While we were talking, the merchant quickly dealt with his family and all the brats, quickly lining them up and giving them tasks, after which he approached us.
"Shinobi-san, thank you for your work," he bowed politely before us. "Despite the circumstances, I am very pleased with the result and intend to place orders exclusively with your clans in the future."
"Thank you, Yoru-san, we will try to justify your trust," Yamanaka bowed in response, while I just nodded.
"In addition to confirming the completion of the mission, please accept a small gift from me," continued Sauri, and just at that moment his son ran up and handed us a couple of plump envelopes.
"Thank you, Yoru-san," I accepted and quickly hid the gift in my jonin's vest, and I didn't hesitate to do the same with the scroll with the assignment, "Here you are."
The merchant nodded and took a small box with a personal seal out of his pocket and stamped the paper. Takeru suppressed a sigh of relief, took the scroll, and hurried to take his leave.
Leaving the estate, I said goodbye to my ally — he would figure out what to do next himself, he wasn't a green genin — and hurried back, covering the same route for the umpteenth time.
The only change was that when I reached the border town in the Land of Trees, I didn't go around it, but found a decent hotel, checked into a room, and took a nap until lunchtime to regain my strength.
Strong chakra users may be able to go without sleep for several days in a row without losing much of their combat abilities, but my situation was not so dire that I could neglect the opportunity to rest in a peaceful environment.
Besides, before returning to the temple, I had one more task that required me to be in peak fighting form — to test the capabilities of the stone giants. I really didn't like the amount of demonic chakra they contained. The high priestess easily dealt with two dozen warriors, crushing them into rubble, but that was her.
I needed to know how traditional ninja warfare methods worked against them so that I would know the enemy's abilities in advance and not find myself in an awkward position later. Information is a key aspect in any war.
After a good night's sleep and a hearty lunch at the same hotel, which, incidentally, had a quite decent cook, I left the city and sped down the road at full speed, without even thinking of hiding.
I didn't encounter a single living soul until I reached the border of Oni no Kuni and beyond. Only then did I begin to sense rare sources of demonic chakra, but nothing like the concentrated evil I had felt from the giants.
Naturally, in search of the latter, I did not rush around on my own, but used a tried and tested method, sending a dozen kage bunshin as scouts in different directions, but mostly deep into the country.
No, there must also be stone warriors on the border with the Swamp Country, but I didn't want to get involved with a small army gathered to conquer the country, even if I had the strength to do so.
Advancing further and further in different directions, the clones cut down the demon worshippers they encountered without much trouble, even despite the increased survivability granted by the purple chakra, made reports, and continued their search.
Only once did a kage bunshin encounter a serious enough opponent who forced him to use almost all of his chakra, skillfully using his excellent physical abilities and huge reserves, despite the lack of truly strong ninjutsu in his arsenal.
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