Chapter 57: Into Tanzaku

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Our mission was S Class because of the huge political impact. As I said, for many years a deal had been honoured between the Land of Fire and Tanzaku, but it had recently been broken by the crowning of a new Daimyo, my target today.

As a result, our mission was quite complicated. My task was the secret one, while the others not so much. Itachi and Bear were blocking the river, which would flood the land and cripple the country. This, was our warning to Tanzaku, and we weren't hiding from it.

Then, Cat and Sugaru's mission to exterminate the bandits in the land was also done in our name, and basically served to show the stick and the carrot. We can hurt them like we can protect them. It was essentially a show of our strength.

But the assassination of the Daimyo was several steps further, and was not something that should be done in the name of anyone.

I wasn't given the details, but I'm willing to bet this is a plan from Danzo. Because I'll need some time to carry my assassination, the effects of the missions from the rest of my team will spread through the land, including Kiri.

Then, once I kill the Daimyo, without leaving any trace, while everyone will know he was murdered, we wouldn't be the prime suspects.

After all, if we intended on killing him, why cripple the land? It would only result in our loss. So the prime suspect would turn to Kiri, who presumably would be angry at the Daimyo being useless and killing him.

I wasn't sure of all the details, but basically they were covering my assassination. This, however, meant that if I got caught carrying the assassination, then everything would come back to blow into our faces, possibly starting the war ahead of time.

Sigh, sometimes I wished I was a simple soldier in the army. At least all their missions are up front, while I have to worry about the geopolitical situation at all times and how I'll affect it with my actions.

But I guess I'm too awesome for that.

…

Oh right, I'm alone.

I was almost waiting for Laiko to tell me he could practically hear me praising myself… Ah, I miss those two already, they were fun to be with.

"Anything we should know of in your carriage?"

I was pulled out of my thoughts as I felt the carriage stop, and someone speak. Peeking above the merchandise, I saw we had reached the gates of Tanzaku, and a guard was speaking to Tani.

Tani smiled and replied, "Food, mostly, as well as a passenger. Oh, that's her peeking."

The guard looked at me, and I waved at him. He smiled slightly, I'm a 9 year old, and asked Tani, "A relative?"

Tani shook his head and whispered something in the guard's ear. The guard's smile was quickly wiped away, and with what looked to be a sombre face, he nodded at Tani and said, "Go ahead."

Tani whipped the leashes, and we were entering the city.

But as we passed the guard, he looked at me and warned, "You shouldn't go see the Daimyo."

We were moving into the city, so we didn't have a lot of time to speak, but I asked, "Why?"

The guard shook his head and replied, "Nothing good awaits you there."

I scratched my face cutely and said, "But I bring the good everywhere!"

The guard smiled sadly, and sighed, "Just… be careful, okay? You can say no to everything. And don't be in a hurry to wash yourself."

Oh, he's going to make me cry. What he implies though… I guess Kiri did find the most easily corruptible one to get in power huh.

Any trace of guilt that could have remained in me for my mission disappeared just like that, I was probably doing the world a favour. Besides, his disgusting tendencies are going to make this easier.

But before any of that, I needed to get close to my target. As we got further into the city, Tani stopped his carriage in front of a large inn, and looked back at me to say, "I'm heading to the Daimyo's palace to deliver this food, but before we head there, I want you to think carefully. I'm telling you, going there will only do you harm. There," he pointed at the inn, "is my friend's inn. I'm sure you could find a job there, as well as a roof and food."

I smiled slightly, those strangers were doing so much for a stranger, really makes me hold humanity higher than I used to. Of course, this could be attributed to me being a young girl, but still, it was nice.

Still, I was on a mission, and I had something to do. Still, if he stopped every now and then, he would make me waste much more time than I wanted. Besides, I could turn this to my advantage, now that I knew the Daimyo's personality and devious ways.

So I said with a resigned face, "I know, but I can't just give up without trying out. Can I just come along with you, to see what he looks like? Then I'll come back with you here."

Tani remained silent for several seconds, before sighing as he whipped the leashes, "Fine, but stick close to me. We'll say I hired you in your village."

I nodded, faking a cheerful grin, making Tani smile slightly himself. I lowered myself back where I was before, and started humming a cheerful song from my past life to complete the look of the cute little girl.

As the carriage moved along the main road, I got a good look at the worldwide known city. Tanzaku was actually such a phenomena that Konoha had a small town called Tanzaku Quarters.

And just like the actual city, it was quite prosperous, as well as a 'guilty-free' town.

A Guilty-free town is what we call the places where we, Shinobi, usually have fun. Not those of my age, of course, but it was a place where the three evils of a Shinobi abounded: Alcohol, Sex and Money.

And of course, the original city was just like that, although it didn't seem to be the only center of interest of the city. It was a not so subtle merge of two cultures, close yet separate. This was a truly unique town, probably one of the reasons why it is so famous.

Unfortunately, I wasn't here to sightsee, so we didn't linger behind as soon we arrived at the mission's objective, the Daimyo's palace.

As soon as I saw the… habitation in question, I inwardly validated the choice of 'palace' to describe this place. Not only was it the largest building by far, it was also a humongous piece of art of mixed cultures.

Using my past world's example, the front looked like a mix of Greek and Asian, with six great pillars in the front, around which golden dragons coiled. The floor was marbled, and the giant gates a mix of expensive wood and gold, along with some big gems decorating it.

Right now, maybe because of the festivities going on, those gates were wide open, with several guards standing around it. They wore heavy armor, and they looked like they knew how to use their swords.

However, this wasn't our way in, this was only for the distinguished guests invited to the banquet. For us, we had to go all the way to the back, where there was a larger, but less decorated entrance, which we entered with the carriage.