章 41: The Fire (Part 3)
Kaname landed near the broken body of the failure of an assassin.
'Haha, do not fret my dead old genin detective Kaname is on the case! Let's see what did you have in the pockets...' Kaname found only half-eaten pear and a small bottle of dark oil substance.
'Probably some kind of poison he coated his blade with. Shit, there are no clues of who sent him. *Sigh* I will put some seals for defense, then I will need to hunt for some shady people' Before she finished the barrier the sun started to set, she transformed herself using <Henge no Jutsu> into a beautiful woman in her twenties, as it's always easier for information gathering. Leaving the palace complex she headed to the seedier part of the city furthest away from the palace looking for a tavern or bar.
"Hey Babe, want to have some fun?" said a burly man with a dirty thug like face.
"Hmm sure, show me the way…"
"That was easier than expected, follow me" Kaname followed her first victim after they entered the seemingly inconspicuous alley, her exit was closed by two other men.
"Hehe, boys. Time to have some booty!" screamed the thug.
"Good job boss!"
Three men encircled her.
"*Pft* Okay gentlemen, now I would like some questions answered" Kaname started.
"Honey, we want you to work with your tongue babe, but don't talk." the fat man said, trying to pull down his trousers.
"Yeah right…" Kaname's eyes flashed with her red Sharingan, all three men were frozen in a genjutsu.
"Now I will ask you three imbeciles a couple of things"
(AN: Same thing the Sasuke did at ch. 408 of the original manga :-))
"Did you hear or seen the bounty for Daimyo's son's head?" All three of them turned her head sideways.
"*Tsk* I need a bigger fish. Is there a place where someone can request a bounty in here?" she asked.
"Yes… There is a hidden tavern near the city walls" replied the thug while two of his friends shook their heads.
"How to get there?"
"You can't... Only known people are let in"
"Do they let you join their little fan club?"
"Yes… sometimes" replied the thug while being half-asleep.
"You're lucky, maybe you will keep your family jewels. As for your two rap*st friends…" Kaname unsealed her sword from a small tattoo hidden on the inside of her wrist, the dark alley was lightened up by flames dancing around her blade.
(AN: If the rap* REALLY happened. I'm up for the most brutal punishment. IMO in most brutal cases even death. But it is just my opinion :-P)
"Lead me to the tavern. You can say I'm a looking for some work under the table"
"Yes"
Soon they stopped in another alley, this one had a door into a basement of one of the dilated buildings, the thug loudly knocked on the doors. When the visor in the doors opened Kaname heard a rough voice of an unknown man.
"What are you doing here after all these years you idiot?" it asked.
"I have someone looking for a job, I thought it is the right place" the thug replied in a monotone voice.
"*Tsk* Whatever, come in" Kaname heard a couple of locks being opened.
"Whoa, where did you catch such a babe?" the smelly man asked.
"There is no time… We will talk later" he replied robotically.
"Where is the man responsible for giving out bounties?" Kaname asked when they entered a damp cellar full of sweating man.
"The man is sitting in the corner on your right"
"Good, get yourself a drink or something. Pray you will never see me again" Kaname left him, her genjutsu would wear off in an hour or so.
"I'm a ninja from Kusagakure I heard you're looking for some blades for hire" she started the conversation with a hooded man sitting in a corner.
"And how do I know I can trust you?"
"Do you have the job or not? I don't have the time to play games" Kaname replied.
"First I need to be sure you can get the job done, there is this woman-"
"*Sigh* Let's do it the easy way. I don't want to slaughter my way out of this shithole on my first day..." Kaname interrupted him, having her back turned towards most of the bar her eyes flashed red, the hooded man's eyes for a moment shown fear but it soon transformed into tranquility.
"Now, have you heard about the bounty for Daimyo's son's head?" she asked.
"Yes…Two bounties"
"Two? Who established it?"
"I don't know…"
Kaname just now felt someone trying to get past her seals near the Raion's palace.
"Fuck I need to go… Can you claim your reward for those exact bounties in Fire City?"
"No"
"Oh? Then where can you claim them?"
"In the Land of Rice Fields and Konoha"
"Eh? Shit, I need to go" Kaname swiftly evacuated the cellar and made a run towards the palace.
'Who would be stupidly brave enough to reward a Daimyo's son's killer on the run inside a ninja village? And why there are two bounties on the same person?' she thought.
Without any definitive answers, the palace came into her sight just when her third and last layer of seals went undone, on the bottom she saw fifteen dead guards and two still-smoldering bodies of ninjas in jōnin uniforms. The third one was on his knees barely breathing, his limbs still spasming in pain after being electrocuted.
Kaname charged at him, she didn't want to wait till an enemy jōnin regains the control of his body. Putting a blade to his neck, and another paper seal on his back, she began talking.
"Who gave you the mission?!" Kaname shouted at him standing in a safe distance. She was met with silence. She heard a sound of clamping teeth, soon from the mouth of her hostage spurted out black blood.
"Mother F-. Poison?!" Kaname looked at her emotionless enemy face. Not a second later he died. 'Maybe…' Kaname dislocated the jawbone opening the mouth of her enemy only to see a black seal on his tongue activating and finishing its disappearance.
'Fucking Danzo, I knew it. Shit, now I don't have any proof to take him down with. What is this old bastard playing at? If the Daimyo got word of this the Konoha would get in lots of troubles'
Kaname went inside the palace to check on the family. She noticed Raion fully awake with a big saber in his hand standing above his sleeping family.
"Sorry for the inconvenience Raion-sama, the group was dealt with. They do not pose any more threat to you nor your family" Kaname whispered.
"*Sigh* Thank you, Kaname-san. Good job with those seals, from the terrace I saw a lot of projectiles being thrown at the barrier, they had to use a lot of power to get through it"
"Those seals were designed that way Raion-sama, they can stall for a limited duration of time, giving me a little window to come here with help." Kaname bowed her head.
"I owe you once again Kaname-san. Please follow me to the terrace, I don't want to wake them up"
"Raion-sama, have you got any idea who could wish you death?" Kaname asked.
"*Sigh* One of the most likely candidates is my younger brother, he always was this shadowy back-stabbing spoilt kid, have you met him? He looks like a criss-cross between a bat and a snake"
"Yes, I met him. Can I ask you one more thing about your brother?"
"Shoot"
"What is his attitude towards the Konoha right now?"
"Couple of weeks ago, we were having an argument about him saying that we don't need Konoha when we can easily buy enough mercenaries to secure our country, and at the last war he took a division of one our best troops and charged at the enemy camp, idiot got caught, lucky that the ninja he despises saved his poor little ass"
'Damn, whatever this old bastard Danzo does he is trying for the betterment of Konoha, he wouldn't support someone that wants to weaken it… Something is not adding up'
"Thank you, I was on this battlefield as well, but I heard about this from the only survivor from the platoon that saved him. What about your sisters, or youngest brother?"
"My oldest sister is twelve, we like each other pretty much, the rest are too young to think about the assassination. I rather doubt my youngest brother would want the throne, the poor sod is scared by his own shadow. When we were younger I called him a Flea, a stronger gust of wind could topple him" Raion answered.
"Hmm, what if someone promised him the title?" she asked, 'And then control the entire country from the shadows, of course only for the betterment of Konoha…' Kaname thought.
"He would have to kill me and my second brother. I'm not sure he has the balls to kill his family"
"Thank you Raion-sama. I will continue to overwatch the palace after setting up a new and stronger seal formation around it. Good night" Kaname bowed her head.
"Good night, Kaname-san. See you tomorrow"
When Kaname finished setting up a barrier that could last a couple of minutes of an army siege, she felt something encroaching the first detection layer of the new barrier.
'Oh come on, there is another chakra signature closing in!'
Kaname dashed to the chakra source. Turning the corner she saw a black-haired woman close to her twenties, she had yellow eyes and wore a red short-sleeved shirt with a light green waistcloth around her waist - the symbol of being a member of Twelve Guardian Ninja.
"*Sigh* I'm sorry, I had a stressful day" Kaname hid her blade.
"Oh Kana-chan, so was that you that made so much ruckus around the Raion-san palace? I just went for a walk to look at what's happening."
"No, there were three jōnins trying to break through my seals, they are dead now. But they killed a couple of guards. Do we know each other?"
"Hehe, silly me. My name is Tōu, as the only one, I'm the best kunoichi in the Twelve Guardians team! Nice to meet ya!" Tōu proclaimed laughing loudly.
"Nice to meet you too, so you were the one snorting in the Daimyo's chamber?"
"Oopsie, you heard that? Meh, whatever, I talked with Chiriku-san and I have an important question for you. Do you want to join our team? We could use someone like you"
"Wow, hmm… Thanks, but I'm sorry, I can't. I have a one and a half-year-old child waiting for me at home"
"You?! But you're what thirteen?! How did you get pregnant?! Those younglings these days..." Tōu yelled out.
"Nah, he is adopted. Can't tell you why. It is a double S class secret" Kaname winked her way.
"Oh, hehe. Okay, Kana-chan. Our doors are always open for you"
"Tōu-san, can you tell me how to get in contact with Hokage in here? I have a couple of news that are rather important for him to hear as soon as possible" Kaname asked.
"Hmm, follow me, you can send him a letter with one of our falcons, he should have it by tomorrow morning"
"Thanks, you're the best!"
"Nyahaha, I know right?"
クリエイターの想い 
dahnik
dahnik Here you go, the next chapter will be tomorrow or most likely the next day after tomorrow :-) Yeah, both the snake and Danzo have their hands in all of this. For now, Kaname thinks of the Land of Rice Fields as lawless land without any government, I don't remember it ever being said when Orochimaru created his little village. Doesn't really matter :-) I'm waiting for your comments :-)
In the next chapter, we start the party!
If you found any mistakes please inform me :-) I don't like mistakes :-)