Everything for You

Minato returned the undamaged gold leaf to the Senju Clan and compensated them for the damaged pieces.

Senju Takeoto said with a smile:

"I heard the Cloud Hidden Village paid you fifty million ryo. Wasn't all of it meant to compensate for the gold leaf?

You said it yourself—this gold leaf was spread across the ground at the wedding of Lord Hashirama Senju, the First Hokage, and Lady Mito Uzumaki. Not only is it pure gold, it's also a historical artifact.

Besides returning the gold leaf, shouldn't you also give me those fifty million ryo?"

"Gasp..." Minato drew in a sharp breath. "I... can give it to you, but I can't give you all of it right now.

My teacher Jiraiya just extorted one and a half million ryo from me. I only have forty-five million ryo on hand now.

Zhuyin JieJie, you've been so good to me. You wouldn't really take thirty-five million ryo from me, would you?

If the Senju Clan really needs money, I can leave twenty-five million ryo behind.

I just don't know whether fifteen million ryo would be enough to compensate for that gold leaf.

How about this? I have ten million ryo here. I'll give it all to you, Zhuyin JieJie. What do you think?"

"Hahaha, why does the amount keep shrinking the more you talk?" Takeoto said with a laugh. "I'm teasing you. Though the Senju Clan has declined, we won't take your fifty million ryo. You earned it by robbing the Cloud Hidden Village fair and square. I'm not envious."

Speaking of the Senju Clan's decline, Minato said seriously:

"Zhuyin JieJie, I heard from the higher-ups that you'll become Konoha Village's Kyoto Advisor.

It's true that you're not envious of my money, but it's also true that the village higher-ups are envious of that position.

Zhuyin JieJie, you must be careful. Extremely careful. When you're in Kyoto, make sure you watch out for your own safety."

Takeoto smiled. "Would the village really assassinate someone over a position..."

She stopped speaking, and her expression turned solemn.

She knew certain secret intelligence. Uchiha Kagami of the Uchiha Clan had died under unclear circumstances. As the head of ANBU, Uchiha Kagami might have died in an ANBU rebellion.

To Uchiha Kagami, it had been an ANBU rebellion. To the village higher-ups, perhaps Uchiha Kagami had simply become impossible to reason with and could only be eliminated.

After Uchiha Kagami's death, Shimura Danzo became the head of ANBU. From then on, ANBU was completely under the control of the Third Hokage, and all of Lord Tobirama's influence within ANBU was erased.

In Senju Takeoto's view, the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, was not personally as powerful as the First Hokage or the Second Hokage. That caused him to compromise whenever dealing with outsiders.

To some extent, such compromise was deeply damaging to one's pride. For example, when facing the Third Lightning Kage, Hiruzen Sarutobi was at a disadvantage most of the time.

After his pride was wounded, Hiruzen Sarutobi became warmer on the surface and colder within. He appeared kindly, but in certain matters, he could be extremely ruthless.

For example, Uchiha Kagami's death, the destruction of the Uzumaki Clan, and so on.

Takeoto said seriously, "I'll be careful. I've mastered the Senju Clan's Shikkotsu Forest Summoning Technique. The Slug Sage is very powerful."

Minato nodded and asked the question he cared about more. "Zhuyin JieJie, do you know anything about the Underground Exchange?"

It was too dangerous and reckless for Minato to assassinate the Hawk Guard General himself. Now that he had money, any problem that could be solved with money was a minor problem.

He wondered whether putting a bounty on the Hawk Guard General's head could bring him trouble and keep him too occupied to care about anything else.

It would be even better if a ninja like Kakuzu really completed the mission.

The Autumn Fruit Organization was Minato's core interest now. No method was too extreme when it came to protecting it.

"The Underground Exchange? Are you short on money? Are you planning to make money in a place like that?"

"Zhuyin JieJie, that's my secret. Sorry, I can't tell you."

Senju Takeoto controlled the Senju Clan's intelligence network. Though it was no longer as powerful as it had been at its peak, she still knew the basic information.

"The Underground Exchange's locations are mobile. They leave marks nearby, and I can tell you how to find them. But the Underground Exchange is dangerous. You're still young, so don't get involved with it too much."

After obtaining information about the Underground Exchange, Minato went to Konoha's gate.

Jiraiya was already waiting for him. "My wallet! You finally came! I've waited so painfully for you! Come on, this time I'm going to spend to my heart's content! It's been a long time since I had a massive fortune of fifty million ryo!"

Minato sighed. He had casually extorted a sum at the venue, never expecting the Cloud Hidden Village to actually agree. Now an eleven-year-old child was openly carrying a massive fortune around, and everyone had their eye on it.

"Let's go, Teacher. We're making a trip to Nuanhe Town."

"Alright."

Jiraiya did not ask why. When it came to educating Minato, he fully respected Minato's personal wishes and allowed him to grow freely.

The teachers at the Ninja Academy had said Minato was precocious. After taking Minato on himself, Jiraiya discovered that this was not merely precocious—he was practically fully mature.

Since Jiraiya could not bring change to the ninja world, he should not restrain Minato. If he tried to teach him every little thing, he would only turn Minato into another Jiraiya.

After leaving the village, Minato did not travel on foot as before. Instead, he hurried onward using Chakra.

"Teacher, we need to go and return quickly. Let's try to get back tomorrow or the day after. I'm still a little worried about Kushina's younger brother."

The two hurried forward, leaping between tree trunks.

A chunin traveling at full speed could reach the border of the Land of Fire from Konoha Village in three days. Jiraiya and Minato were stronger, and thus even faster.

In the latter half of the night, Minato and Jiraiya arrived at Nuanhe Town.

Jiraiya looked at Minato expectantly. With a helpless sigh, Minato took out a Sealing Scroll, unsealed a cash box, and pulled out several stacks of money.

"Sensei, try to spend a little less. Your disciple's money didn't fall from the sky."

"I know. You only extorted it by putting the Third Lightning Kage on the spot in front of everyone and leaving him unable to save face. It wasn't easy—far from easy. I'll spend it sparingly."

With that, Jiraiya took the money and went to spend the night at a tavern in town.

Tonight, he was going to find five beautiful women. Five, a whole five!

Saving money was impossible. He would spend however much he had.

Jiraiya would only become well-off after he started writing steamy novels. Before that, Minato had to support him.

After Jiraiya left, Minato did not immediately seek out the Autumn Fruit Organization. Instead, he searched the town for the markings of an Underground Exchange.

Nuanhe Town was a relatively important settlement in the area, one of the larger towns aside from the General's Residence.

His luck was quite good. On the trunk of a tree, he spotted a copper coin nailed into the bark.

This proved that there was currently an Underground Exchange in Nuanhe Town, so he did not need to travel through the night to search the neighboring town.

After searching around, Minato used the Transformation Technique outside the entrance to a public restroom, turning himself into an adult and putting on a mask.

The Hawk Guard General would follow the daimyo to Kyoto first. Minato had to resolve the Hawk Guard General's problem before he returned to the General's Residence.

Upon entering the public restroom, he found an extra door at the end of the men's room. The words "Storage Room" were written on it.

He pushed open the door and descended the steps. After going down roughly two floors, he arrived at the Underground Exchange's main hall.

A man sat behind the counter with a bounty ledger before him. He was likely the person in charge here.

Behind him stood more than a dozen corpse freezers. Other than the person in charge, the Underground Exchange appeared completely empty.

"I'm here to post a job. I want to put a bounty on someone's head."