Commission for Kakuzu!

After meeting with Danzo, White Dove returned to his "base of operations."

The One Heart Chamber of Commerce building.

In reality, it was a fairly large building situated behind a department store.

Constructed from a mix of brick and wood, it looked somewhat aged on the outside, but it was exceptionally sturdy.

At the same time, it was located not far from the main street, making it extremely convenient for coming and going.

"President!"

"Dove-ge!"

"Captain!"

Various voices rang out as White Dove arrived.

Those who called him President were generally clansmen older than him, those who called him Captain were members of the Police Force, and those who called him "Dove-ge" were his peers or younger clansmen.

Out of the hundreds of clansmen, aside from the dozen or so working in the department store out front, the vast majority were gathered here.

Businesses like the publishing house, the transport fleet, and others were all centralized in this location.

The warehouses were piled high with a massive amount of supplies.

Just moving these goods required a significant number of hands.

It had taken White Dove a great deal of time and investment to build up an enterprise like this.

It was only because he could use "novels" to accumulate wealth in the beginning that he gained his starting capital; if he had truly relied on performing missions to earn his start, creating the One Heart Chamber of Commerce would have been completely impossible.

Furthermore, his One Heart Chamber of Commerce completely avoided the industries of other major ninja clans.

For instance, the Yamanaka Clan's flower shops, the Nara Clan's medicinal herbs, the Akimichi Clan's barbecue—these industries were their respective foundations. To enter these fields without permission would be to snatch food from their mouths, and it would be strange if they didn't hold a grudge.

Of course, the commercial aptitude of ninjas was the exact opposite of their aptitude for ninjutsu, so the only things they could get involved in were these ordinary industries.

Someone like Jiraiya, who could write novels, was already an exception among exceptions.

That was why no one had come to cause trouble when White Dove published novels to rake in money.

Later, he even pioneered the "department store," a retail channel that had never existed before.

It could be said that in terms of ninja talent, White Dove might not compare to those geniuses and monsters, and even his powerful techniques were thanks to the imagination he brought as a transmigrator.

But when it came to business and insight, he could truly thrash the entire ninja world.

After all, before he transmigrated, even if he wasn't some business tycoon, he had been a junior logistics manager who spent plenty of time surfing the web and absorbing all sorts of information.

And in this ninja world, where individual strength was incredibly high but information was incredibly blocked, his insight was truly invincible.

It was precisely because he had this advantage that he was able to create the One Heart Chamber of Commerce.

Otherwise, do you think other ninjas really didn't know that they could run a chamber of commerce to make money?

It was precisely because they lacked commercial talent that they had to risk their lives performing missions to earn money!

After entering the main gate.

"White Dove, are you alright?"

Yashiro walked up to him, his expression filled with concern.

He knew the ins and outs of this incident and was terrified that things would get out of hand.

"I'm fine, but is there any way to get the clan leader's son to leave the village for a few days?"

White Dove first reassured Yashiro before posing his question.

He needed to get that white-eyed wolf out of the village temporarily!

This was to prevent the original plot from unfolding, where Shisui escaped Danzo's scheme and handed over a Mangekyo.

Even though he knew the real ninja world was different from the anime, the general trends were not all that different, so White Dove naturally had to deal with this variable.

"...If the Anbu receives intelligence regarding Uchiha-related anomalies outside the village, they will definitely send him to investigate!"

Yashiro offered a suggestion.

It meant creating some Uchiha-related disturbances outside the village; that way, the Anbu would naturally go to investigate, and since that person was familiar with the Uchiha and was an Anbu trusted by the Third, he would certainly be involved.

"Is that so... You should immediately send someone to the Bounty Station to issue a mission to a bounty hunter named 'Kakuzu,' and have him complete this task!"

White Dove pondered for a moment before making his decision.

Yes, he intended to leave the matter to Kakuzu.

It was highly inconvenient for his own people to handle this mission; as registered ninjas, it wasn't easy for them to leave the village, and his personnel outside the village couldn't handle a task of this caliber.

Therefore, "outsourcing" the mission was the best choice.

There was nothing better than having Kakuzu, a member of the Akatsuki and an elite Kage-level powerhouse, execute this mission.

As for whether the white-eyed wolf might accidentally get killed in the process?

Impossible!

Absolutely impossible!

This kind of "protagonist" wouldn't just kick the bucket so easily, and if such a situation were to actually occur, White Dove would be the one setting off firecrackers in celebration.

Even if it were to cause the future plot to change drastically, it would simultaneously eliminate the imminent threat of the clan's annihilation.

Therefore, he could accept either outcome.

It could be said that the advantage of foresight is essentially "using a cheat," just not as aggressively as other transmigrators.

"Understood!"

Yashiro went to make arrangements immediately.

Although it wasn't easy for their registered ninjas to leave the village, passing on messages was absolutely not a problem.

And outside the village, their One Heart Chamber of Commerce had several strongholds.

Thus, the message quickly reached Tanzaku Town, and personnel stationed at the external base immediately headed to the Bounty Station to issue a commission.

The Bounty Station!

It was an underground mission brokerage platform, yet its backing was extremely powerful; otherwise, it would have been impossible to establish such a mission platform that spanned the entire ninja world.

Unlike the missions of ninja villages, the missions at the Bounty Station had no restrictions, but the mortality rate was also extremely high; it was not something an ordinary ninja could do to make a name for themselves.

Someone like Kakuzu belonged to the ranks of extremely famous bounty hunters.

Tap, tap!

A tall figure, wearing a face mask and possessing green eyes, his entire body shrouded in a black cloak, entered the Bounty Station.

"Exchange these for money."

The tall figure placed several heads onto the counter.

The staff member was clearly accustomed to such bloody scenes and was not frightened by these heads; instead, they began to inspect them earnestly.

After a while.

"Lord Kakuzu, here is your bounty!"

After the staff member confirmed everything was correct, they took out three million ryo in banknotes and placed them on the counter.

The largest denomination of banknotes in the ninja world was ten thousand ryo, so while three million ryo sounded like a lot, it was actually only 300 banknotes, which could be held in one hand.

After counting them one by one, just as Kakuzu was about to leave, the Bounty Station staff member spoke up:

"Lord Kakuzu, there is a designated commission here; I wonder if you are interested?"

In the case of a designated commission, it could only be accepted by the specified target; no one else could take it.

As a renowned bounty hunter at the Bounty Station, Kakuzu naturally received many commissions designated for him, so this was not an exceptional case.

After taking the mission scroll and reading its contents, Kakuzu spoke:

"I'll take the mission!"

Having said that, he turned and left the Bounty Station.

Only after he had left did the others in the Bounty Station dare to speak.

"So terrifying, I thought I was going to die just now!"

"I heard that before, if he encountered a target with a bounty, he would strike directly inside the Bounty Station. If it weren't for the higher-ups stepping in to negotiate with him, it's not impossible that he might have killed us!"

"In that case... I think I'll wait a few days before leaving the Bounty Station!"

"Me too!"

In reality, Kakuzu was not hunting in the vicinity because he was busy carrying out the mission.

To stall an Uchiha jonin for a few days and prevent him from returning to the village would net him five million ryo; how could he possibly pass up such a mission?

Five million ryo!

The purchasing power was not low.

Just like Asuma in the original plot, whose bounty was thirty-five million ryo.

One must know that he was not only an elite jonin, but crucially, he was the "son of the Hokage." If it weren't for that, there would be plenty of people willing to strike for an elite jonin worth ten million ryo.

Now, simply stalling an Uchiha jonin for a few days to earn five million ryo was indeed a generous reward.

The key was that the client had provided the intelligence directly, which was the most important part.

Without intelligence, a mission would be incredibly troublesome, but with intelligence, completing this task would require almost no effort at all, so it was no wonder Kakuzu was willing to take the job.

On the other side!

The Hokage Building.

At this moment, Danzo arrived at the Hokage's office, looking aggressive.

"Hiruzen, what are you and Uchiha Shisui hiding from me?"

He spoke up and questioned him directly.

However, his attitude and momentum were just like a wife interrogating her husband.

In any case, the relationship between Sarutobi Hiruzen and Danzo was even closer than that of a married couple, so it was not entirely inaccurate to put it that way.

The fact that even the Anbu made no move to stop Danzo from storming into the Hokage Building office was proof of just how close that relationship was.

(Anbu: We dare not speak, nor do we dare ask about their relationship!)

"All of you, withdraw!"

Sarutobi Hiruzen was far too familiar with Danzo; one look at his demeanor told him that the other party must have discovered something, so he immediately ordered the surrounding Anbu to leave.

The conversation that was to follow was not meant for their ears.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

From the corners, outside the windows, and atop the roof, one Anbu operative after another vanished.

Did people really think the Hokage worked alone without protection?

The truth was that a squad of Anbu was always guarding the Hokage, and several more squads were responsible for security within the Hokage Building, so assassinating the leader of a village was not something one could succeed at just by acting on a whim.

The reason Sasori was able to succeed was entirely due to his status, not because his strength was truly enough to assassinate a village leader in a direct confrontation.

Only after the Anbu had retreated did Sarutobi Hiruzen slowly begin to speak.