Red Riot - Chapter 18 - Red fortunes (Patreon)

Sailing was one of the experiences of this life that I found myself greatly enjoying.

The creak of the wood, the rustle of the sails, and even the sound of the wind rushing past created an almost hypnotic feeling of tranquility for me whenever I was aboard a ship.

It was an odd delight to have, considering that all the voyages I’d been on thus far had been towards ominous situations where I would be fighting for my life or building towards the nebulous graduation ceremony.

Despite the worrying pattern that emerged each time I took a ship, I didn’t blame the voyage.

A correlation wasn’t causation after all.

I’d rather enjoyed the return trips from said missions, after all. Even the latest return from the war front had been great.

Sadly, my halcyon days on the ship, where I relaxed after a hard training session with my sensei and friends weren’t to be for this trip.

“Oi! Shitty brats! Your faces piss me off! Jump off the edge and run along next to the boat for a while! See if you can attract some sharks!” ordered Hideo Munashi, wielder of Shibuki of the Seven Swordsmen.

Before we did anything, we all glanced towards Akiko.

If she wanted to she could easily override him but every time she did Hideo took to badgering her. Everyone could tell that he was trying to wear her down and make her take on a subordinate position to him but she was more than willing to square up against him.

That didn’t mean she didn’t let him order us around on occasion, however.

“Go fetch lunch kiddies,” she said, not even looking up from the scroll she was reading.

I rose with Sharkbait and Himeko, both of us well used to Hideo thinking he was so clever after learning of Sharkbait’s nickname.

We landed and cut our hands with kunai, allowing the blood to drip into the water freely. We each shared a look and a sigh, then got moving.

We began circling the ship, running for all our worth to stay within range while keeping an eye on our surroundings. I had it easier than Sharkbait or Himeko as I could use my chakra senses to pick up on any threats.

Natural animals like sharks had the barest amounts of energy in them. This made them bigger, faster, and more dangerous on average.

The biggest great white shark in my previous life was known to be six metres long. In this life that seemed more like an average size for sharks. I’d learned that much from my trips to the Sharkcoast where we had lured and caught the beasts for food.

Sharkbait had gotten very good at it. He seemed to have a knack for picking up a shift in the waters around him that let him know he needed to move out of the way.

The problem was never the sharks. Unless something changed with the sharks the pattern of their attacks was well understood by us these days.

The danger came from Hideo getting bored.

It wasn’t unusual for him to throw kunai at us with small explosive tags, or even a water bullet or two, all in the name of ‘training’.

I could feel Akiko’s chakra shift, giving me just enough time to throw out a warning sign to Himeko and Sharkbait before Hideo began throwing.

Explosions rocked the ocean, sending up geysers of water.

I twirled around an oncoming kunai, my eyes tracking it to make sure there wasn’t an explosive tag before putting on some speed and changing the direction I was running so that I zigzagged randomly, making it harder for Hideo hit me.

Sharkbait seemed to be having it tough as he had to throw himself, diving underwater, through waves, and sometimes swimming under the ship to evade Hideo’s attacks.

Himeko took another approach, which was to begin coating her body with layers of bones, allowing her to ignore anything but a direct hit.

I was tempted to copy her with my or hard body jutsu but I’d treat her enough time after training sessions like this to know she wasn’t coming out as unscathed as she liked to pretend.

Her organs usually got shaken and torn, her inner ear got ruptured, and her bones typically had microfractures. The only thing she could typically handle herself was the microfractures.

I’d taken to observing the damage, documenting it and creating theories on how to strengthen my own hard body jutsu to make it able to handle forces that pulsed, penetrated, or got through the hard defensive layer.

Otherwise, I played around with small balloons, spinning my chakra and working on the first step of a decidedly difficult jutsu.

A small blip of chakra emerged, and I tracked the shark closing in on us. Sharkbait dove under the water and I felt myself twitch, my attention shifting to track him and the shark.

I almost paid for this lapse as Hideo unleashed a full barrage of kunai with tags on them towards me.

I had no room to dodge, not enough time to accelerate or use a shunshin, so I pushed my chakra in a familiar pattern and fired back with a barrage of water bullets that caused the explosives to detonate midflight. Kunai scattered and splashed about harmlessly.

“Oi?! Who said you could use jutsu?” Hideo demanded, instantly snapping his attention onto me. His roar sounded more like a whine to me with how much he liked to bark and bluster.

I wiped my wet hair out of my eyes. “I’m pretty sure no one said I couldn’t,” I said with my normal placid smile.

Sometimes I had to wonder at the training the madam had put me through to be able to keep up such a good customer service smile when I wanted to.

Right now I wanted to snarl and snap at this idiot. Yes, it was good training, but it was damn annoying dealing with his idiot.

I continued to run, my gaze locked with Hideo as we entered a contest of wills to see who’d blink first. Apparently, my willingness to challenge him was enough to anger him as he reached for his sword.

I felt Akiko shift in readiness only for a huge splash of water to announce Sharkbait riding a shark out of the water. His arm pumped furiously stabbing a kunai into the gills even as they flew through the air. With the amount of blood leaking out of the shark I knew it would die soon.

Not that Hideo was going to miss a chance to ‘train us out of our bad habits’.

“Evade!” I roared at Sharkbait.

Trusting my warning he hurled himself off the shark, thereby dodging the explosive kunai that slammed into it. The explosion rocked the ocean and sent blood and viscera raining down around us.

I gave Akiko the flattest, most unimpressed look in my arsenal to show how very done with this training I was. Akiko tilted her head before inclining it, agreeing with my unasked question.

“I think that’s enough of that Hideo,” she said from her perch on the quarterdeck.

“Ho?” he said, glancing in her direction.

Akiko nodded. “You just fed the ocean a lot of blood, remember that there are things worse than sharks that swim the depths.”

Hideo blinked at the warning only to drop his bluster and nod. “You’re right, it wouldn’t do to have to run all the way to the Land of Honey.”

With his unspoken approval to stop running around the ship in the name of endurance and awareness training, Sharkbait, Himeko and I darted in.

I made sure to dip under the waves to wash off as much of the blood as I could with a chakra control exercise. Sharkbait tried to copy me with less success, but he at least didn’t look like he’d sprinted through a butchershop head first.

Akiko snorted, her attention shifting away from Hideo as he was no longer poised to threaten us. “Please, we’re closer to the Land of Sky these days, have you been too busy training to notice the way the winds have shifted? We’re in the Kazumi straight.” She jerked her head to the west. “Pay attention for any Lightning shinobi won’t you?”

Hideo sniffed in annoyance, only for his creepy smile to return. “Hmmm I think I might like it if some proper entertainment presented itself,” he said, moving to the side of the ship sitting closest to the Land of Lightning.

I landed on the deck and flicked the water off my body. Himeko, who must have been waiting for me to do that shook herself causing me to be splattered with shed bone and water.

I gave her a bland look which she ignored, sauntering over to Akiko. “Think there are any chances of Kumo shinobi attacking?” Himeko said to my Jonin sensei.

Akiko turned a page, not deigning to look up. “There’s always a chance, what that is? Hard to say.” She pointed to the east. “Don’t forget that the Land of Sky also had some Shinobi.”

I tilted my head. “I thought their Village got crushed?”

“Meaning there are more people that are probably getting by as bandits and spies. The Land of Sky was fairly well off in terms of its technology however. They had these gliders, so be on the watch for the skies as well as the ocean.”

Sharkbait produced a towel from a bag he’d left on deck. “What were you talking about when you mentioned there being worse things in the ocean than sharks?”

Akiko paused in her reading. She looked up and sighed. “There are lots of bigger threats in the ocean. Sharks are simply the most straightforward. There are invisible jellyfish that poison you, and sea snakes with venom so bad your blood melts in your body leaving you to die screaming. There are pods of whales, both the placid kind and the hungry kind. Don’t think the placid ones can’t wreck a ship, however.”

“There’s also the Leviathans!” chimed in one of the sailors.

Sharkbait stiffened. “Leviathan?” he asked with a fearful tone that I knew was fake. He rather overplayed his hand when he glanced at me and hid a wink. Akiko saw this and shook her head but it got the sailor talking.

“The sea, boy is a dangerous place that causes the critters to grow in weird and wonderful ways. Some creatures… they get strange the bigger they get. They can sometimes take on the features or traits of other beasts. I’ve seen Giant squid with too many eyes while the head was rippled with fins like a shark. Then there are the weird giant starfish that simply appear under ships and suck them down.”

He shook his head theatrically. “Very hard to escape from because by the time you detect them, you’re already in a vortex.”

The sailor leaned in, ignoring his friend who nudged him. I registered a small flare of chakra passing through them but didn’t mention it as the first sailor continued to speak. “The worst though is the special weapon that Lightning bred up. Word is they stole the beast from the Turtle summons and tortured it until it became a slave to them! Be careful of those folk boys and girl, cause if Lightning get you in their grasp then they’ll chain up your body, mind and your spirit!” he said.

“A Giant turtle?” I said slowly, recalling the special training area that Naruto and Killer Bee went to when the fourth shinobi war broke out. It had been a good idea to help bolster Naruto’s strength while being odd.

The turtle island had merely been referred to as Genbu in the series. It was interesting to see Kiri’s myths about it. Kumo must have used it offensively in the past.

Was the slavery comment accurate or was that a lie propagated to dissuade people from attempting to steal Genbu?

Genbu would rather suit Kirigakure better I should think.

I shelved that idea and nodded to Akiko. “You mentioned knowing we were in the Kazumi straights? What signs gave that away?” I asked glancing around for any landmarks.

Akiko smiled rolling up her scroll. “Well my student, there is of course the time we’ve been on the ship while making good headway. There is the wind itself with the straights having a rather strong trade wind. We can coast along the eastern side for now but on the way back we’d need to edge closer to the eastern side to get as much speed… that or force a lot of the crew to use wind jutsu,” she admitted with a shake of her head. “Which… isn’t viable,” she said.

I nodded my head, ideas of paddle steamers or creating propeller-style ships rising up. It had potential and would give the initial inventor and adopter of the technology a marked advantage in the projection of strength both economically and with the military. I’d need to consider that some more in future, along with talking with some shipwrights and blacksmiths.

I continued to listen as Akiko detailed the various unseen identifiers that gave way to our current position. Apparently, she had done this trip enough to be able to judge the shift in the smell of the ocean alone giving away where we were.

“—and of course tonight we’ll be able to see the stars. A quick lineup on the sailors’ star will give us a better bearing.”

I frowned, having noticed that she hadn’t mentioned using the compass. “The ship doesn’t use a compass?” I asked.

Akiko shook her head. “They’re locked up and not used as much. Kumo has several shinobi that can alter magnetic fields and lead ships directly into traps or reefs. It was a favoured trick of theirs during the past wars which they sometimes still do during the ceasefire periods,” she said.

I nodded, realising how deadly that could be. Position in a fight determines a lot. I frowned. “Do they have other tricks?” I asked.

“They had a Genjutsu specialist that worked at night. Used to float on a raft and lure in sailors with a song that was said to be so alluring the men almost threw themselves into the ocean. She was dubbed a B-rank threat and granted the epithet Siren. Then she was hunted down and executed two weeks later by a team of shinobi in Haram Bay,” she said clinically.

She reached into her pouch and drew out a small flask to take a drink. When she met my curious gaze there was a certainty there that let me know that she had to have been one of the Shinobi that hunted down said ‘Siren’.

I nodded, noting Hideo creeping up on us. I made a small sign to Himeko and Sharkbait letting them know. “I’d noticed that the sailors like to get… kind of touchy with each other.”

Akiko snorted in amusement.

Hideo, who’d ghosted up behind me to rasp in my ear. “Afraid they might try something with you one-night little boy?” he said.

I repressed the urge to shudder along with the desire to grimace at Hideo’s body odour wafting over me. I didn’t look back merely continuing to look at Akiko who now had a kunai behind her scroll, ready to use.

Damn, but this man was ruining an otherwise enjoyable trip. Of all the ships that this man needed to be on, he had to be on this one. “I think I have other things to worry about,” I said idly like I didn’t sleep on the roof with a decoy in my bed with Hideo on the ship. It was a good chakra control exercise, which was about the nicest thing I could say for the rougher sleep.

Perhaps I could use my chakra strings to make a hammock?

Hideo shifted. “Yeah, you do,” he said before fading back.

I shared a look with Akiko, the damned man still hadn’t worked out that I could sense his chakra. If he was a less… well, evil man I might think he was possibly lulling me into a false sense of security.

But I’d seen what he did when he had a chance at having someone under his control. He lauded it, loving every second of it for the way it tormented you.

A man like that… didn’t feel the need to play games.

He felt too secure in himself.

Akiko waved us off. “Another five days until we make landfall in Potato Port.”

Sharkbait and I both sniggered at the name while Himeko merely grunted.

The Land of Vegetables, it turned out, had the amusing trait of allowing the local population to name various Towns when they were formed initially. Something to do with an old legend regarding the founding of the Land of Vegetables stated that at least one thousand people must live in and submit names for a village to gain a name and earn certain privileges. This invariably resulted in some rather uninspired names, along with some rather amusing names.

Port Potato, Radish Town, Wheatstalk City, and Rice Village, were a few… aptly named cities.

I had no doubt I’d find a lot more in the coming mission, which we couldn’t discuss until we reached a secure safehouse in Port Potato.

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Port Potato, wasn’t a big town. It was, by my estimates, barely a town, but then again, in my first life, there were rather higher standards in terms of population. For a feudal society, Port Potato was thriving.

It had a whole five ships docked at once.

I had stared at them upon entry and realised that two of them made up the local ‘fishing fleet’. Upon docking, we’d slipped into the town without any harbormaster needing to check us off or any guards even making special considerations for us. We’d just ambled in.

I could only mentally shake my head. These poor people had no idea the potential monsters they let walk amongst themselves.

Or perhaps they were hoping that ignorance was bliss and were attempting not to poke the dragon.

It wasn’t a terrible idea, but I’d need to ask around to see how accurate my hypothesis actually was.

The safehouse that Akiko had alluded to on the ship ended up being a bar with lodgings where we could go. There was a rather nice garden with clear sightlines leading up the the house that served as our lodgings but that didn’t stop Akiko from scouring the house first.

She then had us repeat their assessment. Akiko nudged me. “Look for any chakra that might be lingering in case someone laid a trap,” she said. “Just because this is Kiri’s safehouse doesn’t mean it hasn’t been compromised. Always treat it as if it might be,” she said to all of us.

Hideo merely sauntered onto the deck where he lay on his side, watching us check the place over, his sword, Shibuki resting on the deck within easy reach. When the house had been declared safe Akiko had us all sit on the deck, near but not too close to Hideo.

“Alright, you’ve been cagey about your mission, but you said that you needed me to run it with you,” Akiko said.

“Eh? Needed? Needed? I don’t think I said anything of the sort. Needed is such a… stretch. What I want is for you to facilitate my mission, which is of utmost importance to the Mizukage and Kiri as a whole. You understand?” he said.

Akiko nodded. “Should I have Matsu join us? He is a chunin after all and has experience fighting,” she said carefully, testing the proverbial waters.

Hideo, for some reason, chuckled at this. “Make him hunt down the target? Oh, that would be rich, wouldn’t it? Heh, but no, that won’t be happening. No, we’re going to, you and I scour the Land of Vegetables for a target. Namely, a blacksmith of extraordinary skill. He has a daughter and grandson with him. We know he won’t ditch the other pair as the daughter has a disease that weakens her. Daddy dearest needs to stay close to help her.”

I held back my grimace and my thoughts. This didn’t sound like one of the ‘nice’ shinobi missions. This sounded more like the blacksmith had annoyed someone and a hit had been placed on him.

Is what I would have thought if it hadn’t been for the stray comment about it being ‘rich for me to hunt down the target’. I suddenly had an inkling of who Hideo and Akiko might be looking for.

Hideo sniffed. “As for your other task… let the brats handle that. Like you said, he’s a Chunin so they can’t fob him off. There’s clauses or some shit,” he said with a wave of his hand.”We’ll head out tonight while the brats can make their own way.”

I held back another grimace. It might annoy the patron to only have us three present ourselves without Akiko there to smooth things along. We’d need to tread carefully if we wanted any repeat customers from this mission.

It struck me that a number of shinobi like Hideo wouldn’t care to understand how short-sighted it was to annoy the people paying for our services. It couldn’t be that there was a majority within Kirigakure, or else the place wouldn’t function, but that didn’t stop a loud belligerent minority from ruining things for the rest of us.

I added it to my growing list of things that needed fixing with Kiri.

Akiko sighed and gestured for us to move inside to talk about the particulars of what would be ‘our’ mission. “Matsu, you’re in charge. You’re to make sure this Geisha girl survives her trip around the Land of Vegetables and that she garners some interest. Once she’s back in her Madam’s compound the mission is complete.”

Himeko raised a hand.

Akiko narrowed her eyes. “If your question is why can’t we tie her up, race her around the Land of Vegetables and then drop her off, no Himeko, just no. She needs to be seen as desirable. Matsu, I’ll leave that up to you, you know about this sort of parade that Geisha like to partake.”

I nodded. “Not to worry,” I said. “We’ll investigate the parties of interest prior to making contact but that shouldn’t be more than twenty-four hours,” I said, a plan forming in my mind.

I smiled, and Akiko stiffened, eying me like an alleycat would a butcher in the streets of Kiri. “Sensei? What are our options for altering the contract?” I asked carefully.

Akiko narrowed her eyes. “You can’t extend, alter or change parameters,” she said firmly.

“So, if we got the client to agree to a… bonus secondary objective, would that be possible?” I asked toying with a thought.

Akiko narrowed her eyes. “I think I’m going to need you to outline your plan just in case its the kind of crazy that will see us all losing our heads,” she said.

I laid out the plan to her and she frowned. Sharkbait merely blinked at me in surprise while Himeko picked at her ear in disinterest.

Eventually, Akiko nodded. “If you can get the client to agree and you can pull it off, I don’t see it as a bad idea.”

She held my gaze. “That said, you will be earning yourself attention for this when it is brought to the Mizukage’s attention.”

I nodded and glanced at the sliding door behind me, not saying anything. After enduring Hideo for so long, I had to wonder if I’d ever lost Gengetsu’s attention. It seemed a bit too… unfortunate for Hideo to just happen to be on our ship.

It might be nothing, but as a shinobi, it paid to be paranoid, because people were out to get you.

Akiko nodded. “Alright, observe the parties of interest, and then touch base with them. Matsu, try your scheme, and if it works it works, but make sure they don’t cancel the contract,” she said firmly outlining the only way they could really screw us over.

I nodded, glad that she’d pointed that out. I… might not have considered the downsides, what with being far too confident. Things had been going rather well for me lately. I needed to set up some more checks for myself.

I’d have to talk to… I glanced to my right and found Himeko staring at the wall.

Right, she wasn’t going to be a help apart from checking that I was strong enough. I’d need to train her up some first though as I was confident in my ability to beat her in a fight— straight or crooked— I felt I had the advantage.

I turned to my left.

Sharkbait swallowed and looked nervous. I held in a sigh. Alright, any port in a storm as they say.

I patted him on the shoulder. “I’m going to be running some ideas past you during this mission, I need you to sound them out to me,” I said mentally assigning him the role of ‘child plan checker’, It couldn’t be that bad an idea if it was on the Evil Overlords checklist, could it?

I’d need to write that down to cross-check it. There would no doubt be a lot of relevant points on there for me to keep in mind if I wanted to become the Mizukage.

Sharkbait drew himself up and nodded seriously. I shot him a nod in return. well, at least he was taking this seriously, I thought as I rose and gestured for the other two to follow me.

It was time to get the lay of the land. Along with hopefully a good meal.

I hinged into a respectable-looking outfit that made me look relatively well off. “You two do the same. We’re going to go have some food and listen to rumours before we sneak over to the Geisha manor,” I said.

My two minions perked up at the mention of food and I considered the plan.

Hopefully, it wouldn’t be too much. It would all depend on what we learnt from our recon.

Our meal ended up being rather enlightening. It turned out that Lord Edo was not a popular man which was most likely why the Madam of the Geisha house— known as Yubaba— had decided to pick him.

The madam herself was a tall statuesque woman that held a good deal of respect among the locals. When I brought the others around to the manor I spent some time observing her and how she interacted with the others.

I was most interested in watching how she treated the girls in her establishment.

“I’m going in there,” I announced before pointing towards two other nearby buildings. “There are two other groups of observers.”

Himeko glanced at the building with a frown. “Take them out?” she said perking up at the prospect of violence.

I chewed my lip in thought and Sharkbait coughed. “We shouldn’t beat up on random civilians.”

“They’re not,” I said. “They’ve been sitting in the window coup of neighbouring buildings and not sampling any of the products or drinking too heavily. They’re watching the manor.”

Sharkbait blinked, taking this information in. “How do we know they aren’t guards?”

“They don’t shift positions, and their positions aren’t that good. If they were guards they’d have gotten some informal agreement with with business. As it is they barely spend enough to keep from making problems. As it is they’re grating on the people there,” I said.

I pointed. “There, see how they just rejected that server girl? She grimaced cause their in her section of the building making it harder to meet the sales quota,” I said.

“Huh, so they are,” Sharkbait said scratching his chin. “What is the girl trying to sell them?”

“Drugs,” I said casually, waving a hand where another patron of said building was smoking from a Hookah pipe. “Go catch them, quietly,” I made sure to stress, “And get them to talk. If we can get them to admit to what they’re doing all the better for us. We’ll have more time to traipse around with our client before more pop up.”

Himeko tilted her head. “Maybe we should let one or two of them scamper off? Keep things interesting?”

I snorted. “This mission is going to take a few weeks, we have plenty of time to drum up attention,” I said.

Himeko grumbled at this and I patted her on the shoulder. “Don’t worry, first set of bandits we get? All yours,” I said causing her to perk back up.

I waved off the battle-hungry girl off before I transformed into one of the girls who worked in the manor. I shifted my manner of walking and adopted her falsetto. “See you soon,” I said as I hopped over the manor’s wall.

From there it was child’s play to grab a tray of food and wander around like I was actually doing something. All the while, I avoided triggering any suspicion by making sure the girl’s form that I had adopted was asleep in the backroom.

No one thought anything odd of her running an errand though and I quickly got an idea of the manor, the Madam, and of course, the VIP, Yumi.

“Hana? What are you doing still up?” asked said VIP. I took her details in with wide eyes as though startled.

Yumi, was a tall woman, with a full gown body announcing she’d been well fed along with soft creamy skin. Hair like the blackest night spilled artfully down her shoulders and hung as low as the small of her back. Full lips were slightly downturned as she observed me.

I curled in on myself. “Oh, I just wanted to help out is all,” I said not meeting her emerald eyes.

Yumi sighed. “Are the older girls bullying you into doing their jobs again? You need to stand up for yourself Yumi, tell them no.”

“Sorry,” I said with a pathetic whine.

Yumi drew me in for a soft hug. “Don’t be, you’re young and the others are taking advantage of you. I’ll mention they need to stop alright?”

“Kay,” I said as I documented that Yumi was a kind, but naive woman. Talking to the others wouldn’t achieve anything if the girls were determined to bully younger girls. An approaching chakra source made me play my next trick.

I faked a stumble and sent the tray and small meal clattering across the ground right as the Madam came around the corner of the hall.

The madam saw everything and barely broke her stride as the sound echoed. “Hana, please stop dropping things… you’re supposed to be resting right now,” she said without batting an eye. “Yumi, help her clean that up and then bundle her into bed before you go to bed yourself. You have some big days coming your way,” Yubaba said.

The Madam swept past me and I caught a glint of something thin and sharp in her sleeves. Hmm interesting, she carried Senbon on her? I’d heard she stood up for her girls but hadn’t thought she got her own hands dirty.

I quickly cleaned up the spilled meal and the tray before making an excuse to disengage with Yumi. From there it was child’s play to link back up with Himeko and Sharkbait.

“Any problems?” I asked.

Himeko, looking like a satisfied alleycat merely shook her head.

Sharkbait swallowed. “They were who you thought they were,” he announced.

I merely nodded. “Good, so the opposition is going to be blind for a bit, allowing us to set ourselves up,” I said. I waved for the two of them to follow me. “Time for sleep. Tomorrow we’ll introduce ourselves.”

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Our approach to the manor started with Sharkbait pretending to be a simple messenger to ‘run ahead’ and inform the Madam that the shinobi were on their way after stocking up on supplies.

This caused the old, but still vibrant woman to toss her head dramatically and scoff. “They should be ready to move the moment they arrive! Not stocking up!” she proclaimed to the ladies of her establishment.

The ladies all dutifully nodded.

I, having been hiding near the roof dropped down next to her causing a soft noise. “Oh? Are you worried we’ll keep you waiting?” I asked standing with my hands in my pocket casually.

The Madam stiffened and whirled about on me. Her mouth open, no doubt ready to chastise me for scaring her only to blink when she caught sight of me. “You’re a child?” she pointed out rather redundantly.

I didn’t protest her words or throw a tantrum. Instead, I inclined my head and let Himeko enter the room. “For all that such things matter,” I said walking past her and making her turn.

Once more she opened her mouth to chastise me only to blanch when she spotted Himeko sitting among her ladies, themselves unaware of the lion in their midst.

Himeko grabbed up a bowl of rice and hungrily devoured it causing the girls to squawk.

I continued to smile, walking up to the girl with the shamisen. I plucked a single note that rang out, signalling that Sharkbait should enter quietly.

“In silk’s gentle sway,

Geisha and ninja dance fate,

Ageless artistry,” I said before winking at the girls.

A few of them blushed and I mentally pumped a fist. Heh, these girls weren’t as good as the ones back home.

I turned, once more facing off against the Madam after so visually dismissing her.

She was still off balance. Her eyes darted around only to pause on Sahrkbait sitting in the corner. He nodded politely, over his shoulder was his weapon of choice, a metal pole that extended and poked out innocently.

“MadamYubaba?” I prompted. “I am Chunin Matsu from Kirigakure, this group that you see,” I said making sure to stress the last word to her. “Are part of the team that will be completing your mission… if that’s what you desire,” I said carefully.

I needed her to agree to this.

Her eyes dilated slightly as the heads of the various girls turned to regard her bar one. The single girl, a beauty with hair like the night sky inspected Himeko and myself, unaware of Sharkbait staring at her in awe.

He seemed rather smitten with her, but that was to be expected of a young boy and a beauty who worked at her craft. She would no doubt win and break many people’s hearts in the days to come.

Madam Yubaba swallowed and gained control of her voice. “I… yes, that is agreeable. I must say you’re younger but then again I suppose this demonstration rather shows that one should not judge before one is read in,” she said catching on to the game. It seemed she approved.

I nodded my head, conceding that she was aware. The girl who’d been watching Himeko and I scoffed. “Only two shinobi?”

I lolled my head back at her and gave her an impish smile. “That you can see,” I said.

She stiffened and looked up and around. Huh good instincts, but wrong. She failed to look behind her and seemed more concerned when she couldn’t find anyone. I decided not to mention that Sharkbait wasn’t even hiding anymore. He was rather openly sitting in the corner.

Perhaps it was his face? He did have a rather forgettable face. Like that of ‘enemy of the week six’ or something like that. Hmmm, I’d need to teach him to look after himself to reduce his chances of raising such red flags. Maybe train him up while I was working on Himeko.

I looked back to the Madam. “So, I understand that the contract is to escort Lady Yumi around the Land of Vegetables while protecting her from any attempts at spiriting her away, killing or… maiming her,” I said.

Yumi, stiffened, mostly likely feeling a bit scared that such fates were being laid out for her.

Madam Yubaba nodded her head. “Indeed, we wish to send her off with a grand procession! The more land that she can cover the better. That will bring risks as it is known by many that she is related to Lord Edo.”

I continued to smile, not showing my doubt to such a claim. Lord Edo was not very well liked but still powerful enough noble that people liked to spurn.

I stroked my chin. “So protection is all you want us to do?” I said leadingly.

The Madam narrowed her eyes. “I don’t want Lord Edo to die. That would cause civilian strife which means less income for me and my girls,” she said firmly.

Yumi nodded her head. “I don’t wany anyone dying for me!”

Himeko snorted into her rice. “Too late for that,” she said causing me to shoot her a glare and a sign to keep quiet.

I waved my hand back and forth to regather attention to myself. I didn’t want them following that little comment too far. “No, that is a narrow way of thinking about this situation. I was merely thinking that… wouldn’t it be better i Lady Yumi were to secure the very best bidders for herself?”

The Madam blinked only to pause and reach into her sleeve. I held in the urge to stiffen. The sleeve was where we’d learned she kept some senbon. She probably wasn’t shinobi level but she still had the potential to be deadly.

She instead drew out an ornate pipe which she had lit by a nearby girl. She took a long thoughtful inhale as she weighed me up. When she exhaled she didn’t breathe the smoke in my face. Instead, she chuckled. “You have an idea do you young ninja?” she asked.

I smiled. “How about we increase the allure of Lady Yumi? How about, instead of merely parading her around, we… cultivated a narrative for her,” I said with a smile.

“Ho? Colour me interested,” said Yubaba. “What would you ask for this hmmmm?” she said.

I nodded once again, glad that she knew you didn’t get things free in this life. “Twenty percent of her eventual bid—” the madam started to inhale in shock and I held up a hand to forestall her outrage. “—if we can get her to go for over one million Ryo,” I said winningly.

That caused everyone to hiss in surprise. The mission had been a C rank, which at low estimates put it from thirty to one hundred thousand ryo. A sizeable cost no doubt but one that should guarantee the sale of Yumi.

I knew that I couldn’t just ask to charge more for nothing. So Instead I attached the extra income and costs to an increased sale amount. What would the madam care if she made seven hundred thousand ryo compared to the likely one or two hundred thousand, at minimum?

The Madam took a steadying breath. “You’re that confident in your abilities?” she said and I held back the urge to smile like the shark that had just spotted something injured in the water.

“Madam, I am going to craft a Legend around our dear Yumi and by the time I’m done with her, if I don’t have the very Heir to the Daimyo bidding for her? I will consider it a failure on my part,” I said.

The Madam nodded. “Very well, I will agree to these terms, fifteen percent—”

“Twenty,” I affirmed firmly. “My Jonin sensei will not accept anything but that,” I said.

The madam paused realising that I hadn’t introduced her to any Jonin. She nodded her head slowly. If I hadn’t proved my team’s obvious skills earlier she might have doubted us or tried other tricks, but by setting the tone from the beginning I had taken control of negotiations.

A useful trick.

I produced an addendum scroll. “Your signature,” I said with a smile.

The Madam looked over the terms, which were precisely what I’d offered her verbally. She shot me a look. “Cocky brat, I hope you’re half as good as you think you are,” she said as she signed with a flourish.

“Oh, I know I am,” I said as I turned to Yumi. “Well now Miss Yumi, I think before we depart I’m going to have to review everything you own. Makeup, Perfumes, dresses. I also need you to list off your skills and any notable achievements you have.”

Yumi looked suddenly very unsure of this arrangement.

Madam Yubaba merely clapped her hands. “Off with you Yumi! You heard the good Chunin! Don’t dally! It is an undesirable trait in a Lady! You have a Legend to build this day!” she said with a smile.

I continued to smile, I did so love when a plan started to come together. I hadn’t been planning to make use of my skills from growing up in an Okiya but Akiko had chosen this as a bit of a softball for me to sink my teeth into.

I planned to smash it out of the park.

First I’d need to make sure Yumi was up to snuff, if not I could tutor her on some things. Then during her procession, I’d have myself, Himeko and Sharkbait spreading rumours and good word about her. I had more plans for that but it was still a work in process.

From there…

Profit.

Yeah, that’d work.

I just had to be on the lookout for Hideo. He seemed like the type to try and mess up my plans just for the hell of it.

And nothing ruined plans worse than an idiot.

I stepped into Yumi’s room and started getting to work. I just barely resisted the urge to sing the Mulan song about honour as I darted about.

I might have hummed it though.

For the first time in days, I found myself genuinely smiling. I planned to enjoy this mission.

And I also planned for it to be rewarding in a lot of different ways.

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A.N. Thanks go to my Patreons for your continued support!

This chapter is not proofread so I apologise for any obvious errors! Hope this mini-arc is starting to look interesting! Till later!