Someone is moving around me.
But strangely, I'm conscious and awake, yet unable to open my eyes to see who's moving around me.
"What a miraculous body!"
A man's voice filled with curiosity exclaims by my ear.
Kakuzu can still smell the cold, disinfectant-laden air around.
The icy touch of the bed beneath my back makes it clear to Kakuzu that he's lying on an operating table, being studied.
The man of unknown identity beside him is meddling with his body, touching and pinching here and there, occasionally the sound of a surgical knife cutting something can be heard, followed by something warm being injected inside.
He should be performing some kind of recovery medical ninjutsu on my severely injured body.
"Is it not done yet?"
Another voice comes in, this one very familiar, it's that guy named Insect Man, worth fifty million ryo, speaking.
"Almost, it's just that it's my first time encountering such an interesting body structure, even stranger than that White Zetsu, and I got a bit carried away."
"He's a man, you know, Leader."
Insect Man reminds.
"Of course I know that, I'm just interested in this guy's body."
Though Kakuzu clearly knows how interested they are in his body, to what extent that implies, he still has to say this is a research madman.
However, for medical ninjas, his bizarre body indeed makes for a rare experimental subject material.
In a daze, Kakuzu drifts back to sleep.
Who knows how much time passes, when Kakuzu opens his eyes.
He discovers he's no longer lying on a cold operating table, but on a soft bed.
The air outside is a bit cold, after all, it's January, and naturally, the air temperature drops.
But since today is a rare sunny day, the bright sunshine somewhat dispels the chill in the air.
The body is healed, but his head is very dizzy due to lying in bed for a long time, not quite adjusted to the current weakened state for the moment.
However, he's out of life-threatening danger, this much Kakuzu can sense on his own.
It's really ridiculous, saved by others. This is Kakuzu's only thought inside.
Not sure if he's mocking those who saved him or mocking himself for being rescued.
Or perhaps both seem equally laughable to him.
Having abandoned everything, creating killing and tragedy endlessly in the Ninja Realm, with only money left as his pillar, he has no qualification to enjoy others' kindness.
Similarly, he has no surplus kindness to offer others.
To fight alone, fail, then die quietly and be forgotten by the world, was supposed to be his pre-defined fate.
He then touches his chest, the scroll containing Hanzou's corpse is still there inside his clothes, it hasn't been taken, and Kakuzu immediately feels at ease.
"Seems like you've recovered well, Mr. Kakuzu."
Someone opens the hospital room door, a white-haired Insect Man walks in from outside, smiling at Kakuzu.
"Didn't expect you all to really do this pointless, loss-making act."
"How can it be a loss? We came with sincerity to invite Mr. Kakuzu to join us. Due to a shortage of manpower, we wish to recruit a strong ninja like you."
"Do you really not have any problem in your heads? I am a renegade ninja."
Being a renegade ninja means having betrayed one's village in the past, regardless of the reason, this is a stain criticized by others.
Thus, renegade ninjas are not trustworthy, this is common sense in the Ninja Realm.
Even becoming a bounty hunter, the trust and honor gained are merely due to one's reverence for money and so-called mutual interest.
Trusting a renegade ninja on an emotional level is a ridiculous act in itself.
"Forty-five years ago, Mr. Kakuzu was an excellent Jonin of the Hidden Waterfall Village, wasn't he? You followed the village high command's orders to assassinate the First Hokage in Konoha."
Kakuzu narrows his eyes, then casually says: "Your intelligence network is indeed strong, but that's about it. If you try, you'll dig up some stuff from the Hidden Waterfall Village."
Insect Man smiles slightly, continuing: "After the assassination mission failed, Mr. Kakuzu returned to the village and was blamed by the Hidden Waterfall Village high command for not completing the mission, and ended up facing severe prison punishment, encountered life-threatening danger."
Assassination often accompanies many failures.
If treating the village's ninja with severe punishment for failing an assassination, it would seem too unkind and too brutal for the loyal ninjas prepared to sacrifice their lives for the village, easily leading to hatred and discontent among the village's ninjas.
Based on the gathered intelligence, Kakuzu, who failed the assassination mission, indeed suffered serious punishment, nearly losing his life in prison, likely getting caught in the power struggle among the Hidden Waterfall Village high command and therefore received unjust treatment.
After all, assassinating the First Hokage... anyone with a sane mind should know it's an impossible mission.
If the assassination was successful, the strongest ninja village now shouldn't be Konoha but Hidden Waterfall Village.
The once powerful Hidden Waterfall Village has long since declined, without even a decent strong ninja now.
In that situation, killing the high command who unjustly treated him, then taking the village's Forbidden Technique 'Earth Grudge Fear,' was the only road Kakuzu could choose.
After that, Kakuzu embarked on the path of a renegade.
Embracing money that wouldn't betray him, living a long and tedious life with money as belief for decades.
"So, what does stating all this represent? I told you, you're merely a bunch of kids who know nothing. In this world, only money can be trusted."
So, not trusting humans can prevent betrayal.
Rather than say it's a different way of living, it's more like avoiding, closing off his heart.
Kakuzu gets down from the bed, walking towards the room's exit.
"As compensation for saving me this time, I will pay you a hundred times my own bounty."
His own bounty is eighty-five million ryo, a hundred times is eight and a half billion ryo.
Paying off this portion of compensation means that the reward earned through hard work and bounty hunting over the decades basically leaves him with nothing.
But rather than losing those money filled with happiness and sweetness, owing someone is undeniably something even more disgusting for him.
The olive branch extended by the mysterious existence behind Insect Man, wanting to build a trust that comes from companionship, is equally nauseating.
In this world, there's no such thing as trust.
Between humans, there is only betrayal and being betrayed, only killing and being killed.
Such a filthy world, salvation no longer exists.
Money is the last warmth of his life.
Trust... is too extravagant.
"That's truly a pity, but I believe we'll meet again soon."
Insect Man says so.
Kakuzu raises an eyebrow, sneers: "Being chased by Hidden Sand this time, I admit I was careless. But once I convert Hanzou's body to money, I'll lie low for a bit. Rest assured, I won't come to such a place again."
An experienced hunter doesn't fail twice in the same place.
This is the confidence Kakuzu has.
Kakuzu leaves without any hesitation.
Insect Man scratches his head.
Actually, he very much wanted to say, more than Hidden Sand Ninja was eyeing Hanzou's body, there's someone even more terrifying than Hidden Sand Ninja.