While passing through the Land of Rain, Yōkō felt an itch in his heart.
He felt frighteningly strong and really wanted Yuka to witness his near-perfected rhythm and angles.
A pity that Nara Umeka was by his side. He had to endure and not expose himself in front of her.
After entering the Land of Earth, Nara Umeka found an underground exchange.
In an abandoned sheep pen in the highland mountains, the ground was covered in sheep droppings.
The two changed their disguises and entered the sheep pen.
After knocking on the wall using a special method, a large section of soil fell away, revealing a cave entrance.
Entering the cave, Yōkō saw a basement similar to the one in the Land of Fire's underground exchange.
A long counter divided the basement into a front area and a back area.
In each of the four corners of the front area stood a guard.
The clerk was a middle-aged man; a rough assessment suggested his strength was decent, either a Special Jōnin or a Jōnin.
Nara Umeka said, "We're here to claim a bounty."
Yōkō unwrapped the bandages from the corpse, revealing Tade's body.
The person in charge examined the corpse and carefully compared it against a manual.
He even turned the corpse's wrist over, checking the scar on the back of its hand.
The underground exchange was very capable; they actually knew about the scar on Tade's hand.
Yōkō thought to himself, perhaps the Land of Wind nobles provided the intelligence to the underground exchange.
How interesting. The one-village-one-country system wasn't as harmonious as it appeared on the surface.
If a ninja village got angry, it would assassinate nobles.
If nobles got angry, they would place bounties on ninjas.
Both sides maintained superficial cooperation, but in reality, each felt the other was going too far.
The person in charge said, "Good, it is indeed Suna Jōnin Tade, a powerful Puppet Master. The bounty is 16 million Ryo. I'll get the money for you."
He took out a money box from under the counter and said, "This is 5 million Ryo. Next, you need to go to two other places to get the remaining money."
Nara Umeka asked, "Why not give us all the bounty directly?"
The person in charge said, "In the past, bounty ninjas have robbed underground exchanges. To prevent similar incidents, no single underground exchange holds too much money.
So, please make a few trips and visit two more places."
The current underground exchanges are quite cautious. Over twenty years later, Kakuzu would receive Chiriku's entire bounty in one go.
The two left the underground exchange.
Nara Umeka waved a hand in front of her face: "It reeks of sheep dung, so unpleasant."
She opened a small slip of paper and said, "The next location is a certain town in the Land of Waterfalls. The location after that is the Kusagakure Capital.
16 million Ryo is a huge sum. Let's make the trip."
Yōkō said, "Let's find an inn to rest first. Walking such a long way is tiring."
Nara Umeka moved closer: "Which position's techniques do you still want to know about?"
"I've completely mastered the front and back positions. I wonder if there are any special angles for the side position?"
Along the journey, he had gained many positions and much knowledge, though Yōkō consciously used the Birth Control Ninja Formula.
He didn't want Nara Umeka to get pregnant, fearing she might notice something.
In a certain town in the Land of Waterfalls, they retrieved the second money box from a designated cabinet.
Yōkō said to Nara Umeka, "The underground exchange has so many subordinates; their people are everywhere.
For the final money box in the Land of Grass, I'll go ahead and set an ambush to see who places the money box."
Among the tents in the Kusagakure Capital, Yōkō arrived early at the location indicated on the slip.
Huh?
He saw a child place a money box under a sheepskin.
After the child left, Yōkō followed him.
When no one was paying attention, he grabbed the child and took him to an empty tent.
Using a genjutsu on the child, who had no chakra, he obtained one piece of information:
A young man had given the child 50 Ryo to place the box under a specific sheepskin.
The child happily agreed.
As for information about the young man, the child knew nothing.
After releasing the child from the genjutsu, Yōkō left empty-handed.
Nara Umeka retrieved the final money box and said:
"Fox, there's no need to obsess over intelligence on the underground exchange.
The underground exchange is an organization established by the Daimyō of various countries, originally intended to use money to deal with rogue ninjas who offended them.
It's just that this organization has grown increasingly huge, and now the major ninja villages also utilize it.
The details of the underground exchange aren't important, as long as it can be used by our Konoha."
Tasks related to the underground exchange were led by Nara Rokaku. If they said the details weren't important, then they weren't important.
—
The full moon was like a silver plate.
This journey started from Konoha, through the Land of Rivers, Land of Wind, Land of Rain, Land of Waterfalls, Land of Grass, and back to the Land of Fire.
This entire month was spent traveling.
On the night of the full moon, in a certain town in the Land of Fire, Nara Umeka, panting heavily, got off of Fox and collapsed softly to the side.
Her eyes were dazed as she stared into Fox's eyes:
"After returning to the village, you'll be staying at the ANBU base. Our chances to meet will be few.
I've taught you all my final techniques, so I have no regrets left."
Yōkō held Nara Umeka's shoulder and said:
"If I don't have missions, I will come find you.
Think again, are there any little tricks you haven't told me?
If you can't think of any now, think slowly in the future. I will occasionally come to discuss the secrets of angles and frequency with you."
Nara Umeka's face reddened: "My experience isn't that extensive! It's just from personal experience that I know about the angles!"
"We are ninjas, ninja who could die at any time. I don't have those laughable noble concepts of chastity. There's no need to say more."
After returning to Konoha, Nara Umeka and Yōkō went to report the mission completion.
In the Hokage's office, Nara Rokaku said to the Third:
"Hokage-sama, this trip by Umeka and Fox has established the process for utilizing the underground exchange to bounty enemy village ninjas.
Assassination and bounties can be mixed.
After the ANBU kills a few according to the Assassination Manual, we switch to the underground exchange.
This way, our assassination activities become more hidden, making it harder for other villages to defend against."
Sarutobi Hiruzen asked, "What if other ninja villages also use the underground exchange for bounties?"
Nara Rokaku said, "The Land of Fire is the wealthiest among the Five Great Nations.
Its several vassal states—the Land of Rivers, Land of Grass, Land of Hot Water, and Land of Whirlpools—also contribute significant wealth.
The rewards for ordinary ninja missions aren't high, meant to motivate ninjas to complete their missions and not indulge in comfort.
However, Konoha's fiscal surplus is quite substantial.
If other villages use the underground exchange, we can simply outspend them. We have the advantage.
I've calculated; our fiscal surplus is completely sufficient for this."
Yōkō was taken aback. So the village higher-ups know that ordinary Konoha ninjas are poor.
The village is rich, but ordinary Konoha ninjas are poor, to motivate ordinary ninjas to complete their missions well?
Truly worthy of Nara Rokaku, you've got it all figured out.
Is this Konoha's version of the 'tire and weaken the people' policy?
Can't let the ninjas eat too well, or they won't go on missions.
After leaving the Hokage's office, Yōkō found an excuse to check on Root.
He wondered if the Root newcomers missed him.
***
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(End of Chapter)