Chapter 132: Young, Beautiful, and Spends Money
In the darkness, the figures discussed their intelligence for a while before vanishing from the spot.
Tonbo Tobitake stood right beside where they had been, rubbing his chin as he watched them disappear.
"Looks like they've been targeted. I hope the client doesn't drop dead before paying for the mission."
He didn't have much of an opinion on the Hagoromo clan being targeted, but if the employer bit the dust, wouldn't his payment go up in smoke?
And that "Gato"—was it the same Gato from the original story who went to the Land of Waves? He seemed quite the shady character, more interested in using black-market brute force than doing honest business.
As one of the world's premier capitalists, Gato was quite famous globally. Tonbo had seen glimpses of him in a certain ninja's memories. Unlike the original story where Gato only kept a few thugs and ruffians by his side, this version of Gato had quite a diverse set of methods.
The rich were usually afraid of death. As Gato's wealth grew, so did his paranoia. The group of ninjas gathered around him was substantial; it wasn't something one or two Jonin could easily break through. Whether some catastrophe happened later to make him stupid enough to personally lead men against Zabuza and Kakashi, Tonbo didn't know. At least based on Tonbo's current intelligence network, Gato had at least two Jonin-level ninjas protecting him daily.
It seemed Gato's methods of accumulating wealth through illicit means never stopped. This world had many differences; not everything followed the original plot perfectly. For example, the Bringer-of-Darkness Technique—he remembered it being created by the Second Hokage, but in the Scroll of Seals, it was credited to Hashirama. There were many small details that varied significantly from the original lore.
"Well, they told us not to wander around, yet here I am roaming everywhere. I really should feel bad. We'll see how it goes—these guys couldn't even tell they were under an illusion. Even if the other teams are similar, there's no reason they should be able to take down a capitalist like the Hagoromo clan, right?"
In Tonbo's perception, the Hagoromo clan's guards were numerous. However, there were only two or three Jonin; most were hired ninjas, just like his Konoha squad.
Stretching his limbs, Tonbo returned to the team's resting area. Every guard and ninja he passed seemed as if they couldn't see him at all, automatically ignoring his presence.
Inside the room, Hyuga Ren and the other two were discussing.
"The Captain won't be discovered, will he? There are a lot of guards here!" Inuzuka Kairo worried.
The meridians around Hyuga Ren's eyes bulged as he activated his Byakugan. Hearing this, he spoke: "I don't think so. In my X-ray vision, the Captain has already vanished."
He had heard from clan seniors that Tonbo Tobitake was an elite among Jonin, but he hadn't quite believed it. According to his analysis, Tonbo was definitely within his field of vision, yet there was absolutely no trace of him. He hadn't expected that besides the legendary Sharingan, there was another ability that could bypass the Hyuga clan's Byakugan.
Woof!
Inuzuka Kairo's husky suddenly let out a bark.
The insects on Aburame Shenra's body also transmitted a flurry of movement. Then, Tonbo Tobitake's figure appeared before them, looking as if he had been there all along and they simply hadn't noticed.
"You have to trust your Captain's abilities. I won't be the one dragging you down," Tonbo joked. Hearing Ren's words as he entered made him feel a bit smug.
Genjutsu: Hiding in Plain Sight. He had reached a level where he could even deceive the Byakugan.
"That kind of ability..." Aburame Shenra's eyes shifted behind his sunglasses. He thought of his own family's special passive traits. Because they used their bodies to host insects, their life signals dropped, and they emitted insect-like pheromones that caused people to unconsciously ignore them when their focus wavered. The Captain's ability seemed like a significantly enhanced version of that.
Judging by the reaction of his insects, the Captain's Clear Release was perfected. "Clear Release" was a broad category among ninjas—any technique used to hide without being discovered was referred to as such. It wasn't an elemental nature transformation but a functional category, much like "offensive" or "defensive" ninjutsu. Without a doubt, the Captain was a master in this field. Shenra just wondered if he had a habit of peeking at women's bathhouses.
Inuzuka Kairo patted his husky's head and asked Tonbo, "Captain, how was it?"
Tonbo hadn't gone out specifically to look for ninjas targeting the Hagoromo; it was simply a ninja's habit to map out the surrounding terrain. He just happened to stumble upon them and decided to listen in on the gossip.
"Naturally. I'm the Captain, after all. Mapping the terrain is simple."
Tonbo pulled a scroll from his tool pouch and summoned an easel, paper, and pens. He set them up and began drawing the terrain he had gathered, one by one. He even highlighted key locations: what items were where, the types of buildings, and so on.
"Captain, isn't that a bit extravagant? Using storage scrolls for everyday items?" Inuzuka Kairo watched with envy. Raising a dog and buying various ninja tools already kept his wallet thin. The Captain, on the other hand, was rich enough to use scrolls for stuff like this.
"Extravagant? I'll tell you a trick. If you can pull it off, you can do this too," Tonbo replied with a smile while drawing.
"What's the trick?" The three pricked up their ears, eager to know. They only used storage scrolls for their most important gear.
"First, become a Jonin so you can take A-rank missions alone and execute S-rank missions."
"Tsk, Captain, that's so dismissive." Every ninja knew that's where the fast money was, but strength was built on resources!
"Second, do what I did: find a rich wife. Or a wife with a rich father. Either way works."
"I see. Captain, you're a gold-digger."
The three reached a sudden realization. No wonder he was so wealthy—he was living off a woman. The first step was just to save face, right? Despicable!
"Sigh, you guys don't understand. If you get the chance, you should find a wife who is young, beautiful, rich, gentle, and willing to spend money on you. That feeling is better than becoming Hokage." Tonbo acted as if they were simply too young to understand.
"..." The three were speechless.
Duh. As if they wouldn't want to find a girl like that. No wonder the Captain wasn't ashamed but proud. If they could marry a wife like that, they wouldn't mind either.
"Alright, enough idle chatter. This is the topographical map of the Hagoromo clan area I gathered today. Take a look. If we get into a fight, you can better utilize the terrain—or use it to escape."
Tonbo stopped his pen. An incredibly precise map leapt off the paper. The three stared at it, their eyes widening.
Good grief. You gathered all this in such a short time? The level of detail was absurd.
The paper showed the entire Hagoromo family estate, but that wasn't the key. It was the annotations: how many trees were in the training ground, which spots were suitable for Earth Style, which areas would amplify Fire Style, and so on. He had even used concise, easy-to-understand math to mark distances, coordinates, and various other data.
Even the Hagoromo clan members themselves probably couldn't draw a map this precise. How on earth did he do it? Even Hyuga Ren, despite possessing the Byakugan, was impressed. Even with X-ray vision, he couldn't draw a map like this; he could only manage a rough sketch.
Mainly because he wasn't educated enough...
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