Seeing this, Kurokawa Yasumasa wisely refrained from delving deeper into the topic, his tone softening.
"Elder Takahashi, I have already found out. The reward offered by those villagers would at most be rated as a C-rank mission within Konoha's mission system. According to Konoha's custom, such missions are usually assigned to Genin, at most with a Chunin leading the team. These individuals have limited abilities and are not difficult to deal with, but they represent Konoha."
He deliberately slowed his speech, making his words sound more convincing:
"There's no need for us to clash with them, adding unnecessary risk. Since they want to complete the mission, we'll let them complete their so-called mission. Afterwards, they will return to Konoha to report, and everything will no longer concern us."
Elder Takahashi in the shadows was silent for a moment, his hood moving slightly, and a cold voice came: "If that's the case, I also need to be present to observe when you meet the Konoha ninja."
Kurokawa Yasumasa frowned slightly, quickly weighed his options, and nodded in agreement: "Alright. At that time, you can pretend to be my butler and stand by. But you must not act rashly! Everything will proceed according to my arrangements."
"The end of days is near, only by converting to our god, will the holy son descend and bless all living beings."
Elder Takahashi said nothing, merely murmured a religious slogan, and his figure slowly merged into the shadows behind him, disappearing.
The secret room returned to silence.
Kurokawa Yasumasa's lips curled into an undisguised sneer as he left.
'A bunch of thoroughly brainwashed idiots!'
It wasn't that he hadn't read the so-called "Gospel of the Holy Son." It was no different from other cult scriptures that pretended to be divine, filled with ramblings like, "Decades later, the end of days will come," and "Only by devoutly believing in the holy son and awaiting the birth of the holy son, allowing our god's true form to descend, can believers be led through the catastrophe and reach a new world."
'Decades later, the end of days will come?'
'Utter nonsense!'
Even if there was a sliver of truth in that rubbish, and some 'end of days' truly came decades later.
So what?
His body, which was being gnawed at day and night by illness, might not even last two years.
Catastrophe? New World? What did that have to do with him?
The reason he tacitly allowed the church to operate here, and even half-heartedly became one of their members, was purely practical:
The things they provided, the bloody liquid from the so-called "grace of the holy son," could indeed suppress the excruciating pain of his bone cancer that made his life worse than death, and slow the deterioration of his condition.
And... a tiny, faint hope deep in his heart that this incurable disease might truly be cured.
---
Three days later, at the edge of a dense forest near the border in the northeastern part of the Land of Fire.
Two figures, one in front of the other, walked out, treading on the soft humus of the forest floor.
The view suddenly opened up, revealing a gently sloping hilly area, and in the distance, the faint smoke from chimneys and the outlines of fields could be seen.
"That's Narumi Town ahead," Maruboshi Kosuke, who was walking in front, stopped and introduced calmly, "This place is on the northeastern edge of the Land of Fire. The climate is a bit cooler than the village, there are many mountains and forests, and the farmland isn't very fertile, but the mineral resources and timber are quite good. The local customs... are somewhat more fierce than the inland, after all, it's near the border."
He turned sideways, allowing Shinichi to get a clearer view of the front, and continued: "Further northeast from Narumi Town, over that not-so-tall border mountain range, is the Land of Hot Springs. That's a very interesting country, with beautiful scenery, especially hot springs all over the country. It's known as the 'Country of Health and Longevity,' and even its name comes from that. Many nobles and wealthy merchants like to go there for recuperation and holidays."
Along the way, Maruboshi Kosuke didn't just teach Shinichi the essential ninja skills like mission reconnaissance, track identification, and wilderness survival.
Everywhere they went, he would meticulously recount the local geographical features, customs, and even some rumors and anecdotes.
These seemingly trivial pieces of knowledge were, in fact, the most intuitive accumulation of an experienced old ninja's understanding of the ninja world, now being unreservedly passed on to the young man behind him, subtly broadening his horizons.
Shinichi followed his gaze, looking towards the distant, cloud-shrouded border mountains.
'The Land of Hot Springs... not only was it Jiraiya's cherished holy land for gathering material, but in the original timeline, it also seemed to be the birthplace of Hidan from the later Akatsuki Organization.'
'A fellow who worshipped Jashin, possessed an immortal body, and had a bizarre curse-killing ability.'
'However, by this time, Hidan should not have been born yet.'
He wondered about the origins of the Jashin Cult and Jashin that Hidan spoke of.
Shinichi withdrew his gaze from the distance, pulling his thoughts back to the present.
"Senpai, after we arrive, should we first meet the client, or go to the police station in Narumi Castle to exchange information with the local guards about what they know?"
Maruboshi Kosuke pondered for a moment, then said: "The clients are scattered in several villages outside the city, while the police station is inside the city. Since it's on the way, let's go into the city first. Official records and details from on-site investigations are sometimes clearer than the accounts of anxious villagers, and it saves us a trip back later."
---
The two no longer delayed, quickening their pace, and soon arrived at the entrance of Narumi Castle.
The city walls of this small border town were not particularly tall, but the guard's inspections were quite strict.
Maruboshi Kosuke stepped forward and calmly presented Konoha's mission credentials.
After the gate guard captain carefully verified them and looked at their forehead protectors, he turned and whispered a few words to a subordinate. Then he politely said to the two: "You two must be the Konoha ninja who have come to investigate the missing children case, correct? The lord has already given instructions that if you arrive, you must be invited to the mansion for a discussion. Please follow me."
Maruboshi Kosuke and Shinichi quickly exchanged glances, both seeing confusion in the other's eyes.
Konohagakure's status in the Land of Fire was indeed extraordinary, and the Hokage was nominally the supreme military commander of the Land of Fire.
However, when it came to local affairs, especially investigations involving civil cases like this, there was no clear subordinate relationship between Konoha ninja and local administrative officials.
The usual procedure was for ninja to directly interface with the mission client, or to collaborate with local security agencies for intelligence. The highest local official rarely directly and proactively intervened to make contact—unless the case involved a very high level.
Moreover, both of them were merely Genin.
For a lord who governed a city and held a respectable position to so quickly and solemnly invite two low-ranking ninja into his mansion seemed, by all accounts, a bit... overly courteous.
Their original plan was merely to go to the police station, review the files, question the personnel in charge, and then leave after obtaining initial official clues.
"Thank you for leading the way," Maruboshi Kosuke showed a calm, even somewhat rustic smile, as if he were just an ordinary old ninja accepting a kind invitation, showing no hint of anything unusual.
He slightly turned sideways, signaling Shinichi to follow.
Shinichi nodded, silently following half a step behind Maruboshi Kosuke. The two followed the guard, walking steadily through the city gate towards the most prominent mansion in the city.