Aftermath

The door was locked from the inside, and there was no key, but that didn't stop Sakura Haruno. She smashed the door open with a single punch, and the two of them went inside.

After passing through a dark corridor, there was another one ahead. This girl, who was used to violence, once again mindlessly threw a punch and opened the door.

Yuichi picked up the broken pieces from the ground with some curiosity. The door lock was still intact. He twisted it, and the muscles on his face twitched.

"Well, actually... this door wasn't locked." He blurted out the truth, his face full of exasperation.

Sakura Haruno, who was groping for the light bulb on the wall, suddenly froze.

"Well, cough cough, Teuchi. It's all because the door was positioned too squarely; I couldn't resist breaking it."

She gave an awkward, dry laugh and said...

On the other side, Yuichi remained silent for a moment.

The pink-haired girl fumbled along the wall for a while, found the beginning, and turned on the light with a click. Under the dim yellow light, the morgue appeared quiet and gloomy, shadowy and filled with a faint stench of decay, giving people a chilling sense of horror.

Could this place be a good place to introduce Asama Takehiko to film horror or thriller movies? Sakura wondered if she could work with him on stories like "The Ring" or "Saw." She wondered what Hokage- style ghost movie would be like, since souls are a real thing in the Hokage world...

The Impure World Reincarnation and the Reaper Ninjutsu Reaper Death Seal are proof of this, but she has neither seen nor learned these two techniques.

While her mind was racing with random thoughts, she Teuchi the freezer where the body was kept. Next to the freezer was a sealing scroll that could temporarily preserve the body. Sakura put the body into the scroll, intending to take it back to Konoha.

Ninja corpses are an important source of intelligence; even using them to dissect corpses for novice doctors to learn Ninjutsu is a good practice.

Yuichi also came over to help. He worked in the personnel department and knew a lot about ninjas, including many from other ninja villages.

So as he opened the cabinet, you could hear his startled voice: "Maruyama Masako, I didn't expect she was already dead!" "Saeki Toshio, his body is actually preserved here!"...

It took two or three scrolls to fill the hundred or so corpses. When she left, Sakura blasted the wall to avoid the embarrassment of having to go around to the toilet.

Stepping out of the morgue, I saw a light drizzle and fresh air outside. The sky had darkened almost completely, and lights had come on inside and outside the building.

The two, no longer having to smell that stench, breathed a sigh of relief. They exchanged a glance, Yuichi suddenly asked, "Sakura Haruno... weren't you tempted when you saw so much money?"

Judging from his expression, it seemed like he'd been holding this question in for a long time.

"Anyone would be tempted, right?" Sakura said with a smile, conjuring a straw hat and handing it to Yuichi. "But for us ninjas, strength is the most important thing. Otherwise, no matter how much money you have, it's useless."

"When I went on my first mission outside the village, I ran into Gato, one of the richest men in the world," she shrugged, walking ahead, "But he ended up being killed by a ninja."

"Is that so? But to be honest, in terms of strength, you're almost at the pinnacle of ninja, aren't you?" Yuichi followed closely behind the girl's light steps, and said, "Besides strength, don't you have any other pursuits?"

"Pursuits beyond strength?" Sakura Haruno turned around and exchanged a glance with Yuichi, who was hiding under a transparent hat. "That would be even greater strength."

She narrowed her eyes and smiled like a fox.

"Okay, what I'm looking for is simply to live like a 'person,' to live freely and without feeling stifled, with dignity—it's that simple," Sakura said, knowing he wasn't satisfied with her cunning answer.

This is basically what she really thinks; the only difference is how she expresses it.

Just like pursuing wealth and pursuing a career, sometimes they are the same thing, just expressed differently...

As for that tempting sum of money... it was spoils of war, not her own, and it needed to be handed over.

Of course, even if she secretly pocketed some, it wouldn't be a big problem. As long as the amount wasn't large, no one would notice.

However, there's really no point in doing that. As a ninja, money doesn't mean much to her, even though she's been quite poor lately.

After chatting for a few minutes, the two walked around to the entrance of the brightly lit bounty agency hall.

Ibiki somewhat surprised to see the two appear from another path, but he didn't hesitate to step forward and report the progress of the interrogation to Sakura: "We've basically finished the interrogation. These thugs and samurai are all spineless cowards; they confessed everything before we even used any methods."

Judging from his tone, he seemed a little unsatisfied that the person he was interrogating was too cooperative, leaving him no opportunity to use his methods...

Sakura silently complained to herself and asked, "Did you get any valuable information?"

"Nothing," Ibiki shook his head regretfully, explaining, "These low-level thugs know nothing. It seems this bounty agency is very good at preventing leaks. I'll probably only get some results when we interrogate the mid-level officers."

"It's alright, we can continue the interrogation tonight and tomorrow. Let's set up camp here for now and use this guild as our temporary camp. You can all get a good night's rest."

This means Sakura will have to work hard keeping watch over these prisoners every night.

The scale of this bounty office was far beyond Konoha's imagination. There were too many people to deal with, and the follow-up matters were too complicated and complex to handle by a single Chunin and a few interrogation ninjas.

Looking at this nine-figure sum of spoils, those top-secret intelligence items of great value, and the hundreds of corpses of various ninjas, it's more than enough for Tsunade to send two Anbu numbered 20 or lower to escort them.

How this underground organization managed to remain hidden here for several years without being discovered remains unknown. One can only suspect that there are problems with the town government and even the entire district government.

In fact, using Genjutsu to deceive ordinary people is not a big problem for ninjas skilled in Genjutsu. Even the Kage of a village has been manipulated by Genjutsu.

Sakura Haruno realized that the most difficult part of this mission wasn't the Special Jonin- tier thug, but rather the potentially powerful Genjutsu -type ninja. Unfortunately, like Ice Clone, ice Shadow Clone were immune to ordinary Genjutsu; she guessed one of the Ice Clone had treated him like a regular henchman... She'd killed so many people this time that she'd completely forgotten what was going on.

In short, issues concerning government officials and jurisdiction are no longer her responsibility.

She wrote the mission briefing and sent the information back through a nearby Anbu outpost using Reverse Summoning Technique, requesting reinforcements overnight.

Nothing more was said that night.

The next day, at the first light of dawn.

The girl, who had been silently guarding the place all night, yawned as she walked out of the hall, stretched, and did some light morning exercise.

Not long after, they discovered that Konoha's Anbu had rushed here day and night.

"Yo, Kakashi-sensei! Long time no see!" Her eyes lit up, and she waved towards the distance, "And there's a newcomer, hello there!"

The Anbu Ninja wearing a monkey-face mask, who was walking behind Kakashi, paused, looked at Sakura, and said calmly, "In the Anbu, just call me by my codename 'Kudagitsune'."

"Haha!" The girl laughed heartily, pointing at his monkey-face mask, "You're clearly Monkey, not a fox at all, Sasuke!"

Sasuke's face darkened, and he retorted sarcastically, "Idiot, the Kudagitsune is a legendary spirit beast... and you also wear a cat-face mask and call yourself 'Kite'!"

"Masks and codenames aren't related... Sakura's title is a common one like a falcon, but Sasuke, yours is a spirit beast's codename, which is less common." Kakashi, who was walking at the front, quickly smoothed things over. He walked to Sakura's side, patted her on the shoulder, and said, "Good job, leave the rest to us!"

The arrival of Kakashi's Anbu also signaled the end of Sakura Haruno's trial mission.

She could finally get a good night's sleep... After leaving everything here to Kakashi, she took a shower, found a clean room, and fell into a deep sleep.

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