Chapter 188: The Anti‑Bandit Mission

The richer a person is, the more stingy they become; of course, their stinginess is toward others, while they are always generous with themselves.

Upon hearing this, Nara Suzaku instantly perked up, but saw a brightly dressed youth push past the others and speak first: "Just a few mountain bandits, usually a matter of a hundred thousand taels, but this time I'm willing to pay five hundred thousand taels; you don't need to deal with them first, immediately arrange people to help my family eradicate the bandits!"

The youth's bearing was clearly different from the others; although they were all nobles, he spoke with a condescending, commanding tone.

An elderly man behind the youth saw this and his expression instantly turned extremely panicked.

The remaining few were stunned, exchanging strange looks, then fell silent.

Nara Suzaku lowered his eyes, examined the man closely, and after confirming he wasn't joking, instantly lost interest, even feeling a bit amused; the man seemed to think Konoha was unaware of the details.

Five hundred thousand taels is not a small sum, enough for half an S‑rank mission, but this is certainly not what Konoha needs.

"Everyone, we don't know much about the mountain bandits, but any mission involving ninja must be strictly reviewed.

If those ninja are rogue ninjas from other great nations, the anti‑bandit mission may require additional preparation before we can handle it.

Of course, Konoha is not rejecting your money because it's insufficient; it's simply that the Village lacks manpower, internal missions are heavily stacked, and your matter can only be postponed.

I believe that, given the capabilities of the families behind each of you, protecting yourselves during this period shouldn't be a problem.

Moreover, with five hundred thousand taels, you might try hiring ninja from elsewhere; perhaps that could resolve it.

When Nara Suzaku finished speaking, the leading youth's complexion changed, as if he hadn't expected Konoha to dare refuse him; he blurted out, "What do you mean? My family posts so many missions in Konoha each year; how can you push us off like this?"

Nara Suzaku rolled his eyes inwardly; he's just a minor noble from a remote area, what a trivial mission.

Though he thought that, being of noble rank, Nara Suzaku could only calmly say, "I've already explained the reason; I sincerely apologize. If you have no other matters, I'll go organize the missions first and try to reorder them for everyone."

With that, Nara Suzaku vanished in an instant; the others, being ordinary people, couldn't grasp him and were left stunned on the spot.

"This"

"Damn guy, he's just a ninja, a mere tool daring to disregard me; I'm going straight to see the Hokage!"

The youth's face flushed with anger, shouting that he would run to the second floor; the others, seeing this, offered no restraint and instead followed behind him.

Only the elderly man behind the youth hurriedly caught up to block him.

"Young master, you mustn't; we cannot offend the Hokage. The elders would blame us if they found out."

"Get out of the way!"

The youth was unfazed, shoved the elder aside and kept moving forward.

"Stop!"

Before the youth could step onto the stairs, a covert ninja instantly appeared and blocked him.

"Above is the Hokage's office; unauthorized persons are prohibited from entering."

"I am a noble; a mere ninja dares to block me—get out of the way!"

The youth, bristling with fury, slapped at the protecting covert member; the covert person naturally wouldn't let him run wild and promptly pinned him to the ground.

With a crack, his bones dislocated.

The youth instantly cried out in pain, his face contorted, tears streaming uncontrollably.

"You—how dare you ninja lay a hand on me? I will kill you!"

The youth roared with a feral expression, his body flopping like a fresh carp on a sticky board, struggling desperately.

At that moment, marching footsteps echoed outside the Hokage building; a squad of ninja clad in armor engraved with the characters "Police Department" rushed in, led by Uchiha Inaho.

Upon receiving orders, Uchiha Inaho's eyes turned blood‑red, instantly exuding murderous aura, causing the youth to tremble in terror, speechless.

"Trespassing the Hokage building and disrupting order, come with us."

Saying so, disregarding the shocked gazes of others, he ordered the youth to be shackled and taken away.

"Ouch, young master!"

The old steward's heart raced as he frantically explained and apologized, hoping the Police Department would release him, but Inaho ignored him.

"You all also intend to force your way in?"

His gaze fell on the other nobles; their faces turned pale, they shook their heads repeatedly, all unable to speak.

"In Konoha, one must abide by Konoha's rules; the Police Department will not let any disruptor of Konoha go unpunished."

The Three‑Tomoe Sharingan glanced over the crowd, Inaho issued a cold warning, then turned and left.

Only after Inaho departed did the others finally breathe a sigh of relief.

"Since Nara Suzaku refuses to help, what shall we do now?"

"We can wait, but our families can't; let's just add more money—if something goes wrong, it'll be too late!"

Though the group hailed from different places and their commissioned mission goals varied, being nobles they still gathered together.

As for the difficulty of this mission, those behind them knew it well; they couldn't possibly fool Konoha with a few hundred thousand taels, so they had long ago provided sufficient funds for them to handle it entirely.

Moreover, they weren't just one or two noble families; once they acted, they raised the price to two million taels.

"At this price, let's first see Konoha's reaction."

After the few discussed and set the mission reward, they were surprised that Konoha still gave no response.

The mission was posted in the hall, and for two consecutive days no one took it.

"Is Konoha truly short of manpower?" the group worried, only able to inquire around; they kept watch at the Hokage building daily, hoping to catch a glimpse of Shisui or Nara Suzaku, but to no avail.

Two days later, they received successive urgings from their backing families and could no longer hold back, simply adding more money, hoping Konoha would act promptly.

After the group added money, Shisui quickly received word.

"Deploy three squads, go in order of the payment," Shisui said, glancing at the reward amount with a faint smile.

Nara Suzaku, hearing this, was shocked: "The Hokage is wise!"

Shisui only assigned three squads, yet the nobles commissioning the mission came from five regions; who would be willing to be placed last?

A day later, it could be their backing families that get wiped out.

Upon receiving the news, some were joyful, others sorrowful.

"Mr. Suzaku, the situation is now critical; really can't spare more manpower?"

"I've also sent people to investigate the situation these past few days; those mountain bandits are strong, and ordinary ninja would be going to their death. It can only be dealt with by sending a Jonin to lead the team."

"But the war in Leaf Village has just ended, and after so many years of fighting we've lost many people; now we must also guard against sudden attacks from other nations, and we can't spare any more manpower." Nara Suzaku sighed, looking very helpless. "Wait, can this order be changed? I can add money and put myself at the front!"

Someone caught on and suddenly spoke; the moment the words left his mouth, everyone turned to look at him.

"I'll add too; first deal with the situation on my side!"

The others also caught on; after all, the money came from those families, not their own, so they didn't mind spending it.

But if the mountain bandits can't be dealt with, their families could also be harmed by the bandits.

Several people kept raising the price; Nara Suzaku, with a strained face, tried to dissuade them, adding, "You don't have to do this; Leaf Village doesn't need your money. If you wait a while, Leaf Village will be able to spare manpower to help you."

The crowd ignored him completely; now it was all about the backing of the nobles behind them.

Of course, they weren't stupid enough to just raise the price; with that money, they could simply place a bounty on the black market.

After a moment, the group raised the amount to the maximum they could bear.

Nobles from the Eastern Highway, Southern Highway, and Northern Land Route offered a bounty of eight million taels, demanding that Leaf Village immediately dispatch ninja to eradicate the mountain bandits mountain bandits.

"Three of you, rest assured; I'll arrange the manpower and go with you to suppress the bandits."

After receiving the money, Nara Suzaku's expression became even more easygoing, and he cheerfully led a few people to the second floor to find a room to rest.

"Then, what should we do?"

The remaining two looked at each other, feeling helpless, but Nara Suzaku had already made it clear; they dared not tangle messily like the boy two days ago, so they turned and left to contact their families first.

That afternoon, three squads left Leaf Village under Shisui's signal.

Several days later, the result of the anti‑bandit operation hadn't arrived, but the expelled mountain bandits from somewhere in the Western River Route appeared near another city on the Western River Route and wiped out a rural noble.

The local noble sent troops to cleanse the bandits but was repelled; then, for several consecutive days, the bandits raided estates, causing heavy losses, forcing the noble to hire wandering ninja from the surroundings to surround and kill them.

Unexpectedly, after the bandits gained a reputation, they howled and gathered in the mountains, amassing dozens of rogue ninja from three nations to carve out territory and cause chaos; their strength was considerable, far beyond what these minor nobles could handle.

They could only raise a bounty and send someone to Leaf Village to commission the task.

At the same time, among the two dragged nobles, one hurriedly left Leaf Village because his family behind him had unfortunately been wiped out by the bandits; he is now one of the few survivors and must rush back to take over those properties.

"Lord Hokage, this is the situation on the Western River Route."

Nara Suzaku relayed the news to Shisui; Shisui knew the timing was almost right—neither too early nor too late—and without hesitation ordered, "Send out three more squads of ninja and resolve the missions in the other two regions together."

Although some families were wiped out, the anti‑bandit operation was commissioned jointly by several nobles, so the mission remained valid.

"Understood."

As the Leaf Village ninja set out, the mountain bandits in those areas were gradually cleared, and the masked ninja were also slain.

"Take a look; are these the two people?"

The Leaf Village squad carried the two masked corpses into the town, and several noble heads asked in front of them.

"Monkey mask, snake mask, that's right, it's them, damned things, take off the masks so I can see what kind of creatures they are."

One person stepped forward, lifted the masks, revealing two ordinary faces, instantly drawing a burst of disgustful curses.

"This mission was so easy, and not as difficult as the intel suggested; have we become stronger again?"

The three squad members chatted casually about the mission, while their leading Jonin remained calm; he had known the outcome before departure, but the hidden details evidently couldn't be disclosed, so he interrupted, "Don't become complacent; prepare to return."

"Yes!"

The others were puzzled but didn't dare ask further.

With the threat lifted, the nobles relaxed and naturally wouldn't give the opportunistic Leaf Village ninja any friendly looks, having no intention of retaining the four of them.

On the other side, atop the destroyed mountain stronghold, bodies lay strewn about, and two figures emerged from the shadows, their faces conspicuously bearing a snake mask and a monkey mask.

"Let's go, the Northern Land Route is vast, let's head to the next place."

"Heh, doing this is much faster than earning money by serving the nobles."

"Hahaha"

The two joked as they stepped slowly through blood‑soaked water, leaving the site that was originally a bandit nest; the money had already been sent ahead, so they had nothing to linger over.

After several more days, Shisui, via secret channels, received reports from six squads; aside from the Western River Route squad, which faced great pressure due to many wandering ninja in the area, the other teams completed the first mission smoothly.

Shisui, after summarizing the experience, said to Nara Suzaku, "I plan to recruit another forty steady‑tempered Chunin to continue this task; do you think that's feasible?"

Jonin are scarce; they also need to guard Leaf Village and defend against external enemies, so they can't be transferred in large numbers.

Nara Suzaku thought for a moment, then shook his head, "Although the profit is high, the risk is too great; even the combined forces of a few minor nobles from remote areas are considerable. One or two Chunin would likely be wiped out by their coalition quickly."

Shisui nodded at the words; the forty Chunin listened attentively, but spreading them across the entire Fire Country wouldn't even raise a single splash of wave.

"Then make four‑person teams, try to avoid the big cities, and conduct a trial first."

"Alright."

The money came too quickly, too easily; Nara Suzaku couldn't help but feel tempted and didn't want to give up, but unfortunately their ninja traits were too obvious, so they dared not participate and could only support from the shadows.

"Lord Hokage, the money has already been sent; should it be distributed to each department?"

"Money matters, hehe; since I've already said that Village finances are to be handled by the Zhuangyin and Mizuto Gate consultants, let them take care of it."

Shisui smiled, his expression very easygoing.

Nara Suzaku's eyelids twitched; he was gradually sensing something amiss, but he didn't speak, merely responded in agreement.

That day, the Zhuangyin consultant received the news; the money arrived so suddenly that she hadn't received any prior notice.

But she didn't mind; now she oversees Leaf Village finances, her prestige is gradually restoring, and her power continues to grow.

"How could Shisui, that wolf cub, trust me so much? There must be something wrong."

Zhuangyin Xiaochun isn't a fool; she can see that Shisui must have ulterior motives, and Mizuto Gate Yan keeps urging caution, but she doesn't care.

Although losing power is inevitable, Shisui cares deeply about the Third Generation; with the Third Generation protecting him, at most he'll retire; earning a sum now is a sum, and as long as his family becomes strong, his status won't decline, just like the head of the Hyuga Clan—without any official position, yet how many would dare disrespect him?

With that thought, Zhuangyin Xiaochun's resolve hardened; the next day, under her allocation, the money entered each department.

Yet the symbolic few drops of water not only failed to quell the anger of the departments, but instead heightened their emotions further.

(End of Chapter)