Chapter 148: Puppet Master Activity
Yoru went up to the second floor guest room and found the room where Nara Baika had once lived.
Using Earth Release: Earth Style: Fish in Water Reflection Jutsu to pass through the wall, Yoru smelled the scent of cheap perfume.
A disheveled man and woman were lying on the bed.
Yoru ignored them and searched the room for codes.
He felt the underside of the table and sure enough found some indentations.
Bending down to look, they were indeed the Nara Clan’s codes.
Then, he found the second and third sets of codes in other places.
What a hassle, having to rearrange the three sets of codes.
At that moment, the woman on the bed woke up.
“Why is another man here! What do you take me for! You didn’t say there was someone else before!”
The woman scratched the man’s neck with her fingernails, drawing blood marks.
The man woke up groggily and said, “Where did another man come from? It’s just me.”
“You’re still saying there’s no one, he’s already in the room! If I hadn’t noticed, was he going to get on the bed too?”
“What are you talking about!”
“Add money! Don’t sleep! Add money first!”
The two looked up at the room, but it was empty.
“Have you gone mad wanting money? Who’s in this room?”
The woman grumbled awkwardly; she must have been seeing things, thinking there was someone else in the room.
After leaving the inn, Yoru first found the Aries Squad and had them follow him to the location indicated by the code.
The location indicated by the code was the town’s only lumber mill.
Around the lumber mill, Aries found new codes.
The code showed that Nara Baika had already gone to the next town.
Yoru was very confused; Nara Baika was being chased deep behind enemy lines, hiding unstably in one place, so why run around everywhere.
They went to another town and only found codes next to the lumber mill, but no one.
Following the information from the codes, they arrived at the third town.
Still around the town’s lumber mill, Aries found the code, and this time the code no longer pointed to another town.
In the lumber mill, Nara Baika’s current identity was that of a lumber merchant.
Her performance was excellent; the lumber mill boss had no suspicion of her identity.
She was in the lumber mill, waiting for her goods to be loaded onto the carts.
However, her eyes kept glancing at a nearby batch of goods.
“Boss, that’s top-quality yellow hardwood, right? So much yellow hardwood, who has such a big budget?”
Yellow hardwood was top-quality puppet shell material, hard and highly malleable.
The lumber mill boss said:
“Yellow hardwood is known as the nemesis of nails; even fine nails can’t penetrate it.
All the yellow hardwood near the town has been bought up by a big merchant. I hear that merchant has backing from the Hidden Sand Village.”
Nara Baika obtained the intelligence she wanted.
Key intelligence is often hidden in the details.
When Nara Baika had just started as a strategist in the Hokage Building, she analyzed an interesting piece of intelligence herself.
Whenever the number of rice balls transported to the Death Forest increased, it meant the Konoha Anbu would have major operations.
Anbu ninjas at the base wouldn’t eat ration pills, so rice balls stuffed with meat bits or fish flakes became the best supplementary food.
The Anbu rice ball coefficient: the more rice balls, the more difficult the missions.
She also told this observation to Kakuno Clan Head, and Kakuno Clan Head praised her, instructing her not to tell anyone since it involved the Konoha Anbu.
Nara Baika was forced far from the front line, hiding deep in the Land of Wind. When fleeing, she saw two carts of yellow hardwood, so Nara Baika judged that the Hidden Sand Village might have major operations.
Someone was buying yellow hardwood in large quantities.
For Sand Ninjas, yellow hardwood had an important use: making puppets.
The Hidden Sand Village’s puppets all had steel frames with yellow hardwood and other hardwoods as shells.
From the abnormal sales of yellow hardwood, the Hidden Sand Village might organize a military adventure led by elite puppet masters.
Nara Baika thought of many things in her mind but showed nothing on her face. She said:
“Yellow hardwood is so expensive; I wonder when I’ll have the capital to get into the yellow hardwood business.”
No sooner had she spoken than the ground’s sand burst open fiercely.
A cloud of sand obscured Nara Baika’s eyes, and a kunai with a purple-tipped blade stabbed toward Nara Baika’s abdomen.
Nara Baika jumped back quickly, barely dodging the poisoned kunai strike.
After landing, she immediately formed hand seals, preparing to use the Shadow Secret Jutsu to control the pursuing Sand Ninja and find an opportunity to escape.
However, a whooshing sound came from behind.
Two snake puppets emerged from the lumber pile behind her.
A poisoned kunai extended from the long snake’s mouth, heading straight for Nara Baika’s back.
Nara Baika turned her head, wanting to stab her shadow backward to control the long snake puppet’s shadow.
However, she was still too slow.
She only controlled one long snake puppet; the other long snake puppet was extremely fast and unavoidable. She watched as the kunai pierced her shoulder.
Ding!
After a crisp sound, Nara Baika saw a large hand pressing on her shoulder.
The long snake puppet’s poisoned kunai struck that large hand.
In front of that red copper-colored hand back, the kunai’s blade tip snapped off.
“Copper Fox?”
Unexpectedly, Kakuno Clan Head had sent Copper Fox to save her.
Copper Fox was a rising star on the Land of Rivers Battlefield, gaining fame.
Pushing Nara Baika’s back, Yoru said: “Follow me.”
Aries found the puppet master hiding in the shadows and launched a fierce attack on the puppet master, buying escape opportunities for the others.
The Konoha side’s people quickly fled.
Nara Baika followed behind Copper Fox, thinking she was safe.
After escaping the town, Yoru said: “Let’s go, Baika Jonin. We need to return to camp as soon as possible.”
But Nara Baika shook her head and said:
“No, there’s something more important than our lives right now.
The abnormal yellow hardwood market concerns the movements of the Hidden Sand Village’s elite puppet masters.
I suspect the Hidden Sand Village might send a large number of elite puppet masters to sneak attack Konoha’s front-line troops.
We must investigate the flow of yellow hardwood and confirm intelligence on the Hidden Sand Village’s elite puppet masters, such as their rally point and direction of movement.”
Most of Konoha’s ninjas had extremely strong martyrdom spirit.
When facing danger, their first thought wasn’t to run but to die for Konoha.
Nara Baika’s choice surprised Yoru and greatly changed his impression of her.
Previously, he thought Nara Baika was a pampered elite from a major ninja clan, but unexpectedly she showed such courage now.
Where did she get this courage? Wait, could it be from him?
After a slight hesitation, Yoru said: “Alright, you formulate the investigation scheme, and we’ll be responsible for protecting you.”
He couldn’t go against Konoha’s political correctness.
Nara Baika was very certain the Anbu would follow her opinion and didn’t find it surprising.
The group hid outside the town and waited a long time until a camel caravan arrived.
More than twenty camels left the town, with five heavy pieces of yellow hardwood strapped to each side of every camel.
Following the camel caravan from afar for several days, Nara Baika said: “The camel caravan merchants have astonishing stamina; they don’t seem like ordinary civilians at all. They’re very likely ninjas in disguise.”
Yoru was estimating the time.
In this remote place with no village ahead or shop behind, he couldn’t waste this month’s lottery. Who should he lottery for?
