The start of the Journey: Hagi Island
The weather was mild with open skies, the sun glaring at the earth and an occasional cool breeze was blowing. Yuuma was currently walking around the Port City gathering information of different Merchants to choose which he would collaborate with, although he knew Ao already handed information to him, Yuuma had to ensure that the people could be trusted as he knew people could change in the face of benefits.
"Good day, can you tell me more about Zhou Merchant Family," Yuuma asked one of the stall Merchants he was currently talking with to get some information, "Although they are a massive mountain we Merchants can't hope to compete with, but they are honest people who rarely interfere with other Merchants and competes honestly" The merchant answered Yuuma's question, "How would you see them as business partners?"
"The question should be if you can be their partner, they may be honest but they are incredibly strict in choosing their partners" The merchant commented, this intrigued Yuuma as that meant this group rarely cooperates with people. 'Could it be they have strong principles and rules?' Yuuma thought as he gives the merchant some Ryo's to pay for the information before he turned and head for their shop, compared to their large family their port city shop was modest in size.
"Welcome to the Zhou Trading Store, how can I be of service?" One of the female staff who was currently on duty, Yuuma came over while wearing his red Devil Mask which made the girl vigilant "I'm here as representative of Kirigakure, I wish to speak with one of your higherups for a trade deal" Yuuma told the lady who had a suspicion towards this deal as she thought of rejecting it "We do not handle smuggling--" Yuuma raised his hand to stop the lady from continuing.
"I am here to buy supplies for the Village, nothing more nothing less" Yuuma's words made the lady breath out in relief that it was not an underworld deal as the Zhou Family strive for honest business and will never make dealings in the dark as it is against their principles. "Uhm... Please wait for a moment" The lady curtsied towards Yuuma before she ran up the stairs on her left which had a staff only signboard embedded on the wall, Yuuma felt quite impressed that this lady had guts to deny a trade deal with a shinobi as others would use force.
Yuuma waited but for some reason, he felt a third presence a floor above him entering the office, "KYAA!" Yuuma sprinted at the moment he heard the lady's scream heading up the stairs, he came across a closed-door but as a shinobi, he could not reveal himself in the face of his enemies. Yuuma glances around till he decided to climb into the roof, as silently as possible he used his kunai to cut out an opening for him to climb into.
Moving between the obstacles till he managed to reach the position of the office right below him he could hear the voice of a man screaming, "You better accept our deal, Mister Hai, otherwise your head will be on this lady's hands the moment you reject" The man glared at the young man in his late teens wearing extravagant clothes with variety of gems embedded on his red robes, he was a bit chubby but he was the most favoured heir of the Zhou family. Zhou Hai glanced at the shinobi with stubborn eyes "You may as well kill me, but I will not shame my ancestor's hard work for the likes of you!"
The Shinobi's eyes gleamed with killing intent as he swings his kunai but it was directed at the lady, "NO!!!" Zhou Hai wanted to move to block him but the Shinobi pushed him away, Yuuma silently cut a circular hole in the roof. The moment the circular part of the roof fell Yuuma leap through the hole using body flicker to stab his kunai through the back of the Shinobis shoulder restricting him. "Demonic Illusion: Endless sleep" Yuuma cast a sleep-inducing genjutsu while holding the struggling Shinobi from breaking free.
Zhou Hai froze in his position looking at Yuuma who pinned down their enemy so effortlessly on the ground, 'Just who is this guy' Zhou Hai thought, shaking his head he went over to make sure the lady was fine before sending her out of the office to call for the family's security detail to come with reinforcements. "Who are you?" Zhou Hai watches how the shinobi passes out in Yuuma's grasps, "I am Akaoni from Kirigakure, I came here for a supply trade deal but I never expected to end up in this kind of situation. Also sorry about the roof"
"Don't worry about the roof I will fix it, but why did you help?" Zhou Hai asked still being vigilant towards Yuuma, "I help you so you will accept my proposal, Kirigakure only needs a guaranteed interval of Supplies to be dropped off at a designated position" Yuuma answered honestly towards Zhou Hai, it may be cold and harsh but it was the truth. Zhou Hai nodded as he knew there is no such thing as free help in this world, he felt relieved as he could tell this man was telling him the truth.
"But Mister Hai, why is this man coming after you so brazenly despite your family's reputation?" Yuuma asked as he felt this situation was more than just a threat for a deal to the underworld, Zhou Hai had a cramped face for a moment before he breathes out a sigh. "I believe this man is one of my cousin's contract killers, you should know that the current Patriarch my grandfather is deathly sick so the competition for the position of Water Nation Merchant representative is open for the family, and this caused the battle for the position to become much more heated"
"What about your father and uncles?" Yuuma asked as he never expected he would get involved in a family dispute, with him apprehending the shinobi will already have him marked by the other competitors for the Patriarch position so he may as well go through with it. "Father and Uncles were given businesses in other nations to manage their own businesses, the current competition for control over Hagi Island. But also gives more authority in the eastern region which includes Tea Nation, Rice Nation as well as Water Nation"
Yuuma nodded as this is indeed a big competition for the younger generation, from Zhou Hai he learnt that the older generation of the family was more focused on dealings of the other four big nations which is why they never took an interest to this competition to inherit his grandfather's position. "What do you think will be their next move?" Yuuma asked while he tied up the shinobi, he inspected to make sure the man was not armed nor had anything on him that could kill himself or harm those around him.
"If we go according to my Cousin's behaviour he will try to rile up the family saying I have hired a shinobi to protect me" Zhou Hai muttered at this moment Yuuma placed his katana and wakizashi strapped to the side of his hip before he used transformation jutsu to make him appear like a Samurai. Seeing this Zhou Hai began to laugh "That is a good idea! Yes! With this, I can say I hired a Samurai. But getting the deal for your village finalized will be a bit of a problem" Zhou Hai muttered with a serious expression as he took his seat behind the desk.
"You should know that Kirigakure does not have a good reputation, especially in Hagi Island after they almost massacred countless people because of their bloodline limit powers." Zhou Hai mentioned something that was indeed widely known, the blood mist village. Yuuma rubbed his forehead as this was indeed the problem but then he smiled, "We have a new Mizukage, Mei Terumi. She is already reforming the village, perhaps you can have her meet with you" Yuuma suggested.
"Are you talking about that Famous Kunoichi who was once the team leader of the Daimyo's protection unit!? If it is her then indeed making the deal will be possible" Zhou Hai nodded as he found making a deal with Mei Terum will only solidify his position and make it close to impossible for his cousin to take the position as Water Nation's Merchant Representative from him.
"Cousin!" Suddenly Zhou Hai's door burst open as a young handsome boy with dark brown hair and eyes entered the room seeing Zhou Hai sitting quite comfortable in his office chair with a Samurai behind him, when he glanced at the corner he noticed his hired killer got himself caught. He did not show it on his face that he was disappointed but instead show a relieved face "It's good that you are safe, I almost thought I lost you"
"I am perfectly fine, Zhou Wei. Where are the reinforcements?" He asked as he glances at his cousin whose face froze for a brief instant before resuming his relieved look "They will be arriving shortly, I ran ahead of them as I could not wait to save you" Yuuma turned to look the other way as he had never seen such a shameless man who could lie with a straight face like this.
Even Zhou Hai had a difficult time controlling his face. 'Come to save me? You bloody bastard wanted to frame me!!' Zhou Hai felt he should get rewarded for not beating then hell out of his cousin right now. He took a deep breath as he nods "I am fine, luckily I have hired this Samurai here to keep me safe" Zhou Hai spoke which prompted Zhou Wei to turn his eyes towards Yuuma "I see he is a good subordinate, how did you manage to hire him? Is he a Missing Samurai?"
Zhou Hai turns to look at Yuuma who spoke, "I am currently on a training journey, before we can officially call ourselves a Samurai we are sent out on a Journey to sharpen our skills." Yuuma answered to which Zhou Wei had to begrudgingly accept as he could not make use of Yuuma to frame Zhou Hai as he was not a missing samurai. "I see, do you perhaps have anyone else who is on a journey I could hire?" Zhou Wei probed.
"Currently most of the men currently have chosen one of the four great nations to have their training, I chose the Water Nation in hopes to challenge some of the Swordsmen of the Mist" Yuuma answered flawlessly, this made Zhou Wei feel conflicted as this dashes out everything. "Cousin, how about giving me the shinobi? I will have my men investigate his origins" Hearing this Zhou Hai chuckled "No need to worry about me my dearest cousin, I have already made arrangements for our guest"
Zhou Wei kept his stoic face but inside he was cursing 'Care about you, I only care about that fool will give me up!' He thought but then he remembered the man had an explosive tag embedded onto his tongue so the moment he speaks he will die, feeling relieved "If that is so then, I will leave you to your work Cousin, stay safe. These days things are getting awfully dangerous" Zhou Wei muttered as he turned and left the offices.
"Your cousin is really something... Talent for talking crap" Yuuma commented to which Zhou Hai could only chuckle, "So what are you going to do with this Shinobi?" Yuuma sighed at Zhou Hai's question, "Even if we have his confession it will not help us without evidence, so for now we will keep him alive. Do you have a place I can use to keep him locked up? I still have to contact the Mizukage to make arrangements"
"There is a storage room underground, I will speak with my father to arrange a meeting time for the Mizukage. But I feel my cousin might get involved in it" Zhou Hai muttered feeling troubled about it, he knew his cousin would be crazy enough to do it. "No need to worry, I will get in contact with Hiei who will ensure the deal goes through" Yuuma answers with a confident voice, "Hiei?" Zhou Hai asked Yuuma, "They're a security firm, specializing in protection" 'Among many other things' Yuuma thought
"And you have contact with this group?" Yuuma nodded at Zhou Hai's question, "Yes, so just focus on getting your family to accept the meeting. All I will need is for you to pay for their services" Zhou Hai was shocked as he would have never expected to meet someone who can arrange all the essential things for him to seal the deal with Kirigakure. "Very well I will accept it" Zhou Hai nodded, Yuuma left the offices to contact Mei and Shinomi to start the preparations.
Meanwhile, Zhou Wei was facing a middle-aged man wearing a black robe with red cloud patterns drawn on it. "Your lousy assassin failed to kill him!! Now how are we going to go from here!? With that assassin in their hands, they have evidence against us" the middle-aged man smiled sinisterly "They can't use it, because it will only be your word against theirs. So they will not use this method, we still have a chance to get rid of him"
Zhou Wei calmed down as he looks at the man, "What do we do now?" hearing Zhou Wei's question, "We test the samurai first"