Chapter 125: Art Is an Explosion! Drink!
"The Tsuchikage of Iwagakure wants you to help deal with Konoha," Pain said, looking straight at Kenichi.
Kenichi blinked, genuinely caught off guard. The Hidden Stone wanted to hire him?
Of course, this had nothing to do with admiration or friendship. They had their eyes on the thermobaric bombs. After all, the only thing the so called Heavenly Demon was famous for was bombing the Hidden Cloud Village twice, indirectly pushing the Hidden Cloud and the Hidden Leaf into a ceasefire.
From that angle, Kenichi felt it was not even arrogant to call himself the Peacekeeper of the Shinobi World.
"How much did you take in as compensation?" Kenichi asked, curious despite himself.
Thermobaric bombs were not cheap. After his improvements, the cost had climbed even higher. On top of that, he still needed to amortize the earlier research costs.
If the price was too low, he would not bother. If Konoha offered something outrageous, he might even consider doing business with Konoha instead.
"He wants to meet you in person," Pain said calmly.
Kenichi raised an eyebrow. A face to face meeting? For some reason, that made him want to go less.
A Kage suddenly asking to meet was rarely a good sign. What if he walked in and ran into A, the Fourth Raikage of the Hidden Cloud, that walking mountain of muscle?
The Hidden Cloud hated him. His bounty was still hanging at the exchange. Even Kakuzu had started looking at him oddly lately. The man did not say anything, probably because he still remembered Kenichi daring to face a Tailed Beast Ball head on, but that silence only made it creepier.
"I asked around," Pain continued, as if sensing Kenichi's reluctance. "He said one of his students strongly wants to meet you."
"A student wants to see me?" Kenichi almost laughed. Who, exactly, was the Tsuchikage's student? Kurotsuchi? Did she also have a friend named Shirakumo?
Then another name surfaced in his mind, and his smile stiffened.
The Tsuchikage had many students, but the most infamous one was the lunatic who would one day shout that art was an explosion.
Deidara.
Deidara was an oddity even by shinobi standards, someone with a unique bloodline limit that was very likely Explosion Release. He was strong, to the point that the Tsuchikage once considered him suitable as a successor.
Unfortunately, Deidara's personality gave the Tsuchikage endless headaches, and later he would join Akatsuki, cutting ties with Iwagakure completely.
"If you do not want to, I can talk to him again," Pain said.
Akatsuki, at least right now, operated more like a mercenary organization than the infamous villain group it would become in the future. Pain handled business with a certain calm politeness.
That made sense. If you argued with every client, you would not make money. You would only make enemies and draw attention from the great villages earlier than necessary.
"It's fine," Kenichi said, nodding. "I'll go."
Deidara sounded interesting. And Kenichi was also curious about the Tsuchikage himself. Onoki was a ruthless man, and he possessed a Kekkei Tota, something even stronger than a normal Kekkei Genkai.
Above that, supposedly, was the true Bloodline Limit.
That was still far beyond Kenichi for now, but if he could get even a bit of Onoki's tissue, he could store it away and study it later. Collect first, research later. That was how a responsible mad scientist stayed productive.
Besides, showing up in person made it easier to negotiate. A higher price meant more money, and more money meant smoother research.
Pain nodded and moved on to other matters.
Orochimaru glanced at Kenichi, expression unreadable, and said nothing.
Soon, the meeting ended. One by one, everyone left, until only Kenichi remained.
"Pain," Kenichi said before he could be questioned, "the research I started earlier still is not finished. It may take another six months or more."
He already knew what Pain wanted to ask, so he answered first.
"Six months?" Pain repeated, then nodded. "Fine."
That response stunned Kenichi.
He had prepared a full explanation. He had even lined up reasons in his head. Before he could say anything else, Pain had already agreed.
Then Kenichi was pushed out of that space.
His lips twitched. Pain really did not seem to like him very much.
Whatever. Akatsuki still needed Pain to attract recruits and keep the organization running. Kenichi could live with being the barely tolerated contractor.
But Deidara…
Kenichi touched his chin, thinking.
Deidara was formidable, especially his ability to fly. If Kenichi could pull him to his side…
No. More precisely, if he could recruit Deidara into his own team, missions would become far more convenient. Hot air balloons worked, but they were not as fast as Deidara's flying birds.
He just did not know what Deidara was like right now.
Kenichi turned back toward the experimental base and issued orders immediately.
"Start new research based on sample twenty three," he told his shadow clones. "And keep an eye on the lab."
Then he hurried out, heading toward the Land of Rain.
Pain had also assigned Sasori to accompany him on this job. Kenichi intended to use the chance to visit the former site of the Land of Sky and confirm whether the things the survivors mentioned still existed.
Research in the lab was interesting. Every success gave him a quiet thrill.
But being broke was not interesting at all.
This was a rare mission. He planned to profit properly.
"If we do not go through the Land of Fire…" Kenichi hesitated.
The fastest route from the Land of Fields to the Land of Rain was straight through the Land of Fire. Taking a detour would add a ridiculous amount of time, and the shortest distance between two points was still a straight line.
So Kenichi threw together a simple disguise and stepped into the territory of the Land of Fire, moving quickly toward the Land of Rain.
Because of the war between Iwagakure and Konoha, many ninja squads from the Land of Fire were heading toward the Land of Earth.
"Being a ninja is miserable," Kenichi muttered.
These days, even jonin were being sent to the battlefield, and they could die at any moment. Only those at Kage level were slightly safer, and even that was just "slightly."
As he traveled, Kenichi kept a careful distance, deliberately avoiding Konoha squads. He did not want to draw attention and delay his trip.
But then he spotted three figures in the distance.
His steps slowed.
Kakashi.
And beside him, Itachi and Shisui.
Kenichi stared, momentarily at a loss for words. How did these three end up standing together? Something about that scene felt wrong in a way he could not explain.
At that moment, Shisui turned his head, and his gaze locked onto Kenichi's position.
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