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Kaoru had expected to et a single rcenary group. But instead, there were five.
Apparently, Shin had decided that rather than rely on one elite force, it was safer to hire several diocre ones. That way, none of them would pose a real threat to Takimura. Trusting rcenaries too much was a mistake no shinobi should ever make.
When Kaoru and Akane entered the main tent, Ao was already speaking with them. The atmosphere was tense, almost suffocating, and the dim lamplight hanging from the center pole didn’t help. One of the rcenaries, who was speaking with fiery passion, had a massive, rust-covered scythe strapped to his back. It imdiately caught Kaoru’s eye.
‘Is this Hidan?’ he thought, narrowing his eyes cautiously. But no, the man was older, his face rough and lined, nothing like the Hidan he rembered from the ani. The weapon might’ve been similar, but that was where the resemblance ended.
“I’m telling you,” the man snapped, his voice rising and hands slashing the air as he spoke, “we’ve got no problem fighting for Kiri or this little village of yours, but don’t expect us to act as your at shields.”
“I never said you'd be the vanguard,” Ao replied calmly. His tone lacked the roughness Kaoru rembered from the ani. “But when you start talking about avoiding risky missions altogether, it makes us question how serious you are about this job.”
“Sorry for being late,” Kaoru said as he stepped forward, slipping into the seat where Ao had been. Ao moved without hesitation, quietly giving up his spot.
The ssage was clear.
Kaoru outranked him.
But that subtle shift sent the wrong signal to the rcenaries. These were rogue-nin. n, who’d once been tossed aside by their own villages. Seeing a kid sit in the place of the older shinobi didn’t exactly inspire confidence.
“Are we supposed to make a deal with the brat?” one of them scoffed. His jagged, sharklike teeth flashed as he spoke. The scratched-out Kiri symbol on his headband made it clear where he ca from.
Ao tensed, ready to respond, but Kaoru raised a hand and cut in before he could.
“Since I was late,” Kaoru said with a soft smile, “and you just disrespected , let’s call it even.”
His voice was light, almost casual, but there was an edge beneath it.
Another rcenary, this one wearing a Konoha headband which was also slashed through, leaned forward with a smirk. “Kid, you the strongest shinobi of this… village?”
“The village is called Takimura,” Kaoru answered smoothly, unfazed, “and no, I’m not the strongest. Maki Taki is. She had an extrely important eting today and asked to et with you instead.”
His voice was calm, even warm, but sohow that only made things worse. His composure rubbed so of them the wrong way. One could feel it in the air. Like the flicker before a fire starts.
But not all of them seed irritated.
“I was hoping to et her,” said the man with the scythe, stepping in before things boiled over. “Even among rcenaries, we’ve heard of her strength.”
His tone was respectful. He gave Kaoru a slight bow. “I’m Katsuro, leader of the Verdant Fang.”
Kaoru nodded. “Kaoru Taki, the head of the Taki clan.”
He didn’t bow. His position was higher, and everyone in the room knew it.
“Lord Katsuro,” Kaoru said, his tone softening as the tension in the room started to ease. “You may have already explained this, but please go over your terms once more.”
From behind him, Ao allowed himself the faintest smile.
He had decided not to interfere. Maki had made it clear: unless Kaoru really ssed up, the negotiations were his to handle. But even without her request, Ao would have let Kaoru lead the entire process. He was curious. Curious to see how the strongest youngster of Takimura conducted himself off the battlefield.
“Instead of working under a tid contract,” Katsuro said plainly, “we’d rather take commissions, just like villages do. We’ll handle missions based on rank and difficulty. B-rank is our limit. Nothing higher.”
He paused, waiting for Kaoru’s response, who was considering his words.
“That’s reasonable,” Kaoru said after a short pause. “I think we can all respect your decision not to take on missions beyond your limits. It’s better for both sides that way. But we’ll need to clearly define what counts as a B-rank mission. As long as we agree on that, I don’t see why we can’t work together.”
He gave Katsuro a respectful nod, then shifted his gaze to the others. Their eyes still held a quiet hostility, but now that Katsuro had so easily reached an agreent with him, they hesitated. Whatever they thought of Kaoru, none of them wanted to make enemies with soone this easy to negotiate with.
“Is there any group here willing to take on S-rank missions?” Kaoru asked, even though he already knew the answer.
Before stepping into the tent, he’d scanned everyone with the Suijingan. Not one of them was above average Jonin. If they had been, he would’ve let Ao lead the eting from the start.
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“Not S-rank,” ca a calm and composed voice from the back. “But we can handle A-rank missions, as long as the pay reflects the risk. Like Verdant Fang, we won’t accept long-term contracts, just mission-based commissions.”
The speaker was a woman, her face hidden behind a mask. Her hair was rough and green, almost like matted straw, but her posture was refined and composed, graceful in a way that clashed with the idea of a wandering rcenary.
‘She’s not wearing a forehead protector, or anything that could reveal where she’s from.’ Kaoru tilted his head slightly, studying her. ‘Not that unusual. Shin said that a lot of rcenaries wear masks. Sotis to hide their identities, sotis to cover scars.’
Still, sothing about her unsettled him.
“May I ask your na, and which group you represent?” Kaoru said.
In response, she reached up and pulled down her mask.
The right side of her face was grotesquely scarred and exposed down to the muscle. The skin was missing around her cheek, revealing part of her teeth. Kaoru could tell that she was once very beautiful, but now, the damage made her hard to look at. Even the hardened rcenaries around the table looked away, so flinching unintentionally.
“I’m Scorpio,” she said calmly. “I’m a leader of the Muitai. I have a few more requests, or more like demands, but I’d rather discuss them in private.”
She pulled the mask back into place with practiced ease. Kaoru gave a slow nod in return.
‘That’s definitely a moniker. And she wouldn’t have shown her face if she wasn’t interested in real cooperation.’
Before he could speak again, the shark-toothed rcenary cut in.
“Kid, what about us? We want standard…”
Kaoru raised a hand, cutting him off.
“I get that this might be how you’re used to talking,” he said in a low and steady voice, “but you’ve disrespected the head of the Taki clan one too many tis.”
His cyan eyes flared.
A sudden pressure pulsed through the air, and the water in the tent shivered as Kaoru’s Sujingan made a connection with it. The air grew thick, the tension rising.
“First, I let it slide because I was late, so I called it even. Then, I ignored it because Shin-sensei invited you. Now I’m letting it go because I’m a generous host. There won’t be a fourth ti. Choose your words carefully from now on.”
His voice remained calm, but there was weight behind it. Threatening. Cold. A silent warning. Unfortunately, he was still just a boy. And to n like this, that made his warning sound more like a challenge or maybe even an insult.
The rcenary’s grin widened. “And if I don’t wh…”
He never got to finish.
A dark blue needle shot across the table, so fast it whistled. It sliced a thin line across his cheek and buried itself deep in the wood, quivering with force.
Kaoru didn’t move. “Does that answer your question?” he asked quietly, eyes fixed on the man.
The rcenary stumbled back a step, eyes widening in shock.
“Jora, I brought you here because you needed work, and you’re disrespecting and Shin!” Katsuro suddenly yelled, trying to sound furious. But his performance was half-baked. No one in the tent bought it.
‘If you really wanted to stop him, you should’ve stepped in earlier,’ Kaoru thought, shooting him a brief glance.
Ao, standing off to the side, hadn’t moved, but his Byakugan was already active. A faint smile tugged at the corner of his lips.
‘At first, I was going to step in myself and shut this guy down… but this is better,’ Ao thought. ‘Bothsiblings have potential. Real potential.’ But this was not what impressed him the most.
‘This is the second ti I’ve seen his dojutsu in action…’ Ao thought, recalling the mont when Kaoru ford an octopus when they first t. ‘Luckily, I had my Byakugan active before he used it this ti.’
He’d been analyzing everything carefully, but now that the mont had passed, his mind raced through what he had just witnessed.
‘The mont he activated it, the water around him instantly responded. The chakra signature was so faint it nearly escaped . If I wasn’t already hyper-focused, I wouldn’t have noticed a thing. That dojutsu... it’s fundantally connected to water itself. It’s like a bond…’
Ao narrowed his eyes slightly, still processing the implications...
‘If Kaoru continues to grow and matures into a true shinobi… he’ll beco an impossible opponent for anyone who relies on water release. No defensive jutsu will hold. No terrain will offer protection. The battlefield itself will betray them.’
The thought stirred sothing in him - excitent. He’d seen many powerful abilities in his life, but this… this was sothing rare. Sothing new. So much so, that he didn’t even realize the negotiations had resud without him.
Things moved quickly after that. The mont the shark-toothed rcenary was silenced, the atmosphere changed and hostility gave way to cooperation.
Kaoru had been bold, but not without reason. His Suijingan had already told him everything he needed to know – the shark-toothed man was a re chunin. A rcenary group led by soone like that was useless to Takimura. They wouldn’t tip the scales in a real war. They wouldn’t risk their lives for a cause that wasn’t theirs.
So Kaoru dismissed him on the spot.
And just like that, the rest followed suit. He made verbal agreents with each group, nothing binding. His job wasn’t to finalize contracts anyway. That would fall to Shin and Maki later.
Once everything was settled and the groups began standing to leave, Kaoru turned to the masked kunoichi still lingering nearby.
“Lady S-Scorpio, please stay.” Calling soone Scorpio felt weird to Kaoru. “I believe you had sothing else to discuss,” he said calmly.
Scorpio paused, then nodded once.
“I’ll guide the rest out and return shortly,” Ao offered as he stood up.
Akane also moved, instinctively preparing to leave with the others, but Ao stopped her with a quiet word.
“Don’t leave him alone until I’m back,” he whispered, his voice low, ant only for her.
She didn’t say anything. She just gave a short nod. But the shift in her eyes, the sudden fire lighting up within them, was all Ao needed to see.
He nodded back, satisfied.
Then Ao stepped out, leaving Akane, Kaoru, and Scorpio alone in the tent.
Once the flap closed behind him, the masked kunoichi turned to Kaoru and gave a slight shrug, visibly uncomfortable.
“I thought we’d be speaking in private,” she said, nodding toward Akane.
“As the head of the clan, I can’t allow myself to be alone, Lady Scorpio,” Kaoru replied with a faint smile. “And you can trust her as much as you trust .”
The answer clearly didn’t please her, but she understood. Pushing further would only make her look suspicious.
“Fine,” she hissed, clearly irritated. “I’m from Kumogakure. I want revenge. If Takimura ever offers a mission where my group and I can face the Raikage directly, I’ll take it. No paynt. No conditions.”
Her voice was calm, almost too calm, as she studied Kaoru’s reaction.
But his face didn’t move.
After being emotionally tossed around every other day by Maki’s relentless teasing and unpredictable pranks, Kaoru had long since mastered the art of the poker face.
“That’s not a decision I can make,” he said evenly. “You’ll have to wait for my sister.”
“Tsk.” Scorpio clicked her tongue behind the mask, but didn’t argue.
“I also ca with a piece of information,” she added, her tone shifting as a faint smirk crept into her voice. “But it’s not free. I’ll sell it to you.”
Kaoru’s expression barely changed, but his curiosity was piqued. “What kind of information?”
“Is there a map in here?” she asked. “I’ll show you, but only part of it.”
Kaoru gave a nod. “Let get it for you.”
He turned, walking calmly toward the storage chest in the corner of the tent where maps and scrolls were kept. He was halfway there when he felt it.
A sudden surge of Akane’s chakra.
Steam hissed from her skin as she lunged forward, blade flashing from its sheath.
Kaoru turned sharply on instinct - just in ti to see Scorpio’s silhouette closing in, her arm already mid-swing…
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