"I didn't expect the road on the other side to be this bad..."
The Son of the Daimyo lifted the curtain and lazily poked half his head out. He used the folding fan in his hand to shield his eyes from the glaring sun, squinting as he compared the two roads divided by the border.
One road was a little bumpy, but only in places; the rest was in excellent condition.
The other, however, was incredibly muddy, with puddles everywhere. It didn't look like an official road maintained by a country at all, but more like a country lane that had been abandoned for ages.
"Tsk, tsk."
The Son of the Daimyo shook his head, and his fan snapped shut.
"The Land of Hot Water is really something else."
Hyuga Qinglan walked at the very front. He showed no reaction at the remark.
For a peace-loving country like the Land of Hot Water, one that prized stability, roads like these were already quite good.
Ever since Senju Hashirama and Madara Uchiha ended the Warring States period and established the ninja villages, road construction had been an unavoidable issue.
Roads connected trade routes, trade routes brought wealth, and wealth strengthened a nation.
Once countries realized the convenience that road construction brought, they naturally embraced policies to build official roads.
The smaller countries followed in the footsteps of the great powers, making reforms and building roads in the hope of claiming a share of the ever-expanding network.
In peacetime, the roads would improve, more people would travel them, and the roadside inns would grow livelier.
But war was inevitable.
When the flames of war spread, the first roads to be abandoned were those along the borders.
"Your Highness, once we cross the border, things won't be as peaceful as they were in the Land of Fire."
Hyuga Qinglan spoke in a low voice, then turned to look at the Son of the Daimyo in the palanquin.
"Is that so?"
A small folding fan poked out of the palanquin.
"I'm not worried about that. I just want to know how much longer we'll take. I don't want to spend too long on these muddy roads."
"At full speed, probably three days."
Hyuga Qinglan took the map offered by a Nara ninja nearby and quietly thanked him.
He then unfolded the parchment, traced a winding route on the map with his finger, and began to estimate.
"At our current pace, around five days..."
He paused and looked up, his gaze sweeping across the mist-shrouded mountains ahead.
"And that's assuming we don't run into bandits..."
He hadn't finished speaking when Hyuga Qinglan abruptly assumed the Gentle Fist stance. A chakra shockwave burst from his palm and shot toward a thicket.
"Aaaah—!"
A shrill scream came from the bushes, followed by the crack of breaking branches and the dull thud of a body tumbling to the ground.
Before the man could scream for long, the Konoha ninjas behind Hyuga Qinglan rushed over and finished him off.
"Bandits like these, for example."
Hyuga Qinglan lowered his hand and gave the man in the palanquin a slight nod.
"Oh..."
The Son of the Daimyo stared out through the curtain and nodded blankly, his fan frozen in midair.
But he quickly recovered. His noble pride forced down his fear, replaced by a surge of excitement.
"Then let's hurry along at full speed!"
"Yes, sir!"
The samurai carrying the palanquin and the servants all shouted in unison, following Hyuga Qinglan as the party set off once more.
Three days passed in the blink of an eye.
During those three days, Hyuga Qinglan had used Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm to clear out two groups of bandits and one group of horse thieves.
They encountered a group almost every day, and it was a different group each time.
There were all sorts among them. There was even...
A black man.
"You're sure you're from the Land of Fire?"
Hyuga Qinglan crouched down and raised an eyebrow at the burly black man in front of him. The man's arms and legs had been broken, and he was sobbing uncontrollably.
"I'm just dark-skinned... I'm not a Kumogakure ninja..."
"Ninja, I really am a villager from the Land of Fire... Please spare my life. I'm begging you."
The black man wailed, his cries so pitiful you'd think he'd suffered some tremendous injustice.
He writhed in the mud, trying to crawl forward and reach for Hyuga Qinglan's pant leg.
"Please, my mother's already eighty, and I have three children waiting for me to come home..."
The black man kept wailing, his voice growing louder and more pitiful by the second. "I was just confused for a moment. Greed got the better of me..."
"Captain Qinglan,"
Yamanaka Santian Body Flickered to Hyuga Qinglan's side. He paused when he saw the tearful black man, but quickly looked away and got to the point.
"His Highness said to pick up the pace and finish up so we can leave soon. We're almost at Yugakure."
"I really am from the Land of Fire."
The black man sobbed, his face pressed into the mud. When he noticed that Hyuga Qinglan hadn't moved, he felt a spark of hope. He had just begun to shift when Hyuga Qinglan's calm voice reached him.
"I wish you really were a ninja from the Land of Fire..."
"But you lied to me."
The black man's heart lurched. He jerked his head up just as a powerful palm strike swept toward him.
Crack.
The sound of breaking bone was faint. The dark face didn't even have time to form an expression before all sound stopped.
"..."
Hyuga Qinglan withdrew his hand and glanced at the marks on the man's body, then sighed softly.
They were the aftereffects of training in Lightning Release Chakra Mode.
"Let's go."
Hyuga Qinglan stood up and watched Ino-Shika-Cho drag the bandits lying sprawled across the clearing into a pile.
One simple Fire Release jutsu reduced them to ash.
He turned and walked back toward the Son of the Daimyo's palanquin.
"Qinglan, is it taken care of?"
The curtain was lifted, and the Son of the Daimyo finally poked his head out. It was the first time Hyuga Qinglan had seen his face clearly.
Young, aristocratic.
But the nobility all had one thing in common: they were soft and feeble.
An unshakable weariness showed between his brows... Clearly, he'd overindulged.
"It's taken care of, Your Highness."
Hyuga Qinglan looked away and glanced at the map in his hand. "Your Highness, let's rest by the stream up ahead before continuing."
"Everyone else is exhausted."
Following Hyuga Qinglan's gaze, the Son of the Daimyo looked at the servants and guards beneath the palanquin.
Every one of them was breathing hard, though they were still forcing themselves to keep going.
"Mm, good. We'll do as you say."
The Son of the Daimyo waved his hand, then pulled a silk handkerchief from his sleeve and wiped the cold sweat that had formed on his face during the earlier incident.
"Yes..."
Late at night.
Among the crisscrossing branches not far from Yugakure, two or three dark figures flashed past.
The snakes, insects, and wild rabbits deep in the forest were startled, making faint rustling sounds.
Figures with different skin tones quietly gathered in a clearing in the distance.
"Captain Shazii, the trail Temai left ends here."
A burly, dark-skinned man stopped beside a woman with skin as pale as snow and lowered his voice. "According to his last report, the second son of the Feudal Lord of the Land of Fire is heading to Yugakure with Konoha ninjas. The reason is unknown."
"If nothing unexpected happened... Temai is already dead. They probably didn't even leave a body behind."
"...Damn Konoha ninjas."
The calm woman at the head rubbed her shoulder, her eyes suddenly turning sharp.
"As an intelligence operative, Temai did well to get that much information back."
"Pick up the pace."
"If we can capture the Son of the Daimyo according to Lord Raikage's plan,"
"we'll be able to trade him for a batch of military supplies and give our brothers on the front lines some security."
"As for the Konoha ninjas, once we've taken the Son of the Daimyo..."
"Leave none alive!"
Before you continue