Roshi figured that he wasn't going to become a Traitorous Ninja overnight.
Of course, that wasn't because Onoki was kind, he just wanted to play the "empty city" game so the other Ninja Villages wouldn't be able to properly gauge the strength of Hidden Rock.
"People still need to be officially labeled Traitorous Ninjas. Just walking out of a Ninja Village doesn't automatically make you one. If they haven't branded you yet, it only means they still have their scruples—or, put another way, what you've done so far hasn't pushed them to the point of going rabid." Kakuzu chuckled.
When it came to Traitorous Ninjas, Kakuzu was very familiar. After all, when he first turned rogue, it was hard to say whether Roshi had even been born yet.
"That's true." Roshi nodded in agreement.
He ran, yes—but all he did was run.
After chatting with Roshi for a bit, Kakuzu glanced over at Sosuke.
As the Leader of the Ninja Sect, Sosuke wasn't someone just anyone could see. The fact that Roshi could directly lead Ninjas of the Ninja Sect to Sosuke's side clearly meant Sosuke had sent word ahead of time.
Mokgetsu only responded with a faint smile and stayed silent.
Kakuzu withdrew his gaze, picked up his teacup, took a sip, and then said:
"Speaking of which, Hidden Rock just suffered a major defeat not long ago, didn't they? And they pinned the blame for losing the war on you?"
There were plenty of Traitorous Ninjas in the Ninja World, and not every one of them had been screwed over by their own village; plenty had simply broken the law.
Kakuzu felt Roshi was the type who'd been screwed by his village, because if he were the kind who ran wild without any regard for rules, Sosuke would usually help "clean house" while he was at it.
"Partly, I guess." Thinking of what he'd gone through after returning to the village, Roshi couldn't help letting out a sigh.
"Only partly? Then it sounds like the higher‑ups of Hidden Rock just wanted to give you a warning rather than treating you as a complete discard. That's a lot better than what I went through back then." Kakuzu commented once he'd heard him out.
"You?" Roshi looked at Kakuzu, puzzled.
He knew of Kakuzu, but he wasn't familiar with Kakuzu's past.
"I'm a Traitorous Ninja too, a Traitorous Ninja from Waterfall Village." Kakuzu openly began to speak of his own story.
"This was a long time ago. The village ordered me to go alone to the Land of Fire and assassinate the First Hokage, Senju Hashirama."
Roshi's gaze toward Kakuzu shifted slightly. Assassinate the First Hokage, and alone at that—how was that a mission? That was pure suicide.
Senju Hashirama—what kind of figure was that? He was the terrifying existence known as the God of Ninjas, universally recognized as the strongest Ninja since the age of the Ninja Villages began.
"I went. But Senju Hashirama was too strong. My assassination failed, and I escaped back to Waterfall Village only by fighting with everything I had."
In Roshi's eyes, Kakuzu's strength suddenly became unfathomable. To attempt to assassinate the God of Ninjas and still live to tell the tale—that was anything but simple.
"After that, the village used 'failure in a critical mission' as the charge to imprison and harshly punish me, and that's how I became a Traitorous Ninja."
Though he'd already half‑guessed the outcome, hearing the end of Kakuzu of Waterfall Village's story still made Roshi freeze for a moment.
Faced with an almost certain‑death mission, Kakuzu chose to stake his life on completing it—yet Waterfall Village took advantage of his weakened state to sentence him and lock him up.
That really was much more miserable than his own experience, and the fact that Kakuzu had managed to live well up to now struck Roshi as quite impressive.
"Don't look at me with that expression. I've already made those people pay the price they deserved, and my life now is better than it ever was." Kakuzu set down his teacup and said lazily.
Unlike Roshi, who'd slipped away without a sound, Kakuzu had gone straight for the relevant higher‑ups and killed them all, venting his anger in full.
"You should think more about your own sake. You matter a lot to Hidden Rock."
Kakuzu's presence in the Ninja Sect wasn't a secret, but Waterfall Village had never come to the Land of Rain to make trouble for the Ninja Sect.
Was it because the current leadership of Waterfall Village understood Kakuzu's suffering? Of course not. It was because killing Kakuzu brought them no benefit, and the Ninja Sect was not an easy bone for Waterfall to gnaw on.
"How did you end up joining the Ninja Sect?" Roshi couldn't help growing curious.
If he had gone through what Kakuzu had, he might never trust anyone again in his entire life, let alone join a Ninja Organization.