When Money Isn't Good Enough (Kakuzu Story)

Chapter 11

Ryoshi climbed down first, Kakuzu following to find that although it was very dark, a globe of light soon flared up on the wall, more appearing to allow him to see she was doing a handsign to cause them to light up. But instead of seeing the room with all the scrolls and books about all the ninjas and places in the area as he had been expecting, he found it was a tunnel, leading off into the darkness. Smirking at how much they had to go through just to get to the room, he turned to look at Ryoshi, and as she glanced back at him with a nod, his smirk being reflected on her face, she gestured for him to follow, setting off down the tunnel. As they did so, she noted the look on his face, knowing he was wondering about the whole situation, but said nothing until he finally decided to question casually,

"Is there a reason for this place being so well protected?"

"Like I said, it used to be owned by a group of missing nins who reigned over the area—they had control of pretty much every village. But you've seen the amount of people that pass through; a lot of people wanted them dead. They needed this information—but they couldn't let anyone else get a hold of it. How that guy did, I don't know; not that it matters now," she replied with a small shrug, continuing down the tunnel.

It was only a few minutes more until they reached another, heavier door, and Ryoshi pulled out the last key, inserting it into a secret lock, causing a rumble to sound out as the door swung inward, revealing the room inside. Kakuzu had to raise an eyebrow, impressed at what he saw. Scrolls and books lined the walls, were stacked in boxes...there was so much information here. Kakuzu had figured it would hold a lot, but this clearly exceeded his expectations by far. It was a treasure trove, and he had to hold himself back from just searching through in general; there was no doubt that a large amount of those in the bingo book had their information stored here. If he read it, it would be easy to find them and get their bounties—but he forced himself to think of the mission first. That was the main reason he was here, and he couldn't let himself get carried away with anything else. But abruptly he hesitated; the amount of information could be a double edged sword here. True, there was so much they could have...but where exactly would they find it? It was this that caused Kakuzu to face Ryoshi, stating bluntly,

"Okay, we're here. How are we supposed to find what we're looking for? We don't have the time to read all of this."

But Ryoshi shook her head, glancing over the room as she picked out certain places and committed them to memory. She couldn't help but feel a little bit of glee at the idea of having these keys—and having them entirely in her possession. There was no need to hand them back, and she could have all the information she wanted—but Kakuzu came first, prompting her to look back and explain simply,

"Don't worry, Kakuzu. This is organized; it won't be a case of rummaging around and hoping we find the right scroll."

Stepping forward, she took a look along the shelves, glancing at the boxes and draws along the way, eventually stopping at one roughly in the middle. Calling back to ask if Ketsu operated mainly in this area, once Kakuzu confirmed it, Ryoshi stuck to this area of shelves and draws, halting as she reached her destination. Opening the draw, she flicked through the files inside, a couple of minutes later picking out the one she needed and pulling it out, turning to hold it up to Kakuzu. Raising an eyebrow at this, he couldn't help but shake his head. A couple of days ago he had been incredibly pissed at the idea that Ketsu kept disappearing out of his grasp, and he had no idea where he was or how he was going to find him. Now, however, Ryoshi had taken a day at the most to find the place she was going to get the information, and then taken only around five minutes to find the very file she wanted in a room filled to the brim with scrolls and books. A part of him was slightly irritated; he didn't exactly feel powerful and knowledgeable, capable of getting anything he wanted when she was around. Considering she had done all this so quickly, if anything, it made him feel a little useless, and it wasn't a feeling he particularly enjoyed. Though at the same time he was impressed by what she could do, seeing how valuable she was as an ally and how good she was at her job; not to mention how easy he found it to get on with her.

In the end, it was the latter that won out.

Going over to the table in the middle of the room, she laid it down and opened it up, glancing up at Kakuzu; prompting him to move forward and stand at her side. As his gaze flicked past the information on the paper, he couldn't help but say softly,

"I hate to imagine what you'll do now you have the keys to this place...as if you weren't a formidable bounty hunter to begin with. It took you a second to find what we were looking for."

"If you weren't with the Akatsuki and fully concentrated on bounty hunting you'd have a greater reputation than mine, Kakuzu. And I've heard it all in this area; I just knew where to look," she quickly shot back, trying to concentrate on the words on the paper but finding they didn't quite enter her brain as the soft tone of his voice reached her ears and his arm brushed against hers. She gritted her teeth, slightly wishing he would just shut up to avoid having this effect on her. She couldn't get like this—there was too much to think about. Kakuzu knew it too, and tried to shake off that moment, continuing to look over the information.

Though they truly began to look now, there was still a memory of that moment that remained, both hoping it would fade as they went on reading. Kakuzu pointed out a passage where it talked about a building that had often been associated with Ketsu, having seen a lot of his ninja going in and out of it, and they both considered heading over there—but they couldn't be sure. He knew the Akatsuki were looking for him, and after Kakuzu catching his attention, he knew they were in the area. The question of whether he would stay in his usual hideouts was one they couldn't answer at the moment. Not to mention, with all the contacts he had, they could be found out before they got within 20 metres of the place, and the same thing would happen as it had with Kakuzu. It would be guarded heavily, that was for sure. No; it was best to rely on Ryoshi's tracking. Then they'd get a definite lock on his position, and there would be no room for failure.

So she gathered up the file, opting to take it with them, as it would help with the tracking and would allow them to find out more—it had a list of people he had been associated with, so they could look out for certain people or places. It would give them a head's up, at least, and with that, they headed out of the room and the building, discussing it all a little as they finally arrived outside. It was utterly quiet out here, but not in a unusual way, and after scanning the surrounding area for a moment, they began to head back to the hideout, Ryoshi stating she'd do the basic tracking soon.

"Don't do it tonight when you get back to your room—I want to watch you do it. I want to see how it's done," Kakuzu cut in swiftly, and nodding slightly, Ryoshi found she couldn't answer, twisting slightly so her hair covered her face, her eyes almost wide with surprise. She felt the flare of heat that began to rise up her face after he said it—and she wasn't sure how to react. She was blushing; but she couldn't remember if she'd done it in her life.

So why was it now that it was suddenly getting to her?

Why was it Kakuzu could make it happen?