A Bountiful Haul

"What the hell?!" the missing-nin exclaimed involuntarily, staring incredulously at the dozens of clones that had appeared before him in unison.

If it were any other day, seeing so many pretty young girls in front of him, he would probably have already leered and rushed over, ready to have his fun for several nights;

But now, he felt as if he had fallen into an ice cave, his heart filled with coldness.

Uran simply couldn't imagine that he had used all his strength, even betraying his most loyal brother, and paid such a high price to achieve this, only to kill a mere clone.

And it's just one of dozens of clones.

When did his skills deteriorate so drastically? His life of extravagance and luxury has corrupted his body to such an extent that he can no longer even wield a knife!

But where is the real entity?

"Don't be discouraged..." A pink-haired girl standing in the crowd, holding the person in charge of the underground bounty hunter organization hostage, chuckled, "My clone is almost at the Special Jōnin. It's already quite remarkable that you were able to take one down!"

It turned out that she was the true form of the Konoha Ninja. As the original body, she was actually very easy to distinguish from her clones: the clones had indifferent and cold expressions, while the original body's smile was much warmer and more sunny.

However, behind that sunny smile, a cold and sharp aura sent chills down his spine.

She's absolutely a master! Incredibly strong...

Sakura herself continued, "However, there are still about a hundred clones here. Do you choose to fight one-on-one or gang up on them?"

She smiled sweetly.

"... Or perhaps, surrender?"

Uran's face turned pale. One-on-one? Group fight? He didn't know the references, but he was certain that this time, there was no one left to shield him from harm, so he couldn't even defeat a single clone!

If the fighting continues, only destruction awaits him!

"Ah!" he roared, then turned and fled.

"Kids fighting?" Sakura Haruno shook her head. "Without a suitable environment to hone oneself, even the strongest ninja will turn into this if they spend a few years living a decadent life. Judging from his skills, this person was at least a Special Jōnin before he defected, yet he's using street thug fighting techniques here. He's degenerated to the extreme."

Do you think you can just yell and scare someone away so you can escape?

It's pointless.

There are still dozens of clones inside the building; where can Uran escape to?

What's more, she had an even simpler way to deal with him.

Sakura didn't have time to play with him anymore; she Hand Seals.

Ice Release: Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals!

The butterfly swords carried by her clone were infused with pure Ice Release Chakra, achieving a high level of mastery in both Nature Transformation and Shape Transformation, which is why they are incredibly hard and indestructible.

Right now, the ice blade in Uran's hand has become his last weakness.

Swish--

Using her ice blade as Body Flicker Technique medium, Sakura Haruno instantly appeared behind him!

In the blink of an eye, a gleaming ice blade was pressed against the missing-nin's neck.

Uran was covered in sweat, her face filled with uncontrollable horror. She raised her hands tremblingly and dropped her weapon.

Over the years, he has transformed from a serene and unflappable Jonin into a terrified, homeless dog...

With the bounty agency's top henchman surrendering, this mission has essentially come to an end.

Sakura tied up all the key figures and then signaled for Ibiki and Yuichi to come over.

"How can there be so many people!" Upon seeing the densely packed figures on the ground bound by Sakura, Yuichi disbelief.

He shook his head and said, "It's probably a misjudgment of the intelligence. This kind of mission shouldn't be assigned to a ninja who's currently being promoted to Special Jōnin; it's far too difficult. Okay, except for Sakura Haruno."

Sakura Haruno pursed her lips, not saying much about the topic, and instead introduced the progress of the mission.

"The head of the corpse disposal department, the head of the intelligence department, and the overall head are all here," she said, pointing to a few dejected people sitting on the hall floor. "The others aren't in this base. Oh, and we also found a skilled missing-nin; he might have some connections, so I arrested him as well."

She gestured with her lips, indicating that Yuichi should look towards a tall ninja being watched by the Ice Clone in the corner.

"Ibiki Morino, please have your interrogation team question these henchmen first. We won't bring these people back to Konoha; let the local Anbu and government handle them. We only need to bring these key figures back to Konoha."

"Understood." Ibiki nodded, signaling his men to begin their work. They used Earth Release to construct a makeshift interrogation room, then picked up an unfortunate soul from beneath their feet and stepped inside.

Watching the interrogation team begin their task, Sakura Haruno turned to Yuichi and said, "I left the documents and everything else inside untouched. Come with me and take a look. I'll have the clones stay here to maintain order."

First, there was the most important confidential archive room. In front of Yuichi, Sakura put an entire cabinet full of books into a sealed scroll. The contents were mostly information about various ninjas, and there might be some about herself, but she was too lazy to flip through the Senbon.

Take it back to Konoha and hand it over to the Intelligence Division.

After clearing away the visible information, the hidden compartments need to be checked. This is very simple: for Sakura Haruno, whose Water Release are already superb, a single technique will suffice—she simply uses Water Release to envelop the area. As long as there are gaps, water can seep in, and Sakura can sense the existence of the gaps. No matter how deep or hidden the compartment is, it cannot escape such a search.

This time, they found quite a few good things in the hidden compartments in various corners of the room: the bank account and password of the underground bounty agency; a safe full of cash and various valuables and documents; and top-secret intelligence hidden in the deepest part, which turned out to be related to some Kage Level powerhouses, as well as Jinchūriki and Tailed Beast, but it was unknown whether it was true or not.

"Murderers and arsonists wear golden belts; the ancients were right..." Sakura Haruno muttered to herself, looking at her haul.

As expected of the only underground bounty hunter's club in the area, the mission difficulty is definitely above average.

If she had kept the money stored here, she could probably have lived a comfortable life as a wealthy woman. Unfortunately, having witnessed the power of Chakra, she no longer had much interest in that kind of ordinary life.

In this world, no matter how rich you are, you can still die a violent death. It's not like in my previous life, where money could buy you anything...

Sakura Haruno shook her head, carefully put all the items away, and placed them into another special scroll.

She turned around and saw that Yuichi, upon seeing the huge sum of money, also seemed somewhat dazed, his eyes still glazed over. The lives of clerical ninjas were more mundane, and they didn't crave power as much as front-line ninjas. Instead, household chores took up a larger proportion of their lives, hence their different perspectives.

Sakura nudged Yuichi and found him looking at her with a complicated expression. After a while, she suddenly snapped out of it and her eyes regained their clarity.

Sakura Haruno didn't know what the other person was thinking. After tidying up the place, she led Yuichi to the next location.

"Next, we'll go to the morgue," she said, leading the way.

"Is this the way to the restrooms?" Yuichi frowned and asked, glancing at the restroom sign ahead.

Sakura Haruno covered her nose and mumbled, "That's right, they built the morgue inside the toilet. The stench of the toilet mixes with the stench of the corpses, and no one will want to distinguish the smell, thus masking the morgue's odor. Besides, it's not surprising that people come and go in the toilet. Isn't that a clever idea?"

"I really wish their ideas were a little dumber..." muttered the civilian ninja following behind her.

"Okay, cover your noses. This part is the smelliest. It won't smell so bad once you go into the morgue."

She led Yuichi into the men's restroom, and the familiar layout even made her feel a little nostalgic...

Then she noticed that Yuichi was looking at her with a strange expression, as if wondering why a girl would be so familiar with the men's restroom.

"Ahem, over here," she quickly changed the subject, pointing to the inconspicuous marks of a hidden door on the wall.

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