Chapter 62: Mission: The Kingdom of Soup

After a few days, Ren and his Anbu team arrived in the Land of Hot Water (湯の国, Yu no Kuni), also known as the Land of Soup. The Konoha spies stationed there hadn't sent any normal return information for three months. Ren's mission this time was to find out the situation of those spies. As an Anbu captain, Ren had done his homework before departing. An abnormal situation like this, where spies failed to report back to the village, usually meant one thing: the spy was in trouble.

The Land of Hot Water is located not far to the east of the Land of Fire. The country itself is relatively weak, and traveling there is generally safer than in other regions. Still, Ren didn't take this mission lightly. After carefully instructing his Anbu team members, they headed directly for the secret stronghold of the spies in the Land of Hot Water.

At a wooden tavern on the edge of the Land of Hot Water's famous hot spring town, Ren, Sunflower, Moth, and Seaisland took a table and sat down. A clerk soon came to greet them.

"I'd like a hot spring egg!" Ren said. "Specifically, I want a hot spring egg with liquid egg white and a solidified egg yolk!"

The clerk seemed taken aback, a bewildered smile flickering on his face. "Guest, you must be joking. Where would you find a hot spring egg with a solidified yolk and liquid white?"

Ren was about to answer, but Moth spoke first: "Let's go, it doesn't seem to be here."

Ren stopped him, motioning for Moth to sit down. He smiled at the clerk: "There is indeed such a hot spring egg, though not many people have seen it. You're young, so I don't blame you for not knowing." He added, "Could you please bring your boss?"

"Okay, please wait a moment." The clerk replied, then hurried into the depths of the store.

'A hot spring egg... liquid egg white, solidified egg yolk.' This was the pre-arranged code between Konoha and their long-term lurker in the Land of Hot Water. The meeting point was near the hot spring town's main street. Asking for a hot spring egg with such a strange request meant that even if they found the wrong person, it wouldn't draw undue attention. If the other party didn't pick up on the code, getting up and leaving immediately would only heighten suspicion. Besides, the designated meeting location was here, making it the place with the highest chance of connecting with the liaison.

"Several customers, I'm very sorry, but we've never heard of hot spring eggs with liquid egg white and solidified egg yolk." A moment later, a middle-aged man, led by the clerk, approached Ren's table.

"Captain... Echo Feather, let's go. We came to the wrong store. Let's try another one." Hearing what the shopkeeper said, Sunflower couldn't help but stand up, intending to leave. The shopkeeper before them bowed repeatedly, apologizing.

"Sorry, sorry, I neglected everyone."

Ren's eyes flashed. "That's fine. Just make the hot spring eggs you normally prepare." After speaking, he once again calmly motioned for his Anbu team to sit down.

Ren... had seen the shopkeeper, who was bowing again and again, make a secret gesture—a gesture matching the password! While signaling his team members to sit down, Ren also responded with a corresponding gesture to the boss.

"Several guests, please wait a moment!"

After a while, normal hot spring eggs were delivered. After they finished eating, the shopkeeper invited Ren and his group closer and casually exchanged the pre-arranged docking code words amidst lighthearted jokes! Ren also gave the next set of code words during the banter, and the shop owner reciprocated.

'Connector... Found him! It's the store owner!'

After both parties confirmed their identities, the shop owner apologized to Ren: "Sorry! The situation has been too tense recently, and I had to be cautious."

Ren frowned, then asked: "Konoha hasn't received your normal reports for three months. What's going on?"

"It's like this..." The shop owner began to tell Ren and his team about their current situation. In recent days, a mysterious force had suddenly appeared in the Land of Hot Water, opening a very profitable casino. Facing this mysterious casino, Konoha scouts had been tasked with finding out its origins. But... after going to the casino, when the scouts returned to the store, they would only order some food. They no longer exchanged information, nor spoke about any mission details, treating the store owner like a stranger.

'Problem occurs!' The shop owner guessed that the spies were likely being controlled by the mysterious casino's people. After that, there were more and more strange customers in the store, all making various random gestures and trying all sorts of incorrect connection codes. During this process, occasionally one or two people would accidentally say part of the code, but then... the rest of the code would be completely wrong! So the shop owner had become extremely cautious. When he saw Ren's group approach, even though Ren correctly answered a code, he didn't dare to relax his vigilance when Ren made the corresponding gesture. He went back and forth with Ren in a joking way until all the passwords were confirmed correct, only then could he relax.

Of course... there was another reason why the shop owner hadn't relaxed during the complicated password exchange... that was the liaison, Ren himself. Because Ren was simply too young. Until Ren answered all the passwords correctly, he couldn't be certain that the still-immature young man in front of him was truly the connector.

"Mysterious forces... Casino..." Hearing the store owner's information, Ren pondered. "What is the strength of our arrested person?" Ren was referring to the spy.

The shop owner immediately responded, "He is currently an elite Chūnin, but his strength is comparable to a Jōnin."

"Jōnin..." Ren fell into thought again.

Seeing Ren like this, Sunflower couldn't help but ask with wide eyes, "Captain, what are you thinking about?"

"Team... Captain?"

"He's the captain?!" The shop owner was stunned.

Sunflower turned to look at the shop owner and nodded innocently: "Yes, he is the captain of our team."

"I..." The store owner was incoherent for a moment before bowing to Ren: "I'm sorry, Lord Echo Feather, it's my fault to question your identity."

Ren raised his head from his contemplation, smiling at the shop owner: "It's okay."

Taking a deep breath, the shop owner forced himself to accept the fact that this 12-year-old was indeed an Anbu captain, and asked, "Lord Echo Feather, what should we do now?"

Ren paused for a moment, then laid out three plans.

"One, we immediately break into the mysterious casino and rescue our companion." "Second, we proceed cautiously, first sneaking into the mysterious casino to find out its details, and then rescuing our companion." "Third, we make a tactical retreat, return to Konoha, report the situation here to Lord Hokage, and then Lord Hokage decides whether to send personnel to confront the mysterious casino in the Land of Hot Water."

As soon as Ren finished speaking, the discussion immediately heated up. His Anbu team member, Moth, immediately rejected the third option: "How can you choose the third option! We are the reinforcements sent by Konoha! How can we know that our companions are in dire straits and still not help?!" After hearing Ren's third plan, Moth was very dissatisfied with Ren, his words filled with a fiery intensity, as if about to explode.

Seaisland also said: "I also think the third option is inappropriate. That option can be ignored... We can choose between the first and second options." He agreed with Moth's point of view, but he didn't want Moth to be quite so explosive.

Sunflower didn't speak, but she stared at Ren intently.