The Daimyo's Imperial City houses the Daimyo and important officials of the Land of Fire, while the surrounding outer city is where commoners reside.
Hundreds of precious trees from across the ninja continent are planted within the city, lush and green, adorning the traditional-style palaces, giving them an ancient, elegant, tranquil, solemn, and graceful appearance.
"This is truly magnificent... I never thought the Daimyo lived in such a place. It's quite different from the Hidden Leaf Village," Uchiha Shigure remarked, having finally arrived at the Land of Fire's Daimyo City.
As soon as he reached the city gates of Daimyo City, Shigure was noticed by the guarding Leaf ninjas. As a Leaf ninja, he easily passed through Daimyo City.
By the side of the road in Daimyo City, in a prominent position, a huge golden bounty poster was displayed, surrounded by a crowd of people who were all very excited to see it.
"Oh my god! This is a golden bounty released by Lord Amemiya Sakuya! Should we try it!?"
"A golden bounty!? That's a reward far exceeding an S-rank mission in the Hidden Leaf!"
"Any wise man who can rescue my daughter shall become her husband! Oh my! To become the son-in-law of the Amemiya family! This is something one could only dream of!"
However, despite countless people being extremely excited, no one dared to tear down the golden bounty. The servants of the Amemiya family shook their heads, seeing that these people were nothing more than mediocre and useless.
Shigure's eyes lit up: "It seems Amemiya Sakuya has come out himself before I even had to seek him out."
Shigure naturally walked over and tore down the golden bounty.
"What!? The golden bounty has been torn down!?"
"This? Isn't this just a child?!"
"Kid! Don't just tear it down casually! Tearing this down means you accept the task. If you fail, you'll face imprisonment!"
The crowd was very anxious and tried to persuade Shigure.
Shigure pointed his thumb at his forehead protector and said, "I am a ninja from the Hidden Leaf."
"Such a young ninja?"
"Is he reliable?!"
"He probably just became a ninja, right!?"
Knowing that ninjas were not to be provoked, the crowd only discussed in low voices. Shigure then appeared instantly next to the servant with a "whoosh!", an action that left everyone dumbfounded.
Seeing that Shigure truly had some ability, the servant immediately became much more polite: "Hello! Lord Ninja! Please, you must come with me! Let's go meet Lord Amemiya Sakuya!"
"Alright," Shigure said, and then walked away under the astonished gazes of the crowd.
Soon, the servant led Shigure to the very grand Amemiya residence. Upon entering, Shigure saw three ninjas.
One wore a Hidden Leaf forehead protector and a ninja vest, seemingly a Hidden Leaf Chunin. Another was a rogue ninja of similar build to himself, completely wrapped up, making him inscrutable. The last one had no chakra at all, clearly a swindler... The Hidden Leaf ninja was surprised to see Shigure and then said, "You... are you a Hidden Leaf Genin? Were you also on a mission nearby and came here after seeing Lord Amemiya's notice?"
"I'm sorry, but I cannot disclose that," Shigure shook his head, not intending to reveal his mission.
"How stingy... Let me give you a piece of advice, this mission is probably not something a Genin like you can handle. Don't throw your life away," the Hidden Leaf ninja warned Shigure.
"Chunin? A Chunin's strength coming here to die? You people, you should know your own limits. Without strength, this mission will probably cost you your lives," the rogue ninja said.
"Oh? I wonder what your strength is like?" the swindler asked.
"Everyone, please don't argue... Lord Sakuya is about to come out," the servant said, somewhat awkwardly.
Immediately after, Amemiya Sakuya appeared before everyone.
"Greetings, heroes! I believe you already know the mission's content, which is to find and rescue my daughter. I will provide a generous reward to everyone! Please follow me inside one by one; I will share the clues I have with you," Sakuya then suspiciously walked inside.
"Huh? None of you are taking the initiative? Then don't blame me for snatching the job!" Seeing no one competing with him, the swindler naturally followed Sakuya inside.
After a while, the servant asked, "Why aren't you going in?"
"Save it! The Lord Amemiya Sakuya just now was clearly not the real person. We are not like that swindler!" the Hidden Leaf Chunin said smugly.
The rogue ninja also chuckled softly, "The Hidden Leaf ninjas aren't entirely foolish, are they?"
"What about you? Why didn't you fall for it? Is it because you were scared?" the rogue ninja chuckled mischievously.
"If even a fool like you could tell, why wouldn't I?" Shigure retorted directly. Shigure had noticed something was off with the Amemiya Sakuya in front of him at first glance.
"You!" The rogue ninja's face turned red with anger and he was about to lash out when he was interrupted.
"Hmm... Everyone, please don't argue..." "I apologize, our master did this only to prevent those without ability from needlessly sacrificing themselves."
"Now, apart from the swindler just now, the three of you at least have the ability to distinguish Transformation Jutsu, which proves you have real skill," the servant nodded and said.
"Since that's the case, could you please bring out the real Lord Sakuya?" the Hidden Leaf Chunin asked, somewhat impatiently.
The servant smiled and said, "Calm down, please! Next, I invite Lord Sakuya!" Immediately after, Amemiya Sakuya appeared once again, and then Sakuya apologized, "I'm sorry! I was just testing everyone."
This time, the Hidden Leaf ninja found nothing strange.
"This time, follow me one by one to receive the mission clues! First come, first served!" After Sakuya finished speaking, he once again walked inside.
This time, the Hidden Leaf Chunin naturally took the lead, following Sakuya into the house.
However, Shigure and the rogue ninja still made no move. The servant frowned slightly and asked, "Why aren't the two of you going in to get the mission?"
"Intuition... I still feel something is wrong..." the rogue ninja said faintly.
"Well, it seems your intuition saved you," Shigure said with a smile. "The first time was a Transformation Jutsu, and now it's a Shadow Clone. Lord Amemiya Sakuya, if you have time, we can continue to play, but your daughter is in grave danger, so please stop testing us!"
"I don't know what you're talking about..." The servant shook his head, indicating he didn't understand.
"If you think you can hide it from my eyes, you are greatly mistaken. The real Lord Amemiya Sakuya — is you!"
Shigure then pointed at the old servant and said with unwavering certainty.
"What!? The old servant is Amemiya Sakuya!?" The rogue ninja was also greatly surprised.
"Oh? That's an interesting judgment! But where's the proof?"
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