Power is Everything

"Why do we have to go see whales? Is there some special reason?" Lucy asked.

The reason, of course, was that it was on the way.

There was no special reason at all.

"Whales have high intelligence. You probably haven't had close contact with one before; they would make for excellent monster friends."

Just like the Sage of Six Paths, who shared the seeds of chakra to create ninjas, Yura wanted to create monsters.

"Eh..." Lucy couldn't muster any enthusiasm. I already have quite a few animal friends.

"Little Monster~" As they swept over a town, Yura looked down at the brightly lit, bustling streets and said, "We're going down to stay at an inn."

Stay at an inn!? Lucy's eyes lit up! Could she finally eat human food?

"But... do we have any money?"

"We do!" Yura said firmly. "Lots and lots of it!"

Not long ago, Yura had wiped out three ninja clans. She could ignore the real estate, but the liquid assets were quite substantial.

"Then can you give me one?" Lucy said. "I've never seen what money looks like..."

Yura gave her one.

She said one, and she meant one.

A five-yen coin. Take it and don't thank me.

Holding the money as she dove down, a realization dawned on Lucy. After landing in the woods near the town, she looked at Yura with wide, expectant eyes and said, "Um, if I pull your carriage in the future, can you give me money?"

Yura's raised foot paused, and she turned to look at Lucy.

Look at how pitiful this child is.

"How much for one time then?" Yura chuckled. "Little Monster~"

"That..." Lucy held out one hand, splaying her five fingers, and looked at Yura tentatively. She still had some wits about her. "This much?"

But her opponent was Yura.

"Fifty?" Yura asked.

The number sounded very low. Lucy wasn't stupid; she wore an expression like she was about to shatter, on the verge of tears.

"Five hundred?" Yura asked.

Five hundred? Lucy's eyes brightened. It sounded like a lot, and her tears rolled back in.

"No." Yura immediately said, "I can only give you one hundred."

One hundred?

That would have to do!

Lucy nodded with difficulty and said, "Fine, one hundred it is. No backing out! Whoever backs out is a puppy!"

"Agreed." Yura chuckled. "Whoever backs out is a puppy~"

Lucy held out her hand, looking at Yura expectantly.

Yura gave her one hundred.

A delighted Lucy stuffed the hundred into her pocket, humming a tune as she happily followed Yura.

"Rat poison~ rat poison~"

Inside an inn in the town, a Konoha Anbu ninja wearing a mask suddenly opened a pair of tightly shut Byakugan.

Yura's advancing footsteps faltered.

Malice directed at her came rushing toward her face.

Yura chuckled.

More insects who don't know the meaning of death have flown in.

Konoha, like a ghost that refuses to leave!

"I must be fated to clash with you people..."

"Me?" Lucy tilted her head in confusion. She walked into the city with a light step, wondering what she should buy, her soul drifting away and her mind elsewhere.

In the town, night had just fallen. The bustling streets were filled with the roar of voices, crowds rubbing shoulders. Amidst the lively festival, a parade procession danced and moved noisily forward.

In an inn, four ninjas wearing various white masks and fully equipped in Anbu attire met up.

"What is it?"

"Detected a massive chakra entity, suspected to be..." Under the fox mask, the female ninja with the Byakugan said in a low voice, "a jinchuriki."

How is that possible!

The three ninjas frowned, and the leader asked, "White Fox, are you sure?"

The village's plan to capture the Tailed Beasts had only just begun, and basically only the Anbu in the village knew what a jinchuriki was. To assist the actions of Senju Hashirama, they had already begun gathering intelligence in the early stages. Their mission on this trip was precisely to search for traces of Tailed Beasts within the Land of Fire.

"Confirmed, Captain."

Squad leader, platoon leader, division commander.

A group of four constitutes a squad.

Konoha at this moment could be said to be in its most prosperous era since its inception; in terms of combat power alone, these four were all elites within their clan, at the level of Jonin.

"A Jinchuriki..." The captain felt a sense of trouble; no one had told him what to do in such a situation. After a moment of thought, he decided not to complicate matters. Their mission was merely to track the trail of a Tailed Beast, not to capture a Jinchuriki. "Ignore the target," he ordered.

As the words fell, the three breathed a sigh of relief. With only the four of them, they were not necessarily a match for a Jinchuriki.

But...

"Captain..." White Fox hesitated, unsure if she should point out the other situation.

"Speak your mind, White Fox," the captain said gently. "We are comrades."

The village had just been established, and while the various ninja clans had reached a consensus, their daily interactions were still somewhat awkward.

"Beside the Jinchuriki is the number one target on the Assassination Manual," White Fox said. "I cannot be mistaken."

Hearing this, the other three were suddenly startled, and one whispered in shock: "Ghost Princess!"

With that, the situation became far more complex.

The captain fell into deep thought, weighing the pros and cons with his characteristic caution.

This was an existence explicitly named as extremely dangerous by Lord Tobirama. Ever since the Warring States period, he had always trusted Lord Tobirama's judgment.

A long silence followed.

"Captain..." a ninja wearing a bird mask said, "We are Konoha, the strongest ninja village in the ninja world."

"Platoon Leader Ox is nearby..."

Gathering personnel takes time, and besides...

"With a Jinchuriki present, one squad is not enough," the captain said. "Can we gather two squads in time? If we alert the target and they retreat, we won't easily get another opportunity like this."

"Captain..." White Fox said, "Forgive my bluntness, but the chakra within that Ghost Princess is pitifully weak. If I didn't look closely, I would have mistaken her for a civilian..."

"White Fox, do not be careless," the captain said. "Do you think a ninja who can silently kill three Jonin on her own would have pitifully weak chakra? It is precisely because of that that we must be even more vigilant!"

Killing three Jonin alone—one-on-one, it might be possible, but one-on-three? The four present would only turn and run.

"No, quite the contrary," White Fox said. "My Byakugan sees clearly enough. If she were like Lord Hashirama or Lord Tobirama, possessing vast amounts of chakra, no matter how much she suppressed it, it would be impossible to lower it to such a level. With the visual prowess of my Byakugan, following her from a distance is not impossible."

Oh, quite confident, aren't we.

Outside the window, a butterfly flapped its wings in the night. In the festival on the street, Yura licked a candied apple. Beside her, Lucy's eyes were already overwhelmed, glowing as she looked at everything, lingering by the stalls on both sides of the road.

It was just that, looking at the beautiful prices, her expression was pained.

100 ryo, it really isn't much...

"Whoever goes back on their word is a puppy~ Little Monster~"

Just as Lucy turned her head, Yura said with a light chuckle.

Lucy turned her head back, her spirit somewhat shattered.

"I hate this so much..."

Yura's scarlet eyes swept across the stalls on the street. The Byakugan—these eyes truly deserve to be called the eyes of the Otsutsuki. Even though the bloodline had faded significantly, she could still spot her at a single glance.

"Then..." The captain looked into White Fox's confident eyes and said, "Notify the surrounding squads to assemble. The mission is temporarily changed to: track the Ghost Princess."

He did not mention capturing the Jinchuriki; he understood Clan Leader Hashirama.

His obsession with peace in the ninja world was bordering on madness. Unless necessary, he would not take the initiative to kill ninjas, especially those from other villages.

"Ha!" the group responded.

A ninja wearing a monkey mask stood up, wrote a scroll, and released a ninja hawk. Under the night sky, the hawk spread its wings and soared into the clouds. But just as it reached the sky above the city, the hawk shuddered slightly, and a strand of hair shot silently into its body.

Yura licked the sugar coating on the apple, crunch, biting through the surface. The frosting and the fruit flesh shattered crisply between her teeth.

As time passed, the ninja hawk flying far away in the sky had its brain silently incinerated under the influence of resentment.

Sure enough, to survive out here, you have to rely on power.

Lucy watched longingly and swallowed her saliva. Indeed, I should just buy an apple. It looks so delicious.