Chapter 13 — Ambush Failed
Kakuzu's profile was as infamous as the man himself.
Failed assassination attempt on the First Hokage. Defected from his village. Stole the secret techniques of Takigakure. Murdered the village elders and stole their hearts.
At the bottom of the page was the final line:
Bounty: 90 million.
Raizen didn't even pause.
With a casual motion, he flipped the page.
To him, Kakuzu was less a target and more a towering mountain—one so far beyond his reach that even considering the climb would be suicidal. At his current level, chasing someone like that wasn't ambition. It was suicide disguised as bravery.
The next ten or so pages were even more outrageous.
They were filled with the names of the Kage of the Five Great Shinobi Villages, along with various high-ranking officials. Mixed among them were leaders of smaller hidden villages, including the legendary head of Amegakure, a figure rumored to possess power bordering on divinity.
Each name was accompanied by an enormous reward.
100 million. 120 million. 150 million.
And at the very top of the list, the so-called semi-gods and Kage had bounties reaching 200 million.
Raizen didn't hesitate for even a second.
Flip.
Another page turned.
His eyes briefly caught two familiar portraits.
They were labeled simply as S-rank targets.
No names were given.
Just images.
One was Saber, her golden hair and stern gaze unmistakable. The other was Medusa, her mysterious beauty equally recognizable.
Each carried a bounty of 80 million.
Raizen's lips twitched slightly.
"Figures," he muttered quietly.
Anyone who had witnessed their power would know those numbers weren't exaggerated. If anything, they were probably conservative estimates.
Still, that was someone else's problem.
Flip.
The pages continued.
What surprised him next was even more absurd.
Among the listings were Daimyos—the feudal lords of various countries.
Their bounties were staggering as well.
Raizen raised an eyebrow.
"Someone's paranoid," he murmured.
Only an extremely cautious—or extremely wealthy—organization would place such enormous rewards on political figures. After all, assassinating a Daimyo could destabilize an entire country.
Finally, after several more pages, the list shifted.
A-rank targets.
There were around forty entries.
Here, the names became more familiar within the ninja world.
The Seven Ninja Swordsmen of Kirigakure.
The Twelve Guardian Shinobi of the Land of Fire.
The elite Explosive Corps of Iwagakure.
Various Jonin-level ninjas from the major villages.
These were individuals whose strength and reputation alone made them dangerous prey.
And among them—
Raizen saw something that made him pause.
His own name.
He scanned the entry quietly.
Among all the A-rank listings, his bounty sat at the very bottom.
20 million.
The description was blunt.
"An ordinary individual with no special abilities who, alongside two mysterious women, caused severe damage to Konoha."
Raizen stared at the line for a moment before letting out a dry laugh.
In other words—
Weak.
The record made it clear: the only reason he had earned an A-rank bounty at all was because he had been accompanied by two overwhelmingly powerful women.
Without them?
He was nothing.
Raizen flipped past the page without lingering.
None of the A-rank targets mattered to him right now.
They were far beyond what he could handle.
Next came the B-rank bounty list.
This was where things became interesting.
Most of the individuals listed here were Chunin-level rogue ninjas or criminals. Some had minor secret techniques, others possessed decent combat ability, and a few had unique talents that made them troublesome opponents.
But one thing was certain. Anyone who appeared on a bounty list was never truly ordinary.
Raizen slowed down, reading each entry carefully.
Eventually, his gaze stopped.
A name caught his attention.
Akatsuki Uki.
A rogue ninja from Konoha.
Raizen's lips curved faintly.
"Konoha really does produce defectors like clockwork…"
He read the profile carefully.
There were no secret techniques listed.
No Kekkei Genkai.
Just a standard rogue ninja.
The notes described him as timid and fearful of war. Before the conflict had even erupted, he had quietly fled the village, disappearing into the outside world.
He had been on the run for about half a year.
Bounty: 5 million.
Raizen considered it.
For someone with such a cowardly personality, five million was already a considerable price.
But when he thought about it more carefully, it made sense.
Training a Chunin required significant time and resources. Losing one to desertion wasn't just a loss of manpower—it was a stain on the village's reputation.
In the shinobi world, deserters could not be tolerated.
They had to be hunted down.
Raizen closed the dossier briefly and calculated in his head.
"Seventy-five million left… nine more slots."
He quickly selected additional targets from the list.
Each one had a bounty ranging between 8 to 10 million.
By the time he finished, the total came to 82 million.
Ten targets in total.
Across the counter, the two staff members exchanged glances.
There was a hint of surprise in their eyes.
This newcomer had nerve.
Taking on ten bounty targets at once wasn't something most hunters dared to attempt.
Still, none of them said anything.
After all, a few of the targets he had chosen were themselves notorious individuals.
They quickly gathered the complete dossiers and handed them over.
As Raizen accepted the stack, one of the staff members glanced toward the lounge area and smiled faintly.
"Tanaka Ueno is here," she said casually.
Raizen's eyes flickered.
He opened one of the dossiers.
Tanaka Ueno.
B-rank bounty hunter.
Known for his brutal methods of eliminating targets.
Bounty: 10 million.
Raizen quietly closed the file and slid it into his bag.
Then he stood up and left the exchange office without a word.
Starting a fight inside the building would be foolish.
Outside, he moved quickly but calmly, slipping into the shadows near the building.
From there, he began observing the entrance.
If the target was already here, there was no reason to waste time chasing someone else.
At the same time, Raizen began analyzing the situation carefully.
The staff told me Ueno is here.
That alone revealed something.
Which meant—
They might also inform Ueno about him.
After all, Raizen himself carried a 20 million bounty.
If Ueno killed him, the exchange staff would receive a much larger commission.
Raizen scanned the surroundings.
Behind him was a forest.
Ahead lay the town.
Only a few scattered trees provided cover nearby.
If Ueno came out looking for him, the forest would be the most obvious hiding place.
Too obvious.
"This isn't a good place to stay."
Without hesitation, Raizen leapt down from his position.
His body dropped nearly eight meters before landing smoothly.
Thanks to his strengthened physique, the fall barely registered.
Then he moved again—this time climbing onto the roof of the exchange office.
Compared to the sparse trees nearby, this rooftop was the perfect blind spot.
Lying flat against the tiles, Raizen focused entirely on the entrance below.
His plan was simple.
The moment Tanaka Ueno stepped outside—
He would attack from above.
One shot.
End the fight instantly.
Raizen wasn't arrogant. Against a seasoned Chunin-level bounty hunter, a frontal battle would be extremely dangerous.
Ambush was his best chance.
Still, he wasn't satisfied yet.
He slipped down briefly and peeked inside the lounge.
Tanaka Ueno was still sitting there.
Drinking.
Good.
Alcohol dulled the senses.
That meant Raizen still had time to prepare.
The town wasn't far away, and weapon shops were easy to find.
He moved quickly.
At the nearest shop, he spent his remaining 10,000 ryo.
Four detonation tags—1,000 each.
With the remaining 6,000, he bought ten kunai, which cost only 500 each.
This time, he bargained carefully with the shopkeeper, avoiding the ridiculous markups he had suffered before.
He also bought some simple rations.
There was no telling how long he would have to wait.
Returning to the exchange office, Raizen began setting his trap.
Two detonation tags were planted at the entrance.
The remaining two were tied to kunai with thin string.
The detonation tags were simple devices—the shopkeeper had demonstrated their use earlier.
Everything was ready.
Now all he had to do…
…was wait.
Time passed slowly.
Evening faded into night.
The sky darkened, and lanterns flickered to life across the town.
Yet Tanaka Ueno never came out.
Raizen's anxiety slowly grew.
His throat was dry.
He drank water repeatedly, but the dryness refused to disappear.
Then—
Creak.
The door of the exchange office opened.
Raizen's entire body tensed.
Finally.
Tanaka Ueno stepped outside.
He was swaying slightly, clearly drunk.
Completely unaware.
Completely defenseless.
Raizen's eyes sharpened.
Boom!
His hand seal formed instantly.
The detonation tags ignited.
A violent explosion erupted at the entrance.
Flames roared outward, swallowing Tanaka Ueno in a blazing inferno.
Raizen gripped a kunai tightly.
He didn't trust the explosion alone. If the man survived—He would strike immediately.
Then—
A shadow suddenly appeared above him.
Raizen's pupils shrank.
He leapt sideways instinctively.
"Hmph."
A cold snort echoed from the rooftop.
"Who dares to ambush me?"
Tanaka Ueno stood there, looking down at him with drunken contempt. The smell of alcohol clung to him heavily.
He had indeed been drinking. But that didn't mean he was careless enough to die from such a simple trap.
Raizen landed on the ground, his expression dark and confused.
"When…? But I clearly saw—"
He had watched the explosion swallow the man.
"Hahahaha!"
Tanaka Ueno burst into manic laughter. Then his face suddenly hardened.
His eyes turned cold.
"You can't even tell the difference between a shadow clone and the real body… And you think you can be a bounty hunter?"
His smile became cruel.
"Let me give you a lesson in ninja combat."
"As for the tuition…"
His gaze locked onto Raizen.
"You can pay with that 20 million ryo head of yours."