In Konoha Village, within the Hokage's office.
Koharu Utatane didn't wait for Kentou to announce her and walked straight in.
Seeing Koharu's urgent expression, Hiruzen Sarutobi remained calm and casually asked, "Koharu, what's the emergency?"
She cut in urgently, "Hiruzen, call off the operation to eliminate the black market right away!"
"Why?" Hiruzen asked. "Would eliminating the black market not help restore Konoha's authority?"
Hearing that, Koharu glared at Hiruzen and stated bluntly, "The Land of Fire's black market is backed by the Daimyo!"
Hiruzen showed no surprise in his eyes upon hearing this.
Instantly realizing it, Koharu coldly said, "So, you already knew about the owner behind the underground money exchange?"
As a senior advisor of Konoha, her main duty was to act as a liaison between the Hokage and the Daimyo. If conflicts arose between Konoha and the Daimyo, her role would become untenable.
Hiruzen took two slow puffs from his pipe before nodding.
"The underground money exchanges spread across the entire Ninja World. Their power and intelligence capabilities far surpass ordinary ninja villages. If they were united, even our Five Great Ninja Villages would feel threatened.
No major country can allow an uncontrollable powerful force to exist within its borders.
And without secret support from the Daimyo, do you think the underground money exchanges could flourish freely in the Land of Fire?"
After listening, Koharu frowned and asked, "Hiruzen, since you know that the Daimyo is the boss behind the underground money exchange, why provoke him? The negotiation results with Hidden Cloud haven't come out yet, and Hidden Rock hasn't withdrawn their troops either!"
Hiruzen explained, "The Daimyo is indeed the underground money exchange's backer, but he's not the only one."
"What do you mean?" Koharu asked.
Hiruzen took another puff of his pipe and recalled, "Initially, the underground money exchanges were simply smuggling bases for merchants. Gradually, ninjas started joining in. Later on, the Daimyos of various countries began secretly supporting them for their own reasons. Now, people from most ninja villages have gotten involved as well.
The current underground money exchange has become extremely complex in terms of factions. Although the Daimyos of the Five Great Nations still remain as the top backers, how many devils hide within the underworld is now unknown."
Frowning, Koharu asked, "Are we Konoha involved ourselves?"
Hiruzen first nodded, then shook his head. "Previously managed by Danzo, after Danzo's defection, Konoha had no further connection with the black markets."
Understanding, Koharu nodded. Indeed, those kinds of dark affairs were usually handled by Danzo.
After some contemplation, Koharu slowly said, "Hiruzen, since you know the truth, I hope you act appropriately and don't push the Daimyo into desperation."
Hiruzen nodded, "[Rest assured.] This time we're only clearing up some peripheral money exchanges. As for the core exchanges controlled by the Daimyo, I will treat them differently. I'll send a message to Kosuke immediately and let him be careful."
Only then did Koharu nod and leave.
After Koharu left, Hiruzen wrote down two secret letters on his desk.
One letter flew away with a message hawk and quickly landed in Kosuke's hands.
After reading the encrypted message, Kosuke furrowed his brow slightly.
He pulled out a map and asked, "Which squad is in charge of clearing the black markets near Kyoto?"
Yamato replied, "It's Uchiha Aozora, Junping Uchiha, and Might Guy's squad."
Kosuke quickly wrote a document and ordered, "Send them word to delay their mission of clearing the black market."
An Anbu immediately took the letter upon hearing this, attaching it onto a Message Hawk.
With an eagle cry, the magnificent bird soared into the sky and flew toward Aozora's location.
This Message Hawk was among common Summoning Beasts and could locate Konoha teams through special techniques. It was the communication tool used by the squad.
Suddenly, a sharp whistle came from a tall tree ahead, after which the Message Hawk instantly descended lower and flew downward, landing quickly on the white-clothed Anbu stationed on the big tree.
Sho stroked the Message Hawk's head gently before crushing it into pieces with one hand. Finally, he cast a fireball that turned both the hawk and its message into ashes.
Then, clad in a standard Anbu uniform, he quickened his pace toward Aozora's team.
By this day, Aozora's team had once again easily destroyed a Black Market outpost.
Guy, upside-down doing push-ups with only his big toe touching the ground, complained, "Again in a public restroom? Are all the black markets we hit really this disgusting?"
Junping also frowned, suggesting to Aozora, "Next time, maybe don't use Earth Release, okay? Shit and piss flying everywhere really creeps people out."
Aozora casually responded, "What, should I use Fire Release then? If I burn the shit and piss away, people might think we're cooking meals with human waste!"
Boom!
Guy became so disgusted that he lost balance and fell flat on the ground.
"Five hundred one-finger push-ups failed! Then three thousand frog jumps instead!"
"Burn with the flames of youth!"
As Guy immediately got back up and started doing frog jumps, Junping wiped sweat from his brow and asked, "Aozora, how exactly did you meet this weirdo?"
Aozora fixed his gaze on Guy and said solemnly, "He's a ninja who dedicates himself entirely to his dream. Name another ninja in Konoha with his willpower and dedication. He'll definitely become a great ninja someday."
Seeing how Guy sweated heavily without ever complaining, Junping gave a quiet nod of understanding.
The three of them waited for a long time before an Anbu finally arrived.
Frowning, Aozora asked, "Have you come to handle the battlefield cleanup and escort prisoners? Isn't one person insufficient?"
The Anbu shook his head and said, "Commander Kosuke has issued new orders: from now on, your team no longer needs to take captives—just attack and destroy the black markets."
"Why?" Aozora questioned.
Without answering, the Anbu simply left after delivering the command.
Aozora frowned deeply as he watched the Anbu disappear into the distance.
After a while, Guy finished training and approached Aozora, saying, "Let's move out to eliminate the next black market."
Absent-mindedly nodding, Aozora followed behind the other two toward the next Black Market outpost.
While sprinting rapidly, Aozora suddenly asked, "Tell me, why would Commander Kosuke suddenly order us not to take any prisoners anymore?"
"Isn't this what suits you fine?" Guy rolled his eyes, "You two hit way too hard. All decently strong targets get killed off by you two already."
"It's not worth sending a team of ninja chasing after low-priority targets."
Junping also nodded in agreement. "That's right! These days, all the black markets fall within the Daimyo's court influence range. Lower-ranked ninja are easily detected, which would displease the Daimyo."
"The Daimyo's court influence range?"
As Qing heard this, he immediately stopped and took out a map, spreading it on the ground. Guy and Junping had no choice but to stop and gather around Aozora.
It was a map of the Land of Fire, with numerous red dots indicating various Black Market Outposts.
Aozora laid the map out on the ground and turned to Junping. "Where's Kyoto?"
Unlike ordinary maps, this one contained no city names.
Junping, being elderly, knew the terrain of the Land of Fire like the back of his hand and instantly marked Kyoto's location.
Upon seeing Kyoto's location, Aozora broke out in a cold sweat.
He had stayed holed up in the village for a long time and wasn't familiar with the terrain of the Land of Fire. The current mission direction wasn't the same path he'd taken before, so he hadn't realized their squad had been gradually approaching Kyoto while wiping out these Black Market Outposts.
Suddenly, many things clicked into place for Aozora.
No wonder the area grew more prosperous as they traveled—no wonder more and more public restrooms were being used as Black Market Outposts; no wonder many recently destroyed Black Market owners showed such arrogant confidence...
Public restroom facilities were mostly established by the government. With so many turning into Black Market Outposts, there was no way the Daimyo's court was unaware of it.
As Aozora recalled the eliminated Black Market Outposts, he realized many had possessed advanced equipment and highly trained personnel. They were likely covert forces secretly cultivated by the Daimyo himself.
Perhaps this time, the Hokage Faction hadn't intended to confront him directly, but instead employed the classic strategy of "killing with someone else's sword"—using the Daimyo, that metaphorical 'dragon-slaying blade,' to eliminate him.
With this suspicion forming in his mind, Aozora naturally refused to keep walking straight into this trap.
Looking up at Guy and Junping seriously, Aozora stated firmly, "We may have to abandon this mission!"
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