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Chapter 119: Drought And New Abilities 【Ba Hai】
🕑 Added 2025-04-21 17:01:54 +0000 UTC"Surrender?"
Kakuzu asked in surprise.
In his impression, Konoha didn’t usually accept the surrender of rogue ninja like him. And Simu was clearly a Konoha shinobi—so why would he accept a defector?
Was he planning to betray Konoha?
The thought made Kakuzu’s expression shift slightly.
Simu shrugged casually.
"Relax, the salary’s good."
Kakuzu’s eyes gleamed.
"Salary?"
Simu nodded with a bit of exasperation.
Why does this guy seem a little too much like me?
"What’s the job description?"
Kakuzu was still somewhat reluctant to join any group. After all, the betrayal by Takigakure, the village where he was raised, left deep scars.
He had long since gotten used to working alone. His only real passion… was making money.
Simu sheathed the Ama-no-Murakumo sword and spoke calmly.
"Go to the Land of Ghosts and work as a hired enforcer for the Aster Flower Merchant Association."
"Enforcer?"
Kakuzu didn’t scoff—he had no issue with being muscle for hire. But what puzzled him was how this Konoha ninja was involved with the Land of Ghosts.
Simu explained with a small smile:
"The Aster Flower Merchant Guild is my company. We sell everything—arms, medicine, you name it."
"But people often don't want to pay. You get what I mean, right?"
Kakuzu nodded in understanding.
"So, I'm just here to... collect debts?"
"More or less."
Simu grinned in satisfaction.
"And don’t worry about betrayal. If I really wanted to kill you, I wouldn’t need some grand plan. I’d just do it."
"For pay, how about a percentage of the debt you recover?"
Kakuzu hesitated for a moment, but eventually nodded.
After all, if he didn’t accept the offer, he was probably going to die here.
If he did accept, it was just another way to make money. And for someone like him who’s lived this long—money is money, no matter where it comes from.
That was basically the same reason he joined the Akatsuki in the first place.
Simu clapped his hands with satisfaction.
"You can head to the Land of Ghosts and report in."
"That's it?"
Kakuzu looked at him in disbelief.
He’d expected Simu to plant some sort of binding jutsu on him or impose a curse mark, not just… let him go.
Simu spread his hands.
"Don’t worry. We’re partners now."
"I’m the boss, you’re the employee. That’s all there is to it."
Kakuzu stared at Simu for a long moment, and finally nodded. He absorbed the remaining three masks back into his body, then turned to leave for the Land of Ghosts.
Before he could go too far, Simu called out to him.
"Kakuzu, your codename from now on is [Drought]."
"Drought, huh?"
Kakuzu mulled over the name, then turned back and responded flatly:
"Got it."
To be honest, Simu hadn’t expected things to go so smoothly when subduing Kakuzu.
As for the reason he wanted to recruit him—
First off, the Aster Flower Merchant Association had grown beyond Simu’s expectations in the past two years.
Hyuga Tokumitsu, who had been freed from the Caged Bird Seal thanks to Simu, turned out to be surprisingly talented in business.
In just two years, he had led the Aster Flower Guild to dominate the arms markets of several small nations. The guild also gained fame in medicine, cosmetics, clothing, and other fields.
But rapid growth brought a new problem—lack of manpower.
Especially… elite combat power.
Even though Tokumitsu had recruited a number of ninjas—and despite Simu sending many over from Black Iron Town—they still found themselves shorthanded.
The biggest issue was a lack of high-level enforcers.
Without powerful fighters, the guild would always be at risk of being crushed by the influence of a major nation.
That’s where Kakuzu came in—his strength would significantly raise the security of the Aster Flower Guild.
But there was another reason.
Simu wanted to raise his Kaido Imitation Value.
Kaido’s traits included: loving to mentor others, collecting subordinates, loving to fight, and being obsessed with challenging death.
Simu had already ticked off the “mentor” part.
Subordinates? He was just getting started.
As for battle and courting death... those were just a matter of time.
Subduing Kakuzu and giving him the codename “Drought” directly increased Simu’s Kaido imitation value by 5%.
"Congratulations. Your imitation value has reached 20%."
"Extracting ability..."
"Ability extraction successful."
"Congratulations. You have obtained the ability: [Ba Hai]."
Got a skill?
Simu closed his eyes and felt the newly awakened power.
This was the combined technique of Kaido and Big Mom, passed down from the Titan Clan—Ba Hai.
Through the extreme mastery of Armament Haki, it produced a devastating shockwave.
A single strike, capable of shaking heaven and earth.
The raw destructive power was nothing short of monstrous.
To put it bluntly... it could obliterate almost anything.
"This really is good stuff."
Rei pushed up his glasses and looked back.
The Kakashi trio had finally taken down all the enemies Rei had selected for them—with some help from the guards, of course.
Though, calling it “taking down” was being generous. Most were just knocked out.
Only Kakashi had killed someone, and that was during a rescue.
Obito and Rin had yet to truly shed blood.
Rei sighed and kicked the two dying hunters lying at his feet.
"Kill them."
Obito looked up in surprise.
"Why?"
"They can't even fight back anymore."
Rei turned to Kakashi.
"Kakashi, you explain."
Kakashi clenched the White Fang short sword in his hand, his tone cold.
"On the battlefield, if you don’t kill them, they’ll kill you."
He looked at Obito.
"Not just you. Your comrades too."
Suddenly, the hunter near Rin’s feet sprang to life.
From seemingly nowhere, he pulled out a kunai and shrieked madly:
"If I’m going to die, I’m taking someone with me!"
The kunai slashed toward Rin.
She froze, paralyzed by fear and inexperience.
"Rin!"
Obito lunged forward instinctively. He drove his own kunai into the attacker’s chest.
Blood sprayed across his hands. The warmth splashed against his face. His chest rose and fell rapidly as his mind went blank.
"I... I killed someone."
"I killed someone!"
He stared down at his trembling hands.
Kakashi watched silently. He didn’t step in—because he understood.
Rei wasn’t trying to get them killed. He wanted them to face death. To experience it. To overcome it.
Even if Obito and Rin had frozen, Rei wouldn’t have let anything happen to them.
"Well done. The rest is up to you, Captain."
Rei looked at the captain of the guards.
The captain nodded immediately. If it weren’t for Rei, none of them would’ve survived the last wave of attacks.
After this battle, any doubts within the guards about Rei’s strength vanished.
Some simply shut up. Others... would never speak again.
After all, the hunters knew their exact location. Who would believe there weren’t any traitors?
But that was fine. Rei could use this leak to fish.
What started as casual bait ended with catching a big fish—Kakuzu.
Rei had gained a full 5% in imitation value from subduing him. An unexpected bonus.
With the large group of hunters taken care of, the journey became much smoother.
Most of the local hunters had already made their move in the last wave. And once word got out that even a monster like Kakuzu had been defeated, the rest didn’t dare try.
But the day before they reached the capital of the Land of Fire, they encountered another assassination attempt.
This time, it wasn’t ninjas—but samurai.
Their strength wasn’t remarkable.
In this world, samurai were the only other profession that could rival ninja in combat power. They typically wielded ninja swords and wrapped their blades in chakra to fight.
The Land of Iron was the birthplace of samurai. Their elite included the Three Ships Generals—especially Mifune, a truly powerful warrior.
Unfortunately, none of the assassins here were anywhere near that level.
Rei couldn’t even be bothered to step in. He left the fight to Kakashi and Obito.
Though they were dangerous, these warriors weren’t insurmountable for them.
Kakashi was a genius, and Obito had already awakened his Sharingan early.
The battle ended without issue.
The only casualty?
Obito’s goggles were shattered.
"I deeply apologize, Lord Rei. These assassins were likely sent by Miss Haruko’s elder brother..."
The guard captain started to explain.
But Rei raised a hand, cutting him off.
"Captain, our mission is just to escort you to the capital. That’s all."
He didn’t like political nonsense.
The captain realized his mistake immediately and bowed.
"Forgive me. I overstepped."
Inside the carriage, Haruko felt a pang of guilt.
If Rei were interested in their Shangquan clan, maybe she could’ve roped him into their circle...
"If you want to apologize, Captain, why not get Obito a new pair of goggles?"
Rei cracked a rare joke.
Haruko poked her head out of the carriage, smiling brightly.
"When we arrive in the capital, I’ll cover all your expenses!"
"Awesome!" Obito cheered immediately.
Even Rin looked excited.
She wasn’t materialistic, but even she had heard about the legendary splendor of the capital of the Land of Fire.
It was said to be the most prosperous place in the entire ninja world.
Kakashi just nodded, indifferent as always.
Rei suddenly remembered something and patted him on the shoulder.
"Hey, Kakashi. The capital has tons of manga shops."
"Manga?"
Kakashi blinked, a little confused by Rei’s random comment.
He wasn’t sure why Rei bothered mentioning that… but somehow, he had a feeling it’d matter later.
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