"That's certainly no problem. Everything is up to Akita."
Qing remained calm and nodded slightly in reply.
"Then let's set off!"
Seeing that Ao did not object to him, Shinji Akita's face showed a very happy expression.
Then.
Led by Captain Saemon of Fuyuki Castle, the group headed towards the port, which was a short distance from Fuyuki Castle. From there, they would board a ship belonging to the Fuyuki government and head towards their destination— Kujiraai Island.
As the most remote island in the northeastern sea frontier of the Land of Water, Kujiraai Island is indeed under the jurisdiction of Fuyuki Castle. However, in the past few decades, Fuyuki Castle has not truly brought Kujiraai Island under its jurisdiction, except for setting up tax officials on Kujiraai Island to ensure tax revenue.
Distance is one aspect.
More importantly, like many small countries that were annexed by the Land of Water, Kujiraai Island was an independent nation called Whale more than 20 years ago, and its territory consisted of an island group including Kujiraai Island and more than a dozen nearby small islands.
Although it was a small country with a very small land area and a population of less than 40,000 to 50,000, the successive daimyo were very benevolent and took the lead in choosing a frugal lifestyle while paying attention to people's livelihood. As a result, they won the support of almost all the people.
This also led to the fact that even though the Land of Whales was too weak to resist the invasion of the Land of Water and was destroyed, the people there still remembered the previous monarch of the Land of Whales, and almost everyone still referred to themselves as Whale People!
While they wouldn't go so far as to violently resist the rule of the Land of Water by sacrificing everything, this non-violent resistance and xenophobia makes it difficult for the Land of Water to establish effective control over this region.
Such places are not uncommon in the Land of Water, but only the people of the Land of Whales have shown such defiance. This is causing a major headache for the high-ranking officials of the Land of Water, especially the officials of Fuyuki Castle who govern this area. You can't just kill all of them, can you?
As for policies like mass migration, those are highly unreliable.
In addition, the other party was only engaging in non-violent non-cooperation, and taxes were still being paid normally. After weighing the pros and cons, the leaders of the Land of Water simply let it go. In their view, at least after one or two generations, the so-called non-cooperation would slowly disappear into the river of history. The Land of Water was all too familiar with these tactics!
After all, that's how those small countries that were annexed long ago came to be!
The lord of Fuyuki Castle also adhered to this principle, setting up only one tax collector on the largest island, Kujiraai Island, and sending dozens of patrol soldiers there to maintain basic security and stability.
For twenty years, nothing serious had ever happened, but this situation was broken at the beginning of this year with a series of murders that escalated, culminating in the killing of an official from the Land of Water!
This series of events not only caused panic among the local people, but also greatly shocked the city lord of Fuyuki Castle. Although the Kujiraai Island Archipelago was not a particularly important place in his jurisdiction, the city lord was naturally unable to sit still after such a terrible incident.
Unrest in one region can easily spread to other regions.
This is why the governor of Hirogane City so readily issued such an investigative mission to Kirigakure through official channels; he didn't want to be questioned or even punished by the capital.
Furthermore, the initial reward is set at the highest C-rank standard, and it is possible that the reward will be increased based on the difficulty of the mission, since there is a high probability of encountering ninjas on this mission!
Even the lowest-ranking wandering ninja are not beings that ordinary people can easily deal with.
This is also the point that Qi and others need to pay the most attention to and prioritize investigating.
It took the group seven or eight hours to travel on the ship reserved for the city lord's mansion, leaving the port of Fuyuki Castle, before they finally arrived at their destination—the port of Kujiraai Island —late at night.
Previously, the three of them could maintain a calm demeanor.
As they stepped off the ship and onto Kujiraai Island, a sense of tension, varying degrees, subconsciously surfaced within each of the three.
No matter how talented they are, this is still their Team 7's first mission, and right from the start, there is still a certain probability of encountering Quasi-B-Rank Mission with enemy ninjas.
Even though the Kirigakure's Ninja Academy has always emphasized the educational philosophy and policy of 'real combat training', and frequently has Ninja Academy students participate in various levels and scopes of drills, the graduation exams even require risking one's life to participate.
However, compared to a real mission, there are still very obvious differences.
Even Qi, who had lived two lives, was not entirely immune to the trembling of his hands, which was due to both nervousness and excitement!
This is his first official step into the Shinobi World!
The arrival of Qi and his group did not cause much of a stir, not only because they arrived at night, but also because, unlike their previous open and aboveboard investigation, Fuyuki Castle hoped to conduct their investigation discreetly this time.
He certainly didn't want to see another of his investigators die.
Only the garrison commander on the island had some prior knowledge of the situation, and he arrived at the port with a few of his most trusted subordinates to greet Qi and his party upon their arrival.
Upon seeing Shinji Akita disembark from the ship and step into the foremost position, the police officer immediately stepped forward, bowed, and said, " Akita!"
As Captain Saemon of Fuyuki Castle, Shinji Akita could be considered the direct superior of this henchman.
Now, with direct orders from the garrison commander of Hirogane City, this security officer naturally has to treat the matter with utmost seriousness.
"Hehe, long time no see, Wan Jun, you've worked hard these past years!"
Shinji Akita smiled, gently patted the police officer on the shoulder, and said softly.
"No, it's all for the Daimyo, for the Castle Lord! It's not hard work!"
Wan also looked flattered and quickly bowed.
"So, has anything unusual happened on the island in the past few days?"
Shinji Akita was clearly a pragmatic person; after a brief exchange of pleasantries, he got straight to the point.
Of course, this was also closely related to the fact that their city lord was paying close attention to this situation. If the leader was anxious, how could the subordinates remain calm?