Chapter 94: The Office Opens and the Bear Hunt
The "Hidden Cloud Liaison Office in the Land of Hot Water" officially opened. The various merchant guilds and nobles of the capital all came to show their support. They were, after all, the office's future clients. Dana, as the son of the Raikage and an advisor to the village, received the guests. Even the Daimyo of the Land of Hot Water sent a gift, a gesture of his endorsement.
The Hidden Hot Water Village, which was now under the thumb of the Kitanouji Merchant Guild, certainly wasn't going to cause any trouble. And the so-called "underground" powers wouldn't dare to challenge a great hidden village. The Cloud wouldn't hesitate to wipe out any "underground exchange," they just hadn't seen the need to.
Natsu, with nothing better to do, had followed him around for a day out of curiosity and had discovered that Yotsuki Dana was not the kind of ninja she had imagined.
The moment the ribbon was cut, a flood of commissions came pouring in from the merchants and nobles. The volume was huge, and many of them were high-difficulty, long-standing orders. The first batch of stationed Cloud ninja had barely had a chance to rest before they were thrown into a whirlwind of missions.
Dana wasn't worried about the difficult ones. The missions the office couldn't handle would be relayed back to the village. The Cloud's ninja, at the village's Mission Assignment Desk, could also see the commissions from the Land of Hot Water (only the ones that couldn't be completed locally) and decide for themselves if they wanted to take them. With a ninja's mobility, they could be there in two or three days. As for the missions that no one, either at the office or in the village, would take... well, that just meant the price needed to go up.
Overall, due to the backlog of commissions and the prosperous commerce of the country, the mission fees in the Land of Hot Water were even higher than in the Land of Lightning.
Since the office in the Land of Hot Water was running so smoothly, they could start preparing to open offices in the lands of Rice Paddies and Grass, using the same model. The more difficult cases, like the lands of Iron and Waterfalls, would require a different approach.
The next day, Dana received a report that Sakumo Hatake had officially become the Fourth Hokage of Konoha, and the former Third, Hiruzen Sarutobi, had become an elder advisor.
The choice of the Fourth Hokage had been known to all the villages for some time—Konoha had been running a PR campaign—but when the rumor became a fact, Dana still felt a sense of感慨. He wondered if Minato Namikaze would think that "Fifth Hokage" didn't have the same ring to it as "Fourth," and if the Hokage Rock would feel a bit crowded with another face on it.
Onoki, despite his defeat, had a more solid position in the Stone Village, probably because they had no other strong leaders to speak of. The situation in the Sand was similar. And so, of the five great villages, the Mist and the Leaf were the first to enter the era of the Fourth Kage. And, of course, there was the first Amekage, Hanzo of the Salamander.
"Yotsuki-kun," Natsu said, finding him a few days later, "can I take a mission?"
Dana was surprised. "You mean, from the liaison office?" he asked. "Only Hidden Cloud ninja can take those missions. You need a ninja registration number to both accept and turn in a mission."
Natsu looked disappointed.
He didn't know why she was so fixated on missions. If the boar hunt had been for money, that was one thing. But now that she was living at "Gokuraku no Yu," she certainly didn't need it. It couldn't be that she was saving up for a dowry, could it?
"Why do you want to take a mission?" he asked. "Do you need money?"
"Not really," she said, looking down and kicking at the ground. "I just... want to. Just once."
He hesitated for a moment, then, thinking that the opening ceremony was over, said, "Alright. I'll take the mission in my name. I don't have anything else to do today anyway."
"Thank you," she said in a small voice.
They went to the liaison office. It was modeled after the one in the Cloud, with a large wooden wall covered in mission postings.
"See anything you like?" he asked, letting her choose.
She looked at the rows of wooden tags, then finally took one down, a C-rank mission, and handed it to him.
"This one."
It read: "Hunt Bear, C-rank." The address was on the back.
Dana: "..."
What is it with this girl and wild animals? First a boar, now a bear?
He didn't bring Momo, nor did he bring any of his men. He was no longer the fragile doll that needed protection everywhere he went. And sending a team of Jonin to beat up a bear was just overkill.
Natsu couldn't run on trees or water, so they had to walk. Dana didn't offer to carry her. It was a sign of respect, for both her status and for her as a person. The distance wasn't far, and by noon, they had reached the designated mountain.
Natsu's forehead was beaded with sweat. She was wearing the same outfit she had been captured in, a makeshift combat uniform, a mismatched and somewhat ridiculous-looking ensemble.
At the foot of the mountain, Dana closed his eyes and activated his "pulse" vision. The entire mountain was scanned in an instant. Not to mention the bear, he now knew how many rabbits there were.
He opened his eyes and looked at her. "Need me to point the way?" he asked.
She shook her head. "Thank you, Yotsuki-kun, but no. I may not look like it, but I know a thing or two about the wilderness. And the fight... if you don't mind, I'd like to do it myself."
He nodded and gestured for her to go first.
She tied back her sweat-dampened hair and began to seriously search for tracks.
"Large animals are territorial," she said as she searched. "A bear would be the king of this mountain. It will definitely leave droppings or urine to mark its territory. Sometimes it will also rub against trees."
Dana was genuinely surprised. He had no idea she knew such things.
"Nothing here," she said. "Yotsuki-kun, let's check over there."
He followed her, curious. "Where did you learn about bears?" he asked.
She didn't turn around. She cut through a tangle of vines with her worn-out kunai. After a moment of silence, she said, "My grandfather taught me."
"The previous Daimyo?" he asked, even more confused.
"No. My mother's father."
After a while, as if she had made a decision, she said, "Yotsuki-kun, you'll probably find out sooner or later anyway, since we're engaged. Do you want to hear a story?"