Chương 353: CH_9.38 (353)

Genin Oritada was a deputy at Maizuru Quarter's military police. He was the youngest among the group, only seventeen years old. By the time he was done with dinner, the sun had set, and the evening was on the verge of turning into night. He was tired after walking his daily route and wanted to jump into bed after visiting the public bathhouse. But as he walked to his quarters, he saw someone stepping out from the shadow of the building. It was the inspector who had visited the station in the morning.

"What is it?" he asked.

"I was wondering if we could talk. You seemed to have something to say that your boss wouldn't discuss," said the inspector as he approached him.

"I don't want to get into trouble," he replied, looking around the road at the few people passing them by.

"And I have no intention to cause any problem. I just want to talk... The news of our talk won't reach your boss if you'd like to keep this private." Oritada considered the inspector, a boy a few years younger than him, and found him more trustworthy than others who were always older than him. They treated him like he knew nothing and looked down on him just because he was younger than them.

"Follow me, I know a place." He took him to a building closed after evening, which meant no one would interrupt them. They stood under a lamp with insects buzzing above their heads around the light.

"So, what do you want to tell me?" the inspector asked.

"There's not much to do here at Maizuru. We have a couple of pubs, and there's even an amateur theatre troupe and a couple of bands—all shinobi stationed here—that perform regularly, but there's not much to do for entertainment inside the base." People needed entertainment for stress relief. The shinobi stationed had created their entertainment inside the base. People played various sports after work and even had league competitions, including the incredibly popular quarterly war game competition.

There was a sizeable library for people who wanted to read. People gathered in various hobby clubs. They even had a couple of pubs where shinobi could drink.

"But there's a limit to what you can do here, and if you really want to let loose, there's a town called Kanaoka an hour and a half north from here which has many more options." Kanaoka had cabaret clubs where people could chat and drink with beautiful hosts and hostesses, pubs and restaurants with great food and drinks, gambling parlours, cockfight houses to bet, and brothels to satisfy the natural urges.

"Everyone has two days off a week, some even have three, and everyone here goes there regularly during their downtime. Some even go there two to three times a week because it's not far away... but not everyone goes there to have fun."

"What do you mean?" asked the inspector.

"That town depends on us because of the business we bring them. It has grown into a town that exists to entertain shinobi. And because shinobi are always visiting, somewhere along the line, someone must've wanted to hire one for something..." The inspector's eyes shone with a shimmer of realisation.

"Maizuru shinobi are taking jobs? Ones that aren't sanctioned by the Hidden Leaf?" Oritada nodded with pursed lips as he constantly looked around to ensure no one was peeping on them.

"Underground agencies connect interested customers with shinobi. It's small and secretive to ensure they don't get on the Hidden Leaf's radar. Many people here don't know about it or think it's just a rumour."

"Why don't they directly hire from official channels?"

"Because it's cheaper." The Kanaoka agencies were middlemen who took a small commission and paid the rest to the shinobi. Unlike the Hidden Leaf, they didn't pay the shinobi salaries and other benefits, provide weapons, or maintain training infrastructure, which cost money that the Hidden Leaf earned by taking a larger cut of any mission that came to them, leaving a lesser amount that went to the shinobi.

"Of course, it's not a regular thing, but people earn a good chunk of spending money if they do a job a month," said Oritada.

"What kind of jobs do they do?"

"From what I have heard, it's all kinds of C-rank missions."

"So, people leave on Maizuru on their off days, do a job, and return as though they came back from a weekend out," said the inspector.

"People take an extra day off to have three days—have someone cover a shift so they could use another day if it's a longer mission, though that's rare. These agencies only take missions that don't require much time." Oritada didn't take such jobs because he didn't want to get into trouble, and many at Maizuru shared his opinion, but some didn't mind and took the risk, plenty enough for it to be a thing.

"Do you think the jōnin commander is aware of it?" the inspector asked.

"He has to be. At least no one will believe if he claims he didn't know," said Oritada. He had only been at Maizuru for a year, but it was enough for him to know that Kumagoro ran a tight ship and was an involved leader who ensured that Maizuru was always at the top of its responsibilities—which was one of the reasons no one suspected them of anything. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

"And he allows it?" Oritada shrugged.

"I don't know. Maybe he has a deal where he gets a cut. Can't say why he has not shut it down." The inspector looked inquisitive as he stared at the floor briefly. He pushed himself off the wall and patted him on the shoulder.

"Thank you for sharing this with me, Genin Oritada. Rest assured, no one will know that we talked about this today. I advise you to act like this conversation never happened, lest you get into trouble." ———. Takuma sat on the chair in his room, facing his shadow clone resting on the bed. He could've dissolved the clone and gained the memories, but he wanted to discuss ideas back and forth.

"It turned out to be larger than we thought," said the clone. He shook his leg resting on the other knee as he stared at the ceiling.

"Here's what I think. The Third Squad were some of the shinobi who took side jobs from Kanaoka, and somewhere along the line, they evolved from taking small C-rank missions to assassinations," said Takuma.

"So they hide themselves among the rest. From everyone else's perspective, they're doing little jobs like others, but in truth, they're conducting assassinations." The clone hummed with narrowed eyes.

"But what about all the leave we saw in the administration records? If we believe what Oritada said, they shouldn't take that much leave."

"That just means that it's bigger than the Third Squad. The Division Head is probably involved as well."

"In what capacity?"

"Unclear. He could just be covering for them for a cut of their earnings or be their handler who arranges jobs. We won't know until we talk with the guy."

"What about the jōnin commander?" asked the clone.

"That's... we don't know," Takuma sighed.

"I think he knows, but it's not really our problem. It's not like I can go in there and ask him if he knows." He had the authority to arrest Kumagoro and bring him in for an investigation, but the other party was a jōnin—a pillar of the Hidden Leaf. He would get in trouble if he tried to arrest him. Even Campbell, an ANBU squad leader, couldn't arrest a jōnin without higher-up permission.

"Whatever, we have enough to send a report back home," the clone yawned.

"You tired?" Takuma nodded. Since coming to Maizuru, he had only been training one hour a day, a third of his usual, but he was more tired because he hadn't been able to sleep properly.

"Yeah, I just need this to be over so I can relax and sleep well. Let's contact home first thing tomorrow."

"Alright, best of luck," the clone said before bursting into smoke. Takuma closed his eyes with a soft groan as a day's worth of memories entered his mind with the chakra. He moved to the bed and sorted through the memories as he laid down and stared at the ceiling. The case had grown bigger than he had first anticipated. It was serious enough that someone was running off-the-books hit jobs, but now there was a whole illegal job market inside one of Leaf's biggest military installations.

He wondered how the squad would react when they got the word.

"They probably would come here," he mumbled to himself—which he wanted because he had reached the limit of what he could do without either revealing what he was investigating or relying on his authority as an ANBU-nin. He stared at the light switch across the room for a minute before pulling the sheet over his head. ———. Kumagoro toured Maizuru regularly to assess if everything was running smoothly.

He liked to talk to the people on the ground floor to hear what they wanted to say because managers hid things to hide their incompetence, so it was often beneficial to lend an ear to the people who actually did the work. He took care of them; they took care of him. It was so easy, yet people in his position looked down on people working under them like fools. He had long learned that a little kindness went a long way.

"Genin Rumi. How is your training progressing? I hope my advice helped you," he spoke to a kunoichi he saw every other week.

"I didn't train, sir, so I don't know. I'm seeing someone new, so I'm busy with that," said Rumi with a smile. She was one of the people who didn't stiffen up and spoke politely to him because of his position. And that helped because she was open enough to share gossip with him which wouldn't otherwise reach his ears.

"I hope it goes well," he replied with a smile.

"I will let you know how it goes." He moved on, nodding to people who stopped and bowed as he passed them. He glanced to his side as Chochiro appeared beside him and walked a step behind him.

"Report?" he ordered. Chochiro was a genin but was a master of stealth. Kumagoro used him whenever he wanted to know something happening in Maizuru. His latest orders were to follow the inspector to find the reason behind his visit.

"He sent a message back home through the messenger birds," Chochiro replied.

"And?"

"I looked at the message, but it was in code I didn't know." Kumagoro stopped for a couple of seconds before he resumed walking. Alarm bells rang in his mind. There was no reason for an inspector to communicate in a code that Chochiro wouldn't recognise, who had especially trained in various forms of information-gathering skills since he had come under his wing. This was something bigger than a 'regular inspection.'

His instincts told him whatever it was, it spelt big trouble for him—something he couldn't afford right now because of his circumstances.

"The recipient?" he asked.

"It would take time to find that out." Kumagoro stopped again and gazed at the sky for a minute before turning to Shen to order something he hadn't done in all the years he had been commander of Maizuru Quarters.

"Declare an indefinite suspension on Kanaoka jobs effective immediately." ———.

"What the fuck does he think he's doing?!" In an empty room, a Third Squad member angrily kicked a chair to the wall. All six squad members had gathered for an emergency meeting when they heard about the suspension on all the Kanaoka jobs.

"Any news from the Division Head?" asked a more level headed member.

"Not yet. The commander is tight-lipped about his decision but is adamant that the suspension is staying," answered another member, his tone vexed. The jobs had been part of Kanaoka for over a decade. They were small jobs to earn some spending money, but some people here and there had made good money by gaming the system while staying within the unwritten rules. But four years ago, Third Squad had taken their first assassination job from an agency willing to take the risk for a great payout.

That had started a lucrative side business that paid more than their main job. They worked carefully to ensure their tracks were covered and had even greased the palms of their previous Division Head to keep quiet until one of their own was promoted to the position. However, not once had they faced their current situation. The commander's orders were absolute. Disobeying meant a tough future as a Leaf shinobi as the best possible option.

"So what now? We don't do the job!?" asked the heated member, his voice flaring angrily. Their work was rooted in reputation. If the word leaked that they had reneged on the job after taking the money, their reputation would take a hit, which would affect business, something none of them wanted as it could take years to fix the reputation they had spent years building.

"We need to do the job." The people turned to face the squad leader, who had been the longest member alongside the Division Head.

"What if the commander finds out?" asked the newest member nervously.

"No one needs to know. Our leave permissions came through today," the leader stood up.

"We leave at first light, grease some more palms around us so no one complains, and return with no one any the wiser. We earn a little less this time, but we make sure our prospects aren't damaged. We wouldn't be here if we didn't take risks. I'm sure everyone has developed some appetite for it by now.

"Don't get cold feet now... that is if you still want to continue with us after this suspension inevitably lifts." The leader gazed at them all, but no one said anything in opposition.

"Good. Let's go earn us some sweet, sweet money."