In the Hidden Sand Puppet Shop, Kankuro was on the phone.
On the other end of the line was none other than Tony Stark.
"Mr. Stark, is there anything you need?"
Tony glanced at the screen on his computer, which displayed the iron armor he was currently designing. He then asked, "Kankuro, have you recently had any conflicts with SHIELD?"
"They're trying to gather information about you all, and they've even come to me asking what a puppet master is."
Kankuro thought for a moment before replying, "Coulson wanted information on our clients, but we didn't provide it."
"As a ninja village, keeping client confidentiality is the minimum standard. Otherwise, people will come to issue a mission one moment, and their information will be leaked the next, which is unethical."
Upon hearing Kankuro's explanation, Tony was exasperated. "These people are shameless."
"They're used to obtaining customer information from other companies and now they're trying it on you too."
"Ugh, shameless thieves..."
Kankuro was dismissive. "They only dare to probe you for information. If they try anything suspicious, we'll show them what it means to mess with the wrong people."
Clearly, SHIELD's behavior was held in low regard by both Tony and Kankuro. They then chatted about puppetry and mechas, with Tony once again inviting Kankuro to his mansion.
...
Kabuto looked up at the Hidden Sand Puppet Shop and adjusted his glasses before stepping inside.
"Welcome to the Hidden Sand Puppet Shop!"
Kabuto glanced at the welcome puppet at the entrance and then walked straight to the service counter.
Temari, seeing Kabuto approach, spoke up, "Have you made up your mind?"
"Are you ready to join our Hidden Sand Puppet Shop?"
Kabuto smiled but shook his head. "Sorry to disappoint you, but I'm not here to join the shop."
Hearing that Kabuto wasn't here to join Hidden Sand, Temari rolled her eyes and said with mild annoyance, "Then why are you here this time?"
"To buy ninja tools?"
Kabuto laughed. "My ninja tools are still sufficient for now. I don't need to restock them just yet."
"This time, I'm here to discuss a mission. I'd like to commission you for an intelligence task. Can you accept it?"
Temari examined Kabuto for a moment, then asked, "What kind of intelligence task?"
Kabuto took out a photograph from his pocket and placed it on the counter in front of Temari. The photograph depicted the three members of the Winter Soldier team who had left the Hidden Sand Puppet Shop.
"SHIELD needs information on these three individuals and what they purchased from you."
Temari glanced at the photo and then looked back at Kabuto. Seeing that he made no signals or gestures, she directly agreed, "We'll not accept the task. Sand ninjas never sell out their clients' information."
Kabuto smiled. "Let me be clear: 100 energy blocks."
"You just need to tell me their identities and what they bought from the Hidden Sand Puppet Shop."
"This isn't a complex intelligence commission. You're supposed to..."
Temari turned down Kabuto's offer once more, saying, "It's not possible."
Kabuto raised the offer to 150 energy blocks.
"You overestimate the resolve of the Hidden Sand Village."
"200!"
At this point, Temari began to understand what Kabuto meant, and instead of speaking, she simply stared at him.
"Name a price. As long as it's reasonable, SHIELD will accept it to acquire the information."
Seeing Kabuto's subtle gestures and expressions, Temari understood he was suggesting that they should reach an agreement.
She nodded, then spoke, "One flat price: 300 energy blocks. We won't negotiate for any amount less than that."
"This price is only because you are a ninja."
Grant Ward, who was outside the Hidden Sand Puppet Shop, heard Temari's quoted price and was unsure of what to say.
While others may not know who visited the shop yesterday, Ward was aware that it was their Hydra agents.
However, given that Hydra never used their real identity in such transactions, the ninjas shouldn't be aware of their true identity.
Ward then said, "Kabuto, agree to the price."
Hearing Ward's voice, Kabuto nodded. "Alright, there's no problem. We accept the price."
Temari then turned to Kabuto. "I can only provide the information that I know. Whether it's useful or not is not my concern."
Kabuto nodded. "No problem. We only need to know the information."
Temari took out a mission commission scroll and wrote down the task details and the agreed reward, then handed it to Kabuto.
Kabuto received the scroll and signed it with care.
He then took out a sealing scroll from his ninja tool bag and opened it.
"Poof!"
A cloud of smoke dissipated, revealing 200 energy blocks.
"Here are 200 energy blocks as the down payment for the task. The remaining 100 will be delivered to you before I return to SHIELD."
Temari nodded at Kabuto's words. "No problem. SHIELD wouldn't dare withhold payment from Hidden Sand."
After collecting the 200 energy blocks from the counter, Temari began speaking.
"Yesterday, the visitor to the Hidden Sand Puppet Shop bought a set of physique strengthening serums."
Hearing this, Ward nodded in the car. It seemed the organization had purchased another set of serum.
"As for the visitor's identity…"
Temari paused at this point, then continued, "We have no idea who they are."
"Any person or organization can trade with the Hidden Sand Puppet Shop as long as they can pay. We don't ask for the buyer's identity."
"While buying a bottle of water from a store, do you need to provide your name to the store owner?"
Hearing Temari's words, Kabuto inwardly laughed. SHIELD had been fooled completely.
They paid 300 energy blocks for a piece of useless information, but Kabuto didn't mind. His main role was to help Charles extract resources from SHIELD and to identify where SHIELD stored 084 objects and the Tesseract.
In the car, Ward listened to their conversation and relaxed. Just as he expected, they didn't know Hydra's identity.
Kabuto feigned anger and exclaimed, "That's a scam! The information isn't worth 300 energy blocks!"
Temari clapped her hands together and pointed back at Kabuto, "But you forced me into this. I was reluctant from the start. You only asked to provide the information I knew."