"You Akatsuki are being too greedy, aren't you?", Hearing Kakuzu's words, Raikage was furious.
Kakuzu didn't care at all, "Lord Raikage, how we do business is our own affair."
"Everyone just takes what they need."
Raikage was already extremely irritable. Seeing Kakuzu speak so bluntly only made him even angrier.
"You!"
He was just about to speak when Cee quickly grabbed him.
Raikage turned his head. Cee shook his own head and glanced up at the sky.
"Hmph!"
Raikage didn't want to talk anymore. If Yagura hadn't worn him down to the point of exhaustion, would he be swallowing this?
Cee had no choice but to take over, "How exactly are you planning to do this job?"
Kakuzu shifted his gaze from Raikage to Cee. He could tell Raikage was already pushed to the brink of madness by Yagura.
"We will chase Yagura back to Hidden Mist and make sure they don't dare attack again."
As he spoke, Kakuzu made a subtle gesture, telling the Hidden Cloud people to take a look at Senku standing nearby.
Senku stood off to the side, fingering his prayer beads. He didn't speak.
But this plain-looking old monk was the hottest anti-jinchuriki weapon in existence.
"Can you fly?"
Cee knew Senku could control jinchuriki, but right now the real problem with the Mizukage wasn't his strength, but his mobility.
"Relax. We naturally have a way," Kakuzu's confident look made it obvious they had everything planned out.
Cee turned back and whispered something into Raikage's ear.
Raikage gave him a look.
Cee asked, "What if Mist comes again after you leave?"
Kakuzu clearly had already prepared an answer, "The Mizukage won't dare. If they do come a second time, we'll directly capture the Mizukage."
"Hss!", That line was a bit arrogant.
But when they thought about Senku's past record, it actually didn't seem impossible.
Raikage was moved, "If you capture the Mizukage, you can name whatever price you want."
Kakuzu smiled and shook his head, "We won't make a death feud with Hidden Mist."
"Hmph! And you think ruining their plans isn't making a feud?"
Raikage clearly spoke without thinking. Cee tugged his sleeve, reminding him of his position.
But Kakuzu didn't mock him. He only said, "Our services are already listed out. Whether you want to hire us or not, give me a clear answer."
After thinking for a bit, Raikage asked, "How much to chase Yagura away?"
Kakuzu raised three fingers, "Three billion."
Raikage turned to look at Cee.
Cee pressed his ear, clearly listening to the earpiece.
"That price is too high."
Kakuzu glanced at the ruined Hidden Cloud Village, "Your losses these past two days are definitely more than three billion."
Raikage's expression darkened.
Hidden Cloud's losses were far more than three billion. Rebuilding houses was nothing. The real damage was the deaths of their people and the losses to the merchant caravans.
And now those caravans were too scared to come to Hidden Cloud at all.
The profits they'd lose because of that didn't even need to be mentioned.
Kakuzu let out a low laugh, "This price is already very cheap. Keep in mind, Hiruzen paid ten billion to hire our Master Senku."
Everyone from Hidden Cloud sucked in a breath. Since when had money become so worthless?
They quickly remembered the Akatsuki's public statement and Konoha's announcement earlier.
They guessed the ten billion must have been the price Hiruzen paid for Senku to help replace their jinchuriki.
Cee gave Raikage a look and tapped his earpiece.
Seeing Raikage had no objections, he spoke, "Fine, three billion, but only after you chase away the Mizukage."
Even though Raikage was the highest authority in Hidden Cloud, he clearly didn't mind Cee confirming the matter.
Because on the other end of Cee's earpiece, Dodai was the one making the decision.
Kakuzu's face lit with great pleasure. Since the deal was sealed, he'd earn a fortune too.
"Very good. We'll start preparing now."
He didn't bother exchanging pleasantries with Hidden Cloud, and simply signaled to Deidara behind him.
Deidara muttered something under his breath, then took a lump of clay from his pouch and popped it into his mouth to mix.
He spat it into his hand, kneaded it a few times, and with a boom it turned into a giant clay bird.
Kakuzu, Senku, and Deidara jumped on and flew straight into the sky.
Cee watched carefully, then shifted his attention to Deidara's forehead protector, with a slash across the Iwagakure symbol.
He recognized him.
Raikage didn't look pleased. Hidden Cloud, usually so strong, had been ravaged like this.
And now they had to rely on a mercenary group to fix the Mizukage problem, even temporarily.
It was shameful.
As the village of the Land of Lightning, they certainly wouldn't place all their hopes on an outsider.
Dodai hadn't shown up because he was overseeing the production of the miniature chakra cannon.
Akatsuki was a very mysterious organization, especially Senku, who was practically a perfect anti-jinchuriki artifact.
This was the perfect chance to gather intel on him.
A mercenary group this strong had never appeared in the ninja world before.
Especially with Pain's sudden rise. It had scared the three great villages into not daring to attack the Land of Fire.
Although black market rumors claimed Pain had been gravely injured, or even killed, nobody could prove it.
It might even have been a smokescreen released by Akatsuki themselves.
Now they could deal with the Mizukage and gather intel as well. Why not?
"Keep an eye on what they're doing up in the sky," Raikage ordered.
Cee nodded, "Don't worry, Boss. Our people are already tailing them."
"That guy using clay earlier seems to be Onoki's disciple, Deidara. But his forehead protector is that of an Iwa-nin deserter."
He said "seems," but his tone was firm.
After all, in recent years, the most notorious user of clay bombs in Iwagakure was Deidara.
Because he caused destruction everywhere, there was plenty of intel from his debris.
Nobody knew why he ended up in Akatsuki though.
Raikage didn't know this intel. It wasn't his job to track such things.
"Onoki's disciple? A rogue ninja?"
Raikage felt a headache coming on. He couldn't tell whether Deidara had simply defected, or whether Iwa had planted him in Akatsuki as a spy, or even if Iwa and Akatsuki were cooperating.
He thought about it for a few minutes but found no answer, so he could only set it aside for now.
Raikage then remembered what Kakuzu said about Yugito being severely injured.
"Tell Samui to take five hundred elites to pick up Killer Bee. Bring the best healing medicine and medical ninja. Yugito must be brought back alive!"
"Yes, Boss!"
Cee immediately went to arrange it.
Raikage was also curious about what Senku would do, so he headed toward the sensory division to get updates.
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