Hayato Kamihara had never met anyone like Lin Qing.
His conversations with Lin Qing had gone from:
"This guy's a little dangerous. Be careful."
to:
"Don't rush me. Give me some time, and I'll find you a few more targets."
And now:
"Bro, Qing, take a break! If you don't rest, I'll have to, too. There's really not a single person left!"
Lin Qing pushed Hayato Kamihara aside and opened the cabinet behind him.
It was completely empty.
"Nothing left?"
"Not a thing."
Over the past two weeks, with their city at the center, a tornado seemed to have swept through the area. Every fugitive and rogue ninja ranked B or higher had been caught and brought before Hayato Kamihara.
"This is the last commission payment."
Hayato Kamihara handed him a briefcase. "Get some rest. When there's new business, I'll be sure to contact you first."
Lin Qing took the case, which was packed with stacks of cash.
He pulled out a thick bundle, set it on the table, and pushed it toward Hayato Kamihara.
Hayato Kamihara asked in confusion, "The client already paid me my cut."
Lin Qing shook his head. "This isn't a cut. It's overtime pay. Sorry for the trouble these past few weeks."
Over the past two weeks, Lin Qing had collected Soul Shards at an impressive rate, and he had Hayato Kamihara to thank for that.
Hayato Kamihara stared at Lin Qing in astonishment.
He had worked with plenty of bounty hunters.
Most people in this line of work had unsavory pasts, and Hayato Kamihara had learned a little about Lin Qing's history—
A clan massacre.
An attack from within the village.
Forced to flee.
Hayato Kamihara had assumed Lin Qing was a bitter, vengeful sort. He hadn't expected him to be so unexpectedly kind.
He stood and held out his hand, his expression earnest.
"It's no trouble. It's my job. It's been a pleasure working with you."
Lin Qing shook his hand.
"The pleasure's mine."
"Oh, one more thing... It's not really intelligence, since it hasn't been verified. You could call it a friendly warning."
Hayato Kamihara's smile faded. "A Root ninja from Konoha has come to this city."
Sasuke's face changed, and he stammered, "K-Konoha... What does that have to do with us...?"
A hand settled on his head. Lin Qing gave him a slight shake of his head.
Hayato Kamihara was a professional information broker. After knowing them this long, it would've been strange if he hadn't figured out who they really were.
He hadn't brought it up before, and they'd tacitly agreed to pretend they didn't know. But now that Hayato Kamihara had raised the subject, playing dumb would be disrespectful to them both.
Root ninjas might not be particularly strong in a head-on fight, but under Danzo's pathological management, every last one of them was skilled at infiltration and dirty tricks.
Lin Qing had been a little too conspicuous lately, chasing Soul Shards. The name of the duo of bounty hunters, one big and one small, had spread through several nearby cities. It was only natural that Danzo's people would come looking.
"I understand. Thank you."
"Don't mention it. Also..."
Hayato Kamihara took two Konoha Forehead Protectors from his desk drawer.
"Are you really not going to work as rogue ninjas? The Root ninja has already come looking for you. Clients like rogue ninjas, and both the commissions and the pay would increase."
Being a rogue ninja was like telling people—
"I'm being hunted by a village, but I'm still alive and kicking. How do you like me now?"
It was an effortless way to show off one's strength and earn clients' trust.
On the other hand, if a rogue ninja completed a job but got killed by their village before receiving payment, the client wouldn't have to pay.
Declaring oneself a rogue ninja was like having an endorsement. The more powerful the village on the Forehead Protector, the easier it was to land jobs.
Among them, rogue ninjas from Konoha were especially popular.
Sasuke looked tempted.
Lin Qing waved a hand. "No need. We're not ninjas."
Hayato Kamihara shrugged and saw them out of the office.
A nice, long soak was essential to a brief rest.
With a towel on his head, Lin Qing leaned against the edge of the bath and enjoyed the soothing warmth of the water flowing around him.
Sasuke was naked, diving underwater one moment and popping up to paddle on his back the next.
No matter how much pain and hatred he carried, he was still only a seven-year-old boy.
Lin Qing smiled, wiped his face with a towel, and opened the system interface.
After hunting day and night, Lin Qing had captured a total of fifty-three fugitives and rogue ninjas. His Soul Shards had surged from 152 to 614.
Each fugitive had yielded fewer than ten Soul Shards on average. That was just the difference between people.
Soul Shards: 614
That was enough for 61 pulls.
Considering that he'd needed 55 pulls to get the Ripple Breathing Method last time, Lin Qing's instincts told him he'd probably get a five-star Stand this time.
Lin Qing didn't like doing single pulls. For the past two weeks, he'd been saving them all up, just so he could enjoy himself today.
He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, paused for half a second, then slowly exhaled—
Time to pull!
Ten pulls. Nothing.
Twenty pulls. Nothing.
Thirty pulls. Nothing.
Lin Qing was much calmer than he'd been last time.
Forty pulls. Nothing.
Fifty pulls. Nothing.
The final ten pulls.
His instincts told him:
It's gotta be now!
Ten stars fell from the heavens, and a dazzling light flashed—
Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding!
Five chimes in a row.
Five stars!
Lin Qing clenched his fist. All his hard work had finally paid off. He watched the light fade, and what appeared before him was...
A propeller-driven fighter plane with a retro design, straight out of the Second World War.
The fighter plane was only as big as a laptop. Two machine guns were mounted on its wings, a bomb hung beneath its fuselage, and a pilot the size of a thumb sat in the cockpit.
When their eyes met, the pilot pressed his index and middle fingers together, tapped them lightly against his forehead, and greeted Lin Qing.
Stand Name: Aero Smith Five-Star. Owner: Narancia Ghirga Ability: A long-range, remotely controlled Stand equipped with two machine guns, a bomb, and a carbon dioxide detection radar. It can use the radar to lock onto sources of carbon dioxide, but its precision is low, so the Stand User has to make their own judgments. Current Level: 1 Note: Smith is the pilot's name.
"So it's this Stand..."
Ever since leaving Konoha, Lin Qing had made time to read the JoJo manga series. Over the past two months, he'd read through it many times and had long since memorized the abilities of numerous Stands.
Aero Smith wasn't especially powerful and couldn't compare to Star Platinum, but it could make up for Lin Qing's weaknesses at medium and long range. In battle, it could keep opponents occupied and pull them out of position, preventing them from keeping Lin Qing at a distance.
More than its combat prowess, Aero Smith's greatest strength—or rather, what made it a five-star Stand—was its ability to scout an area.
As it flew through the sky, it could detect the enemy's location with its carbon dioxide detector.
Narancia, in the original story, was highly perceptive. His strength lay in seizing moments of inspiration, but his short temper and comparatively weak control kept him from realizing just how terrifying his scouting ability could be.
With Ripple power, Lin Qing's control and focus far surpassed Narancia's. More importantly, ordinary people couldn't see Stands.
After the battle between Kakashi and Lin Qing, Konoha had learned that one had to channel a massive amount of chakra into their eyes to see a Stand.
That wasn't a problem in a direct battle.
But in a drawn-out fight, a street fight, or a guerrilla battle, few ninjas could afford to waste chakra on that for long.
In that situation, an invisible "eye" that could scout the battlefield from the sky offered a terrifying intelligence advantage.
"Maybe... I should give it a try?"
Lin Qing raised his right hand at a slight angle, using it as a runway.
Whoosh—
Aero Smith took off, flew out the window, and soared into the sky.
"Activate scouting system."
In an instant, Lin Qing saw red dots all around him, within a radius of several hundred meters.
Each dot represented a person.
Location scouting that ignored so many limitations was already a crushing advantage in the Ninja World, where technology was still underdeveloped.
But that wasn't its limit.
As he used the breathing method, Lin Qing focused his mind to an extraordinary degree.
The detection range narrowed, and the scouting image became clearer.
People breathed out carbon dioxide through their mouths and noses. It settled on objects around them, changing shape as it was affected by space, objects, and the wind, sketching out the surroundings.
Within thirty meters, no living creature that was breathing could escape notice. Lin Qing could see every move they made with perfect clarity.
"It's practically the Byakugan with long-range bombing capabilities."
Lin Qing was extremely satisfied with Aero Smith's abilities. It not only made up for his weaknesses at medium and long range, but also covered his shortcomings in scouting and gathering intelligence.
"Come back."
Aero Smith circled overhead and was about to return.
Suddenly, it detected someone lying on the bathhouse roof, spying on Lin Qing through a gap.
Lin Qing looked up and met a pair of dark eyes.
Before you continue