Okubo Yahiko

"Really?"

Yahiko grew excited as soon as he heard that.

After all, Jiraiya had only been teaching them ninjutsu before this. He had never taken them along on a mission.

"Of course."

Qingshui gave him a firm answer.

For a Ninja, proper combat experience was the fastest way to improve.

In a world like this, strength was the only capital one had to stay alive.

"That's great. You really are the best, Big Brother Qingshui."

That evening, Qingshui told Jiraiya about his decision as well.

Konan and the others were Jiraiya's students, after all, so Qingshui naturally had to let him know before taking them out on a mission.

Jiraiya had no reason to refuse.

In fact, he had already planned to take Nagato and the others on a mission soon. Qingshui had simply moved up the schedule.

Besides, with Qingshui's strength, there was nothing to worry about.

"Then I'll leave them in your hands, Qingshui."

The night passed without incident, and soon it was the next day.

It was still raining nonstop in the Land of Rain.

After breakfast, Qingshui set out with Konan and the others to take on a mission.

"Big Brother Qingshui, where are we going to pick up a mission?"

Not long after they set off, Yahiko suddenly asked.

The Three Little Ones weren't Rain Ninja, so they couldn't take missions from Amegakure.

Qingshui had already made arrangements for that.

"The Black Market Exchange."

The answer left all three of them confused.

They had only been Ninjas for a little over a year, so they knew nothing about the Black Market, which had branches across the countries of the Ninja World.

Unlike the Five Great Ninja Villages, the Black Market was an underground organization that operated in the shadows.

It offered plenty of bounty missions, targeting well-known Ninjas from various Ninja Villages, Missing-nin, wandering samurai, and more.

For example, Sarutobi Asuma would eventually have a bounty of thirty-five million ryō on his head in the Black Market.

Even the highest-ranked S-Rank missions usually paid only one million ryō.

After Qingshui explained it, the Three Little Ones gained a basic understanding of the Black Market.

Soon, they arrived outside an inconspicuous building. It was the Black Market Exchange in the Land of Rain.

"You three wait outside and stay alert."

After speaking, Qingshui used the Transformation Technique to change his appearance before entering the Exchange.

He might have seemed well acquainted with the Black Market, but this was his first time visiting a place like this. It was always better to be careful.

Inside the building, the first thing he saw was a toilet. The air was thick with a foul stench.

Qingshui was at a loss for words.

So the Black Market Exchanges in the Land of Fire weren't the only ones disguised as toilets.

After finding the hidden mechanism in the toilet, Qingshui entered the real Exchange.

The place was dim and filled with the heavy stench of blood.

Didn't the person in charge ever clean the place?

After grumbling to himself, Qingshui approached the person in charge and explained what he wanted.

The man had no interest in chatting. He simply handed Qingshui a thick stack of bounty notices listing the targets.

As Qingshui flipped through them, he recognized many faces.

Some belonged to Ninjas from his own village; others were famous Ninjas from other villages.

But most of them were strong, and none were suitable for giving Konan and the others their first taste of combat.

At last, Qingshui found a target with a bounty of one million two hundred thousand ryō.

The man was named Okubo Yahiko, a notorious wandering Ninja who had committed heinous atrocities in many small countries. He was utterly unforgivable.

He had happened to enter the Land of Rain a short while ago.

Of course, Qingshui had chosen him mainly because he was probably only at the Chunin level.

This was the standard of a Chunin from one of the Five Great Ninja Villages, not one from a Small Ninja Village.

For the Three Little Ones, who had only been learning ninjutsu for a little over a year, he was a suitable target for their first mission.

After all, they didn't need to take on a powerful enemy the first time. They needed to learn how to kill.

That was the first step to becoming a true Ninja.

Being a Ninja had never been an honorable profession.

After accepting the mission, Qingshui immediately led the Three Little Ones away and changed back to his original appearance.

"Big Brother Qingshui, what exactly is our mission?"

Yahiko was the one to ask again. Qingshui didn't hide anything and handed them the bounty notice for Okubo Yahiko.

"Our target is this man. We're going to hunt him down."

At the mention of killing someone, Konan and Yahiko both froze for a moment.

Nagato, on the other hand, had already killed before.

Then Qingshui told them about Okubo Yahiko's past crimes.

"He's committed unforgivable crimes. Killing him will rid the people of a menace, and it'll be a contribution to peace in the Ninja World."

"I understand, Big Brother Qingshui. He deserves to die!"

Konan was the first to steel herself. She didn't want to disappoint Qingshui.

Seeing Konan, a girl, take a stand, Yahiko naturally refused to fall behind and hurriedly voiced his resolve too.

A remote village somewhere in the Land of Rain.

Fewer than a hundred people lived there. It was an extremely poor village.

Today, an unwelcome visitor had arrived: Okubo Yahiko, the target Qingshui had chosen for the Three Little Ones' mission.

His purpose was simple: to plunder money and food.

He had chosen this place because there were no Ninjas here. No matter how many ordinary people there were, they were meaningless in the face of his strength.

He would kill every last one of them.

Of course, if he came across a beautiful woman, he wouldn't mind having his way with her before killing her.

That was how he had managed to get away with his crimes for so long. No one had ever escaped him alive.

But as the saying went, no secret stayed hidden forever.

During one of his massacres, he had unexpectedly clashed with a group of Ninjas.

He had meant to kill them all and cover his tracks, but one of them had managed to escape. Everything he had done was exposed.

Just like that, the atrocities that had once been blamed on unknown perpetrators were all traced back to him. Overnight, he became a wanted criminal in several countries.

To escape the pursuit, he had chosen to come to the chaotic Land of Rain.

As Okubo Yahiko continued his senseless slaughter of the villagers, Qingshui and the others hurried toward the village, following his trail.

But they were too late.

By the time they arrived, there wasn't a single survivor in the village. With his plunder in hand, Okubo Yahiko was preparing to leave.

"Who are you?"

The appearance of Qingshui and the others put him on guard, and he hurriedly demanded an answer.

No one responded.

Faced with the sight of corpses scattered throughout the village, the Three Little Ones could no longer contain their rage and murderous intent.

Without a word, the three of them charged at Okubo Yahiko.

Consumed by rage, they had no intention of holding back. They only wanted to kill him as quickly as possible and avenge everyone in the village.