021 - The Mission {PT. I}

THE WESTERN BORDER - THE LAND OF FIRE

"...Um, Sasuke-kun," Sakura called beside us. Our gaze panned to regard the girl. "Are there ninjas in the Land of the Waves too?"

"No," we replied, turning back to face the dirt road ahead. "No, there are not ... But as a general rule, most other lands have their own hidden villages where shinobi clans reside. And just like with Konoha, for most countries, hidden villages serve a militant purpose. Mostly mercenary work given their relationships with their host countries, but in the end, they also fill more patriotic roles as well. For example, they maintain the integrity of the territorial borders of the country they reside in. Intelligence and counter-intelligence activities are handled mostly by them. So is espionage, anti-terrorism, power projection, state defence, internal security, and the likes."

We shot the girl a side glance, and as expected her face was scrunched up in confusion.

"You find it strange that the Land of the Waves does not possess a ninja village of its own despite the apparent necessity?"

She nodded, a blush staining her face.

"Well, you might have not heard it yet, but there is a widely-accepted myth amongst low-level shinobi and civilian circles as to why Waves, and other minor nations like it, do not have hidden villages. In a nutshell, some claim that small island nations that are isolated and already hard to invade would find no use for a shinobi village. Deliberately misleading information of course. And before you ask how I know this, I want you to ask yourself; do those minor nations have a choice as to whether or not they host a shinobi village?"

"...A choice?"

"Yes. A choice. Do you think that if a shinobi clan decides today that they want to set up shop in the Land of the Waves and declare their hidden village, the civilian government can just say no and that would be the end of it? I will tell you now, if such a government is not erased and replaced with a puppet regime before the end of the first day a clan decides to take over, I would be very much surprised."

Sakura frowned, her expression ponderous.

"But why then?" Kakashi interrupted, his voice filling the silence between us. We glanced at the silver-haired man standing beside us with one brow raised in askance. Annoyed. Ahead of us, Naruto stuttered in confusion as the inane argument he had been having with the Jōnin came to a jarring end with Kakashi's sudden departure. The two had been conversing quite animately earlier; for the man to react to our claims in such a visceral manner…

Hmm…

"If it's so easy for a shinobi village to take over these island nations why haven't they done so already?" Kakashi continued. "Also, if that's the case, what is stopping Konoha, or any of the other shinobi villages for that matter, from removing the Daimyō from power and simply taking over the rest of the country?"

We turned our gaze towards Sakura who waited expectantly for our response.

Should we, we wondered to ourself, weighing the tactical cost of divulging our thoughts on this matter against the micro-reactions we would be able to glean from the Jōnin should we continue?

"It would disrupt the balance of power," we eventually said, deciding on a middle ground. The allure of mining data proved to be too strong to resist. Letting the Jōnin have a bit of censored data should not hurt our plans too much. Besides, what we stood to get in return should more than cover the cost. As we spoke we reallocated the majority of our senses to observing the Jōnin. His pulse, muscle contractions, the minute eddies in his chakra pool, and even the composition of his sweat; all became crystal clear to our perception.

As we spoke, our secondary brain―a super dense cluster of neurons tucked away behind our T2 to T7 vertebrae―worked hard at deciphering the stream of data we were feeding it. It took us three years of diligent observation, studying how mammalian brains matured and what biological processes needed to be stimulated to mimic its growth before we could even begin to grow a rudimentary version of it in our body. To say it was an outstanding success would be the understatement of the century.

And it hadn't even fully matured yet.

"None of the other shinobi villages would tolerate the rise of another," we said. "Especially not in a location of strategic importance. The Land of the Waves sits beside some of the most important shipping lanes in this geographic region. Allowing a foreign power to control it in any capacity would be the height of foolishness for both Konohagakure's and Kirigakure's leadership. Our current mission is a clear example of that; did you think the Hokage authorised an investigation into the death of the owner of the Gatō company for monetary compensation alone? We were told in clear terms that this mission request came from the Daimoyo himself. For the Daimoyo to be involved in anything at all means certain national interests are at risk. A shift in the power balance of the Land of the Waves could have far-reaching implications for us here in the Land of Fire, hence a need for direct intervention on our part.

"And as for why the third Hokage isn't the one ruling the Land of Fire. Again, such an endeavour would disrupt the balance of power between the shinobi villages. Long ago, the first Hokage made the mistake of forcing Konoha and the other villages to hand over control of the state to civilian governments. Now, with how power has consolidated, it would cost too much for any one Kage to revert these changes on their own; unless of course, the five Kages all agree to a none intervention pact that would allow them to individually do as they please. But that in itself is impossible as I see no way all five Kages would agree to what would be tantamount to destroying the free market and allowing any of their rivals the chance to corner a more lucrative portion of the Shinobi Military Complex. The risk is simply too much, especially for the hidden villages whose host countries are much weaker economically compared to hegemons like the Land of Fire.

"Also, remember that civilians aren't entirely powerless, nor are they short on alternatives should the hidden villages reveal any expansionist ambitions. Samurai and non-affiliated shinobi clans still exist, some of whom are loyal to them as per long-standing traditional values. There are also Mercenary-nin, crime syndicates, and other similar groups to consider. And if one even decides to ignore all of this, they still have to remember that the Daimyōs control their respective countries' economies; control that would take months to subvert even if they are assassinated or removed from power.

"Does that answer your question, Kakashi-sensei?"

"...Yes," the man said after a brief pause, his expression ponderous.

"Yo! What rubbish are you rambling about, Sasuke?" Naruto intoned, his eyes squinted in confusion. Beside us, we felt Sakura's blood pressure flare up as she geared to rise―rather violently―to our defence. It was almost comical the way these two always found even the most pointless things to bicker over.

Still, we loathe to allow them the privilege to do as they please on this mission. It's best we ingrained in their subconscious now that B-rank assignments and above are not assignments during which lollygagging and similar distractions would not be tolerated under any circumstances.

We let our left hand come to rest on Sakura's shoulder, kneading the soft mass of muscle gently. The girl blushed, her eminent outburst receding near-instantaneously. To Naruto, we shot a placating smile.

"It's nothing important," we told him.

And that was the end of it.

***

"Wow," the demon container said in awe. "This is some fog. I can barely see a thing."

"We'll be able to see a bridge in a minute," our porter commented from the rear end of the canoe.

"A bridge?" Sakura asked, staring at a map she just pulled from her pouch in confusion. "But there are no bridges in this region on my map. Was it constructed recently?"

"Yes," the porter replied. "Although, all construction on it has been halted since the disappearance of the architect in charge of its construction. On the other side of it is the Land of Waves; had it been completed it would have connected Waves to the Land of Fire."

"...This architect," Kakashi asked suddenly, "was his name Tazuna?"

"Yes. You know him?" the porter asked surprised.

"...Who is Tazuna?" Sakura asked. Kakashi sighed in response, dragging his fingers down the length of his face.

"After we were issued this mission, the Hokage briefed me on all the other mission requests that were issued in the past six months and were in any way related to the Land of Waves. A while before the Chūnin exams, this architect, Tazuna, filed a request to Konoha. He claimed he had delicate documents and needed escorts to protect him from a group of thugs along the border who had a penchant for rough-housing. It was supposed to be a simple C-rank escort mission, but the Chūnin leading the team charged with his request discovered the architect was not perfectly honest when he made his request and decided to cut him loose."

"They abandoned their client?" Naruto exclaimed, aghast.

Kakashi shook his head gently in response. "I cannot blame them," he said, placing one hand on the blonde's head. "The architect was the target for an assassination request, apparently issued by Mr Gatō of the Gatō company. Also, when the first assassin struck, one of the Genin on the team was badly injured; to make matters worse, the blade that caused the injury was poisoned, meaning she had to be brought back to receive medical attention. There was no way the team leader was going to continue on a non-essential mission he felt exceeded his squad's capability."

"So… Tazuna is dead?" the porter asked. He seemed to be well acquainted with this architect given how dark his expression had turned. Kakashi said nothing in reply.

His silence was all we needed to hear.