In the forest!!
Kakuzu leaned against a tree, frowning as he looked at the letter in his hand, muttering to himself, "What exactly do the Uzu-nin want?"
Regarding the Uzu-nin finding him through Takigakure, Kakuzu was truly speechless. It had been decades since he defected from the village. Damn it, they actually used Takigakure to contact him. Did they want to watch him slaughter all the Taki-nin?
Fortunately, they were just there to deliver the letter. They handed it over and ran. Otherwise...
Heh!
Kakuzu rubbed his forehead, staring at the letter the Uzu-nin had thrown at him. It was giving him a headache.
The letter read...
"Uzushiogakure Finance Manager Recruitment Notice..."
What did this mean?
He was completely baffled.
What did it mean by hiring him as Uzushiogakure's financial manager, with salary and benefits to be discussed in person?
What was Uzushiogakure trying to do?
Were they trying to recruit him?
Don't joke around. The entire shinobi world knew Uzushiogakure was about to fall. What was the point of inviting him now? Did they want Kakuzu to fight for Uzushiogakure?
Heh... That was impossible. He was a powerhouse who had fought against the God of Shinobi!
A small country like this wanted to recruit him?
Were they dreaming?
He shook his head with a cold smile. Uzushiogakure had probably been sold out by Konoha, leaving the village with few strong shinobi. Now they were trying to recruit outsiders to fill the gaps, but...
"Who would go?" Kakuzu looked at the recruitment notice. Going to Uzushiogakure now was practically suicide. Did they think hiring a few jōnin would solve anything?
Don't joke around. Uzushiogakure's fate was already sealed. A village without a Kage-level shinobi...
"Can only survive in the cracks."
Kakuzu clenched the recruitment notice in his hand, staring at the sky. The weather today...
Was so cold!
Back then, for the sake of the village's survival, he, a mere jōnin, had accepted the village's orders and tried to fight the God of Shinobi. But he wasn't afraid, because it was all for the village. He had thought that after his death, he would be remembered as a hero. But who would have thought...
The village leader, out of fear, would sell him out???
What kind of leadership was that?
The moment things looked bad, they washed their hands of it, claiming it had nothing to do with them, that it was all the subordinates acting on their own...
If they wanted to do that, fine, but at least compensate him in secret. Instead, they gave nothing, slandered him, and expected him to sacrifice himself for the village. Were they dreaming?
So Kakuzu killed all those brainless leaders, took his rightful compensation, and went solo...
Though the funds were a bit lacking!
Now, as a freelancer, how could he just sell himself to any random place? Even if he were to join someone, as a powerhouse who had fought the God of Shinobi, was this the kind of small-time organization that could recruit him?
Kakuzu smirked coldly and continued reading the recruitment notice. He wanted to see what confidence Uzushiogakure had to think they could hire him.
To send a jōnin just to recruit someone when the country was about to fall... Heh!!
What a huge cost!
And...
By now, Uzushiogakure was probably already finished.
His eyes scanned further down the notice...
"Manage all of Uzushiogakure's finances!!"
Kakuzu froze.
All finances...
Actually...
Small countries had their advantages. For example...
The Uzumaki Clan were all fools!!
Kakuzu stroked his chin, thinking, "Maybe..."
He should go take a look??
If Uzushiogakure was destroyed by then, then as the finance manager, he had a duty to recover the country's assets. If it wasn't destroyed...
Why not take the job?
After all, this was all money!!
...
Uzumaki Jun looked at Gato, who had been escorted back by the Uzu-nin, and said, "How did it go?"
"It's done." Gato nodded solemnly. "Most of it was exchanged for food, and a small portion for clothing."
"Good, you've worked hard." Uzumaki Jun felt relieved and smiled.
"No, it's nothing." Gato shook his head. "If I hadn't met you back then, I probably wouldn't be alive today."
"..."
Actually, if you hadn't met me, you might have become a shipping tycoon in the shinobi world in the future!!
But Uzumaki Jun didn't say that out loud. Since the man was grateful, that was fine. He nodded solemnly and said, "It was just fate."
"Ah!!" Gato sighed. "The situation outside isn't great either."
"Refugees everywhere, corpses not even covered by the snow."
"Hunger and cold plague the shinobi world."
"Wailing and crying everywhere!!"
Gato glanced at the hardworking citizens of Uzushiogakure and smiled. "Uzushiogakure is still the best!!"
Hearing Gato's words, Uzumaki Jun fell silent. There wasn't much he could do for those people now. He could only sigh and say, "It'll get better. The future will be better."
Perhaps in a few days, he would have to prepare to go to Konoha...
"By the way, I might need you to go out again." Uzumaki Jun frowned. "This amount of food might not be enough."
You see...
The Uzumaki Clan were all big eaters!!
However...
Gato didn't understand. This time, he had prepared enough food for 400,000 people to last through the winter. How could it not be enough?
Had the population increased that much?
Otherwise, why would they be short on food?
"You'll find out later." Uzumaki Jun said helplessly. "It's almost lunchtime. You'll see then that this amount of food..."
"Is nowhere near enough!!"
Hearing Uzumaki Jun's words, Gato frowned and said seriously, "But we sold too much salt this time. It's already drawn attention."
"Ah—!" Uzumaki Jun sighed. He had expected this. Even though Gato had split the sales across multiple villages and purchased supplies separately, if someone was paying attention...
There was no way to hide it.
But this time...
"We don't need to sell more salt." Uzumaki Jun said. "We made a fortune a few days ago. That should be enough."
He then had Uzumaki Hibiki bring out the silver delivered by Kirigakure. To be fair, as one of the Five Great Shinobi Villages, Kirigakure's credibility was solid. They said three days, and not a single day late. The only thing was that the ninja delivering the money had a sour face...
He almost got jumped by the Uzu-nin.
Since Uzushiogakure's finance manager hadn't arrived yet, the finances were temporarily handled by Uzumaki Hibiki. If Kakuzu didn't show up, Uzushiogakure would have to train someone themselves.
"This money?" Gato stared in shock at the pile of silver. It was even more than what he had earned from selling salt!!
Where did it come from?
If he remembered correctly, Uzushiogakure's treasury had been empty for a while. There was no way they could pull out this much money. And...
The war had just ended not long ago. How did they make this fortune?
"Kirigakure sent it." Uzumaki Jun gave a rough explanation and left it at that. There was no need to go into detail. It was better to leave Kirigakure some face. After all, if nothing unexpected happened, Yuki Kiyoi would become the next Mizukage.
Ah!!
He had worked so hard to help Yuki Kiyoi secure the position.
Would the man be grateful after rising to power?
Just as Uzumaki Jun was lost in thought...
"Lunch is ready!!"