Chapter 42: [Information]
Whilst a certain group of people were discussing their plans, Sasuke had already arrived at the Land of Fire capital. Unlike his trip to Kusagakure, this one took much less time due to the city's proximity to Konoha.
Sasuke stood before the city and stared at it, taking in its grandeur. It was a huge city bustling with life and activity, several times the size of Konoha with a variety of large and complex buildings sprawled around. You could see merchants, wandering samurai and civilians constantly travelling to and fro the streets of the city as they carried on with their daily lives.
Soon after he had broken free from his stupor, Sasuke placed himself under the Transformation Jutsu and took the form of a middle-aged man with brown hair and brown eyes.
He then entered the city and began to make his way around the city in hopes of finding what he had come here for.
Whilst wandering about the city, his eyes were constantly darting around to figure out where his first goal in coming here was.
It didn't take long for his eyes to lock onto a certain tavern on the side of the path. The building was made of wood with some stone as its foundation and it exuded a rather rustic charm, whilst swinging overhead the door was a sign that read 'Emberwood Tavern'.
'Found it!'
Sasuke exclaimed in his head as he stared at the building in front of him and he soon made his way towards it.
As he entered the tavern, his nose was assaulted by the pungent smell of beer whilst his ears were drowned in a cacophony of shouts and cheering.
'It's the morning...'
Despite Sasuke being left speechless by the fact people were trying to get drunk early in the morning, he began to head to the bar at the rear end of the tavern. At the bar was a young girl, she looked to be around 20 years old and had blonde hair and hazel eyes.
"What can I get for you, mister?"
She looked at Sasuke and asked him.
"A Junmai-shu, please."
Whilst Sasuke was ordering, he unhurriedly began tapping on the counter, seemingly out of boredom, whilst his eyes kept checking out his surroundings:
.- -. -... ..- / --- .--. . .-. .- - .. ...- . (Morse code= Anbu Operative)
The bartender who was watching him, paused her actions briefly before she replied to him.
"Sure. But maybe you should follow me upstairs and perhaps we could sort out something special..."
She gave Sasuke a seductive wink as she left the counter and began to head up the stairs in the tavern with swaying hips.
'I get that this is an act...
But I am truly curious how she would feel, knowing that the target of her words was a 10-year-old.'
Sasuke shook his head in mild exasperation as he followed her up the staircase whilst the entire tavern erupted into cheers and teasing remarks as they watched on from the side.
Soon, he walked down the corridor upstairs and found himself in front of a door with the bartender standing outside of it.
"This way, sir."
This time the woman was very formal in her words and body language, as she indicated for Sasuke to head into the room.
When he entered the room he found it to be very dark, barely illuminated by several candles scattered around. The room was enveloped in a dark and gloomy atmosphere, that seemingly weighed down on anyone who entered it.
At the centre of the room sat a lone desk with a man draped in a black robe behind it, whose eyes locked onto Sasuke who just entered the room.
"Welcome. What is it that you wish to know?"
The man's raspy voice echoed within the confines of the room as he questioned Sasuke's purpose. The voice of the man combined with the eerie atmosphere of the room combined to create an uncanny atmosphere.
However, his words merely garnered an unamused look from the Uchiha.
"*Cough* Sorry about that. Just felt like I had to create the right atmosphere for this..."
The man coughed a bit as carried on speaking, and following his voice, the room promptly began to light up as the ceiling light turned on. The room was finally looking rather normal and Sasuke could finally make out the man's appearance who had dropped the cloak by this point.
It was a young man, with green hair and dark brown eyes whose facial features seemed rather androgynous.
"I need information regarding the residence of the deputy minister of the treasury," Sasuke asked him.
"Ooh, Kazuki Yoshida it it? I should have that somewhere here..."
The man answered as he began rummaging through the drawers on his desk, searching for something.
"Got it!"
He soon managed to retrieve a file and handed it over to Sasuke who quickly flipped through the information and began to scan its contents.
Place of Residence: Inner City (North East)
Road: Sakura Street
Security of Home: Multiple wandering samurai have been recruited to stand guard
Sasuke managed to find exactly what he had been looking for and handed back the file to the man.
"Is there anything else you need to know?"
The man queried, hoping to be of any more help.
"No that should be all, for now at least."
Sasuke shook his head as he replied and following the man's directions he left the building through a hidden entrance and found himself back in the streets as he sifted through the information he had received.
The Land Of Fire capital is divided into two main sections, the inner and outer city. The inner city is inhabited mainly by powerful aristocrats, politicians and businessmen whilst the outer city is home to normal citizens of the land of fire.
'In the North East of the inner city...?'
Sasuke glanced at the sky and realised it was only turning to afternoon. Normally, Sasuke would try to carry out this surveillance at night time so there was a lower chance of being exposed.
However, with the Mayfly and stealth techniques obtained from the White Zetsu, Sasuke couldn't imagine anyone being able to find him without them being well above the Kage level in strength or if they had mastered sage mode.
He soon walked over to a secluded alleyway before he vanished, his body slowly sinking into the ground as he made his way over to his intended location.
As he phased beneath the ground, the face of the informant he had met moments ago flashed vividly in his mind and Sasuke thought about the man's rather exuberant personality.
'Are all informants like that?'
The peculiar personality of the young man did feel strange to Sasuke, as he seemed rather outgoing. Something Sasuke didn't expect from people in that line of work, as they often come into contact with some rather disturbing pieces of new time and again.
However, most of these informants outside of Konoha were developed by Jiraiya, so the personality of the person he had just met suddenly didn't seem too odd now he thought about it.
The roles of these informants were mainly to relay information to Anbu members who require them on missions or they are to send reports with important information to the village every so often.
Whilst his mind was busy drowning in his thoughts, Sasuke promptly emerged from the ground and he stared at the luxurious mansion sitting in front of him.
'Bingo.'
However, a strange thought popped into his mind as he stared at the house in front of him.
'Now I think about it, isn't it odd that these people have so much power and wealth?
I mean this is a world with a bunch of chakra-enhanced superhumans running amok...'
As he compared the mansion in front of him to the Uchiha compound, Hyuga compound, Hokage's office, the homes of various ninja clans and the homes of Konoha Jonin he realised they all seemed to pale in comparison to this mansion.
Furthermore, this wasn't even the Daimyo's palace!
It just belongs to a minister under the Daimyo!
Sasuke understands that these people have financial control over Konoha, but that doesn't explain why they haven't all been placed under Genjutsu and turned into puppets.
In his past life, he would have simply called this out to be another plot hole in the series, but this was now the real world to him...
'Is there some underlying reason for this?'
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