Chapter 221: You Need to Pay More
Ino returned her body to Hinata, and the sudden surge in eye power within Hinata's eyes frightened the young girl.
The Byakugan's observation range and precision had increased to an incredible degree.
Previously, Neji could see chakra points and use Gentle Fist to strike them only through grueling, daily training. Hinata had never been able to do this, which led Hiashi Hyuga to consider her dull-witted. But now... she felt that even striking pressure points wasn't an insurmountable peak anymore.
The initial joy was quickly followed by immense worry.
She gasped, "Ino, are you okay? My eyes, will my eyes cause you... cause you any harm?"
The Hyuga clan had a deep understanding of eye power, and being immersed in that environment, she knew some things.
Right now, she was incredibly worried about Ino, because the clan records stated that such losses of eye power were permanent, with no exceptions. If her own power had increased this much, Ino must have suffered severe damage.
She was terribly nervous. If, because of her, the extraordinarily talented Ino suffered a serious injury, or even became blind, she would never be able to forgive herself.
Should she go back and take care of her? Deliver meals several times a day? If the Yamanaka clan kicked her out, could she take her in? Or maybe rent a place outside? She didn't have much personal savings, though.
Hinata's thoughts wandered further and further...
Ino watched her strangely from the mental world. Since she wasn't occupying the body, she couldn't see Hinata's exact thoughts and could only guess.
"It's fine. This little bit of loss is nothing to me. I'll recover after a couple of days' rest."
"Really?"
"Really!"
For regular ninjas, such losses were indeed permanent – every bit used was a bit less remaining, and the eye power that could be increased through later training was very limited.
But Ino was different. She had Asura Chakra within her. She was like Obito using the Mangekyo Sharingan now; although it wasn't an Eternal Mangekyo, Obito could slowly recover his eye power with Hashirama Cells in his body. Ino had Asura Chakra directly, making her recovery speed even faster.
"I'll go back and get ready first." Ino flew back to her own body.
Twenty minutes later, Hinata returned to the ship's cabin with the captive. Ino, who had returned earlier, had already drawn the jutsu formula, preparing to extract information from the captive's brain.
She was old hands at this; she had even read the brains of the dead, let alone the living.
Under the gaze of the three of them, following the standard Yamanaka clan method, she thoroughly read all the information from the female ninja's brain.
"Okay, this Doto Kazahana is indeed the leader. He covets Koyuki, who is the actress Yukie Fujikaze, for some kind of necklace she has. They say it contains the key to opening a secret treasure... This guy has three subordinates. Besides the captured Fubuki Kakuyoku here, there's another one named Nadare Rōga, and another named Mizore Fuyukuma.
Their Chakra Armor can boost their own chakra by ten to thirty percent. It can also create a dense chakra shield around their bodies, effectively resisting ninjutsu and genjutsu while enhancing the power of their own ninjutsu. They're also very skilled at using Ice Style ninjutsu in specific environments. Based on my observations, because of the Chakra Armor, they rely on it too much, making their taijutsu very poor. This is our advantage."
With the information in hand, things became much simpler.
As the captain, Ino decisively issued orders: "The mission requires us to protect Yukie Fujikaze's personal safety. If we just play defense, we'll be too passive. Doto Kazahana lives in the Royal Palace, which is a bit far. According to the information provided by this female ninja, the burly Mizore Fuyukuma is ambushing the film crew in the snow mountains outside the town, preparing for a sneak attack. Shikamaru, take Choji and Hinata to deal with him. The one called Nadare Rōga is mine. Any problems?"
"None." x3
"Then let's go."
Ino slit the female ninja's throat with a single slash.
A gasp of surprise came from outside the room.
Koyuki Kazahana, who played the leading role, covered her mouth, her phoenix eyes filled with panic.
Ino asked her as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened, "What is it? Did something happen with the film crew? I'm just stepping out for a bit, I'll be back soon."
Her tone was completely unlike someone who had just killed a female ninja a second ago. Koyuki Kazahana stared at her in shock, her heart trembling. How could this person kill without even blinking?
"Y-You... why did you kill her? Could it be... could it be?" She tried hard to analyze the situation using her own way of thinking. "Shouldn't she have been kept as a hostage for negotiation?"
Ino shook her head. "Acting? You're good at it. Killing? I'm good at it."
After all, this was the film she had invested in and was shooting. In Ino's heart, this movie was far more important than someone like Doto Kazahana right now. Of course, if that treasure turned out to be very valuable, that would be a different story...
She looked around and called over the old manager. "Mr. Sandayu, if there are no scenes for today, please have Miss Yukie return to her room to rest."
She pointed at the corpse in the room. "That female ninja killed quite a few of your comrades and passionate patriots back then, didn't she? I'll leave the body for you to handle. Whether you want to decapitate and skin her, pull out her tendons, or anything else, feel free. Oh, and remember to help me strip off her Chakra Armor, those mechanical devices on her body. I'll find time to research them later."
She pulled out a note and quickly scribbled a bunch of numbers onto it before handing it to her employer, Sandayu Asama.
What is this?
The old man picked up the note and read it closely.
It listed the ninja tool consumption for killing Fubuki Kakuyoku.
Squinting his eyes, he carefully counted the zeros: "Ones, tens, hundreds, thousands, ten thousands... fifteen ten thousands?! This is... this is..."
Ino sneered. "What? Too expensive? This corpse on the ground is a Jonin-level Snow Ninja. Do you think dealing with this kind of enemy doesn't come at a cost?"
What price did you pay? You just wrote one more note, right?
The old man didn't believe it at all. He had been working with the film crew for a long time and wasn't new to dealing with Ino. He had seen her obsession with money and her tendency to exaggerate, but he didn't dare offend her at this moment, and yet he didn't want to pay. He could only force a smile.
Ino pointed at Hinata. "Ask my teammate. During the fight just now, my body suffered some damage. It's permanent, a very serious injury."
Really? Sandayu looked at Hinata. The honest child felt there was nothing wrong with Ino's statement and nodded very firmly.
The old man gritted his teeth. "Alright, we'll pay this money. What about Doto Kazahana?"
Ino put on an expression like he'd just hit the jackpot. "There will definitely be more ninja tool consumption in that fight, but I estimate you'll see Doto Kazahana's corpse by dinner time tonight."
Shikamaru, Choji, and Hinata, three against one, dealing with Mizore Fuyukuma wouldn't be difficult.
Ino's search for Nadare Rōga, however, took quite a bit of time.
The information in Fubuki Kakuyoku's brain was just a general location. Amidst the vast snow-covered mountains, it was her first time using her sensory abilities in a snowy environment. The first two times, she ended up finding hibernating animal dens. She beat up the papa bear and mama bear so badly they were hiding in the corner trembling, feeling like they had the worst luck imaginable. Ino played with the little bear for a while and also felt her luck wasn't great.
Fortunately, on the third try, she finally found the real target.
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