Escort Mission

A black figure moved swiftly through the forest, wearing a short black kimono and sporting a strange, half-smiling white mask. It was Wu, or rather, Miao.

Today he had accepted another mission at the underground bounty office, an escort mission to convoy a merchant group to the Land of Lightning. The bounty reward was decent, but it also came with risks. In this chaotic world, if a merchant caravan wanted to reach another country safely, hiring ninja was essential; otherwise, the final outcome would be losing both goods and money. After all, aside from bandits and mountain bandits, one also had to guard against quite a few rogue ninja, since many rogue ninja were actually bandits themselves.

Miao was currently heading toward a small town on the border of the Land of Fire, and the merchant caravan was resting in this very town. After half a day of travel, Miao finally arrived at the town. It was a bustling place. Due to its border location, commercial trade was extremely well-developed, with goods from many other countries transported into the Land of Fire here, while Land of Fire goods were also shipped to foreign countries from these border towns. It was considered a transit hub.

The town boasted all sorts of dazzling shops, including restaurants, clubs, and casinos. Countless rogue ninja, samurai, and merchants came and went. There were even quite a few ninja from other countries, because many merchant groups and nobles came from foreign lands, making it entirely normal to hire ninja from other countries to escort them here. Of course, plenty of Konoha ninja were also stationed here to prevent foreign ninja from causing trouble. Foreign ninja entering the area under the guise of executing missions had to submit entry procedures for strict verification.

The screening and monitoring were not particularly strict, as methods to sneak into the Land of Fire were plentiful. Unpeopled mountain forests or trails were the best routes, and ninja from other countries would not do anything so blatant.

Naturally, rogue ninja did not need to bother, because they did not belong to the regular military establishment of any country, meaning there were no such things as entry procedures. Of course, because there were already so many rogue ninja within the Land of Fire anyway, screening made no real difference, so Konoha simply turned a blind eye as long as they did not commit acts harmful to the Land of Fire.

When Miao rushed over, it was already noon. Upon entering the town, Miao clearly sensed several gazes resting on him from the shadows before shifting away. Miao knew these were checks to see if he was a foreign ninja; if he were a regular-service ninja from another country, Konoha ninja would have stepped forward to demand his entry procedures.

It was already noon, and the assembly time was the afternoon. Therefore, Miao first went to a restaurant, requested a private room, ordered a lavish spread of food and a pot of sake, and ate and drank.

Unwittingly, the sun slanted toward the west, and afternoon had arrived. Miao set off toward the previously agreed-upon assembly point for the merchant caravan.

By now, Miao had arrived at the merchant caravan's resting spot, which was a large inn. At the front entrance of the inn, the caravan was already waiting. Five or six horse-drawn carriages loaded with cargo were parked neatly by the doorway. Standing beside the carriages were a refined-looking middle-aged man, several of his guards, and a few Konoha ninja.

Two jonin and three chunin—these Konoha ninja had been hired by the merchant from Konoha Ninja Village. It looked like this merchant had not only hired Wu, but also employed Konoha ninja.

In fact, simultaneously hiring regular ninja from major ninja villages and bounty ninja was quite common due to pricing issues. Cost-wise, hiring village ninja for a mission of the same rank far exceeded that of bounty ninja, especially from the major ninja villages. If one still felt uneasy after hiring ninja from a big village, yet was unwilling to spend a fortune to continue hiring village ninja, then bounty ninja were a great alternative. Especially for bounty ninja like Wu, who had a high reputation and an extremely high mission-completion rate, the cost of hiring such bounty ninja was significantly lower compared to ninja from the major ninja villages.

Miao had encountered this sort of thing before, executing missions alongside other regular-service ninja, but he had never yet carried out a commissioned mission alongside ninja from the Five Great Shinobi Villages.

The three chunin were utterly ordinary, just typical Konoha chunin, but Miao recognized the two leading jonin, having seen them back when he used to watch anime.

One of them was a mature and beautiful woman with long black hair, fair skin, and wine-red eyes, wearing a Konoha hitai-ate on her forehead. She was Kurenai Yuhi, a jonin who had recently been promoted in Konoha.

As for the other, he was somewhat comical—sporting a gleaming watermelon rind hairstyle, a strange and laughable green spandex outfit, an upper-body green Konoha jonin vest, and wearing what looked like a brilliant smile. Just by looking at his exterior, one could tell this ninja was definitely an oddball. He was Might Guy, the taijutsu ninja of Konoha known as the Blue Beast.

At this moment, Miao also slowly walked over from a distance. Seeing the group of Konoha ninja, the brow beneath his mask furrowed slightly. Konoha ninja?

As it happened, Miao utterly despised Konoha Ninja Village, and felt no goodwill whatsoever toward ninja hailing from Konoha. Yet, he never expected that this commission mission would actually be carried out alongside Konoha ninja.

Speaking of Konoha, Miao also recalled his father telling him that deep beneath the Naka Shrine of the Uchiha Clan in Konoha, there was an ancient stone slab passed down through generations within the Uchiha Clan. It was said to bear the words of wisdom left behind by the Uchiha Ancestor, recording the origins and secrets of the Sharingan and the Uchiha Clan. Miao himself was quite interested in this stone slab, and his intuition told him that the Uchiha Clan still harbored even greater secrets.

It looks like I'll have to find time to make a trip to Konoha.

However, now is not the time to expose myself. There is no need to target Konoha over trivial matters; given Konoha's strength, it would only be a minor tickle, exposing myself to no avail and leading to losses that outweigh the gains. Calculating everything instantly in his heart, Miao strode toward the merchant caravan.