Chapter 43 Four Celestial Symbols Men
"What's wrong with the list?"
At first, They did not understand what Shimotsuki Ichiro meant when he said there was a problem with the quotation list. They just looked at each other with some confusion.
Shimotsuki Ichiro did not keep the audience in suspense and took out a stack of documents to start explaining.
"More than half of the items on this list are priced much lower than normal prices, and it also states that these weapons are from Four Celestial Symbols Men. If you want to cooperate, you need to pay a deposit first."
"The situation in the ninja world is so tense recently, but the price of weapons has dropped?"
Ao noticed the irregularity immediately.
"That's right. Moreover, orders for standard weapons like ours are all arranged by the Takumi Village, and we directly contact the chief of the Takumi Village. Only when there are occasional retail orders that require customized weapons will we specifically look for more famous masters to make them. After all, most of the funds need to be handed over to the Daimyo of the Takumi Village. If the transactions are not unified, it will lead to confusion in the accounts."
Everyone understands this point, and the fundamental reason is that the model of the Takumi Village is different from that of other countries.
For example, the five great ninja villages are provided by the five great ninja countries, and the daimyo provide funds and tasks to maintain the daily operation of the ninja villages.
The situation in the Takumi Village is completely the opposite. The Takumi Village has basically no combat power, but is able to earn a lot of money. The daimyo maintains the overall peace in the Takumi Village through his personal connections with other daimyo and diplomatic means.
"And they have never asked to pay the deposit in person before," added Shimotsuki Ichiro.
"There is no deposit for large-scale transactions?"
"Before, we settled the money on the spot. Otherwise, with the strength of the Takumi Village, if any craftsmen really regretted it, they would have to return the deposit even if they had collected it."
After hearing what Shimotsuki Ichiro said, Kaito and the others looked at each other in surprise.
But what's even more surprising is that the investigation hasn't even begun yet. Could it be that the truth has come to light so easily?
Shimotsuki Ichiro also noticed the expressions of the others and continued speaking.
"I know your mission this time is definitely not just to escort me, so I told you about the problem I found. Whether it helps you or not, the follow-up is your business and has nothing to do with me."
After saying that, Shimotsuki Ichiro ignored everyone's reactions, put down the pile of documents, and walked back to his room at a leisurely pace.
"It seems that things are simpler than we thought."
Terumi Mei seemed to be in a good mood. She put her hands behind her head, sat casually on the edge of the bed and crossed her legs.
"It shouldn't be that simple, right? They are being too blatant. It's basically like smuggling under the guise of the village leader."
Although it is rare, Momochi Zabuza, who is always a reckless man, also suggested that everyone act with caution at this time.
However, Ao was a jōnin who had performed many overseas missions. He knew that in a small ninja village , although everything seemed to be running normally, there would always be some funny and bizarre behaviors from time to time.
Finally, Ao turned to look at Kaito who was thinking about something and asked.
"Kaito, have you thought of anything?"
Kaito had of course thought of some things, but they were all plots from the original work, so he was still thinking about how to explain them to the team members.
The Takumi Village also appeared in the original work. There was a small organization called the Four Celestial Symbols Men who attempted to capture the One-Tailed Jinchuriki Gaara and use the Jinchuriki's chakra to revive their ancestor Seimei, hoping to rule the ninja world with it.
As a result, the ancestor was successfully resurrected, but was finally taken down by the injured Gaara with a single shot of one-tail beast Shukaku. He was one of those common and funny villains who couldn't recognize the form of the ninja world.
If it had not happened that the Sunagakure Village was tricked by Orochimaru for participating in Konoha's collapse plan and was beaten up by Konohagakure Village, and was at its weakest, it would have been unknown whether these people could escape from the Land of Wind alive.
However, Kaito vaguely remembered that in the original work, these people should have just prepared the conditions for resurrecting their ancestors before they thought of capturing Gaara as a battery.
Now, there are still more than ten years before that plot takes place, so even though he knew that this trip was to the Takumi Village to carry out a mission, he had never considered the matter of the Four Celestial Symbols Men.
However, the suspected smuggling place is now called "Four Celestial Symbols Men", which forces Kaito to associate it with the future Four Celestial Symbols Men.
Kaito organized his thoughts a little and looked at Ao and the other two.
"I think the other party is really smuggling openly under the nose of the chief of the Takumi Village. Based on the overall strength of the Takumi Village that we know, as long as a ninja with some level appears, he can basically suppress the entire Takumi Village."
This statement is not without basis. In the original novel, when the Four Celestial Symbols Men were about to cause trouble, the entire village of the Takumi Village was so scared that they all ran away and even abandoned the village. Now it's just that the leader has been sidelined, which can only be regarded as a small witch compared to a big witch.
"That's a possibility. It's still early now. Let's go around the village and get some information. We'll make a decision on the details in the evening."
"Zabuza, you stay in the inn and protect Shimotsuki-san's safety."
Considering Zabuza's personality, Ao left him alone, and the others went out to the streets to investigate.
Although he said he was asking around for information, the Takumi Village was a small place, and Kaito only observed and recorded the terrain, then found a few stores and used his age advantage to ask the store clerks for some information.
Although no useful information was obtained in the end, a lot of strange and bizarre ninja tools were seen.
One of the shops even has ninja tools that are said to be imitations of the 'Gunbai', a weapon passed down from generation to generation in the Uchiha clan.
Of course, this replica does not have the ability to rebound all ninjutsu, but it can use wind ninjutsu chakra to rebound fire ninjutsu.
However, this "Gunbai" is not only beautiful in effect, but also very affordable. Even the money in Kaito's pocket may only be enough to pay for it once.
Besides, the Uchiha clan is still the largest clan in Konoha, and they dare not show off such imitation products to them as they did Kaito in the market.
Finally, unable to resist the enthusiastic sales pitch of the store clerk, Kaito gritted his teeth and paid for a roll of steel wire ninja tools despite the clerk's disdainful gaze, intending to give it to Zabuza for training later.
As night gradually fell, the three of them returned to the inn where they were staying temporarily and called Zabuza to share information.
Although Kaito didn't find out any useful information this time, Ao and Mei made some discoveries.
In addition to the most basic exploration of the terrain near Four Celestial Symbols Men, the two also learned some other information from the villagers.
First of all, the workshop of Four Celestial Symbols Men should have existed in the Takumi Village for a long time. It is said that it was a well-known workshop in Takumi Village during the Warring States Period, but it gradually declined. It has only developed rapidly in the past two years, but they haven't heard of any great figures coming out of it.
Secondly, from their conversations with certain store owners, it can be seen that the two seemed to be aware of the changes in the way ninja tools were traded, but they all chose to conceal it.
Finally, there is the current leader of the Takumi Village. Because he is an excellent forging master, he has a high prestige in the village.
Zabuza was listening to the information carefully, but he saw that the other three people suddenly stopped talking.
"So this entire village is completely unaware that their leader has been sidelined?"