Freelancer in the Ninja World

After these past few encounters with Uzumaki Senshi, Kakuzu had come to realize just how odd this fellow truly was. So when Kakuzu saw Senshi behaving like this now, he felt surprisingly calm. In the Akatsuki, having the occasional fit didn't matter as long as it didn't hinder completing missions.

"Come with me," Kakuzu's voice reached Uzumaki Senshi.

Senshi did not refuse. Taking Karin along, he followed Kakuzu away. Kakuzu led Senshi to an unoccupied room in the tower.

"From now on, this will be your place in this hideout, for both of you."

Then he said to Senshi, "As for your uniform, I'll bring it to you later."

Hearing this, Senshi interrupted, "Not just for me—get one for her, too."

Speaking, he patted Karin on the shoulder. Kakuzu's face twitched slightly, but he chose not to argue over minor details.

Before long, Kakuzu returned with two sets of black cloaks patterned with red clouds and handed one to Senshi. His tone was casual:

"Take the rest of today off. Starting tomorrow, you'll begin official missions."

Senshi gave a slight nod. "No problem, I'll be ready to start tomorrow."

After Kakuzu left, Karin asked curiously, "So we'll be living here for a while?"

Senshi walked over to a relatively clean-looking couch and plopped down, shaking his head.

"We probably won't come back here often. Most of the time, we'll be out on various missions. Of course, you can stay here if you like."

Karin sniffed and said, "Hmph! I'm not staying here. I'm following you! I told you I can be really useful."

Logically, remaining in the hideout or in Amegakure would be safer for her. But in Karin's mind, sticking with Uzumaki Senshi was the safest option of all.

"Hahaha…"

Hearing Karin's insistence, Senshi couldn't help laughing. He got up, walked over to the young girl, and playfully ruffled her bright red hair. Karin pursed her lips, looking as though her world was ending.

When dinnertime came, someone from Akatsuki's logistics unit delivered meals to their room. After dinner, Karin washed up and went to her own room to sleep, while Senshi headed to the tower rooftop to experiment with the Rumble-Rumble Fruit's powers.

An unimaginable burst of lightning coursed through him. Bright arcs of electricity crackled wildly around Senshi. Members of Akatsuki soon appeared at various vantage points in the shadows, all taken aback by what they saw. Aside from Kakuzu, most didn't truly grasp the extent of Senshi's abilities until now. They were shocked by the purity of his Lightning Release chakra and the sheer power of his lightning jutsu.

Rumble—

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The phenomenon caused by Senshi's tests lasted some time before gradually subsiding. His exceptionally pure Lightning Release chakra and tremendous aptitude for lightning techniques made a deep impression on everyone.

Having finished experimenting with the Naruto-adapted Rumble-Rumble Fruit, Senshi was in an incredibly good mood. He didn't linger on the rooftop in the cold breeze, instead returning to the room he shared with Karin. After a quick wash, he went to sleep.

An invisible electromagnetic field soon spread outward from him in all directions. Roughly one-eighth of Amegakure lay within his field's radius. Thanks to the "Mantra" ability, he could sense every slight disturbance within that range.

Nothing else happened that night.

The next morning, Senshi and Karin got up early and washed. After changing into the black cloak with red clouds, Senshi took Karin to meet Kakuzu, and the three of them left the Amegakure tower for the black market.

Both Kakuzu and Senshi were regulars in the black market with good reputations, so it wasn't hard for them to take on missions. However, when Kakuzu tried to accept a bounty mission, Senshi stopped him.

"I'll only do commission jobs."

Kakuzu could only sigh. "It's not like there's an endless supply of commission tasks. If you don't want to take part in a bounty mission, just wait nearby while I handle it."

For Kakuzu, most targets were small fry, not worth teaming up for. But Senshi shook his head.

"No can do. Only commission jobs. Wait a sec!"

He suddenly realized something, startling Kakuzu, who wondered what was wrong now.

Say Kakuzu hires me to help him with a bounty mission—would that trigger the system's reward?

At that thought, Senshi brightened up. If that worked, then from his perspective all missions could become "commissions"! Turning to Kakuzu, he said:

"Kakuzu, you can hire me to help you on bounty hunts. I'll just take half the pay."

Kakuzu's eyes went wide. He muttered, "Hand over half of the reward…to hire Uzumaki Senshi?"

It wasn't impossible. Considering Senshi's power now, if the two worked together, they could handle any job short of assassinating a Kage. Rifling through his pocket, Kakuzu pulled out a stack of mission slips and found one.

"This one's a bounty on some renegade ninja from Amegakure. There are ten of them, scattered around outside the village, which is too much hassle. That's why I've been putting it off. The bounty's not bad—20,000 ryō per head. Uzumaki Senshi, I'll pay you 100,000 ryō total if you help me clear it."

[New Commission Detected!]

[Client: Kakuzu]

[Goal: Assist Kakuzu in eliminating the Amegakure renegades]

[Reward: 100,000 ryō]

[Difficulty: B-Rank]

[System Bonus: 100 Commission Points]

Seeing this system prompt, Senshi was momentarily stunned.

"Whoa, did I really just exploit this loophole?"

Overjoyed, Senshi realized he could farm commission tasks even more efficiently this way!

From then on, Senshi followed Kakuzu in a frantic mission spree, never turning anything down. With their combined power—practically a crushing force in Amegakure—they completed missions at an astounding pace. Under the range of Senshi's "Mantra," targets had nowhere to hide. A job that would normally take Kakuzu three to five days was now finished almost effortlessly.

By nightfall, the three took rooms in an inn. Kakuzu, thoroughly exhausted, handed 30,000 ryō to Senshi. Under normal circumstances, Kakuzu wouldn't bother with low-paying tasks, but their efficiency was so high that the black market was running out of missions to dole out.

[Commission Completed!]

[Reward: 30 Commission Points]

Hearing the system prompt, Senshi was delighted. Over the past days, he'd piled up a wealth of rewards, rocketing forward on his path to becoming a "humanoid Ten-Tails."

The next morning, at first light, Kakuzu—who had barely lain down—was woken by loud banging on his door:

Bang, bang, bang!

Senshi's voice rang out from the hallway:

"Kakuzu! Big Bro Kaku! Lord Kaku! Open up! No slacking—time for more missions!"

Kakuzu felt a massive headache. Is this guy even human?

They'd been running missions nonstop all day yesterday, and now before sunrise, Senshi wanted to head out again?!

Bang, bang, bang—

The insistent knocks kept coming. Kakuzu lay there in bed, utterly drained. His teal-green eyes stared at the door, and he let out a weary sigh. The grayish tint to his face seemed accented by big dark circles under his eyes.

"This…monster… For half a month straight now, he hasn't stopped. He's been running missions non-stop. Does the guy ever rest? Is money worth risking your life like this? Why does he have so much energy?"

Before meeting Uzumaki Senshi, Kakuzu had thought of himself as the ultimate mission addict. But upon witnessing Senshi, he had to admit he was far behind. Yesterday they'd worked from morning to night, and now he was back at it at the crack of dawn. Didn't he get tired? How was he always so full of vigor?

With a sigh, Kakuzu rolled over, deciding to ignore the knocking.

Meanwhile, out in the hall, Senshi was checking his status screen:

[Name: Uzumaki Senshi]

[Gender: Male]

[Age: 18]

[Commission Points: 225]

[Chakra Natures: Fire (B), Wind (C), Lightning (SSS), Water (B), Earth (B), Yang (B), Yin (B)]

[Chakra Capacity: SSS+ (your reserves surpass most Tailed Beasts, akin to a perpetual motion machine)]

[Physical Strength: SSS (far stronger than steel; ordinary ninjutsu can hardly harm you)]

{Talents}

[Heavenly Thunder: Greatly boosts Lightning Release affinity and probability of drawing lightning-type rewards]

[Rumble-Rumble Fruit (Naruto-adapted): SSS-rank treasure from the One Piece world, side effects removed]

[Development Level: A]

[Unlocked Abilities]

• Mantra: Sense all movements within a certain radius

• Lightning Finger: Fire off lightning through your fingertips

• Lightning Teleportation: Transform into electricity to move through electric fields or conductive materials

• Inazuma (Thunderbolt): Turn your arm into lightning to form a colossal thunder column, striking surrounding targets or pinpointing any within your Mantra range

• Lightning Form: Become lightning itself, releasing heat and light to negate physical attacks

• Discharge: Blast electricity in a 360-degree radius without discrimination

• Divine Punishment: Condense a pillar of lightning for sustained bombardment of an enemy

• Electrotherapy: Use electrical current to revive a stopped heart, making it beat again

• Lightning Metallurgy: Melt metals with electricity to reshape them, potentially creating weapons

• Lightning Shockwave: Generate a supersonic shockwave amid crashing thunder, knocking back incoming attacks

• 30 Million Volts: Thunder Beast: Gather lightning into a wolf shape for a destructive strike

• 30 Million Volts: Thunderbird: Gather lightning into a bird shape for a swift aerial assault

[Kekkei Genkai: None]

{Techniques}

[Substitution Jutsu: S-level]

[Lightning Release: Lightning Ball: S-level]

[Lightning Release: Lightning Clone: A-level]

[Lightning Release: Earth Walk: S-level]

[Lightning Release: Heavy Current Rage: SS-level]

[Lightning Release: Lariat (Lightning Plow Hot Knife): S-level]

[Lightning Release: Lightning Burial: A-level]

[Chidori: A-level]

…