Chapter 11: First clan

The journey was quite nice. I unsealed everything that will be needed for me to act as 'snob-ish noble'. After all, we were entering Mizu no Kuni waters. It wouldn't do to be caught off guard. The shinobi changed to civilian attire, mostly worn by servants.

But boy, after three days on the ship I was completely bored!

"Hoi, Aritsu. You are wind natured, right?" I shouted to one of my 'servants'.

"Yah, boss." He replied and his head was promptly swatted by Kagura.

I chuckled. "Use some gentle wind Jutsu to propel the ship faster then."

Hearing that made them look at me weirdly.

"What?"

"You sure it's wise, young master?" Kagura asked me.

"Yup. Mizu has too many problems to really pay attention here." I replied offhandedly.

They didn't question me further. Aritsu just sped us up while I hoped it would save us a few hours.

As we were closing in on the Mizu no Kuni, suddenly a group of thirty people jumped from the water onto our ship. They were clearly some unnamed clan with chakra masking abilities, most likely closely related to water. Otherwise, we would detect them before they even could jump onto our boat.

"Hand over your valuables and food!" Shouted a blue-haired woman.

Well, to be honest, I didn't know if I should laugh or cry. They appeared as poor farmers turned bandits because of a bad harvest. Starved, dirty, stinking, and exhausted. It was quite obvious they were hanging on a thin thread. Sigh.

Actually, scratch that. I laughed. I laughed my ass off at her threat.

"What is so funny!" The woman got offended and shouted heatedly. Well, she at least tried to sound dangerous.

"Look, girl. Haha, to think you would attack a ship completely exhausted. How long did you hide in the water for you to be on the verge of chakra exhaustion?" I asked them which made them visibly nervous. Their disheveled appearances made the 'bandits' look more like those weak-ass idiots from fantasy stories who like to talk big but fall in one move in order to show the OP-ness of the MC. So cliche!

Hah, I also loved that thanks to natural energy my body looked closer to being 15 years old so calling a woman around thirty 'girl' didn't seem too unnatural.

Seeing as she is prepared to weakly threaten us again I quickly interrupted her.

"Look, I know the situation in Mizu. You must be some bloodline clan that ran away from Kiri." Well, I saw her stiffen and her eyes flashed in resolve. Hah, I bet she thought this will be a fight to the death for the survival of her clan or some other bullshit. "So, let me give you a way out of your shitty situation." I took out a token and showed it to her.

"Emblem of the Daimyo of Kaminari!" She exclaimed, completely baffled. Her expression quickly turned to horror. Yup. Attacking a noble will most likely get you a high reward on your head. Attacking someone close to the Daimyo will make your head worth more than those S ranked ninjas. Hehe. If she actually killed me and my father got to know about it? Entire Kumo would be mobilized to deal with her. Nobody had to tell her how fucked up she and her clan actually are. The girl quickly fell to her knees.

"Please! You can do anything with me, but spare my clansmen. Please!" She shouted as she pressed her forehead firmly into the ground. Seeing her, her clansmen did the same, just silently. They were just a bunch of wild dogs without a home, any shelter, and cornered to death. What a sorry sight.

On the other hand, my 'servants' were gaping at me discreetly. They too only now realized how fucked up this mission actually is for them. Having that seal means I am close to the royal family. That means, if they don't manage to bring me back to Kaminari unharmed, they don't have to return alive either. Plus we are heading to a country currently in the middle of civil war. Their thoughts were obvious. All of them showed 'Whelp, fuck' expression.

"Stand up girl." I didn't even need to play being arrogant! With her shivering in fear and kneeling in front of me, it was awkward as heck anyway! Geez, I actually feel like some 3rd rate villain. "Look. Kumo always coveted bloodlines. I can give you and your clan my word that if you 'defect' to Kumo, you and your clan will be at least treated fairly."

All of the shinobi looked at me flabbergasted. The only people expecting that were members of the ship crew and the captain who grinned, clearly knowing what his task will be and why so many ships from Kaminari will be deployed to Mizu in a few days.

"I. Uhm, I." The woman was speechless. Well, that was not really surprising. She was in the dead-end where her clan was reduced to a bunch of street rats and suddenly a 'powerful noble' from other countries offered them something that sounded too good to be true.

"What clan are you and how many of you are in your clan?" I asked.

"We are the Mizuri clan. Around a hundred." She answered timidly, still unsure what to do.

I silently looked at the captain.

"Don't worry young master! It will be a little tight for them but with the seals we were provided, it will be a piece of cake to smuggle them to Kaminari." Said the one-eyed bandana-wearing captain.

Yup. I provided ships with hidden Dimension Seals. The seal was one of my side-inventions as I was making my next ground-breaking seal! They basically made a pocket dimension where even humans could live. It was quite easy to hide such a seal on the bottom of a barrel filled with alcohol.

"You heard the guy. So, what will it be?" I turned back to the blue-haired woman.

She just resignedly nodded. They had no other chance. Even if this opportunity was fake and they ended as breeding stock for Kumo, at least they would be fed. Quite a bleak state of mind but... that was the reality for this world.

I explained to them that we will get off in Mizu and their clan members will board the ship alongside Aritsu who will take them to Raikage after they get to Kaminari. Hah, first bloodline clan secured. Who said Kumo needs to kidnap children and breed them to get bloodlines? Only complete idiots would do that! The best workforce is a willing one, after all.