#naruto rewatch

Additional edit: The anime includes a bonus scene at the end of the episode they appear in, I uploaded it separately here. You could probably take this as confirmation in the funniest way possible that the pawn shop bit is in fact a functioning business front as originally guessed at the start of this post, lmao.

In the third databook, these subordinates are given names, and it's specifically stated that Ginji is in charge of the bookkeepers plural, which implies more than just a few of them.

It should be stressed - these aren't the Akatsuki's subordinates in general. They're specifically Kakuzu's subordinates.

This tracks though with the kind of money you can make from just taking in one high profile bounty on the black market in universe. Asuma's bounty for example is worth 35,000,000 ryo.

1 ryo is said to be equal to 10 yen (although take the wiki with a grain of salt), so Asuma's bounty when converted becomes 350,000,000 yen.

When you convert this to American currency, the amount of money roughly becomes 2,367,785 US dollars.

(Only semi related, I don't want to get too off track but I find this post on the black market involved here interesting)

Given if you can bag the right high profile target just once you can gain TWO MILLION DOLLARS in our equivalent currency, and how long Kakuzu has been in the business (He is 91 years old when we first meet him) It is probably safe to say the man is not only loaded, he keeps staff specifically to manage what is most likely his extensive wealth - as well as the Akatsuki's one would assume specifically since he claimed to be in charge of their finances as a group too.

Unrelated, but oh to be a fly on that wall when Hidan was trying to convince Kakuzu that his religion was in fact one that could be profitable. The third databook also says Kakuzu is in charge of the Akatsuki's finances, to get back on topic:

And one would assume he is using his own staff for that as well.

Considering his listed hobby is reading antiquarian books - an expensive hobby to have, realistically speaking, the idea that he has been managing his own finances fairly well up until this point checks out on that front too.

TBH it's a little bit funny that fanon has characterized him as having a cheap personality, given this notably expensive hobby, on top of his taste in food, if my cursory google search on the monkfish liver dish 'ankimo' is anything to go by.

It's featured in traditional kaiseki (multi-course) meals and is prized for its unique flavor and texture. As a symbol of wealth, ankimo comes with a price tag to match its rarity. In modern Japanese history, monkfish liver is still mostly only available in upscale restaurants and is consumed on special occasions. (source)

Brother, this man has bougie tastes if I've ever seen them.

At some point someone is going to have to be brave enough to tap on the mic and say "Kakuzu is not actually a miser, the scrooge interpretation is just fanon that deeply misinterprets what his fixation on money is based on and what money actually means to him as a concept" before getting booed by the audience and having tomatoes thrown at them. They will then have to bravely take the tomato pelting and continue that thought with "Kakuzu actually canonically seems to value the pursuit of money moreso than money itself in many ways" before having to finally run offstage as the crowd finally gets to pulling out the pitchforks.