renewed interest, privately mulling:

"This guy must have deeper power than he's shown. Also, he was so successful partly thanks to some unknown intelligence network. In his account, there wasn't even any info-gathering step—he seemed to know everything about Kusa already. That's how he and Kakuzu could finish so decisively in under two days."

Orochimaru had already been eyeing Senshi as a potential "perfect vessel" ever since witnessing his uncanny Lightning Release abilities. Now Orochimaru was also intrigued by Senshi's apparent intel network—somehow extremely efficient and unfathomable. His private investigations found no trace of an actual network. That only made Senshi's sources more mysterious.

Itachi, for his part, grew even more wary of Senshi. Akatsuki was composed of formidable missing-nin, but even among them, Senshi stood out. At first, Zetsu felt the same shock as everyone else. Then suspicion dawned on him—it all seemed too smooth.

He said aloud:

"Isn't it possible that Mui and Kusa's leaders teamed up to pull a trick on you? They realized they couldn't beat Senshi and Kakuzu, so they faked surrender in collusion with Mui. For all we know, they might already be off seeking help from Konoha or some other faction."

Given Zetsu's notorious cunning—he even double-crossed Madara in the end—his inclination to suspect trickery was no surprise. Interpreting others' actions with a schemer's mindset, he naturally considered that Kusa might be simply pretending to yield.

~~~

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