[Naruto] Toward the Underworld

This story is also known as The Springtime of Akatsuki's Finance Officer

A little girl from the Hunter world thinks she's incredibly strong. Before she even figures out the power ceiling of the Hokage world, she provokes Akatsuki and gets chased to the ends of the earth by the increasingly serious S-rank rogue-ninja organization.

The leader, Pain, never expected that a little girl who couldn't use ninjutsu would escape his grasp and shake Amegakure to its foundations.

Kakuzu, the finance officer, never expected that the underground bank he'd painstakingly managed would be robbed by a brat, leaving him with huge losses.

The little girl is like a slippery fish, popping up beside them from time to time, yet escaping unscathed again and again...

In that case...

Pain gives the order: Put the Jinchūriki aside for now. Capture this insolent brat first.

Kakuzu has lived long enough to believe that money is the only thing in the world he can trust. He wears an indifferent expression toward everything and everyone else.

Day after day, he carries out the organization's orders, completes contracts, and kills for bounties. Once in a while, he replaces a heart. Life passes as calmly as still water.

That peace is shattered by a brat who appears out of nowhere.

She knows he's the one behind the underground bank and still dares to rob it of 1.2 billion ryo. She tricks him in their very first meeting and has enough nerve to reach the heavens...

She's sly, wasteful, restless, and has a taste for the sweets he hates most. She's even more irritating than Hidan, the chatterbox who loves making a fuss over his rituals...

More than once, he thinks about killing her.

But she keeps recklessly coming close to him. She's such a pain.

And yet, without realizing it, he can't help looking at her, caring about her, looking after her, guiding her, and rescuing her when she's in danger.

Between a ninja and a Hunter, who will become whose prey?

All right, this is an obscure Kakuzu romance with a female lead. The title already hints at the ending.

The girl's identity is special, but clues are given in the earlier chapters, so it's easy to guess. Her background will be explained in the extras.

☆ This story is still dedicated to my beloved Akatsuki. I accidentally came across the premise in a folder from nine years ago, and suddenly felt nostalgic for the days when I followed Naruto.

☆ My old, abandoned story from more than a decade ago, Thousand Nights of Storms, has now been mostly revised and unlocked. New chapters will be updated irregularly.

Theme: Finding the meaning of existence