"Lord Hayate," Iruka said, looking down at the unconscious woman. "This lady came by the agency this afternoon and placed a retrieval commission. But looking at her now, it's clear she was just scouting the premises."
Hayate looked at the red-clad woman. "Elektra... in red?"
He connected the dots quickly. Stick's star pupil, Daredevil's tragic love, and the future vessel for the "Black Sky." She had likely come for the same reason Stick had—vengeance. Unfortunately for her, she hadn't awakened her true potential yet; currently, she was far too weak.
"Iruka, consider the commission canceled. She's Stick's apprentice. Execute her."
"Understood!"
Iruka didn't hesitate. In the world of shinobi, an enemy was an enemy, regardless of gender or beauty. Their destination was the afterlife, not a prison cell. Besides, to a man like Iruka, her appearance was unremarkable compared to the stakes at hand.
He drew a shuriken and, with a flick of his wrist, severed Elektra's throat. The woman touted as Marvel's deadliest assassin never even had a chance to show off her skills before being sent to report to Lady Death.
With Elektra dealt with, Hayate performed a series of rapid hand signs and slammed his palms onto the pavement.
"Summoning Technique!"
Poof!
A cloud of white smoke cleared to reveal Urushi, the stylish nindog with a spiky "hedgehog" hairstyle.
"Lord Hayate! What are your orders?" Urushi barked. To Hayate, the dog looked almost like a canine version of Kakashi Hatake—cool, a bit punk, and very sharp.
Hayate opened one of the briefcases, revealing a shard of the Dragon Bone. "Urushi, memorize this scent. Can you track it?"
Urushi stepped forward, sniffed the bone, and then leaped onto a nearby rooftop. He tilted his head, catching the night breeze. After a few seconds, he leaped back down.
"Lord Hayate, the scent is very distinct. There are two other sources of this exact smell nearby. They're moving together, close to each other."
Hayate nodded. "Iruka, go with Urushi. Bring back the other two portions of the Dragon Bone."
"I won't fail you!" Iruka replied, emboldened by the trust Hayate was placing in him for such a vital task.
"Go quickly. The other two portions are likely with Sowande and Bakuto. If you run into Sasuke and Lee, tell them they don't need to bring the prisoners back. Execute them on the spot."
Since he knew where the bones were, there was no longer any need to keep the last two Fingers alive for interrogation.
Whoosh!
Iruka and Urushi vanished into the night, leaving behind only afterimages.
Now, only Hayate and Shizune remained in the street. Hayate didn't hide his actions from her. He picked up the first piece of Dragon Bone, and the system prompt echoed in his mind:
[Ding! Special item detected. Would you like to recharge?]
Recharge, he commanded mentally.
A faint, mysterious glow flickered across the bone before it was utterly consumed by the system.
[Ding! Recharge successful. Gained 500 Gold Coins.]
Hayate was stunned. 500 Gold for such a small shard? This was much higher than he'd anticipated. The total hoard he'd found in Hell's Kitchen earlier was massive by comparison—if these tiny fragments were worth 500 Gold each, the potential of the main stash was astronomical.
He repeated the process with the second fragment. Another 500 Gold. His total balance now sat at 5,296 Gold Coins. He looked toward the distance, eagerly awaiting the final two portions.
Shizune watched the bone vanish into Hayate's palm with quiet curiosity. As a seasoned ninja, she knew better than to pry into her leader's specific techniques, though the sight of the "eternal life" catalyst being absorbed as raw energy fascinated her.
Hayate looked around at the carnage. Over a hundred bodies lay strewn across the asphalt, the dark red blood beginning to pool and cool in the night air. The metallic stench of the slaughter was thick and cloying.
Shizune noticed him frowning at the mess. "Lord Hayate, why don't you rest? I can begin cleaning up the battlefield."
Hayate shook his head. "Don't bother, Shizune. We'll leave this to the professionals. Once the business at the Continental is finished, the 'cleaners' will handle the disposal."
He didn't want Shizune doing such menial, dirty work. Instead, he pulled two chairs from his storage space and set them on a relatively clear patch of pavement. "Sit with me. We'll wait for them here."
Shizune didn't object. She had seen much worse on the battlefields of the Great Ninja Wars and during her travels with Tsunade. A hundred dead mercenaries were a drop in the bucket compared to the tragedies she had witnessed. She sat down, and the two began to talk.
Hayate asked her about her travels with Lady Tsunade—stories that weren't told in the anime. Shizune spoke softly, recounting the "quirks" of the legendary Sannin and their nomadic lifestyle.
To a casual observer, they looked like a young couple sharing a quiet conversation. If there had been snacks and wine, the scene would have been almost cozy. But set against a backdrop of a shattered agency and a street paved with corpses, the tranquility was profoundly eerie.
Nearby
The Bowery King had arrived near the blockade with his top enforcer, Earl, and a squad of followers. Seeing the HYDRA agents and police cordoning off the area, the King gave a sharp hand signal.
Instead of engaging the perimeter, they slipped into an open manhole cover. They would use New York's labyrinthine sewer system to bypass the blockade and reach the Elder.