Chapter 108: Information

I nodded to the woman, before finishing my meal.

Everyone else followed suit, and we got up and followed behind Jiji as she led us towards the side of the building, where multiple doors led into rooms.

"The one on the left is for your guards, while the one on the right is for you and your wife."

I gestured for Anko and Cameia to enter their room, my Snake Charmer nodding to me as she followed the orders.

I trusted her enough to know that she should take this time alone to have Cameia continue searching, even if it meant leaving the room.

As for Kurenai and I, we followed Jiji into our room, her son Aiko silently following behind her.

Inside was just a single, decent sized bed and a few pieces of furniture, namely a table, two chairs, and a dresser.

Placing our loose items on the table, Kurenai and I sat on the bed while Jiji sat across from us, her jaw clenched.

When she spoke, it was in a low voice, and she glanced at both her son and the door.

"I wanted to know if you could take me from the village; hire me as your servant, guard, whatever... I just... I can't be here with... with THEM..."

She growled that last part out, making me frown.

"Is it because they are rogues?"

Jiji shook her head, glancing at Aiko, who was staring at her in confusion.

"No... we've had a few... 'rogues' before, but this groups different. They've started to tax us for no reason, citing protection; we were already paying them, but now... if it was just that, I could deal with it, but now, their leader has... has..."

She grit her teeth and took in a shaky breath, before her pale blue eyes met mine.

"I have to 'serve' him. If I don't, well... h-he threatened... he th-threatened Aiko... he threatened my baby boy..."

Her eyes grew misty as she said that, and I sighed internally.

Nukenin were always problematic; they grew too big for their britches, so to speak.

They still think they have the backing of a village to clean their shit up, but they don't.

Hence why a mission is placed so damn quickly.

For some reason, these traitors never seem to think about that; at least, not the lower ranked ones.

Jonin though...

Well, if they were from Konoha or Iwa, I could expect some sense; hell, even Kumo.

But Kiri and Suna Shinobi...

They're all batshit insane.

Always have been, but in recent years, with one cannibalizing itself and the other slowly starving itself, well...

They've grown desperate.

Which was dangerous.

So, when they escape such insanity, they are more paranoid or more likely to do as they please, to do the things they couldn't do back in their home villages.

Which meant some forced themselves into smaller villages, or more specifically, the beds inside those villages.

The woman before me sadly went through that, and I could sympathize with her, as I had dealt with it myself.

I glanced at Kurenai, who softly shook her head, and I sighed.

We were going to be getting rid of the problem anyways, so...

Hearing my sigh, Jiji collapsed back into the chair, despair in her eyes.

"I'm... sorry. I really am. We... can't risk it."

She gave me a tense nod, a tear falling from her eye for a moment, before she wiped it away.

"Of course, nothings stopping you from leaving by yourself... say, when we do?"

Kurenai shook her head again, simply looking away.

Jiji, on the other hand, brightened up for a moment, nodding.

"A... coincidence. Yes, a coincidence..."

Gritting her teeth, she gave me another nod, asking "When do you plan on departing?"

I shrugged, glancing at Kurenai before saying "No idea yet; I still want to give our other members a chance to meet up with us."

Jiji bowed before getting up, holding her hand out to Aiko.

"Alright. Thank you. Please, enjoy your stay.... and be careful."

We both nodded, watching as she exited our room after taking a deep breath.

When she left, Kurenai sighed beside me, her eyes slightly accusatory as she said "Really Koko?"

I gave her a wry smile, shrugging.

"Really, Nai. I know what it feels like, but I was alone then. She has a kid. I can't imagine what that would feel like, especially when you're so powerless. So, I gave her hope. I know we're going to... 'deal' with her problem, but I want her to have hope."

She sighed again, collapsing onto the bed.

"Fine. Just... don't keep collecting strays, Koko! We only have so much room..."

Giving her a weird look, I said "The only 'strays' I collected was an Uzumaki mother and daughter, thank you very much. We couldn't just leave them there."

Laying down next to her, I stared at my raven haired wife for a moment before kissing her, saying "Come on, we have work to do."

She sighed again, pouting at me for a moment as she whined "I don't wanna~", only to perk up as I grinned at her, whispering something into her ear.

"Alright! Come on, come on!"

Seeing her enthusiasm, I chuckled, before we both created a clone inside the room, having them just lounge around.

Since clones, especially of the non shadow variety, require little to no chakra, at least at our level, we could confidently do this.

The only way to know that they were clones was to try and interact with them, but this was supposed to be a private room.

Slipping silently out the window, we climbed into Anko and Cameia's room, the Darkness user sitting on the bed with closed eyes, while Anko leaned against the door, Akurra coiled around her arm.

"Hey~!"

Seeing us enter, she smiled at us, while Akurra hissed a greeting.

"Anything?"

Anko shook her head, gesturing at Cameia.

"Not yet; Cameia sent out a... honestly, I've no clue what she did, but she's scouting the village currently. As for me, I sent a few of Akurra's siblings out into the hall to keep watch; the place was damn hot, so they'll be fine."

Nodding, I glanced at Kurenai and said "Go out as well; scour the village and try and find that Jonin. If you can't find anything in ten minutes, come back. We know where we can find them later... Anko, keep an eye on the group outside; personally. I'll wait for Cameia to come back."

The two women nodded before flickering away, leaving Cameia and I alone.

Guarding the room, I waited for her to 'return', listening to her quiet breathing as time passed.

Kurenai returned first, shaking her head.

"Nothing. Though, I couldn't get into some buildings that quickly, so who knows. Though I did find Jiji's place."

Saying so, she glanced at Cameia, who finally opened her golden eyes.

"Found them, but it was... risky. They can sense chakra pretty well..."

Seeing a snake peek from under the door, I nodded at it, watching as Anko reappeared.

"Alright, so we have an idea where this Jonin might be; Jiji, that woman who guided us here? She's being forced into their bed. As for the Chunin and Genin outside, who knows, but..."

Looking around the room, I smirked as I glanced at Kurenai and Anko.

"Think you two could handle them~?"

They gave me a deadpan look before rolling their eyes.

"Just gotta make sure~ Cameia and I will take the Jonin, before we all meet up at the gate and go back home. Make the kills quiet, keep the bodies intact; no poisons or venoms, Anko. Clean kills, then grab the bodies. Let's be in and out."

Everyone nodded again, and I smirked as I got up, patting my now exposed short sword.

"Well, let's earn our pay girls~!"