50. Ninja Job

After talking about his concern with Yugito and B, Zoro finally goes to meet the 4th Raikage. It's not a special meeting as Raikage just wants to see if he is fine now.

But then Raikage surprisingly offers him a job even though he isn't a ninja from Kumo. It's not just him who's surprised, but also the others in the room.

"Don't worry, I'm asking you because this job is related to you and your presence will help us in this. You will also get good rewards although it won't be as high as an S-Rank bounty."

"Hmm, let's hear the job first."

"Alright. I want you to go to the Land of Iron with some of our ninjas and help us negotiate some business with the samurai. From what we heard, you have good relationships with them, right?"

"I see, you want me to speak with them, huh? Sure, I can help you, but it depends on what you want to negotiate. I don't want to get on my hometown's bad side. Even if I'm not a samurai who's working for the country, I'm still born and raised in the Land of Iron. So I have an attachment to them and don't want to be on their bad side."

"Don't worry, this is pure business. The Land of Iron is a neutral country and a valuable ally, so even we don't want to be on their bad side. It's just that we are facing the other shinobi countries for this business, so we need help to win this negotiation."

Raikage then explains the business negotiation they want to win. It's the right to distribute weapons made by the Land of Iron. Their sharp weapons are of high quality and demanded by many countries.

But so far, the Land of Earth always won the distribution right as the neighbor of the Land of Iron. Now their contract will end soon, so other countries want to get the right as it will help them a lot to relieve the damage from the last war.

"Well, it's easier to transport the goods from the Land of Iron to the Land of Earth as they are next to each other."

"That's right, but it won't be so hard for us to transport the goods too even if we are quite far from each other."

"Are you planning to use the sea route?"

"Heh, you are smart. That's right, if we get the distribution right, we'll transport the goods through the sea. It will be faster and safer compared to transporting through the land."

"I see. But that won't be enough to convince them. I doubt you haven't used this card before."

"Yeah, we have other weapons. But I don't know the details."

The office door suddenly opens and a middle-aged man with tidy attire and wearing glasses enters the room.

"I am truly sorry, but the details of the negotiation can't be disclosed until the negotiation day. We are confident with our cards, but we want to increase our chances with your connection to Iron Daimyo."

"Ah, this is the representative from the country that will go to negotiate."

"Nice to meet you. My name is Misui. So, is it safe to think that you have accepted the job?"

"I guarantee that this will be a clean business and won't harm your relationship with the Land of Iron. We don't want to be their enemy either."

"Sigh, alright, it doesn't seem like you will attack another country, so I'll accept. But I can't guarantee that old man will choose you just because I'm there with you."

"Don't worry. As I said, we just want to increase the winning chances with your help. But if we succeed, we promise to give you bonus rewards, so I'm hoping for your full cooperation."

"Damn, you really know how to talk, huh?"

"That's the reason I am chosen for this job, hehe."

"Good, then make your preparations. We will go tomorrow morning."

Raikage dismisses them, so Zoro leaves to make his preparations. It's been months since he left the Land of Iron. He thought he won't return for a few years, but he will return faster than he thought now.

The next day, he goes to the village's gate as instructed to meet with everyone who will go to the Land of Iron.

He is the first to arrive, so he needs to wait for a while. After waiting for a while, the others who will join this mission finally arrive, and Zoro is surprised when he sees his teammates.

The ones who will go with him are Raikage himself, B, Yugito, a girl named Samui, a man named Dodai, and another man named Yasu. Zoro recognizes Dodai as the name of the ninja who could make rubber using his jutsu.

"Are you sure this is alright?" Zoro asks Raikage.

"What is it?"

"I mean is it okay for both Jinchuurikis to leave the village?"

"That's why I'm coming too. I will also help with the negotiation while looking over these troublemakers. Besides, just because they are Jinchuuriki doesn't mean they need to be confined in the village."

"I know that, but I always thought that one would stay in the village when the other isn't there."

"Well, I prefer that, but sometimes it's good for them to work together like this."

While they are chatting, a carriage guarded by some armed guards comes from the village. It's the carriage of the country's representative who will lead the negotiation.

"Well then, let's go."

The group then goes to the port town because they will use a ship to go to the Land of Iron. Zoro has Torao sitting on his head instead of letting the cat stay in his shadow.

Their way to the Land of Iron isn't boring with B's talkativeness. He keeps talking with everybody, making their trip more lively.

"Hmm? Raikage, did you assign some people to follow us."

"No, why? You sense something?"

"20 people. They've been following us from quite far in different positions. 5 on far left, 5 on far right, and the rest are far in the back."

"Do you sense them, Yasu?"

Yasu closes his eyes to find the ones that Zoro meant. He is a sensor ninja with quite good detection range. But he can't sense those people.

"I-I can't sense them." Yasu's detection range is smaller than Zoro's Observation Haki range.

"Hmm, either they are outside of Yasu's detection range or the kid senses it wrong. Either way, we need to be careful just in case he is correct. But keep acting like normal so they won't be suspicious. Yasu, keep monitoring our surroundings. We don't want to get ambushed if the kid is right."

Zoro is surprised that Raikage doesn't just ignore his warning and actually thinks that it might be true. He thought Raikage wouldn't believe him when Yasu didn't detect anything.

"What? It seems like you thought I won't believe you."

"Well, your sensor ninja doesn't detect anything, so I thought you won't believe me."

"Hmph! I don't know all of your abilities and surely never thought that you also have sensory ability. But that's why I can't just ignore it. Ignoring such an important warning during an important mission like this is just foolish. I may not be the smartest, but I know when people are lying or not. You didn't look like you lied and even if it turned out to be wrong, I still think it's better to be cautious."

"Heh, no wonder you are the Raikage even with that hot temper of yours."

Zoro is genuinely impressed by how wise the 4th Raikage is. He stroked as a reckless and hot headed person in the series. So Zoro never thought he would be this wise and understanding.

"What do you think is their purpose if they really are tailing us?"

"Probably to delay us so their country can negotiate first."

Even if it sounds right, Zoro doesn't think that is the case here. Other countries, especially the Land of Earth must have tried to negotiate long before the contract ended.

They must've wanted to renew the contract even a year before it ends. It really confuses him, so he decides to ask Raikage about it.

"You are not wrong. But the Land of Iron decides to do something different now. They are inviting the countries interested in this deal to come and make offers. They give us a week to give our best offers and they will choose. It must be because the contract with the Land of Earth has been too beneficial for the Land of Earth, but not for the Land of Iron, so they try to get the best deal."

"I see, so if they can delay us until the week passes, they will have less competitors. This deal must be very important."

"Of course. I only told you about weapon distribution or selling rights. But actually there are other deals as well and all of them are important. Though our main target is the weapon selling right. We will try to get the others, but they aren't our priorities. The one that wins the deal will receive a lot of profit for a few years which is very important to recover after the war."

Zoro just nods even though he doesn't really care about business between countries. He just wants them to think he is serious about his job. Though it's boring without action. Luckily, he gets a chance to do some actions a while later.

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Chapter 70. A Wanted Hunter

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