Chapter 17: Creep

'I've never seen a sea covered in this much fog.

It's barely visible from a couple meters in front of me.'

As Ritsu moved the fog would quickly fill the gap he left behind.

Ritsu has never seen such a sea before, he is not aware if there was such a sea in the first place in his previous world.

But such a sea was here in the Shinobi World, the fog was unreal.

After the spar Ena had with Gou, which led to the Karatachi Clan absolute loyalty Ritsu talked to his father of his current plan.

Moving to the next phase is the recruitment of clans.

He is currently at the shore of the Land of Water, beside him are Kaz and Riku.

They departed the next day, many clansmen and servants sent them off, it was anything but quiet.

Kaz and Riku were needed as he was sure clans wouldn't deal with a kid his age.

Besides that they were needed to help look for the clan he was looking for and the information needed they also worked as a mobile teleportation point.

He can always teleport back to the compound and teleport back as they both have a talisman that will allow him to teleport to them.

He also has a personal one where he can leave it at a place to teleport to however it would be dangerous if it was just left alone.

Who can tell if someone or something takes a hold of it while he is away.

It's unlikely but Ritsu would rather leave it in someone's care.

—-----------------------------

'It's been a day hasn't it?' Riku was looking at the fortified port town that was just in the distance of his eyes.

Ritsu all of the sudden had decided to leave the clan in search of clans who would rally to his cause.

No words were spoken throughout the entire time they traveled over the sea.

Riku has seen this scenery many times, when the head had him go to various islands for information, however this is the first time he is heading to the port town in front of him.

The port town's name was Kaoyo, it was located on a peninsula just south and east to the border of the land of fire.

The town was fortified all around.

The towns located within the peninsula were some of the most fortified towns in the world of shinobi.

Not many clans were residing in this peninsula as all had focused their interest more within the land of water after all who wanted to be bordered next to the clans from the land of fire.

The Clans of the Land of Fire are naturally strong and big in numbers so it was already a disadvantage.

However after all this time this peninsula was never annexed into the Land of Fire.

The reason for this was the existence of a single clan within this peninsula.

The Kaguya clan.

The Kaguya Clan would pillage and raid towns and caravans whenever they were presented a chance.

They would attack merchants regardless if they were willing to pay a toll fee.

Even if those merchants hired mercenaries of common origin they wouldn't back down even if they were to suffer casualties.

The only times they would back down is when met with another notable clan but even then it was only a certain chance that they back down.

After all the fights and raids were mostly dependent on their mood.

Although the Kaguya Clan was strong and known to not back down from a fight, even they knew not to mess with a Clan at the same level as them.

Thus resulting in the merchants hiring clans that resided within the land of Fire to safeguard their goods.

There was an inspection at both the port and the entrance of the city.

After all, there were shinobis who could come to the sea on foot.

After they passed the inspection Ritsu, Riku, and Kaz head into the town as they watch the busy port at work with workers packing materials off and on the boats, Riku couldn't help but wonder how much money this town makes.

"We've finally arrived, Kaz find an inn so we can stay the night here."

"Very well young master" replied Kaz as he made his way to the town.

Riku eyed Kaz; he was aware of the changes that Kaz had gone through. It all happened on that day....

Riku eyed Ritsu who was calmly walking in front of him, taking in the surroundings.

'He hasn't seen a port town before, I can't believe that the devil can make such expressions.

He's still just a ki....No he's not a kid.'

Ritsu although not outwardly expressing his curiosity or awe Riku could see his eyes glisten from time to time.

However with observing a long time Riku felt something was off,

"Is it just me or has the young master gotten shorter?" he asked though he didn't mean to say out loud.

Without finishing his words he felt an overbearing pressure as Ritsu flicked his head towards Riku face making an expression, 'did you just say that????'.

"Oi I'm still eight years old, I will grow in the future, I'll be taller than you in the future."

Ritsu started babbling about how he was not short, causing Riku a headache.

Ritsu would have gone on about for the rest of the day if it wasn't for Kaz coming back,

"I found an inn young master."

"Good, I am famished, let's go eat."

Riku is amazed by how quickly the devil can change attitude so quickly from bloodlust, to anger, to admonishing, annoying, and finally a casual attitude.

As they were walking Riku was lost in his thoughts of what the future contained for him, but that didn't stop him from noticing a trailing eye on his back.

Although they only eyed him for a second, the feeling they gave when they gave him a complete check up disgusted him.

Especially when he noticed the person eyeing him was a fat man with beady eyes. He looked to be a daimyo, a wealthy merchant, or someone of relative importance.

The man was looking at them from what seemed to look like a particularly fancy store with the words, Cherry Blossom plastered at the front.

He was at the second level enjoying a cup as he would look at the people crossing the street.

The look he gave people were as if he were evaluating them, however, Riku seeing his eyes trailing consistently as if inspecting a quality good, turned to look at who the perverted man was watching.

He froze as he realized who the man was looking at.

—----------------------------------------------

Ritsu was following Kaz to the inn where they will be staying for the day.

He planned to discuss his plans there with Riku and Kaz.

Along the way he would look around and inspect the town.

He saw all the defensive measures, many hired weapons and guards patrolling around.

'If I recall correctly the Kaguya were subdued into the Hidden Mist, I'll just the same….Maybe.'

Once they were nearing their destination he felt someone staring at him which he didn't mind cause many people did.

'After all how many do people come across a shinobi with different colored eyes?'

However a shiver went down his spine when he realized the gaze that was on him was checking him out.

Ritsu at that point had froze due to never being checked out before after all he had the body of a child.

He hoped it was at least a lady, but his stomach churned when he heard a familiar sound.

Ding!!

[Danger Notification -

The host is in no mortal danger; however, the system felt the need to warn the host to protect his v-card.

The man targeting the host is into...….(Long line of kinks).

The man is the culprit surrounding the disappearance of missing people within six towns.

His preferred age is none, as he accepts all ages.]

Ritsu felt a vessel pop in his forehead as anger and disgust clouded his mind.

Within a few seconds he managed to calm himself and resumed walking thinking how to ignore this feeling.

'If the man dared to pull anything I will make sure to keep him alive and well after all this toy of mine needs to suffer for all those that suffered in his hands.'

Ritsu smiled as a hint of expectation course through his mind, he was none the wiser as his expression was seen by Riku who reach his side.

After all, Riku wanted to notify the devil about the fat man, but seeing Ritsu's expression couldn't help but swallow his words.

'Of course he knows...He's the devil after all."

—------------------------------

In the Cherry Blossom store, on the second floor.

The fat old man, Akio, was a rather wealthy man he owned six stores throughout the land of fire & Water all called Cherry Blossom, his stored sold drinks around the concept of cherries.

The refreshing smell they gave, the sweet taste, and multitude of drinks caused his items to end to be rather high priced. After all, there is a limited supply.

Akio was a simple man however, he alway had one problem and that was finding someone who he could be with.

After all, ever since he was little he was fat, no one was kind to him or took interest in him, not even with all his money.

Although people called him perverted he would never admit to it after all he was just admiring.

It all changed though when he met two wandering shinobis.

They weren't considered full fledged shinobi, however they were still stronger than the regular thugs on the street.

Wandering shinobis were created by being expelled of their clan, their clan was destroyed, or the deserted their clan but for personal reasons.

Wandering shinobis would sometimes picked up a random student or teach their children causing them to turn into wandering shinobi or mercenaries.

There were also the missing nin, rogue shinobi, shinobi who committed an atrocious crime in their clan.

Though one could never tell the difference between these identifying factors.

After all, information wasn't particularly shared as much at this time.

Akio took a sip of his drink as he recalled the young boy with pink eyes, he had never seen a person with such eyes before.

Akio showed a perverse expression, as his breath grew rather ragged, as he wondered, 'How his eyes would shine or glisten when tears laminated his eyes.'

He imagined the various torture he could to the boy, and when he was finally done he would enjoy himself.

Akio, done with fantasizing the future, turned to eye the two men who were loitering around drinking booze at his refined establishment.

Although he was disgusted with the vulgar appearance and attitude of the men, he couldn't help but admit they were useful in helping him with his needs.

Akio approached them as he stated his needs, "I have a job for you guys," as he reached into his bosom taking out a wad of Ryo enough to catch the men's attention.

Seeing the men's eyes on the wad of Ryo, Akio continued, "It's a boy with pink eyes bring him to me."

The men scowled at their employer's request but money was money.

Like always they took the money after all this was the forward payment.

"Very well we will get it done."

Hiccup

"Come on Ko, we got a job to do." replied Hiro, he was the man who took charge between them two.

They met each other on a job five years ago as mercenaries working to help protect a daimyo.

Since completing the jobs years ago they've been together since.

Wandering from job to job, until they met that pig bastard, honestly the men would have killed him off.

However, the man offered way too much money in just getting the job done, they simply couldn't refuse that much money.

They first thought, 'We should kill him and take the money, but why kill the goose who lays golden eggs?'

With their second being, 'Who cares if one or two civilians went missing?'

Since then they couldn't refuse a single request no matter who the target was.

They've grown accustomed to living off the pig and drinking booze to their heart's content.

The tipsy men wobbly made their way through the door and down the stairs.

—------------------------------------------

At the inn called Bear Inn.

Inside the Bear Inn they had a tavern on the first floor, serving those who came in.

While the rooms were on the second floor.

But to the amazement of the people on the first floors, eating their dinner or drinking booze to their hearts content they all stopped momentarily as they watched the amount of food that a certain group was eating.

Just the young child alone from the group had eaten 3 adult plates worth of food, the men on the other hand had eaten five to seven plates worth of food.

The adult shinobi after all has to eat a lot more since their body is trained to a high degree, however that is not usually the case as hunger and starvation can be held off if they don't train or over consume their chakra.

Allowing them to eat their just the bare minimum to be filled for most days.

But since Ritsu, Riku, and Kaz had been traveling and eating rations along the way they haven't been able to eat quality food, hence the large amount of food they are consuming.

Although the group had been mostly eating, between gulps they heard Ritsu discuss the plan he had in mind.

"If those guys.....Don't make a move by tonight" Ritsu paused to take two spoons full of rice and a bite of chicken, "We'll split tomorrow..... Here Kaz you'll head to land of Fire and find the people with this surname, they hide underground," Ritsu said as he handed a piece of paper.

Kaz showed a perplexed expression as he stared at the Kanji written on the paper, Iburi. Kaz was certain he knew of all the clans within the land of fire, since it was land of fire, the most prosperous of all lands.

But he has never heard of a clan called Iburi residing in the Land of Fire.

Although uncertain since his master gave him the task then he must complete, "Consider it done."

Seeing Kaz accepting the task Ritsu finished his mouthful before looking at Riku, "We will be going staring to the land of Wind, our goal is to look for a certain place and hopefully we'll meet a certain group on our search."

"Master, there is something you should know. The Kaguya Clan that resides in the area, they are a very aggressive clan that love to fight, pillage, and raid.

Although they are a shinobi clan, many clans don't consider them as one. As they break all shinobi codes.

There were numerous times when a clan would wage war with them only to back out, as the Kaguya Clan didn't care if they would mutually destroy themselves.

Try to avoid them at all cost, though I don't see you losing against them, but they will be troublesome to shake off."