Pokémon Ninja Scrolls of the Mizukage

Chapter 43 Four Celestial Elephants
“What’s wrong with the list?”

At first, the few people did not understand what Ichiro Shimotsuki meant when he said there was a problem with the quotation list. They just looked at each other with some confusion.

Ichiro Shimotsuki 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 Si Xiang Fang. 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 become lower?"

Qing noticed the irregularity right away.

"That's right. Moreover, orders for standard weapons like ours are all arranged by the Artisan Village, and we directly contact the chief of the Artisan 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 Land of Artisans. 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 Country of Craftsmen is different from that of other countries.

For example, the five major countries are provided by the ninja villages, and the daimyo provide funds and tasks to maintain the daily operation of the ninja villages.

The situation in the Country of Craftsmen is completely the opposite. The Craftsmen's Village has basically no combat power, but is able to earn a lot of money. The daimyo maintains the overall peace in the Country of Craftsmen through his personal connections with other daimyo and diplomatic means.

"And we have never had anyone come to pay the deposit in person before," added Ichiro Shimotsuki.

“There is no deposit for large-scale transactions?”

"Before, we settled the money on the spot. Otherwise, with the strength of the Artisan Village, if any family really regretted it, they would have to return the deposit even if they had collected it."

After hearing what Shimotsuki Ichiro said, Jianchuan Tachibana and the others looked at each other in surprise.

But what’s even more surprising is that the investigation hasn’t even begun. Could it be that the truth has come to light so easily?
Shimotsuki Ichiro also noticed the expressions of the others and continued speaking.

"Old man, I know your mission this time is definitely not just to escort me, so I told you about this problem when I found it. Whether it helps you or not, the follow-up is your business and has nothing to do with me."

After saying that, Ichiro Shimotsuki ignored everyone's reactions, put down the pile of documents, and walked back to his room with a leisurely pace.

"It seems that things are simpler than we thought."

Mei Terumi 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, Zabuza Momochi, who is always a reckless man, also suggested that everyone act with caution at this time.

However, Qing was a jonin who had performed many overseas missions. He knew that in a small ninja village like this, although everything seemed to be running normally, there would always be some funny and bizarre behaviors from time to time.

Finally, Qing turned to look at Jianchuan Ju who was thinking about something and asked.

"Ju, have you thought of anything?"

"Ah."

Jianchuan Ju 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 Artisan Village also appeared in the original work. There was a small organization called the Four Heavenly Zodiacs who attempted to capture the One-Tailed Jinchuriki Gaara and use the Jinchuriki's chakra to revive their ancestor Qingming, hoping to rule the ninja world with it.

As a result, the ancestor was successfully resurrected, but was finally taken away by the injured Gaara with a single shot of Shukaku. He was one of those common and funny villains who couldn't recognize the form of the ninja world.

If it wasn't for the fact that the Sand Village was tricked by Orochimaru for participating in the Konoha collapse plan and was beaten by Konoha at the same time, it would be unknown whether these people could escape from the Kingdom of Wind alive. However, Jianchuan Ju vaguely remembered that in the original work, these people should have just prepared the conditions for reviving 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 I knew that this trip was to the Artisan Village to carry out a mission, I had never considered the matter of the Four Heavenly Elephants before.

However, the suspected smuggling place is now called "Si Xiang Fang", which forces Jianchuan Ju to associate it with the future Four Elephant People.

Jianchuan Ju organized his thoughts a little and looked at Qing and the other two.

"I think the other party is really smuggling openly under the nose of the chief of the Artisan Ninja Village. Based on our understanding of the overall strength of the Artisan Ninja Village, as long as a ninja with some level appears, he can basically suppress the entire Artisan Ninja Village."

This statement is not without basis. In the original novel, when the four celestial elephants 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 Mr. Shimotsuki's safety."

Considering Zabuza's personality, Qing left him alone, and the others went out to the streets to investigate.

Although he said he was asking around for information, the Artisan Village was a small place, and Jianchuan Ju 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 'Flame Fan', 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 "fire fan" not only has a beautiful effect, but also has a very attractive price. Even the money in Jianchuanju'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 as Jianchuanju in the market.

Finally, unable to resist the enthusiastic sales pitch from the store clerk, Jianchuan Ju 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 Jianchuan Ju didn't find out any useful information this time, Qing and Terumi Mei made some discoveries.

In addition to the most basic exploration of the terrain near Sixiangfang, the two also learned some other information from the villagers.

First of all, the Sixiangfang workshop should have existed in the Takumi Village for a long time. It is said that it was a well-known workshop in the Takumi Country during the Warring States Period, but it gradually declined. It has only developed rapidly in the past two years, but I 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 Artisan Village. Because he is an excellent forging master, he has a high prestige in the village.

"that's it?"

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?"

(End of this chapter)