The capital square of the Land of Mountain Streams was packed with people. Rorin and his group of seven were mixed into the crowd, waiting for today's daimyo succession ceremony. Once it ended and they received proof of completing their mission from the daimyo, they could return to the Hidden Leaf Village.
Inside the daimyo's residence of the Land of Mountain Streams, two men in black cloaks embroidered with red clouds stood before the daimyo. One was wrapped tightly, revealing only his eyes. The other had slicked-back gray hair and carried a red three-bladed scythe.
They were Kakuzu and Hidan of the Akatsuki.
"Daimyo, as agreed, today we complete the transaction," Kakuzu said in a low voice.
The daimyo nodded and pulled a small bottle from his sleeve, filled with bright red liquid, handing it to Kakuzu.
After receiving it, Kakuzu nodded and extended his hand calmly.
"You didn't forget the payment, did you?"
The daimyo paused, then took out the prepared money from his clothes.
"Of course. Five hundred thousand ryo."
Kakuzu frowned slightly upon hearing the number and questioned,
"Hmm? I recall we agreed on five hundred thousand six hundred ryo. Are you planning to go back on your word, Daimyo-sama?"
The daimyo's lips twitched. "Ah, my mistake."
He then pulled out a few more bills and handed them over.
"This is half the payment. The other half will be paid once the job is done."
Kakuzu carefully counted the money before replying,
"Understood. Let's go, Hidan."
A bored Hidan followed him out of the residence.
Originally, the two had come to the Land of Mountain Streams to carry out the assassination of its daimyo. However, after arriving, Kakuzu discovered that clothing here was far cheaper than what he usually bought. Even more shocking, a clothing shop he found a few days ago was practically selling at clearance prices.
That caught Kakuzu's interest. He immediately ordered a large batch of black cloaks and red fabric.
He decided to embroider the red clouds onto the cloaks himself, saving a significant amount in labor costs. He was quite confident in his sewing skills.
...
Back at the capital square, the daimyo appeared at the center stage. Accompanying him were two elderly men and a middle-aged man who resembled him by about seventy percent. The man's face was expressionless, but his venomous gaze remained fixed on the daimyo walking ahead.
The succession ceremony officially began, starting with the two elderly men droning on endlessly on stage.
After half an hour of torment, Nara Shikamaru and the others were yawning nonstop. He turned to Rorin and said,
"Hey, Rorin, do us a favor and get the proof from the daimyo later. Nothing should happen today anyway. We're exhausted, so we're heading back to rest. Consider it punishment for your impulsiveness yesterday."
He tossed the scroll to Rorin, and the Ino–Shika–Chō trio left. Gaara and his two companions stayed with Rorin, waiting for the ceremony to end.
For some reason, the two old men rambled on for a full three hours before the formal transfer of power finally began.
The daimyo stepped forward slowly and glanced coldly at his younger brother.
Then he put on a smile to welcome his moment of glory.
A bad premonition suddenly struck the younger brother. The way his elder brother had just looked at him—it was as if he were already dead.
...
Elsewhere, Kakuzu, who had been mending work clothes, looked up. He took out the bottle of red liquid and tossed it to Hidan.
"Time to work, Hidan."
Catching the bottle, Hidan began drawing a circle on the ground...
...
At the exact moment the ceremony concluded, the daimyo's younger brother, standing behind him, suddenly felt a devastating impact. His heart was pierced.
Pfft!
Blood spurted from his mouth as his consciousness faded. Looking at his brother's "anxious" face, he finally understood.
He slowly collapsed. In the final moments of his life, he recalled the days when he and his brother had been close, able to talk about anything.
The sudden incident threw the entire venue into chaos. Watching everything unfold below, Rorin frowned deeply.
Too coincidental. How could it be like this?
From his earlier observations, Rorin had already suspected that the man who resembled the daimyo was the one who had previously attempted to assassinate him.
Now that the man had died so mysteriously, it only strengthened his suspicion—but what exactly had happened?
On stage, doctors quickly arrived, but soon shook their heads.
In the end, it was declared that the daimyo's younger brother had died from rage and heartbreak after failing to inherit the title.
Rorin didn't question the daimyo about what had just happened. He simply had him sign the mission proof and prepared to leave.
Before departing, Rorin naturally went to his clothing shop to pick up his custom black-and-white striped kimono set.
Business at the shop was booming. This was because Rorin had instructed them to sell off all accumulated inventory at low prices to quickly recover funds and rush production of his outfits. As for why he didn't use the system's money—this wasn't a big deal, so he let the shop handle it.
Seeing Rorin enter, the shopkeeper hurried over. "Boss, what brings you here?"
Rorin glanced at the bustling store and nodded.
"I'm here to pick up my custom clothes. How many have you managed to produce?"
The shopkeeper replied confidently, "Boss, we've already completed fifty sets."
What? Rorin was stunned. His requirements were quite high, and the costs weren't low. In just a few days, not only had they recovered funds, but they'd produced so many new outfits. He had expected to take maybe ten sets today—this was a huge surprise.
Still, he was puzzled. Although business looked good, it shouldn't have been enough to produce so many sets.
Seeing his confusion, the shopkeeper explained,
"Boss, it's mainly thanks to two important customers who came a few days ago and bought a large amount of our stock."
"Oh?" Rorin grew interested. "What exactly did they buy to generate so much capital?"
"Well, it's strange—they only bought black cloaks and red fabric. Oh, right, I think they were purchasing work uniforms."
Rorin frowned. Black cloaks? Red?
"Do you remember what they looked like?" he asked urgently.
The shopkeeper thought for a moment before answering,
"They wore black cloaks embroidered with red clouds. One of them was wrapped up tightly and haggled with me for quite a while. The other… oh right, he carried a scythe. It was pretty scary."
Hearing this, Rorin understood everything.
So it was the Immortal Duo. That incident at the ceremony—it was caused by Hidan's Curse Technique.
Everything made sense.