Shin listened intently, his body rigid, every muscle coiled. He could tell from the way she carried herself, the calm in her stance, the weight behind her voice, that this woman was at least as strong as he was, likely stronger.
"Who are you, and where is the Suikage? Is she… alive?" he asked, his eyes locked on hers. The amber gleam of her gaze held no warmth, no hint of joy.
"My identity is not important. What matters is that she lives. But first," the woman exhaled, her voice softening with a sigh after the briefest hesitation, "I need something from you."
Shin's eyes widened slightly, the gray in his irises catching the light of the fire.
"From the ease with which you reached me, you must have ties to mercenaries. Perhaps you once were one yourself…"
'Did Liyanna reveal my past to her?' Shin wondered, his jaw tightening. He did not allow himself to consider that the kunoichi might have deduced it from a handful of details alone.
"As a mercenary, you must know the weight of a promise. You must know how to guard a secret, even from your own village." Her face remained utterly blank as she spoke, her body motionless. If not for her voice, Shin might have mistaken her for a lifeless puppet. "No one must ever know it was I who told you where the Suikage is. And you must never seek out our group. Break this promise, and the consequences will be severe. You already understand how powerful we are."
Shin nodded without hesitation. He would have signed away his soul to a devil if it meant saving Maki. He didn't even stop to question her motives; all that mattered was the chance she dangled before him.
"I swear. I'll keep everything secret."
The woman inclined her head in a slow, measured nod. Then she fell silent, her unblinking stare fixed on him. The quiet stretched thin. Though only seconds passed, for Shin it dragged into eternity. A crushing anxiety swelled in his chest, squeezing his lungs with each breath. The night air was cold, but the pressure made it feel suffocating, every breath like ice scraping his throat.
At last, she spoke again.
"We never intended to kill your Kage. We needed her for…" She faltered, her words hanging. For the first time, her eyes slipped from him, shifting toward the bonfire as if the flames themselves pulled her thoughts. "Let us say we had an agreement with a particular individual. And now that agreement has broken…"
Her voice sharpened briefly, anger flashing through her tone. The faint flare of her nostrils betrayed what her composure tried to hide.
"I cannot tell you where that individual is. But I can direct you to one of his subordinates. If you can track him, you may uncover the rest."
Shin narrowed his eyes. The offer was too convenient, too clean. And yet, his thoughts clawed against his doubt.
'Why would she lie? They don't need to lure me into a trap. Their group is already far beyond me.'
"Why are you doing this?" he asked at last, unwilling to let the question rot in silence. He needed to smother the doubt gnawing at him.
The woman froze. For the first time her brow furrowed, her gaze lowering.
"She reminded me of someone…" she murmured. In that moment, her eyes flickered with life, a dead ember briefly igniting, the frozen fire thawing. But the light dimmed just as quickly. Her gaze grew cold again, her voice regaining its emptiness.
"Our group gains nothing from making Takimura our enemy. We'd rather you kept your distance."
'Yeah… this is a lie. If they were truly wary of Takimura, they wouldn't have attacked our envoy in the first place.' Shin kept his face perfectly still, betraying nothing of the suspicion twisting through his mind. 'So… someone hired them to take Maki?'
"Alright then," he said aloud, his voice laced with anger. "Where is this individual? And who exactly has the Suikage?"
Only in speaking the words did he feel the absurdity of them. Capturing a Kage was already nearly impossible, yet keeping one imprisoned? That was supposed to be unrealistic, something beyond even the nightmares of shinobi.
"As I told you, I do not know your Kage's exact location," the kunoichi replied, her tone flat. She raised a hand, and from her palm unfurled a sheet of paper. Ink spread across it in sharp, black lines until a map revealed itself. "But you can find the one you seek in the Land of Lightning. Here."
The paper floated from her fingers, gliding through the air until it landed in Shin's hands.
His eyes widened. His thoughts stalled for a moment. He had seen strange jutsu before, but this woman's existence defied belief - the ability to dissolve into countless pages, to create tools, even maps, from herself. It was something he never would have imagined possible.
"You will find that person's subordinate here," she said, her gaze sweeping over him as she studied him thoroughly. "But… I doubt you can handle him alone. You will need help."
Her form began to unravel. Sheets of paper peeled away from her body, each fluttering in a soft storm. The sound of rustling filled the clearing, drowning the crackle of the fire. Even as her body collapsed into fragments, her voice lingered, fading with every syllable.
"And the one who holds your Kage captive… is Orochimaru. One of the Sannin of Konoha."
<<<>>>
'This is strange.' Kaoru lowered the letter slowly, his mind turning. 'Sensei has learned Maki's location… but he cannot share it with the village and asked me to meet him near the harbor in three days.'
His eyes sharpened as he returned to the present. The three elders were staring at the parchment resting on the table, their gazes fixed like hawks circling prey.
"I apologize, elders," Kaoru said, his voice even. He reached forward, took the letter, and slipped it into his storage seal. "But this is meant only for me. I cannot, in good conscience, go against my sensei's request."
The elders exchanged glances, silent and stiff. Their eyes shifted between one another but not a word left their lips.
"So," Kaoru continued, straightening in his chair, "what about the clan matters? Where were we before the interruption?"
"Lord Kaoru, there are no immediate crises… in the clan… that demand your attention," Beno said after a pause, his voice dropping. He picked up one of the scrolls lying on the table, unrolled it, and studied it briefly. "But as it stands, in about four months our clan will run out of funds."
"Why?" Kaoru asked, his brows furrowing.
"Our income depends on the missions our shinobi complete. But with the state of the village, all commissions have been frozen. Takimura is under lockdown, no shinobi are allowed to leave."
"Wait." Kaoru leaned forward, his tone sharpening. "What about other sources of income?"
His mind churned as he searched his memory, trying to recall what the Takime produced, what they sold, what trade sustained them beyond missions. Nothing came.
"Lord, we don't produce anything. We are shinobi!" Tereno declared with misplaced pride, stroking his long beard. But his satisfaction faded quickly when he noticed the look Kaoru was giving him - not fiery, but a glare of disbelief, as if the boy could not comprehend such stupidity.
"What do we own then?" Kaoru pressed. "Stalls? Workshops? Restaurants? Do we sell anything at all?"
Silence followed.
'Is it just the Takime, or are all shinobi clans this shortsighted?' Kaoru thought, his expression twisting in dismay. The new thread of hope he carried for Maki had rekindled his spirit, made him more animated. His mind raced. 'Wait. The Hyuga? The Uchiha? Did they ever run proper businesses? No… the only thing I remember is that small Uchiha shop, and even that only sold ninja gear.'
"Lord," Beno finally spoke again, shaking his head, though his words betrayed his own discomfort. "Clans that live primarily as shinobi… do not engage in such activities."
"Then what about those Takime who are not shinobi?" Kaoru pressed further. "The veterans? The ones who never awakened chakra?"
Tereno shifted uncomfortably, beads of sweat forming at his temple. "Their families usually support the weaker ones. Veterans are given stipends by the clan, according to their past rank."
The silence that followed was heavier than before. The elders sat stiff, their gazes uneasy, each of them realizing the same truth - a fifteen-year-old boy had cornered them with ease.
And the disappointment in Kaoru's eyes weighed heavier than any scolding.
"Alright," Kaoru said at last, his fingers tapping lightly against the table. The small sound made Tereno flinch in his seat. "We cannot continue like this. Strong finances are essential if we want to survive… Wait, I remember the Shegachi clan handling some of our businesses. What about them?"
"The income we receive from them is far too little for a clan of our size," Beno answered, his tone clipped, as though admitting it pained him.
'Then why in the world did we even entrust the Shegachi with our businesses if they can't produce results?' Kaoru thought, the words searing in his mind. Yet outwardly, his face remained calm, betraying neither anger nor disappointment.
"Fine," he said after a pause. His brows knit together, and a sharper resolve lit his eyes. "Then we will change from the very core. Not everyone is born to be a shinobi. Not everyone has the talent to mold chakra and risk their lives in battle. Some are skilled in trade. Some have a gift for teaching. And some are drawn to fuinjutsu."
The three elders swallowed hard, exchanging uneasy glances. At last, Orihime straightened, her hands folding in her lap as she bowed her head slightly.
"Lord Kaoru," she said, her voice hesitant. "We must not betray the traditions handed down to us by our ancestors. Takime is not a clan of merchants, nor teachers, nor scholars. We are shinobi."
"I agree," Tereno added quickly, emboldened by Orihime's words. He stroked his beard, his voice rising with the false confidence of someone who thought himself backed. "What will the other shinobi clans say if we lower ourselves to trading? They will mock us, and our reputation will suffer."
He believed the words would rattle Kaoru, that they would sting him into submission. Instead, Kaoru's eyes softened with something unexpected, a look of pity.
"Since when do Takimes concern themselves with the opinions of others?" he asked, his voice respectful, almost gentle. "To limit our potential merely to please others is not strength, nor is it wisdom. Lady Orihime, I know your concerns come from a good place. But tell me, who here knows more about our ancestors than I do? Was it not I who recovered our true taijutsu scrolls and taught you how Takime actually fought in the past?"
Orihime lowered her gaze, unable to hold his eyes. They were warm, filled with respect, and that only made them cut deeper.
Tereno's hands trembled as sweat gathered on his forehead. His earlier bravado crumbled.
Only Beno seemed moved in another way. He leaned forward unconsciously, eyes locked on Kaoru. Whatever doubts had clouded him earlier were gone, replaced by almost an excitement.
"Elders," Kaoru went on, his tone calm but firm, "no Takime should be forced to waste their talent simply because they are different. What if Yko had been born into our clan, only to be pushed into becoming a shinobi? His mastery of fuinjutsu would have been lost. Is that what you want for our clan?"
He paused, drawing a long breath to steady himself before continuing.
"Tomorrow, we will meet again and discuss this in detail. Until then, think carefully. Think about how you can contribute to the new Takime I am going to build."
He did not explain further, but the words themselves seemed to strike them harder than any explanation could. All three elders opened their mouths to speak, their faces shocked by the implications, but Kaoru's voice cut across them.
"Today's meeting is over. Reflect on why our clan has failed so many times, why only a handful of us grow strong while the rest remain barely above average chunin."
With that, his form blurred and vanished from the room, leaving only silence in his wake.
The three elders remained frozen, unsettled by what they had heard, their thoughts in disarray.
But Kaoru's day was not done. His next destination awaited.
The Shegachi clan.
A/N -
Hello Everyone!
I want to wish you all a Happy New Year, and I hope the next one will be much better than 2025 was.
There won't be a new chapter this Saturday, I want to spend some time with my family and friends. But I'm not leaving you empty-handed… ho ho ho xD
To make up for it, I'll be leaving a discount code for my Patreon, which unlocks 20 chapters. It'll be active for 2 weeks, so feel free to grab it while it's there!
You can claim a 60% discount on the first month using the code: D4114
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Thank you for being here and for supporting my story. Here's to a better year ahead 🥂