As time passes, Touki's life becomes a slow dance with death, where the rewards are plentiful but everything can end with the slightest carelessness. Eight months have passed since the beginning of his adventure as a criminal hunter, and the business has paid off—not enough to make him rich, but more than enough for all the young man's needs.
Touki has found himself fighting dozens of criminals over the months, mostly on the roads, but he's also fought within villages (nighttime raids on his room) and lately, he's ventured into the forests in search of bandit hideouts. The fights have always been short, though intense, but the young man has managed to overcome each challenge, while gaining invaluable experience and developing more effective tactics, to the point that many people think that the disappearance of criminals on some routes is the work of Shinobis.
Touki's work has undoubtedly improved the lives of some travelers and merchants, but in the end, it's just a drop in the ocean of global crime. As effective as the innocent traveler's act is, Touki only attracts the most common and desperate criminals; the most dangerous ones focus on bigger fish or other money-making schemes, such as drugs and extortion.
In addition to his dangerous work, Touki has had to familiarize himself with the underworld of the different cities that make up the region where he has operated until now, more out of necessity than anything else, as many of the valuables he obtains must be sold somewhere that won't attract too much attention. Fortunately for Touki, the information he is able to obtain from the bandits before ending their lives often contains the addresses of merchants directly linked to the black market—criminals, no doubt, but unfortunately necessary.
In the city of Tamita, in the northernmost part of the Fire Nation, there is a particular merchant, little known publicly, but one of the most important in the region for the underworld, as he not only buys objects of dubious origin, but also smuggles materials that are not sold on the common market. Touki was fortunate that one of the bandits he killed not only knew the merchant's location, but also the specific way to access him.
-Welcome- Says an elderly woman, seeing a potential customer enter her steamed bun shop.
-Hello, Junko-san- Says Touki as he enters the shop, then approaches the owner and whispers, "If you don't mind, could I borrow your sewing kit? I have a torn sleeve and I'm going to appear before the Daimyo tomorrow."
-How unexpected. Go ahead, go through the back door. Do you know how to get there?- Replies the old woman.
At Touki's affirmative, the old woman presses something under the service counter, which remotely unlocks the lock on a door at the back of the business. Without hesitation, the young man walks to the door and opens it, revealing stairs leading to a lower level, which he uses to reach a sort of storage room with multiple wooden crates and a small service counter with a middle-aged man standing behind it.
-Welcome. Are you buying or selling?- The man asks in a raspy voice.
-I sell first- Touki replies, then walks over and places a bag on the counter.
The man takes the bag and empties its contents onto the counter, revealing jewelry made of various precious metals and the occasional gem, as well as various high-quality objects, such as brushes, inks, chakra paper, and books. The inspection takes several minutes, during which the man uses various instruments to measure the weight and verify the authenticity of the objects, filling out a small sheet of paper with numbers to keep track.
-All together, it should be worth approximately 80,000 ryo, I'll give you 40,000- the man finally says, after adding all the numbers.
The black market is a place where you'll never sell anything for its real value, let alone buy, so Touki has already gotten used to its prices, and there are very few places like this where they'll buy what you have without asking any questions about where you got it.
-Do you have chakra metal?- Touki asks.
-Nothing since last time, but I have a piece of 30% pure adamantite, 100 grams-
-How much?-
-One million-
Touki's eyes threaten to bulge out of his head at the thought of such a figure, even more so with the calmness with which the man says it. Until now, this has been the best place to acquire rare and hard-to-find materials on the legal market, but the prices are exorbitant. During his last visit, he managed to buy a piece of chakra metal for an "affordable" price.
Chakra metal is one of the most sought-after materials in the world, especially for samurai, who dream of owning a sword made from it, as it greatly aids in channeling chakra. Touki was fortunate enough to purchase a small piece of the 20% alloy, which led to incredible discoveries of possible uses, though unfortunately, the sheer quantity only allowed him to create a pair of arrowheads with extraordinary capabilities.
Adamantite, on the other hand, is the hardest metal known and is the most sought after around the world for making extremely durable weapons with almost eternal edges; however, only the wealthiest and most important can afford to pay its almost ridiculous cost.
-Too much money. Do you have any information?- Touki continues, resigned.
-Two pieces of information, category 2 and 3, plus a category 2 contract- The man replies, after reviewing a small journal.
Another valuable resource the black market provides is information, primarily about potential victims for robbery, as well as jobs to assassinate or steal specific items. The categories vary based on difficulty and danger: 4 is low danger, 3 is high danger without the presence of shinobi or samurai, 2 is very high danger with the presence of shinobi, samurai, or both, and finally 1 is the presence of extremely dangerous people, whether important authorities or even characters from the Bingo Book.
-What's Category 3 data?- Touki decides.
-Possible high-value target. 1,000 ryo for preliminary information-
-Okay, deduct it from the debt-
-A merchant from the land of rice will send an expensive gift to a partner in the fire capital. The details include a specific location where the escort group will stop and the approximate time of arrival, as well as the estimated number of guards. The information costs 10,000-
-Truthfulness?-
-90% according to the guild-
Touki ponders for a moment. Information is expensive, but the possibilities are enormous—not to steal the loot, mind you, but to steal from the thieves (and kill them if necessary). The only unknown is who the thieves will be, because if there are ninjas, things could get difficult, although there's always the option of not attacking.
-How many people bought the information?- Touki asks.
-That information is worth 2000-
-Okay, tell me-
-Three people bought the information- the man says after checking his journal again.
-In that case, give me the information- Touki finally decides.
The man then proceeds to hand Touki a sheet of paper with all the available information about the shipment, as well as the money he owes.
After saying goodbye, Touki leaves the store and wanders erratically around the city, trying to confuse anyone following him, if there is anyone, before finally leaving the city heading northeast, where the possible robbery is supposed to take place. Without incident, Touki should take a day to reach the exact location, and considering that the arrival date of those envoys with the gift is at least six days away, he has enough time to study the terrain and wait for all the actors to arrive.
Touki has greatly expanded his repertoire of weapons and tactics, so it is not impossible to face more dangerous subjects like genins, even chunins if he manages to surprise them, the problem he has is that he is not fast enough to prevent them from escaping. Touki does not want word of his strange abilities to spread to the ninja villages, so he must carefully evaluate whether he can face ninjas without leaving evidence.
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