It was not only the young members of Team 6 that were having thoughts about their abilities.
Another youngling was having such thoughts as well.
Kurogane Benihime, the princess of her clan and heiress to the clan leader.
When Shiki explained his thoughts on her uncle's plans, internally, she agreed with what he said, especially the part where he went ". . . killing her will be the next goal unless there is some other consideration at play.".
There were indeed other considerations at play.
'Uncle will not kill me unless he is absolutely forced to do so.' Beni thought to herself.
She was a born Shura, a Kurogane so innately in tune with her clan's violent legacy that she had no need for the specialized training. All she had to do was to surrender to the killing instincts buried within her.
The clan training existed to pull out that potential from clan members but she was born with it unleashed from the get go.
Beni's grandfather had sealed those instincts to try and allow her to grow up as a normal child but the more pressure she faced, the more Beni's mind instinctually approached that buried side of herself.
While her father feared this side of her as much as he loved her, to Saburo, Beni was likely the only member of his family that he truly loved, even if in a sick and twisted way.
When her clan's downfall was being retold, the little girl could tell that none of the members of Team 6 could understand her clan's decisions.
'That white haired boy was so disdainful . . .' She remembered sensing his low opinion in particular.
It was no wonder, she was far more mature than her age should have allowed, perhaps that was the fate of all those carrying special legacies but it granted Beni the ability to understand Shiki's views on the matter.
If one has power, they can choose whether to live peacefully or violently but if one lacks power, then that choice will be made for them.
Autonomy.
That was the crux of the matter.
In abandoning their fighting strength, the Kurogane clan also surrendered their autonomy, their right to decide their own fate.
And now, Kurogane Benihime wondered whether she should embrace the power hidden within her and reclaim her ability to choose, even if that side of her frightened her deeply.
*
The children had their thoughts but so too did the adults on the scene.
Inori, Tomoe, Ema, Tenma and even Tenki, all had their own beliefs about how they should proceed and what they should do to pursue their envisioned result.
The Violet Rose was a prolific jutsu developer, a fact made obvious by her original sensory jutsu and personal variations of the Yamanaka Hidden Jutsu which she created.
So, much like Shiki, she had jutsu in mind, one she had yet to perfect, that she could possibly complete before the time came to up their chances of success.
'If I can perfect this jutsu by the time we arrive at the Land of Iron, I'll go with Shiki's plan.' Inori made the deal with herself.
Tomoe and Ema merely moved to reacquire their fighting reflexes which had dulled after more than a year without getting into any battles for the purpose of hiding.
For his part Tenma was thinking up several contingencies just in case things went wrong, ways to secure his and his family's future, even if he had to let his clan name and business be buried, he was making these preparations in his heart.
As for Tenki, with long gazes at the young and beautiful Ema, the head of the Yamakaze clan tried his utmost to practice his clan's Hidden Jutsu into a weapon usable in battle rather than just a tool to give people their weather of choice for a little while.
Consequently, Shiki was given the perfect opportunity to gather data about the Weather Manipulation jutsu.
*
The caravan's remaining time in the Land of Rivers was uneventful.
With no apparent response after they annihilated Saburo's man, it became more or less clear that there were not multiple groups out there looking for them.
And this meant news would take time to reach Saburo, after which the new dispatched forces would take quite a while to reach the caravan again.
As such, the group could rest easy that for the time being, no more attackers from the Land of Iron would appear at their door.
Making their way into the Land of Wind however, the environment began to slowly change.
While the border regions were rocky and mountainous with still quite a bit of greenery, the more inward they moved, the drier and more arid everything became.
The poor climate made the Land of Wind a premier country for the Yamakaze clan to find clients requesting their weather manipulation services.
Droughts were common occurrences so people that could literally make it rain for days at a time in the desert were, of course, high in demand.
Unfortunately, the environment made the people poor and that led to many becoming desperate thus turning to crime.
Amongst the Five Great Nations, the Land of Wind had the highest concentration of bandits and thieves with many low ranked shinobi from Sunagakure itself resorting to banditry due to the scarcity of missions.
There were few villages the caravan passed through so that the Yamakaze could work their trade but the general goal and main stop in the Land of Wind was Roran.
Shown in the Naruto movies as the location of the Ryumyaku, the Dragon Vein, a supposedly infinite source of chakra, it appeared then a massive and advanced city but that was not the case in the current time period.
Roran only became that when the rogue shinobi from the future, Mukade, convinced the queen to unseal the Ryumyaku and use its power to expand the city.
That said, even in this state, Roran was relatively wealthy and semi-independent from the Land of Wind, hence their leader being able to call themselves a queen.
One of Shiki's original goals for taking this escort mission was to visit this city and investigate the Ryumaku for potential applications in his future plans.
At this stage however, investigating was all he planned to do.
In case the Ryumaku proved useful enough, he would try and establish a good relationship with the royal family to prepare for the future but nothing else.
What the boy did not expect was that he would have not one but two additional encounters in the Land of Wind, extremely valuable and wholly unrelated to Roran.
And the first of these encounters was imminent.
The caravan moved through the Land of Wind, remaining close to the border as they were guarded by Konoha shinobi which Suna would not look kindly upon.
They periodically stopped in a village to resupply, make a few small deals and let the Yamakaze clan ply their trade.
But the last stop before Roran, a small but relatively prosperous village, had boasted something of great interest to Shiki.
Because this village was led by shinobi, the Rinha Clan which appeared in a non-canon Naruto game.
+++++
Hey, Author here!
To promote the novel I will be releasing BONUS CHAPTERS on SUNDAYS based on the previous week's power stone count.
100 Power Stones = 1 Bonus Chapter
500 Power Stones = 2 Bonus Chapters
1000 Power Stones = 3 Bonus Chapters
Every earned BONUS CHAPTER on Webnovel will also be posted on Scribble.
Just a reminder that you can read up to a FULL MONTH ahead of this site on pa-treon.
I'm trying to become a full time Author now and I'm not going to be starting any new novels just so I can make sure this one is properly completed.
Find those sweet advanced chapters on pa-treon.com/lusoba without the -