Chapter 161 : Cloud Shinobi, Samui
The boss’s sudden reaction made everyone in the izakaya turn to look.
Riku was stunned for a moment. "Hyuga clan? So what? Just give me the money."
Hearing this, the tavern owner grinned. Riku didn’t seem to know the weight of the Hyuga name—and hadn’t taken the opportunity to ask for more money. That was good news for him.
But five million ryo was no small sum. The tavern owner smiled and said, "Wait a minute. I’ll contact my boss first."
With that, he stepped behind the counter—doing something out of sight.
At that moment, Riku activated his sensory abilities. He noticed the tavern owner forming hand seals, likely using some sort of communication ninjutsu to inform his superior.
Many of the "guests" in the tavern were actually shinobi.
Though this was just a remote mountain village, it sat on a main road leading to the Land of Water.
Glancing around at the ninja eyeing him from the corners of the room, Riku frowned and murmured to the "sailors" around him, "Stay sharp. They might be planning an ambush."
Hearing his warning, the group of "sailors" subtly moved to form a protective circle around Hinata and the others.
Then, among the crowd, Riku spotted a familiar face.
Samui—a kunoichi from the Cloud Village.
Riku’s expression darkened. So the Daimyo of the Land of Water hired Cloud shinobi too. Looks like he doesn’t trust Konoha alone.
Given Kirigakure’s brutal "Blood Mist" era and past betrayals, including Kisame’s assassination of the previous Daimyo, the current Daimyo had every reason to be cautious.
Though Mei Terumi had since taken control of Kirigakure and worked to reform it, the memory of betrayal still lingered. The Daimyo clearly hadn’t placed full trust in the village yet.
In the shinobi world, Daimyo govern the lands outside of shinobi villages. While they technically can’t interfere with village affairs, they still hold the purse strings. A village’s military funding depends heavily on the Daimyo’s approval.
Just look at Sunagakure—their funding had been slashed repeatedly.
After all, if the Daimyo doesn’t trust his own village, he can always outsource missions to shinobi from other lands.
Which is exactly what was happening now: the Daimyo of the Land of Water had hired both Konoha and Cloud, but pointedly excluded Kirigakure.
The previous assassination attempt had clearly shaken him deeply.
Samui, a powerful jōnin of Cloud Village, wasn’t alone. With her were Omoi and Karui—easy to identify due to their distinctive features.
They were only about twelve or thirteen now, still young.
Didn’t expect Cloud to send them, Riku thought. Samui’s an elite jōnin—this must be an S-rank mission.
Mission rankings differed slightly between villages, but the assignment was clear: protect the Daimyo and investigate threats.
Konoha had sent Riku, but he was still young and only a special jōnin. From the Daimyo’s perspective, that may have seemed insufficient.
Samui, on the other hand, was a full jōnin—possibly even elite jōnin class. She had the skill to go toe-to-toe with enemies like Ginkaku and Kinkaku during the Fourth Great Ninja War, and she maintained a calm, collected demeanor.
She was just a year or two younger than Kakashi—about twenty-four now.
Riku had previously assumed she was his age, but upon looking into her background, he realized she was much older.
She was around the same age as Yugao, but significantly stronger.
The fact that Cloud Village had sent her here showed that they took this group of fugitives seriously.
The main target, Akita, was a rogue shinobi from the Leaf, in his forties, with the strength of a jōnin—and possibly elite jōnin if you counted his vast battle experience.
He was accompanied by five chunin-level subordinates.
Assassinating the Daimyo of the Land of Water wasn’t going to be easy, and the Daimyo had every reason to be paranoid.
Still, Riku had his doubts. This whole thing... it feels staged. Like Kirigakure might’ve orchestrated the attack themselves—to win back the Daimyo’s trust.
But instead of asking Kirigakure to investigate, the Daimyo had hired Cloud and Konoha.
Even in this small izakaya, Riku could spot a few shinobi from Kirigakure—but they were clearly low-level genin and chunin, not official representatives. They probably weren’t even on an assigned mission.
After a short while, the tavern owner reemerged and said, "Old man, come with me."
Riku frowned. "Didn’t you say you were giving me the money? Why do I have to go in?"
He played up his distrust like any ordinary civilian might when dealing with ninja.
The tavern owner smiled. "Relax, the money’s guaranteed. But our boss wants to confirm whether the Hyuga girl is part of the main family."
Across the room, Samui and her team paused in their drinks, frowning.
Although Cloud and Konoha had once nearly gone to war over the Hyuga clan, those days were behind them. The villages weren’t enemies anymore.
Even so, Samui couldn’t ignore the thought of a Byakugan falling into the hands of rogue ninjas.
Just as she was about to act, Riku coughed and said casually, "Why don’t you take her in yourselves? What do you need us for?"
The tavern owner chuckled. He assumed Riku was the captain of the ship, a civilian with no clue.
"Our boss came a long way. He wants to see you too—to verify that you’re not one of them."
In truth, the group had no intention of paying.
They were working under the cover of a bounty mission—30 million ryo—to assassinate the Daimyo of the Land of Water.
The reason the bounty was so low for such a high-profile target was simple: the Daimyo had no protection from Kirigakure.
His guards were merely a handful of jōnin from minor ninja villages in the Land of Water.
Even the Daimyo of the Land of Fire, whose twelve guardian jōnin included Asuma Sarutobi, didn’t rely solely on Konoha for protection.
The balance of power between shinobi villages and the Daimyo existed because, outside of the Five Great Villages, there were still many smaller villages and independent clans willing to work for money.
Ninjas, after all, were human—and humans were easy to manipulate.
Before Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha founded the first village, one powerful shinobi alone could threaten an entire nation.
Now, although the Daimyo of the Land of Water did have several jōnin bodyguards, their forces were stretched thin.
To solve this assassination crisis, he had no choice but to hire shinobi from outside—like Konoha and Cloud.
Riku’s suspicion remained: This entire event smells like a false flag operation. Kirigakure may have staged the whole thing just to earn the Daimyo’s trust again.
If that were true, the Daimyo would have to be quite the tactician to see through it.
After a long pause, Riku gave the order. "Alright, let’s go. Come with me."
The tavern owner chuckled to himself.
Heh. This old fool thinks bringing a few men will protect him from ninja? Idiot.
Their real plan was to kill the "captain" and his crew, then capture the Hyuga girl—and keep everything for themselves.
As Riku and his team followed the tavern owner into the back courtyard...
A darker plan was already unfolding in the shadows.
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