章 24: Chapter 24: The Underground Organization in the World of Naruto

"Aizen Sōsuke-sama, please verify the key."

"Hmm." Yuto's voice was cold. He made a few hand signs—simple gestures, but their speed and sequence created thousands of different combinations.

The keys to enter the underground world were diverse: physical objects, passwords, hand signs... There were many ways to verify identity, but they all had one common trait—they weren't completely bound to a person.

In other words, after killing someone, you could take their place in the underground world as long as the entry code matched. No one would chase you for it. Violent takeovers were in line with the rules here.

The bounty station was such a chaotic yet orderly underground world.

In his previous life, Yuto had only glanced at the bounty station name while reading manga. His memory associated it with "Kakuzu carrying Asuma Sarutobi's corpse to exchange for a large bounty."

But after arriving in the Naruto world, Yuto knew the bounty station was a behemoth spanning the entire land. It had numerous bases and branches and controlled the largest black and gray market networks globally.

Assassinations, mercenary wars, forbidden experiments, the trade of contraband...

The mission boards of the major shinobi villages always had a moral façade. At least on the surface, they couldn't do anything too disgraceful.

The world needed an entity like the bounty station, a loose alliance of interests, to contain the filth and distortions beneath the sunlight.

The bounty station was the hidden "sixth great shinobi village!"

After verifying the identity code, the woman with a rat-faced mask bowed slightly, "Aizen Sōsuke-sama, welcome to the second branch of the Land of Frost bounty station."

"I have a batch of items to deal with."

"Understood, please follow me." The woman responded respectfully, lightly touching the wall to activate a mechanism that opened a narrow door.

She led the way, exposing her unguarded back to Yuto. Her pale neck and waist moved like a water snake, swaying gently.

'She Isn't a shinobi...' Yuto concluded, following her into the secret passage.

Anyone trained as a shinobi and successfully refined chakra would find it hard to completely drop their guard. Even if they had to turn their back, their toes would subtly angle to be ready for an attack. This was a side effect of long training, impossible to change.

Of course, the receptionist not being a shinobi didn't mean the bounty station was poorly guarded. Even without activating his Byakugan, Yuto could feel a tightness in his spine, indicating the presence of genuine shinobi, with sufficient numbers and quality.

"Aizen Sōsuke-sama, we will complete the exchange here."

The rat-faced woman led him to a more secluded chamber and skillfully stepped back a few paces.

With a puff of smoke, Yuto activated the scroll in his hand, pouring out the sealed gold and silver treasures onto the ground.

"Please wait a moment."

The rat-faced woman squatted down, taking out various tools to carefully appraise the value of the items.

"Aizen Sōsuke-sama, these treasures are worth a total of 47 million ryo. If you want to exchange them for the common currency of the five great nations, the bounty station will deduct a 45% fee. We guarantee these funds will be clean..."

"No need." Damn, that's steep, Yuto thought, rolling his eyes internally before continuing, "Use it all here... I need to buy some things."

"Certainly, Aizen Sōsuke-sama." The rat-faced woman's voice had a hint of cheerfulness.

It seemed that in any world, salespeople loved customers who spent all their money.

"Here's what I need, take note: twelve sets of nano-level filters and related equipment, six large medical breeding tanks of 1 meter by 2 meters, twenty tons of formalin, surgical knives/mosquito clamps/toothed forceps all must be made in the Land of Iron..."

The bounty station receptionists were carefully selected and trained talents. Although not shinobi, they were smart. Yuto listed a mix of medical equipment, some with obscure names, but the rat-faced woman remembered it all, quickly correlating with warehouse inventory and necessary funds.

"...The lids of the culture dishes must be opaque... Hmm... That's all." Yuto listed his needs, specifying even the model and manufacturer for some tools.

Having studied medical ninjutsu under Tsunade for over three months, Yuto was well aware of the intricacies in this world's medical field.

The woman wrote down everything on a scroll and placed it into a small chute.

"Aizen Sōsuke-sama, all these items are in stock at the Land of Frost branch. Please wait patiently, everything will be delivered within half an hour."

"How much is left?"

"Seven million ryo."

"Convert it all to wood, the kind from the red forests in southern Fire Country, cut into blocks."

"Any specific size for the wood, sir?"

"Standard one cubic meter."

"Understood, sir. The wood will be delivered along with the medical tools."

As a bounty station receptionist, the rat-faced woman was experienced and immediately realized the customer likely wanted to establish a secret lab.

'A large medical breeding tank of 1 meter by 2 meters… clearly intended for holding humans, and the twenty tons of formalin…'

The rat-faced woman could hardly imagine how many people the customer planned to kill.

'Aizen Sōsuke-sama…Is truly a terrifying man who brings death.'

The rat-faced woman pondered, not daring to ask questions or speak out of turn.

The bounty station employed non-shinobi receptionists, implying that "if you kill them, it's just peripheral staff, as long as you pay afterward."

In such a corrupt underground world, the "naive" belief in protecting comrades was hard to find.

"Oh… by the way…" Yuto, feeling bored while waiting, spoke up:

"Bring me the bounty list, I want to take a look."

"Yes, Aizen Sōsuke-sama."

This was easy; the woman had a copy in her sleeve. Yuto took it, browsing through names while considering how long he could continue operating outside and searching for suitable targets.

He still needed money.

Yuto's eyes scanned each name before returning the assassination list to the rat-faced woman.

The chamber fell silent again until a large scroll appeared through the chute.

"Sir, this contains all your purchased items. You may inspect them here; per the bounty station rules, we will deny this transaction once you leave this door."

Yuto nodded indifferently, checking a few critical medical tools. Satisfied, he strapped the scroll to his back and walked out of the bounty station.

(End of chapter)