Undercurrents

"Go, hurry!" Yizhe urged the caravan onward as soon as he returned.

The shrewd, plump caravan leader did not come over to ask questions this time. Instead, he cooperatively organized everyone to leave the area.

Though nearly a thousand meters away, he had not been able to 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 that had come from the canyon earlier, he concluded that Yizhe and the others must have encountered the Red Ant Bandit Group.

And they had fought.

Being able to emerge unscathed before the Red Ant Bandit Group made Qing Shi regard this young ninja even more highly.

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

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

Yizhe did not sound very happy, and Qing Shi guessed that he had probably suffered a minor setback at the hands of the Red Ant Bandit Group.

"Leader Qing Shi, you told me before that the Red Ant Bandit Group only had two Genin, correct?" Yizhe asked expressionlessly.

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

"Looks like you truly didn't know." Qing Shi's utterly certain demeanor finally convinced Yizhe that he genuinely believed the Red Ant Bandit Group only had two ninjas.

"What do I know?" Qing Shi was baffled, unable to understand what Yizhe meant.

"Never mind if you didn't know! What you need to know now is that you have to increase my pay!" Yizhe said, staring seriously at Qing Shi's plump face.

"Why? Didn't we agree on ten thousand? Sir, you can't go back on your word 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.

"I agreed to ten thousand before 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 isn't nearly enough!" Yizhe snapped.

If he had not cleverly used an avalanche to bury the bandit group and, by chance, forced out Furukawa Kazekaze, the hidden ninja, who knew what grave consequences might have followed from facing an attack by two ninjas while another ninja ambushed him from the shadows?

Just imagining himself in that situation left Yizhe with lingering fear.

This was clearly dangerous work involving three ninjas, yet he was not being paid accordingly. Naturally, Yizhe was unwilling to accept that.

"Three ninjas? How is that possible?" Qing Shi stopped crying, 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 accompanied me to investigate the canyon!" Yizhe said as he walked, his expression grave.

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

He was a very delicate-looking young man. Qing Shi had always felt that he carried an air unlike that of a samurai, though he could never put his finger on what it was.

"If that's the case, among the samurai we recruited..."

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

"That's right. Among the people you recruited at the inn, quite a few bandits probably infiltrated the group under Furukawa Kazekaze's lead!"

"But Furukawa Kazekaze isn't here right now, and no one is giving orders. They should remain still for now! You don't need to worry about them turning on us yet!" 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 quietly.

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

"I seriously wounded him. He probably won't survive the night!" Yizhe said confidently.

"So, from here on, we need to prepare for the bandit group's retaliation!"

"Th-this... this..." Qing Shi was too shocked to speak.

On one hand, he was astonished 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 group would come after them.

Though he had long prepared himself for a direct conflict with the Red Ant Bandit Group, when the moment truly came, he was still terrified.

After all, this time the bandit leader's son was going to die. This was not the dispute over interests they had expected; this was no ordinary grudge! The bandits would fight to the death!

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

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

"Back in the canyon, I used an avalanche to bury the entire Red Ant Bandit Group beneath the snow. I'd estimate that only a small number of their elite survived!"

"So you don't need to worry about them sending many people! I'll hold back those two ninjas, and the rest of you should be more than capable of handling the remainder!" Yizhe explained softly.

"Thank you so much! Meeting you on this journey has truly been my good fortune!" Qing Shi said excitedly.

Hearing that the Red Ant Bandit Group had nearly been wiped out, he could finally set his anxious heart at ease.

"Words of thanks alone aren't enough! Add another five thousand to my payment, Leader Qing Shi!" Yizhe shot Qing Shi a sidelong glance.

"Of course, of course!" Qing Shi was so excited that he readily agreed.

"Right, for your own safety, don't sleep in your usual 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 and stay with your personal guards. It'll be safer that way!" Yizhe instructed seriously.

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

"Me? I'm afraid they won't come. Don't worry."

Yizhe did not explain his intentions any further. Seeing his confident expression, Qing Shi did not press the matter.

At that moment, the two leaders of the Red Ant Bandit Group were pacing like ants on a hot pan. The group's medical ninja could not treat Furukawa Kazekaze's injuries.

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

"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!" The leader, his eyes bloodshot, grabbed him and continued, "After this battle, our group's manpower has been all but exhausted! Though the two of us are still here, we've already missed our chance for a direct battle with them!"

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

"They'll likely reach Cold Wind Bridge tomorrow! It's 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 sneak in under cover of darkness, seize control of the caravan's manager, and secretly take command of the caravan's armed forces!"

"Tomorrow, we brothers will attack from within and without, leaving that young ninja with nowhere to run and no grave to call his own!" Red Ant's leader quickly devised what he believed was a foolproof plan.

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

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