Life at the Azure Serenity Pavilion was pleasant, even better than back in Konoha, not even the main family had it this good, though I also had to pay a high price for this level of service.
It wasn't cheap to get the full royal treatment. But it was nice, to get bathed, dressed in silk, and have servants serve you food and fruit whenever I felt like it.
Nothing was better than this for washing away stress, just being able to lie back and relax, to be worry-free.
"Kaguya-hime, your dinner is ready," The main attendant for my suite said as she entered.
"Very well, help me get dressed." I stepped out of the hot water, feeling the cool night air against my warm, wet skin. I instantly used chakra to dry my hair, but my body was left for the attendants to dry.
Two of them quickly stepped forward, soft towels in their hands.
They worked with practiced grace — silent, efficient, careful never to meet my eyes, even though the blindfold made it impossible to tell if I was looking at them. Their hands were steady, respectful.
They weren't amateurs; they were trained in handling important clients and were both respectful and skillful.
Soon a soft silk robe was placed on my shoulders while hot food was laid out on the table. Dozens of steaming dishes cooked by some of the best in the entire Land of Hot Springs.
A premium meal, for a premium price, but worth the money.
Still, the worth might not be in question, but the price was still something I couldn't afford endlessly. The fools who tried to rob me while I travelled around the past few months didn't exactly have a lot of money on them.
Not to mention it had taken a while before I could lower myself to recover their valuables after I killed them.
And speak of the devil, I noticed a few strange chakra signatures entering my range as I was halfway through the meal.
With the current expanded range of my Byakugan I could even see the entirety of the nearby city, which meant I could watch tens of thousands of people going about their business.
This naturally included its fair share of shinobi as well. Yet this group still stood out. It reminded me very much of a very particular set of groups I had been seeing a lot after the war ended and I left Konoha.
They weren't the clean, put-together groups the large villages would send out, nor the weak ones the smaller villages had to field. This was a mishmash of strange and nature, clearly people who were together for reasons other than loyalty to a common entity.
No, these weren't a Genin team, or even an ANBU squad. This was something dirtier. These were bounty hunters.
Now, one thing I couldn't see, even with my Byakugan, was who their target was. They didn't look like they wanted to come here to relax… and neither did they seem like the type who would take the missions available here…
Which meant they had to target someone, but who?
Jiraiya had already left, but they could still be tracking him, though I doubted that they were foolish enough to target someone that famous. He was famous precisely because of his strength.
So, it was likely someone else… and I had a bad feeling it was me.
I couldn't help but curse in my head, curse that damned bounty that had been put on my head.
Because yes, a bounty had already been placed on me. Not much, but enough for some fools to think I was an easy target. Or rather, it was the icing on the cake.
People had gotten pictures of me, put them on posters, and the dirty, horny, pent up rogue shinobi who saw it were instantly left drooling.
So with the promise of being able to enjoy me before cashing me in for a reward, plenty had tried. All had failed, but that hardly mattered.
After all, it wasn't like there was a list of how many times I had killed the hunters coming after me, so others had no idea of my danger. It really didn't help that the bounty didn't mention it.
It just stated that I was skilled in taijutsu, which hardly even began to touch on the level I had reached within that field.
Two decades I had dedicated to master combat. Two long decades of blood, sweat, and tears. Throwing myself into spars and combat, turning everything I had seen from within the moon into practical skills.
The nagging suspicion about those three shinobi took some of the joy out of my meal, as I had to keep my attention split onto them, looking for clues that I was indeed their target.
Not because I was afraid of them, but because they could still ruin my little vacation.
…
"Are you going out Kaguya-hime?" Nina, one of the attendants, asked as I requested their help in dressing me.
"Just going to stretch my legs, and I wouldn't want to cause a mess here." I said, hinting towards my plan.
Given that I had racked up quite a tab, it was no surprise that they were worried that I might skip on them. Yet they understood that I wasn't someone they could afford to offend, the name Kaguya was still connected to a powerful shinobi clan.
A dangerous one at that.
"Very well," she said, clearly wanting to say more, but knowing it wasn't her place, so she just kept quiet as she helped me get proper.
…
"Holy!"
"Fuck!"
"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"
The clearing erupted into chaos the moment I revealed myself — or rather, the moment they realized I had been standing directly behind them the entire time.
My disdain for them only grew at their reactions, who just jumped on the spot, completely forgetting any kind of training they might once have reserved.
At least one of them was quick to throw a ninjutsu in my direction, though the fireball jutsu was hardly the most powerful one in the book, nor was he very good, needing multiple hand signs for such a simple one.
Though, even if he could do it sign-less, I could still have dodged with my eyes closed.
What little respect that quick reaction might have earned was lost as they failed to follow it up with anything. Instead, he just stood there, gaping like a total moron.
"Well, well, would you look at that boys, it seems the prize came right to us, sparing us the trouble of getting her." The leader said as he recovered from his shock. His voice was greasy, slick with confidence that he hadn't earned. A man in his thirties, maybe older, dressed in mismatched gear that looked stolen rather than bought.
Behind him, the other two tried to spread out, flanking me, their movements clumsy but coordinated enough to show experience. This clearly wasn't the first time they had done something like this, even if they were clearly used to targeting civilians from their actions.
"Careful, Genzu," one of them hissed, a scarred kunoichi with a chipped tanto in hand. "You've seen the posters. She's a taijutsu specialist — means fast. Don't let her close."
"Oh, I don't plan to," Genzu said with a grin that was all teeth and arrogance. "But you don't have to worry, sweetheart. We're not gonna hurt that pretty face. Would be a shame to ruin the goods before we hand her over."
I sighed. "Every time," I muttered under my breath.
His smirk faltered. "What was that?"
I stepped forward — one smooth, unhurried motion. "I said, every time. Every group that comes after me says the same thing. The threats, the leering, the confidence. It's boring."
For a moment, he seemed confused — then his hand jerked up, and a volley of kunai filled the air. "We'll see how bored you are when you're dead!"
I didn't even bother to move. The air shimmered faintly — a barely visible haze of chakra — and the weapons veered off course, embedding themselves harmlessly into the ground around me.
I still felt the strain on my eyes from using them to project a solid barrier of chakra like that, but it was more than enough to handle this level of attack.
Their confused gasps and grunts were the last thing to leave their mouths before air would forever leave their lungs as I shot bone bullets at their stunned figures.
They didn't even have a chance to react before their bodies crumpled to the ground, blood slowly pooling into the dirt under them.
"Ahh, that was disappointing." I sighed at the gap between us. It was a gulf they could never hope to cross. They barely qualified as Chuunin, and I was far beyond that, even when relying mostly on taijutsu and bloodline ability.
I quickly looted anything of value, which wasn't much, before leaving them there. Either someone would stumble upon the gruesome sight, or the animals would feast on them. Either way, it was no longer my issue.
Instead, I could go back to dealing with my own business.
Like doing one or two of the missions I had picked up, to help cover my expenses.
It wasn't like I had just been lying around doing nothing over the past week. I could simply do all the reconnaissance work from the hot spring or the massage bed. Such was the range of my Byakugan.
I had been mapping out everything, finding targets, learning routes, finding and planning all the details. Now I just had to make a quick detour before returning to the pavilion for dessert.
I entered the capital city on foot, walking right in through the gate, openly taking in the experience of the big city.
After having watched the place for a week, I was able to walk around with the confidence of someone who knew the place, which meant that despite my apparent blindness, I wasn't stopped and offered help.
The city streets were still lively even at this hour — paper lanterns swaying in the night breeze, casting ripples of red and gold across polished cobblestones.
Merchants packed away their stalls with tired smiles, while drunk nobles and off-work civilians staggered from teahouses, laughter echoing down the narrow lanes. The faint scent of grilled fish and sweet sake lingered in the air.
A lively place, a comfortable atmosphere, something that couldn't really be found outside of the big cities. Out there, the horrors of war could be felt, it could be seen, but here? It was like it never happened.
Watching through rows of buildings and entire streets, I tracked my target, a merchant and son of a noble. A dishonored son, one that was a stain on his family, or so my assignment said.
It didn't matter too much; what did was how he had gotten dishonored — slave trading, and worse, trading in war orphans. Children. Sure, there was plenty of money in it, but it was dirty money.
A trade built on suffering, profits made with the blood and tears of innocents.
Worse yet, some of the buyers were individuals like Danzo of Konoha or Orochimaru, who were still affiliated with Konoha.
And the children entering their hands… didn't even have clean deaths.
Which was what this person got.
I timed my attack just as he was finishing up for the day, so he had the most money on him, since I could keep it as my own.
Just as he was closing up shop, I stepped up behind him, silent as a ghost. He barely noticed the shadow behind him, before a bone spike went through his heart.
My free hand easily swiped his valuables from him, and I was gone before his body even hit the ground. All that remained was a bone spike sticking out of his chest.
A calling card. After all, I had to build up a reputation if I wanted to get the attention of those hiding in the dark.
(End of chapter)
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