Orochimaru's Dream Body

Everyone from Episode Eight sprang into action and began taking inventory, plunging the scene into a flurry of activity.

The pungent stench did not affect their efficiency. As Root members who had been cultivated from childhood like tools, they cared only about missions and orders. Root shinobi were remarkably efficient.

With the aid of various ninjutsu and clones, the bodies were soon completely sorted and counted.

After compiling the statistics and summary, a Root captain handed the organized report to Danzo. Danzo and Hiruzen Sarutobi reviewed it in turn before passing it to Koharu Utatane and Homura Mitokado.

The four compared and verified the records thoroughly, removing the bodies that had been taken away for bounty money or experiments.

After a careful investigation, they found only this one tag, with no corresponding corpse.

Hiruzen Sarutobi and the others stared grimly at the tag in Supreme Danzo's hand, the one marked with Uchiha Feiyun's name.

The thing they feared most had happened. Someone had really crawled out!

Koharu Utatane!

Koharu wore a worried expression as she spoke nervously.

"What do we do now?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi truly lived up to his title as the strongest Hokage of all time. He quickly calmed down and ordered, "Burn all the remaining bodies. We can't risk another accident."

Though the concern sounded absurd, all four of them agreed deeply with the decision.

At that moment, they felt that anything impossible seemed entirely possible when it came to the Uchiha Clan.

Uchiha!

Uchiha!

The Root shinobi swiftly piled every corpse together, forming a mountain of bodies.

Then, numerous shinobi took turns using Fire Release to burn the corpse mountain.

Under the powerful Fire Release, Danzo and the others also used Wind Release, making the flames even more terrifying.

The bodies burned for more than an hour. Only when not even ashes remained did the four finally relax a little.

"They can't possibly come back to life now, can they?"

Supreme Danzo watched as the Uchiha Clan turned to ash, a satisfied smile appearing at the corner of his mouth.

Next came dealing with the escaped Uchiha Feiyun.

Hiruzen Sarutobi nodded slightly. "Spread the news. There was another culprit behind the Uchiha Clan massacre: Uchiha Feiyun. Issue a Shinobi World wanted notice for him, dead or alive."

Supreme Danzo looked at the information and photograph of Uchiha Feiyun that his subordinate had just delivered, his face filled with killing intent. "Issue a bounty on him as well. Let him experience what it feels like to be hunted."

Hiruzen Sarutobi relit his pipe. "Fine. You handle it."

Supreme Danzo froze for a moment, then hurriedly said, "The bounty cannot be set too low. You all have to pay for it too. This isn't my problem alone."

Hiruzen Sarutobi shook out his Hokage robe and said with a light laugh, "The reward for the Shinobi World wanted notice won't be low either. The village will pay that portion. As for the bounty, I'll leave it to you."

With that, Hiruzen Sarutobi turned and left.

"The wanted notice only pays out after someone completes it, while the bounty has to be funded right now!"

Yet Hiruzen Sarutobi seemed not to hear Danzo's shout at all. He directly used Body Flicker and rapidly left the area.

Supreme Danzo gritted his teeth and could only turn his gaze toward the two Hokage advisors, Koharu, who were trying to slip away.

"Homura, Koharu, do you two not care about the lives of your clan members either?"

Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane failed to get away and could only smile awkwardly, saying that they would help think of a solution.

In truth, the three were not unwilling to pay. They simply knew that Supreme Danzo was definitely up to no good.

Bullshit. They had seen this sort of thing plenty of times. He would claim they were pooling money for a bounty, but Danzo would secretly make his own move, kill the target himself, and pocket a massive sum. He was shameless beyond measure. They had been partners for decades; who did not know Danzo's little schemes?

Homura Mitokado clasped his hands behind his back and said, "According to the village's old shinobi records, Uchiha Feiyun was only around chunin level. The bounty shouldn't need to be very high, should it?"

Danzo leaned on his cane and shook his head. "Do you think someone capable of killing so many of our elites could be a mere chunin?"

"Though I don't know what happened to him, this person is definitely no ordinary man. Perhaps he had been disguising himself all along, making others think he was weak."

After discussing it for a while, they reached a conclusion. Uchiha Feiyun was likely at elite jonin level, so they would first put up a bounty of thirty million ryo. That price was enough to tempt many top assassins.

Danzo continued, "The three of us will each pay ten million ryo. No one thinks about trying to game the system."

"Fine." Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane agreed readily.

A mere ten million ryo was pocket change to them. If it could truly resolve this trouble, they were naturally more than willing.

Supreme Danzo turned and headed toward Konoha as well. "Go withdraw the money and hand it to me. I'll return first. Later, I need to ask Uchiha Feiyun's former teammates for more detailed information."

Everyone departed one after another. Only ash remained in the air, drifting with the wind in a desolate yet mournful scene.

That day, Fei Yun arrived at the Bounty Exchange carrying several heads and a corpse. He had become quite practiced by now, and after completing the bounty exchange, he quickly received the money.

With nothing else to do, Fei Yun was counting his bounty earnings when Que Ni finished recording the transactions in his ledger. As he put away the records, he said, "Brother Wu Ming, I saw a new bounty notice recently. The target looks a lot like you."

Fei Yun's hand paused slightly over the money, and a sense of unease rose within him. He feigned calmness and said, "Is that so?"

"Don't mess with me."

Que Ni smiled. "I knew you'd say that. I took it out separately for you. Take a look."

As he spoke, Que Ni pulled a bounty notice from his robes and handed it to Fei Yun.

Fei Yun put down the money and carefully examined the notice. When he saw his photograph and the name Uchiha Feiyun, his pupils shrank slightly.

Fei Yun was greatly surprised. How did Konoha find out?

He considered many possibilities, even suspecting that the Bounty Exchange had sold his information. But upon further thought, he felt that was unlikely.

Having spent some time in the black market, Fei Yun had gained a certain understanding of how things worked there. The Bounty Exchange was not that short on money, nor would it deliberately curry favor with Konoha or any individual.

Que Ni took in Fei Yun's reaction without paying much attention to it. He then produced another wanted notice. "Konoha has started hunting you too. You should be careful about your whereabouts lately."

Fei Yun rolled his eyes. "That isn't me. My name is Wu Ming, not Uchiha."

Que Ni gave him an expression that said, I understand.

Fei Yun snorted and accepted the wanted notice, continuing to read it.

Wanted Notice: Uchiha Feiyun, an accomplice in the Uchiha Clan massacre. Reward: thirty-five million ryo, dead or alive. The reward may be collected at Konoha Village in the Land of Fire.

Bounty Notice: Uchiha Feiyun. Thirty-five million ryo for his intact corpse.

After scanning them both, Fei Yun could not help but feel startled. Damn, I'm worth as much as an Asuma now.

By now, news of the Uchiha Clan massacre had long since spread and was no longer a secret. Because of it, many countries had begun stirring at the borders. Various probes and clashes continued, and war had nearly broken out several times.

Konoha was overwhelmed with work and had deployed large numbers of shinobi to stabilize the situation in every direction.

The Daimyo of the Land of Fire had also noticed the crisis and repeatedly allocated funds to support the Third Hokage in strengthening Konoha's defenses.

Although war had not broken out for the time being, reconnaissance teams and spies from every nation had already reached the vicinity of Konoha. Quite a few experts had even infiltrated the village.

Konoha's Intelligence Division was no pushover. They knew about these matters too, but they could not possibly kill them all, and the Third Hokage did not dare to. He was only decisive when it came to killing his own people.

Thus, the Third Hokage organized several large-scale ninjutsu drills inside and outside the village. All shinobi at special jonin level and above were summoned back to perform with all their might, intending to show the spies Konoha's strength. It had to be said that the sight of hundreds of jonin in formation truly intimidated every side. At the very least, all the small nations behaved themselves and tucked their tails between their legs.

It could not be helped. The military power of a major nation was no joke. Konoha could casually send out several jonin squads, and that alone was not something small countries could handle easily.

Fei Yun put away the two bounty notices and tugged at the corner of his mouth. "Uh... all right. I do look somewhat like him."

Que Ni looked at the young face beneath the hood and smiled without saying a word.

Fei Yun raised an eyebrow. "Brother Que Ni, you aren't thinking of turning me in for the money, are you?"

Que Ni was slightly taken aback and looked at Fei Yun with narrowed eyes.

"What are you saying, Brother Wu Ming?"

"How could that be? You don't need to worry so much. Which bounty hunter above A-rank isn't wanted or carrying a bounty? It's perfectly normal."

Que Ni paused, then continued, "Our Bounty Exchange depends entirely on bounty hunters like you to operate. Why would we do something that cuts off our own source of wealth?"

"Many times, we even find ways to protect outstanding hunters."

Fei Yun nodded and did not dwell on the matter any further.

Given his methods and behavior, even if Konoha had not issued a wanted notice for him, he could more or less guess what would happen.

Life really is unpredictable. Who would have thought that with one transformation, I'd become a big shot worth tens of millions of ryo? With this price on my head, I count as quite the notable figure in the Shinobi World, don't I?

Fei Yun spent nearly another nine million ryo to add more than thirty bounty targets. Naturally, they were still members of the four great clans, including the Sarutobi Clan and the Shimura Clan.

Come on, then. Let's hunt and see who can outdo whom.

Afterward, he confirmed the progress of his previous bounties with the Bounty Exchange. After all, he had spent so much money, so he naturally cared about the results.

Progress had been rapid during this period. Quite a few bounty hunters had made their moves, and more than fifty Konoha targets had already been killed. However, the pace had slowed recently. Konoha had likely begun taking precautions.

Fei Yun snorted inwardly. If the progress isn't enough, then I'll raise the bounty later. One hundred thousand per person. If that doesn't work, then five hundred thousand per person. I refuse to believe I can't crush those Konoha beasts with money.

As long as the rewards were high enough, plenty of people would be willing to act. Many people around them would even target Konoha. Numerous ordinary shinobi were desperately poor. Once large numbers of assassins flooded into Konoha, things would become truly interesting.

As for whether it would cause chaos or trigger a war in the Shinobi World, Fei Yun did not care in the slightest.

Fei Yun did not consider himself any kind of Sage, and he had never considered himself a good person.

Repay hatred with hatred, repay grievances with grievances. Why should I care about that crap?

Even the Sage of Six Paths couldn't solve these problems, so why should I, someone whose entire clan was exterminated, worry about them?

What had the God of Shinobi and dozens of Kage accomplished after all these years of effort?

The Shinobi World had erupted into three great shinobi wars in less than sixty years. It had spent more than half that time at war. When they were not fighting, it was not because they loved peace, but because they were preparing for the next war.

After all, even six-year-old children had nearly all been sent to battle. If they kept fighting, would they have to send nursing babies to the battlefield and let them throw milk bottles at their enemies?

After posting the bounty notices, Fei Yun left the Bounty Exchange and embarked on a new path of hunting.

This time, the target was rather far away, in the Land of Hot Water.

Fei Yun traveled to a small port town by the sea and settled there, preparing to take a ship across the ocean to the Land of Hot Water the next day.

This is still too slow. At this rate, it may take decades before I can truly avenge my clan.

Fei Yun put away the bounty notice in his hand and muttered to himself. He was considering the road ahead: how to obtain more money, or how to gain greater power.

Suddenly, inspiration struck him, and he thought of someone: Orochimaru.