[header] Land of Fire | Sora-ku (Sept 27 8:00 am, 2 Days after the Exams)
Titled Name: Yan Xia Roulan
True Name: Sagisō Ajisai
Rank 36 — Heavenly Skillful Star | Yan Qing
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It only made sense that one of the best places to gather information on ninja was a facility that facilitated the hunting of said ninja. The Bounty Station in the land of fire was one such facility right in the middle of smack dab nowhere. There didn’t seem to be another building for miles, and in light of that, the bounty station was surprisingly populated.
The bounty station itself was divided into several section, one held a collection desk where people turned in bounties and another held a small tavern where a few mercenaries lounged about, sharing crass jokes over cups of sake. The Skillful Star curled her lips as she walked past the tavern. The smell of alcohol had her craving some herself, but not the horrendous swirl every shop tried to pawn off as a drink.
In addition to the former sections, the bounty station also acted as a gathering point for information brokers. This was the reason the Hasa kunoichi had come.
Sagisō glanced among the idle brokers and picked one at random, moving over to his table. With the heavy clatter of coins she placed a pouch on the table. The man looked up with a sleazy smile and reached for the bag—thunk!
The sound of steel piercing wood gave him pause, and the man had just enough time to admire his reflection in the blade before Sagisō pulled it back, twirling the weapon between her fingers.
“The Wandering Ninja Clan...” She pressed.
“Mmmm, who’s askin’?”
Sagisō’s eyes narrowed at his croaking voice and she tipped the coin-pouch, allowing several coins to spill onto the table.
“Alright lil’ missy...whad’ya wanna know?”
.....
The negotiations didn’t last long, because there wasn’t much information to had. The Wandering Ninja Clan was composed of three shinobi mercenaries who were partial to using poison. More specific than that the man couldn’t give so Sagisō moved on to her last question.
“Location?”
“Last that’s been seen of ‘em was in the Land of Moon. S’pposedly in service of their King.”
“What do you know about there?”
“We don’t get much news from that far, but the Moon Prince’s been travelin’ round for a few years now, spendin’ big all over. Hard to miss him, bought himself a travelin’ circus in the Land of Hot Water just last week.”
“Okay...thanks.”
Sagisō left a few more coins behind and headed outside. Calling for her team, she led them east. Next stop, Land of Hot Water.
Unbeknownst to the girls, they’d been flaunting their wealth a little too openly. Their age and apparent naivety painted them as easy targets and there were always people more than happy to take advantage of easy targets... As they departed the bounty station, a group of shinobi slunk after them. Alas, greed often led men to their demise.
The next morning the still-warm corpses of the shinobi could be found, nailed to trees by black-burnt arrows...
.....
[header] Land of Hot Water | (Sept 30 5:30 am, 5 Days after the Exams)
Titled Name: Yan Xia Roulan
True Name: Sagisō Ajisai
Rank 36 — Heavenly Skillful Star | Yan Qing
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The group made all haste to the land of water; not wanting to miss their target, they cut back on sleep so they could make their destination in just three days. It was unsurprisingly very easy to locate the Prince of the Land of Moon, his lavish, wasteful spending had turned what might’ve been a small detail of guards and ministers into an entire convoy plus traveling circus.
The three kunoichi from Hasa had subtle booked a room in an Inn opposite to the one the prince was staying in. They had decided to set up a stakeout at least until the Prince had departed. While not as renown as the five greats, there was a shinobi village within the land of hot water and clashing with them wouldn’t be ideal.
However, now that they’d located the Moon Prince, then next step was to form a plan of action.
“Should we...kidnap him?”