The higher-ups of Takigakure sat on their high seats, their eyes fixed on Kakuzu, who was being escorted from the dungeon.
Kakuzu was now a prisoner.
Assassinating a village Kage...
Such a thing was a do-or-die affair. Even the higher-ups of Takigakure had not expected Kakuzu to return alive after failing to assassinate the First Hokage, Senju Hashirama.
So...
After Kakuzu failed to assassinate Senju Hashirama and escaped back to Takigakure, he was imprisoned by the village's leadership under the pretext of mission failure... Since the assassination had failed, Konoha might hold Takigakure accountable. Someone had to take responsibility... and no one was more suitable to be the scapegoat than Kakuzu!
At this moment, Kakuzu was bound by thick chains, and heavy seals were placed upon him, restricting his movements.
The Takigakure leadership gave him only one soldier pill every two to three days to maintain his basic life functions.
To wear down his will, they locked him in a sunless dungeon. There was not a single ray of light in this dark prison, nor a single sound, making one lose all concept of time.
Admittedly, Kakuzu's strength was indeed formidable; otherwise, he wouldn't have been assigned the mission to assassinate Senju Hashirama.
But under such cruel treatment, Kakuzu was in a terrible state, his consciousness on the verge of fading.
However, when he saw the Takigakure leadership, a faint light still shone in his dim eyes. That light was called hatred.
"I clearly did it for the village, following the orders of the higher-ups, to assassinate the First Hokage..."
"Why!"
"Why are you doing this to me!!"
Kakuzu's heart was filled with the rage of betrayal.
He was a traditional, old-school ninja. From the day he became a ninja, the education he received, the ninja around him, and the seniors he revered all told him that a ninja's first duty was to obey orders as a tool. Such a ninja would surely earn respect and trust.
So, Kakuzu had always followed the rules of the ninja game. Since becoming a Takigakure ninja, he had been incredibly loyal. Even when the village leadership issued a near-suicidal mission like assassinating Senju Hashirama... Kakuzu still accepted it.
But Kakuzu never expected...
He had luckily survived Senju Hashirama's hands and returned to the village he served.
In his imagination, he should have been treated as a hero, but the Takigakure leadership had imprisoned him without any reason.
"Silence."
"Having failed the mission, you should have died honorably, committed seppuku. Instead, you brought disaster back to the village. How dare you ask why?"
The leader of Takigakure spoke without a shred of mercy. The considerations of a leader and an ordinary ninja were different from the very beginning. An ordinary ninja only needed to execute orders and complete the mission. But as a leader, he had much more to consider.
Once Konoha came to hold them accountable...
Takigakure absolutely could not withstand Konoha's retaliation. For the sake of the village, someone had to be sacrificed. With the bigger picture at stake, he could only make Kakuzu suffer.
Hearing this, Kakuzu struggled furiously, but his efforts were in vain. He couldn't even mobilize his chakra... Chakra is the energy of the body and mind, and Kakuzu's body and will had reached their limits.
The thick chains only made a clanking sound, echoing in the room.
The Takigakure leadership was amused by Kakuzu's comical appearance and let out a few scornful laughs.
"Kakuzu, stop your pointless struggle."
"I ask you, after you failed the mission, did you attack the great noble of the Qinghua family in the Land of Fire!"
The leader of Takigakure pressed Kakuzu, his eyes fixed on Kakuzu's face, as if trying to determine the truth of his answer from his expression.
Konoha's investigation result said Takigakure did it, but the credibility of such a statement was really not high. Perhaps Konoha was using it as a pretext to throw another big black pot onto Takigakure.
"Hmph, no!"
Kakuzu denied it outright.
He had been locked in the dungeon for some time and was completely unaware of the outside world. Although he didn't know why the Takigakure leadership was asking this question, he immediately denied it... He would not admit to something he hadn't done.
The leader of Takigakure also understood Kakuzu's personality and believed his words in his heart.
But... this was contrary to Takigakure's interests.
They also wanted to argue their innocence to Konoha.
But because of the assassination attempt on the Hokage, Takigakure had already deeply offended Konoha. At this point, whether Takigakure did it or not was no longer important. What was important was that Konoha had already decided it was them, and Takigakure had to take responsibility for it. Since they had to carry one burden, they might as well carry two... For the sake of Takigakure, Kakuzu should take responsibility for this matter as well.
Unfortunately...
Kakuzu completely failed to grasp his meaning... not thinking of Takigakure at all.
"Hmph, stubborn fool!"
"Even at a time like this, you still dare not to tell the truth. Who else could it be but you? You were the only Takigakure ninja who has been to the Land of Fire recently."
"You clearly did this."
"Konoha has already released the investigation report!"
"Now they are going to punish us for multiple crimes and impose sanctions on Takigakure, you know that... idiot. If you're smart, tell me the truth, and I can make your future days a little better."
The leader of Takigakure felt that he had made himself clear enough. Kakuzu should be more graceful and take the blame for everything.
"Hahaha..."
"At this point, does my answer even matter?"
Kakuzu sneered repeatedly.
He had completely seen through the true colors of the Takigakure leadership. These bastards didn't want to take any responsibility at all, pushing everything onto him.
"It's good that you know."
The leader of Takigakure didn't feel despicable at all. On the contrary, he felt he was great. This was all for his Takigakure. Since Kakuzu had accepted his fate, it was a happy outcome for everyone... Otherwise, if Kakuzu stubbornly refused to cooperate, things would be a bit troublesome. It wouldn't be so easy to find another scapegoat as suitable as Kakuzu.
Of course, properly resolving these matters would not be so easy.
Takigakure could certainly express its innocence, claim ignorance, that it was all Kakuzu's own doing, and push all responsibility onto him... but Kakuzu alone would surely not be enough to appease Konoha's anger.
Thinking of this...
The leader of Takigakure felt a bitterness in his heart.
He had thought of taking advantage of the war to assassinate Konoha's Hokage and weaken Konoha. But according to Kakuzu's description... he was captured by the First Hokage in a single encounter.
In the eyes of the Takigakure leadership, Kakuzu's strength was already very formidable.
He never expected the First Hokage's strength to be so terrifying!
Faced with the powerful Senju Hashirama, the powerful Konoha, and their incredibly strong ally, Akatsuki Village, which had just won a foreign war, the Takigakure leadership decisively chose to kneel.
First, hand over the "culprit" Kakuzu to Konoha, then go and lick Konoha's boots. At worst, they could become Konoha's vassal and sign a bunch of unequal treaties... For a small village to face a large village, this was not shameful!
"Are you going to hand me over to Konoha?"
"That's right. Considering you are taking the blame for Takigakure, if you cooperate well, your days will be better before you are handed over to Konoha. At least you won't have to suffer like before."
"I understand."
"Is there anything left in this world worth trusting..."
Kakuzu's heart was now like dead ashes, completely devoid of hope. He understood that he had been completely abandoned, so he no longer made any pointless struggles, having completely accepted his fate.
"Take Kakuzu down. We can make an exception and give him something good to eat recently."
The leader of Takigakure waved his hand, signaling the ninja standing by Kakuzu's side to take him away, and also specially approved a good meal for him today.
In a few days, Kakuzu would be sent to Konoha.
His fate was predictable; it was a dead end. This was his last meal.
Before long...
Kakuzu was taken back to the dungeon.
"Eat up... this is your last meal... enjoy it..."
The Chūnin guard brought Kakuzu his dinner for the day. There were vegetables, rice, meat, and wine. It was much better than the hellish life of one soldier pill every two or three days.
Kakuzu stumbled over and began to eat ravenously. Even if he had to die, he wouldn't die a hungry ghost.
The feeling of hunger was simply too painful.
"Hey, I heard you acted on your own, assassinated the Hokage, and also killed a great noble family of the Land of Fire..."
"Is that true?"
"It's because of you that we offended Konoha!!!"
The Taki-Chūnin looked at Kakuzu, who was feasting, and couldn't help but ask.
The village was now filled with rumors of Kakuzu's crimes. Out of his own simple emotions, he was angry at Kakuzu for acting on his own.
Konoha was a major village in the ninja world... Offending Konoha would bring a devastating disaster upon Takigakure.
Traitor!
"Hmph... idiot."
"You can actually believe such words..."
Kakuzu chewed on a piece of meat, glanced at the Chūnin before him, and thought this in his heart.
At this point...
He no longer had the heart to defend himself.
No one would believe him, no one would trust him... There was nothing in this ninja world worth trusting!
Seeing Kakuzu's silence, the Taki-Chūnin naturally took it as a default admission, and then, unable to contain himself, began to ramble on.
"It's because of you... that Takigakure..."
"If Takigakure is destroyed by Konoha, I'll have to run... but what about the future... I won't even have a place to get missions..."
"If I can't get missions, I can't earn money..."
As an ordinary Chūnin, his considerations were very realistic.
No, his strength probably didn't even qualify him as a Chūnin; he should be called a slightly stronger Genin... A small village like Takigakure naturally couldn't compare to large villages like Konoha and Akatsuki Village. It was only to make themselves look a little more respectable and earn a little more commission that they had slightly lowered the conditions for promotion to Chūnin.
A low-level Genin struggling to survive in the ninja world would not fight to the death for a small village like Takigakure.
If the timing was wrong, he would run immediately!
How much money did Takigakure give him, that he should risk his life for it?
But a Genin like him, once he left the village, would become a rogue ninja. A rogue ninja with Genin-level strength could at best make a living in the ninja world, but he certainly couldn't be attached to Takigakure like he was now, able to stably receive decent missions.
The future seemed bleak again.
The Taki-Chūnin rambled on and on about his uncertain future, which greatly annoyed Kakuzu, who wanted to concentrate on enjoying his last few meals.
"Shut up!"
"Is that all you can think about in your head... doing missions, making money... what about your ninja way!"
Kakuzu was a powerful elite ninja, a ninja with a pursuit of the ninja way. It was difficult for him to understand the thoughts of the Taki-Chūnin before him.
Two out of every three sentences were about money.
But for a low-level ninja...
With their weak strength, pursuing the ninja way was too much of a luxury. They didn't want to pursue such a vague and ethereal concept. Didn't they get into this line of work to earn cold, hard cash?
"Hmph... why do ninja complete missions? Isn't it to get the commission for the mission... to put it bluntly, isn't it selling your life for money..."
"Whoever gives me money, I'll sell my life for them!"
"The ninja way?"
"That's something for the big shots to consider... you used to be a big shot. So what if you had a ninja way? You're still going to die..."
Small people have their own philosophy of survival. Although they are unknown, they see certain things with extreme clarity.
Kakuzu was speechless. For a moment, he felt that the ninja way he had always insisted on was like a bubble, a false existence that would pop with a single prick of a needle. An indescribable feeling began to fill his heart.
"If I give you a large sum of money, will you let me go?"
"That depends on how much money you have."
The Taki-Chūnin chuckled lightly, not taking Kakuzu's words to heart, and answered casually.
"Probably about ten million ryō. That's all my savings... I've put the money in different places..."
"You let me go, and it's all yours..."
"Hiss... you really have ten million ryō!"
The Taki-Chūnin took a sharp breath. Ten million ryō was a heavenly sum for him, a ninja with only Genin-level strength...
He might not be able to earn that much money in his entire life of toil.
"I am a Jōnin of Takigakure... ten million ryō... is not a lot for me... it would only take me two or three years to save up..."
"If you don't believe me, I can tell you one of the places where the money is... there's about one million ryō there."
The Taki-Chūnin's expression was extremely tempted... letting Kakuzu go was indeed a capital offense—love gold, or love the village?
But this was ten million ryō. He could take the money and run from Takigakure.
The ninja world was so big; there would always be a place for him.
Gamble a bike for a motorcycle!
After some thought...
I choose to love gold!!!
"I couldn't earn this much money in a lifetime of service to Takigakure..."
"You tell me first... I'm afraid you..."
"Hmph... fine... I'll tell you one place first..."
Kakuzu named a location where the money was hidden. After the Taki-Chūnin learned of it, he immediately left the room.
Ten minutes later...
The Taki-Chūnin returned, his face beaming.
"Thanks, senior... I hope we never see each other again in this lifetime."
"I have to run. Here's the key..."
The deal was quickly made. The Taki-Chūnin only wanted to take the money and run, not wanting to stay in the village for another second.
Holding the key in his hand, Kakuzu felt as if he had been in a long dream and had finally woken up.
He had lived so many years in vain
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