bookbashuk Chapter 150 resolved, reward withdrawn.
Chapter 150 resolved, reward withdrawn.
Chapter 141 resolved, reward withdrawn.
Although the bounty hunters had been dealt with, Minato, out of caution, still instructed everyone to slow down and to use their senses from time to time.
Led by Kaze Hayate, the team found the location where they had been attacked the previous day.
After a search, the remains of the three fallen ninjas of Kikyo Castle were not found.
It is speculated that the body was likely taken to the Morino family by bounty hunters.
So the group continued their journey towards Morino Castle.
As they approached their destination, Xingyuan Qianshuo saw a system reward notification.
Soon, the shadow clone dissipated, and the memories were transmitted back.
The phrase "Successfully recruited? All because of taxes!" immediately raises the belief level to 77%—they really love money.
After a moment's thought, he decided not to collect the reward for the time being and to continue on his way.
Soon, Morino Castle came into view.
Similar to the capital of the River Country, Morino Castle is also located in a plain valley traversed by a river, but it is much smaller in scale.
After confirming that there were no powerful ninjas in the city, they entered with peace of mind.
Compared to the relatively comfortable lives of the residents of the capital, the residents here are in dire straits.
Everywhere on the streets, one can see hunchbacked, coughing, and limping middle-aged men with haggard faces, depressed expressions, and little light in their eyes.
Xingyuan Qianshuo quietly used the system to investigate and found that most of these people suffered from lung diseases, musculoskeletal injuries and other diseases, and a few also showed signs of heavy metal poisoning.
After a moment's thought, he understood—most of these people were miners and smelters who had been mining gold for a long time. For ordinary people, mining and refining gold takes a huge toll on their health.
Just as he was feeling pity, a side quest notification appeared in the system at the right time:
[Host's interest in the illnesses of ordinary people in the ninja world has been detected. Side quest generated: "Treat patients with the Drunken Grass Gold Mine Area Disease". Accept?]
"This task is a bit troublesome; it's clearly not something that can be completed in a day or two," Xingyuan Qianshuo thought to himself. "It would be best to provide free treatment in the name of the Red Cross Society, but unfortunately, the mining rights here belong to Konoha, which makes things inconvenient."
After a moment's thought, he decided to accept the assignment. Specific details on how to carry it out would be determined after the mission concluded.
Without lingering, the five headed straight for the most magnificent mansion in Morino Castle.
The Morino family is still unaware of the outcome of the battle, as the bounty hunters are either dead or have escaped.
The arrival of the Konoha team caused chaos within the Morino residence.
Although the family had thugs and guards, no one dared to make a move.
Upon hearing his subordinate's report, clan leader Morino Yan's face darkened, and he ordered in a low voice, "Tie up Morino Tsukasa and hand him over to the Konoha ninjas."
"Yes, sir." The captain of the guard bowed and accepted the order.
"What 'undying hunter' and 'wolf pack lord'? They're completely useless." Morino Yan gritted his teeth inwardly.
He had allowed his eldest son to hire bounty hunters, hoping against a sliver of hope, but now it seemed utterly useless.
Faced with a behemoth like Konoha, they now have no choice but to obediently relinquish the gold mine.
After frowning and pondering for a moment, he sighed and had no choice but to go out of the room to greet him.
"My name is Morino Yan. Welcome to all the Konoha valiant warriors. Please forgive any neglect. Please come in and have a seat." Morino Yan, who was usually domineering, tried his best to adopt a respectful attitude.
Seeing this, the members of Konoha all frowned slightly. Their opponent's admission of defeat and submission made them hesitant to attack.
In a sense, the Morino family's practice of employing bounty hunters to protect their own interests is a generally accepted standard practice in the ninja world.
On the contrary, if Konoha were to slaughter the Morino clan due to a conflict of interest, it would damage its reputation.
This is precisely the issue of how the ninja world positions ninjas and ninja villages—ninjas are tools, and they cannot kill indiscriminately for profit when there are no missions.
If Konoha's ninjas were merely employed, they could act according to their employers' orders; however, in this conflict, Konoha acted for its own benefit.
Even though it was nominally a payment from the daimyo of the land of rivers, some things were ultimately "easier to do than to say."
The group followed Morino Yan into the main hall.
"Mr. Morino Yan, are you aware that the Daimyo of the Land of Rivers has granted Konoha Village the ten-year mining rights to the Zuijiangcao Gold Mine?" Minato asked bluntly.
Morino Yan remained silent for a moment. They had occupied the gold mine for many years, only symbolically handing over a small amount of gold produced, thus forming a separatist rivalry with the daimyo.
Now that the daimyo is using this opportunity to his advantage, and the Konoha ninjas have come knocking, he has no choice but to reply, "I have already heard about it. Our Morino clan has always respected the daimyo, and we will naturally abide by his decision."
"Then why hire bounty hunters to attack the Konoha ninja who came to take over?" Minato's tone turned cold.
"This matter—is due to the impetuousness and recklessness of the young and impetuous Morino Tsukasa, who secretly hired underground bounty hunters."
I was furious when I learned of this this morning, and I have ordered him to be bound and brought to Konoha for punishment.
This shameless attitude of shirking responsibility left the people of Konoha speechless.
This fifty-something-year-old, stern-faced Morino Yan perfectly fits Hoshigen Chisaku's stereotypical image of local nobles in the ninja world.
Just then, a series of chaotic footsteps came from outside the door.
A man in his mid-twenties was pushed into the hall with his hands tied behind his back.
Morino Tsukasa looked dejected, his gaze sweeping across the room before finally settling on his father's face.
Upon seeing those cold, stern eyes, he understood—he had to take full responsibility. Otherwise, without the Konoha ninjas even lifting a finger, his harsh father could have had him killed.
"I'm responsible for my own actions. I hired the bounty hunters. I never expected them to be so incompetent," Chief Morino said in a deep voice, letting out a sigh.
The people of Konoha looked at this man with cold indifference, and Kazekage, the ninja, was even more resentful, for one of the ninjas who had sacrificed his life was his subordinate.
Minato remained calm and asked, "Where are the remains of the Konoha ninja who sacrificed their lives?"
Morino Tsukasa glanced at his father, secretly relieved, and whispered, "I've arranged for someone to keep the body safe and sound; it's in the backyard."
Yesterday, the wolf pack brought back three Konoha ninja corpses as spoils of war and reported their victory to him.
After learning about the situation, the father sent someone to instruct him to properly store the body, clearly having anticipated that today's events might occur.
Seeing that Shuimen was deep in thought, Xingyuan Qianshuo was clearly considering how to punish them.
According to the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, as long as they backed down, he would collect a sum of compensation to settle the matter, but that would be too easy on them.
Minato pondered for a moment, then spoke, "Morino Yan, your son acted recklessly, causing the deaths of three people from Konoha. We will take him to Kikyo Castle for ten years of discipline. What do you think?"
"Alright, I'll follow Konoha's arrangements." Morino Yan said without hesitation.
Before he could even express his joy, Minato continued, "For these ten years of discipline, Konoha will not charge much: one million taels per year, ten million taels over ten years. In addition, there will be a compensation of ten million taels for the three fallen ninjas. Please pay in full at once."
Morino Yan's expression changed, his pain barely concealed. He took a deep breath and said, "Of course."
Minato nodded slightly and continued, "Konoha will send people here to manage the mining, and the Morino family must ensure a proper handover. If there are any more attacks or sabotages by hired bounty hunters, it won't be resolved as easily as it was today."
"Yes, yes," Morino Yan hurriedly replied.
Minato's punishment was neither too lenient nor too severe, but there was no way to stop it. Although some comrades had sacrificed their lives, a ninja's life was just that worthless in the ninja world.
Xingyuan Qianshuo's mind raced, but he wasn't prepared to let the Morino family off so easily.
This family had long occupied the Zuijiangcao gold mine and accumulated a considerable amount of gold.
He can easily sense the location of gold storage using the Magnetism Release: Gold Sand technique.
This gold will soon be "donated" to the Red Cross as a charitable fund, which can be considered as doing them a good deed.
Losing the gold mine and the gold they had accumulated would only lead to the family's rapid decline, which would be far worse than killing them.
Morino Tsukasa felt both relieved and dejected about being taken to Kikyo Castle and imprisoned for ten years. Now that he was behind bars, he feared his younger brother would seize the position of clan head.
Seeing that the matter was settled, Morino Yan tentatively spoke again: "Mining and refining the Drunken Grass Gold Mine is not easy. Our Morino family is willing to assist Konoha in managing the mining. What do you think?"
Xingyuan Qianshuo secretly curled his lip: "This guy really only thinks good things."
Minato did not directly refuse: "I will report this matter to the Hokage, and the Hokage will decide everything."
"Yes, yes."
Immediately afterward, Morino ordered his men to retrieve gold bars from the treasury to pay the compensation in gold.
The Konoha members did not sit and wait. Instead, they had Morino Tsukasa lead the way to the backyard where they saw the bodies of the three who had sacrificed their lives.
Xingyuan Qianshuo took out a blank scroll, wrote runes to seal the corpse, put the remains into the scroll, and handed it to Fengzao Shangren.
Soon, the gold arrived, each weighing 500 grams, forty in total, worth approximately 20 million taels.
After the matter was over, they declined Morino Iwao's invitation to stay for lunch.
With Morino Tsukasa under their control, the five members of Konoha left Morino's residence.
Walking on the streets of Morino City, Xingyuan Qianshuo thought about his side quest. After a moment of contemplation, he said, "This place is called Morino City. Even if the gold mine is lost, the Morino family's influence here remains deeply rooted."
"Indeed." Minato nodded.
"Minato, I've noticed many people in the city are suffering from illnesses, mostly related to long-term mining and alchemy. I'm planning to offer free medical treatment here in the name of Konoha. What do you think?"
Minato paused, then asked, "Are these illnesses difficult to treat?"
"Most of them are lung diseases, heavy metal poisoning, or musculoskeletal injuries. With my medical ninjutsu skills, they are not difficult to treat, and at least they can provide relief."
Minato pondered for a moment and said, "I will report the mission details and your ideas to the Third Hokage, and see how the Hokage decides to proceed."
"Okay." Xingyuan Qianshuo nodded.
The two did not try to hide their conversation from Morino Tsukasa. The young clan leader, who was about to be imprisoned, was completely puzzled when he heard that the Konoha ninjas were going to treat that group of "low-level consumables" for free.
Unfortunately, no one paid attention to his thoughts.
It was past 11 a.m., and it wasn't convenient to talk much on the street, so the group found a restaurant, sat down, and ordered lunch.
Minato took out paper and pen, quickly wrote a report, summoned the liaison frog left in Konoha, and handed it the scroll. The liaison frog turned into white smoke and disappeared.
Konoha Village, Hokage Room.
After reading Minato's report, Hiruzen Sarutobi pondered, pipe in mouth: "Let the eldest son take the blame—detain him in Kikyo Castle for ten years and pay 20 million ryo in compensation. Not too lenient, not too harsh. Minato handled it quite well."
"Free treatment? Chisaku is too kind. However, Konoha has no foothold in the area yet, so this act of kindness will be beneficial for future mining and gold refining."
"The gold mine will initially be managed by people from Kikyo City on a rotating basis. In the long run, it will be necessary to assign someone specifically to handle this matter."
After thinking it over, he picked up his pen and wrote down his instructions.
Minato did not describe the battle with the bounty hunters in detail in his report, only mentioning that twenty-four people were killed and two leaders escaped.
Hiruzen Sarutobi didn't care much about the fact that underground bounty hunters were difficult to eradicate anyway; if they escaped, so be it, it was no big deal.
In Morino Castle, after the group finished their meal, Minato once again summoned the contact frog to retrieve the Third Hokage's reply.
"Chisaku, the Hokage has agreed. However, we need to wait for the ninjas sent from Kikyo Castle to arrive and for publicity to be done so that Konoha can start mining and alchemy here," Minato said gently.
"Okay." Xingyuan Qianshuo nodded.
Beside him, Kazekazumi spoke in a deep voice: "Lord Akagi Ken originally planned for our two squads to stand guard here and take over the gold mine, but we were attacked and three of them were killed."
Having said that, he glared fiercely at Morino Tsukasa. The latter trembled in fright and quickly lowered his head.
Xingyuan Qianshuo pondered for a moment and said, "The treatment may last for several days. Shuimen, you and Dekayi..."
"Maki, take this person to Kikyo Castle and notify the garrison to send someone. After that, return to Konoha. I'll stay behind and investigate the situation first."
Upon hearing this, Minato hesitated. Although Chisaku was strong enough, leaving him alone was still somewhat inappropriate.
At this moment, Kazematsu said, "I'll stay too, and wait for the people from Kikyo Castle to come so we can guard this place together and complete our previous mission."
Minato looked at Kazehaya, pondered for a moment, and nodded, saying, "Alright, you all be careful."
After agreeing on the terms, they first found a hotel and booked two rooms as their meeting point later.
Afterwards, Kazekage handed the scroll containing the sealed body to Minato.
The two watched them leave, chatted for a while, and then went back to their rooms to rest, preparing to explore the surrounding area in the afternoon.
Back in his room, Xingyuan Qianshuo didn't rush to collect his reward. His thoughts were wandering, and he couldn't help but think of Shuimen, who had just left.
Last time on the northwestern border, Minato used the Flying Thunder God Technique to take him from the logistics camp to the front line.
At that time, Minato made a transfer at a distance of about 40 kilometers, which means that his Flying Thunder God perception and teleportation distance was about 20 kilometers, and at most no more than 40 kilometers.
Now, Xingyuan Qianshuo's Flying Thunder God teleportation distance has reached more than 200 kilometers, far exceeding that of Minato.
Furthermore, thanks to his inherent spatial power, he expends very little energy using the Flying Thunder God Technique. This is why he can easily set up Flying Thunder God portals, while Minato would not do so.
Of course, close-quarters combat using the Flying Thunder God Technique depends on both sides' reflexes and combat experience. Who will ultimately prevail remains to be seen in actual combat.
Composing himself, he opened the system, ready to collect the rewards he had earned that day.
One reward is for recruiting three members of the "Star" organization, and the other is for healing Kakuzu.
After a moment's thought, he first extracted the latter, "Lightning Release: False Darkness (Mastery), Chakra +430".
After extracting and fusing the memories, he opened the organization panel and spent 200 reputation points to exchange for Earth Escape: Earth Spear, which was also at the master level.
The other skills are not very useful, and even though they don't require much reputation, he hasn't exchanged for them yet, intending to accumulate reputation to exchange for the Origin Scroll.
Then, he looked at the side quest reward—
"Perfect Skill Scroll *1, Spiritual Power increased by 20%, Spatial Power +8%, Chakra +10000"
"The improvement in mental strength is significant, which may trigger changes in the Sharingan and increase chakra reserves. The enhancement in spatial power will definitely reduce the consumption of the Flying Thunder God Technique."
"I had a perfect roll saved up from last time, and now I'll use one."
After thinking for a moment while comparing the system interface, he finally decided to use this scroll for "Kagura's Mind's Eye".
The "Star" organization has now been established and has recruited three members, with the possibility of more in the future. However, the members lack means of communication—the Akatsuki has rings and the Illusionary Body Technique, while the Kara organization has Illusionary Communication.
The Star Organization can currently only rely on his shadow clones to travel and deliver messages using the Flying Thunder God Technique.
When he acquired "Kagura's Mind's Eye," the perception range of his Flying Thunder God Technique had already increased significantly. If he were to upgrade it to the perfect level, it should be able to expand further.
Having made up his mind, he first extracted the reward of +10000 chakra.
Next, use the scroll to upgrade Kagura's Mind's Eye to the perfect level.
My spirit underwent a subtle, almost imperceptible transformation.
With his eyes closed and hand seals formed, his senses became increasingly acute, allowing him to grasp all chakra movements within a radius of thirty to forty kilometers.
He then tried to sense the Flying Thunder God Technique seals laid out along the way.
"This is the kunai mark left for Kakuzu, and it's slowly moving north," Hoshino Senju thought to himself.
He left three Flying Thunder God Kunai outside: Emi, Genno, and Kakuzu.
Giving it to the latter two might also be a test of their mentality.
However, the belief level displayed in the system organization panel seems to be quite reliable.
He continued to probe, "The furthest is about four hundred kilometers—has it doubled?"
"Kagura's Mind's Eye has a bonus effect on Yin Release, and the increase in mental power should also have an effect. Let's try again."
After a moment's thought, he stopped sensing, and with a slight thought, extracted mental energy as a reward.
In an instant, a warm energy surged from the depths of my soul, spreading throughout my body and merging naturally.
This energy creates a wonderful reaction in the brain and eyes, resulting in a more harmonious mind and more vibrant eyes.
Abundant.
After a few breaths, it returned to calm.
"As expected, the Sharingan has been further enhanced."
Xingyuan Qianshuo awakened his Sharingan and clearly felt that his eyes had become much more powerful.
In the system interface, the Sharingan in the Bloodline Limit section has changed to three tomoe.
Looking at the amount of chakra, it indeed increased by about 15,000 points as mental strength improved, approaching the 160,000 mark.
"I'm still 20,000 short of being able to match Hiruzen Sarutobi," Hoshigen Sensaku thought to himself.
He had previously received a reward from the Third Hokage, whose chakra was estimated to be around 180,000 points.
He formed a hand seal to sense his surroundings and discovered that the sensing range of the Flying Thunder God Technique had increased by about one hundred kilometers again.
In other words, returning to Konoha now, if all goes well, would only require two Flying Thunder God teleportations.
"Good. Keep up the good work and strive to achieve the ability to teleport to any small country in the surrounding area as soon as possible."
After calming himself down, he retrieved the last reward: Spatial Power +8%.
My body and mind underwent another indescribable change, but unfortunately it was fleeting and hard to capture.
After receiving the reward, Xingyuan Qianshuo was about to perform the Flying Thunder God Technique test when a new notification popped up from the system:
[Main Quest 1: Become the strongest medical ninja in the ninja world, progress 50%, reward: Healing Fruit *1]
"A healing fruit? A Devil Fruit from One Piece?"
Xingyuan Qianshuo looked at his inventory and saw a new fruit icon. With a slight thought, a strange, golden, teardrop-shaped fruit appeared in his palm.
"These twisted patterns—it really is a Devil Fruit."
Xingyuan Qianshuo only read up to the "Whole Cake Island" arc of One Piece. The style of the "Wano Country" arc changed drastically, and he only read a little bit of it.
However, he still vaguely remembered the Healing Fruit, an ability that appeared when Luffy fought Doflamingo.
The consumer is Princess Mansherry of the Lilliputians. It has extremely strong healing effects and also possesses a deep "restorative ability" that can restore damaged things to their original state.
The former generally requires tears to activate, while the latter requires consuming lifespan.
The animation only showed three moves: Healing Tears, Healing Dandelion, and Blood Donation Dandelion. It is unknown whether there are other forms.
Xingyuan Qianshuo himself had no intention of consuming it.
Who should it be given to?
The first image that came to his mind was that of Uzumaki Emi.
He wanted to see if Hye-mi's physical healing would evolve further after consuming the healing fruit.
However, having just taken her away from the painful life in Kusagakure, she felt reluctant to let her heal others with her tears.
"Let Huimei take it first and see the effect. If she needs to shed tears to heal others, then we won't force her; let her continue training in medical ninjutsu."
Having made up his mind, he put the healing fruit back into his inventory and closed the system.
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