Chapter 14: Utter Madness! A Frenzied Spree!

During this period, every mission the two undertook together was a complete success, boasting a perfect success rate. This naturally piqued the curiosity of employers from other regions.

On the way to the Rain Hidden Village’s black market, Kakuzu ultimately refused to be carried by Uzumaki Sushia and insisted on walking alongside him into the market. As expected, their appearance quickly drew the attention of numerous employers.

A dense crowd swarmed around them.

“It's Kakuzu and Uzumaki Sushia!”

“Where? Is the duo finally here? I specially came looking for them!”

“They have an extremely high mission success rate!”

“True, this is already the second time I’ve hired them.”

“Wonderful! Our village is saved!”

In the Rain Hidden Village black market, lively discussions filled the air, with many chatting excitedly with their companions. The topic of conversation was naturally about Kakuzu, a legendary figure in the black market, and Uzumaki Sushia, the rising star shining brightly in the shadows.

This pairing was fascinating from any perspective. One was an immortal legend in the black market, the other the hottest newcomer. Together, they exuded an aura of absolute reliability.

Moreover, they had never failed a mission since teaming up.

As the crowd surged forward, Kakuzu’s expression twitched involuntarily.

“Besides Sushia, this single-minded mission fanatic, the others probably won’t accept these chaotic tasks.”

“Many of these missions, judging by their difficulty and rewards, could be handled by a few genin in various ninja villages.”

“Sigh... This madman really doesn’t care about his life when it comes to money.”

Following Sushia closely, Kakuzu sighed inwardly. Their reputations meant they didn’t need to collect mission orders from the black market administrators. Employers holding mission sheets approached directly, eager to hire them.

Unlike Kakuzu’s reserved demeanor, Sushia was ecstatic, nearly bursting with joy as the crowd gathered.

With a wide grin, he addressed the employers from all directions.

“Everyone, please don’t rush! One at a time!”

“Listen to me, regardless of the reward size or difficulty level!”

“As long as the mission’s difficulty matches the reward and it’s a hired mission, we generally accept it.”

“If you have questions during the mission release, you can communicate with Kakuzu.”

“If there are no issues, please line up properly and hand me your mission orders one by one!”

After Sushia’s words, the crowd began to move. Many employers queued up, forming two long lines to increase efficiency.

When they reached Kakuzu and Sushia, they handed over their mission sheets and began negotiations regarding rewards and deadlines.

For missions without deadlines and with acceptable rewards, they simply handed over the orders without further discussion.

Kakuzu glanced at the densely packed crowd before him, feeling a tingle on his scalp as he silently calculated.

“So many missions? How long will all this take?”

“Moreover, many are low-paying tasks.”

“Completing these is less worthwhile than hunting bounty targets.”

“Have these people mistaken the Rain Hidden Village black market for an ordinary ninja village’s mission commission office?”

“There’s even a mission to find a pet cat!”

Suddenly, a crackling sound of wood growing filled the air.

A wooden clone appeared beside Uzumaki Sushia, carrying a mission order handed to it by Sushia.

Seeing this, Kakuzu’s face twitched again, momentarily forgetting to be surprised at the wooden clone itself.

“What are you doing?”

Sushia flipped through the mission sheet, speaking casually.

“I suddenly remembered some ninja use shadow clones to attend ninja academy in their place.”

“Following that logic, many simple hired missions can be completed by wooden clones.”

“The recently unlocked Wood Clone Technique comes in handy now.”

“The previous mission was to tutor a boy about to become a genin in shuriken skills.”

“For such tasks, I’ve decided to have the wooden clones handle them from now on.”

“That way, the two of us can tackle more challenging missions.”

As Sushia’s eyes gleamed with excitement, Kakuzu felt his vision darken, as if his head was about to explode!

Sushia’s use of wooden clones for low-level missions wasn’t to lessen his own workload—it was to free himself up to take on more difficult tasks.

After the employers finished submitting missions and left, Kakuzu was left holding a thick stack of mission sheets, feeling unreal.

Sushia’s stack was even thicker, as he had rejected some trivial tasks, only for those employers to rejoin the end of his queue and hand over their missions again.

“Kakuzu, you can give me your mission sheets now.”

Sushia stretched out his hand toward Kakuzu.

Without hesitation, Kakuzu handed over dozens of mission sheets.

To Kakuzu, these were nothing but dozens of headaches, with mostly low-paying rewards.

Sushia’s perspective was utterly different.

These were not troubles—they were dozens of opportunities to grow stronger.

They represented progress on his path to becoming a human Jūbi.

With that thought, Sushia clapped the thick stack of mission sheets between his hands, his eyes shining with excitement.

“Absolutely mad! Let’s grind to our heart’s content!!!”

Kakuzu was speechless.

Throughout the journey, Kakuzu could only look up to the sky in disbelief.

In the past, employers seeking help would go to various ninja villages of different sizes to hire ninjas.

But now, thanks to Sushia and Kakuzu’s fame in the Rain Hidden Village black market, many employers included the black market in their considerations.

Having learned of their efficiency and success rate, most preferred to hire them to get things done.

Looking at the thickness of Sushia’s mission sheets—thicker than a dictionary—Kakuzu’s scalp tingled.

Sushia alone was completing nearly as many missions as all the ninjas in a small ninja village combined.

Some villages had over a hundred ninjas.

For Sushia alone to match their total mission completion was no small feat.

What could Kakuzu say in the face of this?

Moreover, Sushia had monopolized missions from all corners of the black market.

From the era of the First Hokage until now, Kakuzu had dominated the ninja world for countless years.

Yet he had never heard of a monopoly on black market missions—until now.

And Sushia was unquestionably the undisputed black market mission tycoon.

“Why do you look so grim, Kakuzu?” Sushia casually asked, holding hands with Karin as they walked.

Kakuzu replied seriously, “I think we can’t continue like this.”

Sushia paused, then nodded thoughtfully.

“You’re right, Kakuzu. We’ve been too lax lately.”

“We could clear black market missions three times a day!”

“Once in the morning, once in the afternoon, and once more at night!”

“Just thinking about those employers eagerly waiting with their mission sheets tortures me to the core!”

Kakuzu’s already dark expression turned even darker.

“I don’t mean it like that!” he said hastily, while secretly calculating the feasibility of using fusion ninjutsu to get rid of Sushia.

Keeping up with Sushia’s relentless pace of high-intensity missions would surely exhaust him to death.

A month of this nonstop, high-load mission execution had left him physically and mentally drained.

He deeply missed the adorable teammates he had once mercilessly tricked to their doom.

Nearby, Sushia was counting money with Karin, who had also come to realize the importance of wealth through his example.

With Sushia as her role model, she now believed that working hard on missions to earn massive rewards was what gave life meaning.

“Kssshh—” After counting for a while, Karin gasped softly.

Sushia noticed and asked casually, “Hand cramps?”

Karin nodded slightly in protest—there was simply too much money to count every day.

Sushia immediately grasped her small hand and rubbed it gently.

“Next time you count money, take breaks regularly to relax, then continue.”

Karin snorted lightly, turning her cute little head away, mentally noting this advice.

Sushia couldn’t resist messing up her hair at her adorable reaction.

“Damn it!” Karin yelped, clutching her fist tightly and pounding Sushia’s back.

Despite her young age, Karin was already training her taijutsu on Sushia.

When she grows up, she might just be able to knock out an enemy with a single punch.

After all, Sushia’s physical strength surpassed even the Third Raikage.

Watching these two, Kakuzu sighed deeply and negotiated once again with Sushia.

“I think we should have rest days every week.”

“Proper rest helps us perform better on missions!”