Naruto: The Scientific Ninja

Chapter 32: High-Priced Puppets

His Water Bat No. 7 poison, aside from the disadvantage of not being lethal enough, was full of advantages. The key was that such a good poison also had a high yield. No wonder the bald merchant ninja was so enthusiastic; it was truly profitable.

"Yu, if you went into business, I'm afraid we'd all be out of a job," the bald ninja joked, his actions eager. He could already see the profits. This Dichlorvos No. 7 was of a relatively high purity. After buying it, he could secretly add a little water, and the extra portion could go right into his own pocket. It was like getting paid twice. Wasn't that why he'd come to this dangerous front line in the first place? For the money.

Once he saved enough to pay off his gambling debts, he could redeem his house from the daimyō's mansion and use the ninja connections he'd accumulated here to go into business for himself. He didn't want to stay on the front line for a single day longer than he had to.

"Ku Enzo," Sasuke said, patting the sealing scroll, "I brought 1500ml of Dichlorvos No. 7 this time. If you offer too low a price for my loot, I can only go elsewhere."

He brought that much this time, Ku Enzo thought, overjoyed. The output had doubled. It seemed this Sarutobi jōnin was short on cash and was preparing to make a big purchase. He could make another fortune.

"Yes," Sasuke nodded. He had been intentionally controlling the sales volume of his poison. He was afraid that if he sold too much, it would cause significant casualties among the Sand ninja, drawing their attention. Once Suna's poison experts got their hands on a sample, they could develop a counter-serum in minutes. Once it was cracked, his poison would be no different from any other, and a stable cash flow would be lost.

"Fish," Ku Enzo said, using Sasuke's other code name, "let's see your loot now. It won't be something to just amuse me this time, will it?"

He specialized in high-end clients; accepting the scrap metal of ordinary Sand ninja was beneath him. But he figured this jōnin was just helping his subordinates sell their hard-earned spoils.

"Ku Enzo, don't misunderstand," Sasuke said, pulling out another sealing scroll. "This time, it's mainly my spoils of war."

"Oh? Yours?" Hearing this, the bald merchant's eyes lit up with the obsession of a money-lover. The spoils of a Konoha jōnin were generally rare and valuable. He rubbed his hands together. "Yu, with your strength, you surely won't disappoint us, right?"

"Of course not!" Sasuke feigned arrogance and slowly unsealed the scroll.

With a puff of smoke, a pile of broken puppets and a few custom-made Sand Village blades appeared before them. Sasuke then unstrapped the longsword from his own waist and tossed it onto the pile.

"Sand Village puppets… and there's also a special jōnin-level puppet." Ku Enzo caressed the puppets and their parts as if stroking a girl's skin, his expression a mixture of surprise and regret. He knew how powerful a full puppet master team was. A special jōnin puppeteer alone was no less than a regular jōnin. For this Sarutobi to have defeated an entire team unharmed… he had to be an elite jōnin. And these puppets were shattered like this; they must have been destroyed by an advanced ninjutsu.

The Sarutobi clan is indeed a powerful clan in Konoha, proficient in ninjutsu, he thought. This man has incredible strength. He will surely have a place in Konoha in the future. If I befriend him now…

"My lord…" Ku Enzo's tone became even more fawning.

"Give me an estimate. I'm in a hurry," Sasuke said, picking up the jōnin's blade from the pile and strapping it to his own waist.

"A standard-issue Sand Village jōnin's ninja sword!" Ku Enzo's eyes widened. To seize this blade meant killing a Sand jōnin. He's definitely an elite, he concluded. I underestimated him before. I have to give him more concessions this time, forge a friendship.

"My lord," he said, a sly grin on his face, "I have a batch of the smuggled goods you mentioned last time. Are you still in need of them?"

"Ku Enzo, you're not an honest man," Sasuke said, waving his hand dismissively, feigning displeasure but secretly overjoyed. "But since you can get them for me, this matter will be overlooked. It won't happen again."

He could finally begin his real scientific experiments.