Second S-Rank Mission
Land of Rivers, Daimyo's Mansion.
"Who's there?"
A guarding Samurai shouted, drawing his sword and staring at the silent courtyard. He tensed, moving cautiously.
The opponent must be a ninja highly skilled in assassination. If his senses weren't so sharp, if he wasn't what ninjas called a sensory type, he wouldn't have detected anyone infiltrating the courtyard using Chakra.
Are they assassins sent by the Rebels? Or perhaps—
His thoughts were cut short as a Kunai silently pierced his throat. Before his sword could fall, the killer seized it. He staggered, trying to shout a warning to his comrades and lord, but only hastened his death. Soon, he was lifeless.
Samurai who rushed over upon hearing the commotion saw their comrade kneeling on the ground, blood dripping. As they moved to attack, assassins on either side slit their throats.
In the fleeting moonlight, one could vaguely make out the standard equipment of the Konoha Village Anbu.
Breaking through the initial resistance, the assassins eliminated the two waves of Samurai drawn by the dying man's cry, destroying their brains. They moved as if in an empty land to the Daimyo's residence.
"Got you." The Land of Rivers Ninja responsible for protecting the Daimyo pressed a Kunai to the assassin's nape, looking at the other two assassins. He said in a low voice, "What exactly is Konoha Village trying to do? Are you breaking the alliance with the Land of Rivers? You…"
"Chih!" Two ink-drawn tigers sprang from the shadows, tearing the Land of Rivers Ninja's neck.
"Peng!" The ninja whose neck was torn turned into a scarecrow.
The Land of Rivers Ninja, who had used the Substitution Jutsu to evade the attack, did not escape death. A long, ink-black snake hanging from the eaves tightly coiled around his body, constricting him until he died in suffocating agony.
His head was also skillfully severed and sealed into a scroll.
The assassins infiltrated the house from all directions. A brief scream echoed within seconds.
The clouds in the sky quietly obscured the already dim moon. In the faint candlelight, one could vaguely see the silhouette of an assassin standing behind the shoji screen. He opened a notebook, marked something with a pen, and quietly disappeared.
"Hoo~"
The candle went out, and everything returned to silence.
...
"Within a week of the Land of Rivers Daimyo and several ministers' deaths, the Rebels advanced rapidly, occupying more than a third of the Land of Rivers..."
Lin Ke looked at the news, feeling a bit troubled. He turned to the client beside him and asked, "If we enter the Land of Rivers now, we might face more than just the Rebels, right?"
"Regardless, I need to return for my country and my people, so I must entrust my life to you." The client, the Land of Rivers Daimyo's Son, knelt opposite him, bowing deeply, his forehead almost touching the tatami mat, and said solemnly.
You're just a Daimyo's son; whether you can even sit on that throne is another matter. To already speak of 'my country and my people' is quite presumptuous.
And your own country is in such a state, yet you were staying in Tanzaku Street, eating, drinking, and gambling. You came to Konoha to hire ninjas to return home, only to find your whole family dead…
Your luck is truly good. If you hadn't been in Konoha, you probably would have been assassinated long ago.
Lin Ke was too lazy to comment. The plump Daimyo's Son before him was simply human trash, but he had indeed approached the Third Hokage with a legitimate allied nation agreement, offering an S-Rank Mission to escort him to the Land of Rivers' capital.
Since he was being paid, Lin Ke couldn't refuse the mission. The client was unwilling to give up, wanting to gamble his life for the Daimyo's position, so there was nothing more to say.
"Then, shall we depart tomorrow?" he asked.
The Daimyo's Son nodded, saying, "As soon as possible, please. I am very grateful." He bowed again.
Leaving aside his other vices, his attitude was quite good, showing a bit of a courteous demeanor. As expected, even spoiled children of the privileged class knew how to make others feel good.
"Then, if you'll excuse me, I will come to pick you up with my team tomorrow." Lin Ke used slightly polite language. No matter what, the other party was a big client who had spent one million Ryo, so he had to be courteous.
Amidst the Daimyo's Son's gentle smile, Lin Ke rose and left the room, exchanging glances with the three Samurai guarding the door before departing.
The privileged are truly rich.
Lin Ke glanced back at the exquisite residence. Even the Daimyo's Son of a small country like the Land of Rivers could eat, drink, and play every day, buy a house in Konoha Village, and even after his whole family died, still have money to pay a million Ryo mission reward.
But the situation in the Land of Rivers now…
He frowned. The Land of Rivers was in a dire state. The news publication he had just read was already two days old. Besides the Rebels, there were also many mixed and chaotic forces there.
Presumably, besides the Land of Wind, which had just experienced defeat, every country, force, and organization that could reach would try to get involved.
The Land of Rivers, bordering the Land of Fire, had a very favorable climate and abundant resources in most of its territory. No matter how chaotic it had been before, the government had maintained a semblance of peace. Now that the political center had collapsed and the Rebels were advancing rapidly, it had become a piece of fat.
Even if they couldn't occupy it from a distance, it would be very easy to grab something and leave.
Theoretically, of the three countries near the Land of Rivers, the Land of Wind was preoccupied, and the Land of Rain was also in a state of civil war. According to the principle of "who benefits is who is suspected," the Land of Fire should be the one most hoping to see this happen.
Moreover, assassinating a country's Daimyo wasn't so simple. A country with both the motive and the ability… it seemed that after filtering, only the Land of Fire remained.
Of course, it can't be ruled out that some organization or individual did it.
Small countries in the Naruto World are always in a precarious situation. Sasori of the Red Sand casually destroyed a country, and Orochimaru had long been recognized as someone who could easily destroy a country alone.
For countries other than the five great nations, it is common for them to be born today and destroyed tomorrow.
Take the Land of Rivers for example. In the manga, at the beginning of Shippuden, the Land of Rivers was still sandwiched between the Land of Wind and the Land of Fire. By the time of the Fourth Shinobi World War, when the manga map was shown, the Land of Rivers' position had become the Land of Valleys.
Most importantly, if Konoha Village assassinated the entire Land of Rivers Daimyo's family, then Konoha Village wouldn't need to take on the Land of Rivers Daimyo's Son's mission, right? [S-Rank Mission... it seems I have quite the connection with the Land of Rivers. Most of my high-level missions come from there.]
Lin Ke didn't linger at their doorstep. He used the Body Flicker Technique to return home. He's leaving the village tomorrow for another S-Rank Mission of extremely high difficulty. There's no way there won't be any fighting.
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