Chapter 44: The Mission of the Land of Waves

"No, don't question, I believe in your ability..." Tazuna swallowed, sweat beading on his forehead.

'Is this what's so scary about ninja? Even such a small child has the strength to kill me at any moment!' A hint of awe entered Tazuna's gaze as he looked at Ren.

"Very good." Ren nodded in satisfaction, then retracted the kunai from Tazuna's neck. Ren felt it was necessary to give this old man a little deterrence upfront to prevent unnecessary trouble later.

"Then let's go!" Ren, Might Guy, and Tazuna walked out of the tavern and headed towards the Land of Waves, a small border country situated between the Land of Fire and the Land of Water. Since Tazuna was an ordinary person, they couldn't rush the way ninja typically would. They had to accompany him at a slow pace.

"It'll take almost two days to get to the Land of Waves from here." Ren glanced at the map and frowned. It felt like a bit of a waste of time to travel so slowly.

Ren wore a dark gold ring on his finger: an intermediate-grade ring, a five-star space weapon. It not only had a storage space of 100 cubic meters, much larger than his previous basic storage ring, but the biggest difference was that this intermediate ring could even store living things! Of course, Ren wasn't about to put Tazuna in the ring and carry him that way. This ring contained all the treasures Ren had built over the years, and he wouldn't let an unknown person enter his personal storage space. Even Might Guy wasn't entirely clear on the specific functions of the ring on Ren's hand; it was Ren's important secret.

Now, he took out a palm-sized mechanical bird from the ring.

"What is this?" Tazuna's eyes were filled with curiosity.

"A mechanical bird. We'll use this instead of traveling on foot," Ren explained.

"So small? I can't even put one foot down?!" Tazuna exclaimed in disbelief.

Ren didn't bother to explain further. Instead, he activated the mechanism on the mechanical bird. The palm-sized mechanical bird underwent several transformations, expanding into a super-large mechanical bird over two meters tall with wings spanning more than five meters!

'Incredible!' Tazuna, an architect, had some understanding of machinery. He was immediately shocked by the precision design of this mechanical bird! He couldn't help but secretly estimate the market value of this mechanical bird. 'One million ryo? No, no, no, thirty million ryo... no, more than that... at least one hundred million ryo or more!'

After this thought entered his mind, Tazuna couldn't help but be shocked by the number. One hundred million ryo was enough to equal the fiscal revenue of a small country like the Land of Waves for five years! How could this twelve-year-old boy in front of him come up with such a thing? It wasn't an exaggeration to say that he was rich enough to rival a nation!

Ren paid no mind to Tazuna's shock. This mechanical bird was merely a ninja tool forged from a four-star forging blueprint, similar to Sasori's puppet bird. It was primarily used for travel and transmitting information. For Ren, it wasn't a particularly important item.

Might Guy had initially been surprised when Ren first produced all sorts of strange inventions. But after spending so long together, he had long grown accustomed to these things. Seeing Tazuna's reaction now, he couldn't help but chuckle inwardly. 'It seems I wasn't the only one who had never seen the world at the beginning; it seems everyone is the same! Heh heh, this just shows that Ren is still very powerful, having created so many incredible things! And a genius like Ren is his, Might Guy's, disciple!' Thinking about this connection, Might Guy felt very proud.

"Let's go!" Ren jumped onto the mechanical bird's back first. Might Guy nodded, then carried Tazuna by his collar and placed him onto the mechanical bird's back as well.

The mechanical bird's wings glided, lifting them forward. As they left the ground and soared into the sky, the trees, buildings, and people below gradually grew smaller in their eyes.

After a few hours, Ren and the others landed on the border of the Land of Waves. The weather in the Land of Waves wasn't good. Being an island nation close to the sea, rain was frequent. It wasn't raining now, but the clouds were dense, and fog rose from below, making the weather unsuitable for continued flying.

"There's not much road left; we can walk there in two hours," Ren told them, then put away the mechanical bird.

Entering the territory of the Land of Waves, Tazuna was very familiar with the route. He led the way, with Ren and Might Guy by his sides, one to his left and one slightly behind. Now that they were in the Land of Waves, and given the timeline, the Gato group would have completely taken control of the Land of Waves by this point, so they had to be on guard.

Just as the three of them walked over a large, stagnant puddle. Ren's eyes lingered on the puddle for two seconds, then calmly moved away. 'Hmph, what a bunch of idiots.'

And just as the three of them walked past this puddle, continuing forward with their backs to it, a head suddenly popped out.

"Crash..."

"First!"

The sound of chains spreading filled the air, cutting through the quiet road, making it particularly harsh. A low, murderous voice came from behind. Two figures had appeared behind Ren, seemingly out of nowhere.

"Shh-!"

Chains in their hands lunged towards Ren, aiming to tie him up. A dazzling white light flashed through the air, accompanied by a crisp unsheathing sound, like a meteor streaking across the sky. After Ren completed a 180-degree turn, the long blade slid past the two figures, its blade-energy vanishing instantly. As Ren fully turned, the long sword in his hand was already sheathed.

The two assassins stood still.

"Pfft..."

After a few seconds, a large amount of blood spurted from the arteries in their necks. Bloody water, like a fountain, splattered all around. Even if it accidentally splashed on Ren's body, it quickly disappeared as if washed away by rain.

The eyes of the two assassins were filled with disbelief. They never thought they would die at the hands of a twelve-year-old boy. But they had no chance to regret. Anger gradually faded from their eyes. Their bodies fell backward uncontrollably, turning into corpses lying on the ground.

"Ugh~" Witnessing this violent and bloody scene, an ordinary person like Tazuna couldn't help but vomit nearby for a while.

"Ren, your fighting style is getting more and more... direct," Might Guy couldn't help but say, holding his forehead.

The corner of Ren's mouth twitched into a smile. "I don't want to make a second move for things that can be solved with one."

"Whatever you say." Might Guy said, a hint of resignation in his tone. Although the methods were violent and bloody, they were indeed efficient. This strong psychological fortitude was also one of the results of Might Guy bringing Ren out to train. Might Guy greatly valued nurturing his proud disciple. For this kind of efficiency, he simply went along with it.

Might Guy turned his gaze to Tazuna. Tazuna, who had vomited out all his food, avoided Might Guy's eyes, trying not to look directly at him.

Might Guy took the initiative and said, "Mr. Tazuna, you seem to have concealed a lot of information about this mission? Judging from the characteristics of these two corpses, although they are wandering ninja, they at least have the strength of a Chūnin. In our Konoha Village's task system, as long as it involves fighting ninja, the minimum is a B-rank task. Why did you lie about the mission level?"

"You, how do you know that they are coming for me?" Tazuna, questioned, tried to deflect. He pointed at Ren. "They... they just now attacked him!"

Seeing that Tazuna refused to admit it easily, Might Guy spoke very firmly, "Mr. Tazuna, if you won't admit it, then we'll have nothing to go on. As Konoha ninja, we have the right to terminate the mission if we find that the mission conflicts with the initial information. If you don't choose to tell us the truth, this is the end of our mission. We'll simply part ways here, and Mr. Tazuna, your subsequent life safety will have nothing to do with Konoha."