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Arrival in the Land of Rain
After securing the corpse, Shirō collected the certificate, purchased intelligence on the third target's whereabouts, and immediately set off.
This mission also went smoothly. The target was merely an ordinary chūnin—nothing remarkable. Shirō didn't even need to use a Noble Phantasm; the fight ended almost as soon as it began.
Though the opponent offered little combat experience, the harvest was substantial. Shirō found several bounty certificates on the body, which he estimated to be worth over a million ryō in total.
With that done, Shirō hurried toward the Land of Rain. He couldn't allow that fat sheep to be snatched away by someone else.
To this day, Shirō still couldn't understand why Inoshita would choose to flee into the Rain Country.
That wretched place was steeped in chaos, battles erupting everywhere—hardly an environment suited for hiding.
True, it was easier to cover one's tracks amid such disorder. But that advantage was meaningless. Nearly every shinobi there carried a bingo book.
For someone whose bounty far exceeded his actual strength, that book was practically a death notice—especially since weaker ninjas often memorized the faces of such targets in hopes of striking it rich.
By all logic, the Land of Rain should have been filled with danger for Inoshita.
Instead of lying low, he walked straight into it.
In Shirō's eyes, it was a truly baffling decision.
Yet Inoshita had his own reasons.
He knew perfectly well how dangerous the Rain Country was. But given his circumstances, everywhere was dangerous.
This incident forced him to confront a harsh truth: he was too weak.
If he were strong enough, he wouldn't need to run.
But as things stood, he was a lone wolf with no backing, no channels, and no resources to improve himself. If he wanted to grow stronger, he needed to attach himself to a faction.
It was during this time that he heard rumors of an organization founded in the Land of Rain by Yahiko and his two companions.
Akatsuki.
Thus, Inoshita decided to gamble everything and enter the Rain Country in hopes of finding an opportunity to join them.
After all, large organizations rarely recruited outsiders; they preferred to cultivate their own members. At this stage, Akatsuki represented his best chance.
Unfortunately, nothing went according to plan.
He failed to obtain any concrete intelligence on Akatsuki, let alone make contact with them.
Instead, what greeted him were relentless assassination attempts.
And Shirō knew none of this.
His attention was no longer on his quarry—but entirely on the woman before him.
She sat by a campfire in a forest clearing, her features unmistakably bearing the refined look common to women from Konoha. Even her guards occasionally stole glances at her chest.
Yes—she was very much Shirō's type.
But that wasn't what truly drew his gaze.
What captivated him was her face.
It was identical to the one on the bounty poster.
Bounty: 10,000,000 ryō.
Another third of an Asuma.
If he took her down as well, this operation alone would earn him the equivalent of one whole Asuma.
Still, Shirō hesitated.
He had already scouted the area and confirmed that there were no powerful bodyguards. Yet she didn't seem like a bad person, and for a moment, he didn't want to make a move.
In the end, Shirō left.
Leaving behind a campsite filled with corpses.
He did act after all. To justify it to himself, he told himself that she was a merchant—and no merchant was without deceit. Moreover, among her goods he had spotted forbidden items such as explosive tags, which meant she clearly wasn't innocent.
But the truth was something Shirō didn't realize—or perhaps deliberately ignored.
The real reason was the ten million ryō.
Shirō's way of thinking was gradually drifting toward that of a magus.
People unrelated to him could be quantified by value. They were no longer treated as the same kind of existence.
He needed that ten million.
And that woman had nothing to do with him.
So he made his move.
It was that simple.
Only Shirō himself hadn't yet come to terms with it.
---
"Water Release: Water Shockwave!"
"Earth Release: Earth Flow Wall!"
Within a narrow canyon, two ninja clashed fiercely. Their strength was respectable—both could fluently cast C-rank ninjutsu. For shinobi outside the Five Great Nations, that level was considered quite good, regardless of age.
After all, in Konoha, aside from prodigies, only chūnin could reliably perform C-rank techniques. Most genin still relied primarily on taijutsu and basic ninjutsu.
But in Shirō's eyes—someone who originated from Konoha and had already copied over a thousand techniques—they were nothing more than weaklings.
He stood calmly atop the canyon wall, silently observing their battle.
It had been a week since Shirō killed that woman—far longer than he had planned.
According to his original calculations, he should have arrived here three days earlier. But he had underestimated the situation.
He accounted for the Rain Country's weather, yet failed to consider the war—or rather, he hadn't realized just how chaotic the Land of Rain truly was.
Logically speaking, with Hanzō the Salamander suppressing the region, it shouldn't have been this unstable.
But what Shirō encountered were countless bands of mountain thieves. Nearly every mountain seemed to shelter a group.
They weren't fierce.
They were simply desperate.
Every group Shirō passed was sallow and emaciated, painfully weak.
After retaliating a few times early on, Shirō stopped killing them. He either hurried past or detoured through the forests to avoid contact altogether.
It wasn't mercy.
During the Second Shinobi World War, while stationed in the Rain Country's logistics units, Shirō had already killed many people—mostly shinobi.
He felt no particular guilt.
He simply didn't want to kill excessively and damage his own psyche.
Killing too many people could lead to mental collapse. Shirō had seen plenty of ninja break during the Second Shinobi World War.
Those with mild symptoms were subjected to genjutsu to stabilize their emotions.
Those who deteriorated badly—and lacked influential backing—were often sent straight into suicide units.
Because of this, some ninja attempted to defect, unable to accept such treatment.
This wasn't unique to Konoha; it happened in every village. Some simply turned a blind eye as long as their own people weren't harmed.
Knowing this, Shirō had no intention of stepping into that abyss himself.
That was the real reason for his delay.
By now, the intelligence he had purchased was long outdated. Under these conditions, even Gray Snake wouldn't be able to track anyone. Rain erased trails, and after so many days, any remaining clues were long gone.
For the moment, Shirō didn't want to spend more money on information.
Instead, he decided to ask around among nearby ninja.
The Land of Rain wasn't large to begin with. Paying for intelligence now would be a waste—and since he was already late, a little more time wouldn't change much.
Thus, he waited for the two below to finish their fight.
Then he would harvest them.
After watching for a while, Shirō recognized both from his bingo book. Their bounties were small—only tens of thousands—but every bit added up.
This encounter promised a double harvest.
Ever since the incident with that woman, Shirō had memorized the contents of his bingo book. It made acting on sight far more efficient.
Along the way, he had already collected around one hundred thousand ryō from similar encounters.
Not bad at all.
---
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