"It's you?" Early the next morning, Ruri found the one-eyed man using the provided contact information. The man remembered Ruri being present when he posted the mission.
"We meet again," Ruri said in a low voice, maintaining his persona of a strong, taciturn samurai who used few words.
The one-eyed man scrutinized Ruri up and down. "A samurai... if the exchange cleared you for this mission, your skills must be decent."
He seemed satisfied; the underground exchange had a reliable reputation for high-stakes missions and wouldn't send unqualified amateurs. A brief visual inspection, revealing no obvious flaws, was sufficient for now.
Soon, two more individuals arrived, evidently also hired through the exchange for this task.
"Ugh, why are there so many samurai in the Land of Fire? I thought they all despised places like the underground exchange," one of them muttered under his breath.
As the two samurai approached, the one-eyed man snorted dismissively. Neither gave off the same aura of pressure as the masked figure; they were clearly a level weaker. If the masked man was an upper-tier samurai, these two were merely mid-tier.
"Let's go. With him, plus you two, we should have enough hands. Follow me back to the camp," the one-eyed man said. His face then darkened. "You saw the reward at the exchange. It's substantial. But if you're just here for easy money, I advise you to quit now. You might just lose your lives."
This was clearly an attempt to intimidate the two mid-tier samurai. However, instead of being frightened, the younger one reacted with angry defiance. "I will not run away again!"
Ruri's sharp ears caught the key words "again," but the one-eyed man seemed to ignore them, simply turning and leading the way to the camp.
During the walk, the older samurai repeatedly tried to engage Ruri in conversation. Ruri was curious about their background—their swords were wrapped in cloth, something he'd never seen a samurai do with their prized blades. But to maintain his mysterious, aloof persona, he ignored them.
Failing to connect with Ruri, the older samurai slowed his pace, falling back to whisper with the younger one. Ruri subtly channeled wind-nature chakra to his ears, and their conversation drifted to him on the breeze.
"Young mistress, that samurai is unresponsive. He might not help us..."
"Mitsunosuke,we should rely on our own strength for this!"
"But..."
"To avenge my father,to wipe away the shame of our annihilated clan... should we really depend on outsiders?"
"But..."
"With that sword...we can definitely do it!"
Their conversation was cryptic, filled with talk of revenge and a sword, leaving Ruri thoroughly confused.
[Name: Mike Shizuka]
[Comprehensive Strength: Chūnin (Mid-tier Samurai)]
[Talent: Jōnin (Upper-tier Samurai)]
[Attribute: Wind]
[Special Ability: None]
[Evaluation: Scion of the Mike clan. Prefers combat over forging, but is merely a flower raised in a greenhouse.]
[Name: Mitsunosuke]
[Comprehensive Strength: Jōnin (Upper-tier Samurai)]
[Talent: Jōnin (Upper-tier Samurai)]
[Attribute: Wind]
[Special Ability: None]
[Evaluation: A retainer of the Mike clan. Possesses absolute loyalty, but is otherwise unremarkable.]
The system comes through again, Ruri thought. The older samurai was hiding his true strength—an upper-tier samurai was a rare find. And the "young" samurai was actually a girl? Ruri hadn't noticed at all!
Mike Shizuka... Munetatsu mentioned the three great families of the Land of Craftsmen: Hojo, Mike, and Sanjō. The Fujiwara clan was the first annihilated by Seimei, followed by the Mike clan. Munetatsu fled to seek help after seeing the Mike clan's fate. Combined with Shizuka's talk of "running away," she must be the sole survivor of the Mike clan.
Their objective was simple: revenge against Seimei. But why they had taken this particular mission required further thought. This merchant group was clearly more than it seemed. Ruri had already scanned the one-eyed man with the system; he was just an ordinary Elite Chūnin. The real person in charge must be at the camp.
The one-eyed man, Fujiwara, remained silent for the rest of the journey, eventually leading them out of the port and into a forest.
From a distance, Ruri sensed numerous chakra signatures—twenty or thirty, of varying strengths, mostly Genin level, with one Jōnin. There were also seventy or eighty extremely faint chakra presences, likely samurai.
Ruri frowned. "Such a large gathering, right here in the Land of Fire, and Konoha hasn't reacted? Unusual..."
In the forest, an old man approached Fujiwara. "Masanori, we must depart immediately! Staying longer risks discovery by Konoha's scouts!"
The old man had minimal chakra and carried no sword; he couldn't be a fighter, probably just a steward. Ruri didn't pay him much mind.
"Steward, prepare to move out. This masked man in black is an upper-tier samurai."
"Upper-tier?" The old man seemed skeptical, but he trusted the exchange's vetting. Being a non-combatant himself, he couldn't judge accurately, so he said nothing more.
Fujiwara Masanori nodded and turned to address Ruri and the two samurai. "First, introductions. I am Fujiwara Masanori, a Chūnin of the Fujiwara clan." He cast a somewhat contemptuous glance at Shizuka and Mitsunosuke. In this era of shinobi, most ninjas looked down on samurai.
Ruri felt an internal sigh. This Fujiwara Masanori was clearly a samurai who had transitioned to being a ninja—the large sword on his back was proof. The system's evaluation had noted that switching to chakra-based training had stunted his growth; otherwise, he would undoubtedly be an upper-tier samurai.
"An upper-tier samurai? Let me, Fujiwara Masayoshi, test your skills!" Just as Ruri was having these thoughts, a figure flashed into view—the Jōnin-level chakra presence he had sensed earlier.
This Fujiwara Masayoshi was also clearly a former samurai, carrying a large sword on his back like Masanori.
"Fire Release: Intelligent Hard Work!" Masayoshi seemed eager to showcase his ninjutsu prowess. He spat out a small fireball that instantly expanded upon hitting the ground, the flames surging towards Ruri!
Ruri remained perfectly calm, not even drawing his sword, as if waiting for the flames to reach him. Behind him, however, Mitsunosuke and Shizuka grew tense. Samurai were naturally disadvantaged against ninjutsu; unless they could close the distance for melee combat, defending against it was difficult. Even Mitsunosuke, an upper-tier samurai, could only evade a B-rank Fire Release technique like this.
Watching Ruri stand motionless, Shizuka couldn't help but fret. If this guy couldn't even handle a simple test like this, they would have to intervene. If Mitsunosuke revealed too much of his strength, it would interfere with their plans!