chapter 10

Chapter 10:

Village Year 75, August 11th

The Fire Capital was the largest city I'd seen in this world. Over ten times the size of Konoha, millions of people called this city home. It was also regarded as the safest city in the entire nation, perhaps even the entire world. The walls here were much taller and thicker than in Konoha. Not even the largest of Chakra beasts had a chance of breaking through. I doubted anything short of a tailed beast bomb could.

"Welcome to the capital. Don't cause any trouble," one of the Samurai warned as I stepped through the gates. His eyes narrowed behind his helmet, and I got the distinct feeling he didn't like me very much.

"Also, roof-hopping is illegal here," his partner added. "If you want to get around, you have to walk through the streets like everyone else."

"Really…" I groaned in annoyance. "This place is massive, and I have to walk around like a normal person?"

"Yes," the first Samurai replied, his tone dead serious. "Any ninja caught roof-hopping will be fined 10,000 ryo and kicked out of the capital." 

With that, I headed into the city. Only a few steps in, and I immediately noticed that the crowds were far larger than anything I had ever seen in Konoha. I hadn't thought this through on my way over—how was I supposed to find Ryu in a city of millions? I had no idea where he was even conducting his mission.

I let out a sigh and looked for a nearby bench close to the main gates. Searching for Ryu seemed impossible, so I decided to wait for him to come to me. My armor was pretty noticeable; I figured that as long as I stayed near the gates, Ryu would spot me before he left the capital to return home.

So, I waited…

And waited some more…

I sat on that damn bench for five hours. It was approaching dinnertime, my butt was sore, my stomach was once again growling, and I felt like I was losing my mind from sheer boredom—but I persevered. Sitting on this bench was a tough job, but someone had to do it!

Thankfully, my armor and Konoha headband kept the riffraff of the city from bothering me—until a balding, middle-aged man with a large beer belly walked up to me. He hovered a few feet away, staring down with an unreadable expression. 

"Hey Kas–," he tried calling out to me but I cut him off.

"Back off, creep. I'm not interested," I said, giving him the fiercest glare a 13-year-old girl could muster.

"What are you doing here?" the man asked with a frown. He didn't leave. 

"None of your business," I said, reaching for the kunai pouch on my thigh. 

His eyes tracked my movements, but he didn't show any fear, even though I was ready to pull out a weapon if he didn't back off. Instead, he just gave me a deadpan expression. "Kasumi… it's me." The man's voice shifted in pitch and tone. All of a sudden, he sounded exactly like—

"R–Ryu!?" I stuttered in disbelief. "What the hell? Why do you look like that? I almost stabbed you. I thought you were some creepy weirdo who was into young girls!"

He nodded. "And I'm proud of you for that. Never hesitate to defend yourself, Kasumi. But I'm a little disappointed you didn't see through my Transformation Jutsu. That's something you'll need to work on."

I pouted at him. His disguise was absolutely flawless. How the hell did he expect me to see through it? I didn't even know how to do the transformation Jutsu yet! "Why are you in disguise? And you couldn't have picked a better look than a balding middle-aged man?"

He let out a sigh. "I'm kind of famous, and the nobles in the capital would get nervous if they knew I was here. The point of a disguise is to not stand out. I was in the capital for an infiltration mission, remember? What are you doing here?" he asked.

"I need your help. I'm on a C-rank mission that went off the rails… again," I admitted after a small pause.

The man my brother was disguised as glanced around, searching for potential eavesdroppers. "Don't tell me here. Let's leave the city for now, you can tell me on the way back to Chubi."

…

"…And that's what I learned while I was in Chubi," I concluded, summarizing everything that had happened so far on my latest mission. Including everything I learned about "the Den" and "the Oni."

I followed slightly behind Ryu as we leaped through the trees. It was trickier than roof-hopping since I had to dodge stray branches—and the occasional snake—but I felt like I was doing a pretty good job keeping up.

Ryu paused on a massive branch, easily able to hold the two of us. The trees in this world were truly something else.

Though the lower half of his face was covered by his black mask, I could still tell he was giving me a deadpan stare. "Let me get this straight. You paid some street kids 1,000 ryo, and they told you about an emerging underground criminal empire that no one in an entire village has ever heard of—even me."

"Um… yes?" I nodded once.

"And it's all being run by a single man called the Oni. A man you only know about because a random takoyaki vendor told you…"

"Also yes…?" I answered hesitantly. Then my eyes widened in realization at what he was subtly implying. "Wait! You don't think they lied to me, do you?!"

Ryu shook his head and sighed. "Of course they lied to you. There is no secret "thieves' guild" in the Land of Fire. Konoha has spies everywhere—someone higher up in the village would know about this if it was real."

"Unless they're dirty and being bribed to hide the evidence," I pointed out. "Those kids didn't seem like liars, they were genuinely afraid when they mentioned the Den. They thought it was real, at the very least. I have its location. We should check it out!" I was determined not to fail this mission, especially not when I had such a promising lead.

"Fine, Kasumi," Ryu said as he walked over to me on the branch.

"Eeep!" I squeaked as he effortlessly picked me up and slung me over his shoulder. My cheeks flushed bright red. "W–what are you doing?!" I sputtered indignantly.

"I can tell you're almost out of chakra, and even if you weren't, you're still too slow. I'll take you to your non-existent criminal hideout. Once you see it doesn't exist and that you were lied to, I'll teach you how to conduct a proper ninja investigation. We'll go to the scene of the robbery and properly track down the art thieves. You can't always take shortcuts to complete your mission faster," he lectured me.

My cheeks puffed out in annoyance, though Ryu couldn't see my expression since I was slung over his shoulder. I smacked him on the back, though I doubted it did any damage. "Fine! But when we get there and we do find a secret criminal base, you have to apologize!" I declared, hoping that there really was a secret base. I had been so excited for my first real mission, that I didn't even stop to think about whether or not I was being lied to. 

We moved much faster through the trees once Ryu started carrying me. The canopy passed by in a blur. "...Even if this is a waste of time, thanks for agreeing to help me out, Ryu," I told him quietly.

Despite how fast we were moving and how quiet I was, he still heard me perfectly. "Of course, Kasumi. Big brothers are supposed to help out their little sisters after all." 

His words made me feel all warm and fuzzy. I didn't have any siblings in my last life, having someone looking out for me was nice. Those feelings held for the next ten minutes until we reached the outskirts of our destination. Then those feelings turned into smugness!

"I don't believe it…" Ryu muttered as he set me down.

I glanced up at Ryu with a smug grin, noticing how he avoided meeting my eyes. We were perched high in the treetops, and on the forest floor about half a mile away, I spotted a small mountain. At its base was an outpost I didn't remember seeing on any of our village maps. It was surrounded by the mountain on one side and thick, untamed wilderness on the other. Clearly, it was meant to be well hidden.

"Well, well, well, looks like I was right, Onii-chan. That looks like a secret base to me," I said, my voice tinged with satisfaction.

"We won't know until we get closer," Ryu replied, though I could tell he didn't quite believe his own words anymore. "It could just be another bandit hideout."

"Bandits tend to stay closer to the roads. This place is 30 miles out in the middle of nowhere. The average bandit can't even use chakra—there's no way they could have a hideout this far from civilization," I countered, and he didn't argue with my logic. "The chakra beasts alone would rip apart anyone who doesn't stick to the treetops." This was a location only accessible to ninjas or anyone a ninja felt like carrying over here.

"Let's get closer, and stay quiet," Ryu instructed, picking me up again. I thought we'd been moving fast before, but this time, the entire world blurred around us. With a perfect Shunshin, Ryu brought us within two hundred yards of the outpost. From here, we could clearly see that the den was occupied—by at least 30 men. Some of them were Konoha Shinobi. The green Chūnin vests were unmistakable.

And the headbands…

Those headbands were unmistakable. We had Leaf Village traitors in our midst. The Leaf symbol on their headbands wasn't slashed out either—these weren't missing-nin.

"What should we do?" I whispered.

"You're not going to do anything just yet, Kasumi. This is now an A-Rank mission, and I am your commanding officer," Ryu said, his tone was much more serious now that my intel had been confirmed. "I'm going to sneak in and grab one of the Chūnin. We'll interrogate him a couple of miles away before I decide our next move." With that, Ryu performed another Shunshin and vanished from the treetops.

I kept my eyes locked on the outpost below, trying to catch a glimpse of my brother. He appeared in a flash on top of one of the ramparts, directly behind one of the Chūnin. The traitor didn't even have a chance to realize he was under attack. Ryu struck the man with lightning speed and grabbed his body. A few seconds later, he reappeared beside me, the unconscious ninja slumped under his arm.

"Let's go," Ryu instructed as he leaped away from the outpost with our prisoner.

I quickly followed, moving as fast and quietly as I could. There were more Chūnin in that outpost, and we didn't know how good their senses might be.

We found a small clearing on the forest floor a few miles away. Ryu tied up our prisoner and leaned him against a tree. "Would you like to do the honors, Kasumi?" he asked.

"Sure!" I replied happily with a small vindictive grin. I raised my hand and slapped the Chūnin hard across the face. He awoke violently, immediately struggling against his bonds.

"Don't bother," Ryu said calmly. "I know how to tie up a ninja so they can't escape."

The traitorous Chūnin's eyes widened as he realized who had captured him. "Oh, fuck… R–Ryu Hayabusa!"

"And his little sister, Kasumi…" I grumbled to myself. 

I wasn't even remotely famous yet…

Ryu drew a kunai and held it in front of our captive's eyes. "We don't have much time before your comrades notice you're missing, so I'll make this quick. Tell us about the Oni. Is he in the outpost? Who is he? How many ninja does he have working for him? Who has he been bribing to stay off the village's radar for this long?" Ryu rattled off his questions in rapid succession. There were probably more, but as he'd said earlier, we were short on time.

"I ain't tellin' you shit, Hayabusa!" the Chūnin spat back, smugly, as if forgetting he was terrified of my brother less than 30 seconds ago.

"That's unfortunate…" Ryu said with a small sigh. Then, with a swift motion, he drove the kunai deep into the Chūnin's thigh, all the way to the hilt.

The man's mouth opened in a silent scream, but before he could let out a sound, Ryu clamped his hand over the man's mouth.

Damn, that was absolutely brutal! Ryu doesn't fuck around. He even avoided hitting any arteries with that stab, inflicting maximum pain with minimal damage. Without missing a beat, he reached into his pouch and pulled out another kunai, holding it above the man's other leg.

"I'd advise you to think carefully about your next words," Ryu warned, his voice cold. "Where is the Oni? Is he in that outpost?"

Tears welled up in the Chūnin's eyes as he shook his head. "N–No… He left a few hours ago with a few other Shinobi and some extremely valuable loot a couple lower ranked fools got their hands on. We slit their stupid throats when they thought the Boss would actually pay them a million Ryo himself…" he explained. That meant the original thieves I was after were already dead.

"What happened to the paintings?" I cut in. "Where is the Oni taking them?"

"Our boss has a buyer in the Land of Hot Water who's going to pay us millions for them. It was supposed to be the score of a lifetime!" the Chūnin explained. If the Oni was taking them himself, then it was clear he had ninja training. He was probably a missing-nin.

I threw my hands up in frustration and cursed. "Fuck! The paintings are already gone! I failed another mission…" What was my track record at this point? Was I cursed when it came to C-Ranks?

"Don't worry about it, Kasumi. Those paintings are valuable, but uncovering all of this more than makes up for it." Ryu's words eased my frustration a bit.

This felt like a repeat of the situation with Might Guy all over again. "What should we do now?" I asked.

"Now… I'm going to finish interrogating this traitor… and then we'll go and smash that outpost," Ryu replied.

At least it wasn't all bad. "I wonder if they have any other good loot in there? They've been operating for a year after all, they should have collected some good stuff for us," I said with a smirk towards our captive Chūnin. He let out a nervous gulp…