Passing through the Land of Rain, Yako felt an itch in his heart.
He felt terrifyingly powerful now. He wanted Yuka to witness how close he had come to mastering rhythm and angles.
Unfortunately, Nara Meika was right beside him. He had to hold back — no exposing anything in front of her.
After entering the Land of Earth, Meika located an underground bounty exchange.
Inside an abandoned sheep pen in a mountainous plateau, the ground was covered with scattered pellets of sheep droppings.
The two changed disguises and entered.
After tapping the wall with a special method, a large section of earth fell away, revealing the entrance to a hidden cave.
Inside, Yako saw a layout nearly identical to the underground bounty exchange in the Land of Fire.
A long counter divided the underground chamber into front and rear sections.
One guard stood at each of the four corners of the front area.
Behind the counter sat a middle-aged man. Even at a glance, his strength was respectable — either Tokubetsu jōnin or full Jonin level.
Meika said, "We're here to claim a bounty."
Yako unwrapped the bandages around the corpse, revealing Tanade's body.
The attendant carefully inspected the corpse and compared it against a handbook.
He even flipped the wrist over, checking the knife scar on the back of the hand.
The underground bounty exchange was surprisingly well-informed — they even knew about Tanade's scar.
Perhaps a noble from the Land of Wind provided the intelligence, Yako thought.
Interesting.
The relationship between villages and nations wasn't nearly as harmonious as it appeared on the surface.
When shinobi villages grew angry, they assassinated nobles.
When nobles grew angry, they placed bounties on shinobi.
They maintained cooperation outwardly while secretly believing the other side intolerable.
"Correct," the attendant said. "Sunagakure Jonin Tanade, a powerful puppet master. The bounty is sixteen million ryo. I'll get your payment."
He pulled a cash box from beneath the counter.
"Here is five million ryo. You will need to collect the remaining payment from two other locations."
Meika frowned slightly. "Why not give us the entire bounty here?"
"In the past, bounty hunters raided underground exchanges. To prevent similar incidents, each exchange holds only limited funds.
You'll need to make a few trips."
The underground exchange was quite cautious. Decades later, Kakuzu would walk away with all of Chiriku's bounty at once — clearly security standards had changed.
The two left the exchange.
Meika waved her hand in front of her face. "That sheep manure smell… awful."
She opened a small note and read, "Next location is a town in the Land of Waterfalls. The final location is the capital of the Land of Grass.
Sixteen million ryo — that's a huge sum. Let's make the trip."
"Let's find an inn first," Yako said. "We've traveled far. I'm tired."
Meika leaned closer. "Still curious about technique?"
"I've fully mastered front and back positions. I'm wondering if the side angle has any special variations."
The journey had taught him many positions — and much knowledge.
However, Yako consciously used contraceptive sealing techniques.
He didn't want Meika becoming pregnant. That might reveal too much.
Inside a cabinet in a town within the Land of Waterfalls, they obtained the second cash box.
Yako said, "The underground exchange has agents everywhere. For the final payment in the Land of Grass, I'll set up an ambush in advance. I want to see who delivers the money."
Among tents in the capital of the Land of Grass, Yako arrived early at the location marked on the note.
Hmm?
He saw a child placing a cash box beneath a piece of sheepskin.
After the child left, Yako followed.
Seizing an opportunity when no one was watching, he dragged the child into an empty tent.
Using genjutsu on the chakra-less child, he obtained information.
A young man had given the child fifty ryo to place the box beneath the sheepskin.
The child had happily agreed.
As for the young man's identity — the child knew nothing.
After releasing the genjutsu, Yako left empty-handed.
Meika retrieved the final cash box and said, "Fox, there's no need to obsess over the underground exchange's intelligence.
It's an organization established by the daimyō of various nations. Originally, it was meant to resolve problems caused by rogue shinobi through money.
But it has grown far beyond that. Now even the major shinobi villages use it.
The details aren't important. As long as it can serve Konoha's interests."
The mission involving the underground exchange was directed by Nara Shikakaku. If he said details didn't matter, then they didn't matter.
The full moon hung like a silver plate.
This journey had taken them from Konoha to the Land of Rivers, the Land of Wind, the Land of Rain, the Land of Waterfalls, the Land of Grass — and finally back to the Land of Fire.
Under the moonlight, in a town within the Land of Fire, Meika collapsed breathlessly beside Fox after climbing off him, her body soft and warm.
Her eyes, slightly unfocused, fixed on his.
"When we return to the village, you'll be staying at the ANBU base. We won't have many chances to meet.
I've already taught you my last techniques. I have no regrets."
Yako wrapped an arm around her shoulders.
"If I'm not on a mission, I'll come find you.
Think carefully — maybe there's some small technique you haven't told me yet?
If you can't remember now, take your time. I'll visit you occasionally so we can discuss the secrets of angles and frequency."
Meika's face flushed red. "My experience isn't that rich! I only know about angles because of personal experience!"
"We're shinobi," she added quietly. "Shinobi who could die at any time. I don't hold those ridiculous noble ideas about chastity. There's no need to say more."
After returning to Konoha, Meika and Yako reported their mission.
Inside the Hokage's office, Nara Shikakaku said to the Third Hokage:
"Hokage-sama, Meika and Fox completed a circuit and successfully established the process of using the underground bounty exchange to place bounties on enemy village shinobi.
Assassination and bounty systems can be combined.
After ANBU eliminate targets according to the assassination handbook, we transition to the underground exchange.
This makes our assassinations more concealed. Other villages will have difficulty defending against it."
Sarutobi Hiruzen asked, "What if other villages also use the underground exchange against us?"
"The Land of Fire is the wealthiest of the Five Great Nations," Shikakaku replied.
"Our allied countries — the Land of Rivers, the Land of Grass, the Land of Hot Water, and Uzushio — contribute significant wealth as well.
Ordinary shinobi mission payments are modest to encourage diligence and prevent indulgence.
But Konoha's financial reserves are substantial.
If other villages use the underground exchange, we can simply outspend them. That is our advantage.
I've already calculated it — our reserves are more than sufficient."
Yako blinked.
So the village leadership knew ordinary Konoha shinobi were poor.
The village was rich, but ordinary shinobi remained poor — intentionally — to motivate them to complete missions?
As expected of Nara Shikakaku. Everything perfectly arranged.
Is this Konoha's version of exhausting and weakening its own people?
Don't let shinobi become too comfortable. If they were too well-fed, they might stop completing missions.
After leaving the Hokage's office, Yako made an excuse and went to visit Root.
He wondered if the new recruits there had missed him.