The body ran forward in pain, but the speed had already slowed down.
He could already hear the footsteps of the Hidden Sand Ninja behind him, getting closer and closer. Soon they would catch up to him, take away his life, and take away his beliefs.
Having committed so many killings, Kakuzu did not want to repent for anything.
If the justice behind his money-making hindered others, then in the eyes of others, he was the evil that must be eradicated.
Living is not happiness; death is not worth lamenting.
Today you kill, tomorrow you get killed.
When deciding to walk the path of a ninja, one must be prepared to die, prepared to be killed in revenge.
Unfortunately, in the end, he couldn't exchange for that corpse worth millions... More than death, it was this that Kakuzu regretted as his consciousness nearly broke.
To die in a sea of money, if only he could end his life in such an illusion technique, it would be even better.
...
The explosion in the center of the forest stirred up a storm, craters everywhere. Pakura led the Hidden Sand Ninjas to surround, intending to recover the enemy's corpse, along with Hanzou's.
As they approached to look, the crater from the explosion was still there, but the enemy who should have died in the crater had disappeared, as if they never existed.
The Perception Ninja responsible for locking onto the target was stunned, "Chakra reaction… disappeared?"
Where did the body go?
Could a dead man escape by themselves?
The Hidden Sand Ninjas surrounding the crater exchanged glances as well.
"Jonin Pakura, what do we do next?"
"Search around, maybe they're hiding somewhere."
Pakura frowned, then waved her hand to give the order.
"Yes."
The Hidden Sand Ninjas spread out and began to search.
◎
A head emerged from the earth, then the whole body tunneled out, laying the barely breathing person on the ground behind.
The Earth Man, responsible for reconnaissance and infiltration work in the Nokizaru Group, took a deep breath.
"Bringing him out from those Hidden Sand Ninjas, I almost exposed myself."
The Earth Man looked at Kakuzu lying on the ground. He was already on the brink of death, yet still holding onto his last breath, truly with strong life force.
Any regular ninja would have been dead on the spot.
But seeing Kakuzu's body covered in tendrils, it was understandable.
This is the strong power gained by sacrificing the human body.
His life force was tenacious, unlike that of a human.
The tendrils on Kakuzu sprawled weakly like algae on the cold ground, in an unusable state.
Kakuzu struggled to lift his head, his ghostly green pupils barely able to see what was in front of him.
Among them, including the Earth Man proficient in Earth Style Stealth, the other four were all old acquaintances of his.
The five in the Nokizaru Group, spies for the Land of Demons' military who have risen in the underground black market in recent years.
Leading them was the Insect Man who used the Bursting Insect Secret Jutsu.
Seeing Kakuzu in such dire straits, a mocking smile appeared on Insect Man's face.
"Mr. Kakuzu, you've had a rough time this time."
"Are you the one with the fifty thousand ryo... cheap bounty?"
"No, I'm now up to ten million ryo."
The Insect Man corrected Kakuzu's words.
"Is that so... Did you come for my bounty...?"
Kakuzu spoke intermittently, his body weak to the extreme.
His Fire Attribute mask monster was destroyed by the Hidden Sand, and now he was left with his last heart. If this heart was destroyed, it would mean the end for him, an Undead.
His bounty in the underground black market was indeed significant, and though he had secretly maintained a financial cooperation with the Land of Demons, ending up in such a situation made their intentions for saving him obvious.
"The eighty-five million ryo bounty is indeed very tempting, but we are here under the leader's orders to formally invite you to join us."
The Insect Man put away his smile and seriously spoke to Kakuzu.
"Boring…"
"Is money worth sacrificing everything? Even your life?"
"What would brats like you understand?"
"Brats?"
Lived from the Warring States Era to the present as an undead monster, he indeed had the right to say so.
"Money is life to me... Hell... also talks money."
"What extraordinary confidence."
"As for joining you, need not be mentioned; I am not interested in any organization."
Contact with people inevitably leads to betrayal, and betrayal reminds him of unpleasant memories.
This world, where only money does not betray him, only money can be trusted.
"Even so, rescuing you was also our leader's intention."
"Hmph… don't expect me to be grateful to you for that."
"If we needed your gratitude, we wouldn't have saved you… Besides, an old man being tsundere isn't cute at all, Mr. Kakuzu, you've already passed that age."
That bastard! Kakuzu's green eyes emitted a murderous gleam.
If he could move, he would definitely tear him to pieces.
No, come to think of it; that'd be too easy on him, it's better to wait until his value increases a bit more before taking him down.
After all, his bounty was just ten million ryo now, it had potential to appreciate.
Killing him now would be too cheap.
Thinking so, Kakuzu felt more and more exhausted, his eyelids so heavy they were about to close. In the end, he couldn't resist the will to succumb to sleep, closing his eyes tiredly.
◎
When Kakuzu's consciousness awoke again, there was some noise around him.