Mizukage's Pokémon Ninja Scroll

Chapter 396 The Hidden Forces

It was astonishing to see so many ninjas appear all at once.

The middle-aged businessman, who had been speaking eloquently just moments before, immediately took two steps back in fright.

His mind raced as he tried to recall if he had done anything wrong since landing.

Did you underpay taxes?

Or did customs discover that the grain was being sold as substandard?

"But after selling several warehouses of old rice, do we really need so many people coming all at once?"

The middle-aged businessman's legs swayed slightly as he pondered how he should explain himself if the visitor asked him about it.

However, the ninjas who arrived ignored the middle-aged merchant, whose clothes were almost soaked with cold sweat.

Instead, they all walked up to the boy who had spoken to him earlier.

With a 'whoosh', they all knelt down on one knee in unison.

"Lord Mizukage!"

Jianchuan Ju looked at the white-haired youth leading the group, who was carrying a large sword, and rolled her eyes helplessly.

"New Moon, so you've learned to pull this trick on me now, haven't you?"

Upon hearing this, Hozuki Shingetsu looked up and grinned at Kenkawa Tachibana, revealing a row of small, sharp teeth.

He then suddenly stood up straight and scratched his head awkwardly.

However, Jianchuan Ju ignored the idiot and turned to look at the middle-aged businessman she was chatting with, a warm smile on her face.

"Thank you for your guidance before, but I have some small matters to attend to. Hope we can meet again next time."

At this moment, the middle-aged man had lost his previous eloquent and talkative demeanor.

Faced with Jianchuan Ju's politeness, she couldn't even utter a single word, only nodding tremblingly.

He only came to his senses after Jianchuan Ju and his group had left his sight.

Only then did I realize that not only was my back soaked with cold sweat, but even the pants I was wearing on my legs were unknowingly soaked.

However, once he regained his senses, he ignored his pants and started slapping himself repeatedly.

"You're so good at talking! You're so good at talking! You're so good at it!"

After slapping himself more than a dozen times, the man stared at the direction where Jianchuan Ju had left, muttering to himself, as if his wife had died.

"What a great opportunity! What a waste of that mouth."

Not to mention the middle-aged businessman who is still regretting his actions alone.

As for Jianchuan Ju, after listening to the merchant's introduction, she originally planned to take Uchiha Hikaru to the shopping street to browse and do some shopping.

However, since Hozuki Shingetsu had come looking for him, he wasn't going to bring so many people around in a blaze of glory.

We headed straight for the Hidden Mist Village's encampment here.

On the way, knowing that Hozuki Shingetsu was on a mission in Sea Mist City, Kanakawa Tachibana didn't mince words and casually asked him.

"New Moon, how did things go with the pirates who sailed towards Sea Mist City?"

To everyone's surprise, Jianchuan Ju only felt that the silence on the road was a bit awkward, so she casually started a conversation about this trivial matter.

But Hozuki Shingetsu suddenly became more serious.

He first looked around before speaking softly to Jianchuan Ju.

"Lord Mizukage, this is also what I originally planned to report to the village."

Seeing Hozuki Shingetsu's appearance, Tachibana Kenkawa composed himself slightly and gestured for him to continue.

"After I arrived at Sea Mist City to take up my post, apart from a few Sky Division ninjas assigned to escort and patrol, most of the garrison ninjas were working with me to fight and search for pirates."

"Initially, the crackdown on pirates went relatively smoothly. Although it was clear that many pirate gangs were being instigated by other ninja villages, they didn't dare to go too far. Basically, none of the pirates were Chunin or higher. Once we caught them, wiping them out wasn't too difficult."

Upon hearing this, Jianchuan Ju nodded; he had already anticipated this.

The Hidden Mist Village has created this overseas city and managed it quite successfully.

Not to mention that Konoha, which was forced to sign a contract with Kirigakure, must be unhappy about it, other ninja villages might also be envious and want to ruin this place.

Moreover, it is also the Hidden Cloud Village, which faces the sea and is located next to the Hidden Mist Village.

Although there is no longer any fighting between the two sides, they have never signed a ceasefire treaty.

Let alone secretly controlling pirates to cause harassment.

If the Hidden Cloud Village weren't already at its last gasp, it wouldn't be impossible for them to send a ninja force to attack Sea Mist City.

This small matter is clearly not the real reason why Hozuki Shingetsu is so serious.

As expected, after briefly recounting the previous events, Hozuki Shingetsu continued.

"However, recently, most of the pirates who were still around have all disappeared without a trace at the same time."

"Even some pirate strongholds that we had already located were already deserted when our ninjas went to wipe them out."

When Jianchuan Ju heard this, he frowned slightly.

"Disappeared? Did they leave on their own initiative?"

But as soon as she asked the question, Jianchuan Ju shook her head, denying the guess.

Pirates were able to continue to exist even in an era when ninjas were prevalent.

It's because it's too troublesome to find them at sea.

Just like rats in the sewers.

Unless you run into a ninja head-on or find their lair, you can hide anywhere and disappear without a trace.

When Hozuki Shingetsu said "disappeared without a trace," he was clearly not referring to the absence of pirates, but rather that there were no pirates left to plunder merchant ships.

Given the greed of those pirates, the lack of unified command among them, and the fact that some of them were supported by ninja villages behind the scenes.

It's highly unlikely that they would both disappear from this sea area or go into hiding and stop plundering.

"What results have you found in your investigation of those pirate camps that locked onto their hideouts but disappeared?"

Upon hearing this, Hozuki Shingetsu nodded slightly, then shook his head.

"There are some guesses, but not many clues."

"In several pirate camps, there were signs of minor fighting, but it wasn't intense. There wasn't much blood at the scene, and all the valuables and weapons were gone."

"It seems like they were kidnapped, but..."

But doing all of these things at the same time is not an easy task.

Tachibana Kanagawa clearly understood what Shingetsu Hozuki wanted to express.

As mentioned before, finding the pirates' lair is no easy task.

Even with the support of the Hidden Mist Village, it's still impossible to find all the pirates in Sea Mist City in a short time, let alone anyone else.

Let these pirates disappear at the same time.

Moreover, what use would it be for a force capable of doing this to capture a group of pirates who are mostly ordinary people, with at most a few Chunin?

Just as Jianchuan Ju was still puzzled, the group had already arrived at the ninja camp in Haiwu City.

They had only just entered the camp.

A pretty young girl with a joyful smile walked towards Jianchuan Ju.

(End of this chapter)