Chapter 286: Land of Grass Mission
The first mission was related to the Akatsuki... It was to clean up the peripheral organizations that the Akatsuki had abandoned. Although the mission didn't look difficult, if she really ran into the Akatsuki, it would instantly become a super-high-level mission.
Haruno Sakura flipped through the mission sheets behind it, and several others were of the same nature.
"It seems like all the missions related to the Akatsuki have been given to me," Sakura pouted, feeling like she was being exploited as cheap labor again.
But then again, Konoha could only send her to complete this kind of mission. Of the few Kage-level masters the village currently had, one was the Hokage who had to hold down the fort, and the other was taking the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki out to train, gather material, and collect intelligence on the Akatsuki. So this kind of mission, which might lead to a direct confrontation with the "Akatsuki," could only be completed by Sakura.
Are they going to send the Third Hokage?
On the mission brief, a lot of space was used to detail the background of this mission.
In short, there was intelligence indicating that an organization suspected to be a peripheral part of the Akatsuki had been discovered in the Land of Grass.
The Land of Grass was a small country sandwiched between the Land of Fire, where Konoha was, and the Land of Earth, where the Iwagakure Village was. It was bordered by the Land of Waterfalls to the north and the Land of Rain to the south.
The Kannabi Bridge battlefield, where Kakashi of the Sharingan had been born, was in the Land of Grass.
As mentioned earlier, this kind of country, sandwiched between the great nations like the cream in a sandwich cookie, would usually become "untouchable"... Every time a war broke out between the Land of Fire and the Land of Earth, this small country would be ignored by the ninja of the two great villages, who would unscrupulously open up a battlefield here, and their combat troops could freely pass through their territory.
The Land of Grass, which served as a doormat, wouldn't say a word at this time. They would just tremble and hide on the side, watching the two big shots wreak havoc on their land, and let the flames of war destroy their homes...
And then they would pray for the war to end quickly.
Carrying out a mission in this kind of country was different from being in the Land of Wind... Hn, in fact, there was no need to inform them at all.
Konoha and the Land of Grass had good diplomatic relations. On the surface, Konoha would still give the Land of Grass some face. If it was an open and aboveboard mission, it wouldn't hurt to give them a heads-up. But Sakura was currently on a secret Anbu mission, so naturally, there was no need to bother with them.
The mission's location was in a city connected to the Kannabi Bridge.
That place was not too far from Orochimaru's base—now Haruno Sakura's base. It was due west of it. After a full day of rapid travel, in the evening, Sakura had arrived at the Kannabi Bridge. Across the bridge was the destination of this trip, Kuden City.
Sakura took off all the things on her body that could identify her, disguised herself as an ordinary person, and walked on the bridge.
In her mind, she was still muttering the word "Kannabi," feeling that this name was very familiar.
Just now, she had been in a hurry to get there and had no time to think about it. Now that she was near her destination, she began to ponder.
"Oh, right!" Sakura's right hand clenched into a fist and she slammed it into her palm, muttering to herself, "It's the Battle of Kannabi Bridge, where Kakashi-sensei got his Sharingan!"
Looking closely at her feet, she could indeed see the traces of splicing—the new bridge was connected to the old bridge with another kind of Earth Style. The style was different, so it was easy to distinguish it from the old bridge. This was the bridge that Konoha had rebuilt after the war, to make up for the fault of destroying this bridge during the war.
The entire bridge spanned a deep valley hundreds of meters wide. The river at the bottom of the valley was a full two or three hundred meters below the bridge. This place could be described as a natural chasm.
The Kannabi Bridge, which connected the two banks, was one of the most important thoroughfares in the Land of Grass.
She crossed the bridge, walked into the city, and followed the streets to the location given in the intelligence.
According to the intelligence, this peripheral organization had established a casino here as a cover. In fact, they were the people who kept the books for Kakuzu.
However, when she saw the casino, Sakura felt that the intelligence was wrong.
The real situation should be that, on the surface, they were small fry working for Kakuzu, but in fact, they were the true masters of this luxurious casino!
When she saw this magnificent and resplendent casino, this thought flashed through her mind: Master might have been to this place... But, this kind of entertainment venue, which was opened for ordinary people, she had rarely come into contact with it after becoming a ninja.
Even ordinary people, she had rarely come into contact with. Ninja and ordinary people sometimes seemed to live in two different worlds.
The girl shook her head and stepped in.
The bustling casino immediately made her realize that the biggest difficulty in this mission might be how to find the owner of the casino...
Actually, it was also very simple. She just had to cause trouble.
Haruno Sakura was just thinking about what reason to use to cause trouble when a middle-aged man, who looked presentable but spoke like a ruffian, walked over. He looked drunk and wanted to get handsy with her right away.
He probably mistook her for someone from a low-life profession.
"Scram," Haruno Sakura said coldly, when his "salty pig hand" reached over with a clear purpose.
The man turned a deaf ear to Sakura's warning—the girl had not released any killing intent, and her appearance did not look threatening—his hand continued to reach over without stopping.
And then there was a loud bang.
Haruno Sakura's movements were too fast for an ordinary person to see. No one had seen clearly what had happened just now, and no one had even seen Sakura make a move. In just an instant, the man had been kicked away, and had slammed heavily onto a gambling table, overturning it. The gambling paraphernalia and chips were instantly scattered all over the floor, and even a few gamblers were injured by the impact. Someone screamed.
Haruno Sakura stood in her original spot, a crane in a flock of chickens. Only then did everyone realize that she was the one who had done it.
"What's going on, what's going on!" The casino's reaction was extremely fast. Soon, a few thugs with fierce faces walked over and pointed at Haruno Sakura, saying in an arrogant tone, "You dare to cause trouble in our casino, are you looking for death!"
To be threatened by an ordinary person, this was the first time since she had become a ninja. Sakura didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
It felt like an adult playing with a child.
A ninja fighting an ordinary person? This was her first time trying.
These few thugs, they only looked fierce on the surface. They were very effective in scaring ordinary people like in her previous life. But for Haruno Sakura, who was already a ninja, the little bit of presence they had was simply ridiculous. They didn't even have a trace of killing intent, yet they were striking a pose, trying to imitate ninja and release their killing intent. It was truly a case of a tiger-wannabe ending up as a dog.
If she were to release her presence, and add a simple genjutsu, everyone present would probably be so scared they'd fall to the ground and faint, just like what Orochimaru had done in the Forest of Death back then.
Although Sakura didn't have that much killing intent, her strength was also very strong. If she got a little serious, these ordinary people wouldn't be able to take it!
However, in order to make a big scene as much as possible, but not to scare away the casino owner, she merely acted as a girl with a little bit of taijutsu foundation. Even so, it was more than enough to knock these idiots, who were strong on the outside but weak on the inside, to the ground.
"Where's your boss?" she asked, squatting down and asking one of the thugs who was still groaning.
"He, he's behind you!" he stammered.
Haruno Sakura turned her head to look.
"Who gave you the guts to come to my casino and cause trouble!" a man with two ferocious scars on his face said, standing majestically. "Haven't you heard of my name, Scarface Kuden?"
Bang, bang, bang—!
Ten seconds later.
The arrogant man, who called himself Scarface Kuden, was covered in blood and was now wailing with a running nose and tears: "I-I'm sorry, it was my fault. I beg you, please don't let this monster eat me!"
He was lying on the ground. The monster that Haruno Sakura had created with Water Style—a Xenomorph—was pressing him to the ground, its long saliva dripping, its bloody maw, which was full of sharp teeth, open, and it let out a roar.
Then, it stretched its face to his neck, sniffing his scent, as if choosing a place to bite. The cold breath from its mouth and nose made him so scared he couldn't move.
The air was soon filled with the smell of urine.
"Its name is not 'monster'... Haven't you heard of the name 'Xenomorph'?" Haruno Sakura said, sitting on a gambling table with her legs crossed, frowning, and looking at the begging man coldly. "Tell me the secrets of Kakuzu, and I can spare your life!"
"I'll talk, I'll talk!" the scarred man shouted. "Lord Kakuzu hasn't contacted us for a month. He ordered us to lie low and wait for his orders..."
"Then why didn't you hide?" the girl asked, waving the Xenomorph away and squinting.
Scarface gave a sheepish laugh. "Hehe, this little brother still has a business to run here..."
A moment later, the interrogation was over.
This spineless man had told her everything after being scared a little by the Xenomorph. Sakura had used genjutsu to confirm—her genjutsu, at least, could still work on ordinary people—that, as he had claimed, he really didn't know any of the Akatsuki's secrets.
The genjutsu had also made him confess his own crimes. As the underground emperor here, he had committed all kinds of evil... She had originally wanted to spare Scarface's life as she had promised, but after hearing what he had done, Sakura had finished him off without hesitation.
"Hmph... scum." When she walked out of the casino, Sakura snorted coldly. She felt helpless for having once again served justice for the people. This kind of thing should have been done by the government and ninja here.
The word on the street was that the Land of Grass was very corrupt, and the underworld and "active social organizations" were very prosperous. Haruno Sakura had seen a glimpse of it today.
Leaving Kuden City, she was on her way back. It was on the way, so Sakura had thought of going to the battlefield of that year to pay her respects. However, after wandering around for a while, she couldn't find anything. The traces of that year were long gone. Realizing this, she had no choice but to give up.
She traveled under the stars and moon back to the temporary base in the Land of Fire. The ice clone she had left behind had been maintaining itself for a whole day and was already on the verge of dissipating. Sakura hurriedly took over the clone's work.
She was busy all night. When the sun rose, she finally found a chance to lie down, and then she rested for a whole day.
In the evening, Sakura left a clone to watch the house, and her original body continued her mission life.
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