Chapter 18: Research

I made my way to the building, making sure to blend in as much as I could with the crowds and entered. Compared to the other buildings around it, it was quite tall, but in comparison to the Tanzaku Castle, it was nothing. The lobby area was unsurprisingly small and dead, with a half-awake secretary sitting behind a desk, who perked up at the sound of the door opening and closing. "Hello there, how can I help you?"

"Good day, Mina-san," greeted Tekku after reading the name from her nameplate. "I'm here to speak with the mayor. Is he available?"

With a smile, she stood up and said, "One moment, please. Allow me to check!" She went to the door behind her, knocked, then poked her head inside. A moment later, she gestured for Tekku to come over and held the door for him, then closed it when he stepped in.

It was quite a fancy office but not over the top. The furniture was made of high-quality polished wood, with some nice decorations around the office, like paintings of the castle, a few pictures of the population of the city, and similar. Behind the heavy desk sat a man on a nice-looking leather chair. He was old, balding with grey hair and wrinkling skin but not geriatric. He was a bit overweight and had a neatly maintained mustache. His clean polished nameplate identified him as Kenji Yamamoto.

"Greetings, Yamamoto-sama; I am Tekku, a Genin from Konohagakure," introduced Tekku himself with a small bow to the elderly man while he grabbed his head protector from his bag, flashing it. He decided to outright state that he was a Genin from Konoha as that would make it easier to gain the man's trust, as it was highly unlikely that he was involved with the target in any form. This city was one of the bigger ones in the Land of Fire, after all.

"Welcome, Shinobi-san! What brings you to Tanzaku-gai? How can this mayor help you?" he replied. Mr. Yamamoto seemed like someone who had plenty of experience dealing with ninjas in this town and wanted this to be done quickly. Not because he disliked ninjas, just that he probably had other things to do with such a big city to manage. Tekku decided to get to the point.

"I would like to get access to your city archives. I need to research about criminal activities of the different loan sharks and gangs in this city, especially the ones with criminal activity. Also, information about the different normal money lending businesses without any criminal connections," explained Tekku straightforwardly without mentioning any details about his mission.

The mayor looked at Tekku confused. "Have you been hired to take one of them down? I don't remember such a mission coming through me."

"No, nothing like that, Yamamoto-sama. My mission may be related to them, so I have to perform a small investigation into them and possible connections," explained Tekku politely.

He nodded. "Okay, but first I will have to see your ninja registration. Once everything is fine with it, I can let you into the archive and show you the shelves with the information you are looking for."

After Tekku showed him his ninja registration with his official Registration number being 012363, the mayor led him towards the archives while telling Tekku a bit about the different organizations in Tanzaku-gai. Since there were quite a lot of them, the amount of information he could share was very brief.

"These shelves contain all the official information on the different money lending businesses. That one contains the crimes related to some of them, and that shelf carries all the documentations on gang crimes. There is quite a lot on them; you have your work cut out for you," explained the mayor as he pointed out the correct shelves.

"Thank you, Yamamoto-sama. You are right. If you have nothing against it, I will begin with my work," nodded Tekku. The mayor responded in kind, leaving Tekku to his own business as he had to carry on with his own work himself.

- Shinobi - Shinobi - Shinobi - Shinobi - Shinobi - Shinobi -

Tekku spent the rest of the day sorting through the different information he gained access to, while cursing the fact that he didn't learn the Shadow Clone Jutsu yet. Of course, he wouldn't be able to create many, but he was confident that he had enough chakra for at least one since his chakra reserves, even with his average talent, raised by bounds through his hard work. Even Kiba managed to create a Shadow Clone after the Chunin Exams in canon, and Tekku was sure that he had larger reserves than Kiba and much better control.

Once the office of the mayor closed, Tekku stepped outside into a side alley away from other people. He worked quite a lot with Inoichi to improve his skill set with techniques that were useful for his Puppet Style, his current main fighting style. And one of the things they tested was whether Tekku was a Sensor Type, and turns out that was a talent he had.

So Inoichi, one of the best Sensor Ninjas in the village, taught him the basics of the most rudimentary Sensor technique, none of his advanced forms since they were either related to the Water Style or his Clan Techniques. From the basic Sensing Technique that sensed the surrounding area by using Sensor Type Chakra, Tekku developed his own advanced version when he mastered the first stage of Earth Chakra training.

Touching the ground with his finger, forming Earth Nature Chakra combined with Sensor Type Chakra, sending it in a pulse through the ground around the whole city. This allowed him to feel for any strong presences. The range of the normal sensing technique was around 30 meters. When he focused, he was even able to feel up to 100 meters. This was decent for a Genin, but a Jonin like Inoichi could reach multiple kilometers.

Tekku could, with his self-developed technique that he called Earth Style: Throbbing Pulse of the World, sense about 2 kilometers for now. Quite a decent range even for a Jonin. The only disadvantage was that, unlike the normal sensing technique, he couldn't use it while moving and had to touch the ground with his skin and focus while staying immobile. It was also slower in comparison. But this would improve in the future once he mastered his Earth Chakra Nature and also his Sensor Type Chakra.

Once he sensed the whole city, the only strong presence he could feel was Inoichi Sensei. There were multiple about Genin level strength, but they didn't seem to have any formal Shinobi training, so most likely, they were mercenaries or samurai hired as bodyguards. 'Hmm, doesn't seem like Tsunade and Shizune are in town. Well, that doesn't matter, since I don't have anything that I could exchange for any of her techniques or receive training from her. This mission seems also to remain in the proper parameters, no enemy Shinobi that could rank it up to B-Rank.'

After confirming all his intel and sensing the area, Tekku headed for the spot where he felt Inoichi, as this was also in the direction of the inn they decided to meet at.

- Shinobi - Shinobi - Shinobi - Shinobi -

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