Chapter 211 : Riku’s Strength Even Exceeds Uchiha Itachi
Chiyo also understood now how Sasori and Deidara had managed to bypass Sunagakure’s defenses and successfully kidnap Gaara.
It was due to an internal informant.
But when she thought about it, it made sense. Sasori had once been a shinobi of Sunagakure—how could he not have left behind some hidden contacts within the village?
Now that they had a lead, Chiyo wasn’t going to let it go. She sent word back to Sunagakure about the internal betrayal through one of her puppet birds.
Not lingering any longer, Riku, Chiyo, and Kakashi continued on their journey.
The failure of Uchiha Itachi took Pain slightly by surprise. "You couldn’t even hold out for long... Seems that guy is truly strong."
Deidara remained silent. He and Kisame had once been the ones who brought Deidara into the Akatsuki, and now even Itachi had been defeated so easily. It could only mean one thing—Riku was terrifyingly powerful. Otherwise, defeating someone like Uchiha Itachi so swiftly would be unthinkable.
Sasori furrowed his brow. "I don’t know much about this Riku, but he seems to have quite the reputation in the ninja world. Itachi, you’ve fought him before—what do you think?"
Although they didn’t understand the exact reason behind Itachi’s defeat, they were certain of one thing: it hadn’t been Chiyo or Kakashi who brought him down.
He knew those two well—they didn’t have the capability.
After a brief silence, Uchiha Itachi spoke. "He’s strong. Incredibly strong. I couldn’t even grasp the full extent of his power. It felt like he was holding back... I don’t think he even used a tenth of his actual strength."
"And more importantly—my Sharingan genjutsu was completely ineffective on him."
At that, Sasori’s expression grew serious for the first time.
"You mean you couldn’t land even a single genjutsu? But a clone using that technique can exert about thirty percent of your power... Are you saying this guy is stronger than you? And that your Sharingan was completely useless against him?"
Itachi nodded. "It’s hard to believe, but during our exchange, I cast several illusions—none of them worked."
Deidara, who had been listening intently, drew in a sharp breath. "Even your genjutsu didn’t work on him? But your illusions are the strongest in the group thanks to your Sharingan."
"If they’re ineffective... then this Riku is definitely worth keeping an eye on."
Deidara wasn’t so arrogant as to dismiss this. If even Uchiha Itachi wasn’t a match for Riku, then it was clear that this wasn’t someone to take lightly.
After all, Itachi’s strength was definitely above Deidara’s. Just his genjutsu alone was a threat Deidara couldn’t resist. So for someone to overpower Itachi entirely—it was terrifying.
Clenching his fists, Deidara frowned. "We need to extract the One-Tail quickly. Otherwise, we may not be able to stop Riku from reaching us."
He was fully aware—if Uchiha Itachi couldn’t defeat Riku, then there was no way he or Sasori could either, even working together.
Pain, too, was beginning to take Riku seriously. He hadn’t known much about him until now, but Kisame had once said that Riku’s strength wasn’t inferior to Jiraiya’s. That alone was reason enough to be cautious.
And now it turned out that even Uchiha Itachi was no match for him.
Itachi had been part of Akatsuki for years, and this was the first time he had spoken so gravely about someone’s power.
He’d never even shown such concern about Jiraiya.
Pain knew that if Itachi and Jiraiya ever fought, Itachi might not win—but he also wouldn’t lose easily.
After the mission to capture the Nine-Tails, neither Itachi nor Kisame had spoken much about Jiraiya.
But Kisame had frequently mentioned Riku.
And though Itachi had never revealed whether he had fought Riku before, his reaction now made it clear—he viewed Riku as someone possibly even stronger than Jiraiya.
And Riku was only sixteen years old.
That was terrifying.
To be stronger than Uchiha Itachi at sixteen... even Nagato felt an uneasy chill at that thought.
Kakuzu, meanwhile, found himself more curious than concerned—though it wasn’t Riku’s strength that interested him most.
It was his underground bounty.
Somewhere in the shinobi world, Kakuzu pulled out a worn notebook and flipped through it.
When he found Riku’s name and saw the bounty amount—50 million ryo—he could hardly believe it. "Only 50 million? For someone this powerful? Is this a joke?"
In the underground world, most elite shinobi had bounties placed on them by rival nations. Each country tended to put a price on the heads of enemy elites.
But few shinobi ever actually became bounty hunters. After all, the ones being targeted were almost always extremely strong.
Like Asuma Sarutobi.
Killing a ninja like him wasn’t worth the 30 million ryo bounty he had. That kind of skill could earn far more through A-rank missions.
And killing an elite Jonin meant stirring up trouble with major villages.
Most bounty hunters avoided that kind of risk.
Usually, these bounties were more of a political statement—a way for villages to spite their enemies.
But Kakuzu was an exception. He didn’t care about making enemies. He was one of the few who actively hunted high-level shinobi for cash.
Still, he found the bounty on Riku laughably low.
Fifty million ryo for a shinobi stronger than Uchiha Itachi?
That didn’t make sense.
By any metric, Riku should be ranked as a Kage-level threat—his bounty should start at 100 million.
But in truth, although Riku had made a name for himself over the past few years, he hadn’t killed many people, and his relationship with most villages was surprisingly neutral.
That’s why the bounty was so low.
The bounty amount reflected not only threat level, but how much a village disliked or feared the target.
Despite his growing legend and accomplishments, Riku only had a 50 million ryo bounty—and he still held a fairly positive reputation in many villages.
Originally, Kakuzu had thought about killing Riku for the payout. But after seeing how low it was, he wasn’t interested anymore.
"Hmph... seems like this kid’s reputation is too good. Only 50 million ryo? Not worth the effort."
Hearing this, Hidan burst out laughing. "You really are obsessed with money, Kakuzu. You were seriously planning to kill that guy just for a bounty? You’re gonna end up getting yourself killed!"
Though Hidan was widely considered the weakest member of Akatsuki, his ability made him one of the most dangerous.
As long as he got his opponent’s blood, it was basically a death sentence.
Even among Akatsuki’s top-tier members, no one underestimated him.
That was assuming, of course, that they knew about his ability. Those who didn’t—like Yugito Nii and Asuma Sarutobi—had suffered for it.
Still, Hidan looked down on Kakuzu’s fixation on money.
Hidan killed for pleasure.
Kakuzu killed for profit.
Kakuzu, uninterested in Hidan’s mockery, simply replied, "Only money won’t betray you. That’s something you wouldn’t understand."
Hidan chuckled, unfazed by Kakuzu’s sharp words.
In truth, he didn’t mind partnering with Kakuzu. The two shared one important trait:
They were both incredibly hard to kill.
Hidan had his immortality.
Kakuzu had five hearts—and as long as not all of them were destroyed at once, he could recover and return to battle like nothing had happened.
Together, they were a deadly and nearly unkillable team.
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