Chapter 143: I am only worth one-tenth of a Jiraiya?
Haruko pretended to browse the goods casually, but in reality, he quietly activated his Byakugan.
His field of vision expanded instantly, and a 360-degree panoramic view unfolded in his mind.
Those few burly men suspected to be Cloud Hidden Ninja walked into a weapon shop; for now, nothing unusual could be seen.
"Hmm?"
Haruko's attention was suddenly drawn in another direction.
Through the walls, he saw three figures approaching him from different directions.
Although they were well-hidden, in front of the Byakugan, it was no different from running around naked.
"Is this... directed at me?"
Haruko continued to pretend to pick out materials, his Byakugan expanding to scan the surroundings.
Within the Byakugan's field of vision, two more people emerged from a side alley.
Five people, forming a surrounding formation.
"Fine, since you are all in such a hurry to die..."
Haruko remained calm and slowly turned into a secluded alley leading to the ruins of the black market.
...
Meanwhile, on the top floor of the abandoned building on FUNFUN Street.
Borigin still maintained that "Morpheus" style attire, his black leather trench coat fluttering slightly in the wind.
He held a crumpled banknote in his hand; it was one of the 50,000 ryo that Haruko had paid him when buying materials a while ago.
"Are they all taken care of?"
"Yes." A subordinate looking like a beggar stood behind him. "Five bounty hunters, he took them all down in less than a minute."
"As expected." Borigin brought the banknote to his face and sniffed it.
"Do you remember a few months ago when a branch of the Evil God Cult in the Land of Hot Springs was wiped out?"
"I remember. I heard it was wiped out by a group of street urchins, led by a white-haired boy. Do you mean..."
"That's him."
"Huh?" The beggar widened his eyes. "Boss, how did you know?"
"This money he gave me that day was jointly issued by several small countries in the northern region, and it rarely circulates in the Land of Fire." Borigin handed the banknote to the beggar.
"When he gave it to me that day, there was a very obvious smell of sulfur on it. This indicates that they were once stored in the Land of Hot Springs."
The beggar took it and sniffed it: "There's no smell left now."
"Exactly—if it had been in normal circulation, the smell would have dissipated long ago."
Borigin pushed up his sunglasses, the lenses reflecting light in an eerie way.
"I saw it when he took out the money that day; he had quite a bit more of similar money. So, this kid got a huge sum of money from the Land of Hot Springs at once and has been hiding it without using it."
"Combined with the rumors that a branch of the Evil God Cult in the Land of Hot Springs was uprooted by a mysterious white-haired boy and the vault was looted... the truth is self-evident."
Seeming to smell the scent of blood mixed in the wind, Borigin looked up into the distance.
"Pass down the information about that kid and tell everyone else not to provoke him if there's no reason."
"Yes, Boss."
...
In the alley, the battle ended in the blink of an eye.
Haruko stepped on the chest of one who was still breathing: "Speak, who sent you?"
"Cough, cough... We... we are bounty hunters..."
The man tremblingly pulled out a bounty poster.
It had a photo of Haruko, obtained from who knows where, with "Dead or alive, 3,000,000 ryo" written on it, along with some basic information.
"Only three million ryo..." Haruko clicked his tongue. "Am I only worth this much? One-tenth of a Jiraiya?"
"Hey, it doesn't say who issued this here?" Haruko looked at the person under his foot. "Then after you kill me, who do you go to to collect the bounty?"
"Go, go to the Exchange Center..."
"Heh, there's even a middleman involved." Haruko shook his head. "If you aren't envied, you're mediocre. Who told me to be so outstanding?"
"That..."
"Oh, I almost forgot about you."
Haruko lifted his foot—
"Remember next time, keep your eyes peeled."
—then brought it down heavily.
Squish.
Afterward, Haruko quickly and skillfully looted the bodies, set a fire, and cleaned up the scene; the whole set of actions was smooth and practiced.
When he walked out of the alley again, those Cloud Hidden Ninja he had noticed earlier were long gone.
"Tsk, fighting ruined things; I lost them."
Even using the Byakugan, it was like looking for a needle in a haystack in this gathering place for all sorts of people.
"Forget it, forget it. If Hidden Cloud Village wants to cause trouble, let them. Anyway, if the sky falls, the old Third Hokage will be there to hold it up."
If he ran into them, it would be fine to take a look, but for him to spend time specifically looking for them? Forget it, it wasn't a mission, and no one was paying him, so why bother?
The mindset of slacking off instantly took over, and Haruko turned back to the black market.
...
Haruko, who returned to Konoha, did not mention the incident on FUNFUN Street to anyone; after all, he had snuck out.
And even if he said it, it wouldn't make much sense—it wasn't like he discovered something on the spot, so he couldn't just monitor and investigate based on groundless suspicions. There were so many outsiders in the village recently that suspecting them one by one would be endless.
However, he did ask Anko, who came to the shop, about the bounty.
"Three million? You, a Genin, actually have a bounty on your head?" Anko held a skewer of dango in her mouth, her eyes wide open.
"What, is it that strange?"
"Nonsense, not many Chunin have bounties." Anko bit into a dango. "But saying it's strange, it's not really that strange; many Special Jonin and Jonin have bounties. With your monstrous strength, it was only a matter of time before you had a bounty."
As she spoke, she suddenly leaned in and raised an eyebrow at Haruko: "But three million... Big sister here is worth seven million."
"Oh."
"Oh? Just 'oh'?" Anko poked Haruko's arm in dissatisfaction. "Can't you look a little shocked? A little envious?"
"Then what should I say?"
"Wow Anko-sensei, you're so amazing I admire you so much~"
Haruko pinched his throat and performed coyly, making Anko get goosebumps.
"Eww—you'd better stop. My bad, okay?"
Anko almost spat out the dango in her mouth.
"And three million is not a small amount; in Konoha, that's the reward for an S-rank mission. You kid are quite valuable."
"Heh, Konoha's rewards..." This time it was Haruko's turn to pout.
"What, you think it's too little? Well, nothing can be done; who told us Konoha has so many people? If we raise the prices, there won't be enough missions to go around."
As everyone knows, Konoha's mission rewards are the lowest among the Five Great Nations, focusing on winning by quantity.
It even almost rolled Sunagakure to death because of this.
But relatively speaking, Konoha's infrastructure and natural environment are the best among the Five Great Nations, and the quality of life for civilians is also the highest. This is exactly what Haruko liked about coming to Konoha.
"I don't really care..." Haruko shrugged. "Anyway, I don't rely entirely on missions to make money."
"Indeed, although most Ninja have other jobs, it's still very rare for someone like you to almost never take the initiative to accept missions."
Anko recalled Haruko's resume and made a remark.
Haruko didn't answer; he didn't become a Ninja just to make money—although a Ninja's income is not low, and it can even be said to be one of the highest-paying professions in this world.
He became a Ninja also for social status.
Although the technological level of this world is not too low, the social system is still very feudal.
Compared to civilians who are almost slaves and can be manipulated by feudal lords and daimyo at will, even Ninja who are like mercenaries are much better off.
Plus, Konoha is a Ninja village; if there are no Ninja in the family, it is very difficult to live in Konoha.
Take Teuchi for example; don't look at how booming his business is, but in the original work, for over a decade, his shop has always been the size of an izakaya, which also included the living space for him and Ayame.
It wasn't until after carrying rice that he was able to get a new home because of his relationship with Naruto. Then, in Boruto, after Naruto became Hokage, the Ichiraku Ramen Shop expanded into a large restaurant.
Look at it now; after Haruko came, before he even graduated from the Ninja Academy, the shop had been slightly expanded once, and now it has become a two-story fortress, with the living area expanding more than tenfold.
This is the difference between having a Ninja in the family and not.
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