Setting the Question and Answering It

Setting the Question and Answering It

Outside the bidding venue.

The merchants who had come for the Gold Mine had already entered the venue. Outside, a whole crowd stood or squatted around.

There were ninja, samurai, and fierce-looking people wielding weapons. There were quite a lot of them. After all, the Gold Mine had attracted not only merchants from the Land of Fire, the Land of Wind, and the Land of Rain, but also merchants from smaller regions and countries hoping to see whether they could pick up a bargain.

There were also plenty of local merchants from the Land of Rivers, along with even more assorted bodyguards they had brought. Outside was far livelier than inside.

However, merchants from small places generally would not risk resorting to assassination. Most still hoped to stay within the rules and let money do the talking.

The weaker one was, the more one hoped everyone would follow the rules.

"Boss, I think they're all looking at us."

Yuan Wei said quietly.

Because the Amegakure ninja and Land of Rain merchants had died, the only ninja from major hidden villages remaining were from Sunagakure and Konoha, so they naturally drew everyone's attention. Amegakure's reputation mainly came from Salamander Hanzo.

At least Sunagakure's ninja still looked relatively normal. Only the female ninja suspected to be Temari was somewhat unusual, but with that enormous iron fan on her back, she did not look like someone to mess with. As for the Konoha ninja...

Since the jonin sent by both villages had already been invited into the venue, among the ninja outside, Lin Ke—wearing Konoha's classic green chunin vest—was the most conspicuous.

There was no other reason. He looked far too young, was completely unknown, and was only a chunin. Every detail drew attention.

"Heh, I never thought Konoha would let a brat like this become a chunin." A bare-chested Ronin covered in tattoos leaned on his long sword and laughed loudly.

"Yeah. If our boss went over there, he'd probably be a jonin!"

"Hahahaha!"

Several Ronin beside him joined in, laughing loudly before continuing their snide remarks, all of them putting Konoha down to elevate themselves.

Konoha was impressive, and the Land of Fire was a major nation, but neither could cover the sky with one hand. Those making a living in the Land of Rivers were not people with families and property to protect. Without exception, they were lone drifters chasing fame and profit, with nothing but worthless lives.

Why had they not dared to speak when jonin Nara Yan Shui was present, yet dared to mock them now? Put simply, they had never intended to start a conflict. They merely wanted to add "provoked a Konoha chunin" to their reputations.

In full public view, whoever struck first would certainly provoke a reaction from everyone else. The more a ninja came from a major hidden village, the more they cared about rules, so there was a very high chance they would not act.

As for why they had not chosen the Sunagakure ninja...

Everyone in the world knew Konoha ninja were softhearted and rarely slaughtered innocents outside of missions and war. Provoking Sunagakure, on the other hand, could genuinely get them killed. Suigetsu mocked Sasuke: Just as expected of someone from naïve Konoha.

Note: In the manga, Nagato's parents' deaths were an accident. Two Konoha ninja, who had not eaten for three days, thought the room was empty and searched it for food. Nagato's parents mistook them for enemies and rushed forward to confront them. Only after killing them did the Konoha ninja realize they were not ninja. They spared Nagato, did not attack him, and even apologized, only to be immediately killed by Nagato after he awakened the Rinnegan.

The reason Nagato's parents reacted so intensely was something Nagato later mentioned to Yahiko: Iwagakure ninja did not just steal things and money—they killed people too.

The Ronin provoked them because they thought Konoha ninja were easy to bully and easy targets for comparison. Guns were meant to be pointed at good people.

In short, a bunch of stinking piles of shit had come crowding over, the kind that splattered all over you if you touched them.

Yuan Wei glared furiously, his hand instinctively drawing a Kunai.

"Clatter!" The moment someone touched a weapon, the atmosphere instantly turned tense. The resulting chain reaction was that most people drew their weapons as well.

It was a matter of deterrence. Ninja from major hidden villages were powerful, which meant others were bound to fear them. Even the slightest sign that they might make a move would inevitably make everyone else unite against them.

It had nothing to do with who was being provoked. It was like resenting the rich—or rather, resenting the strong.

The female ninja suspected to be Temari stood nearby with her arms folded, watching Konoha's three brats with great interest.

If they acted, it would very likely escalate into a large-scale conflict, causing the bidding to fail and the mission to fail.

If they did not act, Konoha's reputation and credibility would suffer.

As a brat who was a Konoha chunin, what would you do? The smile on her face deepened.

"Boss..." Xia was more perceptive and had thought of this. She gave him a quiet reminder.

Lin Ke looked coldly at the few who had spoken so rudely.

The shadow that had somehow flowed from the ground to behind them silently rose to its feet.

"Crack!" The head of the Ronin who had led the mockery was instantly twisted three hundred and sixty degrees. The shadow caught the long sword in his hand.

"Pshk!"

"Pshk!"

The shadow, possessing the same physical strength, mobility, and taijutsu skill as Lin Ke, killed the several Ronin in an instant with its close-range sneak attack.

There were no screams, no battle. There were only corpses crashing to the ground and blood quietly flowing.

The stench of blood gradually spread, and the atmosphere grew ever heavier. What truly frightened people was never someone rushing over to kill them, but a silent, instantaneous ambush.

Being able to instantly kill several Ronin who looked exceptionally strong meant that he could absolutely kill the vast majority of people present just as easily.

Lin Ke withdrew his gaze and quietly watched the bidding venue. He neither threatened anyone nor offered explanations or reassurance.

Yet most people lowered both their hostility and their weapons, secretly heightening their vigilance and planning escape routes.

Yuan Wei gripped his Kunai, his face flushed slightly with excitement. His gaze swept over the outsiders who had been full of hostility moments ago, and without exception, they avoided his eyes.

Xia gazed at Lin Ke with even greater admiration. Her disappointment over her figure was completely unimportant. Powerful, handsome, decisive, efficient...

When someone displayed every quality of strength she could imagine before her, how could she not admire him?

How had major hidden villages earned their reputations? By killing their way to them.

Lin Ke thought silently, Should good people be the ones guns are pointed at? Ridiculous. I've never considered myself a good person.

As long as I don't carry those so-called moral burdens, no one can use morality to manipulate me.

What kind of damned dilemma is that...

Why not just kill whoever posed the question? Come on, I'm a ninja, not some champion of justice.

Now that he looked at it, the effect was not bad. The more direct he was, the more effective it became. The nobles and higher-ups could treat samurai and ninja as less than human, but what right did a bunch of trash who lived by violence have to look down on ninja?

He even had a contingency plan in mind. If it truly turned into a chaotic brawl, he would not hesitate to act and swiftly kill everyone present who tried to attack, ensuring they could not affect the bidding inside.

That was the simplest and most brutal answer he could give.