Senshi shook his head, sighing dramatically. It seemed Kisame couldn’t be sold after all.

  Looking at Terumi Mei with great regret, he said:

  “What a shame! I ’t sell Kisame to you. Do you have any other jobs?”

  Terumi Mei had finally regained her posure from her initial fear. Uzumaki Senshi’s strength was too terrifying. She had previously worried that he might act recklessly and attack at the slightest provocation. But now, after personally verifying the intel about Senshi, she firmed that he was someone she could iate with.

  Capturing Kisame himself wasn’t the real issue—getting Samehada back was also an acceptable oute.

  She spoke again:

  “Lord Senshi, the Kirigakure would like to hire you for 5 million ryō to help us retrieve Samehada.”

  [New issioed!]

  [t: Terumi Me

  [Objective: Retrieve Samehada for the Kirigakure!]

  [Reward: 5 million ryō]

  [Difficulty: S-rank]

  [Mission Bonus: 5,000 ission Points]

  Only 5,000 points?

  Well, that was still five ten-pulls in the system’s lottery.

  Basically free money.

  Senshi beamed and said:

  “That’s easy!”

  As he spoke, he walked straight over to Kisame and, with plete seriousness, stretched out his hand.

  “Hand it over!”

  “You heard the missioails—the Kiri wants Samehada back. Besides, it beloo the Kiri in the first pce. Just give it back to them already.”

  Kisame: “???”

  Without Samehada, wouldn’t he just bee Hoshigaki Oni?

  Many of his most powerful jutsu required Samehada to fun properly.

  Kisame quickly protested:

  “Samehada is part of my strength! What you’re doing now is no different from selling me!”

  Hearing this, Senshi frowned:

  “Your standard for being ‘sold out’ is pretty low, huh? This doesn’t t as selling you.”

  Seeing Kisame clutg Samehada for dear life, refusing to let go, Senshi sighed in frustration.

  This was going to be tricky.

  But no matter how difficult it was, he couldn’t just drop the mission.

  He rofessional when it came to pleting jobs.

  After thinking for a moment, he realized that the real problem came from Terumi Mei and the Kirigakure.

  Turning to her, he asked:

  “Why does the Kiri need Samehada back?”

  Terumi Mei answered holy:

  “The current state of the Kirigakure is unstable.

  Several families who still support the Blood Mist policy are secretly plotting in the shadows.

  Outwardly, the Kiri seems peaceful, but it’s like a bomb that could go off at any moment.

  We pn to recim the missing Mist Swords, rebuild the Seven Ninja Swordsmen, and strehe vilge to suppress these unstable fas.”

  “Ah! So that’s why? You should’ve said so sooner!”

  Hearing this, Senshi's expression instantly ged—his faow full of enthusiasm.

  “Rebuilding the Seven Ninja Swordsmen? That’s pointless. Even the inal Seven Swordsmen weren’t strong enough, let alone a new group!

  But… you could hire me to stabilize the Kiri instead.”

  “100% pletion rate! Everyone says it’s great!”

  Terumi Mei: “???”

  Gonbee: “???”

  Ao: “???”

  Chōjūrō: “???”

  Bringing iernal power to hahe internal crisis of the vilge—

  Was that… really an option?

  But oher hand, if Senshi could actually suppress the rebellious fas, the Kiri would achieve instant peace!

  Would he really accept the Kiri’s ission and help solve this problem for them?

  Terumi Mei and the others were skeptical.

  But regardless, it was worth a shot.

  Senshi, having made his pitow waited for their reply.

  With his mastery of Lightning Release and the power of the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, dealing with the rebels would be as easy as child’s py.

  Even if the First Mizukage himself crawled out of his grave, Senshi could just shove him ba.

  After a brief moment of thought, Terumi Mei decided to go for it.

  There was er alternative right now.

  If it worked, the bes for the Kiri would be enormous.

  She and Genji had been struggling with these underground fas for far too long.

  She looked seriously at Senshi:

  “Lord Senshi, t your proposal. We will hire you to deal with the problem in the Kiri.

  However, we’d like to know your price.”

  Senshi answered immediately, without hesitation:

  “100 million ryō.”

  Chōjūrō jumped in shock:

  “100 million!? That’s way too expensive!”

  Terumi Mei, Gonbee, and Ao’s expressions also shifted rapidly.

  That price was eous!

  The Kirigakure’s budget was already stretched thin—they needed money for everything.

  Where were they supposed to pull 100 million ryō from?

  Terumi Mei sighed:

  “The Kiri has only just emerged from the dark age of the Blood Mist, and our expenses are massive. We simply don’t have that much money right now.”

  The smile on Senshi’s face vanished instantly.

  “No mohat’s a problem.”

  “You guys may be broke, but your enemies are loaded.”

  As he spoke, he pulled out a stack of bounty papers.

  “The Blood Mist fa has bounties on most of the current Kiri leadership.”

  “Genji—30 million ryō.”

  “Terumi Mei—20 million ryō.”

  “Ao—15 million ryō.”

  “Chōjūrō—10 million ryō.”

  “Gonbee—8 million ryō.”

  Chōjūrō, who already struggled with self-fidence, became even more depressed. His Bounty… although it wasn’t the most important thing, as a future Sixth Mizukage, this still stung his ego.

  But Senshi ignored all that and started doing the math for Terumi Mei’s team.

  “I’m already giving you a bargain price at 100 million ryō!”

  “Let’s be reasohis is the lowest I go.”

  Senshi felt his prig was extremely fair.

  But Terumi Mei’s s were valid—

  The Kiri had just barely recovered from the Blood Mist era, and they desperately needed funding in many areas.

  The Fourth Mizukage, Yagura, had left the vilge in chaos.

  For years, the vilge stagnated under his rule.

  It wasn’t until his death that Genji took over and started rebuilding.

  Even now, the remnants of the Blood Mist fa tio cause problems.

  The Kiri had to spend money fighting them and also repairing the damage they caused.

  At the moment, the Kiri simply couldn’t afford to pay Senshi 100 million upfront.

  Of course, there was also a risk.

  What if Senshi took the money and ran?

  Or worse—what if he pyed both sides, taking money from both them and the Blood Mist fa?

  Though unlikely, the possibility existed.

  Seeing their hesitation, Senshi sighed.

  He was really ied in this Kirigakure ission.

  But if they weren’t willing to pay, then it ointless.

  Letting out anh, he said:

  “If the Kiri really ’t afford this… I guess I’ll have to go take a job from the other side.”

  That immediately sent a chill down Terumi Mei, Gonbee, Ao, and Chōjūrō’s spines.

  Bringing Senshi onto their side would be expensive.

  But letting him join the enemy? That would cost them far more.

  Terumi Mei’s mind raced, and she quickly responded:

  “Could we pay in installments? 10 million per month, for a year?”

  “Additionally, aside from payment, we’ll remove restris on you taking issions in the Kiri.

  You’ll be able to accept missions from both the bck market and official vilge requests.”

  [Long-Term issioed!]

  [t: Kirigakure]

  [Objective: Assist Terumi Mei in stabilizing the Kiri by eliminating threats.]

  [Reward: 10 million ryō per month, for 1 year.]

  [Bonus: Super Draw upon mission pletion!]

  [Long-term missions award DOUBLE ission Points at settlement!]

  Senshi: “???”

  “Wait—this is great!”

  Senshi grinned.

  A long-term tract?

  Should he start payment pns to more ts?

  Eveer—Terumi Mei had granted him permission to take missions in the Kiri.

  This erfect.

  Bleam