The 60 Million Ryo Man

"But I'm so scared! I'm already traumatized." Shuichi looked like he was about to cry.

Jiraiya was very envious of his abilities. Seeing his good friend Orochimaru achieve various victories with him, he had repeatedly asked the Third Hokage to "borrow" him for help.

Sarutobi Hiruzen having a bit of a headache. Shuichi had distinguished himself on the battlefield in the Land of Rivers, but he was still quite young. Logically, he should be assigned some simple patrol duties to stay in the rear, which would be more in line with the Will of Fire's idea of protecting the village's future.

But with his outstanding abilities, such as excellent reconnaissance and Flight ability, he could greatly reduce the pressure on the front lines, so it would be a waste to keep the sword hidden.

"Alright then, you can do some missions within the Land of Fire first." The Third Hokage decided to let Shuichi rest for a while. You can't just keep rubbing sheep in one go. If the situation gets too tense, then he can be sent out to fight again.

"Regarding the village's funding, as the situation becomes more complicated, we need to have a proper discussion with the Daimyo..."

Shuichi was secretly pleased. "Perfect timing, I also have a lot of things to do in the Daimyo's Mansion."

In short, he would act as a messenger for the next period of time, relaying messages between the Daimyo's Mansion and the village.

After waiting for a day, Shuichi carried the letter written by the Third Hokage and headed straight for the Daimyo's Mansion. Nothing unexpected happened along the way, and he was even treated to a warm welcome upon arriving in the Land of Fire Capital.

In a pavilion in the Daimyo's Mansion, Shiji Shinden specially hosted a private banquet for him, which was quite unexpected for Shuichi, a ninja who was so young.

"I'll be troubling you during this time, Shuichi-kun."

Shiji Shinden looked at Shuichi with a kind expression. He had short, purplish-black hair parted on both sides of his forehead, and his features were distinct and handsome.

Although he was a ninja, his every move exuded aristocratic elegance. Even his eating manners were remarkably refined, which made the Daimyo like him more and more. "This child is just like me!"

Shuichi usually reads a lot in his spare time, and he was familiar with this kind of aristocratic behavior.

Although he didn't know why the Daimyo valued him so much, it didn't stop him from showing some respect in return. However, he was unaware that the other party had some strange ideas.

"It's alright, Daimyo. I promise to bring your letter back to the village as quickly as possible, without wasting any time."

"Oh, thank you for your trouble." Shiji Shinden's expression suddenly turned somewhat indignant. "Those gangsters are really annoying. A kid as outstanding as you, and they still have a 60 million tael bounty on his head? That's just too much!"

"Pfft..." Shuichi almost choked on his food.

"What the hell? How did I suddenly become a man worth 60 million? Wasn't it only 30 million a short while ago?"

The conversation that followed was a little strange. Sometimes the Daimyo would suddenly mutter to himself, and sometimes he would show a dissatisfied expression, but it wasn't directed at Shuichi; it seemed like he was thinking about something else.

"Tanaka- senpai, is there something troubling you, Daimyo?" Shuichi whispered to the waiter Tanaka as he left after the meal.

Tanaka also showed a hint of worry, "The recent assassination attempt on the Daimyo the Land of Water by the Mist Ninja has shaken him, and the news has spread throughout the countries, so the Daimyo is somewhat paranoid."

"So early?" Shuichi thought to himself.

The Daimyo of the Land of Water was arguably the most tragic among the five great nations. Zabuza and Kisame would have to come back twice more in the following years. It's unclear whether the daimyo during the Shinobi Alliance era was the one who took over after the previous daimyo was killed.

"Aren't there the Twelve Guardian Ninja? Our Land of Fire's defenses should be sufficient, right?"

"That's the problem. The Daimyo has always been a perfectionist," Tanaka explained. "While there are many battle-hardened experts among the current Guardian Ninja, their appearances are inevitably somewhat lacking, which is also related to you, Shuichi-kun."

Shuichi: "???"

"Because the Guardian Ninja has bounties on the Underground Black Market, we've cleared out those scum countless times, but they keep regenerating like weeds. There are even members of hostile countries among them, and the high volume of money involved attracts countless reckless people."

"Later, it was discovered that there weren't many madmen who actually dared to take action, so the Land of Fire let it go. Many nobles even got involved, so it was a mixed bag."

Tanaka's expression was somewhat conflicted. "Originally, the Daimyo didn't care about these things, but Shuichi-kun, your bounty changes are too noticeable. Now, in his mind... the difference in bounty represents the difference in strength."

"Your bounty is twice that of the strongest Guardian Ninja and more than five times that of the lowest, so the Daimyo is somewhat dissatisfied with the current state of the Guardian Ninja."

"..."

Shuichi was speechless. It was like being caught in the crossfire; "Being too outstanding can be a problem!"

To sum it up in one sentence, Shuichi's presence made these Guardian Ninja seem utterly useless. Despite being a gathering of the Land of Fire's top fighters, the contrast created an awkward feeling.

In Daimyo's eyes, this 11-year-old's strength is equivalent to 4 or 5 of yours, and his appearance is so bad that it's really embarrassing to take him out.

"Anyway, you need to be careful. There might be some reckless people who would take the risk for this bounty." Tanaka looked worried.

"I'll be careful, Tanaka- senpai," Shuichi reassured him. "By the way, I have some important things I'd like Uncle Danza to make for me. They're all on this list. Could you hand them to him when he gets back?"

Tanaka accepted the package and carefully put it away. "Don't worry, I'll arrange it as soon as possible."

After leaving the Daimyo's Mansion, Shuichi returned directly to Konoha. He'll probably have to make several more trips in the next few days, so he can wait to get what he wants.

He had only run a short distance when he noticed faint fluctuations in chakra emanating from the surroundings, causing him to frown.

"No way, I only had a moment to myself and I'm already being watched?" Shuichi was speechless. 60 million taels of silver at the age of 11 was incredibly tempting. He must have been discovered as soon as he entered Daimyo's Mansion.

The opponent shouldn't be considered a top-tier expert; they're approaching right under his nose without him even realizing it.

Moreover, they seem to have limited intelligence on him, and their group is not just one or two people; they clearly intend to besiege him.

"Splash..."

A large number of ninja tools flew out from the slightly dark forest in an instant. Shuichi, who was walking in the middle of the road, had already judged the enemy's attack by sound and location. As soon as the opponent made his move, he calmly formed hand seals.

"Earth Release: Earth Return!"

He slapped his hands on the ground, and two Taiseki flipped over.

These seemingly powerful ninja tools clanged as they struck the surface, but upon closer inspection, they barely left any marks, demonstrating the immense strength of Shuichi's chakra. Even C-rank Ninjutsu displayed its full power in his hands.

Lightning Release: Earth Flow!

Lightning Release: Earth Flow!

Seeing that he used Earth Release for defense, the troublemaking ninjas reacted quickly, with two of them immediately using Lightning Release to attack the earthen wall, "Boom..."

The earthen wall, which had been repeatedly bombarded, was blackened and showed faint signs of cracking, but it still stood firm in the end.

"This... how is this possible?" The two attackers in the woods were shocked. "Lightning Element is completely effective against Earth Release. We have over 10 years of experience with Lightning Release techniques, yet we can't even break through a single C-rank Earth Release."

"What are you looking at?" A mocking voice followed the first question; the still-developing tone indicated that the person was quite young.

"When? So fast..." Before the words could even finish running through their minds, deep shoe prints were pressed into their backs.

"Bang! Bang!" The two men were thrown into the air as if hit by a truck, and the car only came to a stop when their faces slammed into the tree trunk and were severely deformed.

The two ninjas, who were almost crippled by the kicks, coughed up a mouthful of blood. They never expected that they, who considered themselves Chunin, would be killed so easily. They were extremely regretful for being persuaded to come.

Upon seeing this, a dark figure hidden not far away quietly moved backward and then ran quickly in the opposite direction, seemingly trying to indicate that it was just passing by.

Shuichi narrowed his eyes, casually pulled out two pieces of metal, and flicked them. The two overconfident attackers were killed by having their throats pierced. When he looked back at the spot, they had disappeared.

After the fleeing figure left, it headed straight for the Daimyo's Mansion, as if that place could give it some sense of security. Just as it was about to rush out of the woods, it discovered a ghost-like figure sitting on a tree ahead, as if it had been waiting for a long time.

"Yo, isn't this Lord Iron Tortoise, one of the Twelve Guardian Ninja? You've been running around like a dog, making it hard for me to find you!" Shuichi his teeth; if he had a cigarette, he probably would have smoked half of it by now.

Iron Tortoise was a one-eyed middle-aged man with several scars on his face. His clothes were somewhat luxurious, but they didn't match his appearance at all, giving him a strange, nouveau riche look.

"You damned brat, don't be so arrogant!" Iron Tortoise, worth 11 million taels, believed himself to be a veteran of countless battles and could easily defeat even a Chunin a major ninja village.

After witnessing Shuichi's attack, his pathetic confidence was silently shattered, and he pretended to comfort himself by saying that he only chose to run away because he couldn't kill Shuichi.

"Ah... you should just die!"

The image of Shuichi, looking at Daimyo like trash, and the vast difference in their bounties, haunted him like a demon, constantly reminding him of a tragic truth: his 40-year ninja career was utterly worthless, like a piece of waste paper.

"No wonder the Daimyo is dissatisfied; this guy is just too lousy!"

Shuichi, recalling the previous Daimyo's performance, Asuma's future appointment as Guardian Ninja, and the other Guardian Ninjas who were actually quite strong, could guess that the Twelve Warriors might have been recruited again not long after this point in the original story.

So, the reason why Iron Tortoise came to cause trouble for Shuichi was probably because he heard the Daimyo say things like, "You're going to lose your job soon... get out of my sight," which caused him to have a mental breakdown.

Iron Tortoise, wielding an iron scythe, charged at Shuichi. After missing its target with a single slash, it pulled on the end of the chain, sending a long iron chain flying to bind Shuichi. The heavy awl at the top of the chain was clearly quite powerful.

"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh..." The iron spike flew through the woods, piercing large holes in tree trunks without slowing down, clearly indicating that this Iron Tortoise was not a weakling.

This set of moves was very fluid, and even Jonin could only temporarily avoid its edge and create distance. However, it was rather slow in the Shuichi with superhuman Dynamic Vision like Shuu. After toying with the person for a while, Shuu lost interest in continuing.

Kunai in his hand, he aimed at the trajectory of the iron chain and struck instantly, piercing through the gap between the iron rings at high speed. Then, with a gentle pull on the outer side, the iron cone circled around a little and smashed into the Iron Tortoise itself.

"Ah..." Caught off guard, Iron Tortoise only had time to twist his body. Although he avoided a bloody head, he was slashed open from his shoulder to his upper arm, leaving a huge wound.

Shuichi approached, intending to give him a ride, a terrifying heatwave swept over him from the side, the flames so intense that they flattened even large trees.

Fire Release: Searing Migraine!

Shuichi immediately sensed the fierce Fire Release and used Body Flicker Technique to teleport twice in succession, finally escaping the attack area.

As soon as it landed, a large number of black lines shot out from the ground, resembling a mixture of thick blood vessels and ropes, clearly not normal things.

Caught off guard, Shuichi was trapped tightly. Then, a figure burst out of the ground and delivered a heavy punch directly to his chest.

"Bang!" Shuichi's body was directly deformed after being hit, but his trajectory was rather strange as he flew backward. It was only after landing and turning into a puddle of mud that it was revealed that this was not his true form.

"Earth Clone? It even had time to form hand seals while Body Flicker Technique; looks like this 60 million won't be easy to get."

Shuichi, who appeared from the other side, looked at the attacker in front of him. The gray headband had a Waterfall Ninja on Forehead Protector, and a pair of green eyes were visible through the black mask. He was dressed normally and plainly, without any black robe with red clouds on it.

"Kakuzu?" Shuichi quickly recognized the guy. He was Akatsuki's financial manager, and it was obvious that he had come for his "little brain."