The Strange Caravan

"Little girl, did you get lost from your family? Or were your family captured by thieves?"

The young man patted the fine horse beneath him, leaped up, and landed with ease. He approached Hinata and asked softly.

He had heard that bandits did indeed use small children as bait, but that was an old trick from many years ago. Now, both Konohagakure and the Land of Fire were cracking down on such behavior, and merchant caravans had learned how to identify if a child was bait.

This little girl standing in the middle of the road, dressed in peculiar clothing, looked a bit lost. She had even warned them about potential bandits, seeming just like a...

"I am a ninja..."

The young man's expression changed instantly. His hand instinctively went to the samurai sword at his waist, but then, looking at Hinata's appearance, he chuckled.

"Little girl, you probably don't know, but Konoha ninja usually graduate around the age of twelve. It takes another two or three years before they're allowed to undertake missions alone."

"Even if there were ninjas your age, they'd be famous figures. Their portraits are plastered all over the bounty offices. A single glance would be enough to recognize them easily."

"I really am a ninja. Up on that hill over there, a group of vicious bandits are holed up."

To prove her identity and convince this small merchant caravan, she took out the item Uchiha Jie had given her that morning.

Seeing the forehead protector Hinata produced, the young man's eyes widened. It was a forehead protector, and judging by the symbol on it, it belonged to Konohagakure.

However, it wasn't a new forehead protector. The band was somewhat faded, and there were yellowish stains from unwashed blood. The metal part had minor scratches. Aside from that, it was still quite clean.

"Pfft, little girl, where did you find that forehead protector?" The young man looked closely at the forehead protector and burst out laughing.

Even if the little girl before him was a once-in-a-century genius of Konohagakure, her forehead protector should have been new.

"Did you pick it up somewhere, or did your elder give it to you to play with?" He crouched down and asked with a smile.

"Yes, my elder gave it to me," Hinata replied softly. Although she had become a lot more cheerful recently, she still appeared a bit reserved when facing strangers.

"Boss, what's up?" another guard walked over and asked about the situation.

"A little girl, with her elder's forehead protector, claiming there might be a group of bandits holed up on the hill over there." The young man tilted his head, looking unconcerned.

He then looked at Hinata.

"How about this," he said. "It seems you've gotten separated from your elder. Come with us to the town ahead. You might find some Konoha ninja there. As for the bandits you mentioned, we'll keep an eye out."

Hinata's appearance was truly unconvincing, and she couldn't argue with the leader of the caravan. So, she nodded, having made up her mind.

She would follow this small merchant caravan. If they encountered bandits, she could intervene. If they didn't, she could hitch a ride to the town and gather information.

Hinata got into an empty carriage. The young man no longer paid attention to her, instead gathering with his guards, and they rode their horses at the very front.

The cart drivers behind remained silent. The canvas on the cargo carts was tightly secured with ropes. Hinata had no idea what was being transported inside, so she curiously activated her Byakugan within the carriage.

"Ah..."

Although there weren't many carriages, the items piled on them were varied and valuable.

One cart was filled with exquisite decorative items packed tightly together. Some were already damaged, but the transporters hadn't added much protective padding.

Another cart held iron tools, ranging from sickles and hoes to samurai swords and the kunai used by ninja. There were even two large spiked clubs; their size alone was terrifying to imagine being hit with.

There was another cart with items she couldn't identify, like parts of something. But judging by the precision of these parts, the assembled object wouldn't be ordinary.

The last cart held things she couldn't quite understand: ropes, nets, sacks, various medicine bottles, and even several large barrels of liquid that even her Byakugan couldn't identify, but it was definitely not water.

She rubbed her already sore eyes, closed her Byakugan, and quietly ate a specially made soldier pill. She focused her mind and began to recover her chakra, putting herself in an optimal state for any potential combat later.

However, just as the soldier pill began to digest, she sensed something was wrong. The previously flat road became bumpy, the front of the carriage seemed to have changed direction, and the carriage itself tilted, as if it were going uphill.

But this road should have been built along the valley.

She wanted to lift the curtain to see the situation outside but suddenly heard the faint sound of horse hooves approaching her carriage.

Was someone coming to ask her something?

The moment she lifted the curtain, she saw the leading young man holding a small porcelain bottle with its cap just removed, reaching into the carriage.

She froze for a moment. Although the young man was surprised that Hinata would lift the curtain at this time, he didn't hesitate at all. He directly threw the bottle into the carriage. Colorless liquid spilled out, evaporating instantly upon contact with the air.

Hinata finally reacted. Her right hand reached into her ninja tool pouch, and she took out a white tablet, placing it in her mouth.

The bottle clearly contained poison or a sleeping drug. How could she have been so careless?

In a place where bandits were expected, even for a small merchant caravan, having only two ordinary guards was too few. Moreover, the goods they were carrying weren't cheap, low-profit items.

It seemed these people were the real bandits. They disguised themselves as a merchant caravan, traveling back and forth on this road. This served two purposes: it could lull other merchant caravans into a false sense of security, and it allowed them to patrol constantly, ensuring they could spot potential enemies and prey at the earliest opportunity.

Initially, they had no ill intentions towards Hinata. She was just a little girl. Helping her find her family would further lull the officials traveling between villages and towns.

However, it wasn't until Hinata produced that Konoha forehead protector that they sensed something was off. A ninja forehead protector wasn't something to be discarded carelessly. This little girl was highly likely a ninja using a transformation jutsu.

But looking at Hinata's appearance, they felt something was still wrong. If they had already been discovered, the ninja wouldn't need to play games with them; they would have started killing immediately.

If they hadn't noticed anything amiss, why would she pretend to be an ignorant, clueless little girl?

In the end, they decided to bring Hinata along. Regardless of whether she was a ninja or not, they wanted to maintain control over everything. They decided to strike first with a tranquilizer specifically designed for ninja.