Naruto: From Fake to Real, Deceiving the Ninja World.

A very faint sound rang out, and the entire wall silently slid inward, revealing a staircase just wide enough for one person to pass through.

Kakuzu remained expressionless as he descended the stone steps, his figure gradually disappearing from view.

This is a transit point for death.

Money exchange.

“Mr. Kakuzu, please come with me.”

A man with gruesome scars on his face walked over, his attitude very respectful, but he couldn't help but pause when he saw Kakuzu.

This guy usually carries the corpses here, and the scene is always incredibly impactful.

What happened this time...?

But he didn't say much, only thinking that Kakuzu had gone too far and the corpse looked too gruesome, so he simply put it into the sealing scroll.

As Kakuzu and his companion ventured deeper into the room, they entered a spacious room filled with a chilling atmosphere.

What comes into view is a wall that resembles a honeycomb, stretching into the shadows at the far end of the line of sight.

It is filled with drawer-shaped metal compartments of uniform size, each with a vaguely marked number.

This is the "shelf" used by the gold exchange to store "goods".

"Please." The scarred man turned to look at Kakuzu and gestured for him to take out the corpse.

Looking at the scarred man who had only pulled out one square, Kakuzu let out a cold snort that was hard to decipher.

He took down a specially made, large-capacity sealing scroll from behind him, unfolded it, laid it horizontally on the ground, and raised his hands to form a hand seal.

Bang! !

After a burst of white smoke, dozens of corpses in various shapes appeared out of thin air like dumped garbage, forming a small mountain that exuded the stench of blood and death.

Several corpses tumbled down from the top of the mountain of corpses like rolling stones, landing at the scarred man's feet with a chilling thud.

The quantity is too much.

Thick, warm, dark red blood spread out, and the strong smell of blood and rotting instantly overwhelmed the original odor of the gold exchange.

"hiss!"

Upon seeing this, the scarred man couldn't help but gasp, but the smell of blood entering his lungs made his lips twitch.

His nerves, which had been tempered into composure through years of handling corpses, were shattered by the massive and bloody mountain of corpses before him.

He has worked in the industry for over a decade and has seen all sorts of methods of transporting corpses: carrying, dragging, hiding...

However, it is unprecedented to see an entire mountain of corpses "pouring out" in one go.

"Are these guys all wanted bounties?"

The scarred man blurted out a question, but quickly realized his mistake, his expression changing slightly as he hurriedly explained, "I'm sorry, Mr. Kakuzu, I didn't doubt your credibility, it's just this quantity..."

"Yes, all of them." Jiao didn't seem to care about his loss of composure and said calmly, "There were some with lower bounties that we couldn't fit in the bag, so we didn't bring them."

As he said this, there was a hint of heartache and frustration in his voice.

"As expected of Mr. Kakuzu." The scarred man wiped away a bead of cold sweat and forced out a dry compliment.

“I didn’t kill him.” Kakuzu didn’t steal the credit from ‘Shadow’, and said in a complicated tone, “If I had done it, the body would either have been intact or turned to ashes.”

Upon hearing this, the scarred man looked at the gruesome sight of the corpses with severed limbs and heads, and the lingering fear and despair on their skulls, and swallowed hard.

While feeling chilled, I was also curious about who had done it. This "undying" person, who always kept to himself, actually had a companion?

The scarred man pulled out a black market bounty list and matched the identities and bounties of the corpses one by one, crossing out the names like a book of life and death.

"One hundred and thirty-four million taels."

After a long while, and after carefully calculating several times, the scarred man trembled as he announced the total bounty, carefully took out a leather suitcase, and respectfully pushed it in front of Kakuzu.

Looking at the several large boxes of money in front of him, Kakuzu's breathing became heavy.

As one of the top bounty hunters, Kakuzu enjoys unparalleled prestige in the black market. Every time he completes a bounty mission, the exchange office will advance the bounty to save him time in redeeming it.

But Kakuzu still made no attempt to hide it and opened the box on the spot. His dark green pupils shone even brighter in the light of the green banknotes, and he reached out and began to count them one by one.

Swish! Swish!

The faint sound of money rubbing against each other in the deathly silence was like a strange, devout chanting.

Oblivious to others, with incredibly skilled and fluid movements, and unwavering focus, he possessed a level of mastery that ordinary people could never achieve.

Seeing this, the scarred man was somewhat helpless and said with a wry smile, "Mr. Kakuzu, you're already a regular customer, you don't need to count them out one by one in front of me every time, do you?"

"No." Kakuzu counted the money without looking up, his voice muffled through his mask, "In this world, only money can be trusted."

As an immortal ninja, he wanders through the beginning of a long history, even tracing back to the earliest period when ninja villages were established in various countries.

As an elite member of Takigakure, he was tasked with assassinating the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju, but was defeated by Wood Release.

Even after fleeing back to the village in a sorry state, facing the threat of death, he still faces the stigma of mission failure and severe punishment.

For Kakuzu, who had risked his life for the village, this was undoubtedly an exceptionally cruel and heartless betrayal and abandonment.

Filled with intense hatred, Kakuzu escaped from prison and betrayed the village.

They stole the forbidden technique that Takigakure Village considered a priceless treasure, and also took the hearts of all the high-ranking members of Takigakure Village.

So, after being betrayed and abandoned by everyone, he wandered the ninja world alone for decades, and finally understood a truth.

Money is the only thing that will never betray him, and he will never betray money.

Money is his only true friend; everything else is utter nonsense.

This is also the life motto that Kakuzu has always adhered to since becoming a bounty hunter.

And so, amidst the rustling sound of money notes rubbing together, the captain finished counting all the money in the money box.

However, after the first repetition, Kakuzu frowned slightly.

Then, under the helpless gaze of the scarred man, he actually started counting a second time.

After counting the money three times, he finally pulled out a banknote from the box and said, "There's an extra hundred taels. Pay me back next time you count it carefully."

His tone was flat, yet it carried an extremely cold and uncompromising harshness.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Kakuzu."

Although the scarred man felt helpless, he still apologized sincerely.

This person truly treats money as a religion, enjoying the process of making and counting money without caring about the intrinsic value of money.

After all, with the bounty that Kakuzu has earned day and night for decades, he would have long been able to retire and live a fulfilling life as a wealthy man, and he would not need to live a life of constant danger like he does now.

But Kakuzu did not do that, and he could not think of any other reason besides love and faith.

but……

"Mr. Kakuzu," the scarred man turned to look at the long axe on the scroll, "what is that?"

"This is what the Third Tsuchikage, Onoki, has offered a bounty for." Kakuzu glanced at the so-called Kusanagi Sword, "I'll leave it with you for now. Onoki will come to collect it later."

“Yes, Mr. Kakuzu.” The scarred man nodded, without asking any further questions.

While the other four Kage kept quiet about the underground black market and bounty hunters, Onoki had already secretly established a stable trading relationship with the underground black market.

They frequently hire bounty hunters from the underground black market to handle matters that Iwagakure finds inconvenient to deal with themselves.

Although it might seem that hiring bounty hunters, mostly rogue ninjas, as one of the Five Kage might damage the Tsuchikage's prestige, the shrewd and calculating man clearly didn't care.

However, not just anyone can accept the tasks assigned by him.

Therefore, bounty ninjas hired by Onoki are essentially labeled as having been recognized by the Kage, proving that they possess both credibility and strength, and their hiring price on the black market will skyrocket.

Naturally, they will be favored by more wealthy merchants and nobles, and the tasks and rewards they can accept will naturally increase.

So far, all the bounty hunters who have worked with that Tsuchikage have said that the cooperation was very pleasant and there was no case of the big company bullying its customers.

"Please take care, Mr. Kakuzu. Welcome to visit again next time."

The scarred man smiled and bowed to the departing figure of the bounty hunter, showing respect to him who was destined for wealth.

Just looking at Kakuzu's black robe with red clouds, and recalling the other person the other person mentioned, and then thinking about the bounty on the Third Tsuchikage's head...

"It seems the ninja world is about to change again," the scarred man thought to himself, his eyes slightly lowered.

Kaka.

A hidden door rose behind the public toilet, which was overgrown with weeds, and Kakuzu came out carrying two large leather suitcases.

Looking at the sun that had already risen in the distance, even though it was already morning, the temperature outside was still bone-chillingly cold.

Kakuzu subconsciously gripped the leather suitcase in his hand, feeling the heavy weight of the money. The chill seemed to dissipate somewhat, and his body and heart couldn't help but feel warm.

"Indeed, in this cold, fake world, only money can make me feel warm," he remarked, squinting his eyes.

I hope the Akatsuki organization I'm joining this time is full of guys who are good at making money.

Thinking of this, Kakuzu looked at the figure standing in the distance and said in a calm tone, "Let's go, President."

The man addressed as "President" gave a wry smile, took off his flamboyant diamond-shaped sunglasses, and said helplessly, "Mr. Kakuzu, please stop teasing me. Right now, I'm just a burrowing rat."

This person is none other than one of the two remaining members of the Blood Pond Clan, and is Miyajo En, who owns the "Wedge Real Estate Company".

He also joined the Akatsuki organization.

With his own "Blood Dragon Eye" bloodline limit and the longbow called "Holy Annihilation Arrow".

Chapter 94 Hell for Villains, The Choice of the Seven Deadly Sins

"Hmm! No wonder this village is famous for its health-preserving hot springs."

Inside an inn in Yugakure, 'Kage' lay in the hot spring, with only his head floating above the water.

As his nerves, which had been taut from the killing, gradually relaxed, 'Shadow,' still dressed in a black robe, looked up at the sky.

Although this body of 'Shadow' is just a clone, if it dissipates or is dispelled, the memories, including fatigue, will return to the original body.

Therefore, it would be best to use some method to cover up those memories of killing before this clone dissipates.

This is why the "Multiple Shadow Clone Technique," which is clearly an A-rank ninjutsu, is listed as a forbidden technique and recorded in the Book of Seals.

If Naruto Uzumaki creates thousands of shadow clones at once, and then is killed in an instant, then the memories of those thousands of deaths will be transmitted back to his original body.

Even Hyuga Kumokawa admired Naruto Uzumaki's strong heart; that kind of feeling was definitely not something just anyone could easily endure.

"Speaking of Naruto Uzumaki," he thought to himself, "now, with the power of 'Karma,' I should be able to do something about him and have some backup plans."

If nothing unexpected happens, once the events inside the underground palace and the contents of that stone tablet spread, "Otsutsuki Kumoshiki" will soon become the target of public criticism.

It's hard to guarantee that Otsutsuki Isshiki won't send someone or even come personally to test the waters.

However, it doesn't really matter.

I was already mentally prepared when I set up this scheme.

Hinata Kumokawa's goal was to gradually reach the end of the world and become an existence at the level of Otsutsuki Shibakai, or even higher.

His true destination is "God said, 'Let there be light,' and there was light," not just the simple lie we see today.

To achieve this goal, one will inevitably have to face Isshiki Otsutsuki; the only difference is whether it will happen sooner or later.

If he really ran into that guy, Isshiki Otsutsuki, so soon, Hyuga Kumokawa would definitely burn his life to the fullest.

Otsutsuki Isshiki will become a figure feared by everyone, and he will use his "life" to drag everyone into a lie.

This was what he thought of after realizing the existence of Gamamaru.

Why can't it be the savior, the son of prophecy?

"Thinking about these things now is still too far ahead."

After soaking quietly for a few minutes, 'Shadow's' thoughts drifted back, looking towards the other side of the hot spring, where a figure was faintly visible in the mist.

"You haven't felt this temperature in a long time, have you?" he asked with a smile.

Nagato, whose entire body was shrouded in white Zetsu, was also soaking in the hot spring with his eyes half-closed.

While it's true that you don't need to strip naked to soak in a hot spring, if someone entered this hot spring room and saw the two of them dressed like this, they would definitely think they were some kind of weirdos.

"Yes."

Nagato looked up at the blue sky above the open-air hot spring and responded softly.