I just returned to Konoha and found that my entire clan was gone.

"Miss Mozi, my mission is to protect your safety. I won't ask any other questions."

Even the slow-witted Ino sensed something was amiss. Instead of offering further comfort, she glanced at Moko and followed Ye Lan.

Mozi's beautiful face instantly darkened. She hadn't been this angry when facing so many ninjas. This young boy seemed to see right through her.

In the following days, Ye Lan and the others rarely went out and mostly stayed in the yard. The silent atmosphere affected Ino and Choji. Choji stopped making a fuss about eating barbecue, and Ino wanted to ask questions several times, but in the end, she remained silent.

Finally, Mozi finished her work and everyone was about to return. This time, Ye Lan told Shikamaru to be on his guard. He was afraid of encountering Kakuzu and Hidan's attack again. He felt a bit of pressure dealing with these two while protecting Mozi.

To Ye Lan's surprise, the return journey to the Land of Fire proceeded without incident, leading her to conclude that Kakuzu and the other two had abandoned their mission. Regardless of their inner thoughts, everyone breathed a sigh of relief upon safely arriving in the city.

"Ninja Ye Lan's mission has successfully concluded. My father must have prepared a sumptuous meal. Why don't you come back with us?" Mo Zi invited Ye Lan after they returned to the city, having finished his mission.

"Miss Mozi, we need to return to the village as soon as possible to report to Lord Hokage, so we won't disturb you any longer." Ye Lan didn't want to get too entangled with this woman and refused directly.

"Alright, then I wish Jonin Ye Lan a safe journey." Mo Zi put away her smile; she was just being polite, knowing that Ye Lan was unlikely to agree.

Seeing Mozi's quick change of expression, Ye Lan didn't bother and left. After Mozi and her group had gone far away, Ding Ci walked up to Ye Lan and pitifully said, "Senior Ye Lan, my barbecue~"

Ye Lan couldn't help but slap his forehead. He had promised Choji he would treat him to barbecue, so he had no choice but to take the group to the barbecue restaurant. Shikamaru and Ino also laughed. It seemed the mission was accomplished and they could finally relax.

...

"When do we make our move?" Hidan scratched his butt. He and Kakuzu had been in the Kanagawa family's yard for a long time, and the mosquitoes were almost eating him alive. Even though he was immortal, he couldn't stand the itching.

"It seems Uchiha Yelan didn't come back with them. Let's wait until after dinner." Kakuzu, dressed in a gray robe that concealed his entire body in the darkness, glanced at Hidan, who was only wearing a leather jacket. He wasn't wearing any clothes underneath, and the zipper was undone, exposing most of his skin. Wouldn't mosquitoes be eager to bite him?

"Hurry up, this family has so many flowers! There are so many mosquitoes..."

Inside the hall, Ito had indeed prepared a sumptuous meal, but only he and Moko were eating; Masuke was nowhere to be found.

"Has everything been taken care of?" Ito asked her daughter with some concern, not disappointed that Ye Lan hadn't come.

"Don't worry, my aunt has taken back all of An's father's land. I estimate we'll get a lot more next year," Mozi said calmly. Her main purpose in going back wasn't to visit her grandmother, but to deal with An's father's family's inheritance. Now that An had become a traitor, they bought the most important land at the cheapest price without much effort.

"That's good. It wasn't for nothing that I sent so many gifts to the people of Yugakure." Ito breathed a sigh of relief, then asked, "Where's Masuke?"

Upon hearing this person's name, Mozi's eyes flashed with disgust as she said, "I guess he's been cooped up for too long and has been drinking somewhere."

"That kid!" Ito slammed his fist on the table in front of him. Who knows where he'd been drinking or chasing after women again.

"Hehe, bribing people with money, exploiting them and causing them to lose everything, Miss Mozi, you really have some clever methods!"

Upon hearing the other voices, Ito and Moko's expressions changed. Looking around, they realized that the door had been opened, and the two people at the door were Kakuzu and Hidan, whom Moko had encountered before.

laugh-

Hidan pulled the scythe from a servant, licked the blood off it, and then spat it out, saying, "It tastes awful."

"What do you want? How much money do you want? I'll give you anything!" Ito realized he was in trouble. He hadn't expected anyone to come to his house, and he panicked.

"Not much, 1000 million taels," Jiao said casually.

Mozi breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing the price of 1000 million taels. Knowing that these ninjas were only after money, she said without hesitation, "I'll offer 1 million taels to take their lives!"

Seeing Mozi casually mention one hundred million, even Kakuzu paused, and Hidan, not expecting the other party to be so rich, exclaimed, "Kakuzu, this is a big deal! One hundred million!"

Moko smiled when she saw Hidan's excited expression; these naive ninjas had never seen anything like this before.

puff-

Mozi froze, looking down at her chest. Kakuzu's tentacle fist had pierced her heart. She couldn't understand why a bounty hunter like Kakuzu would give up 100 million ryo.

"Ah!" Ito cried out as he saw his daughter die in front of him, his usual arrogance completely gone.

"Ugh! So noisy!" Hidan picked at his ear and threw his scythe at Ito. Ito was hit precisely before he could run two steps and fell to the ground.

Kakuzu approached the dying Ito, a look of confusion and resentment on Ito's face. Ito struggled to speak, "No...don't kill me...my...money is all yours..."

Without hesitation, Kakuzu delivered a punch that took Ito's breath away. Only then did he mutter, "In this line of work, integrity is paramount..."

Standing up again, Kakuzu stood silently beside Ito's corpse for a long time, lost in thought. He had once been betrayed by a village, but now he had met someone who had also been betrayed by a village. This person trusted him even at the cost of his life, and no matter how cold his heart was, it would still beat a little.

"Tsk tsk tsk, what a pity that 100 million ryo is gone just like that." Even Hidan, who doesn't care about money, felt a little heartache, but he didn't stop Kakuzu from doing so.

"Pack up, take everything valuable and easy to carry, we can recover a lot of our losses." Kakuzu stopped thinking and the Earth Grudge Fear, symbolizing fire release, emerged from his body, and a huge fire covered everything.

...

"Barbecue! Barbecue!" Ye Lan couldn't help but regret it when he saw Choji ordering a table full of food. Ino and Shikamaru laughed too. Ye Lan's expression at this moment was just like Asuma's back then. Did he not understand why the Akimichi clan was known as a big eater in Konoha?

boom-

Ye Lan, who was sitting in his seat, stood up and opened the window next to him to look at the roaring sound. He saw many flames in the distance. Compared with the whole sky, the fire was not big, but at this moment the flames seemed to have broken free of their restraints and were burning bigger and bigger, as if they were going to burn through the dark night.

Chapter 49 The Gift

"So this mission was a failure?" Ye Lan had returned to the village and was now reporting to Tsunade.

"Tsk, the mission is still considered complete. The Kanagawa family has already given the reward to Konoha, but there's no trace of it?" Tsunade bit her finger. She hadn't expected the mission to end like this.

"I went to investigate the scene again later, and there was only a group of charred corpses. The perpetrator was obviously an experienced person who didn't leave any traces." Ye Lan recalled that he hadn't expected anyone to make a move in such a big city.

“However…” Ye Lan said somewhat uncertainly, “I have two people I suspect.”

"Who is it?" Tsunade needed an answer now. The death of a nobleman from Kanagawa would have a very bad impact. A group of nobles from the Land of Fire were urging her to find the murderer as soon as possible.

Ye Lan then told Tsunade about Kakuzu and Hidan, whom they had encountered on the road, but he didn't know their names, only that they seemed to be bounty hunters.

"Bounty hunters? Are you sure?" Tsunade really didn't expect these people to target nobles. These people were all potential clients of bounty hunters, and if they were discovered, they could lose many clients.

"Besides that, I really can't think of anyone else." Ye Lan said helplessly, wondering why most of the tasks he did always ended up with unexpected problems.

"You don't need to ask about this. I'll have someone investigate." Tsunade stopped talking about the mission and casually added, "Naruto might go out of the village with Jiraiya later, probably for a while. Sasuke is already a Chunin, and I haven't decided where to arrange his internship. Do you have any suggestions?"

Regarding his younger brother, Ye Lan knew he couldn't say too much. After thinking for a moment, he said, "Let's leave this to Lady Tsunade to arrange."

"How boring. I shouldn't have asked you. You're so young and you've already learned to pass the buck." Tsunade was a little annoyed, but instead spoke the truth, "Kakashi suggested that I send Sasuke to the Anbu. What do you think?"

What do you think? Is this something I can decide? I didn't expect Kakashi to recommend Sasuke to the Anbu. It seems he still hopes his student can have better development. This time, Ye Lan didn't mince words, "I think Kakashi's suggestion is good, I have no objections."

Tsunade waved her hand, indicating that Ye Lan could leave after receiving his reply.

After leaving the Hokage Building, Ye Lan once again visited Tenten's ninja tool shop.

"Senior Ye Lan! Are you ready this time?" Tian Tian was somewhat surprised to see Ye Lan, then smiled.

Ye Lan knew exactly what "every day" meant. He was incredibly embarrassed when he left last time, but he didn't show it on his face. He nodded and said, "I've already prepared the money."

"Please come in! Please come in! Let me tell you, Senior Ye Lan, my uncle's cooking skills are famous far and wide." Tian Tian was a little different from her usual self, pulling Ye Lan along like a money-grubber.

After paying half the deposit, he didn't have much money left. He had to pay the other half in the next month. After leaving, Ye Lan couldn't help but sigh at how slow this money-making efficiency was. But now the ninja sword was finally settled. When Sasuke went to the Anbu, he would give him that ninja sword adapted to lightning release as a gift.

"Ye Lan!" Ye Lan was about to go home when someone called out to her. She turned around and saw that it was Asma.

"I haven't properly thanked you for what happened before, and you've brought my student along on this mission. You've really gone to a lot of trouble!" Asma had just returned and happened to see Ye Lan coming to express his gratitude.

"It's nothing, you're too kind." Ye Lan, the son of the Hokage, neither had a bad nor a good feeling about him, and simply replied indifferently.

"Um... I'll treat you to a drink!" Asuma said instinctively, unsure how to thank Ye Lan.

Why do they all like to treat people to drinks? Is this how people in Konoha communicate? Ye Lan thought to himself, "Asuma, I'm not an adult yet."

"Ah! Sorry, I forgot." Ye Lan's strength often made Asuma forget that he was still a young boy, so he quickly apologized.

"Maybe next time." Asuma Yelan refused and took his leave.

After Ye Lan left, Asuma scratched his head, puzzled as to why Ye Lan would refuse. He thought that even if they didn't drink, they could have just had a meal together. Ye Lan seemed to have agreed to Hong Dou's invitation to dinner last time, so why couldn't he?

...

"Kakashi." Seeing Sasuke training, Ye Lan came to Kakashi's side.

"What is it?" Kakashi was still holding a book in his hand, enjoying a rare moment of leisure.

"Do you have any money on you? Lend me some." Ye Lan's tone was calm, as if it were a matter of course.

"I do have some money, I can lend it to you, but what do you need it for?" Kakashi, being a bachelor, didn't have many expenses, but he had saved up quite a bit of money over the years by carrying out missions.

"My knife is broken. It will cost a lot to have someone make a new one." Ye Lan hasn't been going out on missions lately, and he's starting to worry about it. His knife will be ready soon.

"How much?" Kakashi asked, then continued flipping through the book in his hand.

"Ten million taels..." As expected, Ye Lan knew Kakashi would definitely agree.

"You bastard..." Kakashi stopped reading the book, not expecting Ye Lan to want so much.

"To lend or not to lend?" Ye Lan didn't waste any words.

"Alright, alright, you can borrow it then." Kakashi knew that a good weapon was indeed expensive, and Ye Lan wasn't doing anything bad, so he agreed.

Hearing this, Ye Lan felt relieved and couldn't help but say, "You're not going to get married, so what do you need so much money for?"

"That's really going too far," Kakashi said, somewhat regretting lending the money to Ye Lan.

"Alright, I'll pay you back when I have the money." Ye Lan said nothing more, relieved that the matter of the ninja sword was finally resolved.

"I heard that Naruto is going to go out for training with Jiraiya-sama?" With the weight lifted from her heart, Ye Lan began to ask about other things.

"Yes, the Akatsuki organization made Jiraiya worry about Naruto's safety and they plan to take Naruto with them."

"I encountered two bounty hunters on my last mission. One of them seemed to be immortal, and the other was very strong."

"You already seem very strong, and you're even immortal? What are those two people called?"

"I don't know. They only fought me briefly. One of them could still shout even after I cut off both of his arms, and the other's fire jutsu was no less than mine." Ye Lan pondered. "Although those two weren't wearing any distinctive clothing, they were both wearing headbands of rogue ninjas."

"You mean...?" Kakashi seemed to have guessed what Ye Lan wanted to say.

"Do you remember Itachi and Deidara that I met?" Ye Lan asked, mentioning the two Akatsuki members. Kakashi nodded.

"They always travel in pairs. The two I met before seemed like members of the Akatsuki."

"Have you told the Hokage yet?" Kakashi asked, as information about Akatsuki was of utmost importance to Konoha at the moment.

"No, this is just my guess, and their goal isn't the tailed beasts, they're just doing some bounty missions." Ye Lan shook her head.

"The ninja world is getting more and more chaotic. I feel like I'm losing my strength." After hearing this, Kakashi thought that Ye Lan might be overthinking things, but he couldn't help but sigh when he thought about the emergence of another powerful ninja.

"Then train hard, Kakashi. It seems you've wasted too much talent. That Sharingan will only hold you back." Ye Lan had wanted to say this for a long time: the Sharingan's side effects far outweighed its advantages for Kakashi.

Kakashi touched his left eye, remained silent for a moment, and then sighed, "This is a gift from my best friend. I promised him I would make good use of this eye."

Chapter 50 The Seven Ninja Swordsmen