The little girl in Pakura's arms had cried herself to sleep.
She gave the smiling Mukai a meaningful look and nodded helplessly.
They took two rooms at the inn. Pakura shared one with the little girl, while Mukai and the other two shared the other.
Late that night, Mukai suddenly got up and nudged Sasori and Shisō beside him.
"Stop pretending to sleep. Time to assign tasks."
Sasori got up with a tch and checked the scrolls on him.
Mukai looked at the bewildered Shisō and said,
"Shisō, Sasori and I are going to deal with a threat before it comes back to haunt us. Your techniques make too much of a commotion and are too easy to recognize, so I'm afraid you'll have to watch the room this time.
I really can't rest easy unless we kill that piece of trash."
Shisō nodded silently. He knew Mukai was telling the truth.
Even so, he voiced the question on his mind.
"Captain Mukai, nobles are said to be descendants of the gods in heaven.
They all have noble blood. I'm afraid you'll face divine retribution for killing him.
You have a bright future ahead of you. Let me bear the blame instead!
I believe you'll be sure to take good care of Shira."
Mukai looked at Shisō, who was only in his twenties but already had a face weathered by hardship, and patted his shoulder.
"Knowing you're willing is enough to make me happy.
Gods?
That's nothing but a pretext the daimyos and nobles use to fool ordinary people.
It isn't time to settle all our scores yet, which is why we have to be so careful and avoid all sorts of things.
When we have enough comrades and enough strength to sweep away the obstacles in our path,
we'll sweep that pile of trash into the garbage heap!"
Shisō didn't quite understand, but he chose to trust Mukai.
After making arrangements for the room, Mukai and Sasori went straight out the window onto the roof and vanished in a few leaps.
In the next room, Pakura, who was sleeping with the little girl in her arms, naturally heard the commotion in Mukai's room.
She muttered "little brat" under her breath, then continued patting the little girl while resting with her eyes closed.
She couldn't sleep easy until Mukai and the others returned safely.
Mukai and Sasori traveled quickly, following the traces to the place where the Land of Rivers noble Ogawa was staying.
He had booked an entire small inn.
Mukai sensed the bioelectric fields, then led Sasori in a diagonal leap from a rooftop to the west onto the inn's roof.
"On the top floor below us, only the room in the middle is occupied.
Judging by the lavish arrangements, it should be that piece of trash, all right."
Sasori nodded and unsealed the modified Crow puppet.
Amid a puff of white eyes from the unsealing, the brand-new Crow puppet made soft clicking sounds.
Under Sasori's control, it slid down from the roof with a difficult maneuver.
With Sasori's precise control, the Crow puppet's arm deftly opened the window.
They no longer lacked Chakra Metal, and Crow's main joints had all been upgraded with it.
The new puppet, two sizes smaller than the original Crow, slipped silently through the window into the room.
On the roof, Sasori formed a Hand Seal with one hand.
"Puppet Secret Technique-Puppet Eye Transfer Technique!"
Once his perspective switched, Sasori controlled the puppet with even greater agility.
The small Crow puppet bobbed its enormous head and tiptoed up to the noble Ogawa, who lay sprawled out asleep.
With Mukai's Bioelectric Sensing confirming the target, Crow took a tanuki mask in its left hand and slapped it straight onto the noble Ogawa's face.
Before the startled Ogawa could cry out, the Crow puppet drove the unusually shaped Kunai in its right hand
straight into his mouth and through the back of his head.
The noble Ogawa's face, hollowed out by wine and women, was filled with terror.
He could never have imagined what he had done to bring death upon himself.
One could only say that these so-called nobles had lived peaceful lives for too long.
And in this world of ninjas, ordinary people and ninjas alike had been brainwashed for far, far too long.
Of all the ways to pass down power, relying on bloodlines had always been the least successful.
In this world of extraordinary power, these so-called nobles did not even possess power themselves.
Sasori silently recited the words Mukai had taught him.
This isn't a personal grudge.
Of course, he added a line of his own in his mind.
The moment you threatened Mukai, you were already walking the road to death.
Sasori had the Crow puppet leave the shattered tanuki mask and the special Kunai where they were, then flexed its joints with a series of clicks.
After checking, he used the pull of his Chakra Threads to send it flying straight out the window, thoughtfully closing the window behind it.
"Puppet Eye Transfer Technique, release!"
Sasori released the puppet's perspective, deftly sealed Crow back into its scroll, and nodded to Mukai, who was keeping watch.
Mukai had already sensed the bioelectric fields and confirmed that the trash Ogawa was thoroughly dead.
The two lightly bumped fists, then vanished from the roof in a few flickers.
Even after they left the town, the inn remained perfectly quiet in the darkness.
It was as though nothing had happened.
On the way back, Sasori suddenly spoke.
"Mukai, is something wrong with your body?
Ever since the second day of our trip, I've noticed you've had to rely on supercapacitors to use Ninjutsu.
Are you sick, or is something else wrong?"
Mukai stopped on a tree branch and used his bioelectric field sensing to check their surroundings. There was no one else within several hundred meters.
Only then did he speak with a wry smile.
"I didn't expect you to notice after all.
How should I put it? I awakened an incredible ability.
You can think of it as a second consciousness that can help me with control or calculations and keeping watch.
But right now, this consciousness is still very weak. It needs to absorb my Lightning Release Chakra to grow.
These days, the Chakra I produce each day is almost entirely absorbed by this second consciousness.
Judging by its progress, I'm afraid it'll be difficult for it to finish evolving before the Chunin tournament."
A worried look appeared on Sasori's face, and he was about to take out his spare supercapacitors when Mukai stopped him.
"Don't worry. Once we get to Konoha, I can buy some other parts and put together a small generator.
Then I'll be able to charge those supercapacitors.
This second consciousness is incredibly important to our future.
We'll need his help to control our complex mechas in the future.
Right now, I have to let this intelligent consciousness finish evolving, whatever the cost.
Besides, I still have the Hierarch Mecha, an improved version of the Zealot.
Even without using elemental techniques, I can crush my opponents with the mecha.
So don't worry!"
With that, Mukai patted Sasori on the shoulder and reassured him.
"Besides, it's just a Chunin Ninja Exams where we can make a name for ourselves.
I've still got you and Shisō, don't I?
Even if I slack off, our results won't be too bad!
This time, I'll be counting on you two to carry me!"
Only then did Sasori relax a little.
He asked again to make sure.
"This intelligent being you mentioned really won't put your life in danger?
If there's any danger, I can contact Granny right away and ask her to get a Konoha medical-nin to treat you."
Mukai shook his head.
"Don't worry!
You know me, don't you?
When it comes to staying alive, I'm more afraid of dying than anyone.
For the Substitution Technique alone, I keep three sets sealed with Chakra at all times.
If there were a problem, I'd have run back to the village long ago!
You want the ever-cautious Lord Mukai to take a risk?
You've got to be kidding!"
Mukai's self-mockery did put Sasori's worries to rest.
He nodded, then suddenly asked,
"That incredibly powerful intelligent being you mentioned sounds even more impressive than Konoha's forbidden Spirit Transformation Technique.
Does it have a name?"
Mukai pinched the bridge of his nose and said clearly,
"I call him Komushi.
The intelligent being Komushi."