Things Resolved

Xing Ran smiled faintly at what he had discovered. All he needed to do next was get in touch with Nonō, and the tragedy could be completely prevented.

Xing Ran and the other two had to return and report their mission, while also waiting for the Third Tsuchikage's reply.

The Third Tsuchikage's reply required Iwagakure's upper ranks to finish their discussions. In truth, most people had already been persuaded, but every village had one or two members of the Radical Faction who wanted to provoke war for greater gains. Enemies were not the only cause of war; internal conflicts were one of the factors that could spark it as well.

The three-man Konoha delegation therefore entered sightseeing mode. Their mission was temporarily complete, and all that remained was to wait. During this uncertain period, Xing Ran and the others could arrange their own time.

Yamaki Atsushi and Junpei had apparently visited Iwagakure before. They suggested taking Xing Ran around the village to sample local specialties and buy some souvenir trinkets.

There was no need to find it strange that people in the chaotic ninja world still had the leisure for such things. This world was already awful enough; without some entertainment and culture, people would have no motivation to keep living.

Xing Ran had no objections. Having someone volunteer to lead the way—no, to be a tour guide—could not have been better.

Other than wanting to hand the paper ball he had prepared in advance to Yakushi Nonō, he had nothing else to do. He could not train here anyway, so he was more than happy to tour Iwagakure.

The bustling streets and distinctive earthen houses made Iwagakure of this era vastly different from the Iwagakure in the Boruto storyline. By then, technology had been set more on track, making it both more locally distinctive and more prosperous.

Xing Ran followed Yamaki Atsushi and Junpei as they wandered and played, sampling some local snacks along the way. But as a former citizen of a great foodie nation, he could only say the food here was passable. Its only selling point was the difference in ingredients.

Xing Ran also viewed some of Iwagakure's distinctive buildings, places much like tourist attractions. As the person responsible for receiving the Konoha delegation, Ryuzan accompanied them throughout the entire trip. Naturally, he would not allow the three of them into certain sensitive areas.

"Xing Ran-kun, don't act interested in places with guards." As they passed the entrance of a building whose purpose he did not know, Yamaki Atsushi suddenly leaned close and whispered the reminder into Xing Ran's ear.

Yamaki Atsushi was worried that this junior, who had no experience traveling abroad on official business, would accidentally cause trouble. Taking an interest in another nation's secret facilities was not a good sign. Just as Xing Ran was about to indicate that he understood, Yamaki Atsushi spoke again. "We may look like we're freely sightseeing, and Ryuzan alone can't monitor all of us, but who knows how many people are watching us in secret? Stay sharp."

Xing Ran's lips twitched. He was a Sensor Ninja, all right? Did anyone really need to remind him that people were watching them?

"Don't worry, I know," Xing Ran replied with a wry smile. The reason he had been looking around was not genuine curiosity. He was looking for someone.

After wandering around for most of the day, the corner of Xing Ran's mouth suddenly curled up slightly. A flash of delight passed through his eyes. Sure enough, Yakushi Nonō was among the four or five hidden watchers. He had finally found her, saving himself a lot of trouble.

The three from Konoha had known from the beginning that they would definitely be monitored while sightseeing in Iwagakure. Ryuzan was merely the receptionist in the open. Though he also bore monitoring duties, the people truly responsible for such work were always the Anbu.

Do not ask how they knew so much. Konoha did the same thing. More precisely, the entire ninja world did.

From the start, Xing Ran had used his enhanced sight and hearing to search for the hidden watchers. It was not that he was certain Yakushi Nonō would be among them; he simply preferred killing the wrong target over letting the right one go. In many cases, when an Anbu squad was assigned a task, they rarely brought in extra hands midway through. For example, after Xing Ran and the others received the Tsuchikage's reply, the Anbu who would "escort" them out would often be the same group that had received them when they arrived.

So Xing Ran wanted to try his luck and see whether he could find Nonō and deliver the paper ball.

In the bustling environment, with people constantly coming and going, even Xing Ran's current calculation and sensory abilities required some effort. None of these Anbu communicated verbally, forcing him to rely on X-ray vision. It was practically a waste of his abilities. Yet using X-ray vision on a busy street truly tested his self-control; he kept seeing patches of bare white flesh, making this search genuinely exhausting.

At that moment, Yakushi Nonō was behind a wall roughly fifty meters ahead and to his side. The next issue was how to make contact with the target. He definitely could not just stroll over and strike up a conversation; that would look strange no matter how he put it. He needed to find a cramped space where the two of them could be together, so talking would not seem so suspicious.

Xing Ran swept his gaze over the surroundings. The three-member Konoha group was walking along a lively street lined with shops on both sides, but most of them did not offer places for customers to sit and rest.

Suddenly, Xing Ran's eyes lit up. There was a good place around a hundred meters ahead. No other Anbu were hidden nearby, and if he went inside, Nonō would most likely follow him in.

It was a Gambling Hall of decent size, though it had only one floor. Xing Ran wanted to avoid the others, so naturally he did not warn them beforehand. Seizing a moment when his companions were not paying attention, he flashed inside.

There were not too many people in the Gambling Hall, but there were certainly not few either. A study from his previous life had been quite interesting: when humanity fell into hardship or poverty, the number of people participating in gambling instead increased. The study found that the more difficult people's lives became, the more they craved sudden wealth overnight, and gambling was the simplest and most direct method available to them.

The Land of Earth had just ended the war in defeat. Even if its people were not living in utter misery, they certainly were not doing well. For a Gambling Hall of this size to have so many customers during the day already meant business was thriving.

Whoosh—

Less than two breaths after Xing Ran slipped into the Gambling Hall, Yakushi Nonō indeed followed him inside.

Real surveillance was very different from the surveillance shown in anime. At the very least, in the original storyline, when Konoha's Anbu monitored someone, they were usually too lazy to even change their equipment. Kishimoto probably wanted to make it easier and more direct for people to recognize them as Anbu, but in reality, Anbu disguised themselves when monitoring people.

Yakushi Nonō, who had followed him in, was not dressed as Anbu today. She wore an ordinary women's robe and a little makeup, which made her beautiful features somewhat androgynous. Unless someone knew her well, they would never recognize her.

The instant Nonō entered the Gambling Hall, a figure emerged from the shadows behind the door without anyone knowing when he had appeared. Nonō's true strength was only at the Chunin level, and she was not a pure combat type. Medical Ninjutsu was her specialty. When someone suddenly closed in on her, the hairs on her body stood on end, but before she could take further precautions, the person had already brushed past her arm and swiftly left.

To be continued