After Yami left Tazuna's house he scattered into numerous bats and flew away. It was already past evening so no one would find it odd that there were bats in the sky. He made sure that they don't fly around together. He decided to go to the market area in the Land of waves as that's where most of Gato's businesses were located. The market also had many people talking about the stuff going on and Yami expected that the mercenaries and Bandits that had been gathered by Gato may move freely through the market.
Yami was right about his decision as he heard many locals talk about the increased number of people that were roaming the market. Yami also saw a group of burly men with broadswords on their backs. While some had hoods on. They were moving in groups which were catching a lot of attention from the locals. Gato owned many businesses here so no one had the guts to stand up to him or even question him.
Through a couple of his bats, Yami noticed that they all were going inside the same building. It was a big inn and from the looks of it, it was owned by Gato as well.
'Looks like the different mercenary groups are going to have a meeting with Gato.' Yami thought. He used his hearing to focus on those groups. He wanted to know what they were talking about.
"Boss why do you think he would have called us so urgently?" one of the burly men asked the one standing in the middle who had better equipment than them and also wore golden bracers.
"Who cares...he sent 10,000 Ryo and called us urgently. This is more than enough reason to come here. Gato is never short on money. And now when his letter included that this mission was urgent, he will agree to whatever amount we ask." the leader sneered.
Yami also spied on what the other groups were talking. They all had gotten 10,000 Ryo and an urgent invitation to meet Gato.
'These are the people who have arrived now. This means they were called when Gato found out that the bridge will be ready tomorrow. The ones that Zabuza wrote about in the letter must have already met Gato. I must say no matter whichever world it is, money is still very powerful.'
Yami had a few of his bats circle Gato's inn. He saw that on the ground floor different mercenary and bandit groups were eating and drinking while the leaders were invited to the first floor.
'Gato must be on the first floor.' Yami thought. He started to find an entry inside the building so that he can eavesdrop on the conversation. Luckily he found a broken window that leads to the attic. If it was someone else they would have a hard time listening but with the enhanced hearing of Yami, this was going to be a piece of cake.
Yami wasn't there personally but it was only a bat of his who he shared his senses so even if someone from those leaders finds out about the eavesdropping then there is no way that they can connect it to Yami or even the hidden leaf shinobis. Yami even had one of the bats sit at the window outside the first floor. He could see a long table in the room and on one side sat Gato while the leaders of the bandits and mercenaries sat on his left and right.
One of the bandit leaders who looked like a rogue ninja glared at the bat sitting outside the window and frowned. Yami quickly had the bat fly away from there. It wasn't a risk worth taking. Just the audio was enough. He didn't want a visual of the meeting.
After a few minutes, all the chairs at the table were full. Gatō had shaggy brown hair and a pair of small circular black glasses. He wore a black suit with a purple tie. Seeing all the bandit leaders he had a smile on his face. He stood up with open arms and said
"Thank you all for coming here at such short notice. I hope all of you have brought your best fighters as I told you." Gato said.
Yami couldn't see who was talking but from this statement, he understood that this man was Gato. He then started hearing the voices of different people talking. These were all leaders of different groups.
"Gato what mess did you make this time? Why are so many groups here?"
"I am only here because the letter said that the 10,000 Ryo was just loose change compared to what I will get after completing this mission."
"That is right my friends. This time the reward is really good." Gato said.
"Spill it, you sneaky bastard. Don't think I didn't notice those there are more mercenary groups than us. You are planning something big." a voice said in a vicious tone.
"Please calm sound. It is true that in the afternoon I had a meeting with 4 more mercenary groups. And 2 of them can even use chakra. The reason why I have called all of you is to fight for me. There is a man I want killed so I hired one of the seven mist swordsmen but the old man hired a squad of hidden leaf shinobis to guard him and in the end the swordsmen was killed. The bridge the old man is building will complete tomorrow and I want you all to kill that squad and another squad that has been sent as a backup."
"Gato are you out of your mind? Telling us to kill 2 hidden leaf squads? Even the 5 great villages would think twice before doing that."
"No need to get so worked up. Every team has only 1 grown-up while the other 3 members are just kids." Gato said.
"Oh, genin teams? That's doable. I like to kill those younglings with my own hand...hehe" a man said.
"Shut up you maniac. After losing one ear to a hidden leaf shinobi and getting thrown out of the hidden stone village, you have become bloodthirsty for hidden shinobis blood." the voice of the burly man sounded.
As Yami had already eavesdropped on them while they were traveling, he could match a few voices to the faces.
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