In the original story, Asuma Sarutobi carried a bounty of thirty-five million on the underground market. The monk Chiriku was worth thirty million.
Both were prominent figures with substantial records behind them, which suggested that serious Jonin from major villages were priced in that general range during that period, with key figures approaching thirty million as a baseline.
The current period was different in several ways. The ninja world's economy had not yet reached its later development level, currency circulation patterns were different, and inflation had not done its work yet.
Prices would be lower than the future figures Yuji remembered. Probably not dramatically lower, but lower.
He had used the village's intelligence resources before leaving to locate an Exchange Shop operating within the Land of Wind.
The organization was not genuinely mysterious to anyone paying attention. The Five Great Villages had always known it existed. After Chiriku's death and Asuma's, Konoha's response had been immediate, which demonstrated that the brokers operating within their borders were known and located.
The reason no one eliminated the network entirely was that elimination was pointless. Destroy one node and another appears.
The Exchange Shop was not a single organization so much as a function the ninja world's ecology had produced on its own.
Conflict generated hatred, hatred generated bounties, bounties generated infrastructure to collect them. As long as the underlying conditions persisted, the apparatus would regenerate.
The financial backers behind it were the powerful and wealthy of the ninja world. Not forces with an interest in its destruction.
Yuji changed into black clothing, half his face covered, and arrived at the location a day after leaving the village. A ruined settlement on a rocky beach, old enough that wind and sand had worked it over thoroughly. From outside it looked like a historical site with nothing worth visiting.
He went in, found the half-collapsed wall, found the boards over the cellar entrance, and descended.
The underground space was about a dozen meters across and looked like an abandoned storage room. He crossed to one wall and tapped it in a specific pattern.
A brick shifted. A pair of eyes appeared in the gap.
"New face. Who sent you?"
The voice was old and rough and careful.
"I'm here to earn money. The recommender question doesn't matter as long as there's profit in it for both of us."
A pause. Then a faint tremor ran through the room, dust dropping from the ceiling, and the stone wall split apart on both sides.
The old man who stepped out had a large tobacco pipe and the general appearance of someone who had stopped caring about how he presented himself some time ago. He tossed a register across without ceremony.
Yuji caught it and started reading.
The secret room beyond him held bed frames, jars, and containers of various kinds. Some of the boards had shrouds across them. The atmosphere had a particular quality to it, clinical and cold in a way that reminded him of something from his previous life.
He pulled his attention back to the register.
Almost every significant figure in the current ninja world had an entry. That included the Kage of each village.
He found himself.
Blood Doctor Yuji of Sunagakure. Fifty million.
His eyelid moved.
He had not expected that number. The entry included a brief profile and a portrait alongside the price. He found Sasori of the Red Sand a few pages later. Thirty-five million.
He turned this over for a moment. The price levels in this era were lower than the future figures he remembered.
His fifty million, adjusted for that difference, was comparable to or higher than what Asuma had carried in the original story, and Asuma had been the Third Hokage's son, a former member of the Twelve Guardian Ninja, and a senior Konoha figure with an extensive record behind him.
Apparently, single-handedly dismantling the Hidden Mist's coastal operations and driving off Yagura had made an impression on the market.
How long had he and Sasori actually been active at a level that warranted this kind of pricing? The Sunagakure Twin Stars reputation was real, but fifty million felt inflated beyond what the record alone should have produced.
The most likely explanation was the Daimyo of the Land of Earth. That level of funding was not a problem for a Daimyo, and Iwagakure's accumulated grievance toward both of them was substantial enough to motivate the investment.
The timing also contributed something. The war had ended recently and its effects hadn't fully settled. Prices in the immediate aftermath of large conflicts tended to reflect elevated emotions as much as rational threat assessment.
The old man had been watching him study the register and spoke up with the patient tone of someone who had delivered the same explanation many times.
The targets in this particular register were primarily wanted within the Land of Wind's borders. Blood Doctor Yuji and Sasori of the Red Sand were Sunagakure residents, anyone wanting to move against them would need to either infiltrate the village or wait for an opportunity outside it.
The note was clear about that. He was also welcome to take the contract if he chose. No requirements, just a reminder that these were not ordinary targets.
"We want intact bodies. Damaged or incomplete, and the payout changes."
A ninja's body preserved information about their techniques. The clients behind these contracts had uses for that.
"I'm just looking," Yuji said.
He worked through the register's structure as he browsed. Three broad categories of targets: important figures from various countries, including Daimyo and nobility; the major combat forces of the Five Great Villages, with Kage-level figures at the top; and private armed groups and independent organizations. The intelligence on each target was partial.
Anyone taking a contract would need to develop their own approach from there. Price correlated roughly with difficulty, though other factors influenced individual entries.
None of these targets were uncomplicated. Even minor nobles in the current environment kept armed retainers, including significant numbers of rogue and wandering ninja hired specifically for protection. The underground market's entries reflected that baseline.
For Yuji, the Five Great Nations-connected targets were not the priority. Infiltrating their territories risked exposure, and any action against affiliated ninja would pull village-level attention. The most practical category was outside the Five Great Villages entirely.
He looked at the numbers beside various names and felt something move in his chest.
There really were a lot of wealthy people in the world.
He handed the register back and asked, "Can I take multiple contracts simultaneously?"
"Of course. No requirements for people in your position. We want bodies. That's all."
The old man showed no particular reaction to the question. He had heard variations of it before.
Yuji left immediately.
The old man watched him go and formed a quiet opinion.
He had been in this business long enough to read the type. Someone who had walked in with no recommender, browsed the list with the focused attention of a person calculating returns, and walked out ready to move.
The lowest-priced targets in that register were still serious problems for anyone without exceptional capability. Most people who came in with that particular energy, eager and inexperienced, overestimated themselves badly.
People like that generally did not reappear.
...
Stones??/?