Necessary Corruption 24 (Patreon)

Necessary Corruption
Chapter 24

-VB-

“Ho, so that’s Konohagakure,” I muttered as I looked upon the visage of the Hidden Villege in the Leaves for the first time in my life.

It was a large gate between equally large walls. It stood as half as tall as Takanori Castle, which was something. The gate itself stood eight men high, which was, again, something.

The two ninjas guarding the gate quickly stood at attention as my caravan approached the gate.

“There are at least ten ninjas watching the gate,” Yina reported from right next to my carriage.

“Let them watch,” I replied.

One of my men, a senior servant of the Takanori Clan versed in the ways of diplomacy, quickly rode up to the gate guards and presented identification.

In less than a minute and well before my caravan was at the gate, the gates pulled open and welcomed us in.

As we passed through the gates, the scenery changed immediately. Just like their namesake, Konohagakure was indeed shrouded in trees and leaves from the outside. I mean, I didn’t see the gates until I was within a kilometer of it; that’s how well shrouded they were. Those leaves and trees immediately disappeared as I found myself walking into a well-developed castle town.

See, castle towns were different from walled and well-developed cities like the ones found across the Land of Rivers and the Land of Fire. For one, those cities focused upon industrial growth and had many different businesses and guilds in place to work. Their walled city was a smart part of the bigger area of the city that everyone recognized as “that city.” That larger part of the city standing outside of the city was the residential districts of those too poor to live inside the city and were consequently not under the city’s protection, leading to an increase in crime and decrease in standard of living. The walled cities were highly rule-oriented and structured. To be a stonemason, one must be registered with one of the stonemason guilds, which demanded either a certain years of experience as a journeyman stonemason or enough gold to buy a plot or workshop within the walled city. So on and so on, rules and tradition dominated such cities.

I didn’t see any of that in Konohagakure, and this became ever more apparent as my caravan strode deeper into it.

For one, there was no town outside Konohagakure’s walls.

Two, I saw not a single guild sign.

Three, there were no warehouses that dominated the gate entrance area of the city like they did in walled cities.

The deeper I went in, I saw more restaurants, blacksmiths, and armorers but no furniture makers, goldsmiths, glassblowers, or potters. I saw some taverns but no inns. I didn’t see a city hall but a military administration.

“So that’s the Hokage Tower,” Tsunami muttered.

“You’ve heard of it?” I asked her while looking at her.

“Do you remember Naruto?”

I blanked out for a moment.

“The orange jumpsuit.”

“Ah, yes. The one I intend to thank,” I nodded.

“He talked a lot about his home. Hokage Tower was one of the more prominent locations he spoke of.” She told of some of his stories, and even discounting many as fantastical (a military dictatorship letting a child play pranks on them was obviously nonsense), I could hear a lot of truths in those stories. Those stories also brought up a question.

I wondered how an orphan was allowed such a free reign and why there didn’t seem to be a significant punishment for him. After all, a military was only as strong as its weakest link, and an undisciplined child-soldier was a very weak link. He wasn’t disciplined when I met him as well, spilling not-quite-secrets but spreading information with ease nonetheless. If he wasn’t disciplined before he was allowed to leave his village, then there must be a reason for it.

It was something to think about later.

I saw a group of ninjas waiting for me, and gestured to Yina, who gestured to the driver.

The horse-drawn carriage stopped and Yina opened the door for me.

I stepped out and then helped Tsunami out, and then with her arm around mine, I walked up to the ninjas who bowed to me respectfully.

“I am happy to see that Konohagakure is quick to recognize me,” I chuckled. “Is it something I have to worry about?” I joked.

Unfortunately, the ninjas were less than versed in diplomatic jests and quickly became flustered.

That’s when the Hokage arrived to save them.

It had to be planned.

He literally dropped out of the sky.

“Ah, Takanori-dono,” the elderly ninja known throughout the world as the Professor greeted me with a warm grandfatherly smile. “Welcome to Konohagakure. I hope your journey has been quiet?”

I shrugged. “As quiet as someone of my status can afford it. There were only three bandit attacks on my life in the Land of Fire!”

He frowned.

“Within the Land of Fire.”

“Oh, yes. I was very surprised, considering that I have many merchants who regularly visit my lands and use the very roads I used to travel between the Land of Fire and the Land of Rivers. The Fire Daimyo must be having a lot of bandits for him to not catch all of them.”

“I see,” he hummed and then smiled. “Nevertheless, I am glad you are safe. You are here for the Chunin Exams?”

“Oh, yes,” I grinned. “I was hoping if there were any Konoha ninjas who might be willing for long term bodyguard contracts among the young ones.”

“Wonderful. I assure you, we will be happy to be of service to you, Takanori-dono. But before we go on, do you mind if you and I share a cup of tea and exchange stories?”

Ah, he wanted to talk. Why not?

“I’ll be honored! A mere noble lord in tea ceremony with the Professor himself? You’ll be boosting my prestige!”

It was all a game, and the Hokage showed his hand by telling me non-verbally that he was interested in talking.

Now, what did you have to offer, Hokage-sama?