Rainy Night
The next few days were unexpectedly quiet.
Lin Ke had thought that after entering the Land of Rivers, attacks would be more frequent than before, but he didn't expect that there would be no movement for several days in a row, and the convoy safely arrived at its destination—
A slightly noisy town.
The streets were crowded with people, hawkers were shouting endlessly, and pedestrians wearing bamboo hats could be seen everywhere.
Because it's close to the Land of Rain, there are many people from the Land of Rain?
Lin Ke scanned the pedestrians near the convoy, fulfilling his duty as a bodyguard.
"Don't be so nervous." Nara Yan Shui said in a relaxed tone, "A B-Rank Mission, getting here is already more than half done. No one would carry out an assassination in broad daylight in a city."
"That would violate the rules."
Wealthy merchants and nobles allow private assassinations, but that doesn't mean they are willing to accept limitless disruption of order.
No matter how bad the Land of Rivers is, it is still a country rich in resources, and other countries will give it some face.
The convoy swaggered through the city and soon arrived at a hotel to stay. When Lin Ke was routinely patrolling the area with Yuan Wei and Xia, he suddenly noticed a feeling of being watched and looked sideways.
That was a Sand Ninja Village female ninja, quite pretty, with short golden hair tied into four short braids, wearing a light purple long-sleeved tight-fitting short dress, with a one-piece mesh shirt underneath, and carrying a huge fan on her back.
Her height was probably... one meter fifty-five.
Lin Ke, out of sensitivity to height, quickly judged the other party's precise height.
The two exchanged a glance from afar, then went their separate ways.
That style, and a ninja from Sand Ninja Village... Temari? he guessed in his heart. If the target was really Temari, then it would mean that the Jonin sent by Sand Ninja Village to obtain the gold mine would be Maki—
The Sand Ninja Village elite Jonin who instantly killed the protagonist of Shippuden.
If a fight breaks out...
Lin Ke thought about countermeasures in his mind. As a transmigrator, he knew the information of all kinds of famous characters like the back of his hand. It was difficult for a character with a name and surname to be killed on first meeting. Naturally, he could also carry out a certain degree of combat pre-judgment based on the information he obtained in his previous life.
Sure enough, Sand Ninja Village attaches great importance to the gold mine.
Moreover, at this moment, Sand Ninja Village should have already prepared for the Konoha Crush Plan. After all, in the setting book, whether it was Temari or Kankuro, they both graduated at the age of twelve and had been waiting to go to Konoha Village to participate in the Chunin Exams for the Konoha Crush Plan without being promoted in advance...
Therefore, even if Konoha Village and Sand Ninja Village were still allies at this time, they still couldn't relax their vigilance.
After patrolling around the hotel and meeting his teammates at the hotel entrance at the agreed time, Lin Ke learned that not only Sand Ninja Village had come, but Rain Hidden Village had also come.
The Land of Rivers officials assigned the merchants from the three countries to three adjacent hotels, which was why they were seen.
The three of them summarized the information and informed Nara Yan Shui, who was guarding near the Land of Fire merchant.
"I understand."
Nara Yan Shui nodded and said, "Everyone, please work hard tonight." The night was dark and the wind was high, perhaps because it was too close to the Land of Rain, it began to drizzle after nightfall.
"Drip, drip, drip"
Raindrops kept falling on the ground, rippling in the puddles.
"Hmm?!"
Lin Ke, who was leaning against the wall and silently waiting for time to pass, suddenly stood up straight. He felt that he had lost a little more physical strength all of a sudden.
This meant that his shadow had detected an abnormality and changed from two-dimensional to three-dimensional, and the increased consumption caused by standing up was to remind him.
Refining Chakra, forming seals, releasing—
Clone Jutsu.
Lin Ke held a Kunai, opened the window and climbed onto the roof. The Shadow Clone was standing on the edge, looking at the hotel opposite.
That was the hotel where the Land of Rain merchants and Rain Hidden Village ninjas were staying.
From the roof, it was impossible to tell what exactly had happened over there. He gathered Chakra at the tip of his nose, and his nostrils twitched. A bloody smell diluted by rainwater rushed into his nose.
His gaze moved down, and the water in the drainage ditch of the opposite hotel had turned dark red.
Something happened... Lin Ke didn't rush over, just silently raised his vigilance. It was none of his business if the people from Rain Hidden Village died, but he had to worry that the murderer would turn around and attack them after killing the Rain Hidden Village ninjas.
"Crack!" The window shattered, and a Rain Hidden Village ninja wearing a respirator flew out, landing on the side of the street. His face was pale, and a bowl-sized hole pierced through his chest and back. He quickly lost signs of life after landing.
Lin Ke's gaze couldn't help but dart towards the window. In the dim light, he clearly saw the ninja inside—
An adult man, wearing a bamboo hat, with a Rain Hidden Village Forehead Protector around his neck. He wasn't wearing the classic Rain Hidden Village respirator, and he had a scar on his right cheek. When he noticed a Konoha Village brat looking at him, he returned a provocative glare.
A rogue ninja? No...
Lin Ke calmly stood his ground. The shadow beside him quietly burrowed from the two-dimensional plane into the hotel's foundation under the cover of the rainy night, ready to suddenly burst out and attack.
In a four-man team, Jonin Nara Yan Shui was responsible for the core protection, never leaving the wealthy merchant's side. Among the other three, he was the Chunin who needed to make decisions and give commands.
A corpse hit the ground. Even with the sound of rain masking it, Yuan Wei and Xia, who were on guard downstairs, must have heard it.
Even if provoked, he couldn't make any aggressive moves.
For the sake of the mission, he couldn't afford to create unnecessary complications.
"Drip, drip." Rainwater dripped from Lin Ke's sleeves. He stood petrified, looking down from his high vantage point in the increasingly heavy rain, quietly watching this group of Rain Hidden Village 'rogue ninjas' calmly evacuate after slaughtering everyone in the hotel.
Only when the ninjas were far away did he retract his gaze, return to the hotel, dispel the Clone Jutsu, endure the damp clothes, and quietly guard the high ground.
He didn't sleep all night.
In the morning, the Land of Fire merchant went to the gold mine bidding site, and Lin Ke followed behind, still wearing his slightly damp clothes.
"Not bad." Nara Yan Shui deliberately lagged a few steps behind, walking parallel to him (the reason they couldn't walk side-by-side was obvious), not stingy with his praise. Then, he quickened his pace and returned to the middle of the group.
Could the Jonin have noticed the abnormality at the hotel across the street? There was no doubt about it; he probably noticed it even earlier than him.
Lin Ke was slightly pleased. No matter what, at least so far, his performance as a Chunin who had been promoted out of turn was satisfactory.
Otherwise, he wouldn't have earned a word of praise from the Jonin.
But... Rain Hidden Village ninjas without respirators made him think a bit more. According to the manga timeline, the Rain Hidden Village was still in the midst of internal strife at this time.
Salamander Hanzo shouldn't have been defeated yet, since the Rain Hidden Village ninjas in the Chunin Exams were still wearing respirators...
In other words, the ninjas who attacked the hotel last night were likely from Akatsuki. So, would Akatsuki give up on this gold mine?
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