Triumph swelled within my students. Their faces flushed with the adrenaline of their first real victory over an enemy ninja. While they celebrated, I moved with quiet efficiency. One by one, I applied a Stasis tag to each of the fallen shinobi. The paper tags glowed with a faint chakra light, and their breathing slowed, making sure that they wouldn’t cause problems in the future. I placed each of them securely in the back of the cart. I then dispelled the genjutsu on the merchant family, and they woke with a start, blinking in confusion, their minds free of any memory of the confrontation. The road ahead was now clear. With the cart once more rumbling beneath our feet, we resumed our journey to the Land of Snow, the mission back on track.
The next few hours passed in relative peace, a welcome break from the chaos of our last encounter. The familiar rumble of the cart wheels and the constant murmur of my students talking filled the quiet stretches of the road. Soon, we arrived at a bustling port town, a lively place filled with the salty air of the ocean and the sounds of a few thousand people going about their lives. My first task was to contact the local authorities and inform them of the bandits' hideout. I gave them the precise location of the thieves’ den and immediately created a shadow clone. I sent the clone to guide the authorities to the hideout. Its secondary task was to treat the wounded, a necessary duty. While the authorities went about their work, I located the farmers who had joined the banditry. I brokered a deal with them: a reduced sentence in exchange for their full confession and a promise to testify against the Flaming Tiger Gang.
The women who had been captured by the bandits were also part of this deal. The bandits' treasure was to be split among them. In addition, the women were offered shelter in the two nearby sister towns if they needed it, along with a promise of no taxes for ten years. This was meant to incentivize them to gain employment at a local business for competitive pay. If they were traveling merchants themselves, they would get a good deal on all transactions as long as they did business with the two towns. Once the deal with the farmers was made, I gave them a small pouch of money that was a small portion of the bandit's bounty.
Both of the deals would hopefully reduce the criminal presence in the area while encouraging business and helping the reputation of the two towns. The mayor of the port town tried to argue about the tax exemption for the women. He made some crude remarks about the kind of woman infesting his town. His protest was quickly silenced when I shoved a kunai into the wall next to his head, convinced the man of the wisdom of deferring to my judgment in this matter.
After that was settled, we had a few more things to discuss before the day was done. I suggested that he offer my team and I a place to stay in his mansion while we waited for our ship to reach port that would take us to the land of snow. I humbly accepted his very generous offer, with the small caveat that he would also need to prepare some spare rooms for our newly acquired guests from the Land of Snow. After glaring at me for a few seconds, he ordered his house staff to prepare our rooms. I thanked him and met back up with my team.
The kids proclaimed that this was the greatest mission ever and lamented on not going on missions earlier. I gently reminded them that missions rarely proceed as smoothly and comfortably as this one, but from the way they quickly nodded their heads, I could tell my words did not sit well with them. Most missions like this would involve camping in the woods for multiple days and foraging for food at a minimum. I am beginning to suspect that I might really be spoiling them rotten, but there are worse character flaws to have.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
***
A member of the mayor’s staff informed me that a nasty storm was out at sea and it would delay the ship's arrival by two days. The captain would also need time to offload and resupply new cargo, which would take another two days at a minimum. With that news, and not even taking into account for the repairs the ship will need after surviving the storm, I mentally put aside a week just to wait to get out to sea.
I felt a little guilty of overstaying our welcome at the mayor's mansion, but after recalling briefly speaking with the man when I first got here, my guilt faded away. I was not a fan and would not mind inconveniencing him. I would say that he spent a considerable amount of money furnishing his manor. I do not want to begin investigating him; it is best just to remain ignorant and enjoy the nicer things in life.
I took the Snow ninjas and placed them three in a room that the mayor so graciously offered us. I was tempted to wake them up, to get some information, but I was still mulling the idea over in my head. There was little to be gained and a lot of problems that could be created, but it would also be satisfying to watch their frustration and confusion.
While I weighed the pros and cons, the kids took full advantage of their newfound freedom. They were ecstatic and wandered the mansion grounds, a sprawling estate of manicured lawns and finely pruned bushes. They were messing around, laughing and playing tag with one another while exploring the nooks and crannies of the mayor’s vast gardens. I decided that now was as good a time as any to do some reconnaissance. I would investigate any local news about the Land of Snow. I needed to know more about the political situation and the new Daimyo.
My investigation led me to one of the port town's bars. I found a few that had sailors from all over, and they spoke freely after a few cups of sake. Their complaints were standard, they claimed they worked too hard while being paid too little. The little I heard coming from the Land of Snow was optimistic. Rumor had it that the old Daimyo was spending money frivolously and that their new lord would bring peace and prosperity.
The Snow ninjas, I learned, were a new fighting force. They were built from the disasters of the last war, comprised mostly of former Mist, Cloud, and Stone ninjas with a few smaller villages ninjas sprinkled in.
After the war, I had heard that the Cloud and Stone villages had gone out to hunt down their deserters. The Snow ninjas must have been the ones who decided that there was safety in numbers. I did not hear any famous names of great battles about the Snow ninjas. A sailor complained that pirates had increased in the surrounding areas. If I had to guess, the Land of Snow was sending their ninjas out on missions similar to my own. They were hunting pirates on the side. The pirates would then shift their hunting grounds to easier targets.
I bar hopped for a few hours, gathering any useful information I could, but because of how young the new village was, everyone was still enjoying the honeymoon period. I thought about going to find any pirates in the area and ask them for their opinion, but there were no obvious signs to follow, and I did not want to leave my students alone for too long.
I returned to the manor and ate dinner with my students. Once again, the food was delicious and seemed a little bit on the expensive side. The kids did not seem to like it and whined about it being too fancy. I stopped them from asking for different food, as they needed to learn to eat the food they had access to on a mission.
After dinner, I examined their progress with using nature transformation. Thanks to all of their chakra control practice, I could see that they were growing at a rapid pace. I was so focused on their good progress that I forgot that I had never focused on training them on walking on water.
I sent the kids to bed and told them I would keep watch for the night. They protested a little but they all were all asleep within a minute of having their heads hit the pillow. I instructed the manor's staff to prepare bathing suits and multiple large water basins for my students to practice with tomorrow.
