The ropes binding him were loosened.
Yagura stretched his arms, shaking off the numbness from being tied up for so long. The one untying him was the same person who had restrained him in the first place.
He looked up and smiled at the young craftsman-nin.
"Thanks."
The brilliant, sincere smile of the boy hit the young craftsman-nin like a sunbeam, making his face flush red.
"N-No need to thank me. You're not hurt, are you?"
"Nope, don't worry. I'm pretty strong."
Yagura was telling the truth, but the truth was often hard to believe.
The young craftsman-nin assumed he was just putting on a brave front and didn't take it to heart.
"If you can, leave the Land of Artisans as soon as possible. It's not safe here."
Yagura clenched his fist behind his back but maintained his smile. "Thanks for the advice."
Ironically, he was probably the most dangerous person here.
Around him, other innocent passengers who had been caught in the crossfire were also being freed. The craftsmen-nin let them go, allowing them to leave the country at their own discretion.
Whether these passengers chose to continue their original journey or abandon it and leave the Land of Artisans was none of their concern.
Not lingering for long, Yagura swiftly disappeared from the dock.
After all, he was a shinobi of Kirigakure, here on a mission.
By the time the young craftsman-nin finished untying the others and turned back to check on Yagura, the silver-haired boy had already vanished.
...
The terrain of the Land of Artisans was mostly mountainous and hilly, with few plains or forests.
After leaving the dock, Yagura studied his map before turning southeast, heading straight for the capital city.
First, he had to meet the client.
"Now that I think about it, this is my first time dealing with a client on my own."
How should he act to get a five-star rating?
He put himself in the mindset of a service provider.
In this world, shinobi tended to be arrogant when accepting missions. After all, they held the highest-ranked profession and possessed power beyond ordinary people.
That wouldn't do. The client was the one paying.
Yagura mused.
If he performed poorly and got a one-star rating, they might not hire him again.
In reality, all the shinobi villages operated in a similar fashion—just another service industry with competitors in the market.
From the moment he arrived in this world, Yagura had noticed an interesting similarity between shinobi villages.
Simply put, a shinobi village was an organization of hired warriors.
During wartime—such as the impending Third Shinobi World War—shinobi acted as military forces, deployed in battle for their villages.
In peacetime, however, shinobi villages functioned similarly to a private militia economy. Shinobi couldn't fully detach from civilian life; they needed to take on missions to sustain their villages.
Aside from taxes and war funds provided by the daimyō, shinobi villages relied on mission commissions for income.
A peacetime shinobi village had the following characteristics:
Labor-intensive
Task-based jobs
Service-oriented
Meeting client demands
Income dependent on commissions
High-risk jobs with potential life-threatening situations
What did this remind Yagura of from his past life?
—Right. A delivery service.
If the client wasn't satisfied and left a bad review, it could damage the village's reputation.
Since that was the way the shinobi world worked, Yagura figured he might as well adapt.
He pinched his youthful face. His boyish appearance had its advantages in certain situations.
The mission had to be completed well.
He needed to earn a "Highly Satisfied" five-star rating.
But first, he had to gain the client's trust. That, too, was an art.
...
While traveling through the mountains, Yagura noticed numerous mining sites below.
Large mines had craftsmen-nin patrolling diligently, preventing any unauthorized approach.
Smaller mines, however, were mostly abandoned, with neither craftsmen-nin nor workers present.
Outside some mines, in addition to the patrolling craftsmen-nin, lay the corpses of many samurai.
Blood stained the ground—it seemed like a recent conflict had erupted here.
But samurai were no match for shinobi.
Hiding behind a small hill, Yagura pulled a portable monocular from his tool pouch and observed.
Craftsmen-nin were clearing the bodies, all of them samurai or rogue warriors.
Only a few shinobi appeared to be injured, receiving treatment at the rear. None seemed to have been killed.
The clients who hired those samurai were certainly bold.
And the samurai themselves were equally reckless.
"Hurry up! Get everything out of there!"
"Anyone with Earth or Fire Release, get inside!"
Loud crashes echoed from the mine.
Several craftsmen-nin pushed carts loaded with a furnace-like machine, with stacks of iron ore piled beside it.
One of them unrolled a scroll, pressing it to the ground. A burst of white smoke rose as the equipment and ore were sealed into the storage scroll.
The shinobi then returned to the mine, extracting more usable tools and equipment to take with them.
Whatever they couldn't transport or had no use for, they destroyed on the spot.
Since they had already made a move, they were going to see it through to the end.
After a quick assessment of the mining site's condition, Yagura resumed his journey toward the capital.
...
Atop a luxurious villa in the Land of Artisans' capital city—
"Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!!"
The report in his hands made the bald-headed CEO of Tsuchimikado Group flush with rage.
That was his money! His profits vanishing into thin air!
Seeing the estimated losses on the financial report, he felt like he was bleeding internally.
"Those barbaric black pigs! Thugs! Bandits! How dare they! How DARE they?!"
Beside him, his secretary read out rapid-fire updates from various departments.
"Sir, ever since the craftsmen-nin began their assaults three days ago, our production, storage, and logistics have collapsed.
"Production has halted. Workers have been sent home, their wages suspended.
"Furthermore, the first batch of goods we were supposed to deliver to Sunagakure was hijacked. The contract's thirty-day delivery period has expired, and they are demanding an explanation. Our first shipment to Konoha is also due tomorrow—"
"Enough!"
The CEO slammed his hand on the table, knocking the papers from the secretary's grip.
"I don't want to hear about losses! I want solutions!"
The secretary adjusted his glasses hastily. "We've been negotiating with the government, but the daimyo claims the craftsmen-nin are acting independently and can't be stopped.
"Our attempts to reclaim the mines and docks using hired samurai have failed. They aren't a match for shinobi."
"Useless trash! I should've thrown them all into the mines myself!"
The CEO hurled a pen in frustration, saliva flying as he ranted. Then, with renewed hope, he demanded,
"What about the shinobi? Once our hired shinobi strike back, everything will be fine!"
"Sir… Konoha and other villages declined our request. They are preparing for war."
Finally, the secretary delivered good news: "But Kirigakure has accepted our commission. Their shinobi should be on the way."
At that moment, a call came through. After answering, the secretary's voice cracked with excitement: "He's here! The Kirigakure shinobi is here!"
At the company's front desk, Yagura smiled at the stunned receptionists.
"Hey, got any water? I ran a long way and I'm thirsty."
"Mr. Secretary."
The receptionist, who had just called him via the pager, spoke up hesitantly. She subtly gestured toward the young boy sitting on the sofa in the lobby.
"He's over there."
"?"
Following the receptionist's gaze, the secretary confirmed that she was referring to the child happily munching on some snacks.
He had noticed the kid earlier and had been meaning to ask the front desk whose child had wandered into their company.
But that wasn't a priority at the moment, so he had put it aside.
Now that the receptionist had pointed it out, he took another look at Yagura.
When she first paged him, she mentioned that the visitor was a child.
He hadn't thought much of it at the time. Subconsciously, he had assumed "child" meant someone under twenty—a young Jonin sent by Kirigakure.
But this kid, who looked like he was barely ten years old... Was this a joke?!
From where he sat, Yagura could practically see the secretary's face cycling through a dazzling display of emotions, like fireworks exploding in the night sky.
Given his age and height, Yagura had a pretty good idea of how this first meeting with the client would play out.
It wasn't hard to guess what was going through the secretary's mind right now.
"Alright, alright, alright."
Yagura clapped his hands, drawing everyone's attention in the lobby.
"Let's not make things difficult for the young lady here. Mr. Secretary?"
Swinging his legs once before hopping off the sofa, he walked over and stopped about two meters away from the secretary.
With one hand on his hip and the other casually extended, he smiled.
"Let me introduce myself. I'm Yagura Karatachi, a Jonin from Kirigakure. I'm here in response to your commission."
The secretary, who had been preparing to smooth things over with a few well-placed words, suddenly found them stuck in his throat.
He—he's really from Kirigakure?!
"Hah!!"
A booming voice erupted as a bald man in a suit stormed over with heavy strides.
"Tsuchimikado"—the balding company president—glared at Yagura and barked, "Kirigakure? Jonin? Where did this little brat come from?! Get out of here! This isn't a place for kids playing pretend!"
Ah… just as he expected.
This face of his really did make things tricky.
It seemed that, just like a doctor needed to look reliable to gain a patient's trust, a ninja needed to appear competent to reassure their client.
Did it really have to be this way?
He really wished it didn't.
Letting out an inward sigh, Yagura frowned slightly, his expression darkening.
"Hey, who do you think you're looking down on?"
As soon as those words fell, a suffocating wave of killing intent and chakra pressure exploded from Yagura's small frame, rolling toward the company president and the secretary like an unstoppable tsunami.
He had barely released a fraction of his strength, but for two ordinary people, it was terrifying enough.
It felt like they had been struck by a massive hammer of lightning, paralyzing them with bone-deep fear.
The sheer weight of his killing intent was like a ghostly hand gripping their throats, flooding their nerves with the chilling sensation of impending death.
In their vision, the aura took on a tangible form—an enormous sea beast capable of stirring towering waves with a single movement, charging straight at them with devastating force.
Snap.
Yagura snapped his fingers, instantly withdrawing his killing intent and chakra pressure.
"Urk—!!"
The oppressive force vanished in an instant, but their bodies, having endured such intense fear, reacted instinctively. A wave of cold nausea surged upward from deep within.
The secretary barely managed to suppress it, but the balding company president, being far less resilient, couldn't hold back his body's natural response.
Yagura, ever quick on his feet, disappeared with a flicker of the Body Flicker Technique the moment he noticed what was about to happen.
No way. The scene was bound to be unpleasant, and he had just eaten. He had no intention of sticking around to witness it.
...
The meeting was ultimately moved to the top floor of the company, inside the executive office.
The ground-floor lobby was definitely out of the question now.
Yagura had no complaints. He sat on the plush office sofa, idly swinging his legs as he waited for his two esteemed clients to arrive.
Sigh.
Being a ninja that clients both trusted and felt satisfied with was really a tough job.
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Pls Drop some Power Stones
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