Kakuzu, hidden beneath the earth, watched as Kizaru overwhelmed the Two-Tails with his bare hands and let out a long, weary sigh in his heart.
There was no way.
Absolutely no way.
At this point, the 750 million ryō bounty felt farther away than ever.
Assassinating Kizaru was no longer a matter of whether the reward was worth it.
It was a matter of whether anyone could actually kill the bastard.
If not for the extra 30 million from the patrol mission and the 15 million for capturing Kumogakure shinobi alive, Kakuzu would have turned around and left a long time ago.
Making money these days was getting harder and harder.
Watching Kizaru ahead—still looking as relaxed as ever even after two full battles—Kakuzu sighed again.
Meanwhile, Matatabi, who had been forced into a much smaller form, now only about the size of a puppy, shook her head furiously the moment Kizaru reached his hands toward her.
"No. Absolutely not."
Her ears flattened as she glared at him.
"You're not touching me."
"Oooh... how cold."
Kizaru withdrew his hands with an almost disappointed look.
For the first time, his attempt to pet the cat had failed.
With both hands slipping back into his pockets, he turned his gaze toward the Third Raikage in the distance.
"Come along, little kitty."
Matatabi bared her teeth at him, but after a moment, she still followed.
Kizaru strolled over to the light prison that held the Third Raikage. With a casual wave of his right hand, the cage of golden light dissolved into chains and wrapped around the Raikage's body together with the first four, binding him completely.
"Oooh... what a scary look."
Kizaru tilted his head slightly, smiling as he met the Third Raikage's bloodshot glare.
The Raikage's eyes looked like they wanted to tear him apart on the spot.
But this time, he didn't roar in fury like before.
He was still the leader of a great village.
Even now, he had his pride.
He turned his head and looked in the direction his men had retreated, then slowly looked back at Kizaru.
By the time his gaze settled, he had already made his decision.
"Let my men go," the Third Raikage said, his voice calm and steady. "And kill me."
Kizaru's expression barely changed, but there was a faint shift in his gaze as he looked at the Third Raikage with a little more respect than before.
"Killing you would be a waste, wouldn't it?"
The Third Raikage's expression darkened.
"What are you planning?"
"Hmm?" Kizaru said lazily, as if the answer were obvious. "Why, capture you alive, of course."
The moment those words left his mouth, the Third Raikage's expression changed.
Kizaru, however, remained perfectly relaxed.
Killing the Third Raikage here at the border would bring him prestige, sure.
But taking him alive back to Konohagakure?
That was a different level entirely.
That wasn't just a victory.
That was history.
Kizaru could tell the difference between a decent harvest and a truly profitable one.
Ever since the hidden village system was established by the First Hokage, Senju Hashirama, not a single person in the shinobi world had ever captured one of the Five Kage alive.
Hashirama had possessed the strength, but he had never done such a thing.
Uchiha Madara had both the strength and the ruthlessness for it, but Hashirama had always stood in his way.
And so, for decades, no one had ever accomplished it.
But now?
Kizaru was about to do exactly that.
Capture a Kage alive.
And on top of that, take a tailed beast with him.
All by himself.
The Third Raikage's face twisted with fury.
"Impossible!" he barked. "I will never allow that!"
He understood exactly what it would mean if he were dragged back to Konohagakure alive.
If he died here, Kumogakure would suffer, yes—but only for a time.
They would grieve. They would rage. They would recover.
But if he was captured and taken back in chains, that would be different.
The village would not abandon him.
Kumogakure would pay any price to save him.
And in doing so, they would hand Konoha every advantage imaginable.
He would become a weapon turned against his own people.
That was something the Third Raikage could never accept.
A moment later, chakra surged faintly through his body.
He intended to stop his own heart.
If he could not die in battle, then he would die by his own hand before being made into a disgrace for his village.
Kizaru noticed it instantly.
"Ara ara... if you kill yourself here," he said lightly, "that would be very troublesome for me."
The faintest pause followed.
"Who knows? I might end up taking another trip to Kumogakure."
The Third Raikage's body froze.
His eyes widened slightly.
"You—"
There was no mistaking the threat in those easygoing words.
Kizaru had said it with that same lazy, almost harmless tone.
That only made it worse.
Because the Third Raikage knew this monster well enough now to understand one thing:
if Kizaru really chose to attack Kumogakure again, the village would not be able to stop him.
Not as it was now.
Silence hung between them.
The Third Raikage clenched his jaw, his muscles straining beneath the chains. He struggled for a long time, fighting against the humiliation, the helplessness, and his own pride.
But in the end, for the sake of the village... he lowered his head.
"Release my men," he said quietly. "Leave the village alone."
His voice was low now, stripped of all rage.
"I will go with you to Konoha as your prisoner."
For the first time, the proud Third Raikage bowed his head before Kizaru of his own will.
Kizaru smiled again.
"That's much better."
Then he turned his head slightly to the side.
"Scary fellow-san, I've got a new job for you. Interested?"
The earth shifted, and Kakuzu emerged.
He looked first at Kizaru, then at the bound Third Raikage, and his eyes sharpened immediately.
"What kind of job?" he asked bluntly. "And how much?"
"Twenty million ryō," Kizaru said. "Escort the Third Raikage back to Konohagakure."
Kakuzu's face twitched.
"Too little."
Even after witnessing Kizaru's absurd strength, Kakuzu remained Kakuzu.
When money was involved, he refused to budge.
Kizaru spread his hands slightly.
"But it's easy work, isn't it?"
He glanced toward the Third Raikage.
"I'm sure he'll be very cooperative."
Kakuzu followed his gaze and looked at the exhausted Raikage, whose spirit clearly wasn't what it had been moments ago.
Annoyingly enough, Kizaru wasn't wrong.
After a moment of thought, Kakuzu crossed his arms.
"This time, I want cash."
"Fine."
"Then it's a deal."
The agreement was made immediately.
But then Kizaru added, almost casually, "Though I do have one tiny request."
Kakuzu narrowed his eyes.
"What now?"
Kizaru smiled.
"We're not taking the quickest route back."
He glanced toward the road ahead, his tone as light as ever.
"And there's no need to hide our trail, either. We'll bring him through every town and settlement along the way back to the village."
Kakuzu stared at Kizaru for a long moment, a faint chill running through him. This boy wasn't just powerful—he was the kind of ruthless bastard who knew exactly how to break people.
Dragging the Third Raikage across every town on the route was no mere escort mission.
It was psychological warfare.
It was humiliation on a national scale.
And the worst part?
Kizaru said it all with that same lazy expression, as if he were talking about the weather.
"...Fine," Kakuzu said at last.
But inwardly, he added something else.
No matter what happened in the future, he absolutely could not afford to become enemies with this man.
Killing a person was one thing.
Destroying their spirit while smiling?
That was a whole different kind of cruel.
Beside them, the Third Raikage's expression shifted slightly after hearing Kizaru's plan.
Still, it was only for a moment.
Soon enough, his face returned to calm.
He had already made his choice.
If sacrificing his own honor was what it took to protect Kumogakure, then so be it.
That burden was his to bear.
Once the escort arrangements were settled, Kizaru turned his gaze toward the forest in the distance.
There, Hyūga Nagayasu stood frozen in place, Byakugan still active, staring blankly at the battlefield.
Through those eyes, he had witnessed everything.
The defeat of the Third Raikage.
The hand-to-hand battle against the Two-Tails.
The complete destruction of Kumogakure's forces.
Any one of those feats would have been enough to shake the shinobi world.
But Kizaru had done all three in the same battle.
In the same war.
Hyūga Nagayasu's mind had gone nearly blank from the shock.
So this... this was the strength of the Hokage's final student.
A monster with talent on the level of the First Hokage himself.
For a fleeting, almost disrespectful instant, Hyūga Nagayasu even found himself wondering—
Could Lord Hokage have done the same thing?
Could Hiruzen-sama, in a war like this, have defeated the Third Raikage, subdued the Two-Tails, and crushed an entire Kumogakure force alone?
Nagayasu's throat moved slightly.
No.
Probably not.
At least... not like this. (PS: Really N....)
"Come on out, Uncle Nagayasu."
Kizaru's voice broke him out of his daze immediately.
Hyūga Nagayasu jolted, then hurriedly shut down those dangerous thoughts.
He stepped out of the forest at once and moved toward Kizaru, still looking more than a little shaken.
Kizaru glanced at him and smiled.
"Go inform the retreating forces. Tell them to prepare to return to the village."
"Yes!"
Nagayasu answered at once.
Even his voice came out stiffer than usual.
After all, with a victory like this, returning quietly would be a waste.
If a man earned glory and then hid it, what was the point?
Kizaru had no intention of doing that.
After a battle like this, of course he would return to the village properly.
Still, before heading back to Konoha, there was one more thing he intended to do.
He turned his head and looked toward the direction of the Land of Lightning.
The smile on his face grew brighter.
And somehow, seeing that expression, it felt less like a man smiling...
and more like an army preparing to move.
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