After leaving the village, Nara Umeka took out two sets of clothes and masks.
"We need to disguise ourselves as retainers of a Land of Fire noble. We can't wear Konoha flak jackets."
While changing clothes, Nara Umeka occasionally stole glances at Fox, wanting to know who he really was. Unfortunately, Fox moved too quickly, and she saw nothing.
In a town in the western part of the Land of Fire.
Nara Umeka and Yōkō, draped in the long robes commonly worn by servants in noble mansions and wearing masks, entered a dilapidated house on the outskirts of the town.
It was unknown where Nara Umeka obtained the intelligence, but this house concealed an Underground Bounty Exchange.
The tattered spider webs were extremely realistic, as if no one had visited for a long time.
The floor was covered in thick dust, kicking up clouds of it as they walked.
Reaching the stairwell, Nara Umeka headed towards the basement.
Entering the dark basement, Nara Umeka knocked on the wall with a specific rhythm.
A door in the basement opened, revealing light first.
The two entered the room.
A long counter divided the room. Behind the counter was an old man, and behind him was a wall full of cold storage units for storing corpses.
In front of the counter, four guards stood at the four corners.
Yōkō observed the old man; his strength wasn't weak, at least at the Special Jōnin level.
He could be considered a master among rogue ninja.
As for the four guards, they had roughly Chūnin-level strength.
Nara Umeka said: "I'm here to post a commission."
The old man slightly opened his eyes, took out a ledger, and had Nara Umeka register.
Nara Umeka wrote down the name of a Sunagakure Jōnin, Tade, with a bounty of 16 million Ryo.
She unsealed three boxes containing 16 million Ryo in cash.
The old man carefully inspected the bundles of money and said: "Sunagakure Jōnin Tade. His previous bounty was 11 million Ryo. It seems his strength has increased.
However, is this your first time at the Underground Bounty Exchange?"
Hearing this, Nara Umeka nodded, unsure what she had done wrong.
The old man said: "For bounty missions, you also need to pay a 20% handling fee. That means another 3.2 million Ryo."
Nara Umeka was stunned. She thought she had prepared enough, having found the contact method for the Underground Bounty Exchange and accurately located this place.
She didn't expect her intelligence to still be insufficient.
Nara Umeka summoned another money box and counted out 3.2 million Ryo.
"Mr. Kintsuba, my companion and I serve a noble from the Land of Rivers and are also bounty hunters. Please show us the bounty manual."
The old man named Kintsuba was taken aback; no one had called his name in a long time.
In a place like the Underground Bounty Exchange, names weren't important; others only needed to know he was the exchange manager.
Nara Umeka deliberately called out Kintsuba's name to display their capability in investigating his identity.
Kintsuba said: "This is the bounty ledger."
Nara Umeka took a ledger and quickly browsed through it.
Yōkō glanced at it from behind, curious to know if he himself had a bounty.
Nara Umeka said: "Why are there no bounties on Land of Fire nobles or Konoha ninja?"
Kintsuba said: "This is the Land of Fire. Of course, there are no bounties on Land of Fire nobles or Konoha ninja. If you want to know the bounty amounts for Konoha ninja, you can go to other countries."
This was one of the self-preservation methods of the Underground Bounty Exchange.
They didn't conduct business related to the host country within its borders; the same applied in other countries.
Yōkō remembered that in the original story, Kakuzu collected the bounty for Chiriku at an Underground Bounty Exchange in the Land of Fire and also killed Sarutobi Asuma.
It seemed that over twenty years later, Konoha had weakened significantly, and the Underground Bounty Exchange no longer bothered to hide such activities.
Nara Umeka nodded, memorized a few names, and turned to leave.
Once outside the exchange, the two walked some distance away.
Nara Umeka said: "Fox, we need to follow these people, see where they go and who they contact.
The Underground Bounty Exchange is somewhat mysterious. The village still doesn't know who is behind them.
16 million Ryo is a huge sum. Kintsuba can't possibly keep it himself; he'll probably hand it over to his superior."
Yōkō said: "Following them isn't a problem, but not both of us."
"Huh?" Nara Umeka asked: "What do you mean?"
"I'll follow them alone. I'm proficient in Earth Release; tracking them using Earth Release makes it hard to be detected. Taking you along would be different." Yōkō said:
"Be careful yourself. Don't wander off before I return."
Nara Umeka was quite displeased internally, but she understood: she was a Jōnin, and Fox was also a Jōnin, but her strength was far inferior to Fox's.
She had heard Fox's name several times in the Jōnin Commander's office.
The missions Fox completed involved either Jinchūriki or Uchiha Madara.
In such missions, Nara Umeka could at most offer strategic advice and write collection reports afterward; she lacked the strength to actually fight.
This was the greatest sorrow of the Nara clan.
They had countless tactics in their minds, but without the strength, all tactics were just wishful thinking, reliant on others' cooperation.
"I will wait here."
Seeing Nara Umeka so understanding, Yōkō formed hand signs and infiltrated underground using the Earth Release: Fish in Earth Reflection Technique.
After reaching deep underground, he immediately switched to the Ephemeral Technique and vanished.
Nara Umeka tried to detect Fox's whereabouts, but Fox's skill was too great; he had disappeared without a trace.
Back when they were investigating the puppet material Yellow Hardwood in the Land of Wind, she still felt like an important support in combat.
Now, she didn't even have a chance to intervene.
Yōkō returned to the Underground Bounty Exchange.
Kintsuba was still leaning back in his chair, feigning sleep, and the four guards remained motionless.
None of them knew that beneath the long counter surface, a face was pressed against the ground.
Reconnaissance using the Ephemeral Technique was truly peculiar.
He merged completely with the wooden counter, as if part of it itself.
During the Uchiha brothers' fight, neither Itachi nor Sasuke detected Zetsu nearby.
Several hours later, the door of one cold storage unit suddenly opened.
Yōkō tilted his head slightly, exposing more of his head from under the counter.
A corpse coming back to life? How did the freezer open?
Kintsuba climbed into the cold storage unit.
Yōkō quickly moved closer to the unit, trying to infiltrate it. The unit was made of iron, not organic material, so he failed.
He heard a muffled sound coming from inside the unit.
"Sir, someone has posted a new bounty..."
Yōkō was astonished inwardly; was this actually a remote communication system?
Not a shinobi technique, but some new technology.
Kintsuba inside was very cautious, saying nothing beyond the report.
Yōkō didn't know who this 'Sir' he mentioned was.
On second thought, the shinobi world had electric lights and appliances. Perhaps there were scientific geniuses in the shinobi world who invented remote communication methods; it wasn't impossible.
After saying just a few words, Kintsuba left the unit and returned to his seat behind the counter, leaning back and feigning sleep.
Time passed into the late night. Kintsuba and two guards left, leaving only two guards behind.
It seemed the guards were taking shifts to protect this place.
After Kintsuba had been gone for an hour, Yōkō began to act.
The two guards' eyes suddenly widened in shock as they found themselves unable to move.
Sealing curse patterns spread all over their bodies, locking their jaws. In their panic and fear, strange gurgling sounds came from deep in their throats.
Yōkō opened the cold storage unit Kintsuba had used and climbed in.
As soon as he lay down, Yōkō heard a beeping sound.
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It was indeed some strange technological device.
Yōkō felt around, trying to activate the device.
Wait... this beeping sound, why did it somewhat resemble a timed bomb's countdown?
The moment this thought occurred, the device initiated its self-destruct sequence and instantly exploded.
After the explosion, Yōkō made an embarrassed escape underground.
Late at night, Fox appeared with a Body Flicker, startling Nara Umeka.
Not only was Fox's Earth Release powerful, but his Body Flicker Technique was also this proficient.
For others to use Body Flicker and stand behind her without her immediate awareness was a situation she last experienced as a Chūnin encountering a Jōnin.
Fox's hood was tattered, as if he had been caught in a close-range explosion.
With his strength, why would this happen?
Nara Umeka glanced at him and said: "Encountered a cylindrical explosion? The explosion was so uniform? Were you in a cave lined with explosive tags on the walls?"
As expected of Nara Umeka; her analysis was close to the truth.
"It was a cylindrical explosion." Yōkō said:
"The Underground Bounty Exchange's Kintsuba hid a communication device inside a cold storage unit.
After Kintsuba left, I infiltrated that unit. The unit recognized I wasn't Kintsuba and detonated.
However, I managed to retrieve some key components from inside the unit."
Yōkō took out a circuit board and handed it to Nara Umeka.
The worldview of the shinobi world was so chaotic, even having circuit boards.
Nara Umeka took the intricate circuit board and said:
"Ninjutsu geniuses and Kekkei Genkai users are concentrated in the various shinobi villages. No matter how much the Daimyō of various countries secretly train rogue ninja or deadly warrior ninja, they can never compare to the major villages.
Therefore, the Daimyō have been striving in other areas for a long time.
For example, the Land of Lightning's Electromagnetic Artisans Guild and the Land of Fire's Power Artisans Guild have developed many strange but exceptionally useful inventions.
If I'm not mistaken, this is a circuit board invented by the Land of Lightning's Electromagnetic Artisans Guild."
Yōkō was startled; were the names the same as in his previous life?
Yōkō said: "So, the Underground Bounty Exchange is backed by the various Daimyō?
The Daimyō have a need to place bounties on ninja. Underground Bounty Exchanges exist in the Five Great Nations and the minor nations.
The Land of Fire's Underground Bounty Exchange doesn't list bounties on Land of Fire nobles and ninja; other great nations are probably similar.
This special organization carefully serves the Daimyō?"
Nara Umeka nodded and said:
"When ninja carry out missions, they often burn down villages or destroy reservoirs.
For nobles and commoners, weak ninja are man-made disasters, and powerful ninja are natural calamities.
The Daimyō harbor resentment but dare not express it openly.
They can't deal with ninja from the great villages, but they can use money to deal with rogue ninja. That was the original purpose of the Underground Bounty Exchange.
Who knows if the Underground Bounty Exchange will become a behemoth in the future."
Yōkō said: "Whether the Underground Bounty Exchange becomes a behemoth depends on the strength of the bounty hunters.
If there were a bounty hunter with Kage-level strength who also loved making money, then all Jōnin from every village would tremble in fear."
He was referring to Kakuzu.
If the Underground Bounty Exchange could support three figures like Kakuzu, village ninja would have to be extremely cautious whenever they left their villages.
Nara Umeka said: "Fox, let's pause the investigation into the Underground Bounty Exchange for now.
We have a cooperative relationship with the Underground Bounty Exchange.
What's important now is to quickly complete the bounty assassinations and return to the Underground Bounty Exchange to reclaim our money."
"Reclaim our money?" Yōkō said:
"You mean we spend 16 million Ryo to place a bounty on Sunagakure Jōnin Tade, then go kill Tade ourselves, and come back to collect our own money?
The Underground Bounty Exchange's handling fee is 20%, 3.2 million Ryo.
I do the hard work of killing him, and in the end, I end up spending an extra 3.2 million Ryo, just to avoid proportional retaliation from Sunagakure?"
"Yes, you understood correctly." Nara Umeka said:
"We'd better act quickly. If Tade is killed by another bounty hunter, our loss won't be 3.2 million Ryo, but 19.2 million Ryo."
"Then we really need to hurry."
Nara Umeka and Yōkō set off for the Land of Wind.
After entering the Land of Wind, Yōkō summoned a scroll.
"Jōnin Umeka, please step back. This is an Anbu secret."
Nara Umeka rolled her eyes at Fox and said:
"I am the primary assistant to Jōnin Commander Rokaku-sama. I know the vast majority of the village's secrets.
What you're holding is the spy communication scroll transferred from Root to the Anbu, right?"
Nara Umeka actually knew about something the Anbu considered a secret.
Yōkō said: "I know you know, but please respect the Anbu. This is a secret many spies risked their lives to protect.
This mission is special; even with my status, I can only use this communication scroll temporarily.
Please turn around or move further away."
Nara Umeka had no choice but to turn around.
Yōkō opened the scroll, took out a medicine bottle, and smeared the blood from the bottle onto the scroll.
This wasn't Yōkō's blood; it was Long-Armed Ape's blood.
Yellow Dog's new assistant, Long-Armed Ape, was responsible for contacting the spy network.
After forming hand signs, Yōkō used Long-Armed Ape's blood sample to summon two messenger hawks.
These well-trained messenger hawks were a means for spies to quickly exchange intelligence.
The messenger hawks swiftly flew away.
One messenger hawk, upon reaching an oasis, spotted a hidden signal within the oasis.
This hawk began circling high above the oasis.
Inside the oasis, a Sunagakure ninja noticed the messenger hawk.
He was a Konoha spy lurking in Sunagakure.
He continuously decoded the signals based on the hawk's circling patterns – left, right, up, down, each representing a different signal.
He then translated the code into a command.
A few days later, the spy buried a scroll under a specific cactus, marking it with a hidden sign recognizable by the messenger hawk.
The messenger hawk, with its incredibly sharp eyesight capable of spotting a mouse's eye from thousands of meters in the air, had no trouble identifying the mark. It picked up the small scroll and flew away.
Yōkō received the scroll. It stated that Sunagakure Jōnin Tade was on a mission in the Land of Wind's capital and was expected to return to Sunagakure soon.
Yōkō and Nara Umeka went to the outskirts of the Land of Wind's capital to ambush Tade.
Yōkō gazed from afar at the Land of Wind's capital.
It was a city full of adobe buildings, mostly one or two stories high. The nobles' residences used wood and were built three or four stories high.
After waiting for several days, a trace of anxiety appeared in Nara Umeka's eyes.
If her plan caused the village to lose 19.2 million Ryo, that would be terrible.
Yōkō noticed Nara Umeka's anxiety and said:
"The Daimyō of various countries are too wealthy. The price on ninja heads is suffering from severe inflation.
How could a Sunagakure Jōnin be worth 16 million Ryo? He might not earn that much money in his entire lifetime."
Nara Umeka, however, said: "Sunagakure Jōnin Tade is a puppeteer who has been famous in Sunagakure for a long time. He's estimated to have Elite Jōnin-level strength."
"A puppeteer? And an Elite Jōnin?"
Yōkō thought to himself, isn't this just serving a dish made to order? He's completely my type.
At night, Tade, accompanied by three Genin, left the Land of Wind's capital after completing his mission.
Just like in Konoha, the major shinobi villages required all Jōnin to serve as Team Leaders for the Ninja School to help the village recover its strength as quickly as possible.
The temperature difference between day and night in the desert was significant.
The temperature was only four or five degrees. Tade reached out his hand to feel the air; the wind tonight was a bit chilly.
***
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(End of Chapter)