The Plan

At four in the afternoon, Minato, Ranwu... and the now unusually silent Akaseki, met up with the constable Heiji to patrol the Flower Capital's pleasure district.

It was obvious, however, that with a constable in uniform carrying a jitte at his side, they wouldn't be catching any thieves along their route.

"What a shame, it seems we really didn't gain anything," Heiji said with a helpless sigh after leading the three young ninjas on a tour of the district.

"Mr. Heiji, it looks like the thief is too afraid to strike... at this rate, we won't be able to complete our mission at all, will we?" Ranwu said, sounding rather dissatisfied.

"Well... perhaps we could discuss this further with the magistrate later?" Heiji suggested hesitantly.

"Mr. Heiji, what made Magistrate Naiku decide to post a theft case as a ninja mission?" Minato asked.

"My apologies. Strictly speaking, the security of the pleasure district should be my responsibility, but I've never really been able to do much about them..." Heiji scratched his head upon hearing this. "The magistrate went to the capital last month and posted the mission in Konoha while he was on his way. I was quite surprised myself when I found out."

Ranwu's eyes sharpened at his words, but before Heiji could notice...

"Ah! A thief!"

A sudden cry rang out. A woman dressed like an elderly noblewoman came waddling over, her heavy waist swaying, and said to Heiji, "You're the constable, right? Just now... someone just stole my coin purse! It happened just now!"

"What? Who was it?" Heiji asked hurriedly.

Minato and Ranwu immediately leaped onto the nearby roof, and Akaseki followed just a half-step behind.

"It was just a short while ago... twenty minutes ago, it was still there! It was just stolen like that... and they definitely took the opportunity to grope me too!" The elderly woman began to act coquettishly toward the sturdy Heiji.

Heiji couldn't handle it, retreating repeatedly while saying, "I understand, I understand... I'll register your report!"

Akaseki and the others immediately patrolled the surrounding area, but they found nothing. They then dragged Heiji along to visit the places the reporter had passed through earlier.

It wasn't that they came up empty-handed, but rather... three more people reported thefts!

"It's already this late... it seems the thief has clocked out for the day. Let's continue tomorrow," Minato said to Heiji, seeing that the sky had darkened and the pleasure district was nearly empty.

"Right..." Heiji responded helplessly.

"Don't be disappointed, Mr. Heiji, this is a good thing! After all, the key to catching the thief is for the thief to actually show up. Now that the guy has started acting again, we can finally show what we're capable of!" Ranwu said bluntly.

"That makes sense... hehehe, then I'll leave it to you all." Heiji gave a dry laugh.

"Exactly. We ninjas of Konoha will definitely see this mission through to the end, don't you worry," Minato added.

After watching Heiji leave, a moment later, "Akaseki" vanished with a "poof."

At the same time, Minato looked relieved.

"As expected of you, maintaining a Shadow Clone for over four hours, and having it use the Transformation Technique the entire time," Ranwu said, looking at Minato with admiration.

That's right, the reason Akaseki had been so silent was because he was a fake!

Minato had been using a clone to play the role of Akaseki, and to avoid the risk of a standard clone disappearing or being exposed due to its lack of physical substance, he had specifically used the Shadow Clone Technique—a physical clone technique developed by the Second Hokage.

At the same time, Akaseki appeared on the branch of a nearby tree, perfectly positioned against the moonlight, and said calmly, "It seems to have gone quite smoothly. With these, the mastermind should be getting anxious, right? Are you sure it's that Heiji?"

"What are you posing for? Get down here and talk!" Ranwu said, annoyed.

Akaseki: ...

Akaseki jumped down, tossing several coin purses in his hand as he said, "I had it easy on my end. Six people, and none of them even noticed how their purses went missing!"

That's right, this was Minato's plan—since they already suspected there was a "mole" leaking information, they decided to do the exact opposite and pose as the thief themselves.

He figured that this way, the "mole" or the "mastermind" wouldn't just sit idly by.

After all, judging by how the thief had laid low ever since the magistrate posted the mission in Konoha, the culprit was clearly wary of Konoha ninjas and certainly didn't want other thieves causing trouble and keeping the ninjas in the Flower Capital.

This would draw them out...

Of course, they already had a primary suspect: Heiji, the man responsible for the district's security.

He had previously referred to the thieves as "them," and his first reaction to a theft was to ask "who" it was...

That didn't sound like how one would refer to an unknown perpetrator!

"Make sure you keep a record of who you stole from so we can return them later," Ranwu reminded him.

"Like I need you to tell me..." Akaseki rolled his eyes at her.

The three of them returned to the inn, and as soon as they entered, they saw Jiraiya sitting in the lobby, drinking sake and eating grilled fish and other side dishes, looking perfectly at ease.

"Yo! Brats, how did the mission go?" Jiraiya asked, waving at them as they walked in.

The three of them couldn't help but feel helpless.

"It'll take another day or two..." Akaseki said truthfully.

"Two days is fine, but if it takes three, the reimbursement will exceed the budget," Jiraiya warned—planning mission budgets was also a required course for ninjas.

Once or twice is fine; you can apply to the village to adjust the bounty distribution, meaning the village takes a smaller cut—this is what they call "reimbursement."

But if you lose money on every mission, the village won't be able to afford to send you out!

For missions commissioned by outsiders, theoretically, no amount of reimbursement could exceed the total bounty of the mission itself.

"Don't worry! Master Jiraiya, we already have a plan!" Akaseki boasted confidently.

Just then, the sound of footsteps and voices echoed from outside the inn...

"Let's go with this inn, the price is quite reasonable."

"Yeah, we're finally almost back to Konoha..."

Upon hearing these voices, Jiraiya and Akaseki both immediately looked toward the entrance.

The next moment, a young ninja with long white hair, fair skin, and wearing a chunin vest pushed the door open and walked in, followed by two "little ninjas" slightly older than Akaseki and his group.

Akaseki did not recognize the leading chunin; after all, there were too many chunin in the village, and only a limited number were famous.

"Hiruko! It really is you." Jiraiya seemed quite familiar with the newcomer and greeted him enthusiastically, "What a coincidence, let's have a drink toge..."

"Lord Jiraiya, it has been a long time." Upon seeing Jiraiya, Hiruko bowed in greeting.

Jiraiya froze at the sight, feeling as though a thick barrier had already grown between the two of them.

Ignoring his teacher's mood, Akaseki looked at the person behind him—a genin with the Fan Clan crest on his clothing—and said with pleasant surprise, "Brother Yashiro, you're here too..."