In the original work, as an Elite Jōnin of Konoha and a former member of the Twelve Guardian Ninja, Asuma Sarutobi had a bounty of thirty-five million on the underground black market.
The monk Diroku was worth thirty million.
This indicates that during that period, the bounties for Jonin were almost all over ten million.
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Key Jonin from Great Ninja Villages would be close to thirty million. When Kakuzu and Hidan completed a job, it was basically around this amount.
Of course, many factors determine the bounty amount, and those related to Konoha and the Land of Fire were certainly in the most dangerous category.
Yubi remembered that when Kakuzu was flipping through the bounty list, there was a character named Fukuda Seimu with a bounty of 7.8 billion, though he had no idea who that was.
But the time period Yubi was in now was different. Considering the current economic situation of the Ninja World, the fact that the Great Ninja Villages had not yet fully developed, and the relationship between currency circulation and future inflation, he feared... current prices were not as high as in the future.
But they probably wouldn't be too low either.
As for the organization known as the Exchange Shop... the Five Great Ninja Villages had actually always known about it.
After all, during the war, Shimizu and the others had mentioned it.
In the future, after Diroku was killed and his body taken by Kakuzu and Hidan, Shikamaru and the others also immediately thought of the Exchange Shop.
This all showed that the Ninja World had a tacit understanding of this organization's existence.
After the successive deaths of Diroku and Asuma, Konoha immediately sent people to arrest the brokers of the Exchange Shop within their borders, which also meant that this organization was not actually that mysterious.
But why not completely eradicate it... it was because everyone knew that the so-called Exchange Shop was just an intermediary agency, a Stronghold. Eliminating one Exchange Shop would only lead to new Strongholds popping up; it was ultimately useless.
Moreover, the financial backers behind the Exchange Shop were mostly the powerful and wealthy of the Ninja World. What birthed an organization like the Exchange Shop was not a single force or individual, but rather the ecology of the Ninja World itself that decided everything. As long as there were conflicts and hatred in the Ninja World... this thing would never disappear.
However, if the Village suffered substantial losses because of the Exchange Shop... then it would definitely be uprooted and the perpetrators found.
Before leaving the Village, Yubi had specifically used the Village's intelligence to determine the location of an Exchange Shop within the Land of Wind.
After leaving the Village, he immediately rushed to the target location.
He changed into a set of black tight-fitting clothes, somewhat like a night suit.
Since he was doing underground business, he certainly couldn't expose his identity as a Sunagakure Ninja.
A day later, Yubi, dressed in black with half his face covered by a black cloth, arrived at a ruin.
This was a deserted Village once built on a stony beach.
But perhaps due to age... or perhaps affected by some battle, it had now become broken walls and ruins covered by wind and sand. From the outside, it looked like an old heritage site.
Yubi circled around and walked inside, finding a half-wall that hadn't completely collapsed. After rounding it, he saw a cellar entrance blocked by wooden boards. Upon lifting them, a flight of stairs extended underground, very well hidden.
Yubi stepped down the weathered stone stairs.
Soon, he arrived at a pitch-black underground space about a dozen meters wide.
Looking around, there were some scraps inside; it was just an abandoned residence or storage room, nothing strange.
Yubi walked to a wall on one side and tapped it with his finger.
His action seemed to trigger some mechanism; a brick loosened, revealing a pair of eyes sizing him up.
"A new face... who is your recommender?"
The old man behind the wall asked in a raspy voice.
He appeared very cautious.
"I'm here to make money... why do you care who the recommender is? As long as there's profit for you, isn't that enough?" Yubi said calmly.
The old man fell silent for a moment.
Then, a slight tremor shook the room, and dust fell from above.
The stone wall parted to both sides, revealing a secret room.
An old man with a large tobacco pipe, looking somewhat disheveled in dress and hair, stepped out and casually tossed over a register.
Yubi caught it.
He immediately began to flip through it.
From the corner of his eye, he also glimpsed many bed frames, jars, and pots in the secret room... some of the bed boards were covered with shrouds, emitting a gloomy and cold aura, somewhat like a morgue from his previous life.
Pulling his thoughts back, he browsed through the wanted list.
As he expected, almost every prominent figure in the Ninja World now had a bounty on their head.
It even included the Hokage of each Village.
He also found himself in it... Blood Doctor Yubi of Sunagakure, priced at fifty million!
Yubi's eyelid twitched... he hadn't expected his price to be so high. The register contained not just the price, but also some brief information and a portrait of him.
He also found Sasori of the Red Sand... only thirty-five million.
One must realize that the price levels in the Ninja World now were certainly not as high as in the future.
His bounty was actually higher than Asuma's back then. Asuma not only had the backing of Konoha but also held the title of the Third Hokage's son and was one of the Twelve Guardian Ninja; his resume was quite impressive.
How long had he and Sasori of the Red Sand been on the rise... Although they had the reputation of the Sunagakure Twin Stars, it shouldn't be inflated to this extent, right?
"Or rather... is the person who put the bounty on us the Daimyo of the Land of Earth? If it's the Daimyo, this amount of money shouldn't be an issue... it's very likely," Yubi thought to himself.
Of course, it could also be because the Ninja World War had not ended long ago, and some effects had not yet faded.
"You don't need to look at these two... whether you're from the Land of Wind or not, since you've entered the Land of Wind, most of the people in this register are targets wanted within the Land of Wind's borders. It's written very clearly; some figures have notes indicating that one needs a certain level of ability to potentially assassinate them. Blood Doctor Yubi and Sasori of the Red Sand are both Geniuses of Sunagakure. If you want to move against them, you can only infiltrate Sunagakure or wait for an opportunity."
Seeing him paying attention to the register, the old man on the side took a puff of his pipe, revealing yellow teeth. "Of course, you can also take the mission. We have no requirements for those who take missions... it's just a kind reminder."
"These two little guys... are no ordinary tough characters."
After saying that, the old man added, "What we want are bodies. If the body you bring back is incomplete or damaged, the price will be a different story."
A Ninja's intact body records information about some of their techniques.
This is very important for the clients behind the scenes.
"I'm just looking."
Yubi muttered.
He now basically understood the market prices and targets of the underground black market.
The wanted targets were mainly divided into three categories: first, important figures from various countries, including Daimyos and nobles; second, the main combat forces led by the Five Great Ninja Villages, represented by the Kages; and third, some private armed forces or group organizations.
However... the intelligence on the targets in the register was incomplete; if one wanted to strike, they would need to consider it themselves.
Naturally, the higher the price, the greater the difficulty.
There were also some people whose prices were influenced by other factors.
None of these three types of targets were easy to assassinate... since they were on the underground black market, none of them were simple.
Even some minor nobles in the turbulent Ninja World would hire or keep some 'house-guarding' lackeys, including many Rogue Ninja or wandering Ninja, and in significant numbers.
Naturally, for Yubi, it wasn't a problem.
He was mainly selecting task targets.
Figures related to the Five Great Nations, excluding local groups, were not his priority choices.
Firstly, infiltrating was dangerous with the possibility of exposure, and secondly, it would inevitably involve Ninja Villages, which would be very risky.
Therefore, the most convenient targets to strike were actually those outside the Five Great Ninja Villages.
"This kind of price... looking at it now, it's actually normal..."
Seeing the strings of numbers next to the names, Yubi felt'surging emotions.'
There really are... a lot of rich people.
He returned the register to the old man and asked, "Can I take many tasks at the same time?"
"Of course, as I said, we have no requirements for outlaws like you... we only want bodies."
The latter was not at all surprised by his words and chuckled.
Hearing this, Yubi immediately left.
"Hmph, rookie."
The old man watched Yubi's departing back and sneered in his heart.
He had seen many people in this line of work... the targets in the register, even those with the lowest prices, were difficult to deal with using mundane forces; otherwise, they wouldn't be on the wanted list.
This man in black completely failed to understand the severity of the 'problem.'
He looked like a guy who wanted to make quick money but had no experience whatsoever.
People like this, who overestimate themselves and want to get fat on one bite, basically... won't be seen again.