Journey of Desires

In the evening, the brother and sister were sitting on the same sofa in the common room, the rest of the girls in the group had already gone to bed. Playing the most ordinary naval battle, they simply enjoyed the peace, but Kilia decided to interrupt it.

- Ban, and yet... Why did you offer Orochimaru to awaken his mana, of course, I understand that he will not have time to become someone dangerous for us during the time that we will be in this world, and he can be used as a test sample, and if everything is fine, then we can awaken mana for Hikari, but maybe you came up with something else?

Orochimaru left their company a few hours ago. Checking the scroll did not take much time, as it turned out, the fuin master from the Land of Rain did very well, but preparing a diagnostic ritual to understand the general state of the sanin's soul took quite a long time, to be precise, a little less than three hours.

While Kilia was preparing the ritual, Orochimaru was talking with Hikari. Find out information about the Uchiha and their eyes, as well as all the pros and cons of such powers... Such an opportunity is incredibly useful for Orochimaru, after all, although he really wants the body of the Uchiha, he has always remained rational, and preparing for the cons that await him is quite useful.

- No, you said everything correctly, well... Except that I am very curious about what a genius in the field of chakra can achieve in a short period of time studying magic, E5.

- Got it. I see, the experiment is really interesting.

The result of the ritual was the knowledge that the souls of people from different worlds are no different, Orochimaru also has the ability to become a magician, and for his awakening only stimulation was needed, in other words, Kilia made him feel his mana. A similar method of awakening was sometimes used in the world of the seven deadly sins.

- By the way, while you were preparing the ritual, Orochimaru said some pretty interesting news, E4.

- Didn't get it, so what was it? A3.

- Missed, it turns out Konoha has declared a hunt for our heads, our pages with you appeared in the bingo books, E6.

- Hit, killed. Really? I thought that only ninjas were in the bingo book.

- No, for example, Mifune is there, and he is actually a samurai from the land of iron, A1.

- Hit, killed. And what is the reward for us?

- Twenty million if one of us is alive, ten million if dead, and forty-five million if both. A10.

- Missed, and what about Naruto? E7.

- Hit, killed. There is no word about Naruto, as far as I understand, they do not want to give out information that their jinchuriki was kidnapped.

- That is quite logical, E8.

- Hit, killed... ah, another loss. Well, from the information I received from Orochimaru, there were no requests to other villages asking for help in catching him, which means Konoha wants to solve the problem personally, or for some reason they think that we are still in the land of fire.

Having decided that the information from Orochimaru can be trusted, Ban decided not to change the route of their journey and the next destination he wants to visit is the Hidden Stone Village.

Regarding Orochimaru, it turned out that he has a high affinity with the magic of the elements of wind and earth, as well as a talent for necromancy, healing magic and spiritual magic ... let's just say a very versatile and useful set of skills, which, by the way, does not close the opportunity to study other paths of magic, but only gives a bonus in the named ones.

To study at least one section of magic to the Master, it will take at least two years, although with Orochimaru's talent and the presence of the shadow cloning technique, there is a chance that this period will be reduced by a quarter, or even perhaps a third.

- Plus one victory in my favor, I've played enough, let's go to bed already, tomorrow we're heading to the next city, hmm... regarding Konoha, I kept forgetting to ask, what did you do with that kid who insulted you during the battle in Konoha?

- Nothing special, scared you a bit, and... Did you know that Konoha has a pretty big and high-quality sewage system? Of course, not all the buildings have it, but there are pipes all over the village, supplying water and taking away waste.

- I heard something like that, right, what are you getting at?

- I left him tied up near the sewer wastewater.

- Are you an idiot? What did you actually do?

But in response she saw only a serious look from her brother, which clearly said that he told the truth.

- Stop! Are you serious???

Instead of an answer, she heard only silence. Ban had already turned around and headed to his room when behind him there was a slap from a hand hitting his face...

***

- Good afternoon, please state your names, occupation and purpose of arrival.

Now the whole company was at the entrance to the Hidden Stone Village, the settlement looked like a huge dome without a top in the colors of the rocks that surround it, around this dome there was a wall of a strange stone similar to sandstone, and between the wall and the dome there were trees.

Because of the terrain where the village is located, the inhabitants were forced to grow plants, among the rocks and stones there is very little vegetation, because of which Iwagakure is forced to buy a huge amount of food, and this ninja village is very dependent on the help of the Daimyo of the Earth country, but thanks to Onoki and his excellent relations with all the Daimyo that were during this time, the help and prices for food are not at all extortionate, but on the contrary, quite cheap.

- My name is Kilia, the man's name is Ban and he is my brother. We are writers and travelers and arrived in Iwagakure for the purpose of tourism.

The chunin who now works as a guard at the entrance to the village was a little surprised, this is the first time in his memory when writers come, tourists sometimes come, but writers are a very rare profession in the Ninja world, ordinary people prioritize survival and earnings, and ninjas are very rarely interested in such a profession, the only one that comes to mind is the Sanin from Konohagakure named Jiraiya.

When the chunin realized the words and nodded his head to show that he understood, he turned his gaze to the girls standing nearby.

Three girls appeared before his eyes, they looked about the same age, the first was black-haired and black-eyed and she wore an outfit similar to the brother and sister. The second girl was a blue-eyed blonde dressed in white and blue clothes with orange elements. The third girl had dark blue hair and purple eyes, and she was dressed in a black kimono.

- And they?

This time the answer came from Ban, not his sister.

- They are my sister's students, I am mainly engaged in writing, and my sister teaches them... how to win at gambling...

The guard's gaze literally expressed bewilderment and the phrase "Are you serious?".

- She's crazy about games, what can you think of, and these three girls saw her win eight hundred thousand Ryo when we were in the Land of Fire, and followed her with a request to teach her. I myself don't fully understand how this happened.

With difficulty, but the guard still accepted this situation and allowed the travelers to enter the village.

***

From the future book about the countries of the ninja world "Beautiful cities and what's interesting about them"

"When we arrived at the Hidden Stone village, the first thing that caught our eye was that it was built completely differently than Konoha or any ordinary city, the village is very well fortified, it is also divided into districts and has a development where the entire area is occupied by huge multi-level buildings with many floors, the view of this village was very refreshing.

The first thing we immediately realized about the difficulties was that it was very easy to get lost in a city like this, and it would be very difficult to find all the most interesting places. So we decided to contact the Tsuchikage office..."

***

- Good afternoon, I just arrived in the village today and I want to order a mission.

Ban was told by passersby where the Tsuchikage office building was, and having found it quite quickly, he saw a building that stood out in that there was a lot of free space at its entrance, similar to a small square, entering it, he immediately saw local workers who issued and received missions.

Now Ban approached a man with a scar over his left eye, who looked about thirty years old.

- Good afternoon, welcome to Iwagakure! Have you been informed about the types of missions and their prices?

- No.

In response, Ban heard generally public information, but he did not know about the prices for missions before, so this information became useful for him.

There are missions from rank D to rank S. D-rank missions are the most banal, but they are difficult or take a long time to complete for ordinary people, tasks from the category of catching cats, care for the disabled, delivery by order within the village. Rank C - missions where there may be clashes with non-ninja, or long-term versions of rank D missions. Rank B - long-distance escort and battles with enemy ninja. Rank A - dangerous ninja who do not trust ninja below the rank of chunin, may involve battles with very strong opponents or long-term espionage. Rank S - missions only for the strongest shinobi and kunoichi, can have huge consequences and are carried out either by a squad of jonin or one or more elite ninja.

The payment for missions is increasing from a couple of thousand Ryo to several million.

Having received this information, Ban was able to decide which mission to order, he was interested in a rank C mission, and the payment for such missions is usually from twenty to one hundred thousand Ryo, the payment is determined by the customer.

- Okay, I need a C-rank mission. The goal is to accompany my group around the Hidden Stone Village, I need someone who knows the village very well and knows where the interesting places are, and who can also stop us from going into places where we can't. I plan to write a book about the trip, describing the places I've been to, and I wouldn't like to reveal any forbidden or tactically important information. Payment is one hundred and ten thousand Ryo.

Having heard the customer's words, the worker was already surprised by such a situation, for the first time in his memory, someone ordered a task where a shinobi had to work as a guide. But when he heard the payment for such a trivial mission, he only had the thought "I wish I had such missions when I was younger...". Quickly recovering from his slight surprise, the worker replied.

- Okay, please tell me your name and tell me where to find you, also make the payment and the mission will be processed.

- Ban, you can find us at the Golden Dust Hotel, we live in room nine. I only ask that this mission be issued no later than tomorrow morning, as I would like to start exploring the village tomorrow.

- Your data has been entered, and of course you don't have to worry, your mission will be issued as soon as possible!

- I expect the guide tomorrow at nine in the morning, have a nice day!

Turning towards the entrance, Ban went back to the hotel.

***

The same office worker entered the Tsuchikage's office, after which he handed over the documents with the missions issued between the beginning of the working day and lunch, after which he left the office.

Onoki sat in his office and quickly glanced at the essence of the mission, put a seal and put it in another pile. In half an hour, another office worker would come to take the already confirmed missions back to the office so that they could be issued to the Hidden Stone ninja.

At one point, his gaze caught on a strange mission, only an escort inside the village, and the payment was a whole... one hundred and ten thousand.

Sighing and thinking about how young people don't take care of their money, he put a seal and moved it to another pile.

The next moment, people entered the office, raising his gaze, the old man saw his son and granddaughter. Kitsuchi and Kurotsuchi entered.

The huge man silently stood up and turned his head towards his daughter, his brows were furrowed and he was dissatisfied with something.

- What happened?

- Grandpa! Please give me an escort mission! I've been a ninja for two years, and I've only been outside the village a couple of times!

Hearing his granddaughter's request, Onoki thought about it. Indeed, it turned out that for two years of missions outside the village, Kurotsuchi received very little, although this is all just a coincidence and a series of chance, Onoki understands that you can't take care of your granddaughter forever, and she needs to gain experience. But the problem is that there are currently no missions outside the village for genin, and his granddaughter is planning to take the chunin exam in a couple of months.

- Kurotsuchi, I would be happy to, but...

- No buts! Grandpa, please, you know that I have to become stronger if I want to take the Tsuchikage title from you, I need experience!

Onoki realized that refusing would only make the situation worse, but then an idea occurred to him! The Tsuchikage reached for the stack of papers where the approved missions were kept and took the top sheet from the stack, then handed it to his granddaughter.

- Look.