{Commercial District, Konohagakure}

{6:32 PM, 1st May 12 Yrs ANB}

{3rd Person POV}

Ren walked away from the spy, he turned right at the next intersection and followed the road for another block before he ducked into an alley. He opened his inventory and switched his ninja gear out, his shuriken and kunai pouch disappeared from his waist as he changed clothes with a few clicks.

Ren looked down at himself after he was done, he was wearing a half-sleeved white T-shirt with a black pair of pants. He bent down and grabbed a handful of dirt throwing it over himself he smudged his T-shirt in random places to give himself a homeless orphan look. He removed the bandages on his arms and carefully stored the resistance seal Shiki formulae inscribed in it. With a single click the weight on his legs also vanished as Ren felt light as a feather.

'No time to waste,' Ren was nervous as he took a kunai out of his pouch and stored it separately in the first column of his inventory, it would be easier to take it out when needed. Ren walked back toward where he had spotted the spy, he mingled in the crowd and slowly closed the distance. He bumped into the spy, his muscles were tense for any adverse reaction but Nakai didn't even flinch as Ren swiftly stole his purse and then swiftly followed the tide to duck into a nearby alley.

He maintained a slow pace but hurried as he rushed from one alley to another, after a couple of minutes he sensed someone appears above him but he managed to stop himself from reacting. Ren opened his inventory ready to take the kunai out at a moment's notice as he still rushed desperately through the small alley waiting for Nakai to strike, but it seemed like Nakai enjoyed a little bit of theatrics.

Nakai dropped from the top floor, he wanted to land right behind Ren but Ren didn't give him a chance, he knew Nakai was anticipating the look of surprise on Ren's face so this was the perfect chance to attack. Since Nakai was going for his first attack on an unsuspecting homeless brat this would be the point when his guard was at his lowest. He waited until Nakai was just a couple of meters above him before taking out a kunai from the inventory.

A bunch of anatomy knowledge appeared in Ren's mind as he concealed the kunai and looked up in a startled panic. As Nakai's hands rushed towards Ren's neck, Ren's right hand sneaked through Nakai's guard and drove the kunai straight into the lower middle left point of his chest.

Ren saw Nakai's smile freeze and he quickly turned around after kicking Nakai away. Ren knew whatever the Bounty system was, it would notify him if he succeded, he jumped up and started running up the walls before pulling himself up on the building. Ren was in a daze for a bit and the red block that appeared in front of him stole his attention away enough for him to calm down.

[Bounty Completed!]

[Name: Nakai Koichi]

[Rank: Chunin]

[Level: 24]

With shaky hands Ren waved the red block away, he noticed the red blood covering his right hand which was still clutching the Kunai, there were splashes of red on his T-shirt so he quickly dropped down into the alley once again. Nakai's body was lying in a corner his back was visible to Ren, who sighed in relief and slowly approached the fallen figure.

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Maybe he was afraid it was all a genjutsu but he tentatively reached out to touch Nakai's fallen figure, as soon as he touched Nakai though a red block appeared in front of him again.

...

[Bounty Target detected {Nakai Koichi}]

[Would you like to extract bounty?]

[Yes/No]

...

Ren stared at the message once again, how the red block summarized a whole person in just a few words gave him some morbid thoughts. He clicked the 'Yes' button once again, and the body in front of him disappeared, along with all the blood from his hands, T-shirt, and even the Kunai that he was still clutching.

[Obtained scroll {Chakra Supression}]

[Obtained scroll {Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu}]

[Obtained +14045 Ryo]

[EXP +2400(+240)]

...

[You Leveled Up. Chakra has been restored to 100%. All ailments and negative status effects have been cured.]

...

----------------------------------------

{Apartment #307, Resedential Area, Konohagakure}

{7:12 PM, 1st May 12 Yrs ANB}

{3rd Person POV}

Ren closed his eyes as he sat in the shower, hot water was flowing down his body. His hands had stopped shaking by now as he went through his impulsive choices today. He gave in to his curiosity and while he would probably still choose to go through with it even if some of the circumstances were a little bit different.

Even if Ino didn't invite him to the party, he probably would have tried to eliminate a spy, maybe not the Oto one and maybe not today, but...

Still, a little sense of shame appeared in Ren's mind when he realized that at the back of his mind, one of the factors behind his actions was money. Being an orphan he received a fixed subsidy from the village, not the kind of money with which he could go to a birthday party hosted by one of the major clans of Konoha.

Ren rubbed his hands again, after another round of cleansing he walked out of the shower and looked at the black kimono that was placed on his bed. Even one of the simpler designs cost him 15000 Ryo, something he couldn't afford with his subsidized monthly stipend.

'I need to stop thinking about it...'

Ren knew it was his guilty consciousness muddling his thoughts, he leaned back and thought back to the lecture a couple of weeks ago. Seeing that he knew that Nakai was a spy, he was obliged to inform the authorities anyway. He was selfish and didn't want to explain how could he be sure that Nakai was a spy, he didn't want anyone to know about his weird powers.

'...I am selfish I don't deny it,' Ren opened the black kimono and started getting dressed, 'I won't tell anyone ever about the floating boxes...' Ren reasserted in his thoughts his ideals and his morals as his movements became smooth and the crevices on his forehead started receding. Ren knew he wasn't the most moral person, he was an orphan, a survivor. He had managed to take care of himself for years now, and he could do so for the rest of his life.

...

Ren looked at himself in the mirror, the flower patterns engraved in the black kimono could be clearly seen in the mirror as Ren stared at himself once again.

While it wasn't quite a life-and-death struggle between Ren and the red-name spies scattered throughout Konoha. In a sense, it was a life-and-death struggle, since he won't disclose his powers to anyone, there is only one way to cleanse Konoha of spies. Ren's right hand trembled a little but he used his left hand to suppress the tremors...

'I'll survive, just like always...'