Chương 7: Chapter 5

Fire Country Ryoma, Recently Promoted Ninja"Tell you what, brats, special offer today. You all run away and we take whatever we want. We'll let you keep your lives" A long feminine laugh.

"It'd be boring for me, so I hope you choose to resist instead!" A position under the earth had its advantages and disadvantages. It was a well-hidden spot protected by a thick layer of compacted earth, providing immense defense both physical and tactical. It was hard to see through, hard to hear through, and hard to attack through. It was the perfect place to hide and ambush a target from.

"Position four!" A growl and then three jumps, which landed on top of the frontmost carriage with a thunk-rattle. However, these same limits also applied to him. It was hard to attack through the layer of earth, it was hard to keep track of what was going on on the other side, and it was hard to move through without specific techniques. In order to take advantage of the immense tactical advantage that being underground could provide, you needed an answer for all the issues it caused you.

"I don't know how to work with you kids- can you handle yourselves?!" The sound of a fan unfolding and a growl. The issue of not being able to tell what was going on above him was solved through the puppet-eyes on his bolters. Each bolter had at least one eye which provided him a low-resolution view of the world above. It didn't help him with hearing or anything, and only provided a limited number of views, but it was good enough.

"Don't underestimate us Konoha ninja! We'll defend the clients, can you take them out?!" The sound of weapons being unsheathed and the shifting of feet, along with the tiny nervous noises of various civilians. One bolter waved a little claw at Mari, from its position underneath the carriage. She glanced at it for just a moment, eyes immediately filling with realization and then sharpening. He was pretty sure she would have figured out that he wasn't actually dead on her own, but best to be sure here.

"Wind Release: Wind Cutter!" She shouted, spreading her fan and leaping beyond the sight of his bolters. Hey, Mari, don't you think that's kinda dangerous to be tossing out with potential collateral hanging around. A great howl of wind followed, and some distance away a handful of trees were cut in half, shoved to the side before gradually toppling over. General upwards angle indicated that Mari was at least taking the civvies into account when swinging that fan around.

The issue of moving around was solved by one of his few earth jutsu. C-rank, Hiding like a Mole technique. If named more accurately, the technique would've been called 'minerals into sand method'. … He might actually rename it to that, at some point. That sounded like a cooler name.

"Kahaha! N-not bad for a city-softie!" The feminine bandit's voice called out, landing some distance away on the road, pushed back by the great blade of wind that had just partially deforested a region. He made a note to go steal those logs later-puppetry was expensive. Regardless, through the careful application of chakra to minerals like rocks and soil, they could be ground down into fine sand to allow easy movement throughout and within.

It also formed a lot of new sand out of whatever soil he happened to be fighting in, which a few of his other techniques relied upon, so it was just generally good to prepare a battlefield ahead of time using it.

"Hah, looks like you're in trouble, dear!" A masculine voice calling out from the right side, exceptionally faint. The whistling-whirl of a massive blade cutting through the air. Ryoma let his thread on that side split into a mental net, catching both like a spider's web before gently nudging them towards one another. Pulled off course, the spinning blades crashed into one another with a loud clang and shower of sparks before being flung far to the sides. That done, he returned to digging.

Chakra flowing in his hands and limbs, he belly-crawled through the soil, rock and dirt collapsing into sandy tunnels as he approached it. He'd move over to the bottom of the carriage, then dig his way up through the ground beneath. Cover to keep himself hidden but open air to reposition quickly if he needed to. Sucks to be the guy who had to fix this later.

Chakra was normally invisible to the eye, even the chakra strings, as compressed as they were, were barely noticeable even to someone who was actively looking for them. His little 'catch, crash, and fling' manuver was almost indistinguishable from the enemy just fucking up his throw and accomplishing nothing. Magical telekinesis was an incredible defense against physical projectiles, if you were practiced enough with it.

Ryoma wasn't, this kind of active-defense telekinesis was hard, took a lot of concentration, and he could only do it for a handful of projectiles at a time. It didn't work for anything non-physical either. Honestly speaking, it was a pretty niche technique.

"Hah! Having performance-issues there?!"

"Shut the fuck up, you brats! I'll cut you in half!" Followed by the whistling of yet more giant shuriken, this time in a pattern from one side of the road, a brief delay, then the other side of the road. No sound of movement between sides, at least two attackers pretending to be one. He tugged two off course, sending them to crash into two others- leaving the last two for the kids to handle. Grunts of exertion followed by the clangs of steel on steel told him that they were probably doing fine. …

Oop, there's where Inuzuka is- circling around in the woods to the side to flank the attackers. One of his bolters caught a glimpse of his red face-marks. A howl followed soon after on the opposite side of the road, and his bolters saw the ninja-dog, the brown ninken companion of the Inuzuka snarl and race around towards the enemy. Drawing attention to itself and away from its human partner.

"H-he's fast!" One of the genin was pretty gullible, or was doing a very good job of pretending to be gullible. His fingers dug through a shaded road, packed earth collapsing into sand and allowing him to poke his head through, followed by his shoulders, then his torso, waist, and legs. Like the humble sand-bug, emerging under shadow and cover to hunt its prey. The real question was how chakra-efficient he could be while doing it. He tugged a finger, one bolter launching a poisoned senbon through the air.

Near-silent and faster than most could track, it narrowly avoided Mari and punched into the female bandit's torso. She yelped in pain and staggered back, before clutching at her side. This gave Mari more than enough time to smash her warfan into the side of her head, sending the bandit tumbling away.

"Shit! Sada!" The male voice called out from the treeline.

"Eugh-""You don't sound so confident now, do you Mr. Bandit?!"

"... Fuck this! I'm telling the boss!"

"Wind Release: Wind Cutter!" Mari roared, swinging her fan from ground-level again. Ryoma knew that jutsu himself, A C-rank wind jutsu, it took six handseals normally and that jutsu-shiki allowed her to perform it by swinging a big fan around. Blasters man, they were pretty damn scary. The screaming wind mixed with a panicked yelp and the grinding roar of trees being sawn away, then a handful of thick oaks groaning and falling over from the howling blade.

But it did not include the distinct sound of a man getting ripped in half by hurricane-force bladewinds.

"Don't let him get away!"

"Flying Swallow!" Came a shout above him, then another slice of wind through the air and a scream of pain. A body tumbled from the air and landed next to the road, briefly heaving before being tackled by a massive brown dog and rolled- pinned against a fallen log and held in place with teeth, claw, and a rumbling growl.

"Good job, team." Called out the voice of the Inuzuka, landing a ways down the road and holding two more unconscious men by the scruff. Two flankers from behind, one from the left side of the road, and the woman. That left the right side unaccounted for. At least one got away then, pretty annoying. He crawled out from under the carriage, emerging next to the old Samurai with a silent but polite nod. The Samurai acknowledged his presence but nothing more.

"Could you tell us that we're about to be ambushed next time? The 'fake death' trick is getting old!" One of the genin- the one with the scarf over his nose, called out in an annoyed fashion, jumping down from the roof of the carriage.

"Eh, it's effective." The Inuzuka shrugged, before nodding.

"Hey, Suna woman! You got that one?"

"Yeah I got her!" Mari called out, hefting the paralyzed woman over her shoulder.

"That's what- her and three others?"

"No." Ryoma called out with a shake of his head, making the noblewomen next to him jump in surprise and the genin peer over the edge of the carriage down at him.

"We didn't get them all." He declared confidently, raising a hand ascending out chakra strings to grab the scattered giant shuriken, pulling them towards him casually. No way he was going to leave these behind, they were like ten thousand ryo each.

"There were at least five- but I'm guessing six." Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

"I'd put it at seven, myself." Gaku grumbled out, shaking his head and dragging the unconscious men towards the rest of them. The great shaggy dog followed suit, dragging the last man with teeth on his throat.

"One woman, six men. I don't think any of them are tossing two of those giant shuriken at the same time. The six they threw earlier tells me that there were at least six in the trees." He nodded up to the roof.

"Good work on that genjutsu, Kurenai." It must've been a pretty good one, because Ryoma hadn't even noticed. Then again- he had been underground for most of the fight.

"Seven?" Asuma groaned, sliding off the roof, sheathing his kunai as he landed.

"I only counted three."

"I was figuring four." Raido, that's his name! He stepped forwards with a palm covered in the glow of medical chakra, briefly passing over the slashes in the captured and nodding and reaching into his bag to pull out a basic medical kit. Ryoma reached out with a string to tug out the needle before Raido could touch it, letting it hover over gently to him and storing it away again. Raido watched it float with a sleepy gaze.

"Poison type?" He asked. Ryoma ignored the question and just tossed a bottle of the antivenom over, the Genin catching it, reading the label, and then nodding as he tapped a needle out and started to apply it.

"This isn't exactly a stupid-operation, as much as their execution was sloppy." Kurenai noted, making her own little jump off the top of the carriage and landing.

"It was a decent plan of attack, they just weren't good enough to pull it off."

"Probably orders from someone more important." Asuma mused, raising a hand to rub against his chin.

"Or one of them had a good idea once."

"You think they're working for someone else?" Kurenai asked.

"You know how much these giant shuriken cost?" Ryoma asked somewhat sarcastically, pulling out his bulk-storage seal and unrolling to the next empty slot. The scroll was long, and each foot or so was segmented off into its own storage-space.

"These are ten-thousand each. Petty bandits aren't going to be spending that kind of money on something this specialized. They'd buy bows or something first."

"That means a backer- and a ninja backer at that." Mari continued with a shake of her head.

"A missing nin taking over a bandit gang isn't unheard of."

"Whoever they are- they're new." Gaku declared, glaring down at the row of unconscious captives.

"The River Foxes wear red headbands. The Pirate Queen doesn't operate this far inland. Laughing Smoke works alone. I don't see any identifiers and I don't remember any stories about a group in this region."

"... Before I get to stripping and stealing- does anyone else want anything off these guys?" Ryoma asked, pointing at the captives and wiggling his storage-scroll around. Bulk storage was pretty cumbersome, but worth having just to take stuff. He could always sort through his inventory later.

"You're robbing them?" Madam Gozen asked dryly, still clinging to her friend tightly in what used to be a terrified pose.

"I'm a dastardly ninja who performs many criminal activities, and Suna is suffering an economic crisis at the moment." He explained equally dry before turning back to the other ninja.

"Anyone? Anything?"

"I'll take one of those giant shuriken, if you don't mind." Raido declared, tossing the antidote bottle back and stepping away from the captives.

"Just put it aside for me." No one else seemed to mind, so Ryoma went ahead and started pulling off clothes and gear. All of it going straight into his bulk storage. He might be able to budget out an upgrade to the Wood Dragoon after this mission. — The prisoners had been interrogated once they awoke naked and tied up, then left out for the ANBU to come pick up. Apparently, they worked for a lady named 'Ogress Omatsu', who was pretty interested in taking people's stuff around these parts.

With the escape of their fellows, it was only a matter of time before another attack happened- possibly one including the leader herself. As this was an A-rank mission, Ryoma was entirely unsurprised.

"Hey, Mr. Ryoma… What did you mean earlier, when you said Suna was having an economic crisis?" He looked up from the road, back towards the noble carriage. Lady Ikeda had called out to him from her position behind a curtained veil and towards him, a slightly worried and curious expression on her face. Madam Gozen was pretending to not be interested, but badly, looking down at her fingernails and occasionally glancing up. The Konoha ninja also looked curious, and Ryoma exchanged a glance with Mari.

"Hm." He considered.

"I don't think any of this is secret, so it should be fine to talk about." Mari shrugged. Ryoma shook his head, turning around to start walking backwards and address the client more directly.

"You remember how the current Wind Daimyo rose to power- the Samurai backing him to overthrow the previous."

"Ah- yes." She replied somewhat awkwardly. Probably not good form to talk about government overthrows. He ignored her sudden awkwardness and pushed on casually.

"Well one of the conditions of that backing was that he wouldn't put his ninja before his Samurai, like the previous had done." Ryoma shrugged.

"Perfectly understandable, and if it was just internal politics nothing would be wrong. The issue is that he didn't stop hiring ninja, he just started hiring Konoha ninja instead." He pointed a thumb over at Gaku, who blinked and sent a look his way.

"I- what?" Lady Ikeda replied, pulling back and tilting her head. The Old Samurai spat to the side, shaking his head.

"Damn fool." He growled quietly.

"Wait- isn't that… a betrayal?" Asuma asked with a baffled expression, leaning forwards and raising his hands up slightly.

"In spirit maybe, but the ninja villages are all just mercenaries in the end." Ryoma shook his head.

"He has no actual obligation to hire any specific ninja beyond whatever desires for good relations he wishes to maintain. We're ninja, after all, we're meant to be disposable tools who murder each other on behalf of the petty reasons of people with money." He shrugged. Gaku growled quietly at that, but didn't disagree.

"Now, in most ninja villages something like this wouldn't really be a problem." Ryoma continued.

"If Konoha lost one client, even a Daimyo, I'm not sure you'd even notice. You live in the richest area of the five great nations, with the most wealth and the best overall economy. Konoha has plenty of auxiliary industries to supplement its wealth and keep things rolling. Most of the great nations do."

"Tell me." He began in a lighthearted lecturing tone.

"Do you know what industry can exist in a desert? Not along the shore or among an oasis, that is. In the middle of the sands." Everyone looked at each other awkwardly for a few moments.

"Glass?" Raido spoke in a tone that was mostly a question.

"That's one." Ryoma nodded.

"... Mining?" Lady Ikeda declared, raising a hand to her chin.

"That's the other." Ryoma raised a second finger, then dropped it with a shake of his head.

"Sunagakure is a ninja-village. We make our money based on doing violent work for people with money. Our biggest employer is no longer employing us. We have two other potential industries to make money with to stay afloat, and that's about it."

"I- I can ask the Wind Daimyo to-" Lady Ikeda began, cut off with a shake of his head.

"He can't- otherwise he goes back on his word to his Samurai even more than he is already. The best he could do is not hire ninja at all- and that just means losing the military advantage to people who do still hire ninja." Ryoma explained with a slightly frustrated huff.

"This isn't a situation with any easy solution, in the end. Suna will be able to stay afloat for a while, of course, but sooner or later something is going to break somewhere."

"Obviously-" He began as an aside, raising a hand and shaking it back and forth.

"This is all public information, otherwise I wouldn't be talking freely about it."

"I didn't know about it at all." Kurenai declared, raising a hand up to rub her neck and gaze fixed downwards. Asuma was frowning, silently staring ahead. Raido was blank-faced aside from furrowed brows. Mari, of course, was already aware of all of this. She glared sourly at nothing, lips pulled into a scowl.

"Why would you need to?" Ryoma asked with a raised brow.

"We were enemies for a few years there, and still economic rivals. It only benefits Konoha to let the situation continue as it is, so there's no need for any of the working-ninja to be told about it."

"... No one is happy to be reminded of ugly problems." Gaku shook his head, reaching up to adjust his headband.

"Eh, don't worry about it." Ryoma waved off, turning back around and walking normally once more.

"Suna isn't going to fall apart anytime soon. Besides, you're from Konoha. You should be happy that a rival is losing economic advantage if anything."

"Eleven years." The old Samurai growled quietly, voice carrying over their caravan.

"That's when it'll come to a breaking point in Wind Country." Ryoma glanced back, before quietly nodding in agreement.

"That's about how long I'm predicting too." The trip was quiet for a few more hours.