The Iwagakure captain in charge of escorting the Noble of the Land of Rain was named Shū. He had once been an elite member of the Iwagakure Explosion Corps, and had a head of spiky hair and a pair of fierce, menacing eyes.
At that moment, he was going over the details of the mission with his teammates while studying a map. His tone was stern, and laced with murderous intent.
"Once we've completed the escort, we'll take this waterway first. We'll come ashore here, then head straight into the Land of Fire and meet up with the main force.
"If we run into any Konoha Ninja along the way, kill them without hesitation!"
But the murderous briefing was interrupted the next moment by someone outside throwing a tantrum.
"These damn peasants actually dare to resist paying taxes?! Who gave them the nerve? I'm a noble personally appointed by the Daimyo himself!
"Ahhh! You ninjas have to help me! You have to! Otherwise, I'll go to Iwagakure and complain to your Tsuchikage!"
Shū frowned.
Though killing intent surged around him, the discipline instilled by the ninja code had left a deep mark on him as an elite from a major village.
No matter how vicious he might be toward enemy ninjas, when faced with the employer who had commissioned the mission, he couldn't bring himself to lose his temper. Irritated, he could only walk out of the building and signal to the teammate patrolling outside.
"What's going on? What happened?"
Before his teammate could answer, the middle-aged, portly Noble of the Land of Rain started shouting.
"You can't just leave! You have to help me!"
Shū held back his temper, suppressing the urge to blow everything away. He did his best to explain calmly, "Our mission is only to escort