The ship was once again on sail, but this time its destination was not on the outskirt of the country, rather the merchant island of the Land of Water.
Kaida came out of his room after a few hours. As they had already taken the permit on the outer island, they were now protected by the law to complete their trade. Though it doesn't protect them from any stray rogue ninja, but no one would be able to directly attack them like the previous pirate attack now.
That's why Kaida took his time in recovering all of the chakra he had used, as now would be the real requirement of the chakra. They crossed some of the rock infested routes to reach the inner island.
It was naturally protected by the terrain as no ship would be able to reach it at full speed, and the various ninja posts all around the path would be able to deal with any potential enemy before they even had a chance to reach the land.
As they neared the port of this island, Kaida could easily see the difference from the previous port. Unlike the previous one, this outpost had more movement. The people working here were well-fed and happy, nowhere near the gloomy atmosphere of the outer port.
"Being the neutral zone for the country where both factions have agreed to keep off limits for war, this island is the most prosperous one in all of the country. Obviously after the one in which the Daimyo resides, but still quite impressive, right?" Fushiro explained. Seeing Kaida as a young boy, he had taken the role of explaining things to him.
"But isn't it even bigger than the one we have in our country?" Kaida asked, a little perplexed. It was understandable why this was different from the previous port, but how was it so developed?
"Well, we have many ports that work at the same efficiency, but Land of Water only has this as its main port, with all of the merchant activity... well, at least 95% of them are limited to this island, so obviously it is so developed."
"Ohh," Kaida said, after which Fushiro went on to explain to Kaida about various things, like how he should behave on this island, not to pick any fights.
"So this island has bases of both of the warring factions of the country, and still no one fights here?" Kaida asked.
"Well, if they destroyed even this one with their fight, their country would slowly die. Then who the hell would the Daimyo rule, and who would give them their taxes? They are enemies, not fools, and as per the Daimyo's request, had agreed to keep some of the areas as neutral zones where no fights are allowed, at least on the surface," Fushiro said. By then they had reached the port.
Once again the ship was completely empty with two ninja left to guard the ship while the rest went to the city. This time, Kaida went to his room to take his storage seal before leaving the ship, as using the same excuse twice would be the epitome of foolishness.
Since the two guarding the ship were making sure no one entered the ship, leaving it in silence was not much difficult.
'Now what should I do from here?' Kaida thought, scanning the immediate surroundings for any clue. Since the port was one of the busiest in the country, there were tons of people there, but Kaida was scanning for someone particular.
"Found you," he muttered under his breath before he started following a man. On the surface, he was the same as any other person on the dock searching for his next job, but Kaida could easily see the trained movement in his strides, the subtle shift in movement to always be with the least amount of opening, and turning to look at his surroundings at any unusual sound.
Individually, they are not much of a sign, but together it was a subtle giveaway that this man was not what he was trying to show.
"Brother, do you know where I can find some laborers? I want to unload my dad's ship," Kaida approached the man and tried to act like a responsible teen as much as possible.
In the world where a safe childhood was a luxury, finding children working on the street was not hard at all. The man looked around for any adult nearby, not finding any, he then once again turned to Kaida.
"Of course I know, sir, but do you have the money to hire the workers? I would rather not waste my time here," he said.
"Of course I have. My dad gave me this much," Kaida said, flashing a bundle of 1000 Ryo notes. Seeing the money, a glint passed in the eyes of the man, which he concealed in a jiffy.
"Good, good. Then follow me. I will escort you to the office where you can hire as many workers as you want." Kaida nodded with a smile and followed the man, and to no surprise, he was escorted to a dark corner of the port, when the demeanor of the man suddenly changed.
"Listen boy, I..." was all he could say before he looked into two glowing eyes, and his whole world went black. Kaida was left with a ninja who just wanted to make some quick bucks.
Sigh
Without any delay, Kaida directly went through all of the memories of the man. Sadly, he was just a normal genin, working as a low-level spy to keep a watch for the ships that may be supplying resources to rebels, which would later face some bandit attacks or get destroyed during storms.
All in all, he was just a low-level spy who didn't have much information at all. Though it was according to rebels, for Kaida this man was at least qualified as a map, knowing the location of a few of the jonin in the area was enough.
He quickly sent the man away before moving toward his next location. Thankfully this time they were not scooped inside any over-protected building, so finding out a jonin was not that much of a challenge this time. Sadly, he was not alone and was surrounded by a few chunin and genin in the area.
'Should I try?' Kaida thought. The number, though large, was still manageable. He would just have to be extra careful to not let any single one of them get any chance to raise an alarm.
Which would require a ton of luck and chakra. So deciding against the reckless approach, he went with the logical one—waiting for the jonin to be alone. Not like he was going to be surrounded by ninja all the time.
After waiting for almost an hour, in which he had thought about recklessly charging through the enemy ranks and getting the information he wanted directly more times than he would have liked.
Alas, after waiting for an hour, he finally got the chance to move. The jonin, along with some other ninja, was moving toward the city, which was just a 20-minute walk away from the port. Knowing he would not get a better opportunity than this, Kaida jumped at the chance.
"Sir, please help me! Those ninja are trying to loot us," he ran to the jonin, tears staining his face.
"Calm down, boy. Take a deep breath. Tell me what—"
"I am sorry, but I am a little busy," Kaida said, his eyes now having a beautiful pattern revolving in them. Some may call it a flower, others a blade, but all would agree that it was breathtakingly beautiful.
Since he was going to use genjutsu on a jonin himself, Kaida had gone all out, and he was glad that he did, because in the memories of this current jonin, Kaida found something very interesting.