Your mercenary?

In the Land of the River, July brought clear, cloudless skies and scorching heat.

On a jungle path, a man clothed in civilian attire held two maps in his hands, studying them with great intent.

Casting his eyes upward, Fugaku let out a sigh. "No wonder the Suna village wants to attack. This weather is unbearable in the Land of the River. How much worse must it be in the Land of Wind, where there is nothing but desert?"

Despite the heat, he set off on his quest to find the psychic beast, having explained his plans to the Uchiha elder, Itsuki. Dressed as a civilian traveler, Fugaku concealed two scrolls beneath his sleeves.

One held his ninja tools, money, and other essentials, while the other was a messenger bird, an eagle, for communication.

Caution was necessary, as the Suna village could launch a surprise attack at any moment. While this was unlikely, he kept the eagle summon scroll at the ready to contact camp in case of an emergency.

This journey to the Land of Rain was too long. He needed an eagle to send messages across the vast distance.

He had learned that there are two main types of summoning beasts in this world: true summoning beasts and ninja beasts.

True summoning beasts are wild creatures that live in their own realms and form contracts with ninjas who have a special bond with them.

They can be summoned when needed, but they do not wear any ninja headbands. Some examples of true summoning beasts are toads, slugs, snakes, and the Monkey King Enma.

Ninja beasts, on the other hand, are domesticated animals that are raised by ninjas and obey only their masters. They can also be summoned, but they wear headbands to show their allegiance. Some examples of ninja beasts are Kakashi's ninken, Might Guy's turtle, and the old lady's ninja cats in Konoha.

There are also differences in intelligence among the summoning beasts. Some can speak human language, while others can only make animal sounds.

There is also a rare case of a hybrid summoning beast, such as the Ultimate Summoning Beast, which was created by researchers to be a perfect counter against other shinobi. It could consume other summons and gain their abilities, as well as use genjutsu and ninjutsu.

His eagle, a ninja beast bred by the Uchiha clan, was not the brightest, but it served its purpose well—sending messages.

Fugaku had a goal to accomplish, and it involved traveling to the Land of Rain, which was situated near the Land of Rivers.

He was searching for a bird-like summoning beast that he had seen in his memories, an enormous and peculiar creature used by Pain during his invasion of Konoha.

He recalled the creature's name as the 'Giant Drill-Beaked Bird' and vividly remembered the attack, despite it being a long time ago.

Upon reflecting on the events, he deduced that Akatsuki was likely not formed yet and Nagato had not yet awakened his Rinnegan, meaning the summoning beast was not yet acquired by Nagato.

He speculated that the bird might be in the Land of Rain since Pain, Konan, and Yahiko hail from that country.

Alternatively, it could be in a different dimension linked to the Rinnegan.

He decided to go to the Land of Rain and investigate for himself, taking his time to look for summoning beasts along the way. He stopped in the Land of Rivers, where he spent a few days resting since he was in no hurry.

The Land of Rivers was a pitiable country; although it was sizable, it had no ninja village for protection. Surrounding it were the Land of Wind to the west, the Land of Rain to the north, and the Land of Fire to the east. It was a tragic place indeed.

"I'll need one more day to reach the border of the Land of Rain," he muttered to himself as he examined the map in his hand.

He couldn't help but wonder about the stark differences between the neighboring countries.

Why were the Land of Rain and the Land of Wind so different, even though they shared a border? One was a parched desert, and the other was soaked by constant rainfall.

He had read about the climatic factors that influenced these regions, but he still found it hard to grasp how such contrasting environments could coexist. He wondered what it was like to live in either of these lands and how their people adapted to their harsh conditions.

With a shake of his head, he refocused his attention on his important goal.

He couldn't afford to be distracted by the nonsense geography. Instead, he had to find a way to bypass the hostile guards patrolling the border of the Land of Rain, an unforgiving country that was notoriously unwelcoming to outsiders.

"Come on, Akia, we'll be safe once we reach the town ahead," the older brother said, urging his younger sibling to run faster.

"Okay, brother!!"

He watched them from a distance, wondering what they were running from.

They looked like a pair of brothers, one in his twenties and the other about ten years old.

They glanced at him with surprise as they passed by him and then disappeared into the horizon.

He heard them, but he caught the word "town" in their conversation.

Maybe he could find a caravan there that was heading to the Land of Rain. That would make his infiltration easier. He decided to follow them.

Soon, he arrived at the town that they had mentioned. It was not a small town, but it seemed deserted. Most of the shops on both sides of the street were closed, and only a few were still open.

There was no sign of the two brothers, and the people in the shops looked at him with curiosity as he walked by.

He felt puzzled, and he entered a sushi shop nearby and sat down. "Boss, give me something to eat," he said.

The owner was a middle-aged man who seemed to be dozing off. He brought one sushi plate for one person and placed it in front of him.

He stopped him and asked, "Boss, is there a caravan in this town?"

"Yes, of course. Why do you ask?" the owner said.

He took a bite of sushi and asked, "Well, I just want to take a commission or something."

"Oh, I see, I see. You must be a mercenary, right? That makes sense. Now that the Land of Fire and the Land of Wind are at war, you need some skills to walk around so confidently." The owner nodded, as if he understood everything.

He forced a smile, but he did not correct him. He was about to say something else, but the owner looked at him with a puzzled face.

"But you don't look like a mercenary. You don't even have any weapons. How can you take a commission?"

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Today Bi-annual Ranking = 32th

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 1. Achive 20th rank on bi-annual =+1 bonus chapter on friday

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3. Achive 5th rank on bi-annual = +3 bonus chapter on friday

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