"Lord Minato, I'm truly sorry for troubling you, here's 5.000.000 Ryo. Thank you for this escort!"
Masahiko sent away the old man who repeatedly apologized to him, then looked at the five million Ryos in his hands, and smiled slightly.
"This won't be easy…"
Yesterday night, after the caravan reached Kumogakure, Masahiko spent the night in a hot spring hotel booked by the old man, after he told him to come and find him again the next day. In fact, he did that so he could prevent Masahiko from seeing the goods that they were delivering.
Having finally entered the country of Kumogakure, he was no longer really interested in the goods anymore. He thought that he was gonna meet the Kinkaku Force immediately. He was hoping to get the chance to kill them "silently." He didn't think that… things would be out of his expectation.
In the early morning, the little old man rushed over to him and gave him both a gift and an apology. Instead of saying, "Master Golden and Silver Horn refused to see you!"
"Based on the show that I've put up earlier, I should be considered to them as an S rank ninja. So why did these two chose not to see me… Is it because of my status as a stray ninja?"
Masahiko walked back and forth in the room. "The caravan will return after two days. Should I take this opportunity to find them myself? But I'm afraid that the fact I'm currently in the Kumogakure can cause me troubles…" No matter how strong he was, Masahiko was not Madara. With his Sage Mode, and the Eight Gates, he could easily finish both of them, but then he might fall into a siege inside these walls.
After thinking about it for a while, Masahiko didn't find a suitable solution. He took off his clothes then and lay inside the hotel's hot spring.
Masahiko didn't come out from the hot spring until noon.
"I've been in hot springs these days, more than I did in my entire life…" Masahiko got dressed, "Life is really getting boring, without that idiot, Hashirama… Damn it."
"Forget it, just go to the village and grab something to eat, maybe something unexpected will happen…"
Masahiko walked out of the hotel and looked around. The sky was filled with clouds, most of the villagers had dark skin, and the buildings' shape was mostly round, which is very different than Konoha.
"Fortunately, I've foreseen that, and decide to change my skin tone too… Otherwise, it would have been embarrassing…" While strolling, Masahiko noticed a restaurant and decided to enter it.
"What the hell are these people eating here? Am I in the wrong shop…? No, it's written right here," Menu, "Barbecue Shop." Masahiko looked at it while trembling.
The food here in Kumogakure was very different than in Konoha too. They were obsessed with frying and roasting. Some are fine, but what kind of an idiot has come with this fried and roasted banana idea…?
Masahiko stared coldly at the menu for a while, then he ordered a grilled fish with some slice of toast, which was normal.
Masahiko ate and drank enough for three people, with some unexpected gains…
While he was there he learned some information or let's say some secrets that were no longer secrets, at least to him.
Most of the higher-ranked Shinobi knows that Kumogakure is now divided into two factions; the pro-war faction and the conservatives.
The conservatives are led by the Second Raikage and his right hand, B; they are the ones who are still reluctant to attack other villages and think of establishing alliances with other countries.
While the other faction is led by Kinkaku and Ginkaku. They advocated immediate attacks on other countries. After Hashirama's death, they kept supporting the opportunity to invade the Land of Fire.
"I didn't expect this…" Masahiko murmured… "The Raikage and his damn powerful successor were actually the conservative's side. This actually made me realize that Kumogakure has never been a war freak village!"
"Furthermore, it's not surprising that the golden and silver horn brothers are a part of the war freaks factions. However, if I remember correctly they never managed to make the village take their side. So this is why they decided assassinated by the Second Raikage?"
Masahiko took a deep breath; he felt that the golden and silver horn brothers are really stupids. After decades of wars, of course, the villagers will long for peace. And to incite another war is most likely the reason why they lost to the conservative faction…
This meal wasn't meaningless after all, Masahiko settled the bill, patted his as*, and left the hotel.
"The Gold-Silver Horn brothers are kind of stupid, I feel like I've come in vain…" Masahiko murmured, "How did these two stupid brothers kill a smart Shinobi like Tobirama? Maybe Tobirama is stupid too?"
He came all this way, and this wasn't the right time to regret it; thus, Masahiko decided to find a place in the village to say in first.
"Huh? Mustache Guy?" Feeling bored, Masahiko turned on his perception, passing by he felt a slightly familiar Chakra.
"A forging house?" Masahiko looked around, feeling the heat in his heart.
"So they were smuggling iron and other metals?" Masahiko murmured, "No, this can't be it, they wouldn't be so discreet about it, and people wouldn't have attacked them for that. I'm afraid that it's more than just iron. Maybe there is some Chakra conduction metal…"
Masahiko thought about it but didn't make a move immediately. As long as he can find a way to stay in Kumo, these things will unfold sooner or later.
"Oh! This is…" Masahiko found another interesting place, "The Cloudy Village Casino!" He smirked, thinking of the few millions he could win from the poor bastards.
When he walked in, a farce was already taking place inside.
An-apparently civilian person was surrounded by some Shinobi… They seem to be arguing about something.
A few shinobi looked at each other and then one of them said, "Don't you dare make a ruckus here. This place is owned by the Golden and Silver brothers. Don't you dare come in again, you will regret it!"
The civilian mumbled a few curses, then left.
"So this is the Golden and Silver Horn's Casino…"
At the same time, In the Raikage building, a document was represented in front of the Second Raikage.
Name : Namikaze Minato
Initial : Masajuro
Age : Unknown (Presumably 25 years old)
Strength : Suspected to be S-Class, Raiton User, and user of the black lightning.
Origin : Unknown.
Note : The first appearance is in Yugakure, after disguising as a samurai, he joined the Golden-Silver Horn Brother Caravan. And engaged with B's in combat, and they were evenly matched.
"Evenly matched?" The second Raikage raised his eyebrows, then he looked at B in front of him, "B, I heard you've got dragged down by the kids that were with you… Why did you write this on the document?"
"I've asked for it," B replied. "When he fought against me, I felt that the guy was very relaxed, probably he's hiding his true strength. If I didn't have these kids with me, I wouldn't have given the Kinkaku brothers the chance to get such a strong ally!"
"Golden-Silver Horn…" The Second Raikage sighed, "In fact, the artifacts that can enhance the strength of our village, is in their possession… A war is about to erupt, and suddenly this guy called Minato Namikaze showed up, and we don't even know what his deal exactly… Are you sure he didn't use a transformation technique?"
B's shaking his head, "No such a thing…"
The Second Raikage then nodded, "First, let the Anbu watch over him, the caravan can only stay in the village for two days. If he decided to stay after that, then…"
B nod in agreement and the Raikage then fell into silence.