A/N. Woooooooow it's been a long time. Sorry for that. You know how it is. Life and circumstances all get the best of us at some point or another, but I should hopefully be uploading new chapters with more frequency starting today. A lot of stuff for other stories too. Most of them have half finished chapters that I just have to get around to finishing. So yeeeh more work for me! For those who need a refresher: Sakura got frustrated with her lack of natural exp gain so she went on a tantrum and forced a mission out of her parents, only for it to have... complications. Like the bandit group that had a missing-nin leading them. They're taken care of now, but its likely not the only threat left to deal with...
I let out a sigh of relief. I've never been so thankful for Gamer's Mind as I am right now, otherwise I would have to process all of... that.
Bodies littered the area around the carriage line, the people I was protecting long since having fled to inside their carriages. That was good, cause I kinda forgot about them? Whoops?
I looked down at the body of Yukio. I don't really feel like cleaning this up…
Loot?
Y/N
I can get stuff from dead people? Ehhhhhhh sure, why not. I don't have to physically dig into the body do I?
Y
6700 ryo
Black Wolves Fur Coat
Black Wolves Fur Pants
Black Wolves Sandals
Mysterious Letter
5x Kunai
7x Shuriken
Ew no. I don't want his clothing, that's dirty as all heck. I'll just take the money and the weapons. Ooh and the letter obviously. Once I selected them they kind of just appeared in my inventory, vanishing from his person. Blink and you miss it, it was so sudden.
Repeating the process for every other bandit around got me a crap ton of money, and some decent weapons here and there. This is what my inventory looks like now.
Inventory
Sakura's Inventory
Equipment:
Head-
Body- Flowing Sakura Petal Dress (uncommon)
Legs- Standard ninja pants (common)
Hand left-
Hand right-
Shoes- Standard ninja sandals (common)
Belt-
Ring-
Necklace- Mantle of Vitality (rare)
Earring- Rabbit Foot Earring (common)
Total Armor Rating: 0
Balance: 25,600 ryo
Inventory:
-Rabbit meat x3
-Mantle of Vitality (rare)
-29x Kunai (common)
-27x Shuriken (common)
- 2x Katana (common)
-Warrior's Club (common)
-Woodcutter Axe (mediocre)
-Mysterious Letter
Funnily enough my Mantle of Vitality is listed as a necklace. Which kinda makes sense if you think about it broadly, but it's still amusing. Don't axe why I took the axe. It totally wasn't just to make that pun. Totally.
I took the letter out of my inventory and jumped on top of a nondescript carriage at the butt end of the line and knocked.
Mom poked her head out of the blinds, giving me a concerned look. I smiled. "All clear."
"That took quite a bit longer than the usual, dear. Are you okay?" The thing about my parents was that they weren't ninja. They were used to employing them, but how everything worked functionally and what was actually happening were two separate viewpoints, and only one of them was shared by them. They expected me to be able to take out any threat that came for us, cause I was a ninja. Duh. To them, power scales ended with ninja at the top, and didn't provide much nuance afterwards. I kinda get it though. I couldn't tell you the difference between the strength of one samurai and the other if you put them in front of me.
Unless I used the observe skill of course. "Yeah. I am just one person, you know? It takes a while to take out this many people. Although I don't think this is just your ordinary bandit raid." I handed her the letter.
While she was reading it I shouted the "All clear!" to the others to let them know to keep moving. After a bit of delay, they came out of their hidey holes and started the carriages' steady trot again.
"This is… Kizashi, I think you need to read this as well." Mom handed the letter over to dad.
"Uh huh. He sent a missing nin after us? Why?" Dad asked from inside the carriage. "I think we're going to need to hire ninja for this. We're not safe."
The letter (I had obviously read it before handing it to them,) had vivid descriptions of both of my parents, with a note alluding to Yukio's nature and a place where they stashed the payment. It didn't give any hints towards who wrote the letter, which would have helped.
"They're gonna take a few days to get here, and I don't think hiring from Hot Springs is a good idea." I said
Mom's brow furrowed. "Why not?"
Yukio's description said he had dealings with people inside and out of Hot Springs, meaning there's a real possibility that whoever hired him has ins with the administration, or is at least connected to them.
"That missing-nin was from Hot Springs, and we're already very close to there. The fact that they weren't spotted and then taken out by the outposts this close to them means they might have corroborated."
I could see the fear within mom's eyes. "We're going to be heading into the wolves' den if we go into Hot Springs now! Kizashi, we need to turn back."
"No. That might give them time to send more ninja at us! They can't try an assasination out in the open, but they can try one in a nondescript road somewhere. We stick to the streets and crowded buildings." Dad jumped out of the carriage, taking mom's hand with him to let her exit.
"And then what?" Honestly even sticking to the more heavily populated areas there is always a chance they would try something. Hot Springs was usually pretty safe, but crime is everywhere. They could have made it look like just any other burglary.
Dad responded. "We go through with hiring a ninja. They can protect us for at least the ride back. Meanwhile we get in contact with everyone we know in Hot Springs. See if they know anything. Sakura, you stay with us at all times, understand?"
Dad gave me a grave look. I don't think I've ever seen him this serious before. The true reality of the situation was just settling in. We were alone, hunted, heading into the belly of the beast, hoping for a way out. The only thing standing between my parents and death was me.
Even with my Gamer powers, I didn't think it was enough.
Hot Springs was actually kind of nice. Despite being very close to the mountains it wasn't cold. Geysers and steam seemed to coat the entirety of the place, having been built next to a very active reservoir of geothermal energy.
A volcano. It was next to a freaking volcano.
It was dormant, thankfully. That didn't stop the tiny sliver of anxiety coursing through my brain when I saw it though.
Entering the marketplace after going through customs (I'm just your average civilian sir! No ninja here!) it was clear the people here were loud. I mean, looooudddd. Being essentially a giant tourist trap with a ninja police force, everyone everywhere tried to sell us some trinket or another. Hotels and casinos and bars were on every street corner, with food stalls and bathing houses being more prevalent than actual grocery stores. It was a bit overwhelming.
We had finally stopped at one of the bigger warehouse-looking places where they would be delivering the goods.
Dad was talking to Masumi while mom was having a heated debate with another guy from the warehouse. He also had on a sunhat, so I decided he was to be called sunhat #2.
That clearly being the infinitely more interesting conversation, I decided to eavesdrop.
"Are you sure? You want a hawk out today?!" Sunhat #2 jittered.
"Yes. We need reinforcements. Make it a B-rank mission. As fast as you can, and we'll pay extra."
"Of—of course ma'am!" Sunhat #2 ran off to do exactly that. Good, good.
"Where now, mom?" She tried to hide the little jump she did when she realised I was behind her. She's really tense, huh.
"Now we go to the inn, and wait for our contractors to contact us." Seems simple enough.
I waited for everyone to get their stuff back together and figure out what goes where. About half of our little troupe stayed at the warehouse or dispersed somewhere else. The rest got the two carriages that we had left in order to ride. Masumi was among them.
"Alright! Let's go!" I got to sit in the carriage with my parents this time as extra protection. I grinned while I sat in between them and closed my arms around them in a hug. I could tell they were very jittery about the whole thing, so I made sure to be as reassuring as possible. Anyone that tried to get at my parents would quickly realise the mistake they made.
Signing in at the inn and putting our things down was the same mundane affair as the warehouse was, and I quickly grew bored observing every person and thing for suspiciousness. On the bright side, Observe was now level 11!
"Okay. I think it's safe to go and lay down for rest now. It's been a long day." Dad murmured. Before I'd even had the chance to say anything, mom and dad climbed into their shared futon and knocked out.
"Guess I'm pulling the night shift…"
You have slept on the inn floor! HP and MP have been restored to full!
Huh, what. I fell asleep? Huh?! The blinds outside showed the early morning light flickering through, a bird chirping on the one tree in the courtyard next to us.
I chanced a glance at my parents. Still asleep. Still alive. Okay good. Would have been really pathetic if I slept through an attack.
But The Game would have woken me, wouldn't you have?
Right Game?
Right?
…..
I'll take that as a yes.
The morning, once mom and dad woke up was the same boring affair as the rest of the mornings were, but this time the only change was that we didn't wake up in a carriage or a bedroll.
The only mixup came when the contractors we had come to meet arrived. I let them in and Observed them like protocol dictated, having them seated in seiza on cushions in the living room in front of my parents, also on cushions, but fancier ones they brought from home. They had frills and laces and all that.
None of them were all that interesting, except for one of the servants that sat behind the merchants that came in.
Name: Takahashi Masurou
Lvl. 7
Designation: The Dean
Occupation: Takahashi family accountant
HP: 600/600
MP: 1100/1100
Str: 3
Agi: 4
Cha: 18
Int: 19
Wis: 16
Luck: 10
Description: Born and raised in his role as a merchant and record keeper, Masurou works tirelessly to further his family's business. Recently, a wealthy Fire merchant family tricked them into an unfavourable deal, and he's been pursuing every possible avenue to get them out, bar telling the rest of his family what he was up to.
Current state: Angry, confused.
And there's our guy. Figures the culprit would be among the ones we're here to collect money from. But really guys?
Does this mean my parents are filthy capitalists? Really?! That's so—not cliche, but! Well, lame. I thought they were better than that.
They exchanged pleasantries, talked terms, and then, the issue of the money came up.
"I understand the ebb and flow of the market tends to be rather unpredictable, but regular payments like these help make it more stable. The money that we're owed is necessary to promote this stability across international boundaries, which is why we came personally." Dad declared.
And then the mood went down, by quite a bit. The spokesperson, who had done most of the talking so far, sweated out a reply. "I understand that you have taken great pains into coming here, but at the moment we do not have the available funds to repay your investment. In the appropriate time we can however—"
"No." Dad cut him off. "No howevers. You are right. We have taken great pains in making sure we arranged the fluidity of the deal in person. We were personally targeted for assassination on the way here, in fact, so I am well aware of the gravity of my presence in this room right now."
Some of the members of the delegation were genuinely shocked, lending credence to the idea that Masurou was working alone. The others had more stable poker faces, their eyes showing their brains rapidly recalculating.
A guy in a sunhat (indoors?) spoke next. "We are deeply troubled to hear of the news. Perhaps in lieu of payment, we could offer a protection detail to accompany you back? We have several connections to the ninja here in Hot Springs that, when hearing of your situation, would gladly lend their assistance."
I shook my head "no" warningly to my parents. Bad idea. Oh so bad idea. Some of the opposition's eyes flitted to mine, suddenly aware I had pull in this conversation. They obviously didn't peg me for a ninja, otherwise they would have acknowledged me when I came in. No clan insignia, no headband, no weapons. I must seem like just your average no-fashion-sense salesman's daughter to them. They'll probably reconsider now.
"While I appreciate the offer, the issue of the required funds I am to come back with still stands, and cannot be smoothed over by the base need of safety which, this close to the Hot Water Village, should be all but guaranteed." Mom provided.
"Y-yes ma'am, we understand."
"I don't think you do. We have made our intentions very clear. If you prove your credit to be bad enough you can't even follow up on a simple supply contract, I'm afraid you won't have much luck expanding your business past your borders anytime soon."
That was a threat if I ever heard one. I feel like I'm way out of the loop here though.
It was quiet for several moments, the last words my mom said echoing through every person's head.
Eventually indoors-sunhat-guy bowed low, and I could see Masurou scowling. "Of course. We will provide the necessary funds back to you, it's rightful owner. We will uphold the contract, as we have always done for generations, and will continue to do." The rest of them bowed as well, some more reluctant than others.
They stayed a little longer to work out the logistics of the dropoff, but generally we had succeeded in the strong arming.
I didn't feel particularly good about it, even if I understood maybe half of what was going on.
They left just as nervous as they came in, and I knew what I had to do.
"Mom, dad. Go to the other booked room like we discussed and stay there. I'm going to go take care of the threat."
"Okay, honey! Stay safe!" They waved me out casually.
"Hey, she's doing great. Maybe we should use Sakura more often? We'd save on so many costs!" I heard mom say through the door I closed.
"Oi, that's my line!"
…well, at least they're not worried?
I tracked the delegation all the way back to their horse-drawn carriages. Well I say that, but they looked so cheap they were barely functional. Even if they didn't exactly exude an air of regality when coming in the hotel, they certainly didn't express themselves as poor, but now I can really see it. The wheels looked like they could fall off at any time, the horses were underfed, and the beams and supports on the carriage itself had all sorts of scratches and dings. In that mediocre state they all galloped away, leaving me to go after them.
When they arrived at their destination, (a large tailor shop?) Masurou broke off from the rest in barely concealed anger. Some headed inside to drop off supplies while the rest went through the second entrance into what I could see were beds. They lived here? Next to their shop? I abandoned the rest of the people, jumping in the direction Samurou was going. I wouldn't get any answers from them.
Ooh, exciting! My first stealth mission! Do I even have a Stealth skill? A quick check towards my skills list gave me a decisive no.
Strange. I distinctly remember learning about stealth and how to do it in the Academy. Is this just another thing Sakura didn't bother training? My memory didn't give me any indication that she did… Goshdarnit Sakura. Can't do anything right.
I pulled as much as I could from my memory of the classes and chased after Masurou, really hoping the Game would help me out here.
One leap.
Another few steps.
...Game?
….Please?
With repeated actions, the skill Stealth (Passive) was created!
Stealth (Passive) lvl.1: Allows the user to sneak about a place undetected. The higher the level, the better the efficiency.
Hah! Knew you'd come through. Alright, let's get a move on.
Following Masurou through a side door, I wasn't surprised when he went back out into the streets, his eyes laser focused on the road ahead.
In his anger, he didn't really care who he bumped up against or who stood in his way. He just barrelled straight through anyone and everyone, even a little girl holding her mother's hand. Everyone around him gave him dirty looks for that one, but no one seemed to want to stop him as he made his way further and further into the heart of the city. Peculiar.
The buildings started pressing together more narrowly this deep in, touristy stalls and venues being replaced with a dense residential district. The atmosphere here was less raucous and uplifting, settling towards a quieter and more private air. By looking at their houses I could tell the people here were neither affluent nor poor, a decided middle ground. Any people I could see tended to mind their own business, not really talking to anyone else outside of their group as they went about their day.
Masurou didn't town done his approach at all, barreling through the alleys with the same nasty attitude, but people here didn't even bat an eye. Almost as if it was a familiar sight.
And maybe it was, but that might be making some assumptions. The rest of his family lived next to the shop, so it would be kind of strange if he lived here, away from them.
Suspicious.
Masurou stopped his parade in front of an ordinary looking house and opened the door. I couldn't enter inside for fear of being spotted, so I camped out outside the window, where I could see Masurou interact with a guy with a sunhat on. Inside too.
Is it fashionable to do that here? It looks dumb. Straw sunhats aren't exactly all that comfortable, so there's really no reason to keep them on inside. If it's not fashion, that's a pattern I really can't overlook.
I observed him.
Name: Taro
Lvl. 3
Designation:
Occupation: Civilian fishmonger
HP: 600
MP: 500
Str: 4
Agi: 7
Cha: 10
Int: 6
Wis: 4
Luck: 2
Description: Taro is the third son of a fisherman from the Land of Lightning. He moved his operation down towards the Land of Hot Water hoping to profit off of the growing tourist sector.
Current state: Minding his business.
Nothing strange about this, so far. So far.
Masurou stopped sun hat guy from taking some laundry back outside, the man responding in a friendly, if surprised, upbeat tenor. "Oh, hello stranger. What are you doing in my ho—.
"I have to say, your fish were looking pretty fresh." Masurou said the casual sentence in the least casual way possible. That's a code alright.
Instantly the man's entire demeanor changed, his voice dropping down to a menacing baritone. "Did you activate the seal?" I Observed him again.
Name: Taro
Lvl. 3
Designation:
Occupation: Civilian fishmonger
HP: 600
MP: 500
Str: 4
Agi: 7
Cha: 10
Int: 6
Wis: 4
Luck: 2
Description: Taro is the third son of a fisherman from the Land of Lightning. He moved his operation down towards the Land of Hot Water hoping to profit off of the growing tourist sector.
Current state: Mind controlled.
Well. That bumps this case up the food chain by quite a bit, huh.
"No, that's what we have a code phrase for, don't we?" Masurou griped, sounding annoyed.
"Stupid civilians," He murmured. I could hear his voice getting closer, but his footsteps quieted. If I wasn't looking for it, I might have missed that detail. "The seal is for privacy. It stops anyone from eavesdr—"
Oh, he activated it. So yes, that definitely confirms shinobi interference on his part. Guilty as all can be. Still, I don't have any leads on how to eliminate the threat, besides just killing Masurou, which isn't the greatest idea. If word got out that an Academy whelp (not a shinobi on a mission) killed a citizen of an allied country in said country, I would definitely get in trouble. The bandits didn't count. That was obviously just self defense. This would be premeditated murder, and I didn't wanna find out what kind of disciplinary measures Konoha had in place for something like that.
So what were my options? I could wait for them out here and start following Masurou around again. It might give me a clue for what he was gonna do next. Or, I could follow up on this giant new lead I had.
The sunhats. They were connected. Wasn't there another sunhat guy? In the other group. I could go check on him. To be honest, at the same time I wasn't entirely comfortable leaving my parents alone for that long, especially considering this new complication. Sleeper agents isn't just your average missing nin stuff. It means organization, and the only missing nin organization I know of is Akatsuki, which is about the last thing I wanna mess with right now.
Yikes.
The best thing to do at this moment would be to head straight back to my parents and play guard dog until the Leaf ninja arrive.
...Wasn't the guy who we sent for a hawk wearing a sunhat as well?
..
I have to go back. Now!