Ninja cities all tend to be the same. The closer you get to the city center, the more prosperous and orderly the streets become. The closer to the outskirts, the more dilapidated and chaotic things get. Tianyuancheng was no exception.
On a minor street south of Tianyuancheng stood an old inn called Sanjing Lodge.
It wasn't far from the main road—just separated by a small alley—and thus wasn't overly remote or particularly noticeable. Due to its unique geographical location combined with cheap prices, it became the top accommodation choice for traveling visitors.
In a private room on the second floor, Shisui organized his ninja tools while polishing his weapons.
Tianyuancheng lay adjacent to Kyoto, and to avoid unnecessary misunderstandings, Konoha had not established any outpost here. As a result, Konoha's mission teams were forced to stay in lodges like this.
They had arrived in Tianyuancheng a day ago. After meeting up with their contact, two squads merged into one and temporarily came under the command of Black Hawk, the deputy captain of the Shadow Guard Team.
Black Hawk didn't choose to arrest them directly but instead decided to continue observing Murakumo Kurama for another two days, hoping to discover some traces of Danzo.
None among them possessed a secret jutsu capable of extracting information directly from someone's mind. If they arrested him directly and something happened to Murakumo Kurama, they'd lose their only lead.
No one objected, but after a full day of surveillance, they observed nothing unusual about Murakumo Kurama—he had simply traveled back and forth as usual between the Heiya gambling house in the southern district and the Heiya mansion in the west.
The Heiya clan had also been investigated—they were a well-established merchant family rooted in Tianyuancheng for decades, with absolutely no connection to Danzo whatsoever.
Finding no clues, Shisui packed away his ninja tools and prepared to turn off the light and rest.
Suddenly, he sensed a message from a summoning beast.
In an instant, smoke filled the room.
Poof!
Once the white smoke dispersed, the pitch-black Karasu appeared before Shisui.
Seeing the letter in Karasu's talon, Shisui nodded understandingly and said, "Leave it to me."
Karasu gave a brief nod, handed him the letter, and said, "Shisui, I haven't played around in the Ninja World for a long time. I'll go out for a little stroll."
Shisui didn't suspect anything. He opened the window for Karasu with a gentle reminder, "Be careful!"
After Karasu flew outside, Shisui tore open the letter and unfolded the paper. His younger brother's handwriting immediately caught his eyes.
[Dear Brother,
The New Year is just around the corner—why aren't you back yet?
Except for a few unlucky squads, everyone else in the Police Force is already on holiday. Why is your Shadow Guard still out working?
Well, I suppose you're going to say something like 'with great power comes great responsibility' again.
I understand you, but think about how during this joyful reunion season, everyone else has their families together, yet I'm stuck alone in an empty house.
Come back soon—I've prepared heaps of delicious food for you.
If you can't make it back in time...
Promise me you'll be careful!]
Although the letter wasn't long, Shisui could clearly picture his younger brother eagerly awaiting his return home.
A soft smile tugged at the corner of his mouth, followed quickly by a determined gleam flashing in his eyes.
Tomorrow, he would complete the mission and return home before the New Year.
Picking up his brush, Shisui began writing a reply to Aozora, while high above Tianyuancheng, Karasu soared through the night sky.
Darkness offered him the best cover—if he kept silent, nearly no one would know of his presence.
It carefully documented the city's layout, even noting the name inscribed above the gate.
Truth be told, it wasn't unintelligent—how dumb could a Ninja Raven born with chakra really be?
It had guessed that Aozora was tailing Shisui, but what of it?
After all, they were siblings.
Of course, the biggest reason was that Aozora gave him way too much!
...
At the same time, Aozora entered a dilapidated temple.
He entered a side hall, exchanged the password with a cross-legged monk, and then slipped behind a Buddha statue into the underground Black Market outpost.
Above ground—pilgrims knelt in prayer before hollow altars.
Below ground—a crowd of criminals thrived.
Unrolling a special corpse-storing scroll, Aozora handed over several corpses to the Black Market owner.
When the Black Market owner saw the sunken wounds on the corpses' surfaces, he couldn't help but twitch his eye.
Since Aozora followed the Ninja World rule of never striking the face, the Black Market owner was able to quickly match the corpses to their Wanted Posters and ordered assistants to store the bodies in the cold room.
"Lord Li Qing, please wait a moment—the bounty will be prepared shortly."
Although this was only Li Qing's second mission since resurfacing under the alias, his appearance was simply too distinctive. While the Black Market owner had never personally met him before, he identified him immediately.
Once the bounty was secured, Li Qing requested a Mission List to select his next target.
However, after flipping through it for a while, he found no suitable targets.
It wasn't because there were no low-level but wicked Mountain Bandits listed. The truth was, even if Aozora cleared every bandit from the Land of Fire like weeds, new ones would simply rise elsewhere the moment he left.
The real issue was that there were no suitable targets near Kyoto.
Before receiving further news about Shisui, Aozora had decided to head directly toward Kyoto.
After all, that was the excuse he'd given for leaving the village. He should at least go have a look, or else Fugaku might ask questions later and find him completely clueless.
Setting down the Wanted Notice list, Aozora summoned the Black Market owner and handed it back.
The merchant frowned in surprise, "Lord Li Qing, these tasks were specially selected just for you—are you unsatisfied?"
Internally, Aozora understood—every single task on that list involved eliminating cruel bandits. There hadn't been any other kinds of assignments at all.
Aozora snorted, saying, "Bring me missions near Kyoto!"
The Black Market owner eyed him suspiciously, then filtered through a new batch of assignments.
Aozora flipped through them, but most nearby Kyoto-related missions involved assassinating officials or nobles.
Regardless of whether those officials were good or evil, killing a government figure could cause too much trouble—he wasn't considering such actions for now.
As he continued flipping, he finally found several acceptable assignments—tasks targeting local thugs and corrupt merchants around Kyoto.
Aozora tore out those pages before leaving the underground market without looking back.
Yet, not even a few steps outside, Aozora sensed someone tailing him from behind.
Pretending not to notice, he kept walking.
Once he exited the temple gates, he strolled along a mountain path covered in snow.
Suddenly, two figures burst from the snow—one on each side.
At the same time, an umbrella flew through the air from behind them.
[Ninjutsu! Needle Rain of Umbrella Petals!]
A barrage of senbon shot out from a rain umbrella.
Like a fine drizzle, the senbon instantly covered every direction around Aozora, leaving him nowhere to escape.
Pfft! Pfft! Pfft! Pfft! —
The senbon pierced Aozora completely, sending him crashing lifelessly to the ground.
The two landed. One sneered coldly, "Worth two million ryō? Don't blame you for sticking to hunting mountain bandits—guess you're not even worth the trouble."
The other neatly folded the umbrella and said with a smirk, "Other than monks from the Fire Temple, most are barely trained in taijutsu. Not real threats at all."
Poof!
Right after their words faded, the Aozora full of senbon on the ground transformed into a puff of smoke.
"Kage Bunshin?"
The two immediately raised their guard, standing back-to-back while scanning their surroundings.
Yet the attack came from beneath their feet.
[Earth Release – Internal Neck Severance Jutsu!]
A voice rose from underground. In the next moment, both attackers were yanked beneath the surface.
Aozora crouched above, glancing at the forehead protectors on the two captives' heads as he muttered in confusion, "Mist shinobi?"
<><><><><><><><>
Thank you for reading! Your support will keep me updating!
~ Every 50 Powerstones = **4 Bonus Chapters** this weekend!
<><><><><><><><>
~ 100+ Advanced Chapters Available on Patreon!
~ More *Free* Chapters and Books Available on Patreon!
patreon.com/Tansnovel
<><><><><><><><>