Naruto: I became a super shadow in the Anbu.

Chapter 299 Underground Gold Exchange
After leaving the village, Nara Umeka took out two sets of clothes and a mask.

"We must disguise ourselves as noble servants of the Land of Fire, not as people from Konoha."

While changing clothes, Nara Meika kept peeking at the fox, trying to find out who it was, but the fox was too fast and she didn't see anything.

A town in the western part of the Land of Fire.

Nara Meika and Yako, dressed in the long robes commonly seen in noble mansions and wearing masks, entered an abandoned house on the outskirts of town.

I don't know where Nara Baika got the information, but this house hides an underground gold exchange.

The tattered spiderweb was extremely realistic, as if no one had visited in a long time.

The ground was covered with a thick layer of loose soil, which kicked up a lot of dust when you stepped on it.

After arriving at the stairwell, Nara Umeka headed towards the basement.

Entering the dark basement, Nara Baika tapped on the wall with a peculiar rhythm.

A door in the basement opened, revealing a light.

The two entered the room.

A long counter separated the room, behind which was an old man, and behind him was a wall full of freezers storing corpses.

Four guards stood at the four corners in front of the counter.

Ye Guang observed the old man; the old man was quite strong, at least at the level of a Special Jonin.

This person is considered a master among wandering ninjas.

As for the four guards, they were roughly at the level of Chunin.

Nara Umeka said, "I'll post the request."

The old man slightly opened his eyes, took out a booklet, and asked Nara Umeka to register it.

Nara Baika wrote down the name of a Sand Village Jonin in the booklet, with a bounty of 1600 million ryo.

She unsealed three boxes containing 1600 million taels of cash.

The old man carefully examined the bundles of money and said, "Takeshi, a Jonin from Sunagakure, his previous bounty was 1100 million ryo. It seems his strength has increased."

But is this your first time visiting an underground gold exchange?

Nara Umeka nodded upon hearing this, unsure of what she had done wrong.

The old man said, "For the bounty mission, you also need to pay a 20% handling fee, which is another 320 million taels."

Nara Meika was taken aback. She thought she had prepared enough, having found the contact information for the underground gold exchange and accurately located the place.

Unexpectedly, the intelligence was still not detailed enough.

Nara Baixiang summoned a money box again and counted out 320 million taels.

“Mr. Kino, my companions and I serve the nobles of the Land of Rivers, and we are also bounty hunters. Please show us our bounty list.”

The old man named Jinwei was stunned; it had been a long time since anyone had called his name.

In underground gold exchange shops, names don't matter; people only need to know that he is the person in charge of the exchange.

Nara Baika deliberately called out Kinoo's name; being able to find out his name was a way of demonstrating her strength.

Jinwei said, "This is the bounty booklet."

Nara Umeka took a booklet and quickly browsed through it.

Ye Guang glanced around from behind, eager to know if he had a bounty on his head.

Nara Baika asked, "Why aren't there any bounties from the nobles of the Land of Fire or the ninjas of Konoha?"

Kino said, "This is the Land of Fire, so of course there are no nobles from the Land of Fire or Konoha ninjas here. If you want to know the bounty amounts for Konoha ninjas, you can go to other countries."

This is one of the self-protection measures of underground gold exchange shops.

Do not do business in the Land of Fire, and the same applies to other countries.

Ye Guang remembers that in the original work, Kakuzu exchanged Jiraiya's bounty at the underground gold exchange in the Land of Fire and even killed Sarutobi Asuma.

It seems that Konoha has weakened considerably in the past twenty years, and even underground gold exchange shops are no longer operating discreetly.

Nara Umeka nodded, noted down a few names, and then turned and left.

Upon arriving outside the gold exchange, the two walked away.

Nara Baika said, "Fox, we need to follow these people and see where they go and who they contact."

The underground gold exchange is somewhat mysterious; even now, the village doesn't know who's behind it.

1600 million taels is a huge sum of money; Jinwei wouldn't keep it for himself, he'd probably give it to his superior.

Ye Guang said, "Following them is fine, but not us."

"Hmm?" Nara Baika asked, "What do you mean?"

"I'll go and follow them. I'm skilled in earth-based techniques, so it'll be hard for them to be detected. It'll be different if I take you with me," Ye Guang said.

"Be careful and don't wander around before I get back."

Nara Meika was very unhappy, but she understood that she was a Jonin, and so was the fox, but her strength was far inferior to the fox's.

Nara Baika had heard the name of the fox several times from the Jonin class.

The tasks the fox completed involved either Jinchuriki or Madara Uchiha.

In such missions, Nara Baika could only offer advice and write reports afterward; she lacked the ability to actually fight.

This is the greatest tragedy of the Nara clan.

Even if you have countless tactics in your mind, without the strength, all tactics are just empty talk and you have to wait for the cooperation of others.

"I will wait here."

Seeing how understanding Nara Meika was, Yako formed hand seals and used the technique of reflecting fish in the earth to dive underground.

Once you've entered the depths of the earth, immediately switch to the Mayfly Technique and disappear.

Nara Baika tried to track down the fox, but the fox was too strong and disappeared without a trace.

When she was investigating Huang Jianmu, a material for puppets, in the Land of Wind, she thought she was an important support in the battle.

Now she doesn't even have a chance to intervene.

Ye Guang returned to the underground gold exchange.

Jinwei remained leaning back in his chair, feigning sleep, while the four guards remained motionless.

Unbeknownst to these people, beneath the long countertop, there was a face facing the ground.

Using the techniques of mayflies for reconnaissance is quite peculiar.

He blended seamlessly into the wooden counter, becoming an integral part of it.

During the duel between Itachi and Sasuke, neither of them noticed Zetsu beside them.

Several hours later, the door of a freezer suddenly opened.

The moonlight tilted its head slightly, revealing more heads peeking out from under the counter.

Has it come back to life? How did the freezer open?
Golden Tail burrowed into the freezer.

Ye Guang quickly sneaked near the freezer, trying to sneak inside, but the freezer was made of iron, not organic matter, and he was unsuccessful.

He heard a muffled sound coming from the freezer.

"Sir, someone has posted a new bounty..."

Ye Guang was astonished. This was actually a remote communication system?

It wasn't a ninja technique, but some kind of new technology.

Jinwei was very cautious inside, and said nothing except to report.

Ye Guang didn't know who the adult he was talking about was.

On second thought, since the ninja world has electric lights and appliances, it's not impossible that there are scientific geniuses in the ninja world who have invented long-distance communication methods.

After saying only a few words, Jinwei left the freezer and continued to sit behind the counter, leaning back in her chair and pretending to doze off.

As night fell, Jinwei and two guards left, leaving only two guards to stay behind.

It seems the guards will be taking turns protecting this place.

It wasn't until an hour after Jinwei left that Yeguang began to make his move.

The two guards suddenly opened their eyes wide, astonished to find that they could not move.

Sealing runes covered their entire bodies, locking their jaws, and in their tension and fear, strange grunting sounds came from deep within their throats.

Ye Guang pulled open the freezer where Jinwei had once lain and crawled inside.

As soon as he lay down, Ye Guang heard a beeping sound. It was indeed some kind of strange technological device.

Luminous groped around, trying to activate the device.

Wait... this beeping sound... it sounds a bit like a time bomb countdown.
The moment I had this thought, the device activated its self-destruct program and exploded instantly.

After the explosion, Ye Guang fled underground in a disheveled state.

In the middle of the night, the fox appeared in an instant, startling Nara Baika.

Not only is the fox incredibly skilled in earth-遁 (earth-遁 is a technique that allows one to escape through earth), but its instantaneous movement technique is also remarkably powerful.

Others would instantly appear behind her without her noticing; this was a situation she encountered when she was a Chunin and met a Jonin.

The fox's hood was torn, as if it had been blown up close.

Given his immense strength, why did this happen?

Nara Meika glanced at it and said, "We encountered a cylindrical explosion? The explosion was so uniform? Did we find explosive tags plastered all over the cave walls?"

As expected of Nara Baika, her analysis is very close to the truth.

"It was a cylindrical explosion," Ye Guang said.

"Jinwei, the owner of the underground gold exchange, hid the communication device in a freezer."

After Kin-Wei left, I sneaked into the freezer. The freezer recognized that I was not Kin-Wei and exploded.

However, I also obtained some key parts from the freezer.

Ye Guang took out a circuit board and handed it to Nara Meika.

The worldview of the ninja world is so chaotic that they even have circuit boards.

Nara Umeka received the exquisite circuit board and said:

"Ninja geniuses and bloodline ninjas are concentrated in various ninja villages. No matter how many wandering ninjas or suicide ninjas the daimyo of various countries secretly cultivate, they can never compare with the major ninja villages."

Therefore, the daimyo of various countries have been working hard in other areas for a long time.

For example, the Electromagnetic Craftsmen's Guild in the Land of Lightning and the Power Craftsmen's Guild in the Land of Fire have developed many strange but exceptionally useful inventions.

If I'm not mistaken, this is a circuit board invented by the Electromagnetic Craftsmen's Guild of the Land of Thunder.

Ye Guang was taken aback. Was the name the same as the one in his previous life?

Ye Guang said, "So, behind these underground gold exchange bureaus are big names from various countries?"
The daimyo of various countries have a need for bounties on ninjas, and the five great nations and various smaller countries all have underground gold exchange offices.

The underground gold exchange in the Land of Fire does not offer bounties to nobles and ninjas from the Land of Fire, and other major countries should be similar.

Is this special organization carefully serving the daimyo?

Nara Umeka nodded and said:
"When ninjas are on missions, they often burn down a village or destroy a reservoir."

For nobles and commoners alike, weak ninjas were man-made disasters, while powerful ninjas were natural calamities.

The daimyo harbored resentment but dared not express it openly.

They couldn't deal with the ninjas from the big villages, but they could use money to deal with the wandering ninjas. This was the original intention of the underground gold exchange.

I wonder if this underground gold exchange scheme will eventually become a behemoth.

Ye Guang said, "Whether the underground gold exchange will become a behemoth depends on the strength of the bounty ninjas."

If a bounty hunter had Kage-level strength and a passion for making money, all the Jonin from every ninja village would tremble in fear.

That refers to Kakuzu.

If the underground gold exchange could support three figures like Kakuzu, then ninjas from the ninja village would have to be extremely careful when leaving the village.

Nara Baika said, "Fox, let's stop the investigation into the underground gold exchange here for now."

We have a potential collaboration opportunity with underground gold exchange bureaus.

The important thing now is to complete the bounty assassination as soon as possible and exchange our money at the underground money exchange.

"Give us back our money?" Ye Guang said.

"You mean we offered a 1600 million ryo bounty on Tadashi, a Jonin from Sunagakure, and then went and killed Tadashi ourselves to get our money back?"
The fee for exchanging gold underground is 20%, which amounts to 320 million taels.

"I painstakingly killed that person, and in the end, I even spent an extra 320 million ryo, just to avoid retaliation from Sunagakure?"

“Yes, you understood correctly,” Nara Umeka said.

"We'd better act quickly. If Takashi is killed by other bounty hunters, our loss won't be 320 million taels, it will be 1920 million taels."

"Then we definitely need to hurry."

Nara Meika and Yoru set off for the Land of Wind.

Upon entering the Land of Wind, Ye Guang conjured a scroll.

"Junior Ninja Meixiang, please step back a bit. This is an ANBU secret."

Nara Umeka rolled her eyes at the fox and said:
"I am the first assistant to Shikano-sama, the leader of the Jonin class, and I know most of the secrets of the village."

"The spy communication scroll you produced was transferred from the Root to the Dark Side, wasn't it?"

Nara Baika knew something that the Dark Division considered a secret.

Ye Guang said, "I know you know, but please respect the Dark Division. This is a secret that many spies risk their lives to protect."

This mission is special; even with my status, I can only use the communication scroll once temporarily.

Please turn around, or walk away.

Nara Umeka had no choice but to turn around.

Ye Guang opened the scroll, took out a medicine bottle, and smeared the blood from the bottle onto the scroll.

This isn't the blood of the glowing moon; it's the blood of the gibbon.

Yellow Dog's new assistant, the gibbon, is in charge of liaison within the spy network.

After forming the hand seals, Ye Guang used a blood sample from the gibbon to summon two ninja hawks.

These highly trained ninja hawks were a means for spies to quickly exchange intelligence.

The ninja hawk flew away quickly.

After arriving at an oasis, a ninja eagle spotted a hidden signal within it.

The ninja eagle began to circle in the distance from the oasis.

Inside the oasis, a Sand Ninja discovered a Ninja Hawk.

He was a spy from Konoha who infiltrated Sunagakure.

He continuously collected the codes by circling like a hawk. Left, right, up, and down each represented a different signal.

He then translated the code into commands.

Several days later, the spy buried a scroll under a cactus, making a concealed mark that the Ninja Eagle could recognize.

The ninja eagle could see the eyes of a mouse on the ground from thousands of meters in the air; its eyesight was extremely sharp, and it could easily distinguish codes. It even snatched away a small scroll.

Ye Guang obtained the scroll, which stated that Sunagakure Jonin Takumi was on a mission in Kyoto, the Land of Wind, and might return to Sunagakure soon.

Yako and Nara Meika arrived outside Kyoto, the Land of Wind, and ambushed Tazumi.

The moonlight gazed at the capital of the Land of Wind from afar.

It was a capital city filled with adobe buildings, most of which were one or two stories high, while the mansions of nobles were built with wood, reaching three or four stories.

After waiting for several days, a hint of anxiety appeared in Nara Meika's eyes.

It would be terrible if my design caused the village to lose 1920 million taels of silver.

Yako noticed Nara Baika's anxiety and said:

"The daimyo of various countries are too rich, the brains of ninjas are rife with inflation."

How could a Sand Village Jonin be worth 1600 million ryo? He might not earn that much money in his entire life.

Nara Baika, however, said, "Takeshi, a Jonin from Sunagakure, is a puppeteer who has been famous in Sunagakure for a long time. He is estimated to have the strength of an elite Jonin."

"A puppeteer? Or an elite Jonin?"

Ye Guang thought to himself, "Isn't this just choosing a menu based on who you are? This is totally my type."

That night, Tade, along with three genin, left Kyoto, the Land of Wind, after completing their mission.

Like Konoha, all the major ninja villages require all Jonin to serve as Jonin in charge of the Ninja Academy, in order to help the village recover as quickly as possible.

The temperature difference between day and night in the desert is significant.

The temperature was only four or five degrees Celsius. Tian Chu reached out and felt the wind; it was a bit chilly tonight.

(End of this chapter)