"Haruki Hyuga."
"What?! Shouldn't that guy be lying in a hospital? How did he become a Rogue Ninja?"
Yakushi Nonō watched Naruto's curious expression turn to shock with amusement. After Mikoto Uchiha's careful styling, Naruto looked completely different from before.
Naruto's cry of surprise drew the attention of passersby. She smiled sheepishly, grabbed the two women's hands, and quickly left.
Inside the restaurant, Yakushi Nonō watched Naruto eat as she slowly shared the information she had gathered.
"Naruto, I heard Haruki Hyuga became a Rogue Ninja to take revenge on someone?"
"Could he be looking for me?"
Naruto sped up her chewing and swallowed the food in her mouth.
"If he wants revenge on me, there's no need to become a Rogue Ninja, right? That guy's brain must be broken."
"Someone who saw him said he had strange markings covering his entire body, and the Chakra he used was also very unusual. 'Sanba Reading'"
"Could it be... a Curse Mark?"
Hearing Yakushi Nonō's description, Naruto immediately thought of the Curse Mark Orochimaru had developed using Jugo's bodily fluids. In a sense, the power of the Curse Mark was also senjutsu Chakra.
Had Orochimaru lost his mind? Biting Haruki Hyuga for no reason was simply baffling...
"A Curse Mark?"
"A ninjutsu developed by Orochimaru, one of the Three Legendary Ninja. It can increase the power of whoever receives the Curse Mark, but its side effects are quite obvious. The longer it is used, the more severely the Curse Mark erodes its bearer, until they eventually lose themselves and become a monster."
"Isn't that dangerous?" Mikoto Uchiha looked at Naruto with concern.
"Dangerous? I don't think so. I already let him go once, yet he delivered himself right to me. If he wants revenge, he can come whenever he likes... It'll be a good chance to gather a pair of Byakugan."
Naruto knew exactly how powerful someone became after activating a Curse Mark, so she naturally did not fear Haruki Hyuga coming for revenge. With the Nine-Tails, would she be afraid of a one-eyed fool?
After eating and drinking her fill, Naruto looked at the two women.
"How much money is left?"
"Fifty thousand ryo..."
"Huh? How much?"
Naruto thought she had misheard.
"Fifty thousand ryo."
"I remember giving you five hundred thousand ryo before. How is there only fifty thousand left?" Naruto looked at them in astonishment. "What exactly did you two do to spend so much money?"
"The clothes you're wearing alone cost two hundred and fifty thousand ryo... Then there were other expenses, and the expenses for gathering information..." Yakushi Nonō carefully listed each item for Naruto.
"Alright, alright! I get it!"
Naruto propped up her chin helplessly, then suddenly thought of a way to make money.
"Nonō, do you know where the black market is?"
"Hm?"
Yakushi Nonō's pupils suddenly contracted.
"You... Naruto, how do you know about the black market?"
"I heard it's a place where you kill people for bounties. Take me there and let's have a look. To make sure we don't go hungry in the future, I'll kill a few Rogue Ninja and earn some money~! But I definitely can't go looking like this."
"The black market..."
Mikoto Uchiha frowned. She knew she could not change Naruto's mind and could only accept it. After all, she and Yakushi Nonō had chosen together the clothes that had cost half the money Naruto had given them.
"Naruto, be careful. The people there are not kind."
"Don't worry. I'm not a good person either."
Naruto turned around with a brilliant smile and formed hand seals with both hands.
"Transformation!"
After the smoke cleared, Naruto
had transformed into a beautiful young girl with red hair and red eyes. A pair of short horns rose from her head, and her plain dress could not conceal her beauty.
"You can call me Lucy. Let's go to the black market."
The underground world, also known as the "black market," was an organization tacitly permitted by every nation.
Any bounty could be accepted there. Some wandering ninja and Rogue Ninja accepted bounties there to make a living. Even bounties on the Kage of each ninja village could be found there. As long as one was strong enough to kill them and bring back their corpses, one could claim their reward.
The higher a person's strength and status, the higher their bounty in the black market. The bounties on the Kage reached hundreds of millions, even several hundred million ryo, but those mouthwatering rewards only made people hesitate from afar.
How could the strongest fighting forces of the ninja villages be killed so easily? Provoking a Kage-level ninja was practically asking to die.
"Kid! This isn't a place for someone like you... Oh? You're quite pretty. How about it? Want to consider becoming my woman?"
The male Rogue Ninja blocking Lucy and the other two glanced at Lucy without any interest. But when he noticed Mikoto Uchiha, who exuded the air of a mature married woman, his eyes lit up in amazement as he leered at her.
"I'll make sure you're fed and clothed..."
"You talk too much."
Lucy pressed a finger against the Rogue Ninja blocking her path. The scratched forehead protector on his head showed that he was a Rogue Ninja from Kusagakure.
The pellet of compressed Wind Release Chakra pierced not only his forehead protector but also his brain. The Grass Ninja Rogue Ninja died on the spot.
Yakushi Nonō naturally understood what to do. She picked up the Rogue Ninja's corpse and walked toward the counter where rewards were collected.
"How much is this guy worth?"
"Let me see. Eikura, a Rogue Ninja from Kusagakure—his bounty is five hundred thousand ryo."
Seeing Eikura die at the red-haired girl's hand without even having a chance to resist, those who had intended to provoke Lucy immediately abandoned the idea.
What a joke. They still wanted to live longer. They had become Rogue Ninja to live freely and comfortably; no one would joke around with their own life. With an example already before them, naturally no one dared provoke Lucy.
"Bring out the bounty list. No one here is leaving today."
Lucy walked up to the counter and slammed it hard.
Before you continue