With the roster of the Twelve Guardian Ninja decided, Kazemori Masaki had the list sent to the Capital. A reply soon arrived, demanding that the six members of the Twelve Guardian Ninja depart for the Capital immediately. The Daimyo could hardly wait to see the full contingent.
"He really is impatient. I heard the other five were all recruited by that fellow called Tobi. I wonder what sort of shinobi they are," Kagami Uchiha said.
"Most of the powerful shinobi outside the Five Great Shinobi Villages are concentrated in the black market these days. For various reasons, they either left their original villages or found ways to train chakra on their own. They honed their abilities in a place that devours people whole, so they should be reasonably capable. They cannot compare with a village's finest shinobi, but they should not be too far behind its mainstays," Mitokado Homura said beside him.
"There could also be an anomaly like Hanzo of the Salamander, someone who came from a weak village yet gained tremendous strength through a series of opportunities," Shimura Danzō said. "Still, powerful shinobi who develop outside the villages are exceedingly rare—practically nonexistent. If someone truly formidable turns up, he may well be a deserter from some village. Having an established tradition to draw on makes the road easier."
"Would the Daimyo recruit deserters like that? Our shinobi villages would never accept them," Utatane Koharu replied. A rogue shinobi already had a compromised record. Someone who deserted once could desert again, so no village would trust such a person. Moreover, sheltering another village's deserters could easily provoke hostility. A weak village was one thing, but accepting deserters from the Five Great Shinobi Villages was almost out of the question. At most, they might cooperate privately.
"We have all sorts