Infiltration

With a blink of the eyes, the two had changed locations.

Mo Jingxian slowly opened his eyes, his mind a blank slate.

It felt like a newly booted computer, requiring a full reload.

Images began to flood in incessantly.

"The first time experiencing the Flying Thunder God technique is always like this."

Minato patted his shoulder in consolation.

Mo Jingxian dodged out of reflex.

Minato didn't mind; the little brother's post-technique reaction was much better than most others.

"Stay safe on the road."

Mo Jingxian's eyes regained focus, and he nodded at Minato.

Taking the parcel Minato handed over, he body-flickered away.

This mission was simpler than imagined; he only needed to go to the Land of Grass to meet a Konoha deep-cover agent and bring back the secret documents.

The point was to avoid exposing his identity, and even more so, not to leave any traces that might compromise the agent.

Logically, this simple mission shouldn't have required Minato to go to such great lengths.

But such is the nature of wartime.

Konoha and the Rock Ninja had massed their troops in the Land of Grass.

The meeting point was crawling with spies from both sides, with the ninjas of the Land of Grass mixed in as well.

As the chosen battlefield for two great powers, the level of chaos was evident.

The situation had become complex, and a young, unfamiliar face was actually less likely to attract attention.

[Reputation points from Orochimaru +10]

Mo Jingxian, currently on the road, was stunned; the reputation points had come for no reason at all.

He did want to get close to Orochimaru, but the best way was to gradually attract his attention.

Sudden attention was not necessarily a good thing; at present, he did not have the strength to fend off malice.

The reason was unknown, but Mo Jingxian quickly accepted the reality.

Thinking too much was useless; no one knew what Orochimaru was thinking.

Therefore, there was no need to rush to a conclusion.

Land of Grass, Iwayacho Town.

This was the location of Mo Jingxian's mission.

He had now changed into tattered clothes, with a few streaks of dirt on his face, making him no different from the commoners on this street.

Rows of wooden houses stood on both sides of the street, with five or six rooftops flying fish flags that fluttered in the wind.

The exposed wood of the houses looked pitch black, with the occasional fresh break revealing a few raw-colored wooden splinters.

Mo Jingxian walked the street from one end to the other.

The street was not long, only about two hundred meters, and at the end stood the only two-story building on the street.

He did not know what it was used for.

Finding nothing unusual, he pretended to be an idler wandering the street and inadvertently circled back.

Passing a simple inn, he stepped over the threshold and went inside.

There were not many people in the room; behind the counter facing the door, the boss was leaning on the counter with his elbows, dozing off.

Four tables were scattered in the hall, and at this moment, two tables of travelers were sitting and eating.

Mo Jingxian scanned them with his peripheral vision.

One table had four people, the other had two.

Judging by their attire, they looked like passing travelers, but the gazes of the two at the second table had been fixed on him since he entered the room.

Although they hid it well, he had still noticed.

Mo Jingxian pretended not to know and walked straight to the counter.

"Boss, are there any rooms left?"

The dozing boss pried open his eyelids and glanced at him.

"Twenty ryo for a room."

"Uh, is there anything cheaper? How about ten ryo?"

The boss sullenly withdrew his gaze and went back to his nap.

The youth looked a bit embarrassed as he fished out the banknotes from his tattered clothes.

He dug out the hidden money from two other places, scraping together 60 taels.

Mo Jingxian pushed the money toward the innkeeper: "I'll stay for three days first."

The innkeeper yawned and used a flyswatter to sweep the money into his drawer.

He lit an oil lamp and stepped out from behind the counter.

"Follow me."

Mo Jingxian followed the innkeeper toward the backyard.

He noticed that the gazes that had been fixed upon him had vanished.

Pretending to turn around carelessly, he saw the two travelers still struggling with the natto before them, more than half of the food remaining on their plates.

Those two were suspicious.

However, it was impossible to determine which faction they belonged to.

For now, it didn't seem like they were targeting him, so it was better to leave them be for the moment to avoid alerting the enemy.

They passed through a dim corridor wedged between two buildings.

The two arrived at the backyard.

The courtyard was tightly packed with two rows of rooms, and the innkeeper slid open the wooden door to one of them.

As Mo Jingxian walked in, a musty smell rushed to greet him; a ventilation hole only a foot square was cut into the wall.

The innkeeper placed the oil lamp on the table.

"Refilling the oil lamp costs five taels, and meals are extra."

Seeing that Mo Jingxian had no reaction, the innkeeper felt bored and turned to leave.

Given the mission, this environment was good enough; he wasn't one to complain.

Having traveled all this way, he was indeed quite exhausted.

He sat cross-legged on the bed, taking the opportunity to carefully ponder if there were any oversights.

This was the rendezvous point.

According to the plan, he only needed to wait here for the secret agent to deliver the intelligence to him.

As for the agent's name, identity, or background, he knew nothing at all.

He activated the Mist of Vitality.

Enveloping the entire inn, Mo Jingxian went into hiding.

This wait lasted for three days.

Something was wrong; the rendezvous time had already passed.

Mo Jingxian knew something had happened; for a secret agent, the implications of missing a meeting were self-evident.

Right now, there were only two choices before him.

One: Depart immediately and return, resulting in a failed mission.

Thinking of the solemn expression on Minato's face at their parting, he surmised that this secret document must be of great importance.

It was intelligence likely bought with the lives of countless others.

Furthermore, he had unknowingly incurred a significant debt to Minato; had it not been for Minato's help, his situation would have been far more dangerous than it was now.

Therefore, he decided to stay and investigate further.

He knew so little about the secret agent that he was at a loss as to where to start.

The only thing he was certain of was that the agent would have been able to find him.

Based on this, the other party should be very familiar with the environment here, even capable of identifying a new face at a glance.

A villager of the town.

It fit; only this identity could avoid attracting the attention of those with ulterior motives.

Additionally, the agent would need a reasonable excuse to enter and exit the inn.

After three days of observation, Mo Jingxian knew the inn was run solely by the innkeeper, so it clearly wasn't him.

Then what other identity could reasonably enter and exit the inn?

Trade.

Any business dealings related to the inn's operations would be perfectly reasonable.

Grain, vegetables, coal, and the like all fell into this category.

As for the specifics, that was impossible to analyze.

But it didn't matter; the town wasn't large, and by searching slowly, he would eventually find clues.

Mo Jingxian walked out of the inn and headed east.

He remembered that not far from here was an open-air marketplace, a place for trade spontaneously organized by the villagers.

This place mostly sells daily necessities related to food.

It did not take long.

When he arrived, it was the peak trading hour for this open-air market.

A narrow alley intersected the town street at a ninety-degree angle.

Most stalls simply spread their goods directly on the ground, and the more particular ones merely laid a tattered cloth beneath their wares.

The road was more than half blocked, leaving only enough space for one person to pass through.

The vendors were local villagers, and the occasional shoppers were the same; it was mostly locals.

The market was very short, and Mo Jingxian finished walking through it in no time.

Unexpectedly, he really did discover some clues.

In an empty, deserted spot, there were traces of a stall having been set up there.

Mo Jingxian wandered over to a nearby stall, crouched down, and began flipping through the goods in front of him.

"Top-quality millet, 10 taels of silver per jin, very cheap."

The youth grabbed a handful of millet and held it up to the sunlight, letting the grains slip through his fingers.

"It's quite good. I originally intended to buy some, but I also need to buy some rice. Do you know where it's sold?"

He had walked a full circle and hadn't found any stalls selling rice, hence his question.

The stall owner was an elderly woman whose favorite hobby was chatting.

"A child like you wanting to buy rice? That's a commodity only found in Hozuki Castle."

"Oh, I remember buying some here before."

"It's not common; someone sold it occasionally."

Mo Jingxian wore a look of disappointment: "Fine, weigh me two jin of millet first."

The old woman was happy to make a sale; she cheerfully weighed the millet and even thoughtfully wrapped it up for him.

Taking the goods, he pointed casually toward the empty spot nearby.

"Old lady, was that stall selling rice? Why didn't I see them set up today?"

"You mean Kangfu? He doesn't sell rice; he sells lotus beans."

As he stood up, the old woman muttered in a low voice:

"Strange, Kangfu hasn't come to set up his stall for four or five days. Could something have happened at home?"

Having obtained the information he wanted, Mo Jingxian did not linger.

Using a piece of candy, he learned of Kangfu's residence from a young child and feigned passing by to take a few glances.

It was highly likely that Kangfu was the secret agent he was supposed to meet.

Now that Kangfu had gone missing, no matter which faction had captured him, they would leave scouts behind to continue fishing for leads.

So—

Where would it be most convenient to keep watch?

Mo Jingxian disguised himself as a passerby and sat down in a roadside teahouse.

He ordered a pot of tea to quench his thirst, secretly observing the surrounding environment while he drank.

The teahouse was located diagonally across from Kangfu's house, and further west along the street, not far away, was that two-story building.

Wait!

Mo Jingxian set down his teacup, his eyes narrowing slightly.

When it came to surveillance, there couldn't be a more suitable location than that.

Through inquiries, he knew that two-story building was the only administrative site in this town, usually garrisoned by two Ninja.

Ordinary commoners didn't dare to go anywhere near it.

Secret agents, intelligence, Grass Ninja—what if one added Rock Ninja to the mix?

Gradually, Mo Jingxian pulled a single thread from the tangled mess.

Following this line of reasoning, it actually seemed quite possible.

There was no use in overthinking; a probe tonight would reveal the truth.

The sun set and the moon rose, and a patch of dark clouds slowly obscured the moonlight.

In the darkness, a shadow shuttled between the houses, quickly arriving near the two-story wooden building.

Mo Jingxian lightened his breathing and released the Mist of Vitality to scout ahead.

The structure of the wooden building became clear in his perception, including the garrisoned Ninja inside.

Three people.

Two of them were eating and drinking, completely unaware that the enemy had already crept downstairs.

The third was locked in a separate room; according to his sensory feedback, his condition was not good.

In a room on the second floor, two Grass Ninja sat opposite each other, drinking.

Compared to the starving villagers, the food on their table was far more lavish.

"Come, bottoms up! Once we secure this achievement, I imagine the day we get transferred back to Hozuki Castle won't be far off."

"Cheers! Our luck has finally turned; we're finally going to leave this godforsaken place."

The two exchanged a smile, their eyes gleaming with an inexplicable excitement.

Ever since they arrived here, they had been put through the wringer.

Not only was there no profit to be made, but they lived every day in constant fear.

They were terrified that if the two great powers of the Ninja World went to war, the shockwaves alone would blast them into dust.

"Clink!"

The two clinked their cups.

The wine in the cups rippled, as if reflecting a bright future.

Hm?

The wine in the cup alerted one of them.

It wasn't a trick of the eyes; the liquid was indeed swirling.

Before their consciousness could react, the wine transformed into strange snakes, violently lunging down their throats...