Bounty Ninja

At the border of the Land of Fire stood Nameless Town.

The town was small, with a dirt road running from east to west. Most of the shops along it were old. The paint had faded from their signs, and dried chilies and salted fish hung beneath their eaves.

At the center of town stood a low building.

An old wooden board hung outside. Years of wind and rain had worn its edges pale, and yellowed bounty notices covered its surface.

The papers overlapped in layers. Some had faded and curled; rain had blurred the writing on others. They looked like old scars that could never be peeled away.

At the very top of that pile of old notices, a brand-new one had been nailed in the most conspicuous spot.

The paper was pristine white, its ink still wet.

One line was written on it:

"Uchiha En, newly appointed Uchiha Clan Clan Head of Konohagakure. Bounty: 80 million ryō. Dead or alive."

The notice pinned beside it was for an S-rank Missing-nin, with a bounty of only 30 million ryō.

That white sheet offering 80 million ryō towered over every other notice like a hill above a sandpile, making the old papers look dull and gray.

No issuer was named at the bottom.

Only the Bounty Office's acceptance stamp marked the lower right corner in bright red.

Inside, a middle-aged man who looked like the Shopkeeper yawned, glanced at the newly posted notice, then lowered his head and went back to his abacus.

The notice had arrived three days earlier.

The person who delivered it had kept his face hidden. He had left only a letter and a deposit. The letter said to "post it according to the rules." The Bounty Office neither knew nor wanted to know who he