Undercurrents

"Go, hurry up and move!" Yizhe urged the caravan to set off the moment he returned.

This time, the shrewd, plump caravan leader did not come over to ask questions. Instead, he cooperatively organized the men and left the area.

Though nearly a thousand meters away, he could not see what Yizhe had done over there.

But none of the four guards who had gone with Yizhe had returned. Combined with the earth-shaking sounds from the canyon earlier, he concluded that Yizhe and the others must have encountered the Red Ant Bandit Gang.

And they had fought.

The fact that Yizhe had emerged unscathed from the Red Ant Bandit Gang made Qing Shi even less willing to underestimate this young ninja.

"Leader Qing Shi!" Yizhe called loudly as he walked at the front of the group.

"I'm here! Sir, what do you need?" Hearing Yizhe call for him, Qing Shi hurried over at a jog.

Yizhe sounded rather unhappy, and Qing Shi guessed that he had probably suffered a minor setback at the hands of the Red Ant Bandit Gang.

"Leader Qing Shi, you told me before that the Red Ant Bandit Gang only had two genin stationed there, right?" Yizhe asked expressionlessly.

"That's right! There really are only two!" Qing Shi answered firmly.

"It seems you truly didn't know." Qing Shi's utterly certain expression finally convinced Yizhe that he genuinely believed the Red Ant Bandit Gang had only two ninjas.

"What am I supposed to know?" Qing Shi was bewildered, unable to understand what Yizhe meant.

"Never mind if you don't know! But now you should know that you need to raise my payment!" Yizhe said, staring seriously at Qing Shi's plump face.

"Why? Didn't we agree on ten thousand? Sir, you can't change the terms at the last minute!" Qing Shi pretended to cry.

He thought Yizhe was dissatisfied with the payment and wanted to raise the price on the spot.

"Before, I agreed to ten thousand because there were only two ninjas on the other side!"

"But now I've discovered that they have three ninjas. The intelligence was wrong, and the danger level has shot up! That little payment is nowhere near enough!" Yizhe snapped.

If he had not cleverly used an avalanche to bury the bandit gang and, by chance, forced out Furukawa Kazekaze, the hidden ninja, he had no idea what terrible consequences there might have been from facing two ninja attackers while another ninja ambushed him from the shadows.

The thought of possibly facing such a situation left Yizhe with lingering fear.

It was clearly a dangerous job involving three ninjas, yet he was not receiving the corresponding payment. Naturally, Yizhe was unwilling to accept that.

"Three ninjas? How is that possible?" Qing Shi stopped pretending to cry, disbelief written across his face.

"Why would I lie to you? Besides the two bandit leaders, they have a third ninja! He's the bandit leader's son, Furukawa Kazekaze!"

"He was the youngest of the four samurai who went to investigate the canyon with me earlier!" Yizhe said as he walked, his expression grave.

"Him?" Qing Shi had some impression of the youngest samurai.

He had been a very handsome young man. Qing Shi had always felt that he possessed an air unlike that of a samurai, but he could never put his finger on what it was.

"Then that means, among the samurai we recruited..."

As he spoke, Qing Shi lowered his voice and glanced back several times.

"That's right. Among the batch of men you recruited at the inn, quite a few bandits likely infiltrated under Furukawa Kazekaze's lead!"

"But Furukawa Kazekaze isn't here right now, and no one is giving orders. They should remain still, so there's no need to worry about them rebelling for the time being!" Yizhe clearly laid out the caravan's current situation.

Though danger lurked beneath the surface, there was no immediate threat.

"Then... what about Furukawa Kazekaze?" Qing Shi asked softly.

Furukawa Kazekaze had blended in among the samurai and accompanied Yizhe on the investigation, but he had not returned with him. Qing Shi was very curious about what had happened between them.

"I beat him badly enough that he probably won't survive the night!" Yizhe said confidently.

"So next, we need to prepare for the bandit gang's retaliation!"

"Th-this... this..." Qing Shi was so shocked that he could not speak.

On one hand, he was stunned by Yizhe's strength—he had taken down a ninja of the same rank without suffering so much as a scratch. On the other, he was shocked by the news that the bandit gang would come after them.

Although he had long prepared himself for a direct clash with the Red Ant Bandit Gang, now that it was truly upon him, he was still terrified.

After all, this time the bandit leader's son was going to die. This was not the conflict of interests they had anticipated. It was no ordinary grudge—the other side would fight to the death!

"However, I have some good news for you too!" Seeing Qing Shi's worried expression, Yizhe could not help but smile.

"Huh? What good news?" Qing Shi froze for a moment, then hurriedly asked.

"Back in the canyon, I used an avalanche to bury the entire Red Ant Bandit Gang beneath the snow. I estimate only a small number of elites survived!"

"So you don't need to worry about too many bandits coming after us! I'll hold off those two ninjas, and the rest of you should be more than capable of dealing with whoever remains!" Yizhe explained softly.

"Thank you so much! To meet you on this journey is truly my good fortune!" Qing Shi said excitedly.

Hearing that the Red Ant Bandit Gang had been practically wiped out, he could finally put down the burden in his heart.

"Words of thanks alone aren't enough! Add another five thousand to my payment, Leader Qing Shi!" Yizhe rolled his eyes at him.

"Of course, of course!" Qing Shi was too excited to contain himself and readily agreed.

"Oh, right. For your safety, don't sleep in your original carriage tonight. Change into a guard's clothes and stay mixed in with the guards!" Yizhe reminded him.

"You mean..." Fear appeared on Qing Shi's face.

"After all, the leader's son is dead. No one knows what they might do!"

"So you'd better change your appearance. It'll be safer for you to stay with your own retainers!" Yizhe instructed him seriously.

"Then... what about you, sir?"

"Me? I'm afraid they won't come. Just rest easy!"

Yizhe did not explain his intentions any further. Seeing how confident he was, Qing Shi stopped asking questions.

At this moment, the two leaders of the Red Ant Bandit Gang were as anxious as ants on a hot pan. The gang's medical ninja could not treat Furukawa Kazekaze's injuries.

They could only watch helplessly as Furukawa Kazekaze's life force weakened bit by bit, until it vanished completely.

"Ah—ah—" The two leaders howled like maddened beasts.

"Big Brother, let's go fight them to the death!" The deputy leader could no longer suppress the rage in his heart.

"No! Wait!" His eyes reddened as the leader grabbed him and continued, "After this battle, our gang's manpower has been nearly exhausted! Though the two of us remain, we've already missed our chance for a direct decisive battle against them!"

"Then... Big Brother, what do you suggest? Are we just not going to avenge Kazekaze?" The deputy leader clenched his fists, unable to quell his fury.

"They will likely reach Cold Wind Bridge tomorrow! It is the final unavoidable route into the Land of Iron, easy to defend and hard to attack! And it won't require many men!"

"Brother, tomorrow, lead the men and block the bridgehead. Tonight, I'll slip into their caravan under cover of darkness, seize their manager, and secretly take control of the caravan's armed forces!"

"Tomorrow, we brothers will attack from within and without, leaving that young ninja with nowhere to escape and no place to be buried!" Red Ant's leader quickly devised what he believed to be a foolproof plan.

"No! Sneaking into their caravan is too dangerous. If you're discovered, the consequences will be impossible to predict! I should go instead!" After hearing the plan, the deputy leader did not fully agree.

After arguing for a long time, the deputy leader ultimately took the task of secretly infiltrating the caravan and holding its manager hostage.