Rei and Konan woke up at noon, cuddled together, only to find out that the village is teeming with life. A particularly big caravan arrived in the morning and villagers were helping to unpack the tents, set a camp, and whatnot.

Rei and Konan clothed themselves and went out with the intention to go to the woods to train. ​​

On their way, they were stopped by a man. One of the merchants. He was a burly thuggish looking man a little under 2 meters with shaggy black hair. He ogled Konan’s body as if she was a piece of meat.

“Girl, wanna earn something?” He grinned at her.

The worried Village Elder was about to intervene when the man blinked and then froze. The tip of Rei’s chokuto was right under his neck, as Rei coldly said.

“Try anything with my girl and your head will fly. Understood?”

The man started quivering. He might be strong but the boy in front of him was fast!

“I asked if we understand each other.” Rei asked, his lips curling into a chilling menacing smile as the tip of his chokuto stabbed a little into the man’s neck, just enough to draw blood.

The man wanted to fervently nod his head from the sheer fear he was feeling but then he remembered the sharp pointy blade on his neck and gulped. It hurt!

“Ye-yes!” He shrieked.

“Good.” Rei smiled sweetly at the man. “And don’t forget. This was your only chance. Next time I won’t be so lenient.”

He took his chokuto away from the man’s throat and the man nodded fervently.

“Come on.” Rei turned to Konan and gestured to her to follow with a slight gentle smile.

…

Rei and Konan returned to the village in the evening, exhausted from their training. They entered the house of the Village Elder, heading to the room that was given to them for 500 Ryo a day. Their insistence. The man needed it and they didn’t plan to stay longer than three days. Tomorrow they will be off.

As they neared the staircase, one of the merchants suddenly approached them.

“Excuse me.” He smiled amiably. “May I talk to you for a while?”

Konan looked at Rei who noted with the corner of his eye that the merchant spotted their little exchange but didn’t comment. Rei felt something fishy about the man but… he was clearly a civilian.

Shrugging, Rei nodded and continued up the stairs with Konan. The merchant getting the message followed silently behind them.

They entered their room and Konan quickly flopped onto the bed. They were exhausted, not dirty. When one learns to draw water from the atmosphere, creating a bath is easy. Konan was always giddy when they bathed. After all, both Konan and Rei long ago forsake the propriety and started bathing together, going as far as making out during it. They wouldn’t have sex until their bodies were physically ready and both were fine with that much intimacy. A bit of touching and kissing though…

Rei, seeing that Konan was already in the world of her own as she hugged her pillow to her chest with a blissful smile and daydreamed, decided to entertain the merchant.

He gestured to a chair in the corner and sat on the edge of his bed.

“So? How can I help you?”

The merchant rubbed the back of his head.

“Ah, I am Karubo Sazaro. Nice to meet you.”

“Rei Yotsuba.” Rei smiled and nodded.

“Actually, I wanted to ask if it would be possible to hire you to act as my bodyguards. I am actually heading out of the Ame as my business is concluded, you see. I am afraid to meet bandits along the way. I saw you handle Munuro this morning and immediately decided to try…” He laughed awkwardly.

“Hmmm.” Rei pondered. The man was going out of Ame. That meant… they may be able to cross the border if they will be checked as his bodyguards.

Sure, they could cross it even without it but it would be much more dangerous if they were caught by either the country they were leaving or the one they were entering. This basically gave Rei a valid and legal reason to do so!

He smiled at the man and decided to ask more.

“I am tempted. But tell me more. How long would you need our service, the pay, you know, the usual.” Rei told him casually.

Karubo, seeing Rei basically agreed if the conditions are good enough, decided to be quite generous.

“I offer you 500 Ryo each per day.”

Rei raised his eyebrow at that. While not much, alright. But if they accept they would tag along at least half a month and that’s without crossing the border as the civilian speed is very slow. That would be 7 500 Ryo for half a month.

500 Ryo per day may seem a little insufficient but it is quite generous in this day and age. Especially since there is no village backing him and Konan.

This would be a classic C-rank mission. Meaning they should get 50 000 Ryo if they were from a shinobi village. Well, not really since Ame is a war-zone but Rei doubted the merchant wanted to walk into a skirmish. Anyway, that amount would be divided between teammates and the village… Let’s say, the village takes ten percent… who was he kidding. It would be more…

Anyway, hypothetically ten percent. That is 5 000 off.

Assuming it is a standard jonin, three genin team from Konoha, the jonin would get a lot more than genin. 20 000? 15 000? Maybe. The genin would be left with 10 000 each or less. More likely than not, less.

So, Karubo’s offer of 7 500 for each Rei and Konan was fair. Incredibly so. They looked like children but showed skill. Karubo probably didn’t want to spend the entire 50 000 Ryo for a proper team and wanted to save some money for himself.

Now, if he wanted Rei and Konan to accompany him further… their paycheck would only get fatter and if they left Ame… that would be considered a win in Rei’s books.

“Okay. How long and to where would you need us to tag along?” Rei asked carefully and observed the man’s mannerisms. It would not do for him to lead Konan into a trap, after all.

Karubo weakly smiled.

“I am going to Mizu no Kuni… uh, if you prove to be good, I would like you to accompany me there.”

Rei froze. This was starting to sound fishy. Mizu no Kuni… fishy indeed.

That would take them to cross multiple borders and at least three months of travel by land to reach a port town and another few days on a boat. The paycheck was also big but most importantly…

“Ah, don’t worry! You will be able to leave whenever you want!” The man started nervously waving his arms around.

Rei nodded.

“We can accompany you. But one of these days, you WILL tell me your real reason for approaching us.” Rei told the man sharply, making him stiffen.

Karubo could only stiffly nod with a broken smile.

“I promise it is nothing detrimental to you nor your companion but I must know if you have skill first. If you don’t, excuse me for my language, then it wouldn’t matter.”

Rei could feel the seriousness in his voice and accepted the answer.

“Fair enough.”

“We are setting out tomorrow at noon.”

“We will be there.”

And with that Karubo left, leaving Rei alone. Thinking about this encounter. In the end, it is beneficial for him and Konan. If they managed to cross to other lands… Especially one of the Big Five where almost no skirmishes were happening, they could let loose more in their training. Right now they always trained and slelt with one eye open to avoid ambush…