Tailgating

"The air in the shinobi world feels increasingly oppressive these days."

Yota, cloaked in a hooded cape, glanced at the sky. Though the weather was perfectly clear, a dark, heavy aura seemed to linger without dispersing.

If he had never been to the world of One Piece, Yota might not have noticed it. But now, he could sense that the shinobi world truly carried an oppressive atmosphere, completely unlike the cheerful world of One Piece, where even the villains gave off a simple-minded feeling.

To put it simply, the entire shinobi world was permeated by the air of scheming old bastards.

Still, that was not something Yota needed to think about. He was currently searching through the record scroll his father had left him for the locations of Black Markets.

In truth, a profession as shady as that of shinobi had always been closely tied to the Black Market. Even shinobi from major villages occasionally accepted Black Market jobs.

For example, if a conflict between missions led you to kill shinobi from another village, your own village certainly would not reward you for it. But if you tossed the head into the Black Market, you could usually make a decent sum.

That was precisely the foundation for the Black Market's existence. Many things the Five Great Shinobi Villages were unwilling or unable to do were basically handled through the Black Market.

"Why do they always choose places next to toilets?" Yota said irritably, covering his nose.

Of course, it was actually meant to mask the stench of corpses. Any somewhat knowledgeable shinobi understood that, but Yota still could not help complaining about the smell.

He entered through the hidden door and looked at the owner sitting behind the counter. Yota casually tossed out a small pouch, its mouth slightly loosened as golden light glimmered from within.

The owner, who had been looking bored moments ago, brightened immediately. He reached out and grabbed the pouch, casually weighed it in his hand, and revealed a satisfied smile.

"Customer, may I ask who you wish to place a bounty on? Or are you looking to purchase information? We—"

"I'm not placing a bounty, nor am I buying information. I'm here to purchase some ninjutsu," Yota said quietly.

"Purchase ninjutsu?" The owner froze slightly, but did not think much of it. "Then you've come to the right place. Aside from ninjutsu exclusive to certain villages and clans, we have quite a few common ninjutsu here. It's just that the prices..."

"Price isn't an issue. Bring out your entire ninjutsu catalog for me to see," Yota said with a direct nod. Having looted a massive amount of gold from Drum Kingdom, he truly had the confidence to say that.

Converted into currency in the shinobi world, that gold was worth several hundred million ryo. They were only B-Rank Ninjutsu, after all. Even at the highest estimate, they would cost no more than tens of millions.

After all, even an S-Rank Mission concerning national security only started at a reward of over a million ryo. Asuma, the Third Hokage's son and an elite jonin who could practically be considered one of the candidates for Hokage, was only worth thirty-five million ryo on the Black Market. No one would think a few common B-Rank Ninjutsu were worth more than Asuma's head, would they?

"You're certainly straightforward, customer." The owner smiled as he took out a catalog and handed it to Yota. When Yota opened it, he found mostly ordinary B-Rank Five Elements Ninjutsu, with even a few A-Rank Ninjutsu mixed in. Their prices were listed after each entry.

However, even the A-Rank Ninjutsu were things like the Great Waterfall Technique, techniques without much practical use. On the contrary, practical C-Rank Ninjutsu with strong village-specific characteristics, such as the Hiding in Mist Technique, were not listed in this catalog.

Yota did not care about that. He marked up the catalog, quickly selecting every ninjutsu he could use. After estimating the cost, it came to around thirty million ryo.

The most expensive one, Mystical Palm Technique, alone cost over ten million ryo.

"Fine. When can you provide these ninjutsu?" Yota asked as he handed the catalog back.

"Just three days," the owner answered with a smile. "Come back in three days, and you can collect them."

Yota nodded at that, pulled his hood back on, and turned to leave. "In that case, the gold I gave you just now should be worth around one million ryo. Treat it as a deposit."

"Certainly, sir. Take care." The owner's face broke into a smile. Gold-for-currency exchange was itself a common Black Market transaction. With the exchange margins, this gold would bring the owner roughly two hundred thousand ryo in extra income. That was personal income that did not need to be handed over to the Black Market boss, so naturally, he was quite pleased.

However, the moment Yota stepped outside, several men who did not look like decent people followed after him. The owner sighed softly. "Customer, you'd better be careful. I'm still waiting for the remaining payment."

Black Market owners were generally not very strong. This was intentional on the part of the Black Market's masters, meant to prevent owners from becoming too powerful, engaging in robbery under the guise of business, and ruining the reputation of the entire Black Market. Thus, even if he wanted to stop them, he lacked the ability.

That was why the Black Market rarely robbed and killed its own customers. Once exposed, the damage to its reputation would far exceed any money gained from such attacks. But if you did not know how to keep a low profile, rogue shinobi and Bounty Hunter Ninja were hardly good people.

Yota understood this as well, but he was not particularly concerned. No matter what, his current strength was absolutely no weaker than that of a jonin—and not just any jonin, but a first-rate jonin from a major village like Konoha. Among all Bounty Hunter Ninja, he would definitely rank in the top twenty. Ordinary rogue shinobi were no match for him.

Besides, he was still a complete rookie. Even if he wanted to pretend to be seasoned, he did not know the rules. So he might as well let his strength do the talking.

After Yota had walked roughly three kilometers away from the Black Market, the Bounty Hunter Ninja following behind him could no longer hold back.

In fact, if the Black Market had not prohibited shinobi from fighting within three kilometers, under threat of relentless pursuit, those Bounty Hunter Ninja would likely have attacked the moment Yota walked out.

On one hand, wealth stirred greed. On the other, they had seen Yota's face. He was only a fifteen- or sixteen-year-old boy. How strong could someone that age be? At most, he was an Elite Chunin.

After all, someone who needed to buy ninjutsu clearly could not be a genius born into a shinobi village or clan. As for ordinary geniuses, even those with ceiling-level talent like Kakashi Hatake or Minato Namikaze, without Konoha's training, would at most have the strength of a Special Jonin at fifteen or sixteen.