The mission has begun, so now I'm outside Konoha. I'm surprised they sent me alone this time; before, they always refused because I didn't have a jōnin instructor....
Let's not think about it too much, the idea makes me feel lazy.
I'm walking to the location since I'm not in a hurry, and it also specifically says that I can take as long as I want, so that's what I'll do.
The exam is in two weeks? Knowing the Hokage, I don't think he'll let me participate because of my condition.
Am I really going on the mission alone? No, I sense several presences like shadows. Several ANBU are following me, but I'm not surprised.
The forest in this world is more abundant than the ones I knew in my previous life, the leaves have a stronger shade of green, demonstrating their great vitality.
Since you already know my summoned creatures, I open some summoning scrolls to bring my wolf packs and open some jars with my bullet ants to track down a possible candidate for my little army.
I order my wolves to look for other animals that I can breed in the future or simply some food for both myself and them.
Can't I hunt my own food? Yes, I can, but if I have someone to do it for me, why bother? Haha.
After a few hours, my wolves bring me the bodies of some rabbits and a wild boar, so I take my time bleeding and gutting them for my consumption, while leaving the organs I don't want to eat to my summonings.
Since I'm not in a hurry, I set up camp far from the main road to avoid setbacks and always make sure I have a source of water nearby.
"Who's a good boy? Yes, you, you're a good boy."
I play with my wolves for a while to relax and strengthen our relationship.
Although I wasn't a big fan of dogs in my previous life, that doesn't take away from the fact that they are loyal creatures and deserve praise, so I pamper them even though they aren't my favorites.
"Garm, you're a good boy."
It would be nice if I could find a feline, but that would be if I went to Iwagakure or some jungle location if I wanted to find jaguars or cheetahs... Are there panthers in the forests of the Land of Fire?
I spend the night peacefully in my makeshift camp surrounded by wolves and bears, avoiding nuisances such as other animals or annoying bandits.
But on this quiet night in the forest, I am disturbed by the deep silence, and I am also annoyed at having to sleep, so I take my time to experiment with a few things, taking advantage of the fact that I am outside.
I take pieces of metal and stones, wrap them with some explosive tags, and put them inside a small ceramic container.
The wrappings are such that the detonation starts from the inside to launch the shrapnel, and the outer layer is there to spread it, creating a somewhat primitive grenade.
The only downside is how expensive explosive tags can be, so I think one day I should start making gunpowder to save on costs and sealing techniques.
I also order my ants to look for useful plants and report if they find animals or more insects.
Any plant can be useful for my plans, but right now I want some very specific ones that I think I can only find in desert areas like Sunagakure or rocky areas like Iwagakure, so I rule those out.
But hallucinogenic mushrooms, poisonous plants, poison ivy, poppies, or even fallen trees will do.
As soon as my ants find what I'm looking for, I send one of my wolves with a sealing scroll to collect it, and that's how I get my experimental materials.
As for corpses for human experimentation, there are wars from time to time, so I end up sending my wolves to collect them.
"Hey, shouldn't I be sleeping by now? It's dawn and the sun is about to rise," whispered an ANBU to his superior.
"You're new to this, aren't you?" he replied with a touch of irony, as if to say, "First time?"
But when the superior saw that Kenji was about to do his experiments, he said to everyone,
"Put on your masks, this could be dangerous."
Everyone obeyed the ANBU captain, but the rookie was confused, because Kenji wasn't wearing a mask, so why were they?
But after a while, he understood the reason the hard way.
"I'm a ninja dog named Anacletooooo....
...
I knew ANBU was behind me, but the thought that some idiot didn't listen to his captain makes me laugh.
After that experience of being subjected to various poisons and hallucinogens, my body has adapted to the substances I handle, so I no longer need to wear a mask, but knowing that the
Hokage sends at least one ANBU squad after me, I gave them four special masks and warned them that if they saw me playing, they should put them on immediately.
At first, they didn't pay attention because if I wasn't wearing one, it probably wasn't serious, but on that occasion, I saw a squad fall like dead flies from the trees.
Putting aside my memory of that occasion, I go to the ANBU who was knocked down and inject him with the antidote while putting on his special mask, but with white, foul-smelling paint, I write the word "Idiot" on his forehead.
Having done that, I return to my experiments. I have some dried and powdered hallucinogenic mushrooms, which I compress to make something like incense and try with other things.
I won't go into all the details for security reasons, but the result was a hallucinogenic incense, which
I plan to develop further in the future and experiment with as soon as I find the bandits.
There are many ideas, but few components, so I have to wait.
The next day, I'm riding my biggest bear, which I named "Bern."
It's like naming a cat "cat"? Yes, I thought it was funny, and besides, it's not like they know the meaning, so no one cares.
As I ride my bear, I see some passersby who instinctively move away from the bear surrounded by an escort of wolves, saving me trouble and stupid conversations like "Where are you going?" "Are you from around here?"
...
I look at the map and notice that I'm already close, so I get off the bear and scatter them to map the area and locate the bandits' base exactly.
I climb the trees and head for the marked spot while taking out my jars of bullet ants.
"And then I came across the caravan coming from the land of frost, so I took advantage of it and we found some good loot."
I hear the conversation of some guys who seem to be patrolling the area, so I stop immediately and continue listening while hiding.
"There were some brats who seemed to come from another country, a brunette with white hair and a blonde."
...
"Hans, I didn't know you had those tastes," said his companion with eyes full of disgust.
"Of course not, you idiot, I mean they'd be worth a lot if we sold them as slaves."
But his companion had a look on his face that said, "I don't believe you for a shit."
Am I watching some kind of crappy comedy on TV? ... Never mind, it's time to get some information out of them.
I prepare my jars of ants while checking to see if there are any more of them around.
"Looks like there's no one else but these idiots," I mutter to myself and open the jar, then tilt it toward the heads of these two bandits.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGH!!!
They both scream in agony as they rub the back of their necks, trying to ease the pain.
At that moment, I land on one of them and punch the other in the chin, knocking him unconscious immediately.
But the one I landed on, Hans, is still conscious, so I can interrogate him. I quickly tie his hands and feet and leave him lying there.
"Let's see, Hans. I understand you found a caravan. Tell me, where is it?"
I take out my jar to put the ants in and put the lid back on.
"I won't tell you anything, they're new products."
I just take out a needle and press it into his arm.
"AAAAAAHHHH, what the hell is that, it hurts so much! Aaahhhh!" Hans cried and sniffed in pain as I removed the needle I had dipped in the venom of my bullet ants.
"If you don't want any more of these, tell me where it is."
But Hans remained stubborn.
"No, I won't tell you."
...
Well, don't blame me for what I'm about to do.
I take some tweezers out of my tool bag and open and close them to check if they work.
"Which do you value more, your right testicle or your left?"
The bandit stared at the tweezers with terror in his eyes.
"I'll tell you everything. They're two kilometers north from here. There are about 100 of us inside the base, which is inside a cave, so it's easy to see if you're close by. We gather as soon as night falls. The girls I mentioned are right there, so you won't have to look too hard. Plus, the leader occasionally sneaks out to kiss one of his subordinates, so it's guaranteed he won't touch them."
...
What the hell? The fuck was that last bit?
"Thanks for the information, I guess."
I keep my promise not to bust his balls, but because of his experience, I decide to leave some bullet ants so they can bite him as much as they want.
-AAAAHHHH MERCY, PLEASE, MERCY.
I make the ants bite his tongue to shut him up and proceed to go where this guy said.
Late at night, as the sun was setting, I am near the aforementioned cave.
"He told the truth after all," I mutter to myself as I watch them all gather together. I wait a little while and see that, sure enough, the leader is kissing his subordinate.
That information was unnecessary.
I put them both to sleep with a genjutsu and use the transformation jutsu to turn myself into the leader and a shadow clone to turn myself into the subordinate.
And just as I enter the cave, the other bandits see me and start joking around.
"What happened, boss? Did Hirashi not 'perform well' this time?"
Hahahaha
Laughter and guffaws begin to ring out inside the cave, but my shadow clone answers him.
"At least better than your mother, that's why your dad left."
Damn, that must have hurt.
"UUUUUUHHHHH."
The rest boo the one who made the joke first, but I have to focus on what I came here for.
"Stop fooling around, the client has arrived early and is asking for the girls. Where did you leave them?"
Everyone stops laughing and points a little further into the cave.
-They're inside a small cavity to prevent that ninja from taking them from us.
Hm?
-Which ninja are you referring to? There are many.
-I'm referring to that red-eyed executioner. You told us to be careful with him because he tends to use very cruel tactics and takes hostages, so you ordered us to hide them well.
That's me, isn't it? Well, too bad, the same thing will happen to you.
I signal my shadow clone to go pick up the girls while I analyze the structure of the cave.
-Tell me, do you know where those girls are from or why the client insisted so much on paying us for them?
The bandit stares at me, but answers anyway.
"It seems that Hirashi made you lost your memory," he pauses as if to remember and continues. "The client said they were from a ninja village in the Land of Lightning, so he was eager to raise them as his personal guards."
Understood, at least it's not for something worse.
That being the case, I won't be so harsh on you, but you'll still get your punishment.
"Boss, I've got them."
I turn to look at my shadow clone and nod.
"The client is waiting, so just the two of us will go. You guys watch the base. I don't want that ninja to take our treasures."
Everyone nods and waves goodbye.
Leaving the cave, I confirm with my shadow clone that he left the incense.
"I scattered it in various parts of the cave, so it will spread throughout the cave."
I nod and form seals with my hands, activating monstrous strength.
I pick up a rock and throw it toward the cave to block the entrance.
The bandits inside the cave immediately begin to panic when they feel the tremor from the impact.
"AAAAHHH What's going on?
"We're under attack, we have to get out.
"But there's a rock covering the entrance, we can't get out.
"Damn it"
The smell of incense reaches their noses.
"Hey, why does it smell like flowers? Who's the damn sissy who put flowers in the cave?"
But then, some of them start talking nonsense as they draw their swords and fight the air.
The hallucinogenic incense takes effect, creating chaos and some accidental victims from the swords of other bandits who are under the influence of the incense.
Having already left the area, I undo the transformation jutsu and the shadow clone.
I see the two girls who are asleep, as well as three others I found along the way.
"Isn't this Mabui from the Cloud Village?
Although I don't recognize her face, I can deduce that she is Mabui because of her skin color and gray hair, as well as her clothing.
Following this logic, the blonde must be Samui, right? But I don't recognize the rest.
I don't think they would send Darui here. In Omoi's case, I think he's much younger, from Naruto's generation, right?
So these children, who are somewhat older than Mabui and Samui, must be genin from the Cloud Village, sent to watch over these two.
If I didn't know the original story, I would think they were just random children, but being reincarnated, I know they are spies from the Cloud.
I'd better think about it later. Maybe it would be better to take them to Konoha and integrate them with my servants.
It's better to have spies you know who they are than spies you know nothing about, so you can use them indirectly to give you information that suits you, right?
Besides, if I remember correctly, Samui and Mabui will be excellent ninjas in the future, so it's worth raising them so they can become stronger, that way I'll know their abilities whether they like it or not, and if they rebel, I can counter them immediately.
Well, having decided on things, I'll take them with me.
But as I was bringing my bears and wolves back to transport them, a shuriken flies toward me.
Clink
I stop it using my shield axe, causing it to bounce off.
"Who are you?"
Those who threw the shuriken at me reveal themselves and have a threatening aura.
I order my bears and wolves to leave immediately to save the children I just picked up.
I take out my jars and throw them at the ninjas I just saw.
But apparently, they know about my ants, as they decided it was better to dodge them or catch them in midair to prevent them from being released.
With this, I can confirm that they are from Konoha, because even though they have cloud protectors, I don't think they are stupid enough to send spies to immediately attack the target they are spying on.
Besides, the ANBU are not moving, so it must be a move by the third Hokage or Danzo.
Well, it's time to use my new weapons.
A/N LeoCreepy here again.
This time I had to take my time researching and experimenting with some things, which is why it took me a while to write it.
Anyway, I plan to make Kenji stronger, whether by making new tools or using ninjutsu or other techniques.
If you have any suggestions, please leave them in the comments of the chapter or paragraph. I really appreciate your feedback because it gives me ideas to continue this story.
While I have the outline of the story, I'd like to modify it according to your interests to make this novel a success.