Chapter: 32

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A plump woman with tired eyes and a face stained with flour greeted her at the door,

"Welcome traveler! What can I get for you?"

[Wow! The same line as a stating village NPC!]

'Will you shut up!'

***

"Whatever's for dinner and some sake, if you have any."

The woman smiled kindly,

"Grilled fish and rice, will that do? As for Sake, well, we do have some Junmai-shu. Come on in, I will get you some."

Kaori nodded back to the woman, entering and taking a seat at a corner table, observing the occupants of the shop. A group of merchants, a couple of villagers, a young couple, and a small crowd of farmers. They were talking in hushed voices, but she couldn't help but overhear them,

"Did you hear... strangers..."

"Bandits... so many... route..."

"Tomorrow... Mayor... mansion..."

"Love... travel... mountain..."

The villagers were gossiping about the increasing numbers of refugees flooding in from the neighboring lands. Conclusion: there had been murders and the villagers suspected the strangers. 

Merchants, as always, discussed what would be the most profitable item to sell and the routes with the least amount of bandits. Conclusion: most of the merchants and peddlers were keeping away from the Land of Water.

Farmers mourned lost crops and increasing tax, planning to protest to the Village Head and mayor about it. Conclusion: a new village leader and an old mayor.

Lovers... 

'Give me a break. Why am I filtering through this nonsense.'

[Isn't that what the ANBU Black Ops are trained for?]

'Well, yes. But not about where some random couple wanna snog next!'

[Your fault for listening.]

She unfurled the mission scroll once more, studying the thief's portrait and drawing as many conclusions from it as possible. Scarred face? Hard life, possibly a soldier, possibly a highwayman... possibly a shinobi? No,

'Then it would have been a rank B or higher mission.'

Still, she would have to kill the guy and get his body to the nearest ANBU report station. It would still be a pain to preserve his body, but orders were orders...

The proprietress placed a steaming bowl of rice and a plate of freshly grilled fish in front of Kaori. It looked nice enough and the aroma was even better, 

"Enjoy!"

She wasted no time with pleasantries and dug into the food without wasting any time. It was good... and that's all she had to say about it,

'Better than that ration at least.'

As she was savoring the food, a sudden hush fell over the restaurant. A group of four men, wearing dusty old traveling cloaks, entered and scanned the room. They were all heavily built which meant they weren't refugees or beggars, which in turn meant they had been traveling for some time now.

One of them, Kaori presumed him to be the leader, barked an order for some drink and food. The other patrons were all silent, eyeing the newcomer with barely contained hostility and disgust. 

Kaori observed them from the corner of her eyes, they weren't peddlers, not by a long shot. Their hands were calloused, she spotted their hands when their leader reached out for their sake, in a way that suggested spears or swords, so soldiers of some sort of the other,

'Shinobi?'

No headband or a visible ninja gear pouch, 

'Can't tell affiliation... 'Mind's Eye!''

Kaori hadn't used that one for a day or two now, but before that she had practiced intensively with her mind's eye. She could make out their forms, their true forms,

'Transformation!? Three Genins... one barely Chunin... a four-man squad?'

She knew something was not right! Only one of them drinking while the other three were chatting in hushed voices and keeping away from the older man... probably their Captain, maybe a new team. 

Kaori's chopstick froze halfway to her mouth, but she forced the last bite down her throat and concentrated on her 'Mind's Eye' technique - Four shinobi, of which three genins, all of them barely out of academy judging by their slightly underdeveloped chakra coils, and a barely-there chunin leading the group.

The chunin's a water-style ninjutsu user and the three genins are a combination of lightning and water-style users... or rather that's their chakra nature since Kaori doubted they could use ninjutsu with their reserves. 

'Kiri or Kumo... which one is it?'

[Want me to scan them?]

'Sure...'

[Name: Robun]

[Age: 16]

[Chakra: 1091]

[Physique: 1105]

[Evaluation: A Kumo Chunin. Leader of team Ro. Intelligence personnel of the Kumo ANBU.]

[Name: Reki/Meki]

[Age: 11]

[Chakra: 548/600]

[Physique: 605/610]

[Evaluation: Twin Genin of the Hidden Cloud. Members of team Ro. On their first C-Rank mission to retrieve a Kumo Spy. Potential: Jonin.]

[Name: Mabui]

[Age: 10]

[Chakra: 500]

[Physique: 651]

[Evaluation: A Genin of the Hidden Cloud. Member of team Ro. On her first C-Rank mission. Potential: Jonin. She is one of the precious few with space-time ninjutsu talent.]

'That's interesting...'

Mabui, the COUGHbeautyCOUGH secretary of the future secretary of the Fourth Raikage. She died alongside most of the command corps during the Fourth Great Shinobi War... well, perhaps she won't live long enough to become his secretary now that Kaori caught sight of their team.

Kaori slid a few silver coins onto the table, paying for her meal and drawing the attention of the proprietress,

"Excuse me,"

She muttered in a low, hushed voice.

The proprietress came running,

"Ah~ forgive me, but it would seem we are all out of sake."

[If I have a ryō for every time that's happened, then I would have two, which isn't a lot but it's strange that it has happened twice.]

'Damnit system! Are you on the internet!?'

[...no?]

Kaori decided to ignore it, much faster that way,

"It's quite alright. But do you know anything about those people that just came in a while ago?"

She asked, tilting her head towards the table occupied by the Kumo shinobi squad. Of course, she knew that the proprietress might be their accomplice, that's why Kaori had her Mind's Eye active to see if she would lie to her.

The woman hesitated, glancing nervously at the four people being rowdy at their table,

"I'm afraid not much, dear. They arrived in this village a week ago and are usually not in the village most of the time, only for their three meals in this inn."

'Isn't that... like a lot!?'

[Haha~]

Kaori thanked the woman, slipping her twice the amount just in case the chubby proprietress tried to double-cross her. Well, at least she hadn't lied to her, which was a relief.

Once outside, she stared at the full moon in the sky and slowly walked away from the inn, 

'What should we do with the stowaway Kumo.'

[Slice their necks with a rusty Kunai!!!]

'You're definitely on the internet! How the hell do you have access to the internet!?'

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