Chapter 33
The capital city of the Land of Fire was enormous, as Iruka remembered. The center of commerce and political power of not only his country but of many surrounding ones, too. It sure was an impressive sight, but Iruka didn't like it much.
All kinds of people stayed in this place. All of it came down to people in the end. If it were only criminals, that would be fine, but it was the ruling class that irritated Iruka the most. The leeches of society, contributing nothing but taking everything.
As the carriage arrived and they were allowed through the city gates, they checked into the hospital. The central hospital, which treated the wealthiest and most powerful people in the world, was something else.
It was bigger than any building in Konoha. The facilities were modernized and enormous. Iruka's room was bigger than his whole previous apartment before it got blown up. Sadly, the quality of doctors was far worse than Konoha's.
When they checked on him, Iruka could tell that they hadn't treated many shinobi in their careers. Well, it mattered little, as on paper, he was here just for rest. And that was all he intended to do, at least that was what he intended to show others he was doing.
Hot springs were just what Iruka needed after a long journey, and it was already dark. So, after settling into his room, Iruka relaxed in the hot springs inside the hospital's premises. Soaking in, he enjoyed snacks. Too bad no alcohol could be served to him. Stingy doctors.
"Should we just stay here, doing nothing?" Sai asked, seemingly not able to relax in the hot spring.
Shin was no better. Even though it looked like he was soaking in peaceful bliss, Iruka could tell he was listening to every sound around him, since he had already observed the area. Looking at those kids, Iruka considered just going and spying on the women's baths, but he didn't dare to leave them alone.
"Relax and enjoy your time," Iruka replied. "Order anything you want, we have plenty of money."
"Isn't that money for gambling?" Shin asked.
"Are you stupid?" Iruka asked. "With my luck, there is no way I am ever going to win anything. Not a chance. So, I won't even try and will just say I lost it all when we come back. After all, the money will serve its purpose by blending us in."
After all, that's all they had to do until they were invited to the palace. They had to look like they were on vacation. And that was what Iruka planned to do. But he wasn't a patient man, and he didn't play by the rules much. So, he wasn't waiting for any invitation.
By the time they came to the palace, the people and information he would be looking for would be gone. There was no way smart people who were behind this conspiracy would wait patiently for Iruka to discover them.
No, the moment Iruka came to the capital, the ones responsible for him being here were already on the move, getting rid of any evidence that would tie them up. So, before he even came here, Iruka already investigated the people close to Madam Shijimi.
The ones who were closest to her, who had her ear and could use her name, were the ones on Iruka's list of suspects. And before they could erase their tracks, Iruka had already sent a shadow clone to do the job that the jutsu was made to do. And all he was going to do was relax and enjoy his time off.
There was no way he wasn't spending all the money he got from the Hokage. He was a shinobi through and through, so he had to use up all his resources. Just like a good little shinobi, he was. And he thought he deserved it after all the shit he had to go through.
"Don't," Iruka glared at Sai as he tried to sneak out of Iruka's sight. "Just for this time, can you stop? And when did you smuggle the sword to the hot springs? I don't even want to know how you did it."
"How do you always see through me?" Sai asked in confusion. "You never tell, so I have to try to uncover it myself. And I have these seals on my body where I can store weapons."
Sai lifted his hair, and above his ear, there was a seal. He had tattooed it on his skin. Iruka swore that those kids would come up with some kind of shit every day. Sai, especially, he really wanted to kill Iruka, just because he was curious how he could do it.
Shin was no better. But he was far more patient. He observed, he learned, and he struck when Iruka would expect it the least. The problem with that approach was that Iruka always expected to be killed at any time, so it never worked on him. That still didn't mean they wouldn't try it, though.
But there wasn't anything to do about it. They were taught to kill; they lived to kill. That was all they knew and all they cared about. Not being able to do so meant their existence was meaningless. As sad as it was, Iruka didn't hold much pity for them.
He just wasn't that kind of person. All he felt for them was a vague understanding, as he too felt that his existence was meaningless. All he could give them was understanding, and so far it seemed that was all they needed or wanted.
"Just relax and enjoy some fruit," Iruka told the kids as he took a tray of diced fruit and coconut milk.
At least that's what he was going to do while he was here. Just enjoy the hot springs, eat some fruit, and drink coconut milk. And after that, he would enjoy the treatment of this hospital; hopefully, there would be pretty nurses to take care of him this time. He was tired of old men.
Iruka would rather have soft hands touch all over his body than rough and wrinkly ones. In Konoha, he had no choice, but here, he should at least try to charm one or two nurses. Though he knew very well how charismatic he was. And that meant how he wasn't.
And then it was all over. His body shuddered as memories from his shadow clone came to him. He went stiff, unable to move as he tried to process what he had just seen through his shadow clone's eyes.
…
The palace was probably the most secure place in the Land of Fire. Even aside from the Twelve Guardians, there were many shinobi-level personnel. The private army of guards was quite impressive.
Armed and disciplined, every single one of them could beat most of the genin of any village. And together, they would pose a danger to most shinobi. They were well-trained and organized, something one should expect from palace guards.
His body was still weak. But Iruka had no trouble moving his now-thinner body unseen by anyone else. He wore a dark body suit, completely covering his body. If a fight broke out, he was done for, but that didn't matter since he was just a shadow clone.
This was the most effective way to use one. And the reason this jutsu was created was to gather information. Once he was done, he just had to die and disappear. And as long as there was no need to transfer any physical information, everything would come back to Iruka's original body.
Even though his body hadn't fully recovered, his chakra was more than usable. To create and maintain a shadow clone wasn't too difficult, but he was pretty much useless in a fight right now. Good thing there wouldn't be any fighting.
"Another banquet? Seriously?" Iruka moved from one shadow to another, avoiding light and the sight of others as guards and servants moved through the halls. "I am so tired. All those nobles are harassing us and leaving us to clean up the mess."
"Shh, don't be so loud. You know that the walls have ears," another servant girl spoke as she looked around. "Once you get fired from the palace, there is no place that would accept you."
"So what, do you think I will work in this place for the rest of my life? I have already saved up enough money to open a bakery. Once I have all the documentation finished, I am out of here."
"What? When did you start saving up money?"
"Silly girl."
Iruka dropped down from the ceiling once the girls passed and went ahead into the hallway. It was quiet. After all, it was far past most people's working hours. And most officials working in the palace must have already left for home, leaving only servants, guards, and a few nobles living here as guests.
It wasn't his first time in the palace. And like last time, he was here sneaking from one room to another. Though this time his mission didn't entail assassination. And yet, even though he was familiar with the structure, the rooms were all mixed up.
Officers were fired and hired every day. Their offices and rooms became vacant and were taken by others, making it impossible, aside from a few, to know to whom each room belonged. Still, Iruka did his research and knew where Madam Shijimi's wing of operations was located.
And the night was still young. He had plenty of time to check each room and see what he could find. He was even prepared to repeat the process every night while he stayed in the capital, though he knew that with each night there would be less and less evidence left for him to find.
"Hmm?"
Just as he was about to be noticed in the shadows by some samurai walking around, Iruka created an illusory cat that ran and turned around a corner of the hallway, before he himself backed away.
Damn, he didn't expect to meet a samurai here. Even though they weren't as skilled as shinobi, their perception was quite good. If he had been a second too late to react, he might have been discovered.
"Master Yashiro, is there something wrong?"
"No, I was just surprised to see a cat."
"A cat?"
"Forget about it."
As the samurai and one of the aides of the palace walked away, Iruka went around the corner and finally reached his first destination. A petty official's office. An accountant for Madam Shijimi's business. It was as good a start as he could get.
Quickly lockpicking the door, Iruka sneaked inside. Seeing the mess of papers on the desk, Iruka let out a sigh. Now came the hard part of the job, going through all this mess, trying to find something.
That's why he preferred assassination missions or stealing. His targets were specific in that kind of work, but now he had no idea what he would even have to look for. All he could do was take one document after another and read them, trying to make any sense of it all.
Luckily, it didn't take too long to find something. After half an hour, Iruka did what he knew, and that was to follow the money. He looked through the financial situation that those papers presented and found someone who profited the most.
Another petty official. But this one started to rise through the ranks, getting one promotion after another in quick succession. Not only did he raise his salary, but also his authority. And he seemed to have the ear of Madam Shijimi and could use her name, just the person he was looking for.
It took some time to find this person's office in the palace, but thinking that he must be close to Madam Shijimi, his office wouldn't be far from hers. He was only able to find it because it was the only room that had someone inside, while the rest of the palace was mostly asleep or resting by this time.
The door was unlocked as Iruka stepped in to find a man going through documents, burning them. He was middle-aged, his expression calm and calculated as he burned one document after another in a bin by the window so the smoke would escape without notice.
He didn't notice Iruka as he silently crept inside. But Iruka's instincts, trained over the countless missions he had done, were telling him something was wrong, and he didn't like it. So, he didn't do anything and just observed.
Iruka looked through the room before turning his eyes to the documents on the table. He scanned them, but didn't seem to understand anything from them. Then he froze as his eyes slowly darted to the man in the room, still sitting by the window and burning papers.
It was hard to describe it, but Iruka knew very well what it felt like to be watched. The tingling at the back of his head wasn't something he could ignore. The room was dark, and the only light came from the fire in the bin by the window.
And from the reflection on the glass, Iruka could see himself and the eyes that followed his reflection. No normal person would be able to even see him right now. And so, his suspicion was confirmed.
A slender and short sword was quickly drawn and put at the neck of the person watching Iruka. A quick and panicked breath was drawn in as the person pretended to be panicked. But in no way would it have worked on him.
With a slash, the neck was opened wide, and the person collapsed to the ground. There was no blood, just a husk of a thing that wasn't human turning back to its original form. Iruka didn't hesitate to stab this thing a few more times, making sure it was dead.
White Zetsu. It was his first time seeing this thing, but he expected to encounter it at least once. He knew that this thing must have infiltrated many places to gather information; this one just so happened to do stuff that affected Konoha.
The real official was probably long since dead and replaced by this thing. Well, there was no need to dwell on these things right now. Iruka quickly gathered all the documents he could find, organizing them.
He recognized a few of them that would provide enough evidence for his mission to be called successful. Summoning a honey badger, Iruka prepared to give it all to the little thing, so it would be later able to give it back to the original body.
"Human owes me two jars of honey," the little thing said as he received the documents.
This one was at least a bit nicer than the last one Iruka had summoned, but the payment was still steep, and failure to do so would make Iruka's life miserable. After finishing giving the honey badger all the documents, Iruka moved to the body that was the center of it all, only for it to be gone.
Iruka didn't see him, didn't feel him, but he knew he was behind him. If it were his real body, Iruka would be terrified and might have panicked, but he didn't do so as he was just a shadow clone.
First, he unsummoned the honey badger with the documents he found, and then, as quickly as his body allowed him, he moved. His sword flashed, going through the head of a person who appeared from thin air. But once Iruka saw that mask, he knew nothing would do anything to this person.
"Ahhh!" the masked person screamed as he fell to the ground, clutching his head. "My face, my beautiful face! It is cut in half! What will I do now? Nobody will ever love me with my scarred face!"
Iruka, still covered in black, not showing even a single patch of his skin or hair, looked at the masked man playing around. But that was a relief in itself; if this person was pretending to this extent, he wasn't going to show his true colors to him. Well, it wasn't like Iruka was going to wait to be shown anything to begin with.
Iruka dropped a few smoke bombs and pushed the bin with fire onto the table full of papers. The moment the smoke exploded, covering the room, and the table caught on fire, Iruka disappeared.
A.N. As always, thanks for reading and supporting me, so I can continue writing without any concerns, and if you want more, up to seven more chapters, you can support me on pa treon. com \ ironwolf852.