While Shinji was imrsed in slaughtering curses and farming Curse Soul Points, two uninvited guests arrived in this rundown town.
Both wore black cloaks embroidered with red clouds, and straw hats with wind chis hanging from the brim.
Though their figures were concealed beneath the loose cloaks, a fleeting glimpse beneath the hats made it clear—this was a man and a woman.
"So this is the town rumored to have monsters appearing?"
"Mm."
"Doesn't look like anything special."
"Pain is just being cautious. It's too close to that place. Even if it has nothing to do with the Tailed Beasts, it still needs to be investigated."
"Heh. I don't really care about that. I'm just curious whether these monsters' corpses can fetch a good price."
"Don't get careless. I don't feel like carrying your corpse back."
"No one can kill ."
"Let's hope the leader doesn't get angry hearing that."
"He wouldn't care about sothing like this. After all, gods and humans are fundantally different."
"..."
That bit of blatant flattery ca completely out of nowhere. Konan glanced at him, lips moving slightly, but in the end she said nothing.
Kakuzu, anwhile, chuckled to himself. Still too green, little girl.
The two fell into silence, and the conversation ended there.
But their pace into the town didn't slow at all.
Just as they were considering whether to split up and search separately, a blob of sothing slimy—like disgusting phlegm—shot toward them at incredible speed.
Konan frowned slightly and took a subtle half-step back.
The aning was obvious.
Catching this from the corner of his eye, Kakuzu's mouth twitched, but he still stepped forward and rapidly ford seals.
"Fire Release: Intelligent Hard Work!"
Facing an unknown enemy, Kakuzu showed no carelessness at all. A sea of flas instantly surged forward.
The "phlegm" seed to encounter its natural nesis and lted on the spot…
It didn't even manage a scream before being completely wiped out.
After attacking, Kakuzu oddly felt as if all five of his hearts were montarily empty.
That's it?
Exchanging a glance, neither he nor Konan rushed to such a hasty conclusion.
They continued forward.
Suddenly, a spherical freak with a human face printed on it flew toward them from afar.
Once again, Kakuzu stepped up. Black threads extended from his arm as he released part of his combat power.
"Tendril Punch!"
Bang!
The human-head balloon was smashed to pieces in a single blow.
Klap.
Retracting his fist, Kakuzu looked at Konan again. She felt equally annoyed but said calmly, "They're just rumors, after all. Let's keep looking."
"Whatever."
Kakuzu instantly lost interest.
Sothing this weak definitely wasn't worth any money.
Then, all of a sudden, violent tremors shook the ground ahead, as if so massive creature was charging forward.
Looking up, they saw grotesque, hippo-like monsters—each with a huge mouth—running wildly, as if sothing terrifying were chasing them from behind.
This ti, Kakuzu didn't bother to notice the details. Or rather, he simply didn't care anymore.
Seeing Konan still in a "vacation mode" posture, he clicked his tongue and took action himself.
"Lightning Release: False Darkness!"
A mask monster squeezed out from his body, opening its mouth to unleash a terrifyingly sharp lightning spear.
Before the charging hippo monster could even reach Kakuzu and Konan, it was struck. One bolt of lightning pierced straight through its mouth; another shot off sowhere unknown.
The creature let out a shrill, miserable scream before collapsing with a thunderous crash.
Weak. Just way too weak!
This ti, Kakuzu was genuinely displeased. He had wasted his precious ti for this?
"Let's go. There's no need to keep investigating this kind of thing—"
"Damn it! Who the hell did this?!"
Before Kakuzu could finish, an angry, irritated shout cut him off.
Frowning, he looked over and saw a man erge from behind the fallen hippo monster, a massive, exaggerated greatsword slung over his shoulder.
It was Shinji—still roaming around killing monsters!
If Kakuzu and Konan had paid closer attention, they would've noticed that the sli creature, the human-head balloon, and the hippo monster had all co from the sa direction.
With the advantage of his "radar," Shinji had nearly wiped out all the curses in the area.
Seeing there was no hope left, the remaining curses actually decided to band together and fight him.
The problem was—they couldn't win.
So when they finally broke and scattered, they fled in all directions.
Shinji didn't want to let a single one escape. He chased them relentlessly, prioritizing the "valuable" ones. As for the overly weak Grade 4 and Grade 3 curses, if chasing them ant wasting ti, he simply ignored them.
But this hippo monster was the last Grade 2 curse—worth 300 Curse Soul Points!
The mont Shinji freed up his hands, he chased it down.
And who would've thought soone else would snatch the kill?!
Aside from Hidan—who was considered to be in a default party with him—any curse killed by others gave him zero Curse Soul Points.
That made him furious!
It felt like 300 Curse Soul Points had slipped straight through his fingers—an enormous loss!
Which led to the scene just now.
He wanted to see who had the guts to steal his prey.
When he stepped out and saw them—damn. That outfit was unforgettable.
"Watch your mouth, brat. Or I'll rip out your tongue and strangle you with it," Kakuzu snarled, killing intent surging.
"Interesting. You're the first person who's dared to talk to like that."
Shinji actually laughed. If it were any other Akatsuki mber, he might've felt a bit of pressure.
But Kakuzu?
Not worth worrying about.
More importantly, Shinji knew this guy's fatal weakness all too well.
As long as there wasn't a line of idiots waiting to donate hearts to Kakuzu, he was fully confident he could win this fight.
Of course, that was assuming Konan didn't get excited and summon the Six Paths of Pain—that would be troubleso.
He wasn't eager to experience pain right now, and his resources wouldn't carry him very far.
"Brat, go to hell and repent. You've offended soone you shouldn't have."
Kakuzu sneered arrogantly and launched a tendril punch.
Whoosh!
It was hard to imagine such a massive Executioner's Blade moving so lightly in Shinji's hands. He casually spun it in a clean arc—
—and precisely severed Kakuzu's flying right arm.
"You steal my prey and act this arrogant? If I don't cut you down today, how am I supposed to explain this to that idiot Hidan when I get back?"
Shinji raised the Executioner's Blade and pointed it straight at Kakuzu, whose expression had darkened.
Konan frowned and imdiately stepped forward—only to be stopped at once.
"Konan, don't interfere. I'm going to teach this ignorant brat a painful lesson and make him regret ever being born."
Kakuzu… was angry.
After a mont's thought, Konan withdrew and left the battlefield to them.
After all, with Kakuzu's special nature—and with her watching from the sidelines—everything was under control.
Or so, they thought...
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