Debt of Five Hundred Thousand

"Come on, Teacher, why are you pulling something like a sneak attack?" In this place, the only one capable of launching a sneak attack was the owner of this courtyard, Salamander Hanzo.

"Didn't you say this thing was too light? So I tested just how light it was for you. But it looks like it really was a little light. Here, I got you a heavier one." With that, Hanzo tossed over another one.

After catching it, Zhou Yang did not try throwing it this time. He put it directly on himself without even taking off the previous one. However, Hanzo advised, "You'd better only use one pair for now. You'll have a mission in three days, so you won't have enough time to adapt. Once you return from completing it, I'll give you something heavier. Don't worry."

But Zhou Yang did not take either one off. He felt that this was just right. He had also looked at the latter one—it weighed seventy-five kilograms. Together, they weighed one hundred and twenty-five kilograms, a weight he felt he could handle. Hanzo merely shook his head when he saw no reaction from him. After all, only a person truly knew their own body. He was merely offering advice.

"Oh, right, Teacher."

"What is it?"

"Could you help me make some weighted clothing to wear? Oh, and something for my wrists too."

"I do have wrist weights, though they might be a little light for you. I don't have weighted clothing here, so we can only have a set custom-made in the Land of Iron. Don't tell me you plan to wear all that when you go catch him?"

"Of course not. I'm just telling you in advance. I hope I can get them sooner."

"Then no problem. Go out later and get your measurements. I'll send someone to buy them now."

"Okay."

"But you'll owe quite a bit this way!"

"Huh?" Zhou Yang asked cautiously. "How much do I owe?"

"Let me calculate. Two sets of weights, weighted clothing, wrist weights, and shipping... All right, I'll round it off and give you a discount. Five hundred thousand ryo."

"How much? Five hundred thousand?" As far as Zhou Yang knew, an ordinary family only spent fifty ryo a day—though that was in Amegakure.

"Hey, five hundred thousand isn't that much. Do missions for a while and you'll earn it."

"Then how much is the reward for my current mission?"

"Uh... since this is a Lower Ninja promotion mission, there's no money."

"Huh? How is that possible? No way, you definitely skimmed it."

"Are you sure you want to demand payment? You know, when you and Qianbai wrecked my house, the repairs cost quite a bit. How much was it again?" Hanzo put on a thoughtful expression.

"Wait, forget the mission reward. Then the things I confiscate belong to me, right?"

"Do whatever you want with those. You just need to bring back the head."

"That works. Then can I ask how much a mission like mine usually pays?"

Hanzo raised one hand.

"One hundred thousand?"

"Ten thousand."

"What? Isn't the target of this mission possibly a Middle Ninja? Why is it only worth that little?" In Zhou Yang's memories, Elite Upper Ninja Asuma was worth thirty million ryo. Then a Middle Ninja should at least be worth several hundred thousand, right? He had already estimated low.

"Oh, this mission has actually been around for quite some time. It's because its value for money is a little low. It's actually a pseudo-B-rank mission, but it's classified as a lower rank. That isn't wrong, either."

"So you're treating my combat strength as that of a Middle Ninja?"

"No, that's why this mission is difficult. Didn't I ask you? You didn't refuse!"

Damn it? There was an option to refuse? How did I not think of that?

"Of course, the price of refusing isn't high. You just won't be able to become a ninja here for the rest of your life."

What kind of bullshit is that!

Hanzo thought for a while. Seeing that there was nothing else to add, he waved his hand and turned to leave. After all, he still had plenty of official business to handle. Zhou Yang, meanwhile, began getting used to the feeling of wearing the weights.

After adding another seventy-five kilograms, the weight on Zhou Yang's legs increased tremendously. It reminded him of one of Lee's few shining moments in the anime, when he dropped those two-hundred-kilogram weights onto the ground. The shocking scene immediately made him wonder when he would get to do the same.

He slowly lifted a leg, then brought his foot down heavily. Each time he raised a foot, a deep footprint was left behind. This time, he did not adapt as quickly as before. After taking only a few steps, he already felt a little tired.

Luckily, he had adapted to fifty kilograms beforehand. Otherwise, he probably would not even be able to lift his legs now. Zhou Yang began training, leaving one footprint after another.

The training regimen he set for himself was simple: improve his physical fitness. This was also the basic way of training qi. As for anything else, it had not appeared in the original work, so he did not know.

However, Zhou Yang quite liked this method of training, because he could think about his future direction while training. As he trudged forward with difficulty, he pondered what qi really was.

"What exactly is qi? For now, it seems to be a kind of energy within the human body, just like chakra. But chakra energy has attributes, while qi has none. Yet qi, like chakra, can be condensed into a high-density mass of energy and released. It can also protect the body, or be bestowed upon weapons connected to the body. Other than lacking elemental properties, it doesn't seem that different from chakra. Wait, it can also be used to identify someone and judge their strength through another person's qi. What else is there?"

"Zhou Yang, watch where you're going!"

"Huh? Ah! My nose." Zhou Yang rubbed his slightly sore nose after walking into a tree. Fortunately, he had not been moving quickly, so it did not hurt much.

"Looks like I really can't get distracted!" With that thought, Zhou Yang gave up on thinking any further. He had no clues for the moment anyway, so he might as well focus on cultivation.

And so, Zhou Yang began a day of training.

Elsewhere, Hanzo watched the increasingly tense situation, and the wrinkles on his forehead deepened until they looked as though they could clamp a pen. He put down the report in his hand and looked toward the dim sky, murmuring, "It seems Zhou Yang's prediction was still a little too conservative. The hawks in those countries can no longer sit still."

Yes, Zhou Yang's understanding of war was direct confrontation. But reality was far more complicated. Since the essence of ninja work was gathering intelligence and carrying out assassinations, they had actually already entered the era of the Second Shinobi World War. It was simply being fought mostly in the shadows, not yet brought into the open.

The information Hanzo saw concerned things like the assassination of some person or a fire breaking out at some important location. Naturally, someone who understood the inside story knew those incidents were not accidents, but premeditated. Thus, he concluded that the contest between the great nations had already begun. He simply did not know when it would affect smaller countries like theirs.

Previously, he had not particularly cared about such wars. Their country was poor to begin with, and war might even let them make a windfall. But things were different now. With marine products as a resource, all he wanted was for this underground war to continue a little longer.