Chapter 75: Where Would Be a Good Place to Test a Thermobaric Bomb?
"Yes, but they are all from stories." Sasori turned the mask over in his hand. He could sense something sealed inside, yet he could not grasp it clearly, like staring through a thick fog.
He answered quickly, then watched Kenichi's reaction.
"What god?" Kenichi asked, genuinely curious. Konoha's stories rarely mentioned gods. At most, they spoke of the Sage of Six Paths, a figure close enough to a deity that most people treated him like one.
"The Desert God," Sasori said bluntly. "The legend says the deserts of the Land of Wind were created by the Desert God to punish greedy people."
Kenichi's expression turned strange.
For a second, he almost pictured a dog headed desert reaper from his previous life, the one who talked about victory the way people talked about tasting experience.
"Are there any temples or shrines?" Kenichi looked around. This room held nothing but masks. It felt like a storage site built for that purpose.
The thought left him a little disappointed. He had hoped to find scrolls related to the Reaper Death Seal so he could learn it himself.
"There is a temple," Sasori said, shaking his head. "Hardly anyone goes. It is just a legend. Even the Sage of Six Paths feels more real."
There were records of the Sage of Six Paths, scattered through history and rumor alike. The Desert God, though, was mist.
Even Sasori suspected it was just a story someone invented to scare children into behaving.
Then he noticed Kenichi's focus and narrowed his eyes slightly.
"Kenichi, do you actually believe gods exist?" Sasori asked. His interest sharpened. He did not worship gods, but the Desert God was described as unchanging, the kind of eternity Sasori could not ignore.
Kenichi nodded. "I have heard there are places in the ninja world that worship a deity. Those who truly believe and receive its favor can gain immortality."
Gods existed. He was certain of that.
They might not be the omniscient, omnipotent gods people imagined, but they were far beyond ordinary shinobi. Powerful enough to bend the rules. Not invincible, though.
Otherwise, what would the Ōtsutsuki clan be?
Kenichi even doubted these so called gods could defeat the Ōtsutsuki. If they could, the divine tree would never have been planted in this world in the first place.
"Is that so?" Sasori's curiosity deepened.
Kenichi did not linger on it. Finding that evil god was not simple.
He knew Hidan, a follower of that god, would join Akatsuki later. But Kenichi could not remember where Hidan had been before that. He decided it was easier to wait until Hidan appeared, then study him directly.
Besides, Kenichi already had too many projects piled up.
Chakra fused bombs. Crop modification. Upgrades for Unit 01 that Sasori and he had discussed. Now the Shinigami masks.
In the short term, he simply did not have time to chase the secrets of the masks and the evil god at the same time.
If he ranked them by urgency, crops came first. Chakra fused bombs could wait. Unit 01 modifications could be handed to Sasori.
So once he returned, Kenichi planned to test the thermobaric bomb's power first, then move on to crop work.
"The ninja world is vast," Kenichi said with a faint smile. "There are always strange things hidden somewhere."
He led Sasori out as they prepared to leave the Land of Whirlpools.
Their attempt to recruit Jūzō Biwa had failed. Jūzō's strength was clearly not enough for Akatsuki. He could not even endure the combined pressure of Kenichi and Sasori.
As one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist, Jūzō had skill. He was just not that strong.
Kenichi did not return to the Land of Fire immediately.
He was still thinking about the battlefield between Konoha and the Hidden Cloud. Testing the bomb there would be efficient, and wasting it on an empty wasteland felt wrong.
Kenichi rubbed his ring and took the initiative to contact Nagato.
"Pain," Nagato's voice came through soon after.
Nagato could have dragged Kenichi into their shared space, but he clearly did not want to see him right now, so he settled for voice communication.
"Jade," Nagato said, calm and flat, "what do you need?"
"Leader Pain," Kenichi replied, "I want to ask whether the organization accepts war missions from Konoha or the Hidden Cloud."
Kenichi's goal was simple. If Konoha and the Hidden Cloud were going to bleed anyway, then they could pay for it.
He remembered Akatsuki taking all kinds of missions in the future, including war support, moving like a mercenary group and selling advantage to whoever paid.
"The organization takes war missions issued by Konoha," Nagato said after a pause. "And we accept bounties on Hidden Cloud shinobi. The reward is calculated by confirmed kills."
Akatsuki did take war missions. Explosive tags alone were worth a fortune, and war always meant money.
"Good. I understand." Kenichi nodded. Just as he expected, Konoha had put bounties on the Hidden Cloud.
It was normal. If you could eliminate enemies with money, it was efficient. Shinobi were consumables, and stockpiling enough consumables was its own kind of strength.
"If you take a war mission," Nagato added, "keep all documentation."
It was rare for Kenichi to do something that looked useful for the organization. Nagato had no reason to discourage him.
"Understood," Kenichi said lightly. "I will go cause trouble in the Land of Lightning."
He ended the call.
Now it was time to make money.
If he wanted a laboratory built quickly, money was not optional. He could hand over a portion afterward and call it done.
Sasori had heard everything. He looked at Kenichi like he was trying to decide whether this was courage or madness.
"We are going to the Land of Lightning?" Sasori asked.
"Only to test and assess the damage," Kenichi said, smiling as he tapped the sealing scroll at his side. "Then we leave."
At first, he had planned to drop the bomb in the very center of the war zone, but there were too many shinobi there. It would be messy, and money would be harder to collect cleanly.
Then an idea hit him.
If he threw it into the middle, could he not claim bounties from both sides?
Kenichi froze for a heartbeat, tempted by the thought.
But since Akatsuki had taken Konoha's war mission, he had no choice but to abandon that sweet, illegal dream.
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