Many things could be said about the black market, but one couldn't deny that it was a great way of getting information.
Sure, it didn't have much high-level information; that was all gathered by village shinobi and ANBU.
But for anything normal, the black market was the perfect place to gather it. Not only could it be bought from the black market itself, but if one didn't want to pay the price, one could get plenty from the other shinobi here.
Trading information was a viable solution as well.
Though for someone like myself, I needed none of that.
I was solid S-rank, the peak of peaks—at least what was known.
People had long forgotten just how big a difference there was between the First Hokage of Konoha and all other Kage; they had forgotten what a real shinobi god was like.
So S-rank was the accepted peak, and while everyone accepted that the Five Great Kage stood at the top of those, in the world of the black market, S-rank shinobi were few and far between. We were kings without crowns or kingdoms.
But if we asked for information, we were given special treatment.
And despite there not being anything truly valuable in the information they had here, there was still plenty to learn. After all, a lot of things had been happening over the past few months.
The biggest thing was naturally the Nine-Tails' rebellion and the death of Minato, the Fourth Hokage.
This I knew about, but what I wanted to know was how the rest of the world reacted to something like this.
The movement of armies was highly secretive, and shinobi could indeed move around quickly and without a trace. Still, shinobi were just as good at sniffing out secrets, so while it was possible to move a shinobi army secretly, that secret never remained so for long.
And so, after a few months, all those once-secrets had long since found their way into this place.
And as expected, Kumo had not only paused the peace negotiations but once more moved their forces into position.
There had only been a few confirmed fights—nothing more than tests at the borders, small things. But with Konoha suddenly suffering such losses… well, even small things might be too much for them to handle.
Though clearly Kumo also wasn't fully prepared to fight a full war.
So they were merely applying pressure, not willing to risk a full war—but given how weak Konoha suddenly became, they also weren't willing to just give up.
I suspected they were hoping that Iwa would also join in, maybe dragging Kiri into the conflict as well.
A full-out war would be more than Konoha could resist now, and they would likely fall. After all, the current Konoha didn't even have a proper Jinchūriki—something all the large villages would know.
No. While Kumo couldn't afford a war either, having to risk Iwa taking advantage of their weakness, an alliance could weaken everyone equally while taking Konoha off the board for good.
Though the situation seemed unlikely to head that way. Kiri didn't show any willingness to join, which was understandable; they were currently dealing with their own share of trouble.
Obito.
Or at least I suspected that he might be starting to cause trouble there. There should only be a few years until he starts wiping out the Kekkei Genkai clans there.
But before that, he no doubt had to cause plenty of other trouble—slowly building chaos, making people fully turn against their own Kekkei Genkai ninja. It wasn't fast, it wasn't easy, but he didn't care about making it clean.
To him, the more death, the more blood spilled, the better. This was, after all, his revenge.
There was also the news about me completing this last bounty of mine; people were quick to notice such a difficult task being done.
No mention of Ice Release. I wasn't sure if that was because the ice had melted by the time people got there to investigate, or because that level of intel wasn't offered here.
Whatever the reason, not having that spread around was to my benefit. After all, people with one Kekkei Genkai were already rare enough, and to be found to have two… well, that would just make me an even bigger target.
Which made me suspect that maybe Iwa had been the ones to investigate the fortress, and they had hidden the truth because they were confident that they would be the ones to claim me.
Not that it was a bad thing if that was the case. Iwa were far less likely to suddenly attack me for not joining them.
Kumo and Konoha were far more the type to kill what they couldn't have.
Iwa? Not so much. They preferred not to get involved with risky business like attacking an S-rank shinobi with at least one confirmed Kekkei Genkai.
In the original story, they had even hired the Akatsuki multiple times, which showed that they didn't go on the offensive easily.
Ōnoki hadn't gotten a reputation as a fence-sitter for nothing. He liked just sitting back and waiting for a good opportunity.
He was a patient old man.
Another old man who was listed in the recent intel was Hiruzen, who had once more taken power in Konoha.
And a whole load of information about the situation there.
Countless mentions of noteworthy shinobi being active and being seen doing missions. Konoha was, in fact, taking on a lot of missions.
Even more than before the Nine-Tails' rebellion—a clear enough show of strength.
Proving that they still had the ability not only to protect against Kumo, but also showing off all the powerful shinobi left in their forces.
Reminding everyone that attacking them now was a bad idea.
There were also some levels of deception, since the other villages couldn't be sure about who else might still be alive; they didn't know if Konoha sent out everything they could or still had a force back home for defense.
Due to what I remembered from the anime, I didn't think they had much left, but with people such as the Three Sannin… well, Konoha still had some cards left to play.
Orochimaru was likely still in Konoha, at least I didn't see any mention of him in the recent news.
Though if he wanted to stay hidden, few people could find him, so it was entirely possible he had been sent out on a mission.
But I doubted it.
Danzō likely already had him working on the secret experiments that would soon have him forced out of Konoha.
That likely would happen soon… I wasn't sure about the timeline; I knew only that it was after Minato's death, because if he had been alive, there was no way Orochimaru would have been able to escape.
It was likely also before Hinata's kidnapping. Which meant there was a roughly three-year period for it to happen.
Orochimaru was an interesting person—and someone I might be able to use. His desire for immortality would already be fully ignited, though maybe I should wait with contacting him until after he has met Pain?
Perhaps only after seeing those eyes would he be eager enough for power that I could manipulate him?
Or have Zetsu do it for me.
I had to admit, I didn't think I would be able to manipulate someone that smart, no matter how good a bait I placed in front of him.
Orochimaru was no fool, and I wasn't foolish enough to think he would be one.
Even if I dangled some secrets in front of him.
"Anything else you need, Kaguya-hime?" the broker asked as I placed down the final scroll.
"No, that will be enough," I replied as I stood up to leave.
"There are plenty of lucrative missions for someone as strong as you," he urged.
"I don't doubt it, but I also know that a Kiri hunter squad from the Kaguya clan is hunting me, and I would rather not have them interfere with any mission," I snorted as I walked past him.
I had no doubt he was hoping for some paying business—maybe a commission fee if I accepted a mission here.
But I had no time for such missions, not now. Walking around at civilian speed was really slow, far too slow.
And with Karin at her current age… well, walking around with her wasn't viable.
So I needed somewhere to stop, a place to stay for a while.
Places that worked weren't common. I wouldn't just stay in some small inn, and with how expensive it was to stay around in places I found worthy… well, money wouldn't last forever.
Sure, a few million would last a normal family years—if not decades—but me? Last even two or three years was unlikely.
Even if that wasn't a problem, a rogue shinobi staying in one place for that long was dangerous. Sure, if it was in some dark cave, it might not be too bad.
But in an inn or something? Everyone would find out where I was and have all the time in the world to prepare an ambush.
So it also had to be a safe place, which only made it even more limited.
But… I had one place in mind, one where I could stay for long, one that was worthy of noble guests, and I could even be paid for staying there.
Well, I had a few places in mind. I could also go to the capital of the Land of Wind; they would pay me plenty for the Ice Release alone.
But with how foolish the daimyō there was, I feared that I would end up killing him—and that would make me the enemy of the entire world.
As unbelievable as that might be, people would go crazy if someone killed a major daimyō and walked away. It would risk the entire current system. It could trigger wars.
So yeah, Wind was out—but that wasn't the only place that would welcome a powerful kunoichi of noble background.
So, I would spend some time playing guard, and in turn, I would get to live in a mansion, and Karin would be able to grow up a bit more before we returned to the road.
I didn't like it, but there was no other choice.
None I liked, at least.
(End of chapter)
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