It's normal to get a kaleidoscope as a first deposit of six yuan, right?

It seems we should wait until later to find an opportunity to act. For now… perhaps we should go check on Red Bean? He left in such a hurry that he seems to have forgotten to bring this little bean sprout…

Chapter 121, Handing Over the Mission, The Unscrupulous Merchant

By the time Scorpion and Zhixue arrived at the mission handover location, it was already getting dark.

Holding a lantern, Zhixue spotted a glimmer of light in the distance amidst the Gobi Desert-like landscape.

"It seems that should be the meeting point for those merchants. We can go and rest for a while." Scorpion put away the map and then quickened his pace with Zhixue to get there.

……

"Chairman, the organization we previously hired underground has sent a letter."

"So fast? Have they already located the enemy?" an old man sitting in a lavish ballroom exclaimed in surprise.

"No, no, they said they came to hand over the mission to you. The bandits in the desert have already been wiped out by them."

"Nani?"

ten minutes later…

In a quiet tavern near the post station, more than twenty delicious dishes were laid out on the table. An elderly man with white hair and glasses looked at Zhixue and Xie as they walked in through the door.

"Oh my, oh my, your organization's actions are incredibly swift! This truly broadens my horizons. But even if the mission is complete, shouldn't the leader who received it be sent to hand it over? Sending only two people...?"

Before the old man could finish speaking, Scorpion opened the scroll's seal, and a blood-stained bundle was carried by Hiruko on her tail.

"Don't bother with any more troublesome stuff, just pay up."

The white-haired old man, a businessman, frowned upon smelling the overwhelming stench of blood.

This is a place for entertaining guests, and to bring out a bloody human head like this is truly impolite.

"Oh dear, you two, don't be in such a hurry. This is nothing yet. Now that the deal is done, we should celebrate properly." The old man waved his hand, and the two mercenaries standing beside him took the head from Scorpion's hand to inspect the goods.

However, Scorpion didn't want to waste any more words with the old man in front of him. Building relationships and leveraging drinking culture were common tactics used by businessmen, but he wasn't interested in them; he just wanted to make things simpler and more convenient.

Scorpion was still trying his best to get the reward for the mission from the old man as soon as possible, while Zhi Xue didn't have so many worries at the moment. She plopped down in a chair, picked up her chopsticks, and started eating.

The food is already prepared, so why not eat it? Plus, I can save some money on the meal from the system.

Although the old man was still trying his best to build a good relationship with the Akatsuki, Sasori clearly had no intention of further negotiations. The fact that he had managed to communicate with the old man without actually cracking his whip across his face was already the greatest respect he could show.

After a heated argument, Zhi Xue took a sip of watermelon juice, patted her slightly swollen belly with satisfaction, and then looked towards the positions of Scorpion and the merchant.

She had just finished eating, and when the old man heard from Scorpion that only two people had completed the mission, his expression turned slightly angry as he pointed at Zhixue, who was sitting to the side, having finished eating and drinking.

"Are you joking with me, sir? You, an adult, and this little brat, a mere pretty face, can destroy an entire wandering army of nearly a thousand? Do you think they're all useless? Or did you just carry out an assassination mission?"

Zhi Xue, who was inexplicably pointed at: ? ? ?

Having been entangled with the old man for so long, Scorpion, upon hearing the hostility in the old man's words, also unleashed a murderous aura, instantly turning the old man's face deathly pale.

"You'd better not doubt our strength. If our organization hadn't kept its word, you'd probably be in your grave a few minutes ago." Fei Liu Hu's broad, sharp tail flashed a cold light under the lamplight, and the chilling killing intent seemed to transport the old man from the desert to the dead of winter in an instant.

Under the influence of Scorpion's murderous aura, the old man's attitude seemed to change, and he handed over the 5 million taels of mission fee to Scorpion in less than 500 minutes.

However, on their way back, after depositing 200 million taels of silver and handing it over to the organization, and splitting the remaining 300 million taels equally with Zhixue, Zhixue noticed something was amiss.

Ding! The silver coins have been detected as counterfeit and cannot be deposited into the system's account balance.

"What?! Counterfeit money?" Zhi Xue took out a silver coin and examined it carefully with her Sharingan. She did find something wrong.

Seemingly sensing that Zhixue had stopped behind him, Xie turned around and looked at Zhixue's strange expression, asking, "What's wrong?"

"Brother Scorpion...this money is fake!"

……

When Zhixue and Xie returned the way they came, the old man who had given them a welcome dinner had disappeared, and the shop owner was hiding under the table, looking terrified.

"No, don't come looking for me! I, I don't know anything! You all better run! Those bloodthirsty monsters from the desert are probably on their way! If we don't run now, it'll be too late!"

Seeing the boss's terrified expression, Zhixue and Xie exchanged bewildered glances.

What are those businessmen up to?

Due to insufficient information, Zhixue captured the boss. Under the influence of her blood-red Sharingan, the boss was still hypnotized by the genjutsu and told her the reason for the incident.

It turns out that the merchants who hired the Akatsuki were, on the surface, the largest business organization in the western region of the ninja world, but in reality, they were also involved in a lot of smuggling and monopolistic activities. They even fed many local desert beasts and poisonous insects to block off routes other than their trade routes.

This time, because the obstacle was an organization of nearly a thousand people, if the Chamber of Commerce wanted to continue clearing the route, the losses would probably be more than just 500 million. Originally, they planned to befriend the Akatsuki organization if they could succeed, so that they could hire them in the future when they encountered troublesome situations.

However, although they had the enemy's target killed this time, it was obviously not convincing to only have two people. Therefore, the Chamber of Commerce felt that the Akatsuki was unreliable and started to devise a double-cross strategy.

Although you helped us take down the enemy leader, if there are only two of us, it's not impossible to consider taking the money back.

If Zhixue and Sasori left with the counterfeit money and never returned, that would be one thing; even if the Akatsuki came looking for them, they could simply shift the blame to a pre-prepared scapegoat. But if Zhixue and Sasori were to return…

Then they'll just have to let the two of them remain forever in the desert. After all, their merchant guild didn't kill the people, nor did they steal the money. In a desert, a place rarely visited by people, who could see them or leave any evidence? They were just a merchant guild with no fighting power. They even had to hire others to organize the security of their trade routes. How could they possibly have much fighting strength?

The boss himself was just someone who cooked for them year-round, and his family was in the hands of the Chamber of Commerce, so he didn't dare to report the truth to anyone else.

After obtaining the information she wanted, Zhi Xue threw the unconscious boss to the ground and then activated Sage Mode, sensing hundreds of enormous sandworms, as large as whales, surging from the surrounding area, as well as several ninjas using secret techniques.

"Huh? It's the same chakra fluctuation as the sandworms that attacked before. It seems you've harmed quite a few people by raising these things. You really are a bunch of beasts in human form..." Zhi Xue twisted her wrist, and then the chakra in her body gradually became active.

"I won't slack off this time; I also want to stretch my muscles..."

Chapter 122, Siege

Unlike the sweltering heat of the day, the desert at night is extremely cold after it cools down. The biting cold wind blows through the sea of ​​sand, raising clear clouds of dust. A dozen figures carrying secret scrolls run through the desert, and in the places they pass, bulges rise from under the sand.

Sensing the sandworms and ninjas that were about to surround the area, Zhixue walked out of the restaurant and planted the Kusanagi sword in the sand. A bright flame illuminated Zhixue's location like a beacon.

"Hey, can you manage on your own?" Scorpion walked up behind Shiki and frowned as he looked at the unusual chakra fluctuations in the distance.

"Oh dear, they're just a bunch of small fry. I can handle them." The three tomoe in Zhi Xue's eyes spun together, and a scarlet light accompanied by a chilling chakra emanated from Zhi Xue's body, which surprised even Sasori.

"Is this the eye power of the Uchiha clan?"

The old man from the merchant guild, who was still sitting comfortably in his sedan chair on the outskirts, pondering how to properly dispose of the corpses of Scorpion and Zhixue, couldn't help but laugh out loud when he saw Zhixue in the distance, who looked like she had lit torches.

"Pfft~ In the current situation, you're actually so stupid as to light lanterns instead of thinking about how to escape? Do you want to ascend to heaven quickly so you can see your grandparents? Hahahaha!"

Hearing the mocking laughter beside him, one of the ninjas beside him seemed to sense that something was wrong.

"The enemy's chakra seems a bit off..."

"What are you afraid of? We've been feeding hundreds of sandworms in this desert. Do you think those two can cause any trouble? Even a strongman on par with the Kage of the major ninja villages would probably perish alone facing a pack of wolves in this desert, right?" The old man from the merchant guild said arrogantly, looking at the ninja's somewhat worried expression.

Looking at his boss's ignorant attitude, the ninja felt a little contemptuous, but he didn't show it. After all, the boss paid him a lot of money.

However, Kage-level powerhouses are indeed rare in the ninja world, but most of them are famous throughout the ninja world and have a place to live, so it is impossible for them to live in an underground organization. Even if both of them are elite Jonin from the ninja village, it is almost impossible for them to escape such an encirclement given the terrain and the numerical advantage of the sandworms.

Observing the large amount of chakra surging from the ground with her Sharingan, Zhixue stretched out her hand, and a small spiral wheel appeared in her palm.

"Come on, let me see just how capable your worms are." Zhi Xue observed the sand worms' movements, then used Professor Zhi Shui's Body Flicker Technique to instantly disappear from the spot. In just 30 seconds, a series of explosions circled the encirclement. Under the cover of deep red light, more than twenty sand worms were crushed to death in the sand by Zhi Xue's instantaneous Spiral Wheel before the battle even began.

"What, what is that thing!? Have we encountered a ghost?" A ninja who was using a secret technique to control sandworms felt his control dwindling and suddenly had a bad feeling.

Thud... In the desert, a round head fell to the ground, its face still showing a stiff expression that seemed to have changed from worry to terror.

……

"What, what's going on? Have we been ambushed?" The old man from the merchant guild, who had been leisurely sitting in the sedan chair, gradually became uneasy as he watched the continuous explosions in the distance.

The ninja, who was the squad leader, looked at the distant firelight and his expression turned grim.

"Looks like I've run into a tough nut to crack. What bad luck! Looks like I need to prepare for the worst..."

As if he had overheard the ninja's words, the old man from the merchant guild felt a pang of anxiety and quickly ran out from among the many servants carrying the palanquin, grabbing his hand and saying—

"Brother, we promised to cooperate and stand together through thick and thin, so don't go back on your word so easily!"

The ninja pried the old man's hand off him, his face grim, and said, "Don't worry, as long as you pay enough, even if Konoha's hero, Uchiha Shisui, came, I could make him sleep forever in the desert..."

Seeing the ninja's gaze, the old man understood what was happening and, with a touch of regret, took out a bracelet made of blue crystals from his clothes.

"This was carved from the extremely rare Grell Diamond from the Western Regions, worth at least 300 million taels. That should be more than enough, right?"

The ninja examined the bracelet's craftsmanship from all angles before nodding in satisfaction and a smile spreading across his face. "Guild Master, we're old friends, of course we wouldn't abandon you. Just sit back in the palanquin and wait for good news..."

……

Konoha Village...

The sun had just set behind the cliffs, and Mitarashi Anko, a former disciple of Orochimaru, was highly skilled in snake techniques, carrying out a snake-catching operation in the streets and alleys.

After stroking the chin of a small green snake, Hongdou gently placed it into the cage specifically for snakes.

After not sensing the presence of any other snakes, Hongdou stood up, stretched her slightly sore neck, and breathed a sigh of relief.

"I haven't seen so many snakes in a long time, could it be because... hiss!"

While she was still pondering her memories of that man, Hongdou suddenly felt a sharp pain on her neck, and the black, magatama-shaped curse mark seemed to glow red.

Around the corner in the distance, Orochimaru looked at Anko and a smile crept onto his lips.

"You've already adapted to the existence of the cursed seal? As expected of my disciple Orochimaru. But it's not the right time yet..." Orochimaru licked his lips sickly. He was a little disappointed that he didn't bring Anko with him, but it wasn't a big deal. Konoha wouldn't see any major changes for a while.

After observing that the cursed seal was very stable, Orochimaru felt relieved. He then sensed the small snakes in the village and quickly found Itachi Uchiha.

10 minutes later...

"I'll put the captured snakes into the temporary holding area, and then release them later. I'll have to ask you to keep up the work for now, one against seven."

"Don't worry, Shisui, I'm quite adept at catching snakes now," Itachi said with a smile.

After hearing Itachi's answer, Shisui nodded, then picked up the two sacks and disappeared from the spot using the Body Flicker Technique.

Meanwhile, Orochimaru, watching Uchiha Shisui leave from the corner, also had a glint in his eyes.

"It seems the opportunity has come... Itachi-kun, I hope you can bring me some different surprises with only three tomoe, but of course, I hope it's not the kind of surprise that Yuki has..." Orochimaru's eyes became even more fervent when he mentioned Shiki.

The power of the Uchiha clan is truly fascinating...

Chapter 123, The Pursuit

Roar! In addition to the sounds of the wind and sand, the desert was filled with the hissing and screaming of sandworms.

After Zhi Xue unleashed a small burst of power using the Instantaneous Movement Technique, her shadow clones temporarily suppressed the sandworms' offensive, while her main body chased after the main force, right in front of the merchant who had given them fake money earlier.