In an inn room in a hot spring town on the northern border of the Land of Iron.
A ninja dressed as a rōnin had his arm around a voluptuous woman, teasing her. After giving her a careless grope, he had yet to bring his wine cup to his lips-
Bang!
Orange light flashed, and Chinchilla landed squarely on the tatami in front of him.
"Meow! Contractor, let me borrow your location!"
Before the rōnin ninja could react, Chinchilla pushed off with all four paws, burst through the sliding door with a whoosh, and turned into an orange blur as he raced out of the inn, heading at full speed out of town toward the Land of Iron's Conference Hall!
All he left in the room were a bewildered ninja, a flushed, panting woman, and a wine cup still trembling slightly on the table.
Outside the inn, wind and snow lashed his face.
Chinchilla sensed the distance and found that he still had at least several dozen li to go!
"Meow! All or nothing!"
"Once this job's done, I'm definitely asking Boss Lin Ze for more money, meow!"
He gritted his teeth and poured chakra into his limbs, his speed surging again.
Wherever he passed, the fierce wind whipped up the snow, trailing a long wave of it behind him.
Occasionally, samurai of the Land of Iron spotted the orange streak along the road and thought their eyes were playing tricks on them.
"Did... something just go past?"
"Looked like a cat?"
"How could a cat be that fast? You must've seen wrong."
Chinchilla paid them no heed, his eyes fixed only on that direction.
The wind and snow grew fiercer.
Yet the orange cat ran faster and faster through that vast expanse, straight into the wind and snow.