"You want to know who ordered your hit? Konoha's genius, Satoru?" the man before him, Lord Yamamoto, instantly recognized Satoru, making the boy feel he was very dangerous.
"Oh? You know me?" Satoru said.
"Is it hard? Masters your age in the whole shinobi world are rare, right? Figured it could only be Konoha's Satoru, no?"
"We have information—that's money too! Normally, selling info on clients is forbidden, but you know, everyone needs to eat."
"It's simple: give me sufficient compensation. Otherwise, even if you kill me, I won't tell you anything," Yamamoto demanded money right away, but if there's one thing Satoru had plenty of, it was money.
Satoru immediately handed the exchange leader several hundred thousand Ryo. The man was somewhat stunned.
"You throw around hundreds of thousands of Ryo so easily; looks like you're really loaded?"
"I keep my word. Since you've paid enough, I'll tell you straight."
"The man who ordered your assassination is Danzou from Konoha."
"Of course, Danzou hired a Kage-level expert too, just to make sure you'd die. In theory, you should already be dead. Didn't expect you'd still be alive," Yamamoto's words weren't exactly pleasant, but Satoru got the info he needed.
"Danzou, huh? I've known it was him for a while. I came here just to confirm," Satoru added: "Your exchange dared to take a hit on me? Hope you remember this for a long time and don't do anything stupid again."
With that, Satoru prepared to form seals and use ninjutsu to teach the underground exchange a lesson.
"Wait," Yamamoto stopped Satoru, who was about to attack, and said: "The world's full of rogue ninja and ronin. To survive, what else can they do besides kill and rob?"
"There's plenty of work to do, and it's not just assassinations—especially not mine," Satoru ignored the exchange manager's words.
"Their home countries and villages reject them. All they can do is come to exchanges like this and take shady jobs to make ends meet. And those who bring such orders... they're mostly people who don't stoop to plain murder and robbery, so you could still call them ninja."
"To survive, they do what they must. Nothing wrong with that. Since you're Satoru from Konoha, you should understand, right?" Yamamoto's words rang true.
But Satoru was really just testing this Yamamoto. If he genuinely cared for his subordinates, Satoru would naturally let him go. But if he used them as meat shields, Satoru wouldn't spare him.
"You're a rare talent. Since you're asking me not to attack, fine. I have one demand: your underground exchange submits to me!" Satoru declared.
"You want us to submit? You're a funny kid."
Yamamoto couldn't believe such words came from a child.
"Actually, it's simple. To become our boss, we have to acknowledge you. And we only acknowledge two things: money and a master who can actually beat us."
"I see you have no shortage of money. But if your power's just jonin-level, you definitely can't make us submit."
"So, want to fight me? I'm the strongest here. Beat me, and I'll decide for them—we'll submit to you," the man named Yamamoto was straightforward and immediately proposed a fight.
Satoru smiled faintly. His power naturally went beyond jonin level. Even without the Goro Goro no Mi, his strength was at least elite jonin. After all, he'd learned a lot from the Third Hokage!
After Yamamoto's challenge, a crowd gathered around instantly. Satoru hadn't expected that right after entering the underground exchange, he'd have to fight its strongest member.
"This guy... he's a Kage-level expert too!" flashed through the boy's mind.
The original story only showed the tip of the shinobi world iceberg. There was still much hidden in this ninja world.
The man named Yamamoto standing before him was clearly the underground exchange's leader. At this moment, he'd shed his previous lethargy completely.
"Konoha's genius, Satoru, I want to clarify something: have you run into a ninja named Kakuzu by any chance?" Yamamoto suddenly asked before the fight.
Satoru nodded and replied:
"Of course. Wasn't I his target? And since I'm still here, that means I beat him."
But no one believed Satoru. The surrounding rogue ninja and ronin grumbled disapprovingly. They acknowledged Satoru as a genius, but at best rated his power as jonin-level.
Who was Kakuzu? A Kage-level expert! He'd only failed once, against the First Hokage. Every other job, he'd completed successfully.
They couldn't believe someone like Satoru had beaten Kakuzu.
"Beat Kakuzu... Sorry, but that's hard to buy!" the exchange leader shook his head. "But if you want the underground exchange to submit, you at least need to beat me. In that case—begin!" Yamamoto reminded him.
"In that case, Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!" Satoru immediately unleashed the Sarutobi clan's fire technique, spewing incredibly hot, boundless flames from his mouth!
"Seal-forming speed's too high! And that technique—isn't it the Sarutobi clan's fire jutsu? Right, this kid's teacher is the Third Hokage," Yamamoto thought. He seemed highly skilled in Body Flicker Technique and dodged the flames with swift movements.
"Lightning Release: Earth Shock!" the exchange manager quickly formed seals and countered with ninjutsu.
Who was Satoru? A man with lightning energy—how could he fear some Lightning Release? In one second, the opponent's attack threatened him; in the next, he made the lightning envelop his own body.
The Thunder Bird had formed, and this terrifying lightning stunned everyone present instantly.
"Th-that... lightning of that level... from a kid?"
"Is that the Raikage? Am I dreaming?!"
Satoru slapped the doubters' faces with his power time and again.
At that moment, Yamamoto sensed something wrong and immediately said:
"In that case, I have no choice but to use my strongest technique."
"Lightning Release: Thunder Spear!" Yamamoto directly formed a lightning spear with his Lightning Release chakra and hurled it at Satoru's Thunder Bird.
The Thunder Bird was thirty million volts. Lightning at that level would deal massive damage to a human body.
Finally, Satoru's Thunder Bird and the Thunder Spear clashed. Electric discharges flashed around instantly, annihilating anything they touched.
But Satoru's Thunder Bird gained the upper hand in a moment.
"Using Lightning Release against me isn't the wisest choice," Satoru smiled faintly. Yamamoto was already on the ground.
***
Read the story months ahead of the public release — early chapters are available on my Patreon: Granulan