Chapter 49: Growth Never Comes from Smooth Sailing
In the vast white expanse, a lone figure was gradually being covered by the falling snow. Kael remained standing numbly at the entrance of the Hidden Hot Water Village, his only companion the unremarkable stone monument.
Life slowly returned to his eyes. He placed a hand on the stone that symbolized the village's existence. It was ice-cold. He brushed the snow off its surface, revealing the three simple, unadorned characters carved into it.
Hidden Hot Water Village.
"It is Konoha, bathed in sunlight. You are the Hidden Hot Water, buried in deep snow," he murmured.
"There's no inherent meaning to life. I never found my own purpose. Until... I saw you for what you truly are."
Even after all this time in the Shinobi World, Kael was still the aimless, go-with-the-flow person he had always been. He drifted along, directionless, never finding a harbor to call home. It wasn't until he began to integrate into the Hidden Hot Water Village that the harsh reality of this world struck him.
That merchant, Kawabe, his words had ripped away the layers of nonchalance Kael had wrapped himself in. They had shattered his pride. Those few short sentences hit him harder, shook him more deeply, than the first time he had taken a life in this world.
In his past life, being penniless meant being nothing. In this life, without strength, even ordinary people could curse and berate him at will. This bloody truth pierced his heart like a sharp needle.
"One day, I will make the entire Shinobi World tremble beneath my feet! I will make them unable to even look directly at my brilliance!" A blood-red glint of defiance, like raw blood itself, flared in his eyes.
This was Kael's first true desire since coming to the Shinobi World, and it became his life's sole ambition.
"I will climb, step by step by step, to the very top! Until I become a god in this world, and no one dares to show me disrespect ever again!"
Kael quickly caught up with Watanabe Musashi and the others. With the merchant Kawabe and his civilian attendants present, the group's pace was slow. He fell into step beside Tanabe Kaze and Watanabe Toneri at the rear of the group.
"So, where's our destination for this mission?" he asked with a smile.
"A small town in the southern Land of Fire called Dusk Blade. These merchants are transporting goods there..." Watanabe Toneri glanced at him and replied coolly, though a faint smile touched his lips.
"So we have to cross the entire Land of Fire? With the borders between nations being unstable right now, no wonder that fat merchant hired us to escort his cargo," Kael said thoughtfully.
Tanabe Kaze nodded. Then, remembering something, he turned to Kael and explained patiently, "Kael, escort missions like this are usually pretty boring. Once people see our Hidden Hot Water forehead protectors, very few troublemakers dare to mess with the caravan. The only downside is that they take a long time. This one will probably take even longer, since we have to go from our country, through the northern Land of Fire, all the way to the south. Even with horse-drawn carts, I estimate it'll take over half a month."
Kael nodded in understanding. He had never been on such a long, tedious escort mission. Even during his academy days, the missions he'd gone on with Inoshita and Watanabe had involved riding the Wind Eagle high above, traveling at incredible speeds. In his opinion, aside from being relatively safe, these ground-based missions had little to recommend them.
The group set out around 2 PM and followed the caravan until nightfall before finally stopping. They camped on a somewhat barren plain, bisected by a five or six-meter-wide gravel road. They were near the border between the Land of Hot Water and the Land of Fire, miles away from any significant settlement. The caravan had no choice but to make camp here for the night, planning to set out again at dawn.
"Tomorrow, we'll cross the border into the Land of Fire. You'll see a different world then," Watanabe Toneri said meaningfully to Kael as they leaned against a wagon, chewing on dry rations.
Kael paused mid-bite and nodded. "Yeah."
Night fell, and with it came guard duty. The four shinobi split up, guarding the four sides of the hundred-meter-long caravan. Kael felt alert at first, but boredom quickly set in.
He dispatched his ever-growing swarm of nearly ten thousand Explosive Flies to patrol the area for several miles around the caravan. Then, after informing Watanabe Musashi and the others that they could rest, he found a quiet spot and began to meditate and cultivate his chakra.
Watanabe, aware of the unique nature of Kael's summons, didn't object and simply found a place to sleep. Toneri and Kaze, though they had witnessed Kael's summons in action before, were still astonished to see the dense cloud of flies dispersing neatly into the night sky.
"What a convenient ability," Tanabe Kaze murmured, looking up at the patrolling flies with envy.
"Indeed," Toneri agreed. "But I wonder, can you really form a summoning contract with creatures of such low intelligence?" he asked, turning curiously to Kael.
"Just some special techniques," Kael replied vaguely with a smile. Seeing he wasn't going to elaborate, Toneri didn't press further.
Battles between shinobi were battles of information. A ninja with no secrets, unless they were incredibly famous and notoriously difficult to deal with, wouldn't last long in this world. Because they'd already be dead. Although Kael was their teammate from the same village, they weren't close enough to share everything.
The night passed without incident. After traveling for another half-day, Kael's group crossed the border and entered the Land of Fire. If things went smoothly, they would soon pass through the outer regions and head deeper into the country's heartland.
But things rarely went smoothly. Unexpectedly, they encountered Konoha shinobi patrolling the border.
Through the eyes of his Explosive Flies, Kael saw over a hundred shinobi wearing the swirling leaf forehead protector charging towards them aggressively.
His face fell instantly. The name, the reputation... even though he was a transmigrator who hadn't been here long, he knew what Konoha represented.
The strongest ninja force in the world. They were in the past, they were now, and barring any major upheaval, they always would be.