Chapter 34 – Journey to Tea Country (2)

Sitting on a sofa at the lobby of the inn, Raito was holding a book but his eyes were shifting everywhere from time to time. Even though his ‘Chakra Sense’ was active, the countless Intel from Inoichi, read by him told that C-Rank mission could anytime go downhill.

The robed mercenary who was sitting opposite chuckled looking at Raito, looking at someone new to the job. His fake smile of concern was extremely annoying to Raito.

“Can you not act stupid?” The robed mercenary chuckled.

“What?” Looking back at the man, Raito leaned back at the sofa and the book landed by his side.

“Junichi-san may be an extremely important person but…there won’t be people coming to kill him.” Closing his eyes, the robed mercenary picked his tea and drank it.

Not understanding much, Raito asked in a low voice, “Then why do we need to do this much…?”

Smiling, the robed mercenary replied to the question, raising his finger, “Pretending.”

“Pretending?”

“Yes, that’s what Junichi wants. He wants us to pretend.”

“Four big carriages and a team of elite guards, mercenaries, and ninja. And the ninja is even the Kakashi of the Sharingan, ranked ‘A’ in the bingo book.” Clicking his tongue, the robed mercenary shook his head.

“Bingo book?”

“You don’t even know what a bingo book is?”

“…Of course, I know what that is but I have never seen one.” Raito huffed turning around.

“Catch.” The robed mercenary threw a book to Raito then after looking at a corner, left the lobby. “I have much more to do than babysit a newbie.”

[Activate the ‘Bingo Book’?]

[Yes] [No]

Raito also relaxed thinking about what the robed man just told him and also what Kakashi told him. Then looking at the notification, he pressed on [YES].

[Bingo books are the compilation books released by the hidden villages and given to the ninja force of their village. These books contain list of individuals who have been exiled by the village or the individuals who have betrayed the village. It also contains people who are extremely dangerous, giving direction either to ‘flee on sight’ or ‘kill on sight’. The bingo books contain all the information recorded about the individuals pertaining to the physical features and details on their character, mood and affect, threat level and most commonly used jutsus.]

[Activating the ‘Bingo Book’ allows the activation of ‘Bounty system’.]

[Bounty list]

Kazehaya Kunioa

Yaginuma Tadayoshi

Yamaguchi Dayu

Urushido Azumamaro

Hase Kiyotaka

Nakano Kaori

Kano Gennai

Miyamoto Yoshitoshi

Tokunaga Kichisaburo

Soma Shusui

(Yup used random name generator here.)

“So many.”

The list was endless proving that there were lots of people that wanted other people to die and as the list continued the bounty also increased.

Sarutobi Asuma – 35 Million Ryo

Yuhi Kurenai – 22 Million Ryo

Namiashi Raidō – 22 Million Ryo

…

Hatake Kakashi – 63 Million Ryo

“…Kakashi-sensei had such high bounty?”

Just as Raito wanted to scroll more, Naruto came with his loud voice, “Hey nee-chan, is there ramen here? I have been asking around but…”

Closing the screens, Raito stood up and called Naruto, “Oi Naruto, stop troubling the hostess.”

Raito bowed to the women wearing the purple Yukata, which she also returned then walked away.

Naruto walked towards Raito grumbling all the way.

“Here.” Raito gave out the cup ramen he had in the inventory.

“Is it my turn now?”

“Yeah, Hinata just woke up.” Naruto took the cup and filled it with water.

“Then…goodnight.” Raito returned to the room where he saw Kakashi reading a book. Hinata was also there with her Byakugan activated, her head turning around from time to time.

“Sensei, Hinata.” Raito called out before entering.

“Raito-san.” Hinata replied then again continued.

Kakashi was sitting by the window on a chair while reading a different book than his usual orange color book. A medium size book with Konoha symbol at the front cover.

With a glance, Kakashi messaged Raito to come with an eye signal. Sighing, Raito obeyed and came forward in front of Kakashi.

“Read it before sleeping.” Kakashi gave him the book then left the room with Hinata.

[Biannual assessment on Five Element Continent]

Made by Konoha Intel Department

Looking at the time, Raito started turning the pages. The book was newly printed and had a nice ink smell to it. It covered in brief from all the nations and the hidden villages in the continent. Some had a lot of pages dedicated to it and some had few.

Time passed by and two hours had gone by. Naruto barged in the room heading straight for the bed.

Raito was still on the chair beside the window reading the book.

“Ah! Damn!” Raito jumped from the chair and kicked Naruto awake.

Falling down from the bed, Naruto was angered and was just about to shout but when seeing Raito’s serious face, Naruto immediately understood there was trouble coming.

It was three in the morning when humans were the weakest physically or spiritually.

New carriages entered the inn from the back where the kitchen was. A few guards form Junichi were there surrounding the carriage watching as the goods were loaded off.

A weirdly pleasant smell filled the room and the people inside the room felt drowsy.

Raito who was rushing out bumped into Hinata.

“Hinata.” Naruto grabbed her and followed Raito with her.

“There are some people with bad intention.” Raito quickly reached Junichi’s room where few guards were standing.

Every one of them was drowsy from waking up all night. They were physically and mentally exhausted right now. But as Raito made noise, the guards were immediately alerted.

“Stop! What are you doing?” a guard steps out and push his hand forward.

Frowning Raito wanted to flick the hand away but Kakashi appeared between them.

“Some people have arrived in the inn.” Kakashi explained in short.

Hearing that, the guard turned around and knocked on the door before entering. Seeing that Junichi and his family were safe, the guard heaved a sigh of relief.

“What happened?” Junichi frowned looking at the crowd outside his VIP room.

Kakashi walked inside and explained about the people sneaking.

“Hmm…what about mercenaries?” With Junichi’s question, Kakashi looked at Raito for an answer.

“They are outside; muscle uncle near the stairs and the robed uncle outside the window.” Raito answered.

Junichi’s frown got even tighter as he called out the robed mercenary. “Why haven’t you acted?”

The robed man ever with a smile on his face answered, “Junichi-san, you signed a contract with our mercenary company to protect you, your family and your companions, which is a great contract but it does not state to anyone beyond that.”

Junichi took a long breath then turned around looking at the ninjas. “Can you Kakashi-san?”

Looking back at his Genins, Kakashi sighed, ‘I knew it wasn’t going to be simple.’

After waiting for a while in thought, Kakashi started, “Naruto, Hinata, Raito, with me.”

Hinata was the first one to speak after Kakashi gave her a signal.

“There are about seven people on the ground floor and it seems they are searching for something. They have captured all the workers and men on the ground floor and they are being very careful about it, not making any sound and also they are cleaning everything back. They look professional.” Hinata reported.

“Everyone is almost Chūnin level.” Raito added.

Naruto who didn’t have sensory skills kept quiet but one could see he was just too excited.

Exhaling a big breath, Kakashi asked, “Can you?”

The threes eyes shined, especially Naruto’s.

Naruto who had already started turning was grabbed by Kakashi. With a ghostly eye and whatever part of his face, Kakashi said with heaviness, “This time I want you to do it stealthily.”

Seeing Kakashi very close to his face, Naruto panicked and nodded vigorously.

The muscular mercenary had already left the lobby and was now in the room. So it was empty at the ground floor. People in dark tight clothing were standing guard after searching the ground floor.

Two of the black-clothed people were standing in front of the manager’s room. And the two inside the room beside a hidden door.

Hinata quickly informed her team while changing her clothes to a darker one. Naruto was also forced by Hinata to change his clothes into a darker one.

[Black Wind Mercenary Lvl 22]

[Black Wind Mercenary Lvl 22]

[Black Wind Mercenary Lvl 23]

[Black Wind Mercenary Lvl 23]

“They are okay, not too strong.” Raito reached the ground floor and quickly reached the manager’s room.

“Demonic Illusion: False Surroundings Technique”

For a moment, the mercenary who was guarding the door felt blur in their vision but after rubbing their eyes, everything was the same. Looking at one another, they shrugged their shoulders and roamed their eyes in alert.

Naruto, Hinata, and Raito were standing in front of the two guarding the door. Naruto was covering his mouth, trying to hold back his laughter. Raito gave him a dirty look then patted Hinata, giving her confirmation.

Standing in front of the door her two hands were pointing on both of the guard’s ribs. With her Byakugan active, she jabbed at the tenketsu. A total of three strikes and they were knocked down paralyzed. Raito and Naruto quickly grabbed them before they fell and tied them.

Heaving a sigh of relief, Raito looked at the door then used his ‘Chakra Sense’. Inside the room, the two mercenaries were standing beside the hidden door with a serious look. Their hands were holding their dagger, ready to strike at any time.

Grabbing Naruto and Hinata, Raito disappeared in the dungeon.

Destroying the door with ‘Rock Fist’, Raito explained while pointing with his hands. Naruto immediately created dozens of shadow clones, surrounding the area where the guards were supposed to be.

Raito also had brought out talismans already feeding it chakra. Hinata stood by Raito ready in her fighting stance and linking them all together was Naruto and his clones.

“ID Escape”

Naruto ambushed the two guards, knocking them out easily but that still made noise which was heard by the two thieves/mercenaries inside.

“Hey, you two?” one of them called out.

“Argh, run.” One thief shouted.

“Damn I need more time, stall.” One of the thieves inside shouted. He seemed to be working on a safe, which seemed quite big.

“Damn.” The other thief took his dagger out and stood in front of the passageway connecting the hidden door and the inside room. “It was supposed to be just a simple mission.”

Outside Raito bit his teeth and looked at the seals he placed as a trap in the passage.

“Raito-san.” Hinata called him.

“They are not coming out.” Raito frowned. “Naruto, come.”

Inside the room, the mercenary sweated and his legs trembled. “Shit, shit, shit.”

“Hey! Do it faster.”

“Don’t shout.”

“Demonic Illusion: Hell Viewing”

Under the veil of Genjutsu Raito again casted the ‘Hell Viewing’ to both of them. Then Hinata dashed forwards and as the two were screaming and stumbling, she hit their tenketsu and paralyzed them.

“Hey Hinata, is the Genjutsu canceled?”

Hinata turned to Raito’s calling then used Genjutsu to look at their chakra. Turning around she nodded, “Genjutsu was canceled, Raito-san.”

Naruto under Raito’s signal tied them while grumbling about not getting more action.

Later Kakashi was outside looking at the scene. From time to time, he nodded in satisfaction.

“Your kids are not bad but…since they didn’t deal a killing blow…it could have been troublesome.” The robed mercenary walked checking the mercenaries and the one in the inside who fell to Naruto’s ambush was holding a knife trying to cut the rope. The robed man smiled while giving him a hard kick to the stomach.

The man coughed out and the knife in his hand fell.

“My Genin are not that stupid.” Kakashi pointed to the talisman paper stuck at the back of the mercenary’s head on the ground.

“A talisman?”

The robed mercenary wanted to check but was immediately stopped by Kakashi’s comment, “Those talismans are highly dangerous. Some can even destroy a house, let alone a defenseless body.”

“Sensei.” Hinata called out.

“That was easy, dattebayo.” Naruto shouted in joy.

Whereas Raito dragged the last two mercenaries out of the hidden room.

“Oh Kakashi-sensei…mercenary-san.” Raito never got to know the mercenary name so he couldn’t just reveal it.

The robed mercenary also ignored Raito and checked the thieving mercenaries. Eyes widened, he gulped, “They are from…”

“Black Wind Mercenary Guild.” Raito finished the robed mercenary sentence and gave Kakashi a metallic hand band with a name carved in it.

“A mid-rank mercenary guild? And what do they want?” Kakashi kept the metallic hand band in his kunai pocket then looked at his Genin for answer.

“They were trying to open this safe.” Naruto pointed at the passageway towards the hidden room.

Before the robed mercenary could say anything, Kakashi interrupted him, “Let’s clean this place and move out.”

It seemed like the robed mercenary wanted to say but at the end, he didn’t.

Later the room was returned to the original state and the thieving mercenary were brought to a separate room in the ground floor.

As soon as the manager and people of the inn woke up they were in a panic and making noises, as much as they could. The people on the ground floor were found to be tied, gagged, and shut in a small room.

Cleaning everything up, it was past five in the morning and Junichi who was in his room, was now in the lobby standing in front of the guards, mercenary and the ninjas.

“Ninja-sama thank you very much.” The group of workers bowed to team seven making Hinata blush and Naruto feel giddy. For Raito, he felt warmth in his chest that made his face red.

“That’s what we, leaf ninja, are supposed to do.” Kakashi made an eye smile and bowed back. Copying Kakashi the three also bowed.

“Konoha?” the hostess of the inn looked at the forehead protector then again bowed deeply.

The morning was exceptionally busy but with the help of Naruto clones and Hinata and Raito’s commanding Naruto, it was easy for the workers of inn to do the three hour work in just half an hour.

And for all the hard work they made Naruto a huge bowl of luxurious ramen.

Raito kept to himself sitting in the balcony. In his left hand the bingo book and on right an empty space. He kept on checking the information on the bingo book looked at the information provided by the gamer power.

(Bingo Book)

==== No. 0022323 =====

[Basic Information

Name: Kazehaya Kunioa (Picture)

Age: 26

Gender: Female

Height: 177 cm

Personal Information

Date of Birth: Unknown

Village of Birth: Kusagakure

Blood Type: Unknown

Notable Traits: Blood red, shoulder long hair usually tied in a ponytail wearing black and red dress.

Additional information

Bloodline: Unknown

Tool: Senbon, Short sword

Chakra: Unknown

Reason for Demand

Missing

Killing the Prince of Land of Bear

Mass Poisoning

Level – A

Order – Wanted Alive

Bounty – 500,000 Ryo

=============

(Gamer yo)

[Basic Information]

Name: Kazehaya Kunioa (Picture)

Age: 26

Gender: Female

Status: Active

Organization: None

Personal Information

Date of Birth: January 14

Village of Birth: Kusagakure

Blood Type: B+

Height: 177.8 cm

Weight: 65 kg

Notable Traits: Blood red, shoulder long hair usually tied in a ponytail wearing black and red dress.

Additional information

Bloodline: None

Tool: Senbon, Short sword

Chakra: Low level

Known Elemental: None

Specialty: Poison

Reason for Demand

Missing after killing the Prince of Land of Bear

Mass Poisoning the village of bear

Murder of 38 villagers 14 men and 24 women

Level – C

Order – Wanted Alive

Bounty – 500,000 Ryo

Accept? [YES/NO]

==============

“You really are working hard.” Kakashi appeared out of nowhere scaring Raito.

Raito was so absorbed into it that he jumped, “Kakashi-sensei, I’ll kill you if you ever do that again.” Still clutching to his jacket, he shouted.

“What? I scared you?” Looking amused, Kakashi grabbed the bingo book.

“A mercenary kind bingo book?”

“Yeah, the robe wearing uncle gave it to me.” Raito answered after breathing out.

“It’s exactly like our village’s.” Kakashi replied giving him the bingo book back. Unrolling a scroll, Kakashi unsealed a book and gave it to Raito. “Give it to me after we go back to the village.”

Raito then totally ignored Kakashi and focused on the bingo book. Kakashi sighed then left Raito. ‘Naruto is eating luxury ramen. Hope I can get one too.’

“It’s exactly the same.” Raito sighed after going through the bingo book.

As thanks for the help, the entire group was given a beautiful service. The group finally left the small village and the small inn at the noon which delayed their journey.

Naruto was brimming with energy after eating the luxurious ramen that now Kakashi had to personally restrain him.

The happiest one was Junichi who had a contract paper in his hand. The inn owner had come personally to talk with him about some business dealing after finding out that he was involved.

In his carriage, Junichi smiled like a silly man while his wife and daughter looked at him weirdly. His wife sighed then wrapping her daughter with one of her hand, she looked outside the window.

“Husband…”

Junichi who had already had his fill calmed down and looked at his wife. “Don’t worry wife, if it wasn’t because of this, I would never get to meet the owner of the inn.”

Kakashi who was outside sighed. The same with the robed mercenary.

All of this plan and tricks had nothing to do with Raito who was sitting at the last carriage with small stone beads in his hands. The bead changed in shape and size making various structures like a kunai and shuriken.

The muscular mercenary was totally absorbed in Raito’s ninja trick. For ordinary mercenary like them who hadn’t learned any systemic chakra or any other supernatural training, looking at someone who has was total torture.

“Uncle your eyes are disgusting.” Raito rolled his eyes and turned around then again thinking for a while Raito opened the carriage door and walked inside.

The rest of the journey to the ‘Tea Country’ was peaceful. Although there were some bandits who wanted to rob, they were easily dealt with by mercenaries.

At the end of the third day of travel from Konohagakure, they finally reached the border of ‘Fire Country’ and ‘Tea Country’.

As they reached the border Kakashi walked out and towards a check post. Kakashi gave the scroll in his hand to the Konoha ninja and the guard from the tea country which was then quickly processed. After meeting with ninjas patrolling the borders, Kakashi got some information to be reported back.

The group left the border area and went to the first village for the stay for the night.

`