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"Sorry... Lord Shendu, my men have let you down..."

At the bottom of a secret passage beneath the Daimyo Mansion in the capital of the Land of Fire, the place had been redecorated by Enshi Shu. The dusty, gloomy little room had been transformed into a "luxury suite" adorned with gorgeous wallpaper and antique gold and silver.

"Don't be discouraged, child. The ones opposing you aren't just anyone—they're Qi mages who inherited the legacy of the evil Saint Warriors."

"That old man can wield all kinds of powerful Qi Magic, and that pink starfish has special powers of its own. It's only natural that your men failed..."

"If we can't beat them with strength, we can try a different approach..."

"A different approach?"

Listening to Shendu's riddles, Enshi Shu looked up in confusion, unsure what he meant.

"I can feel it. My Talismans are awakening underground in clusters. Those damned Qi mages can't keep an eye on all of them at once, and neither can our warriors."

"So why not make the most of our advantage?"

"Our advantage?"

Listening to riddles was exhausting, to say the least. If the other party weren't his beloved "Lord Shendu," Enshi Shu would have slapped him by now.

"Our advantage is that we have money. With the wealth I've accumulated over the past thousand years, we can put a bounty on those Talismans across the entire world. Some Talismans may be useless to ordinary people, but I refuse to believe money is just as useless to them..."

Shendu's plan was quite effective. After all, this was a world where the strong preyed on the weak, and besides strength, money was what mattered most. What's more, the Tiger and Sheep Talismans were completely useless to ordinary people. Who wouldn't trade "cold Talismans for warm cash"?

As Qian Yu scattered the Talismans at random, Enshi Shu put out a "lost item reward" across the entire Ninja World.

Each Talisman carried a bounty of one hundred million ryō, enough to shock people throughout the ninja nations. The daimyō of the other four great nations were especially baffled, all wondering, "Since when did the Daimyo of the Land of Fire have a family heirloom like this?"

One hundred million ryō might not have been much to them as rulers of their respective nations, but it certainly wasn't a small sum, either. An S-rank mission paid no more than a million ryō. "Could the new Daimyo of the Land of Fire be an idiot?!"

As the daimyō of the four nations voiced their opinions, all sorts of capable people across the Ninja World also caught sight of the tempting bounty notice.

A man stood atop a valley, holding a corpse in one hand. He had forcibly torn out its heart, and countless black tendrils protruded from beneath his arms and around his armpits. When he saw the astonishing reward, a flicker of surprise crossed his face—a face that hadn't shown any emotion in decades—before joy and excitement took its place.

"Looks like a big job's coming my way..."

"Well, well! If it isn't Lord Kakuzu! It's been a while, and you're looking younger than ever!"

The moment the manager of the Bounty Office recognized the newcomer, he put on the kind of expression one might wear upon seeing a great benefactor.

That's right, the man was the "missing-nin of Takigakure," the "Akatsuki financial director," "the man who escaped the First unscathed," and one half of the immortal duo—"Kakuzu"!

Though the Bounty Office's influence was vast and its business covered the entire Ninja World, even they knew to show some courtesy to a "living god of death" and "best assassin" like Kakuzu.

"Cut the nonsense. Tell me how much these heads are worth."

Kakuzu barely changed his expression. He dumped all the heads out of the large sack on his back and impatiently urged the manager to hurry up.

"That comes to forty million ryō. Please count it."

"Forty million ryō, huh..."

Kakuzu picked up the suitcase stuffed with cash and thought to himself, As expected... nothing worthwhile this time...

After pondering for a long while, he decided to spend a small portion of his money—though it still hurt—to find out what he could about the Talismans.

Sunagakure, Kazekage's Office.

"What exactly is the new Daimyo of the Land of Fire up to..."

The Third Kazekage stared at the lost-item reward notice in his hand, lost in thought. A ruler of a nation shouldn't have done something as foolish as giving away money, but then, what did the Daimyo of the Land of Fire's intentions have to do with him? Sunagakure was short on money, and the Land of Fire wanted to give some away.

Still...

"We should be wary of any tricks."

The one who replied was Sunagakure's most respected elder, and the wife of countless Naruto mobile game players—Granny Chiyo.

"Elder Chiyo is right. But the village is short on funds, so it would be best to send out a special operations squad and see what happens."

The Third Kazekage deeply respected Chiyo, a consultant who had served the village since the Warring States period. But as the Kazekage, he had to consider matters for himself as well.

The main problem was that Sunagakure was simply too poor... The Third Kazekage's Magnet Release controlled Iron Sand, which was worth a bit, but it couldn't compare to the Gold Dust wielded by the Fourth Kazekage, Rasa.

Kirigakure, Mizukage's Office.

"Elder Genji, what do you think?"

Kirigakure's system of government was quite different from those of the other nations in the Ninja World. In Kirigakure, alongside the Mizukage, there was also the position of "elder," whose authority and status were equal to the Mizukage's.

The Mizukage handled external affairs and had to be the village's strongest ninja. The elder handled internal affairs, overseeing the village's day-to-day business, and mainly performed administrative duties.

"Hmm... Lord Mizukage, I believe the new ruler of the Land of Fire is telling the Ninja World that he has successfully ascended to the throne and completed the transfer of power."

After the former Daimyo of the Land of Fire was assassinated, people in other nations saw that his successor was just a young boy. What would they have thought at first?

The politicians and officials of other nations had only one thought: the new Daimyo was a powerless, penniless puppet.

But Enshi Shu had proven himself. By allocating several hundred million ryō at once, he was surely declaring to the world that he had control of the treasury and was no puppet!

"Uh..."

Fourth Mizukage Karatachi Yagura found Genji's theory a little strange, but it did seem to be the only explanation that made sense.

"So, we...?"

"Of course we collect those so-called Talismans, find out what the new Daimyo of the Land of Fire is up to, and make a little money while we're at it!"

As the saying went, "Only a fool would pass up a chance to make money." Who would turn money away?

Iwagakure, Tsuchikage Office.

Ōnoki's thinking was simple: the evil Konoha was up to some more underhanded, deceitful trick.

But they could still make some money from this. "Kitsuchi... You should go..."

Before Ōnoki could finish, a hoarse voice suddenly came from outside the Tsuchikage Office. "Let me go!"

"Roshi?! What are you doing here?!"

Roshi, the Four-Tails Jinchūriki and a Lava Release user, didn't get along with the Tsuchikage, Ōnoki. The two of them bickered every day and neither ever gave in.

"Hmph! I just want to get away from you, you stubborn old fossil!"

"What?! Who said you could speak to me like that? Don't even think about it. As a Jinchūriki, you should stay in the village!"

"Then I'll become a missing-nin!"

The two traded barbs, neither willing to back down. Roshi's moustache was practically twisted in anger, but though they argued, Ōnoki was powerless to stop him from leaving the village.

After all, he was Iwagakure's Jinchūriki. Could they really let him become a missing-nin? What a joke! What nation would willingly give up its "nuclear weapon"?

"Roshi, remember this! Come straight back after the mission. Don't go wandering around out there!"

In response to Ōnoki's instructions, Roshi merely waved his hand and strode away, leaving only his retreating figure behind. Ōnoki's lower back immediately twinged with pain, and he collapsed onto his desk.

Kumogakure, Raikage's Office.

Compared to the other villages, Kumogakure's decision was much more straightforward and forceful. After all, in Kumogakure, only the strongest ninja inherited the name "A" and became Raikage, ruling the village through sheer force of personality. It wouldn't be wrong to call him a dictator.

The Third Raikage's idea was just as simple: make the money first, and worry about traps later. That was how Kumogakure always did things!

He immediately sent out his beloved son, the future Fourth Raikage, along with the Eight-Tails Jinchūriki, Killer B.

(Note: The original author never gave the Third and Fourth Raikage names. To avoid confusion, this book uses A as the Fourth Raikage's name and simply refers to the Third Raikage as the "Third Raikage.")