The Salamander Summoning Beast

The Land of Swamps was a peculiar country. It had only one government institution, the daimyo's estate, and no hidden village serving as its military force.

Normally, a country like that might have been swallowed up by one of its powerful neighbors as early as the Warring States period.

Yet the Land of Swamps had managed to preserve its independence to this day, and its population was even steadily growing. The fundamental reason was the country's unique natural environment.

The Land of Swamps was named for its swamps because most of its territory was covered in marshland. It had very little arable land or mineral resources, and if it weren't for the special medicinal herbs and poisonous plants that grew there, its population would probably have dwindled away entirely by now.

At the same time, because its treacherous natural environment was ideal for hiding rogue ninja and other heinous criminals, the Land of Swamps had gradually developed a thriving black market as more and more villains gathered there.

Illegal ninja tool deals, banned drugs, and even the special medicinal herbs and poisonous plants whose export was restricted by various countries could all be found within the Land of Swamps.

The Five Great Nations had once tried to take the place and seize the underground trade network controlled by the Land of Swamps. But no matter how many times they sent in teams of ninja, they always came back empty-handed.

Those teams hadn't even found the people behind the Land of Swamps' underground businesses, let alone taken over their channels.

Most of the time, they were discovered as soon as they set foot in the Land of Swamps. Then the locals would courteously escort the teams out of the country, leaving them no opportunity to make a fuss. It was as though the entire Land of Swamps was under the daimyo's estate's surveillance.

The leaders of the Five Great Nations had speculated that the Land of Swamps might have been established by descendants of the emperor of the Land of Ancestors, who had taken control of some of the power he left behind.

Unfortunately, no matter how many people the Five Great Nations sent to watch and investigate the ruins of the Land of Ancestors' capital, they never saw anything happen.

It was worth noting that the Land of Ancestors' original capital had been located where the Land of Rain stood today. Before the Warring States period, while the Land of Ancestors was still powerful, its capital hadn't been plagued by the endless rain and overcast skies that now shrouded the Land of Rain.

Early in the Warring States period, there had even been a rumor that the Land of Rain's environment had changed because the heavens and earth had wept at the passing of the Land of Ancestors.

Of course, according to the Shinobi World's meteorologists, the Land of Rain's unusual climate was caused by warm and cold fronts alternating as hot, dry air from the Land of Wind met cold, moist air from the Land of Earth, bringing heavy precipitation.

The heavy rainfall over the Land of Rain drew away the precipitation that should have fallen on the Land of Wind and the Land of Earth, leaving both countries desperately short of water.

Naturally, the Land of Wind suffered a worse water shortage than the Land of Earth. It bordered the sea and had little vegetation, so sea and land breezes rapidly eroded its barren ground and turned it into desert. By now, oases covered only one-twentieth of the Land of Wind's total territory.

That was why the Land of Wind had never stopped warring with its neighbors. It was desperately short of water and needed to take it from other countries.

In fact, when the Five Great Shinobi Villages had just been established, the First had proposed helping the Land of Wind build shelterbelts, as well as digging canals and waterways from the directions of the Land of Rivers and the Land of Mountains to divert their abundant water supplies there.

Such work posed no difficulty for ninja, especially with Senju Hashirama, the Shinobi World's strongest Wood Release user, around. Building shelterbelts would have been as easy for him as clapping his hands.

But his proposal was not only rejected by his younger brother, Senju Tobirama, and the Fire Daimyo's estate, but also viewed with suspicion by the Daimyo of the Land of Wind and the First Kazekage.

To be fair, given Senju Hashirama's easygoing personality, he might really have made the suggestion simply to foster friendly relations between the Land of Wind and the Land of Fire.

It was said that after the First Kazekage died and the Second Kazekage, Shamon, took power, he had tried to discuss the matter with Senju Hashirama. Unfortunately, by then Senju Hashirama was already gravely ill. Even his Sage Body couldn't save him, and he no longer had the strength to help the Land of Wind build shelterbelts.

In any case, the reason the Land of Rain had survived for so long between three great nations was that some people believed the Lin Clan, the family of its current daimyo, were very likely descendants of the emperor of the Land of Ancestors.

The three great nations feared that the Lin Clan might be hiding techniques left behind by the Land of Ancestors, so they had held back from sending a large army to annex the tiny country with its excessive rainfall.

That was especially true after Hanzō, a member of a branch family of the Lin Clan, emerged as a "demigod." The three nations grew even more wary and stopped coveting the Land of Rain. Aside from maintaining their usual intelligence operations, they even reduced the border skirmishes they had once deliberately provoked.

Touma had just accepted a secret mission to escort the three youngsters of the Lin Clan when someone had started hot on his heels. He had changed his disguises several times along the way, but still hadn't shaken his pursuers. He could only conclude that the Land of Swamps and the Land of Rain were connected to the Land of Ancestors.

Touma knew that the onmyoji of the Land of Ancestors had once possessed special methods for tracing bloodlines. Orochimaru was now using similar methods to track down bloodline limit users.

Yes, Orochimaru had started collecting bloodline samples a long time ago. Of course, the samples he collected now weren't from living subjects, but biological materials taken from them.

It would probably take Danzo luring Orochimaru into conducting human experiments in Root before Orochimaru's original reverence for life turned into a feverish curiosity!

Unfortunately, Touma had no time to prepare now. He had followed the Twin Xiao-Destroying Bug into the Land of Swamps, and he could sense that he had already triggered one of the country's outer detection barriers.

Fortunately, he had entered the Land of Swamps in his Kestrel form. It would probably take the pursuers a while to pinpoint his location, giving him enough time to find the three youngsters.

Sure enough, after another ten minutes of flying, the Twin Xiao-Destroying Bug ahead of him began to descend rapidly. From high above, Touma spotted a wooden boat sailing through the swamp below. The people bound on its forward deck were the merchants from the Heavenly Fire Cult's caravan!

He quickly returned to his human form and entered the Heavenly Storm Sky Dance state, hiding in the mist drifting above the swamp as he slowly approached the boat.

Just as he was about to reach the gunwale, a shrill cry suddenly exploded beside his ear. It nearly knocked him out of his elemental state.

Thankfully, he had been using Heavenly Storm Sky Dance more and more often lately, and had become increasingly stable in his elemental state. Unless the attack used Senjutsu, ordinary methods couldn't hurt him. Even ordinary Lightning Release Ninjutsu, despite its elemental advantage, couldn't do a thing to him.

The shrill cry hadn't come from inside the boat, but from beneath its hull, submerged in the swamp. Touma sent the airflow around him under the boat and discovered that it was sailing through the swamp without any power of its own because a giant beast beneath it was towing it.

And the beast was none other than a salamander summoning beast of the same species as the one belonging to Hanzō, the demigod of the Land of Rain.

Hanzō's salamander summoning beast, named Ibuse, had yellowish-brown skin. This one had purplish-red skin and was more than three times its size. After all, it had to be big enough to tow a large boat through the swamp.

The problem was that while the ninja aboard the boat hadn't noticed Touma, this salamander had. He had no choice but to strike first!