Two days later we arrived in the city of Akita.
It is in this small town that our task is located.
These two days of travel turned out to be as quiet as the first day.
I cooked together with Tsunade, and then received warm praise from the whole trio.
Also, with the help of clones, it was possible to bring the techniques: “Henge” and “Kawarimi”, almost to the ideal. These jutsu no longer require seals from my side, which is just fine.
Now that both techniques do not require seals, the chance of deceiving the enemy with them increases dramatically.
There were guards at the entrance to the city. They noticed us and went to meet us.
There were three of them, the most important of them walked in the middle. The fact that he was in charge was immediately clear from the way he confidently and calmly held himself.
Approaching us, he respectfully asked. – Are you a shinobi from Konoha? –
It looks like this guy knows that in front of him are Hokage students. Otherwise, I think we would not have received even a fraction of the respect with which he is now addressing us.
Tsunade answered him, it was not for nothing that she was appointed commander.
– Yes, it’s us. Can we go to the mayor right away? –
– Unfortunately, no. Fujimoto-sama is hosting very important guests today and will not be able to give you time at the moment. The head guard bowed and said, a little nervous.
– Well, nothing can be done. We’ll wait until tomorrow. Tsuna replied with a smile.
But I can see perfectly well that she is annoyed, because we were in a hurry to get here as soon as possible, and in the end they tell us to wait… I personally don’t care, but the guys didn’t really like it.
– Okay, since we have a day off, we can go for a walk around the city … how do you like the idea? I asked them, in an attempt to lower their “intensity”.
My proposal was met positively.
– Great idea! Let’s not let this day disappear just like that! Jiraya exclaimed joyfully.
Tsuna, too, relaxed and said.
– Well, it’s better than just going out in a hotel. I also heard that this town is famous for street food and ramen. –
– Where you go, I go. Orochi replied with a gentle smile.
“Lead the way, Captain. –
– OK. I want something sweet, so first we’ll raid the tea room with dango. –
Further, as already mentioned, we ran into a tea shop.
Buns, cakes, dangos… We just consumed a whole mountain of calories.
Especially Tsuna, who turned out to have a sweet tooth… I hope she doesn’t turn into a bun, like Anko in Boruto…No! I won’t let that happen!
After eating sweets and drinking tea, we found a good hotel. I and the guys took one room for three, and Tsuna was alone in her room. The hotel also had a hot spring, which we were going to go to in the evening.
Then we went to practice. I sparred with all three of them.
The weakest of them turned out to be Jiraya.
Physically, although he was superior to Tsuna, but thanks to the control of the chakra, the girl beat much more painfully.
And he will have a weaker ninjutsu than Tsunade… Although it would be more interesting if he called his toads…
With the girl herself, the sparring was more or less the same as the first one.
The only thing that changed was that she was even more embarrassed when I treated her afterwards.
But it was interesting with Orochimaru.
He was pretty much superior to both Tsunade and Jirayu in taijutsu, ninjutsu and agility.
It was quite interesting to spar with him, but he wasn’t my opponent either, just because of my overwhelming experience.
In the late afternoon we returned to the hotel, after training, took a swim and went to dinner together.
Our gaze fell on a small ramennaya not far from the hotel. Absolutely everyone recommended it to us, saying that there is the best ramen that we can try in our lives … well, how can we not try after such an advertisement?
Going inside, we were greeted by a clean and cozy room, in a traditional style. In general, this place looked like a Teuchi shop.
– Oh-oh! New faces! I’ve never seen you guys. A fifty–year-old man behind the counter said.
– We are here on a mission from your Mayor. Jiraya said with a smile.
Tsunade looked at him irritably, for the fact that he just says that we are Shinobi and in this city on assignment.
Jiraya, noticing Tsuna’s gaze, began to sweat a little.
– Aah, I see. You’ve probably come to help us with the monster that terrorizes us at night. – nodding, he said.
Realizing that it doesn’t make sense to hide something anymore, Tsunade exhaled and said.
– Yes, we have come to rid you of this monster. –
– It’s just fine! Finally we can sleep peacefully at night. – he said happily, wiping the plates. – But I think you didn’t come here to talk to this old man. And so, I, Satoshi, am at your service! What kind of ramen do you want?
– We have come to taste your legendary ramen, which is famous throughout the city. I said, sitting down at the counter.
– Eh, unfortunately, nothing will work out. The courier who has to bring special ingredients from the country of water is very late… I think he should be back any day. – he said sadly, shaking his head.
The guys were a little upset by such news, but there was nothing they could do. In the end, we just ordered a regular ramen.
Deciding to get some information, I asked Satoshi.
– Satoshi-san, surely you know a lot about this monster, right? I’m sure people often come here to chat and share the news. I asked with a sly grin.
Smiling, he answered without distracting himself from cooking.
– Yes, you’re right, I know a lot about this creature, and I’m happy to share everything I know with you guys. Still, I also want the city to regain its calm. –
– That’s just fine. Tell us everything Satoshi-san! Jiraya said happily.
– Ahem. Well, well. It all started four months ago…–
– Four months!? Jiraiya interrupted him, exclaiming in surprise. – Ah! It hurts Tsunade… –
Tsuna immediately gave him a heroic slap on the back of the head. Yes, such that it seemed to me that the guy’s eyes would fly out…
– Yes, it’s been like four months. Satoshi said with a sad smile, not taking offense at Jiraya.
– But how did it happen? The blonde asked, frowning.
– At first, our mayor, Fujimoto-sama, wasn’t too worried about the victims. Still, people quite often die, one more than the other less. It wasn’t worth his attention, but only at first, because gradually, slowly, the number of victims increased. People started disappearing more and more often…–
As always, the superiors are not interested in the lives of ordinary people… That’s just even if they don’t care about their lives, people are still the most valuable resource, without which all those in power are just ordinary people, who are less useful than an ordinary man… I don’t understand what such “aristocrats” think.
– The number of victims, as well as dissatisfied ones, was growing, it was already extremely difficult not to pay attention to it. Therefore, the Mayor initially increased the number of guards patrolling the streets. It didn’t help, someone or something continued to kidnap people anyway. Then he paid a group of mercenaries to sort out our trouble … – at the end, sighing, he said while finishing the first portion of ramen.
– But after three days, their squad of twenty people was completely destroyed, although it is better to say torn to pieces. They were found shallow in the forest. The guards were able to determine that they were mercenaries only by their weapons and scraps of surviving rags. There was a real massacre. The bodies of people were a bloody mess of giblets and feces. Guts hung from the trees like Christmas garlands, and the smell was such that the guards could not get rid of it in the baths for a week. – with a sly, mysterious smile, he said, before he put a cup of ramen in front of me. – Bon appetit. –
Orochimaru, Jiraya and Tsunade looked at Satoshi accusingly, reproachfully, but he only laughed a little.
– Enjoy my appetite. – I said and, clapping my hands, I went to the meal …you can’t get me through such bullshit, and my appetite only dispersed from such an interesting story.
The guys looked at me in bewilderment with a question in their eyes: “How can you still eat?”
Satoshi was also apparently surprised that his story did not affect the four-year-old child in any way.
– Hmm. Why didn’t the mayor immediately turn to Shinobi? I asked, sipping the broth. By the way, ramen is not even bad. Mine really will be much better, but it takes so long to cook…
– Well, there are quite a lot of reasons. Firstly, it is quite expensive to order a mission from Shinobi when mercenaries charge much less. And secondly, as I have already said, Fujimoto-sama did not worry much about this, and he is quite stingy to dump a substantial amount of money for the sake of ordinary people. –
– But we are here, and we have more than enough money for this mission. Tsuna said, frowning her brows.
– That’s right. Just a week ago there was another attack, but only this time the victim was personally Fujimoto-sama’s daughter. He loved his daughter very much, spoiled her, allowed her to do whatever she wanted in this city. As you can imagine, when he found her tortured body, he was furious. His heart-rending, wild cry of rage and anger was heard throughout the city. The next day, he immediately sent a man to Konoha. – he finished, putting the ramen in front of Orochimaru.
Clear. Overwhelmed with pain and anger, the father did not stint for the sake of revenge. Everything is clear. But why didn’t he accept us right away? Did the guests turn out to be so important that they forced him to moderate his ardor?
– Is there anything else interesting? I asked as I popped a piece of Chan Xiu pork into my mouth.
– Hmm. Attacks only occur at night. Also, several guards recently managed to see this monster. It was a big man-eating bear. Five meters at the withers… A real monster. Despite his huge size, he is very fast and smart, since no one can catch him. Also, all the victims are girls from six to fourteen years old. — he said thoughtfully.
Hmm… we have to deal with a huge man-eating bear and a lolicon… just wonderful.
I, Orochimaru and Jiraya, simultaneously looked at Tsunade with a boring gaze.
– Yes, I know! Don’t look at me like that. I’ll be the bait. – she said irritably, and taking the chopsticks attacked the ramen.
Oh… tomorrow will be an interesting but stressful day…