The sun was setting on the horizon, painting the sky red, orange and yellow. Keiko and Tatsuo had left Hiten behind hours ago, and had finally reached the Umikawa village.
"Let's just ask around and find the building of Kaiyo Harvest. It's getting dark and no one would be working right now." Keiko began walking towards a shopkeeper who was closing shop.
"I'm not selling anything right now, come back tomorrow morning." The man said, not even looking at her.
"That's not why I'm here. I want information."
The man looked at clothes and her tired face, speculating she must a traveller of some kind, lost in a new place.
"100 ryo, nothing's free here." He laid out his empty palm with a smug grin.
"Where's the building of Kaiyo harvest?" She took out a note of 100 ryo.
The man wasn't even phased, his eyes didn't move a bit away from hers.
"Now that's some important stuff! That's 150 ryo." The man's smug grin widened. He had seen her wallet, afterall.
She grit her teeth and clenched her fist, a step away from cutting him down.
Traveling to a far location only to doubt your Intel and travel again...that's does wonders on someone's tolerance for bullshit.
She took a deep breathe, a glance at Tatsuo in the distance, handing the man 150 ryo.
"The building is about 500 meters behind you. It has bright lights even at night. You must br a dumbest to ask directions for that building, hehehHAHA!"
The left while cackling, his eyes already on the liquor store nearby.
Keiko blankly stared at the sky, unmoving—not because she calm, but if she did, she would probably kill someone.
"Shit happens sometimes." She muttered as she grabbed tatsuo and left for her destination—Kaiyo Harvest Headquaters.
---
It was midnight and the workers had left the port, the shizunami village was calm as a monk.
Hiten picked the lock of a boat, allowing him to enter the cabin and other inner parts of the boat.
'Those men...they left behind all fishing equipment except for one thing—a rope.'
His eyebrows furrowed in confusion, his eyes memorized the exact location of every object within the boat.
The moment he did—he began searching around.
Every boat had one person with that rope, they changed boats often but they made sure that each boat has one crewmember had at least one rope person.
"It must have been important, or they wouldn't have left decoys..." He trailed off,
He checked other boats and had found rope which looked identical to what those men were keeping.
He found a rope.
Hiten smirked victorious, before taking out another he took from another boat.
"This one looks like it was actually used for something... unlike this one."
The ropes he found he every other boat looked brand new—too new.
It was as if it was kept just to keep prying eyes away from finding anything bad.
Hiten rubbed his eyes, before checking the rugged rope.
His eyes began flowing red, his ability to see chakra showed him the secrets of the rope.
"Quite smart...I guess." He poured chakra into it, causing it to glow.
"Chakra conductive metal—weaved into the rope in the form of fibres." Hiten softly said, before placing it back in the exact way.
Hiten left the boat and returned the decoy rope back to its respective boat.
Hiten poured eye drops into his eyes, before leaving the port.
Just like Keiko, he had a long week ahead of him.
---
Hiten had completely memorized the faces and mannerism of almost every rope user by now.
The several sleepless nights were filled Hiten memorizing their way of working, and it was costly.
He flipped over a page, learning the details on how fishermen worked.
"I need to know how they work up close with that rope. It might just be what can help complete this mission."
'I'll wait for the sun to rise while I wait at this guy's house.' Hiten thought, watching one of the sleeping fishermen's through his house window.
---
Koji woke up to the sound of his neighbours fighting again. He rubbed his eyes before leaving his room.
He opened the curtains to let the light in on his way to the washroom.
Before he could open the door, Hiten entered through the now open window and knocked him out.
Hiten dragged Koji away, putting him in a genjutsu by forcefully opening his eyes.
"He won't wake up for the entire say from that. It was one of the strongest genjutsu I had."
Hiten used the transformation jutsu to look like Koji, before exiting the house.
Koji was the one of the only fishermen who was close to the rope carrying fishermen and didn't have a family that would check up on him.
Hiten reached the port and began finding the people Koji would often work with.
"Hey Koji! Over here!" Said Rinko, holding a heavy crate.
Hiten walked over the boat as he helped Rinko carry the crate.
"Why did you look lost? We always keep our boat here—"
"OH. It's nothing! Just missed the coffee...the neighbours fuck so loudly I can't sleep!" Hiten quickly replied.
"Those two, huh. They either or screw each other whenever I'm at your house."
They both sat down in the boat, opening a bottle of beer. No one would notice they drank on the job...would they?
"Somehow they were doing both at the same time last night." Hiten said, making Rinko chuckle.
He placed his palm on Hiten's shoulder, "That my friend, is what we call ragefucking."
They both continued to laugh their asses off till their crewmembers arrived.
---
It had been about 30 minutes since Hiten left the port. The village was no longer visible and there just a blue expanse whoever he looked.
The leader looked into the water, his experienced eyes saw what what needed, he made a sign.
All crewmember began going to their spots, preparing to catch a school of fishes that existed below the surface.
Hiten looked at the giant net which would be released soon, before turning to look at Rinko.
Rinko took out the rope, before submerging a part of it into the water.
Hiten walked closer and looked into the water, his palms tightly clasping the railings and his eyes subtly on Rinko.
"What'cha thinking? Don't tell me your jealous of me?" Rinko mused, looking at Hiten from the corner of his eye.
"Not really, just fascinated by how you use it like that." Hiten replied, making Rinko raise an eyebrow.
'Didn't he hate those shinobi for what they did? Since when did he start liking chakra users?' Rinko raised his eyebrows in suspicion.
Rinko was forced to curb his curiousity when the captain came out of his cabin.
"Rinko, how's the work going?" He took a drag from his cigarette.
"It's going smooth..." He glanced at Hiten, "...We will soon be able to drop the net and catch a huge amount." Rinko said.
Rinko changed the grip he had on the rope, pouring more chakra into it—something that wasn't unnoticed by Hiten.
"That damn rope. If I could use chakra then you wouldn't be paid more than me!" The captain said, throwing the cigarette into the water.
"Hey! That disturbance just reset all my progress!" Rinko complained, but the captain just shrugged before turning away.
'This guy has been staring at the rope this entire time...'
"Koji." The captain called out.
Hiten turned to look at the captain, who took out another cigarette.
"Go help the others with the repairs. After that, bring everyone in my cabin."
The door to give cabin shut with a loud creak before Hiten could say anything.
"You should be going...you can't be coming late." Rinko said, making Hiten go to the other crewmembers.
Rinko stared at the retreating figure of his friend Koji, before going back to using the rope.
Hiten met up with the others who were working on repairs.
"Koji we need to fix the railing, wear this vest!" One of them said, making Hiten hesitate.
Upon more encouragement from the others, he wore the vest and hung from the side of the boat.
The water was just centimeters away from his feet as the only thing keeping him attached to the boat was a rope stuck to his vest.
"Don't worry buddy, we won't drop you again!" One of them said, while the other fought to keep his giggle in.
"Don't you dare! I didn't bring extra clothes." Hiten shouted at the two, before taking out the tools.
They kept the railing in place while he took out a nail and began fixing the railing.
The sound of hammer crashing down on the rail was the only that Hiten could hear until—
Hiten fell into the water, the two crewmember could be seen laughing their asses off while looking into the water.
Hiten was taken aback from their actions, 'This is a serious work place rule violation... and a waste of really good quality equipment.'
The hammer and nails which were in his vest pouch quickly sunk to the bottom, soon after, he saw the part of Rinko's rope that was submerged under the water.
Hiten quickly made a handsign before he began pretending to drown.
The two crewmembers began panicking as they saw Hiten's flailing arms helplessly.
"I'll get him up." One of them said, diving into the water.
Hiten was brought back on deck, becoming a coughing and sneezing mess, making the two crewmembers feel pity for the imposter.
"I thought that you would have learnt how to swim by now...sorry man."
"I wasn't expecting you guys to actually send me into the water." Hiten said as he wiped his face and dried his hair.
One of them genuinely felt bad, the face said it all. "Fine... we'll do the repairs while you rest. Don't tell the captain, though!"
"Okay." Hiten smiled.
Hiten stood up and left to meet back with Rinko—the one who had watched everything.
"Hey, uh...that was something! Falling off the boat again. Silly me!" Hiten said with a smile.
There was no response from Rinko—who only stared at Hiten.
"What happened?" Hiten hesitated, "didn't find any fishes? Hehe."
Rinko took out the rope from the water, unceremoniously dropping it on the floor with a thud.
"Is something wrong?"
"I taught you how to swim, didn't I?" Rinko took a step closer, his fist clench unusually hard.
'Fuck!' Hiten backed up a step.
"I-I was just taken by surprise, that's all!"
Rinko kept approaching him, one step at a time. Hiten kept backing up, one step at a time.
"You didn't laugh at our inside joke, either. Why's that?" Rinko said, Hiten's silence did nothing to quell his suspicion.
'An inside joke? My mission is threatened by an inside joke?' Hiten couldn't believe what was happening.
Rinko's fist began glowing with chakra, his muscles tensed up as if Rinko was about to do something that would him...and Hiten.
'Should I do it? Now? It's risky but I'll—'
Rinko punch with ferocious strength, his fist whizzed through the air as it neared Hiten.
But the punch was only strong for a regular human. Hiten easily dodged the punch and lunged at Rinko.
"YOU! YOU'RE A—" Hiten shattered Rinko's mouth with a light punch.
'Shit! I used to much strength, I can't-I can't...'
Hiten looked around to see Rinko's voice had caught the other's attention.
The crewmembers were approaching and Hiten couldn't hide Rinko anywhere.
Rinko tried his best to break out of Hiten's inhuman grip, which was pinning him into the railing with enough force for it to break.