Little Money

Jealousy, rage, hatred—the allure of immortality, the temptation of eternal life. As long as darkness remained in human hearts, those Chi, Mi, and Mōryō from another world would never die. The Fishbeam Tree villagers had been bewitched by Chi, which was why he had come back to life once more.

Fishbeam Forest held the power left behind by the shrine maiden Miroku. It was also the place where she had once killed Chi. The village chief and the residents of Fishbeam Village knew nothing about Chi. In the end, the chief noticed that something was wrong and hired ninja to investigate Chi's background. The reason he had not revealed the truth was because he still held onto hope for the immortality Chi had promised.

"Heh..."

Having learned the truth, Masayo let out a disdainful laugh. So Fishbeam Village had brought this entirely upon itself. After Chi revived, he devoured every single villager in Fishbeam Village. Before he could leave, they happened to arrive.

"Wait, this is bad. The person who issued the mission is dead. Doesn't that mean I worked for nothing?!"

Masayo clutched his head in frustration. His mission! Running into something like Chi meant this could be considered a special S-rank mission, but the client was gone!

Kurenai Yuhi and Ebisu exchanged glances. Luckily, their mission had been to protect Masayo, and under these circumstances, the mission would be upgraded as well.

Miroku looked at Masayo. She was gentle and beautiful, like a goddess untouched by the mortal world. She said, "This Fishbeam Forest has existed for thousands of years. The reason my power was able to remain for so long is also thanks to this forest. Your name is Masayo, right? The soul within you is far stronger than that of an ordinary person. Have you ever considered uncovering the power of your soul?"

"The power of my soul?!"

A storm surged through Masayo's heart. Could Miroku have seen through his identity? Though he thought so, he kept a calm expression and asked, "I have such power hidden within me? How can I bring it out?"

Miroku's body slowly began to fade. At the moment she was about to disappear, she left behind her final words: "Calm yourself. The answer lies within this Fishbeam Forest!"

Masayo, Kurenai Yuhi, and Ebisu looked at one another. Finally, Masayo complained speechlessly, "Why do all these people who seem so impressive love to be so mysterious? Hehehe..."

Masayo's complaint made Ebisu and Kurenai Yuhi nod in agreement.

"My one-hundred-percent mission success rate has been ruined just like that. Damn it, I can't let this go! Red Sis, Senior Ebisu, Fishbeam Village is a famous resort village. It has to be rich. Look! Hehehe..."

Masayo rubbed his hands together. His intentions were obvious. He could always find loopholes in the most unexpected places.

"Th-that doesn't seem very appropriate, does it?"

Kurenai Yuhi asked hesitantly.

Ebisu became somewhat excited as well. Stammering, he cried, "Th-this, this... How can we do that, Masayo? As ninja, we..."

Masayo cut Ebisu off directly. "Fishbeam Village's annual revenue is at least tens of millions. That's only my rough estimate—the actual amount can only be higher. Add in the wealth accumulated over the years, and it has definitely exceeded a hundred million."

"W-what? How much?"

Ebisu's jaw nearly dropped to the floor, and his eyes seemed ready to pop out from behind his sunglasses.

Masayo did not answer. Ebisu's reaction showed that he was tempted. Masayo turned his gaze toward Kurenai Yuhi, who was still struggling, and asked, "What about you, Red Sis?"

"Th-this doesn't seem right, does it? If Lord Hokage finds out... How about we turn it over after we find it?"

Kurenai Yuhi was suffering immense inner turmoil as she said this. She was stunned by the hundred million Masayo had mentioned. Faced with such a vast sum, people like them simply could not control themselves.

Masayo spread his hands and answered with a smile, "That's fine. After we divide the money equally, we'll take thirty percent and give one small portion to Lord Hokage, then turn the other portion over to Konoha. That way, everyone gets a taste of the benefits, and everyone is happy. Even if something happens later, Lord Hokage and Konoha will be there to cover for us."

"W-what?"

Ebisu and Kurenai Yuhi wore exceptionally colorful expressions. This was bribery, wasn't it? They both felt that if they truly agreed, they would walk down an entirely different path—one that ran completely contrary to the Will of Fire they had always embraced.

"Hehehe... Let's go, Senior Ebisu, Red Sis!"

Masayo grinned as he dragged the still-struggling Ebisu and Kurenai Yuhi along. When doing something like this, especially under such circumstances, they absolutely could not try to keep it all for themselves.

Because Chi's true form had been exposed earlier, the various homes in Fishbeam Village had been caught in the aftermath and reduced to ruins. The three split up and searched for a long time before finally finding Fishbeam Village's underground vault.

Masayo violently blasted open the explosion-proof door, which stood over ten meters tall, with a Big Ball Rasengan. The room full of cash and piles of gold bars left Masayo, Kurenai Yuhi, and Ebisu completely dumbfounded.

There was even more money than Masayo had expected. There had to be several billion at minimum. Fishbeam Village truly was wealthy; with decades of tourism development behind it, all the wealth it had accumulated over those years was stored here. Now it would all benefit them.

"Waaah..."

Ebisu suddenly dropped to his knees and burst into tears, leaving Kurenai Yuhi and Masayo utterly confused.

"I, Ebisu, have never seen this much money in my entire life! Waaah... Even if I spent my whole life doing missions, I could never earn this much back! Waaahhh..."

"Cough, cough..."

Masayo coughed softly a few times, a glint flashing through his eyes. "Just the cash alone appears to be more than four or five billion. Not to mention the thousands of gold bars piled up right in front of us. It seems Fishbeam Village was involved in other businesses besides tourism—probably highly profitable ones. No wonder Miroku didn't stop Chi from devouring the Fishbeam Village residents."

"Time to divide the loot, Senior Ebisu, Red Sis!"

Masayo, Kurenai Yuhi, and Ebisu all had shining eyes. By the time the outside world had reached the afternoon, the three had finally finished counting everything in Fishbeam Village's vault.

"Five billion eight hundred million in cash, and three thousand twenty-two gold bars!"

Even Masayo was stunned. Poverty had limited his imagination. This was absurdly excessive. Fishbeam Village definitely had other outrageously profitable businesses besides tourism—likely the kind he was thinking of.

"Masayo, how do you think we should divide it?"

Kurenai Yuhi no longer looked as mature and composed as usual. This money was enough that she would never be able to spend it all in her lifetime.

Masayo said with a smile, "Since there's so much money, we can be a little flexible. We can't possibly hand over thirty percent anymore. The three of us will split five billion one hundred million in cash and three thousand gold bars equally. Of the remaining seven hundred million in cash and twenty-two gold bars, we'll give four hundred million in cash to Lord Hokage. The final three hundred million in cash and twenty-two gold bars will be turned over to Konoha."

Masayo added, "Other than us, no one knows Fishbeam Village had this much money. The gold bars are smooth and have no inscriptions or markings, so we don't need to worry about where they came from!"

"Five billion one hundred million and three thousand gold bars, split between us... I..."

Ebisu felt as though a heavenly pie had fallen straight onto his head. Completely abandoning his usual image, he said through tears, "Oh, Mom... Sob... One billion seven hundred million, plus a thousand gold bars. How am I supposed to spend all that?!"