"Not bad. If we pull back the princess's guards and have her go to a crowded place, those bandits will definitely take the bait. The moment they make a move, I can nab them all and end this once and for all!"
"Excellent! Then we'll leave it to you, young Kazama!"
The news that Konoha had sent a ninja to protect the Fire Country's princess soon reached the ears of the bandits plotting against her.
"Boss, I heard the Fire Country hired a ninja to guard his daughter. This job might be trickier than we thought!"
"You don't know squat!"
Another bandit quickly cut in.
"The guy Konoha sent is just some teenage genin. He got chewed out by the palace guards the second he showed up and didn't even dare fart back. You think our thousands of brothers are scared of a useless genin?"
"Exactly!"
The bandit leader let out a cold smirk.
"Since Konoha doesn't take us seriously, I'll make them regret it. Not only am I gonna kidnap the princess, but I'll kill this genin too. Let's show Konoha what we're made of!"
The intel these bandits got was deliberately spread by Kazama through the Fire Country daimyo.
His goal? Simple—make the bandits underestimate him and show themselves sooner.
Once they did, Kazama could wipe them out in one fell swoop.
But what Kazama didn't expect was that before he even ran into the bandits at the ball, he'd first get humiliated by the Fire Country princess.
"You Konoha folks have some nerve, sending just a genin to protect me! I heard Konoha has a genius ninja named Sanada Kazama. Why didn't they send him?"
"Uh…"
Kazama felt a mix of amusement and frustration at her words.
Because he was Sanada Kazama! But for the mission, he had to keep his identity under wraps.
"Sanada Kazama's tied up with another mission, so he couldn't come. But my skills are pretty close to his, so…"
"Shut it! You, compare to Sanada Kazama? Are you even worthy? Besides being good-looking, you're completely useless!"
"Alright, fine. Since you said I'm handsome, I'll keep my cool."
Kazama sighed to himself.
Just then, a fancy-dressed pretty boy saunжет