Willing to Serve You, My Lord!

When Gato came back to his senses inside the cabin, he was drenched in cold sweat, his eyes filled with fear and reverence for the mysterious figure before him.

Although the Hell Viewing Technique was merely a simple C-rank genjutsu, to an ordinary person without chakra like Gato, it was no different from a divine technique.

"My lord!" The moment he emerged from the illusionary world, Gato scrambled forward on all fours and prostrated himself at Menma's feet, his voice trembling.

"Gato is willing to serve you, my lord!" Gato lifted his head, his tiny eyes full of panic and reverence.

He was terrified that, if he proved useless, the other party would skin him alive.

The Hell Viewing Technique allowed its target to witness the deepest fear in his heart.

And Gato's fear was, "The man dies before spending his money."

He had gone through countless cycles in the illusionary world, watching the Gato Company he had painstakingly built become a world-class financial conglomerate, only for himself to die for one reason or another.

Sometimes, he died in accidents. Sometimes, he was caught up in ninja wars. Other times, he was simply assassinated by ninjas.

There had been no fewer than a million such illusions.

The time Gato had experienced in the illusionary world amounted to over a year in reality.

Of course, Menma had added a little something extra to the illusion, letting Gato see how those lofty daimyo and nobles were wantonly slaughtered by powerful ninjas.

Thus, the moment Gato emerged from the illusionary world, he begged the mysterious ninja before him for mercy, pleading to be allowed to serve him.

It had also completely shattered Gato's faith in the old order of the Shinobi World.

The worldview Gato had once held regarding the rule of nobles and daimyo had been utterly dismantled by the illusionary worlds he experienced.

Menma nodded in satisfaction and placed a hand atop Gato's head.

Gato lowered his head nervously.

"Blood Pact Seal!" As Menma's dark, violent chakra poured into Gato's brain, a swastika-shaped Cursed Seal appeared deep within Gato's tongue.

This was a Cursed Seal Jutsu Menma had developed in the Limited Tsukuyomi World.

It was very similar to Root's Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal, except Root's Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal would paralyze the entire body of anyone who revealed information about Danzo, rendering them unable to move.

Menma's Blood Pact Seal was even more cruel. As long as the victim revealed Menma's information to outsiders, their brain would be directly destroyed, preventing enemies from obtaining further intelligence by reading their memories.

However, Menma had further improved the technique, allowing it to store the chakra capacity of an ordinary Genin and greatly enhance the recipient's physical abilities.

"I need your ability to make money. Contribute funds to the organization." Menma floated in midair, scrutinizing Gato, who was kneeling on the ground.

Feeling the subtle chakra energy within his body, Gato's face lit up with delight, and he kowtowed once more.

"Thank you for your blessing, my lord! Gato swears to serve you unto death!"

Night fell, and waves lapped against the hull with soft splashes.

Gato's office had been cleaned out. The corpses had been thrown into the sea, and after the room was tidied up, it became Menma's resting quarters aboard the ship.

"My lord, this is premium tea specially offered by the Land of Tea to its daimyo. Shall I brew you a cup?" Gato carefully attended him from the side.

"Mm." Menma still wore his mask as he lounged lazily on the sofa.

Little Nine-Tails had already crawled out from Menma's fur collar and was sitting on the coffee table, stuffing himself with desserts.

Gato hurriedly offered more pastries, serving him as though he were a deity.

"Your primary task now is to manage the company's revenue and build up funds for the organization." Menma flipped through an ancient book from some unknown country in Gato's collection, his right fist propping up his cheek.

"Yes! I will obey your command, my lord!"

Although Gato felt some heartache at having to hand over all the money he earned to the organization, he had gained power and even secured a certain position within this lord's organization.

Perhaps he could even become a noble in the new world someday!

"How much longer until the fleet reaches a port in the Land of Lightning?" Menma suddenly looked up and asked.

"Reporting to you, my lord, around five or six days. It is currently the season of northern winds, so the fleet will travel much faster."

Departing from a port in the Land of Fire, they needed to pass around the Land of Hot Water and cross a bay before reaching the coastline of the Land of Lightning.

The distance was not particularly great, roughly equivalent to the distance from Konoha to the Land of Hot Water.

At the speed of a Jonin traveling three hundred kilometers per hour, it would take about a day. Subtracting rest time along the way, the distance was probably more than five thousand kilometers.

This ship was a wooden sailing vessel. With the winds of the northern wind season, it should travel at around eighteen knots, or 33.3 kilometers per hour. At its limit, it could cover eight hundred kilometers in a day.

By that calculation, it really would take five or six days to reach the coast of the Land of Lightning.

The Shinobi World was quite large when calculated this way.

It was simply that ninjas moved too fast.

When Naruto's group had gone to support Sunagakure, they traveled from Konoha to Sunagakure in three days. Even assuming they all had the stamina of Elite Jonin, traveled at two hundred kilometers per hour, and slept only five hours a day, they would cover thirty-eight hundred kilometers daily—more than eleven thousand kilometers in three days.

The Earth Menma had lived on before crossing over had a circumference of only forty thousand kilometers.

It seemed that the size of this planet had indeed been designed according to Earth. The entire Shinobi World continent probably had a population of around three hundred million, with each of the Five Great Nations having thirty to fifty million people.

Menma stroked Little Nine-Tails's head with one hand and added, "Besides earning funds, your company must expand throughout the Five Great Nations and several surrounding small and medium-sized countries to gather intelligence on each nation."

"May I ask what kind of intelligence?" Gato requested instructions.

After pondering for a moment, Menma slowly said, "The terrain of each nation, major cities and important passes, port conditions, population figures and social structures, conflicts between nobles and commoners—all of it can be collected."

"What about the ninja villages?" Gato asked softly.

Menma did not say that an ordinary person like Gato was fundamentally unsuited to investigating ninja village intelligence. He merely said calmly, "I will arrange a separate intelligence team for the ninja villages."

"Yes, my lord!" Gato answered solemnly.

Little Nine-Tails wore a red-and-white kimono and looked like a child. Sitting on Menma's thigh, she held a large piece of dessert in both hands and was about to take a bite when she suddenly looked up at Menma and spoke.

"Oh, right. Aren't you going to deal with that Cloud Village corpse?"

Only then did Menma remember that the corpse of the Cloud Village envoy was still inside his Storage Scroll.

"Where is the Bounty Station in the Land of Lightning?" Menma asked Gato.

Since they were passing through the Land of Lightning this time, he could find a Bounty Station and see whether he could exchange the corpse for some money.

He could also take a look around Kumogakure.

And while he was at it, bring them some local specialties from home.