Ryosuke's Shock!

Underground Exchange, secret room.

Senju Ryosuke leaned back in his chair, his fingers tapping rhythmically against the tabletop, producing a light "tap, tap" sound. He had been waiting here for nearly two hours, and his patience was slowly being worn thin.

Logically speaking, four elite ninja should have had some results to report to him by now.

However, there was still no response at all!

Four elite jonin, one of whom was even an assassination expert proficient in sensory techniques, sent to deal with one Orochimaru and three wet-behind-the-ears brats, two of whom were just there to make up the numbers.

Even if they couldn't win, surely they could at least run away!?

Those were four elite jonin!

A lineup like that would be more than enough to raid the daimyo's mansion of a small nation.

One must know that the total number of guards they had planned for the next daimyo was only twelve, and among them, they were only prepared to hire three or four elite jonin.

The rest could just be ordinary jonin or chunin.

It was easy to imagine that a mission carried out by four such elite jonin together could not possibly yield no results!

The mission, how could it have failed!

The only thing he needed to consider now was how to avoid paying the final installment of the extortionate fee after confirming the news of Nawaki's death, and how to make those greedy rogue ninja shut up forever.

"Tap, tap, tap--"

The door to the secret room was knocked three times, no more, no less—the agreed-upon signal.

The muscles at the corners of Ryosuke's mouth relaxed, revealing a cold sneer of certainty.

They were here.

The manager of the Underground Exchange pushed the door open and entered. He still wore that calm, expressionless face, though his gait was slightly off.

"How did it go?" Ryosuke didn't even bother to stand up, asking in a tone of condescension, "Is it done? Did that guy Kakuzu send word? As for the final payment for those four, you can help me delay—"

"The mission failed."

The manager's voice was flat, yet it struck Ryosuke's words like a cold hammer.

The smile on Ryosuke's face froze instantly, and his fingers, which had been tapping the table, stopped as well.

He sat up straight abruptly, his eyes filled with disbelief: "Failed? How is that possible?! Four jonin! You couldn't even take care of three brats?"

"Is Orochimaru really that strong!?"

"Even if he is a disciple of the Hokage, at best he is only an elite jonin! How could he possibly deal with four of them!? I hired four whole elite jonin! You gave me your guarantee that the mission would definitely succeed!"

"Please calm down. This was caused by your incorrect intelligence; we are not responsible for the money that has already been paid out."

The manager watched Ryosuke with a calm gaze: "Because of your intelligence, we have already lost four bounty hunters; this is a very serious mistake."

"Four—?" Ryosuke froze for a moment, then his face changed drastically!

Four whole people!?!

Doesn't that mean "They—they were all wiped out?" Ryosuke felt his heart skip a beat.

"Yes." The manager looked up, staring straight at Ryosuke: "Not a single one of the four ninja returned. Our informants stationed at the border just sent back the latest intelligence."

The manager paused, as if organizing language that was too shocking.

"According to the autopsy results, the direct cause of death for all four ninja was poisoning. It was an unknown, colorless, odorless, and traceless neurotoxin. We have yet to determine how it was concocted, and there is no antidote. Furthermore, at least two of the ninja had been attacked by genjutsu before they died! We found signs of chakra disruption on their bodies."

Disrupting one's own chakra was one of the ways to break a genjutsu.

Even Ryosuke understood this point clearly. "Poi—poisoning... Genjutsu..." Ryosuke muttered to himself, forcing himself to calm down as his brain raced, "It's Orochimaru! It must be Orochimaru! He is the most skilled at these things! That bastard—to think he could do it all by himself—"

"No."

The manager calmly denied his speculation. He took a scroll from his robe and spread it out on the table, revealing a crudely drawn reconstruction of the scene and an analysis report.

"Based on the analysis of the residual chakra traces and the extent of the destruction at the scene, Orochimaru was engaged in a frontal battle with two of the ninja from start to finish."

"As for the bounty assassination squad, the ninja responsible for the assassination and the ninja responsible for sensing, judging by their positions and distance, it was impossible for them to have been killed by Orochimaru."

The manager's finger tapped heavily on the center of the scroll, "In other words, the four elite jonin you hired—" Ryosuke's breathing stopped instantly; he stared fixedly at the manager, as if waiting for the other party to say a negative answer.

But the manager only stated the facts in an emotionless tone, delivering the information that was enough to overturn his worldview, word by word. "—at least two of the four didn't even get close to Orochimaru from beginning to end. They should have been killed by the three genin."

"The 'Skinny Monkey' responsible for the assassination lost all vital signs the moment he activated the Earth Style: Headhunter Jutsu and grabbed the ankle of one of the children. The medical ninja at the scene made a preliminary judgment that his body seemed to have been hit by a potent poison; his kidneys showed signs of failure within one minute, and he suffered cardiac arrest before death."

"The 'Black Bear' and 'Rattlesnake' responsible for the frontal assault showed signs of having been restrained and were highly likely to have been captured alive. But they also died from this bizarre 'poisoning,' with their bodies curled and twisted, exactly the same as 'Skinny Monkey'."

"As for 'Scar', who was responsible for command and sensing—he was over a hundred meters away from Orochimaru." The manager's voice dropped even lower, "But he still couldn't escape the range of the toxin."

In the manager's view, these descriptions didn't sound like someone attacking Orochimaru at all.

It sounded more like someone attacking Hanzo of the Salamander.

Only the salamander of Hanzo of the Salamander could create a colorless and odorless poison mist with a range of over a hundred meters.

"Could it be that they were attacked by an unknown genjutsu?" Ryosuke's voice was hoarse; this was the only explanation he could think of.

"You could understand it that way. But it's unlikely." The manager nodded, but then immediately shook his head, "However, according to the analysis of the faint spiritual energy remaining at the scene, it was a traditional genjutsu. It was completely insufficient to cause a death effect similar to poisoning."

"Therefore, the greatest possibility is that among the three disciples of Orochimaru mentioned in your intelligence, at least one is a master of poison with the strength of a Special Jonin."

"..."

Senju Ryosuke's body swayed, and he collapsed back into his chair, his face as pale as paper.

Those were four Jonin!

Four whole people!

How could they have just died like that!?

This—this already exceeded everything he knew about ninjutsu and combat.

In his understanding, a Chunin was already an incredible achievement in the Land of Fire, and a Jonin was a character chosen from one in a hundred, or even one in a thousand.

And an Elite Jonin was a reserve for the Shadow's personal guard; if they were older and had put in enough time, they even had a chance to become a Kage!

But now, four whole Elite Jonin had just died like that!?

"Wh-who did it?" His teeth were chattering.

The administrator put away the scroll, returning to his cold, professional expression. He looked at the devastated Ryosuke as if he were looking at a gambler who had lost his entire stake.

Although stating this speculation didn't quite follow the rules, rules were, after all, made by people.

In order to make money, the administrator could certainly forgive the actions of the man currently falling apart before him.

"So, according to our most reliable intelligence analysis—"

"Among the three children, only Sawada Hiroki fits the aforementioned criteria; he once destroyed a Shadow Clone of Jiraiya, also a disciple of the Third Hokage, in a single blow during his Genin graduation exam."

"Based on current deductions, it can only be—"

The administrator's voice paused, then clearly spat out the name.

"...Sawada Hiroki."

"BOOM—!"

Ryosuke's mind went blank. He opened his mouth, but could not make a sound; his eyes were filled with nothing but endless fear and confusion.

Sawada Hiroki?

Wasn't this guy a commoner?

He wasn't from the Uchiha or the Hyuga clan!? How could he possibly kill two Elite Jonin!?

Huh!?

It wasn't that Ryosuke didn't understand that some geniuses could ignore the constraints of ninja ranks and kill those who appeared stronger than them—

But those were usually assassinations carried out by battle-hardened veterans with extensive combat experience!

And how old was Sawada Hiroki, for heaven's sake!?

He was only ten years old!

How could a ten-year-old kill two Elite Jonin in a row?

Was he supposed to believe those Elite Jonin were just cabbages, waiting to be chopped up!!??

Even if they were four ninja pigs! It would take effort for a Jonin to kill them!

If they had run in four different directions! They could have run back and forth twice, yet now he was being told all four of them were dead!?

The administrator ignored his breakdown and calmly added: "Given that the danger level of the mission target was severely underestimated, the mission reward for Kakuzu needs to be renegotiated. Additionally, the contract for hunting down those four bounty hunters will require an additional 'Ultra S-Rank Risk' surcharge."

"Furthermore, there are currently few people who could take on this mission. However, members from other branches recently informed me that we have already notified Kakuzu, and he will come to find you in a few days."

He looked at the slumped Ryosuke as if looking at a pile of gold coins about to be paid out, and concluded in a flat tone:

"If you are willing, you can talk to Kakuzu. Although his price is very high, it is worth every penny."

"We believe you will be satisfied with his services."

"I am willing!" Ryosuke agreed through gritted teeth!

He had no other choice! He had already spent so much money; if he tried to stop now, wouldn't all the previous money be lost for nothing!?

"Now, what are those damn brats doing!?" Ryosuke asked, unwilling to accept the situation.

The administrator lowered his head.

Then, he pulled out a piece of paper.

The administrator glanced at it and replied: "The targets are currently looking for a place to rest. They seem to be worried that you still have moles inside the Konoha Outpost."

And at this moment.

Up in the trees, Hiroki opened the documents regarding the various newly copied ninjutsu.