The bounty hunters recruited from the bounty office varied greatly in reputation and trustworthiness.
It was fine to use them as cannon fodder, but anyone who could survive in the underworld wasn't a fool.
To control these people, it took a true veteran.
"So, you're from Sunagakure," the bald man said in a low voice.
Many ninja used poison, but those most skilled in it were definitely from Sunagakure.
To poison them so silently, it was almost certainly the work of a Sunagakure expert.
"You don't need to know that much. All you need to know is that if you don't take the next dose of antidote within an hour and a half, you'll die of organ failure," Ishito said coldly.
"Then how do we know that after we do your job, we'll actually get to live?" the bald man demanded.
"This is your only chance to survive."
Faced with Ishito's answer, the rogue ninjas fell silent.
They had no choice but to comply.
"Remember, the target is currently in the inn next to the casino. We'll help distract the patrols. You have fifty-nine minutes left," Ishito said, then tossed down a box and left the wall with Baki in a flash.
"Boss! What do we do?" someone asked the bald man.
"What else? We do as they say," the burly man replied, looking at the stack of explosive tags in the opened box.
...
...
"It's begun," Hardy said, watching the patrol squads chasing after Ishito's shadow clones on the street.
"Good. Let's go to the south of the city to meet up with Ishito and the others. Hardy, use your flight jutsu to scout from the air. When it's time to attack, your signal will be our cue!" Kurokawa said excitedly.
"Understood," Hardy replied simply. He dashed toward Kurokawa, who was in a crouched stance, and stepped onto his palm. Both of them released chakra from their feet and hands, creating a temporary burst of propulsion.
With the help of Wind Release—
Using a technique to reduce air resistance and increase air thrust, he easily soared more than a hundred meters into the sky.
His clothes quickly transformed, turning into a sand eagle that hung behind Hardy, soaring through the air. Riding the thrust generated by manipulating the airflow, he ascended to even greater heights.
With the help of binoculars, Hardy could easily observe every corner of Huoluo City below.
Inside the inn—
Several rogue ninja quietly infiltrated the place, found Tsunade's room, poked through the window paper, and blew in poisonous smoke through a bamboo tube.
Tsunade, lying on the bed, suddenly opened her eyes and looked toward the door.
"Is it debt collectors again?"
With a helpless sigh, Tsunade pressed her left hand to her chest, activated the Fine Disease Extraction Technique, and forcibly expelled the toxins she had inhaled.
As long as there was no blood, she could still use medical ninjutsu.
"Guess I'll have to fight!"
The people outside sensed something was wrong inside and forcibly broke down the door, throwing in explosive kunai.
Tsunade frowned.
This didn't look like debt collectors at all...
"Heavenly Pain Kick!"
She stomped on the floor, instantly shattering it. The splintered floorboards flew up, blocking the explosive kunai.
"Boom!"
Flames erupted from the second floor of the inn, catching the attention of Hardy, who was flying overhead, as well as the ninja stationed at the stronghold in the west of the city.
Hardy lowered his altitude slightly, focusing all his attention on capturing the information coming from the inn.
"Did we get her?"
The scar-faced man, holding a shoddy ninja blade, asked uncertainly.
"No! We didn't!"
The burly man turned around in panic, only to be met with a fist that instantly smashed into his face, knocking him out cold.
"Hey! You guys..."
Seeing blood flow from the big man's nose, Tsunade's body trembled slightly and she turned away.
"It's... it's Lady Tsunade of the Leaf Village!"
The scar-faced man was first shocked, then overjoyed, and quickly slid toward Tsunade.
"Lady Tsunade! We were poisoned and forced to come here to assassinate you! Please, help us detoxify!"
Everyone in the ninja world knew that Tsunade's medical and detoxification skills were second to none.
Tsunade sighed helplessly.
"How long have you been poisoned?"
"No more than an hour."
"Then there's still hope. Wipe off the blood and carry him downstairs."
Since the poisoning time was short, there was no need for surgery or blood. With Tsunade's skills, she could expel the toxins with her eyes closed.
"So she really does have hemophobia?"
In the sky, Hardy revealed a satisfied expression, turned his head, and looked toward the stronghold.
Do the Konoha ninja know Tsunade is here?
Do they know about her hemophobia?
Tsunade's importance far exceeded that of a mere logistics warehouse—even though the Huoluo City warehouse was much larger than those at other strongholds.
But it didn't matter.
Since Tsunade had hemophobia, if a battle broke out, it wouldn't be so easy for her to take down their elite jonin-level fighters.
Tsunade would be forced to watch the battle break out, powerless to intervene.
That would be enough.
Hardy changed direction and flew toward the Konoha storage stronghold at the western city restaurant.
On the way, Hardy saw several ninja in Konoha ANBU uniforms leaping across rooftops, rushing in the direction of Tsunade's location.
"Good thing the sand eagle has camouflage, and with enough altitude and the cover of night, I wasn't discovered."
These ANBU members were probably quite strong.
After widening the distance, Daiwan was summoned by Hardy in midair. Under the control of chakra threads, he combined with Hardy in modules, finally transforming into a tall puppet with wings, circling in the sky and dropping rockets trailing fiery tails.
In an instant, a sea of fire engulfed the storage stronghold.
"Attack!"
Heichuan and the others, who had been lying in ambush nearby, launched a fierce assault at the same time.
A wild wind howled, and raging flames surged.
In an instant, Tsunade was alarmed.
"What's this?!"
Tsunade looked out the window, her fists clenched so tightly they cracked, her face showing a complex expression.
"Lady Tsunade!"
The scar-faced man lay on the wooden bed, looking at Tsunade with hope.
He was truly afraid that Tsunade would go to support the Konoha ninja and ignore their lives.
"Minato, the stronghold is under attack, we..."
A sturdy Konoha ANBU turned to the young captain ahead.
"Lady Tsunade's situation is far more important than the stronghold!"
Only fourteen years old, yet already promoted to jonin and serving as the ANBU squad captain, Namikaze Minato spoke gravely.
As Jiraiya's disciple, a direct heir to the new generation of Hokage, and with the added status of ANBU, once he was promoted to jonin, Minato gained access to many important secrets he'd never known before.
Because of this, he was even more concerned about Tsunade at this moment.
If the enemy attacked the stronghold just to draw away their forces and assassinate Tsunade, that would be the most dangerous situation.
He absolutely could not let that happen!
Otherwise, neither his teacher Jiraiya nor Kushina would ever forgive him.