Chapter 17: I Have Three Ways to Resolve This Matter

At this stage, the highest priority for the Akatsuki Organization was to amass a great fortune. Only then could they swiftly advance to the next phase: capturing the Tailed Beasts, forging Tailed Beast weapons, and preparing for other related undertakings.

Konan’s words were indisputable to Kakuzu, yet inwardly, he thought, “No, no! Under no circumstances can I be teamed up with Uzumaki Shika from now on!” Though making money was a great pleasure for him, Uzumaki Shika’s reckless, money-over-life attitude was exhausting beyond measure. Continuing to be paired with him would mean either dying on a mission or being worn down to death by the relentless grind of assignments. He had to find a way to change partners.

Previously, Orochimaru had been an excellent teammate for missions. Though Orochimaru had his own issues, compared to Uzumaki Shika, he was far more manageable. At least Orochimaru wouldn’t act like a task-driven machine, incessantly throwing himself into missions without rest.

When Kakuzu cast a hopeful glance at Orochimaru, his old partner immediately averted his gaze, pretending not to notice the plea. While scanning the surroundings, Orochimaru sneered inwardly. “Ha! As the organization’s funds increase, so does the budget for research. Right now, Akatsuki is mostly saving up, with the largest expenditure being on my experiments and studies. Besides, I even hired Uzumaki Shika for long-term assistance in my research. You’ve come to the wrong person, Kakuzu.”

Kakuzu, seeing Orochimaru’s expression, instantly understood that Orochimaru had no intention of teaming up with him again. This realization made Kakuzu nostalgically recall the good old days with Orochimaru. As the man furthest from death in the ninja world, teaming up with Orochimaru as an “immortal duo” was far better than pairing with Uzumaki Shika as an “overworked duo.” The thought alone gave him a tremendous headache.

Konan, watching Kakuzu’s haggard face, felt a pang of sympathy. Kakuzu had long been Akatsuki’s tireless, gold-medal worker, always at the forefront of every operation. Now, looking drained and hollowed out, he seemed truly pitiable. Yet, even with his mastery of forbidden jutsu, Kakuzu couldn’t keep up with Uzumaki Shika’s relentless pace. Sending anyone else to team with Uzumaki Shika would be even more inappropriate.

In terms of mission execution, Kakuzu’s reputation was well known. The duo of Kakuzu and Uzumaki Shika was considered a formidable alliance, smoothly handling both the acceptance and completion of tasks. Still, seeing Kakuzu so exhausted, Konan said, “You and Uzumaki Shika will continue as a two-person team for missions, but Pain will adjust the village’s mission system to place some restrictions on Uzumaki Shika.”

At that moment, Pain spoke up as well. “Though you caused some minor trouble in Amegakure before, it did not affect the overall situation. From now on, the village’s mission system will change. Some low-difficulty tasks will no longer enter the black market. For those ninjas unable to accept such missions, the village will assign specialized tasks. You can accept and carry out missions in the village without any reservations. You may act freely to complete your objectives!”

Upon noticing Uzumaki Shika’s strong interest and talent in carrying out missions, Pain did not intend to suppress him. Instead, by adjusting the village’s mission system, he aimed to allow the village to develop normally while providing Uzumaki Shika with greater opportunities to demonstrate his abilities.

Lower-tier ninjas were the foundation of the village’s existence. If problems arose among them, the entire village structure would collapse. Amegakure would serve as Akatsuki’s stronghold for a long time to come and must remain stable.

Given that Uzumaki Shika and Kakuzu had shown excellent performance over the past month, Pain hoped Shika would maintain this level and even undertake more missions alongside Kakuzu.

Kakuzu was dumbfounded by Pain’s words. Pain was effectively expanding Uzumaki Shika’s scope to take on more missions by adjusting the village’s system, even encouraging him to act without restraint. Did this make any sense? Now that he was Shika’s teammate, he had to accompany him on these relentless missions. Wasn’t this a surefire way to exhaust him?

However, Uzumaki Shika was displeased by Pain’s comments. Regardless of the adjustments, he would still have fewer missions to accept for some time. His rapid rise in strength was due to relentless task grinding, even using wooden clones to complete tasks. Without continuous mission employment or high-paying contracts, his system rewards were minimal. His swift rise was the result of cumulative effort and steady growth. Restricting him from taking low-difficulty missions was unacceptable.

“I disagree!” Shika declared immediately. “I can reduce the number of such missions, but I cannot stop taking them entirely.”

As a mercenary with a ninja mercenary system, constant mission completion was the only way for him to surge in strength. Limiting his mission intake was tantamount to halting his growth, which was unacceptable.

Pain’s expression remained unchanged as he calmly replied, “No need to rush; I have other plans for you. Recently, Amegakure has been aggressively taking on various ninja missions, causing some friction with neighboring villages. Due to this and previous incidents involving Uzumaki Karin, Kusagakure holds considerable resentment toward us. I intend to hire you to handle these issues.”

Upon hearing that Pain had a mission for him, Uzumaki Shika instantly flipped from indignation to a beaming smile, displaying a textbook example of sudden mood reversal. Pain, Konan, Zetsu, Uchiha Itachi, Orochimaru, and the rest immediately understood: as long as there was a mission involved, negotiations with Uzumaki Shika were always smooth.

Learning the mission concerned Kusagakure, Shika began recalling information about the village. Kusagakure lacked its own unique ninjutsu inheritance, specializing instead in learning and studying other villages’ techniques. Thus, their ninjas likely possessed a variety of skills. Though a small village, Kusagakure was fiercely competitive in factional conflicts.

After quickly reviewing Kusagakure’s background, Shika looked to Pain and asked, “What exactly is the mission I need to complete?”

Pain casually replied, “The most valuable asset of Kusagakure is now in your hands. The fact that employers choose to post missions in Amegakure is due to your growing reputation. These two matters have directly increased Kusagakure’s hostility toward our village, fueling plans to sabotage Amegakure. Since you caused much of this trouble, you must resolve it. How you handle it is up to you, as long as you prevent Kusagakure’s ninjas from harming Amegakure in any way.”

“This mission is ranked S-class, with a reward of one million ryō.”

Pain clearly understood Uzumaki Shika’s personality. Assigning him tasks without the mercenary mission format would render him unruly and uncooperative. Despite minor flaws, Shika’s reliability was beyond doubt: his 100% mission success rate was genuine.

After Pain finished, Shika’s heart leapt in delight. “Oh! Such a grand opportunity? Sitting in Amegakure’s tower and missions fall from the sky? But this mission has potential for deep exploration! Kusagakure’s ninjas are talented learners and researchers. Perhaps…”

After some thought, Shika’s mind brimmed with excellent ideas regarding Kusagakure.

Clearing his throat, he said, “I have three ways to resolve this. The least favorable is to eliminate all the ninjas Kusagakure sends here. But I don’t recommend this; it lacks significance and won’t bring lasting benefits to Amegakure or the organization. Plus, killing Kusagakure’s ninjas could provoke further trouble.”

“A better method is to capture them alive and recruit them as Akatsuki’s peripheral members. Akatsuki currently has few core members and even fewer peripheral ones.”

“The best approach is to bring Kusagakure under our control, ideally governing the entire village.”

Having spoken, Shika looked to Pain, awaiting his decision.

Pain was stunned by Shika’s words. Wasn’t the obvious solution to eliminate hostile ninjas? He confirmed Shika was not joking—he genuinely proposed capturing Kusagakure’s ninjas as Akatsuki’s peripheral forces and even controlling the whole village.

Pain asked, puzzled, “Why would I want to recruit Kusagakure’s ninjas? Don’t you know many weak ninjas in Amegakure are already a heavy burden for me?”

Pain’s words were tactful but blunt: recruiting Kusagakure’s weaklings would be pointless. If one disregarded the village’s normal operations and development, even Amegakure’s weak ninjas might be dispensable.