Lin Qing remained in the Land of Snow for two days.
Once the officials dispatched by the Land of Water arrived and he left part of the Extermination Army behind to maintain order, Lin Qing, Sasuke, Hayato Kamihara, and the others bid farewell to the newly crowned Queen Kazahana Koyuki and boarded the Explorer back to Kirigakure.
The two Land of Artisans ninjas—professional con artists and part-time craftsmen—returned with them as well.
After "inviting" the two craftsmen back, Lin Qing examined their memories.
They truly were no good, well versed in empty promises, fraud, and moving funds around.
But they were not exactly heinous criminals, and their crimes did not warrant death—
If bragging, making empty promises, and fraud were punishable by death, then all those startup founders Lin Qing had seen in his previous life, waving PowerPoint slides around to fool investors, would have had to die.
From the memories of those two men, Lin Qing obtained some intelligence about the Land of Artisans.
They specialized in crafting ninja tools and armor, had more or less dealt with all the major powers of the Ninja World, and roamed the world selling high-end military equipment for profit.
They were essentially arms dealers of the Ninja World.
Whenever a Ninja World War broke out, the Land of Artisans made a fortune. They were also one of the few nations that actually looked forward to war.
Returning to the two Land of Artisans ninjas he had captured, Lin Qing had originally intended to extract their Memory Discs, erase their memories, and let them start their lives over. But after giving it some thought, he decided to bring them back to the Research Institute instead.
After all, for research-oriented talent, memories could never compare to the creativity of the person themselves.
This had