In Naruto as Zhongli-Chapter 64: INAZ - 63

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"Boss Shinji, since we're now one of the founders of Otogakure, shouldn't we have a drink together?" Orochimaru gestured with a wine cup.

"I remember Lord Orochimaru... ah no, Lord Otokage, usually doesn't drink much, right?" Shinji said teasingly.

"Boss Shinji is really joking. This title really feels unfamiliar," Orochimaru chuckled lightly, seeming not to mind Shinji's words much.

"What's the plan for that side?" Shinji changed the subject.

"That side? Let's build a commercial street. Since we're genuinely building a village, commerce is definitely an unavoidable part," Orochimaru said, flicking his tongue.

"Since that's the case, then regarding finances, you definitely need to find a suitable person. Otherwise, with so many things, you certainly won't have enough energy to worry about it," Shinji looked at the small village not far away.

This place was surrounded by mountain walls on three sides; the style really resembled Konoha's geographical location. But in terms of prosperity or commerce, it lagged far behind the current Konoha. Moreover, the current Otogakure basically had very few ninjas, mostly just some very old Genin. This was essentially starting from scratch; a suitable steward was truly urgently needed.

"Finances?" Orochimaru didn't seem to understand the meaning behind Shinji's words yet.

"You can understand it as a chief steward, meaning someone who can coordinate everything," A candidate seemed to appear in Shinji's mind.

"Oh? Who is that?"

"Lord Orochimaru should also know this person. That would be Akatsuki's 'South'," Shinji chuckled softly. Orochimaru should really know this person.

"'South'... Kakuzu?" Orochimaru reacted immediately. Not many people in Akatsuki used code names now; basically just those few individuals. So, Orochimaru instantly realized the person Shinji mentioned was precisely Kakuzu!

"Yes. He is the most suitable person to serve as chief steward. Besides, he is very familiar with financial matters," Shinji stated directly.

"But Boss Shinji should also know the problem. He is a member of Akatsuki. Pain won't let you have Kakuzu," Orochimaru knew Pain's strength. Let alone asking for someone, just stepping into the Land of Rain, Pain would meticulously use sensory techniques to ensure who these entrants were. So, even if Orochimaru knew Kakuzu was a suitable person, he had no way to bring him over to serve as his chief steward.

"This matter, if Lord Orochimaru trusts me, I can go bring Kakuzu over," Since he was now a partner in Otogakure, doing something for this village was appropriate. Moreover, he still had this mission; bringing Kakuzu back required some effort.

"Boss Shinji can bring Kakuzu back?" Orochimaru looked somewhat strangely at Shinji. This was the first time Shinji gave him such a confident guarantee.

"Naturally. Lord Orochimaru doesn't trust me?" Shinji chuckled lightly.

"Naturally not. Then do you need me to go along?" Orochimaru asked with interest. Ever since witnessing Pain's Rinnegan, Orochimaru concluded he definitely wasn't Pain's match. But if it was Shinji... Shinji's sword strike back then still left a deep impression on Orochimaru.

"No need. Lord Orochimaru just wait here. I'll be back soon. Jūgo, you follow Orochimaru back first," Shinji smiled confidently, then his body directly vanished before Orochimaru.

"Okay, Lord Shinji," Jūgo said obediently, then stood behind Orochimaru waiting.

"Fufufu, truly worthy of Boss Shinji. I'm really becoming more and more interested in you," Orochimaru chuckled fufufu, then turned and walked towards his laboratory. Today's experiment had reached a critical point. Jūgo happened to still be here, so he could just obtain some new sage chakra. Fufufu~ With some horrifying laughter, Orochimaru led Jūgo and vanished directly from the spot.

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Swish swish swish!!! With a flash of light, Shinji appeared in a space filled with heavy rain. Huge raindrops fell on Shinji's body. Rain, rain as far as the eye could see. And the gloomy feeling in the sky gave people a very oppressive feeling.

Yes, this place was the Land of Rain! Previously, Shinji specifically went to the border of the Land of Rain and placed his system's new function, [Function 6: Location Point (Host can set visited places as location points, activating a point allows instant travel there), Current uses: 2/2] here. After all, the Land of Rain, Shinji thought he would definitely come here in the future, so he simply placed one location use here. Sure enough, it came in handy now.

Feeling the chakra-infused rainwater, Shinji understood in his heart. This was the 'Raining Tiger at Will Technique' (Ukojizai no Jutsu) Nagato used to monitor the Land of Rain!

In a dim room, Nagato, with various tubes inserted into his body, suddenly opened his eyes. His originally thin body was actually trembling slightly now.

"What's wrong, Nagato?" Konan beside him instantly noticed Nagato's abnormality. Remember, Nagato had always been very calm. And now, after retreating behind the scenes to manipulate the Six Paths of Pain, he had become increasingly accustomed to hiding in this room. And around him, only Konan had always taken care of him. Let alone ordinary Akatsuki members, even all the cadres didn't know of Nagato's existence.

"Someone's aura suddenly appeared within the Land of Rain's territory. Cough cough cough!" Nagato opened his eyes, and within his eye sockets, the pair of Rinnegan was so obvious. But Nagato's coughing sound was still as usual.

"Suddenly appeared?" Konan quickly grasped the meaning in Nagato's words. This 'sudden appearance' was very intriguing. Remember, being described like this by Nagato meant the person who came likely possessed space-time ninjutsu. Then, who exactly was it?

"Yes. And... from what the Raining Tiger at Will Technique can sense, after that person appeared in that place, he hasn't moved. His body has been facing towards us," Nagato narrowed his eyes, a sharp glint already revealed within them.

"Could he be looking towards us?" Konan asked somewhat surprisedly.

"Yes, very likely. He knows of our existence, which is why he's been waiting there for us to go over," Nagato said seriously.

"I'll go take a look," Konan said somewhat eagerly.

"Cough cough cough, Konan, don't be hasty. Let Yahiko go with you. By the way, Kakuzu should be in the base now, right? Let him go with you too," For some reason, a trace of unease flashed through Nagato's heart. So, to be safe, he sent the Deva Path Pain, the Pain made from Yahiko's corpse, along with Kakuzu. Three Kage-level individuals, and the Deva Path Pain was a powerhouse among Kage-levels. This lineup going over shouldn't have any problems.

"I understand. I'll prepare to go now," Konan quickly helped Nagato sit upright, then turned and left the room. After leaving the room, Konan led the Deva Path Pain and Kakuzu together, quickly rushing towards Shinji's location.

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"Seriously, still no one has come? Didn't they say this Raining Tiger at Will Technique can sense anyone entering the Land of Rain?" Shinji, still waiting in the original spot, felt somewhat bored. Such a long time had passed, yet still no one came looking. This made him somewhat doubt whether this legendary sensory ninjutsu was useful at all. This feeling was really somewhat speechless.

Just as Shinji was considering whether to take the initiative, three powerful presences suddenly approached.

"Looks like... they finally came," Shinji narrowed his eyes. There was no mistake about the feeling of these three energies; they must be Akatsuki members!

Sure enough, as the three gradually approached, Shinji could already see the arrivals. Red cloud robes, and one woman, two men. Clearly, Shinji already recognized the identities of these three from their appearance. Akatsuki's Angel! Konan, codenamed 'White'!

The one with orange hair was the Deva Path Pain, codenamed 'Zero'! And the last one was Akatsuki's Kakuzu, codenamed 'North'! Green eyes, black hair, and skin with some stitched marks on the arms. This was Akatsuki's number one chief steward, Kakuzu! Remember, back then Kakuzu single-handedly boosted Akatsuki's GDP to IPO levels. And finally, after Kakuzu unfortunately died, the spendthrift Konan directly used all of Akatsuki's savings to buy 600 billion exploding tags. Such a venture capital move directly bankrupted Akatsuki, which then rapidly declined...

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"Who are you? Why have you come to our Land of Rain?" Konan, like a cold blue flower, looked coldly at Shinji. The appearance of this unknown person made her feel a sense of crisis. Although the heavy rain continued, for some reason, none of it approached Shinji, instead flowing away directly from his body surface. Moreover, before setting out, the expression Nagato had just before discovering him made Konan somewhat vigilant. Remember, when Jiraiya came to the Land of Rain some time ago, Nagato didn't show that kind of expression.

"Lady Konan, I came to ask your Akatsuki organization for someone," Shinji looked at Konan. Truly a rose with thorns.

"You know me?" Konan said somewhat warily. Remember, besides Akatsuki members, very few people knew of her existence, let alone her name.

"Naturally. To the left is your financial supervisor, Kakuzu. And the other one is Yahiko, the so-called Deva Path Pain, right?" Shinji directly revealed their details. With each name spoken, Konan's expression worsened somewhat. And Nagato, controlling the Deva Path Pain from behind, was already somewhat surprised. He didn't expect this man before him to know so much about his Akatsuki organization.

"Who exactly are you? Who do you want to ask for?" Konan couldn't bear it anymore. What was wrong with this person? Kept talking about Akatsuki matters? She now somewhat suspected Akatsuki had detained someone of his, otherwise why would Shinji say he came to ask for someone?

"The person I want to ask for is... Kakuzu," Shinji extended his finger, pointing directly at Kakuzu himself.

"Me?" Kakuzu pointed at himself somewhat puzzledly. He had never met Shinji before; why did this person want him as soon as he appeared? Could this person have some special fetish? Thinking of this, goosebumps started appearing on Kakuzu's body. What kind of person was this!

"What do you want Kakuzu for?" Nagato suddenly controlled the Deva Path Pain's body to speak. He was also somewhat puzzled why Shinji wanted Kakuzu.

"This humble one is untalented, opened a small village. I want Kakuzu to go over and help me manage it. After all, Lord Kakuzu is the best financial controller in this world," Shinji didn't hide anything, directly stating his purpose. Financial controller??? Let alone Nagato, even Kakuzu himself was somewha confused. What was wrong with this person?

"What do you mean?"

"The meaning is just that. You wouldn't be planning to refuse, right... Nagato?"

After Shinji's words came out, Konan's entire body tensed up. Although Kakuzu beside her seemed somewhat clueless, the expression on Yahiko, remotely controlled by Nagato, was quite spectacular at this moment.

Previously, if Shinji only knew the information of Akatsuki members, then everything could be explained somewhat. After all, where there are people, there might be spies. So information leakage was a relatively normal thing. But when Shinji spoke Nagato's name, everything became different. In the entire Akatsuki, only Konan knew of Nagato's existence. So, this person's intelligence. Where did it come from?

"Who exactly are you?" Chakra had already begun to gather on the Deva Path Pain. This feeling of being seen through really made him somewhat uncomfortable.

"Just the owner of the All-Purpose Shop. Nagato, I want to take Kakuzu away from you. Do you have any objections?" Shinji said with a smile, seemingly completely unafraid of Pain attacking directly.

"Why me?" Just then, Kakuzu suddenly interjected.

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