Chapter 318: 318. Chapter 313: Kakuzu, Who Holds Multiple Positions

318. Chapter 313: Kakuzu, Who Holds Multiple Positions

Uchiha Madara, driving the Nine-Tails, galloped through the vast forests of the Land of Fire. Having traveled day and night for a week, he calculated that if he traveled for another three days, he would be able to return to his old home. At that time, the Nine-Tails, this precious gift, would definitely bring Hashirama enough surprise.

"Snore~ Gurgle~"

However, the noise coming from his stomach interrupted Uchiha Madara's fantasy of a beautiful future. Remembering that he hadn't eaten for a day, he reached into his bag to grope, only to find that the prepared dry food had long been exhausted.

"Looks like I need to find a place to resupply."

The Nine-Tails was already in hand, and Uchiha Madara, who had no worries, thought about it, then called a halt to the sweating Nine-Tails, looked into the distance, and happened to see the twinkling fluorescent light, and his heart was overjoyed.

"You stay here and don't move, I'll go buy some dry food~"

With the Nine-Tails' huge size, appearing in a populated place would only cause unnecessary panic, so Uchiha Madara gave the red-eyed Nine-Tails the order to wait in place and chose to go alone.

The Nine-Tails, which had been controlled, didn't dare to disobey, and immediately tucked its tail and squatted in place, looking like an obedient husky.

"Performance is not bad, I'll bring you a portion later~"

Seeing the Nine-Tails so cooperative, Uchiha Madara nodded with satisfaction, changed into an inconspicuous outfit, ran toward the direction of people, and arrived at his destination in a short while.

This was a small town with a large population. It was dinner time, and every household was opening windows to cook. The tempting aroma of food made Uchiha Madara, who had been eating dry food for several months, even hungrier. He turned a few corners and found a restaurant that was open for business.

"Boss, serve me all your signature dishes here."

The most wanted thing was already in hand, and Uchiha Madara, in a good mood, decided to enjoy it properly, and said to the boss who was full of smiles.

"Alright~ How many people are there, guest?"

There were quite a few signature dishes in this shop, and ordering them all was equivalent to opening a banquet. The boss saw that there was only Uchiha Madara, so he asked out of caution.

"Uh... just two of us, and one is outside the town. Wait until I finish eating and pack it for him."

He was about to say it was just himself, but thinking of the Nine-Tails waiting outside the town, Uchiha Madara's brain twitched, and he stretched out two fingers.

Taking advantage of the gap in communication with Uchiha Madara, the boss looked at the handsome black-haired man in front of him, a pair of narrow, thieving eyes carrying an inexplicable look,

"The guest looks quite unfamiliar, are you a traveler from out of town?"

He stayed on Uchiha Madara's handsome face very obscurely, and then swept over the old clothes on his body, and couldn't help but feel a few concerns in his heart.

"Just passing through."

Uchiha Madara frowned upon hearing this. It was just eating a meal, why was this boss so long-winded? Could it be that he was still worried that he would eat a "free meal"?

"It turns out to be a traveler. I'm really sorry, our shop has a rule that you have to pay after ordering."

The boss understood instantly. This poor-looking traveler in front of him couldn't possibly be willing to order a table full of dishes. He must want to eat a "free meal." He wouldn't be fooled!

"Heh! I've never heard of the rule of paying before eating."

Realizing the boss's thoughts, Uchiha Madara sneered with an unhappy expression.

"Sorry, we are a traffic hub here, and there are too many travelers coming and going. It's inevitable that there are some guys who don't follow the rules. This is also a small business, please bear with me, guest~"

Without showing any dissatisfaction, the boss arched his hands neither humbly nor arrogantly, and what he said was watertight.

"Really long-winded, I can't be short of this little..."

Although Uchiha Madara was unhappy in his heart, he expressed understanding. As he spoke, he reached into the backpack behind him to grope, but the more he groped, the darker his face became. The boss, who was good at observing words and colors, immediately saw the clues, and the look of disdain in his eyes flashed by.

Another rascal who wanted to eat a "free meal." Fortunately, he had a discerning eye, otherwise he would have lost money.

At this moment, Uchiha Madara was in an extremely awkward situation. He had been sleeping in the open, so he hadn't discovered that his money had long been exhausted. Now, he probably couldn't even find a copper coin on his whole body.

"Guest?"

"I... I seem to have forgotten to bring money. Can you make it first, and I'll let my companion pay for it later?"

Uchiha Madara remembered that there was a backpack on the Nine-Tails' head, which contained some sundries for camping in the wild. At the bottom was the scroll that Uchiha Gin gave him when they parted.

According to big cousin's urinary nature, there should be some money in it. When eating later, he could just send a shadow clone to take the package.

"Hehe."

The restaurant boss wouldn't believe this kind of nonsense. The flattering smile on his face instantly vanished, and after sneering, he waved his hand at Uchiha Madara in disgust.

"Get out! I've seen too many guys like you. You have hands and feet but don't go to work, thinking about cheating and kidnapping all day long."

"You!"

Never expecting that he, the dignified "Darkness of the Ninja World," would be mocked by a commoner like this, Uchiha Madara was so angry that his teeth were almost broken. But the pride of a strong man made it impossible for him to attack a commoner no matter what, so he could only glare at the boss and leave without looking back.

"Wait~"

"What's the matter?"

Suddenly, Uchiha Madara, who hadn't stepped out of the restaurant door, heard the boss's voice behind him and turned his head in confusion.

Could it be that this person was captured by his kingly aura and was preparing to treat him to a free meal?

"Hehe, young man, I see you have a good face, are you interested in having a few drinks with me? You can order whatever you want to eat then..."

Only to see the boss, who had just had a cold face, put on a strange smile, his pair of thieving eyes unscrupulously sizing up Uchiha Madara's handsome face, and his tongue couldn't help but lick his black lips.

Never expecting that this boss was also a person who took a different path, not walking the water path, but only the dry path.

"Crunch!"

Never expecting that someone would dare to tease him openly, Uchiha Madara, after a brief stun, was almost angry to the point of his eyes turning red. His feet didn't hold back, and he actually stepped a big footprint on the threshold of the restaurant.

Even Hashirama hadn't said that to him!

"Ah!"

The boss, scared by Uchiha Madara's aura, realized that he had almost kicked an iron plate. He screamed in fear, his overdeveloped back door didn't clamp tight, and his excrement flowed instantly.

"Really unlucky."

Uchiha Madara, covering his nose, instantly lost his appetite and had no intention of punishing this commoner who offended him, cursed secretly, and disappeared on the spot with a Body Flicker.

"Forget it, let's go back and get the money first."

Uchiha Madara, whose good mood had been ruined, no longer had the impulse to continue shopping, and decided to go back to the Nine-Tails to find money before coming back to eat.

However, just as he was about to leave, a figure in a hood approached. Uchiha Madara frowned. Judging by his skills, this guy was definitely not an ordinary person, so he looked at the other party very vigilantly.

"Don't misunderstand, I just saw that you seemed to have encountered some difficulties, so I wanted to ask if you need any help."

A man's voice came from under the hood, and two eyes glowing with green light carried three parts of scrutiny and seven parts of inexplicable calculation.

"Who are you?"

Not relaxing his vigilance because of the other party's kind words, Uchiha Madara asked coldly.

"Don't misunderstand, I'm not the same as that boss just now."

Obviously, this mysterious hooded man had witnessed everything that happened after Uchiha Madara entered the restaurant.

"A guy playing gods and ghosts, I don't need any help."

Seeing Uchiha Madara's stubborn appearance, to show sincerity, the mysterious man took off his hood and revealed his true face. He was an ordinary-looking middle-aged man.

His slightly dark face carried some worldly wisdom, his eyes were very rare green, and his sturdy body exuded an aura that Uchiha Madara found somewhat familiar.

"I am a bounty hunter."

"Bounty hunter? I'm not on a bounty, what are you looking for me for?"

Hearing the other party reveal his identity, Uchiha Madara frowned in confusion. Could it be that Senju Tobirama, that guy, didn't talk about morality and put him on a black market bounty?

"Bounty hunter is just one of my professions, and I am also a very honest loan shark."

Loan shark?

Uchiha Madara suddenly realized. It turned out that this guy was here to promote lending~

"I don't need it!"

Uchiha Madara, who wasn't really short of money, directly rejected the promotion of this strange guy.

"No, you do."

The bounty hunter who lent money didn't want to give up on Uchiha Madara, a high-quality customer.

Just now in the restaurant, the aura that suddenly burst out from Uchiha Madara made Kakuzu, who was eating noodles and watching the show at a roadside stall, feel a chill in his heart. This seemingly poor man was definitely not an ordinary person, and was very likely a ninja from a large village who had fallen into trouble, or a rogue ninja.

No matter which one it was, as long as he made contact, there would definitely be money to be made.

So after Uchiha Madara came out, he followed him for the first time, first using the identity of a bounty hunter to strike up a conversation. If the other party was a rogue ninja, he would definitely feel guilty, and he would directly take him down and send him to the black market to exchange for money.

But after Kakuzu revealed his identity, Uchiha Madara not only didn't feel guilty but was extremely impatient, which meant that the other party was definitely a ninja from some large village, just didn't know why he had fallen into trouble, and his other identity could come in handy.

"If you have any valuable items to mortgage, you only need three hundred percent interest. Don't miss this opportunity~"

Kakuzu, who was following, promoted tirelessly, making Uchiha Madara, who was already upset, even more irritable.

"Are you annoyed, guy? I said I don't need it!"

"Is there no mortgage? Then signing a contract is fine, but the interest will rise to five hundred percent."

Thinking Uchiha Madara had difficulties, Kakuzu gritted his teeth and relaxed the loan conditions very generously. If someone who really needed it saw this, they would only kneel and be grateful.

"Get out!"

Really annoyed, Uchiha Madara's eyes flashed with a touch of scarlet, and cold pupil power overflowed for a moment. A simple Sharingan illusion hit, preparing to give this annoying guy a lesson.

"Uh..."

Kakuzu, who was hit by the illusion, stood still, his green eyes instantly becoming dull. Uchiha Madara, seeing this, was too lazy to say anything more and turned to leave.

At this moment in Kakuzu's consciousness

"Fool!"

Chomei, who had been glared at by Uchiha Madara, was pointing at Kakuzu's nose and outputting wildly.

"You guy who wants money but not life, who do you dare to provoke?"

Recalling the unbearable past, the Seven-Tails wished it could lift Kakuzu's skull to see if it was excrement or excrement inside.

"God Beast-sama, who exactly is he, why are you so wary?"

Kakuzu, who had been scolded for no reason, was not angry, but asked with a curious face.

"That guy is Uchiha. I once fought against him, five-five split~"

The Seven-Tails paused for a moment, then narrated the non-existent fact in a very flat tone.

Five-five split, Uchiha Madara cut it into five pieces in five minutes.

"Uchiha, it's a person from Konoha..."

Kakuzu was also stunned. Mentioning Konoha, the unbearable memory of being almost sent away by the Wood Dragon surged into his heart again.

"Forget it, can't afford to provoke, can't afford to provoke."

In reality, Kakuzu, who had broken free from the illusion, looked at Uchiha Madara's back with some regret. It seemed that he couldn't earn this money.

"However, it's fortunate that there is a guy with a high bounty hidden in this town, which can be considered a timely stop-loss."

Kakuzu didn't pass by here by accident. He had received news from the black market that there was a ninja with a high bounty hidden in this town. He didn't know where he was hiding. He had been investigating for the past few days. As for Uchiha Madara, it was just a coincidence.

On the other side, Uchiha Madara, who hadn't walked far, suddenly found that the pedestrians on the road, who were not many to begin with, had instantly become much fewer, and the remaining ones were also in a hurry. The strange behavior made him curious, so he stopped a passerby,

"Old fellow, what happened?"

The person stopped was a middle-aged man with an honest face. He first looked at Uchiha Madara, who was unfamiliar, in surprise, and then said,

"Little brother, are you a traveler from out of town?"

"A traveler passing through."

"Sigh... Then you'd better leave before it gets dark. Every time it's the end of the month, ghosts appear here."

When talking about ghosts, this middle-aged man's eyes were full of fear, and his body couldn't stop trembling.

"Ghost? What did he do?"

Having lived so long, Uchiha Madara hadn't seen anything like a ghost, so he chose to get to the bottom of it.

"When night falls, the ghost will abduct people who haven't gone home on the street."

The middle-aged man said while nervously checking the sky. As the sun slowly set, he couldn't care about explaining more to Uchiha Madara and ran toward his home.

Uchiha Madara didn't continue to ask, but looked at the setting sun with interest. He wanted to see what kind of sacred thing this so-called ghost was.

"Why haven't you gone home yet?"

Just as Uchiha Madara was waiting for the night to fall, an old man passing by shouted at him.

"I'm just passing through."

Replying faintly, Uchiha Madara, who didn't care at all, didn't continue to pay attention to this old man.

"Really, follow me!"

Seeing Uchiha Madara like this, the old man was anxious on the spot, grabbed him and walked toward a courtyard.

Uchiha Madara, who didn't want to cause more trouble, thought about it, didn't choose to resist, and followed the old man back to his home.

Arriving at the old man's house, Uchiha Madara looked at the house, which was not simple, and didn't say much. The old man looked at the setting sun that hadn't set outside the window and patted his chest with lingering fear.

"Seeing you are young, don't lose your life."

"Is there really a ghost?"

Uchiha Madara raised his eyebrows and asked curiously.

"So you know!"

"Just found out."

"Sigh... Then I'll tell you properly."

The old man, seeing Uchiha Madara's curious appearance, first sighed, then got up to pour him a cup of tea, sat upright, and said slowly,

"I used to be the mayor of this town, but I have retired to enjoy my old age."

"Oh?"

Never expecting that this old man, who looked unremarkable, was once a local parent official, Uchiha Madara sipped the clear tea and found that it was indeed not something an ordinary family could afford.

"This town of ours belongs to the traffic hub of the Land of Fire. It was once prosperous, until five years ago, when ghosts suddenly appeared in the town, and it gradually declined."

When the old man talked about the town, there was a proud light in his eyes, but when he mentioned ghosts, he became the same as the middle-aged man before, leaving only fear.

"Have you all seen that ghost?"

"Only seen the figure, never seen the true face."

The old man shook his head,

"Those who have seen the ghost's true face are all dead."

"How do you know they are dead?"

Not even knowing what the ghost looked like, how could they be sure that the people abducted were dead?

"There are remains..."

The old man paused, a look of deep horror appearing on his face.

"Remains mixed with excrement, those who were abducted were eaten alive by the ghost!"

Eating people?

Uchiha Madara frowned, and immediately guessed the ghost's true identity. In his impression, those who ate people were nothing more than wild beasts, so the ghost's true identity was likely just some kind of powerful wild beast.

"Could it be done by a wild beast?"

Thinking of this, Uchiha Madara put forward his guess.

"No... not a wild beast. That ghost, he wears clothes and can speak human language."

People eating people!

Uchiha Madara was no longer calm. Even in the era of war, people eating people was not common, and now it was a time of peace, so how could someone eat their own kind?

"Didn't you find help? Like ninjas."

After thinking for a while, Uchiha Madara asked. If it was really a vicious incident of people eating people, this town should have issued a mission to seek help from ninjas.

"We looked for them before, but they went missing, and they were probably eaten too."

The old man, as the former mayor, naturally knew everything about the town. When the abduction incident first occurred, they had issued a mission, and ninjas had come to execute it.

"Came? From Konoha?"

If Konoha ninjas went missing, Uchiha Madara felt that he must pay attention to this matter.

"Konoha? There was no Konoha at that time. The one who accepted the mission was a rogue ninja."

It had only been four years since the establishment of Konoha, and the time when the ghost appeared happened to be before the establishment of Konoha. At that time, the ninja system was very chaotic, and there were many ninjas from small families wandering around, accepting some inconspicuous small missions to maintain their livelihood.

"Then after the establishment of Konoha, did you invite anyone?"

Hearing that it wasn't Konoha ninjas who were eaten, Uchiha Madara finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"We invited them. We issued a B-rank mission. The Konoha ninja adults arrived in the town today and should be investigating the clues of the ghost now."

The old man drank a cup of tea, a look of relief on his face. The strength of Konoha ninjas was obvious to all, and this time they should be able to completely eliminate the ghost disaster.

"Ha?"

Uchiha Madara's heart tightened. He hadn't prepared to deal with his fellow villagers from Konoha yet.

"Is it convenient to reveal what kind of people the ninjas from Konoha are?"

"I remember, it was a middle-aged ninja who looked like a monkey, and he brought several half-grown children..."

On the other side

In a courtyard specially prepared by the current mayor, Sarutobi Sasuke sat on the tatami with a serious face, and in front of him, six children with excited faces were kneeling, exactly Uchiha Gin's "beloved disciples,"

"Hiruzen, did you find any intelligence during the day?"

Sarutobi Sasuke asked his good eldest son first, his eyes filled with scrutiny.

As an elite jonin-level ninja, Sarutobi Sasuke didn't need to accept this kind of B-rank mission, but because of the homework left by Senju Tobirama, he had to bring these children out to execute missions that were not dangerous.

"Sarutobi clan leader, I assigned practical missions to several children, but I really couldn't spare my time, so I had to trouble you to supervise and escort them."

Senju Tobirama, who was working hard at his post, said to Sarutobi Sasuke, who had been summoned, with a very apologetic tone.

Actually, this white-haired guy just wanted to be idle for a few days. Uchiha Gin, because Uchiha Izuna was on paternity leave, forcibly took over the position of clan leader, leading to the energetic F6 having no one to manage.

Senju Tobirama was now the village secretary, and his workload was so large that even his shadow clones couldn't handle it. He had no heart to teach students, so he had to arrange extracurricular homework and let the powerful Sarutobi Sasuke escort them.

"Father, I..."

Sarutobi Hiruzen's little face tightened when asked, and he was about to speak,

"You must address me by your official title when you are outside!"

"Received, Captain Sarutobi. We investigated the restaurant boss with the biggest problem in the town during the day."

"Oh? What problem?"

"Everyone says he likes to eat people, especially young men. I think this is a very important clue..."

Sarutobi Hiruzen reported the gossip he heard today to Sarutobi Sasuke seriously, making his old father's blood pressure soar, and his fists hardened.

"Sigh... Very good. Do you have any other intelligence?"

Forcibly suppressing the urge to implement family law, Sarutobi Sasuke turned to ask the other children.

"No~ No~"

The other little ones were executing missions for the first time and had no concept of collecting intelligence at all.

It seems that the Konoha Academy is imperative, and the quality of ninjas must be cultivated from a young age, otherwise having strength alone will only harm themselves.

"That... I have an intelligence that I don't know if it's intelligence~"

Uchiha Kagami hesitated for a moment and raised his hand.

"Okay, Kagami, you say."

Looking at Uchiha Kagami's nervous little face, Sarutobi Sasuke showed a smile that he thought was kind. This was Gin-sensei's nephew, he had to protect him well.

"Before us, another ninja accepted the same mission, but went missing."

"Is that all?"

Sarutobi Sasuke had already learned this intelligence from the mayor, so it didn't count as any effective intelligence, but Uchiha Kagami being able to discover it already belonged to over-fulfilling the homework.

"I also investigated that the missing ninja was named Fire God." (End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 319 =====