The Secret of Sweet Water Town

"Ten million?"

Hatake Jiangyi came from a traditional samurai family, so he naturally understood the market rates for black market bounties.

"A bounty of over ten million ryo is already the level of a Chunin or an elite Chunin."

Misaka 0015 nodded, "He was already a Mist Ninja Chunin when he defected."

Uchiha Hezi smiled broadly to reassure everyone, "Don't worry too much. I have mastered the two-tomoe Sharingan, and both Jiangyi and Nonō are now at the Chunin level.

More importantly, we have mastered quite a few ninjutsu during this special training; dealing with a single Chunin will be a piece of cake."

Hezi looked at the sturdy Misaka 0015 beside her and teased with a smile, "Plus, we have our Moon Sister. Big Sis is super strong—she can take down a kid with a single punch."

After she finished speaking, Jiangyi and Nonō both laughed.

Initially, Hatake Jiangyi and Yakushi Nonō had been somewhat anxious, as they were, after all, within the borders of the Land of Rain.

Facing ninjas from an enemy country brought a certain level of psychological pressure to these newcomers.

If it weren't for the strong and sturdy 0015 "Moon," who looked very much like a taijutsu expert, providing a great sense of security, their nervousness would likely have been much more severe.

0015 also eased the atmosphere, "Our core objective is not to kill this Nagashima Ryosuke, but to find the stockpile of Military Ration Pills that Salamander Hanzo commissioned him to process."

Looking at Uchiha Hezi and the others, 0015 continued to explain.

"These Military Ration Pills and potions are, in all likelihood, still hidden within this town. If we cannot successfully seize them, we must attempt to destroy these supplies."

Yakushi Nonō lived up to her reputation as the future "Walking Shrine Maiden"; upon hearing this, her keen intuition immediately gave her a plan for the mission.

"I am very familiar with the production of Military Ration Pills. During my internship at Konoha Hospital, I participated in the large-scale production of these pills.

There are two steps in the production process that are unavoidable.

First, it requires a large amount of clean water to pre-soak various medicinal herbs.

Second, it requires a space for the pills to be shaped and then baked to dry."

Jiangyi and Hezi exchanged glances, having understood her point, "You mean? The wastewater from soaking the herbs and the medicinal scent emitted from baking the pills can serve as clues for the mission?"

Yakushi Nonō's eyes sparkled with intelligence as she said, "Exactly! For this first step, we must rely on Hatake Jiangyi's tracking ninja hounds."

Speaking of Hatake Jiangyi's family-inherited ninja hounds, one must mention Kakashi and his later team of eight ninja hounds.

Kakashi, who loved dogs as his own life, also possessed family-inherited techniques for raising them.

As a samurai lineage, the Hatake ninja hounds might not be as famous as those of the Inuzuka clan, but in terms of combat utility, they were not inferior in the slightest.

The ninja hounds that Hatake Jiangyi could summon came in three types, each with different functions.

[Gurin], a massive dark brown combat-type ninja hound weighing over 300 pounds, equipped with sharp spikes around its neck.

[Akira], a medium-sized yellow ninja hound wearing sunglasses; because it possessed superior night vision, it wore small, round black sunglasses during the day to protect its eyes.

This hound was very similar to the Akino ninja hound that Kakashi would later have, who also wore sunglasses.

The last one, [Paru], was a special tracking-type ninja hound passed down through generations of the Hatake family.

This type of hound possessed high intelligence.

It could use special ninja beast techniques like [Dog Hair Clone] and [Dog Ninjutsu: Olfactory Spiritualization], and it could even speak in human language to communicate.

This small, scent-tracking scout dog looked very much like a pug.

It was quite small and looked rather cute.

If Fucheng were to see this dog, he would definitely mistake it for Pakkun.

It was likely that Paru and Pakkun shared a blood relation.

Since they intended to rely on the hounds' sense of smell, the one Hatake Jiangyi summoned was this hardworking little Paru.

"Yo!"

Paru was summoned from a burst of white mist and immediately reached out a small paw to greet the group, "Hello everyone, I am Paru. Huh? Aren't these Hezi and Nonō? Long time no see!"

Paru's cute appearance was deeply loved by the girls.

Even Moon Sister 0015, standing to the side, couldn't help but stroke Paru's soft, furry little head.

Dog head pats!

After hearing Jiangyi's request, Paru nodded and said, "Do you have any of the Military Ration Pills they produced? Different pills might have different scents; let me smell them first."

0015 had been prepared for this.

She had seized quite a few Rain Ninja Military Ration Pills from the Rain Ninjas.

Paru sniffed the scent and waved a paw to point out the direction for the group.

"Follow me. It rained here two days ago, so the scent left behind is very faint."

Following Paru's trail, the four people and one dog began their search journey through Sweet Water Town.

They circled various streets, beginning to look for pharmaceutical workshops and facilities related to the Military Ration Pill warehouse.

Sweet Water Town, a cold and damp underground karst cave.

Nagashima Ryosuke looked on with a face full of dissatisfaction at the Mist Ninja rogue he had hired at an exorbitant price: Taketori Eitaro.

In private, Taketori Eitaro liked to refer to himself as "Kaguya Eita."

Always craving battle, Kaguya Eita expressed all sorts of grievances about being hidden away in the humid, subterranean cavern.

If not for his employer, Nagashima Ryosuke, repeatedly persuading him, he would have run up to the surface two days ago.

He wanted to let loose and have a grand battle against the Konoha ninja who had occupied the area.

"A lunatic, a pure lunatic!" Kai Muyu, a ninja bodyguard from the Land of Rain skilled in Water Style and salamander toxins, also kept his distance from this mentally unstable "teammate."

Conversely, the few samurai bodyguards got along quite well with Kaguya Eita, who was passionate about taijutsu combat.

Out of every four or five times they went out for drinks, they ended up together three or four times.

Kai Muyu approached his employer and explained in detail the intelligence sent by his summoning creature, the salamander; the latest battle situation immediately put everyone on high alert.

"Are you saying that Lord Salamander Doshin was killed by a Konoha Uchiha ninja?" Nagashima Ryosuke's face revealed his shock.

Kai Muyu nodded helplessly, "Yes, the giant summoning creature contracted to Lord Salamander Doshin, Giant Salamander Izawa, has already been wiped out by Konoha. This is the latest news transmitted by the salamander clan."

Before the group had hidden in the underground cave, the Rain Ninja led by Salamander Doshin were still the largest resistance force in the vicinity.

And yet, in less than a few days.

They had been wiped out by Konoha?!

The fall of Salamander Doshin gave Nagashima Ryosuke an even greater sense of crisis.

He even began to entertain the thought of proactively surrendering to Konoha.

"Found it!"

Paru's tail spun as he looked at the group with an excited expression.

Paru was still lying at the mouth of the well, poking his head inside and sniffing vigorously.

"The well shaft here has a lateral tunnel opening near the water level.

The scent of Military Ration Pills is extremely strong here; I can be certain that this is the location where the supplies are hidden."

Paru sniffed again, speaking with a tone of certainty.

"But you all need to be careful; I smell the mixed scents of several enemies. There are definitely multiple people hiding in here."

0015 and the others' eyes lit up upon hearing this.

They hadn't expected that Sweet Water Town would have a medicine warehouse hidden underground.

Hatake Jiangyi grinned.

Happily handing a handful of baked dog biscuits to Paru, Jiangyi patted him encouragingly, "Well done!"