Chapter 197: Mission Hidden Truth

"Excuse me, which one of you is Mr. Hamajiro? We are the ninjas who accepted the mission." Mu Yue looked at the three somewhat strange men in front of him and asked.

Why did Mu Yue say they were somewhat strange? Two burly men flanking a timid, scrawny man in the middle—it looked less like a bodyguard detail and more like a hostage situation.

But Mu Yue felt it probably wasn't a kidnapping; if anyone dared to hold a client hostage in Konoha, Mu Yue would call them brave—but there were better ways to court death.

"I... I am Hamajiro." The thin man in the middle stepped forward hesitantly.

"I have a question: did the giant black eagle described in the mission exhibit any special abilities, like breathing fire or shooting lightning?" Mu Yue asked.

If it had special abilities, it would almost certainly be a ninja beast, and a combat-capable one at that.

"Ah, Big Black is just strong; it doesn't breathe fire or shoot lightning." Hamajiro shook his head.

"Big Black?" Mu Yue thought the villagers would have given it a nickname like that, but shouldn't it be something terrifying like "Strange Eagle Black Reaper"?

"I have no more questions. We can leave whenever you're ready." Mu Yue said.

"Then let's leave now. We can't let that monster keep causing trouble." One of the burly men next to Hamajiro said.

Mu Yue looked at Hamajiro, the burly man also looked at Hamajiro, and Hamajiro finally nodded.

Since the client had given the word, Mu Yue and his team set off swiftly toward Kawakita-machi in the Land of Rivers.

A town in the northern part of the Land of Rivers. Mu Yue guessed that the name Kawakita-machi came from its location—it really was in the north of the Land of Rivers.

To the west of the Land of Rivers is the Land of Wind, mainly deserts and desert grasslands; to the east is the Land of Fire, dominated by forests and grasslands; to the north it borders the chaotic Land of Rain; and to the south lies the sea.

So in the Land of Rivers, the southeastern region is relatively developed, while other areas are more backward. Kawakita-machi, where Mu Yue was heading, was also one of the more impoverished places in the Land of Rivers.

Although the environment in the north was better than in the west, being close to the chaotic Land of Rain and lacking a ninja village made the northern region unstable and difficult to develop.

"Hamajiro, you brat, hurry up! Every minute you delay costs everyone." On the road, one of the burly men kept urging Hamajiro forward.

Hamajiro could only speed up silently.

When they reached a secluded dense forest, Mu Yue led Obito to scout ahead, while Might Guy and Kakashi guarded the rear to prevent ambushes.

"Mu Yue-sensei, I feel like this mission is a bit weird. Why is the client so timid?" Obito said as he hacked away at the brambles with a kunai.

"There must be something wrong. Let's talk to the client tonight." Mu Yue nodded.

If even Obito noticed it, the problem was obviously quite glaring.

On the first day of departure, Mu Yue and his team encountered no obstacles. From the previous mission, Mu Yue already knew that the current security in the Land of Fire was pretty good.

When it was almost time to rest for the night, Mu Yue used genjutsu to knock out the two burly men instantly.

"You all?" Hamajiro panicked as he watched the two men collapse stiffly, looking at Mu Yue and the others in confusion.

"Mr. Hamajiro, you don't need to worry. Konoha never allows any harm to come to its clients." Mu Yue said with a smile.

"From our observation, these two don't seem to be your bodyguards. What is your relationship?"

"They were sent by the town mayor to protect me while I came to Konoha to post the mission." Hamajiro answered honestly.

He had never seen ninja fight before, and the two men collapsing silently had genuinely scared him.

"If they were protecting you, why were they so rude to you?" Mu Yue asked suspiciously.

Hamajiro glanced at the fallen men, confirmed they were unconscious, and then spoke:

"Actually, Big Black never harassed the townspeople. It only caught the mayor's poultry."

Mu Yue squinted slightly and gestured for Hamajiro to continue.

"Big Black isn't fierce at all. Everyone found it in the forest and raised it together. But that bastard mayor wanted to catch Big Black and keep it as a pet. He failed, and Big Black took revenge on him."

"How can there be such a scumbag? If I see him, I'll beat him to a pulp!" Obito was furious upon hearing this.

"And why did you still come to Konoha to post a mission to drive Big Black away?" Obito then asked.

"We have no choice. Our fields are all rented from the mayor. He demanded we pool money to go to a ninja village and post a mission to drive Big Black away, or else he would stop renting us the land." Hamajiro replied helplessly.

"And you had to pay for it yourselves?" Even Kakashi was surprised; he had just been wondering why the mayor sent Hamajiro to post the mission.

"That kind of person has lost his youth. He needs a good wake-up call!" Might Guy said indignantly as well.

Mu Yue's expression remained unchanged. He felt the mayor was somewhat unhinged—not ruthless enough to go all the way. If he was going to do this, why ask the villagers to post the mission? Since the villagers' money didn't have their faces printed on it, he could just take the money and send his own people to post the task instead.

"Could it be that they're afraid of ninja?" Muyue speculated.

People in remote areas might indeed be more afraid if they've never seen regular ninja from major villages. Sending two big guys to watch him is probably to prevent Hamajiro from taking the money and running.

Of course, there's another possibility—that Hamajiro is lying—but based on his current behavior, that's less likely.

But Muyue didn't care. Once they arrived, he could just gather information.

If that town mayor really is the type to exploit the villagers, Muyue wouldn't mind playing the role of a righteous avenger on the side.

Muyue didn't hate the Iwa or Kumo ninja. He killed them because if he didn't, they would kill him.

Unlike other Konoha ninja, Muyue was a transmigrator who had been here less than a year. He had no attachment to Konoha. He could develop some feelings for people over various matters, but so far, he had zero affection for Konoha itself.

Muyue felt there was nothing to be attached to. A military base that sends kids barely over ten, or even under ten, to the battlefield—with his worldview from his previous life, it was hard to have any feelings for such a place.

Compared to ninja from other villages, Muyue hated feudal exploiters more.

"If we don't rent, then don't rent. Just farm your own land," Obito scratched his head and said.

He didn't understand why they needed to rent land. Konoha residents couldn't even farm all their own land, and occasionally had to issue D-rank missions for ninja to help.

Obito's words left Hamajiro speechless for a moment.

"Your own land"—what a distant term. Actually, it wasn't that distant. It felt like over ten years ago, his family still had land, but they had to sell it to the town mayor because things got too tough.

"Because our family doesn't have land anymore. Almost all the land in the town belongs to the mayor," Hamajiro finally sighed and said.

He didn't understand why. Everyone worked hard farming, but the more they farmed, the poorer they got, while the mayor did nothing and just got richer and richer, with more and more land.

"Ouch!" Obito was about to say something when Muyue's finger rapped him on the head. It was much harder than usual, making Obito gasp.

"Konoha is one of the most developed places in the Land of Fire. Don't compare Konoha's environment to other places," Muyue said.

If the ninja world had a concept of GDP per capita, then Konoha's would definitely be very high, because Konoha truly had a sparse population and was quite wealthy.

The training ground for the Chūnin Exams had a radius of ten kilometers. What did that mean? In his previous life, the diameter of Beijing's Third Ring Road was less than fifteen kilometers. One could imagine how abundant Konoha's land resources were.

After saying that, Hamajiro seemed much more relaxed and soon fell asleep.

"Muyue-sensei, what should we do?" Obito looked at Muyue and asked, not knowing what to do for the moment.

To actually drive away the giant eagle and let that town mayor have his way—he really didn't like that idea.

"Let's go to Kawakita Town first and check out that nuisance bothering the residents," Muyue said calmly.

Writing until almost three in the morning, dizzy and groggy—really can't write much more. Still short by over four hundred characters for my daily target. I'll try to write more tomorrow.

Also, recommending a friend's book: *Dragon Clan: Retired Death God, Working to Slay Dragons*.

*Dragon Clan* meets *Death God* — not a Rūmíngfēi-style story, a treat for fans of both.