Two days later, Hibari and his group were not far from the Land of Water's capital. Along the way, they bought various miscellaneous goods, disguised themselves as merchants, formed a small caravan, and slowly swayed their way, ready to sneak into the city.
At this moment, Hibari was casually chatting with the boss of another small merchant caravan beside him.
"Looking at you all, you aren't from around here, are you?" the caravan boss asked Hibari with a chuckle.
Hibari appeared very casual, smiling as he said, "We're actually from the Land of Waves. We say we're here to do business, but it's more like we're fleeing. We don't plan on going back, sigh... It's a long story."
Hearing Hibari's words, the caravan boss was stunned for a moment, then said, "The Land of Waves, huh? I went there a few times in my early years. Don't take offense, but frankly, there's not much future or prospect in that place. It was a good decision for you to make up your minds to leave there. Our Land of Water is quite nice."
"Hahaha, yes, originally we thought of going to the Land of Fire, but then we considered that the Land of Water's environment seemed more suitable, similar to our hometown, so we came here. It'd be great if we could settle down here. Though my family fortune has declined, I still have some brothers following me; I have to find them a good future, can't always let them suffer with me..." Hibari chuckled again.
The caravan boss looked back at the people behind Hibari who were escorting goods, then chuckled and said, "They all look quite capable. With their help, settling down in the Land of Water shouldn't be a problem for you. But why are some of them injured?"
Hibari glanced back, then said with some sadness, "Alas, the journey is perilous, and the world isn't what it used to be. We encountered some water bandits on the way. If it weren't for them fighting to the death to protect me, I might have already gone to the Pure Land."
Upon hearing Hibari's words, the caravan boss seemed to find a 'kindred spirit,' saying, "Speaking of water bandits, they truly are scum! I almost died at the hands of those bastards twice. Thankfully, my family has some wealth, so I bought my life with money. I wonder when these bandits will finally be cleared out!"
Hibari chattered on with him for a long time, extracting some information from his mouth. They even agreed that if Hibari couldn't find a 'foothold' in the Land of Water's capital, he would come to him and do business together.
After all, in the merchant's eyes, Hibari's group consisted of capable strong men and young fellows, even with experience fighting water bandits. If they all joined him, wouldn't his future travels be safer? Perhaps they could even get revenge on those water bandits.
"Alright, if we can't find any opportunities in the capital, I'll come find you at the merchant guild," Hibari said with a smile.
Soon after, they arrived near the capital. It seemed this merchant had some standing in the city's common class. He casually told the guards that Hibari's group were his distant relatives, allowing Hibari and his people to enter with him, saving them the trouble of bribes.
After all, they couldn't obtain official Land of Water travel permits. Under normal circumstances like this, small foreign merchants would usually pay some money to bribe the guards; it wasn't a serious matter, almost an 'unspoken rule.'
Hibari knew what the caravan boss meant; he was 'showing off his capabilities' to Hibari, so Hibari would know that following him wouldn't lead to losses.
After entering the city, the two groups bid each other farewell and went their separate ways.
Only then did Kagami chuckle and say, "Hibari, if you ask me, your negotiation skills are peerless. You can get along with anyone anywhere, and it saved us some trouble."
"Learn from this, everyone. As shinobi, we can't just know how to fight and kill... Alright, first, let's find an inn to stay at. Then, those who can move easily should go scout the capital's situation. The injured should quickly rest and recover as soon as possible; the main event is still ahead," Hibari said with a smile.
Meanwhile, in the Kirigakure of the Land of Water, within the Mizukage Residence's office, the Second Mizukage, Gengetsu Hozuki, had a slightly grim expression. He was listening to the report of a shinobi before him.
If Hibari were here, he would surely recognize that the reporting shinobi was Reigetsu, who had an old grudge with him!
"I personally confirmed it just now. Jōnin Hakusen has a fatal knife wound to his heart. It must be sheer luck that he barely survived by faking his death, allowing him to bring back this intelligence," Reigetsu said softly.
"Hmm... Tell him to rest well and not be too sad... Sigh, the Intelligence Department people have also returned. Indeed, a mess was left at the scene, with no survivors and no traces left behind, making it impossible to determine who attacked Jōnin Hakusen's squad..." Gengetsu said with a displeased expression.
Reigetsu didn't think much of it and directly stated, "Anija... Mizukage-sama, there's no need for further investigation. It's completely normal for them to leave no traces. If Hakusen hadn't been lucky enough to survive a knife wound to the heart, we wouldn't have found anything at all. So, I believe what Hakusen said is highly credible; it was those damned Iwagakure shinobi causing trouble!"
"Without concrete evidence..." Gengetsu stopped himself there. Such incidents weren't uncommon; where would they leave evidence? If he sent people to cause trouble in the Land of Earth, he wouldn't leave any evidence either.
However, he still said, "I'm just worried if there's some conspiracy involved?"
"There must be a conspiracy. Otherwise, why would those bastards from the Land of Earth send people here? Jōnin Hakusen said their destination seemed to be the capital, as if they were going to assassinate someone. I think it's necessary for us to pay attention to this situation and even send some personnel to the capital for defense," Reigetsu quickly stated.
From his tone, it seemed he had already concluded that these incidents were orchestrated by the Iwagakure of the Land of Earth.
"Assassination... in the capital? Many powerful nobles reside there, and there are Guardian Ninja protecting them; it's not within our jurisdiction. If we were to send personnel, we'd have to deploy formations... it's quite troublesome," Gengetsu murmured.
However, at this moment, neither of the brothers considered the Daimyō. After all, it had been over a hundred years since an incident involving the assassination of a Daimyō occurred. And in normal logical thinking, no one would target a Daimyō.
Considering that the Land of Water and Land of Earth had been overtly and covertly struggling against each other for so many years, Gengetsu had never even thought of assassinating the Daimyō of the Land of Earth!
Just as Gengetsu was contemplating how to handle this matter, a knock came from his office door. Then, Gengetsu said, "Enter..."
Next, a shinobi dressed similarly to Hibari's 'Anbu' members entered. After seeing that only the Mizukage-sama and his brother were in the office, he didn't hold back and spoke directly.
"Second Mizukage-sama, the Anbu squad needs to report to you," the Anbu shinobi said.
Gengetsu's expression darkened. He instinctively felt that more trouble had arisen, so he said, "Speak..."
"Two days ago, the Kaguya clan head, accompanied by the young clan head and three other clan members, mysteriously disappeared on their way back to the Kaguya clan's territory from the Kirigakure. Through our Anbu investigation, we found traces of a battle at a secluded hilltop about two kilometers from the Kaguya clan's territory. We ultimately found some 'bone fragments' belonging to the Kaguya clan. After identification, they belonged to the Kaguya clan head... Therefore, we have reason to believe that the Kaguya clan head, the young clan head, and three other members were either killed or kidnapped two days ago," the Anbu member reported.
Hibari and his group weren't aware that the unfortunate individual whose head was instantly cleaved off by Sakumo at the start wasn't just some random person; he was the young clan head of the Kaguya clan. In other words, their group had intercepted both father and son on their way and killed them all. Truly a terrible deed.
Listening to his subordinate's report, Gengetsu's expression was exceedingly grim, and his entire being was filled with a sinister aura, as if he might kill someone at any moment.
Jōnin Hakusen's squad... to put it bluntly, if they died, they died. If necessary, it could be suppressed. But the Kaguya clan head and his son dying together? That was a major incident.
The Kaguya clan was already a volatile bunch, constantly causing him trouble. If not for their high combat power, ensuring they were always the first to deploy and be useful in times of war, Gengetsu would have disciplined those bastards long ago.
Now that their leader and his successor had been eliminated, those volatile individuals would surely seek out the culprits for revenge. If the culprits were hard to find, who would they demand answers from? In the end, they would come to him, the Mizukage-sama, for an explanation.
Thinking this, Gengetsu asked, "Aside from this, were there any other discoveries? Who is the culprit?"
"The scene was handled very cleanly, so there were no other discoveries..." the Anbu member said with some helplessness.
As his words fell, Gengetsu felt like lashing out. 'What good are you all? Just here to bring me bad news?' But as the Mizukage, he couldn't lose his composure. So, he slightly calmed his anger and said in a deep voice, "Investigate! Go now!"
"Yes!" the Anbu member quickly replied and then swiftly left the area.
No sooner had he left than Reigetsu, looking at the Land of Water map hanging on the wall, thought for a moment and said, "Anija, look here..."
"Hmm?" Gengetsu raised an eyebrow, looking at his younger brother with some confusion.
"Here is where Jōnin Hakusen's squad was ambushed. If you continue along this path towards the capital... you would reach the vicinity of the Kaguya clan's territory... There was one day between Jōnin Hakusen's ambush and the Kaguya clan's ambush. Both attacks were swift and clean, leaving no traces, with only Jōnin Hakusen surviving by luck... Isn't this suspicious? I believe... both incidents were very likely carried out by Iwagakure shinobi. They accidentally encountered the Kaguya clan returning to their territory, thus exposing their whereabouts, and to silence them, they killed the Kaguya clan members!" Reigetsu quickly stated.
Gengetsu listened to these words, his eyes fixed on the map, lost in thought. After a long while, he softly murmured, "Land of Earth... Iwagakure... What exactly are you trying to do?"
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