Looking at the reward posters in his hand Kuroto can't help but laugh.
Currently, he has a total of five reward posters in his hand.
The first two are the old reward posters recording the bounty after the Uchiha Shinichi defection incident. The paper has also yellowed out and the reward is still the same as before.
Then there are also three new rewards.
First is issued for the so-called leader of Amatsukami, Yama, the picture part is only a rough sketch of the Yama mask and the Amatsukami Cloak with a reward of 150 million Ryo.
The other two are issued rewards for the two other members of Amatsukami who have made a public appearance each worth 80 million Ryo.
If the five bounties are added together the total amount reaches up to 370 million Ryo. Thinking so, Kuroto can't help but wonder whether to produce a few clones and exchange their corpses for the bounty.
But he soon dispelled this absurd idea, and thought, 'Who would have issued these rewards?'
The actions Konoha carried out in the past week were to eliminate all the possible bounty-nin and mercenary organizations non-affiliated to Konoha and collect all the intelligence they can about Amatsukami, but Hokage-sama did not issue any rewards in the Black-Market Circle. So, the other possible parties who could have issued the rewards are Uchiha Clan, Akatsuki Organization, and Kumogakure.
At this time, Shisui's figure appeared in front of Kuroto.
Kuroto asked, "Did it succeed?"
Shisui shook his head negatively, "Root subdivision has fully taken over the prison cell and completely sealed it for torture and mind-reading purpose, so entering and gathering any intelligence without Danzo-sama's permission is impossible."
Kuroto nodded, he expected as much. Although he knows that his Yama and Suijin disguises are impeccable and impossible to see through, there is no absolute in the shinobi world.
And if some had actually seen through his disguise and was captured, then there is a possibility that this information will be revealed, so he asked Shisui to infiltrate the Prison Grounds and see if he could figure out something.
But it appears that Shimura Danzo has taken the cautious route, and directly sealed restricted the entry.
Sighing slightly, Kuroto decided to put this matter aside for the time being and asked Shisui, "And just what in the hell is going with your Uchiha Clan? Why have I been hearing reports of innocents being killed and pillaged? Does the Uchiha Clan really have any intention to stay alive or are they gone insane enough to break the shinobi code even in the non-war period, are you people just asking to be put into a bad position?"
Shisui's face also darkened upon Kuroto's question, sighing in helplessness, Shisui said, "There has been no news of Hideki for such a long time, so… so Uchiha Ryota has been getting more unstable, even the other clansmen are staying a bit far away from him… and it has become a bit difficult for even Patriarch to persuade him to be patient!"
…
Somewhere else in the Land of Fire.
In a market area, Uchiha Ryota held a bounty-nin by the collar and questioned with a vicious tone, "Answer me, where is the hiding place of Amatsukami?"
The bounty-nin was currently in a severe state, the face was swollen red, the jaw was broken, blood flowing from the corner of the mouth, several cut and stab wounds in and around the stomach, and he could only shake his head in fear, "I… I don't know… Please let me go… I… I have a wife a-!"
"Oh, you have a family, and you still don't know?" – Ryota grinned, took out another kunai, and stabbed at the back of the bounty-nin's hand repeatedly and questioned again, "Do you know now?"
The poor bounty-nin already had tears coming out of his eyes, he knew that his sensory nerves in the hands are damaged, but because of the lack of his strength, all he could do was grit his teeth and beg, "I… I have retired long ago; I have quit my life as a shinobi… I swear I have never heard of Amatsukami… please just let me go… I swear I don't know anything!"
"You still don't know?" – Uchiha Ryota snorted and punched the bounty-nin with all his strength, causing blood to splatter all over the place.
At this time, Hyuga Hizashi walked near Uchiha Ryota and tried to dissuade him, "Stop acting barbaric Uchiha Ryota, if you continue, he will only die before he can even give out any useful intel!"
Uchiha Ryota turned towards Hizashi with a gloomy look in his eyes and kicked away the bounty-nin who was only a step away from the door of death.
Hizashi sighed in relief, but just when he thought that Uchiha Ryota was about to stop, he suddenly printed hand seals and shouted while turning towards the retired bounty-nin,
"Fire Release: Fireball Technique!"
The huge fireball rushed towards the dying bounty-nin and swallowed him completely not even leaving ashes.
But it didn't stop there and soon the flames of the fire technique spread to the other places.
And it wasn't even a few seconds when the small bazaar they were in was swallowed in the flames of the billowing hot fire spread by the raging wind, the entire place started to burn.
Hizashi was taken aback and frowned, "Are you crazy? You are breaking the Shinobi code!"
Looking at the normal civilians struggling to get away from the flames, listening to the shouts, wailing, and crying of people reaching his ears, Ryota laughed unscrupulously, "These useless people deserve to die, since they don't know anything, what's the point them even being alive!"
Hizashi's face sank, "Uchiha Ryota, you are being too savage! How do you expect Hokage-sama to explain this situation to Daimyo-sama, do you have no shame?"
Ryota glanced at Hizashi with unhidden disdain in his gaze as his eyes turned towards the forehead and said, "Huh… a dog like you is not qualified to tell what an Uchiha should do and what he should not do!"
Uchiha Ryota directly touched the nail of Hizashi's heart, and now Hizashi was really angry.
Ryota noticed Hizashi's rising anger and said mockingly, "Hooh, you wanna try it? Do you have the courage!?"
Following the words, the three black tomoe circling in the scarlet copy wheel appeared in Ryota's eyes and his murderous intentions were subconsciously leaking, he has aching to kill and slaughter.
Hizashi took a deep breath to calm his anger and stated with a serious expression, "I will be reporting your actions to Hokage-sa-…!"
However, before he could complete the sentence, Uchiha Ryota flickered from his position and rushed towards Hizashi.
"You…?" – Hizashi was taken aback, he did not expect Uchiha Ryota to really go mad enough to attack a fellow shinobi from the same village. This is outrageous!
Boom…
Hizashi was unprepared and could hardly resist the kick of Uchiha Ryota, as a result, he flew and hit a wall on the other side of the road.
…
In the woods outside the small Bazaar.
A whirling vortex appeared in the void and out came our very own masked-man.
He naturally came to the Land of Fire to investigate Amatsukami.
Sitting on a tree branch and dangling his legs in a to-and-fro motion, with one hand supporting the chin part of the mask he wore, the person was carefully observing the battle that took place in the distance.
Uchiha Ryota and Hyuga Hizashi are both elite Jonin of their respective clans, and their strength is almost of the same level.
It is just that Uchiha Ryota not only attacked first but was also unscrupulous, bloodthirsty, and crazy, while Hizashi cannot act in such a way so he was being suppressed by Uchiha Ryota.
At this moment Zetsu stuck out half of its body from the trunk of the tree and asked curiously, "Huh, how come two Konoha shinobi are fighting?"
Masked-man turned to look at Zetsu and instead of answering he questioned, "Did you find the reason why Konoha organized such an operation and included the Uchiha Clan into it? Was it to encircle and hunt down Amatsukami?"
Zetsu nodded, "I overheard the conversation of a few Konoha shinobi, it seems that Amatsukami has been eyeing Sharingan, and kidnapped an elite Jonin of the Uchiha Clan from the village, so to hunt down and possibly rescue the kidnapped Uchiha Clan member, Konoha organized a search and hunt down operation under the command of Shimura Danzo, and the Uchiha Clan is also a part of this operation."
Masted-man was surprised and muttered with a frown, "Amatsukami has been eyeing Sharingan of the Uchiha Clan?" he couldn't help but murmur, "What do they want the Sharingan for, is it just money or something else entirely?"
.
.
Read up to Chapter - 428 on P.a.t.r.e.o.n. Page: p-atreon.com/Milta_translations