"Friend, the bounty station is offering 60 million ryō. I can add 10 million more. How about 70 million?" said the Hidden Cloud intelligence officer."I happen to have some spare cash too—I'll offer 80 million ryō for the Third Raikage's body," added the Hidden Mist agent.
Soon, the Hidden Leaf and Hidden Sand intelligence officers joined the bidding war.
After several rounds, the Hidden Cloud agent secured the body for 110 million ryō.But since he didn't have that much cash on hand, he ended up offering 50 million ryō in cash and five Earth Release jutsu (B-rank or higher) obtained from the Hidden Stone as trade.
Once Uchiha Yuan and his team received the money and the jutsu, they immediately made their escape.
As expected, someone from the bounty station tried to follow them.
However, Uchiha Yuan's team was a reconnaissance squad to begin with—tracking them wasn't easy.And the pursuers weren't very strong; if Uchiha Yuan hadn't wanted to avoid trouble, he'd have already eliminated them.
After shaking their tail, the trio ran straight into the Land of Bears.
Having operated in the Land of Bears for over a year, they knew the terrain well and soon found a secluded spot to "divide the loot."
"Sixty million ryō—twenty million each. No objections, right?" Uchiha Yuan asked as he took out the money.
"Yuan, you were the one who got the Raikage's body. You should get the bigger share. I don't mind taking less—or even none," said Yamanaka Kagetsu.
"It's true I retrieved the body, but we all took the risks—watching the battle, going to the bounty station, and making the deal. We share the responsibility and reward equally."
Hearing this, Hyuga Asana and Kagetsu exchanged a look and raised no objections.
Uchiha Yuan divided the money into three equal parts. The other two quickly accepted and stashed their shares.
"Next are the Lightning and Earth Release jutsu. Let's each copy a set to keep."
"I don't have Lightning chakra nature. With my talent, I probably never will. Just give me the Earth jutsu," said Kagetsu.
"I'm not interested in Earth Release. I'll just take the Lightning ones," said Hyuga Asana.
Uchiha Yuan nodded and laid out the scrolls so they could copy what they needed.
Notably, among the five Earth Release jutsu, three were B-rank and two were A-rank.The A-rank ones were rare and highly valuable—more so than the B-rank ones, which together might fetch 10 million at best.
The five Earth Release jutsu were:
B-rank: Earth Release: Sandwich Technique— Creates two massive hemispheres of earth to trap and immobilize the target.
B-rank: Earth Release: Earth Dragon Bullet— Creates an earthen dragon head that fires mud bullets at the enemy.
B-rank: Earth Release Barrier: Earth Prison Dome of Magnificent Nothingness— Surrounds the enemy with an earth wall, trapping them and draining chakra; the dome rapidly regenerates if attacked.
A-rank: Earth Release: Swamp of the Underworld— Turns the ground into a massive swamp to trap and submerge enemies.
A-rank: Earth Release: Earth Flow Spears— Launches sharp rock spears from the ground to pierce enemies. In the original, Kurotsuchi once used this to destroy Naruto's Multiple Shadow Clones.
While the two copied the jutsu, Uchiha Yuan took the opportunity to check his status screen.
It had been exactly one month since he returned to the village.
Over that month, he had earned 54 attribute points, which he evenly distributed between Chakra and Eye Power.He also gained 6 points in Constitution from 30 days of training.
His current panel looked like this:
Chakra: 354
Constitution: 151
Eye Power: 356
Vitality: 30
Natural Affinity: 4
Level: Lv33 (21/50)
Attribute Points: 0
Notably, he had also gained two useful items during this period:
Tekkai (Iron Body) from the One Piece world.
A small vial of Fasting Pills from a Xianxia world.
The rest were mostly junk.
"We're done copying. You can put the scrolls away now," said Hyuga Asana.
Uchiha Yuan nodded and stored them in his storage ring.
Then the three of them returned to the Hidden Leaf's outpost in the Land of Bears.
They first reported in at Orochimaru's tent. This was the cover story Orochimaru had arranged to hide their actual movements.
Afterward, Orochimaru kept Hyuga Asana behind to privately ask about the Third Raikage and the battle with the Hidden Stone.
Hyuga Asana relayed the events she'd seen—but left out the part about Uchiha Yuan stealing the Raikage's body.
Orochimaru, after hearing her account, said,"After you left, someone snatched the Third Raikage's body right under Onoki's nose. And those five even brought the body to a bounty station to sell."
Hyuga Asana feigned shock."Sensei, those five must have guts—to steal the Raikage's body right under Onoki's watch."
Orochimaru carefully watched her reaction. Seeing nothing suspicious, he continued:"Yes, the world is full of audacious people."
He then added, "By the way, the Hyuga clan is quite unhappy with me over the death of a main branch member.Even with the old man smoothing things over, some things might become more difficult."
"You mean… cracking the Caged Bird Seal?" Hyuga Asana cautiously asked.
Orochimaru nodded."We know far too little about the Caged Bird Seal. To crack it, we'll need internal documents from the Hyuga clan. I once tried to approach a main branch member, but they were very secretive about it. Now that one's died under my watch, things just got harder."
"What do you plan to do, Sensei?" asked Hyuga Asana.
"I already studied that Byakugan. Nothing significant turned up.So we'll need someone more familiar with the eye…What do you say—how about we abduct a Hyuga clan elder?"
Orochimaru licked his lips as he spoke.
"That's not so easy. Hyuga clan elders rarely leave the compound. Even you might not be able to reach them," Hyuga Asana replied.
(To Be Continued...)