Chapter 10: Ninja Village and Daimyo
Su Xiao looked around, the expressions of those nearby varied.
The dull, chubby steward, the beautiful songstress slowly backing away, the cowering laborers, and the silent Anbu operative.
His mind raced as he made a decision: he couldn't fight on the ship. Whether or not innocents were harmed didn't matter to him; the main issue was that he couldn't damage the vessel, or else he'd have no way to leave the Land of Water.
One problem arose: if Su Xiao left this ship, the people on board would immediately set sail and escape.
Glancing sideways at the songstress not far away, Su Xiao suddenly sprang into action.
In a flash, he appeared behind the songstress, wrapping one arm around her neck while a Alchemy Bomb materialized in his other hand.
"Taking a hostage, huh."
The Mist Anbu didn't move.
"Let me go, wuu~"
A white sphere was shoved into the songstress Nao's mouth. She struggled fiercely, but her soft body couldn't break free from Su Xiao's grip.
"If you dare set sail, boom."
Su Xiao extended his hand outward, making an explosion gesture, and released the songstress while slightly triggering the Alchemy Bomb.
Nao clutched her abdomen, the burning sensation inside making her crouch down and nod rapidly, signaling she absolutely wouldn't set sail.
Only then did Su Xiao turn his gaze to the Mist Anbu. The man hadn't acted, which meant only two possibilities: either he was very strong and believed Su Xiao couldn't escape, or he was waiting for reinforcements.
Su Xiao guessed it was the latter. The Anbu probably hadn't spotted him long ago; if not for Su Xiao's imminent departure, the man wouldn't have appeared so rashly.
As for destroying this ship, the Anbu wouldn't dare.
The ship bore the emblem of the direct Daimyo's office, indicating that the songstress was handling business for the Land of Water's Daimyo.
The Mist Village was the Land of Water's military force, true, but the Mist Village wouldn't dare openly provoke the Daimyo's office. Ninja villages consumed vast amounts of money and resources, all provided by the Daimyo's office. If they offended the Daimyo, the Mist Village would be left with nothing but the cold wind.
In truth, the Daimyos of the Naruto world were quite clever. They were somewhat like company chairmen, with the ninja villages as their subordinate departments.
The Daimyo's office wouldn't get involved in wars between ninja villages; those were purely battles among ninjas. Each village had a rule: assassinating the Daimyo of an enemy country was forbidden.
Hatred between villages had nothing to do with the Daimyos. For example, even if the Mist Village and Konoha fought to the death, the Daimyos of the two countries weren't necessarily enemies.
Ninjas died in waves, but the Daimyos remained the same, and their positions were hereditary. This was the advantage of controlling financial resources. Of course, the Daimyo's office also had corresponding military force, but it was never deployed.
This structure ended after the Fourth Great Ninja War, when the ninja villages began to develop their economies.
At this moment, the Anbu ninja was stalling for time, waiting for his comrades to arrive.
Realizing this, Su Xiao took a few steps forward, stepped onto the ship's railing, leaped to the nearby dock, and quickly disappeared into the crowd.
The Anbu ninja didn't hesitate to give chase; he also didn't want to fight on the ship.
"Set sail, now!"
The chubby steward almost screamed.
"No."
Songstress Nao's breathing was rapid. Though she didn't know what she'd swallowed, one thing was certain: if they set sail, she'd die immediately.
"What?"
The chubby steward's eyes widened, his expression twisting.
"We can't set sail... if we do, I'll die."
"Hah?"
The chubby steward was about to go crazy. This was no time to hesitate—why weren't they escaping?
What neither of them knew was that Su Xiao had left other contingencies, like the large wooden crate on the ship. Bubu Wang was inside that crate, and if they tried to set sail, Bubu Wang would break out.
...
On the dock, the Anbu ninja moved swiftly through the crowd, his nostrils flaring beneath his mask. This was a secret technique he'd mastered, allowing him to lock onto a person's scent.
He had now locked onto Su Xiao's scent, and it was thanks to this ability that he'd found Su Xiao.
"Ahead... no, has he realized his scent was exposed? It's to the left."
The Anbu ninja strode quickly among the residential buildings near the dock. It was nine in the morning, and the houses here were almost empty, mostly inhabited by laborers or fishermen living as couples.
The Anbu ninja continued tracking Su Xiao's scent. Just as he rounded a corner, a sharp gleam thrust toward his face, the blade glinting coldly.
Pfft.
The Anbu ninja was pierced through the face, his body twitching a few times before going still.
Su Xiao frowned. The Anbu ninja wasn't dead; he'd pierced a Water Clone.
Substitution Technique + Water Clone Technique, two low-level ninjutsu. The Mist Anbu had used these two basic techniques to dodge that perilous strike.
Combat wasn't just about clashing skills; any ability that could kill an enemy was a good one, regardless of rank.
Flicking the Water Clone off his blade, it splashed into a puddle on the ground. The Anbu's real body was somewhere unknown.
"Water Style: Hidden Mist Technique."
On the roof of a nearby house, the Anbu ninja formed hand seals, and thick fog began to spread around them.
The fog grew denser, and Su Xiao's vision turned white. His sight blocked, he closed his eyes and relied on his perception to probe the surroundings, but the effect was minimal. The fog was mixed with chakra, interfering with his senses.
Swoosh, swoosh~
The sound of wind cutting through the air came, followed by hushed conversation from within the fog.
"Good."
"Everyone's here?"
"Yeah, all five are here. Let's use that."
Su Xiao stood still in the fog. The voices came from all directions; pinpointing the enemy's location by sound was impossible.
According to the Anbu's discussion, there were five of them, but the actual number was questionable. This might be a trap to increase Su Xiao's pressure.
"Water Style: Water Dragon Bullet Technique."
"Earth Style: Yellow Spring Swamp."
A water dragon charged straight at him, while the ground beneath Su Xiao softened, and he began to sink.
These two techniques complemented each other perfectly: the Earth Style controlled movement, and the Water Dragon both impacted Su Xiao and made the muddy swamp harder to escape.
Boom.
Mud splattered, and a long blade flew up, eventually clattering to the ground.
"Did we get him?"
"His presence is gone."
"His weapon's on the ground too."
There were only three Mist Anbu, not the five they'd claimed.
All three consciously kept their distance from Su Xiao, likely aware of his terrifying close-combat abilities.
Zzzz~
The sound of wires retracting came, and all three Mist Anbu sensed danger at once, leaping into the air.
Just as they jumped, one of them felt a sharp pain in his shoulder. A barely visible metal thread had embedded itself into his flesh.
If they looked closely, they'd see that between the surrounding houses, countless cyan threads were strung—this was the Realm Severing Thread.
Jumping down from a rooftop, Su Xiao flicked his finger, and Dragon-Slaying Flash flew up from the ground into his hand.
He had used the Anbu's Hidden Mist Technique as cover, setting up a "barrier" with the Realm Severing Thread around the area. Unless someone killed him or cut the threads, no one could leave this barrier.
Ding.
A crisp sound came—one of the Anbu was slashing at the Realm Severing Thread. Though Su Xiao couldn't tell the direction, he could judge the position from the vibration in the threads. All five of his fingers, wrapped in metal, were connected to the threads, each finger representing a direction.