8 Infiltrating the Village of the Hidden Rain

After killing two more genin middle aged men, he had now a total of four bodies in this village. They went separately, one went to a shop, one went mixing with the people in the streets, the other went to spy on the gate. As for Ryu, himself, he is currently in a small pub with a beer in his hand enjoying his life.

"Haha! Today was really peaceful, I actually had to roam the entire village while soaking wet. Kehh! That hit the spot." Ryu continued with his oscar winning act while listening to others talking, with his enhanced hearing, he could pretty much hear everything in the small bar. The bar tender seemed to be familiar with the original body. Apparently, Yagami was the name of this body. This made it even easier to gather information.

"Oi... bartender! I am sure you have not yet heard of this. There is actually a group called Akatsuki protecting our village. I heard that they are very strong, I really want to join them!" said Ryu in an intoxicated manner.

"Akatsuki? There is actually such a group? Come on, share some more for me." Seeing tat the bartender really did not now anything, he could only continue his facade and created some story.

"Really?! If only I have strength, I would sure join the group!" The bartenders eye was practically shining. Since he did not have talent, he could only fantasize about being strong.

But at the corner table, there was a man in a black cloak drinking but was closely paying attention to the conversation between Ryu and the bartender. Ryu noticed his gaze but did not return it back, he knew that the man knew something about Akatsuki. The man also have a decent strength, probably just promoted to a jonin level. There was a possibility that the man could be a member of the organization himself.

It was already reaching midnight when an 'intoxicated' Ryu came out from the small pub. His cheeks were blushing and his feet were unsteady. Unfortunately, he was not able to collect any information in the pub. The man from the corner already left sometime ago, but right now, Ryu could feel people staring at him.

He- no, they took the bait!

Ryu randomly walked through the village, suddenly, his unsteady feet could no longer bear it and Ryu 'collapsed' on the ground in an alley while going straight to 'sleep'. and as expected, three shadows emerged from the shadows and appeared beside the collapsed Ryu.

But just one of the men intended to carry Ryu, a voice from their back sounded, startling them to the fullest.

"And where do you think are you taking my friend?" The three immediately retreated, the two unsheathed the sword behind their back while the person from the pub took out a kunai.

"What?! Who are you?!" the man from the pub was asked, clearly startled that he was not able to sense the man earlier. It looks like he is the leader of the three.

"Me? I should be the one asking questions. Who are you? And what are you intending to do to my friend?" asked the man calmly. "What, you don't want to talk? Then..." The man started to walk towards them and murderous air could be felt in the air.

The three started to step back while getting ready for an attack. Their path of retreat was cut of by the wall. And since the buildings in this village were very tall, the could not jump over it either. So they would either fight or surrender. And surrendering to an outnumbered man was very silly.

Seeing them retreating, the man started to speed up from walking to suddenly dashing towards them with a kunai in one each hand. Although the three were ready, they still were surprised that the man had confidence in beating the three of them, which made them pissed.

The man waved his hands swiftly targeting the leader's face but was blocked. The other two also reacted quickly dashing towards the man, they did not dare to use ninjutsu on this place. 'Cause if they did, then amegakure shinobi's would certainly come flooding this place.

Shoo! The leader threw a kunai towards the mans face but he easily evaded it leading the kunai to be stuck on the wall. The attack was followed by the two's sword attacks. But their attacks seemed futile infront of the man and was easily blocked and dodge.

Thud! A punch made it's way to the guy on the left sending him smashing towards the walls. The other one's attack was also full of opening as only a kick was needed to send him unconscious.

"Trash!" The man looked disgusted at how weak the enemy was.

"What? how could this be?!" Not in his wildest dreams could he have expected his men to be so weak that they could not even take on a single hit.

"Damnit!" and out of impulse, the leader even wanted to use hand seals but was stopped by a buzzing kunai passing and cutting his left ear off. A second was all it took for the man to start screaming.

"My ear! My ear! Please spare me! Spare me! Forgive me please, I was only taking orders!" The killing intent coming form the man was like a cold sharp knife pressing on his neck. He could only beg and started groveling on the floor.But his fear was elevated higher when he heard another voice.

"Orders from who?" He looked up only to see the collapsed Ryu get up slowly from the ground.

Puff! The man disappeared dissipating with a smoke from a single sign from Ryu's hand.

"Clone? Shadow Clone? You are a spy?! You are a spy from konoha?!" His horror went again to another level when he learned that they just fought a clone.

"A waste of time!" Ryu's eye turned red as he activated his genjutsu. And the man's eye turned blank.

"Who was the one that ordered you?"

"Hanzo-sama, every shinobi under him were ordered to report to him if we ever hear something about Akatsuki." answered the man blankly.

"Hanzo of the Salamander, huh?" Ryu thought. "Why do you need to report to him?" he asked again.

"I don't know, no one knows. But his position could be threatened by such an organization if it grows larger. My guess is that, he may want to get rid of them!" said the man.

"Tch! Politics... How could a legend be thinking in such a way?! Then what do you know about Akatsuki?" Ryu spat before asking another question.

"The only thing I know is that the organization was started by some youngsters. And Amegakure shinobi's started to join them. And according to rumors, they are very powerful but they are also very kind. Many wanted to join them but they decided against it because they have their own families being threatened by Hanzo himself. Most of their movements are gathered from the border of our village." The man stated.

"Hoh? Powerful and kind, huh?" Hearing those words, RYu was even more intrigued. A powerful leader with a strong charisma, it is no wonder that they grew pretty fast. Naturally, someone with power will also feel threatened if the group continues to grow larger and larger. Eventually, they will employ foul play methods just to get rid of them.

He just slashed the mans throat and stored him into his Ring, erasing evidence of the crime.

...

After sometime, Ryu released his Clone Justu to know what information his clones got. But he was very disappointed as they did not even gather relevant information. But he also felt that it was natural as the group were just rising and are still very secretive. Even information regarding them were held back by Hanzo, that dumb village leader.

He decided to leave the village and went to the direction of the border between Amegakure and Kusagakure. This was the place were the battle is really intense. That is why Ryu really felt pity towards these to villages.