The Land of Rivers had quite the varied topography, owing to its proximity to the mountain range that separated the Lands of Wind and Earth from the rest of the continent. As a result, it was riddled with cave systems ideal for artisanal mining, providing the Village of Craftsn with ample raw iron ore to make the tamahagane they forged their tools and weapons with.
Sakura often passes through this land, so I'll spare you the vivid descriptions, since you already know what it looks like!
"I've never actually been to Takumi Village," Sakura said, leaping from branch to branch alongside Shizune. "Do you know what it's like, Lady Shizune?"
From the general knowledge she'd gathered through the original Sakura's notes and her dealings with arms dealers in the Hidden Leaf Village, Sakura knew that Takumi Village was the continent's foremost purveyor of high-quality ninja tools.
Yet, strangely, she had this nagging feeling she'd heard the na even before her reincarnation.
"I've never been there myself… but I've heard plenty about it," Shizune replied. "Actually, did you know they're the ones who manufacture your friend Tenten's inventions? In recent years, they've begun to fall closer into our sphere of influence because of her, despite outwardly maintaining their neutrality."
"Tenten, eh?" said Sakura with pinched lips.
Why did things always seem to go sideways whenever that girl was involved?
"A few years back, there were rumours about a radical faction of the village's craftsn developing so sort of ultimate weapon to threaten the Five Great Nations with," Shizune continued. "Lady Tsunade even sent Kakashi and Sasuke to look into it, but nothing ever ca of their investigations, and no such weapon was ever made. Eventually, the matter was dropped."
Sakura gave Shizune a blank look. That didn't ring any bells.
"Oh, and there was also the small matter of Takumi Village's founder's body being stolen from his tomb," Shizune added. "But from what I've heard, Tenten just happened to be there when it happened, so she found the culprits quite swiftly and returned the body to its final resting place."
Sakura was beginning to get a dreadful feeling about all this.
…
A few hours later, Sakura and Shizune arrived at their destination, only to be sward almost at once by salesn and craftsn, all eager to hawk their goods. Just as well the two kunoichi weren't here for sightseeing— there was little worth seeing, even if the villagers had been capable of leaving them alone for more than two seconds.
Like most villages in the backwater Land of Rivers, the Village of Artisans was made up largely of traditional, detached houses. The only difference was that owing to its economy, rooted in the trade of tools and weapons, it also boasted a remarkable number of charming artisans' workshops and warehouses.
That being said…
Sakura gawked at the posters of Tenten's charming face plastered all over the walls of houses. Just how popular was this Chinese-style-hair-buns girl around here!? She shook her head at the folly of these Tenten-worshippers, trying to banish from her mind the cringeworthy mory of her first love for a 2D-ani-girl turned 3D-ti-travelling-avenger.
Then, Sakura finally rembered the errand Granny Sanshō had asked her to run. She needed to find the addresses of the old woman's mahjong companions, so that she could deliver their still-piping-hot curry before moving on to find soone who could forge her a new sword.
That is, if she could get rid of the annoying pests around her.
"Excuse ," said Sakura, trying in vain to get a word in edgeways as a small army of vendors stuffed her hands full of flyers for their shops. "Would any of you happen to know a certain…"
anwhile, a tall, tanned-skinned woman had grabbed Shizune's sleeve and pulled it back, revealing the poison dart launcher rack strapped to her forearm. The woman's eyes imdiately started glittering.
"Let's et up in an hour at the village square!" Shizune called out, as the tall woman dragged her away by the arm. "Don't be late!"
And just like that, Shizune vanished into a seedy-looking workshop, having sohow been talked into upgrading her arm-mounted poison dart launcher to a repeating, self-reloading model, which all sounded like chanical engineering fantasy to Sakura.
"Don't leave !" Sakura cried out in dismay. "Shizune-samaaaa!"
Sakura was still getting sward by craftsn. She was beginning to suspect that they could perhaps magically sense the chakra tal she carried in the sealing scroll strapped to her shapely thigh.
"Special promotion on ninja footwear! Buy a pair of sandals and get a third sandal free!"
"Don't listen to that fraudster— tonight's ladies' night at my shop! To support won's equality in the shinobi business, kunoichi get a generous 55% discount on our extra-light series of shuriken, specially designed for ease of throwing for those with delicate wrists!"
"You're the damn scamr here! Extra-light just ans you skimped out on high-quality iron!"
"Er..." said Sakura, trying to get a word in edgeways. "I'm looking for a certain Hato? Hōki? Kaji?"
"I dare you to say that to my face!"
"I just did! Want to say it again?"
Sakura was beginning to feel a little hot under the collar. She'd taken a super curry pill before leaving the Hidden Leaf Village, and its effects were already setting in. Her breasts were starting to swell, stretching her flushed and sweaty skin as they slowly filled out to C-cups… which naturally started attracting the wrong sort of attention.
"You look like the perfect candidate for my newest invention! How would you like to be my lab ra—er, I an, beta tester for my weapons systems?"
"Have you ever considered modelling? I could use a kunoichi with your looks to help advertise my kunai business!"
Sakura's head was beginning to spin from the cacophony of voices all around her when, suddenly, she found herself pulled from the crowd of craftsn attempting to con her with dubious wares and suspiciously amazing deals.
"Heard ya were lookin' fer ?" a deep and gruff woman's voice rang out above Sakura. "I'm Hato."
Sakura looked up.
Hato was an older, musclebound woman with greying, dark green hair that towered at least two heads over Sakura. Judging from her biceps, this muscle mummy certainly looked as though she had swung a hamr at least once or twice in her life…
"I've co on behalf of Madam Sanshō from the Curry of Life Shop," Sakura explained, flipping into her palm the sealing scroll containing the hot curry. "She says she misses playing with her old friends, so she had bring you so curry to say sorry. There should be enough for Hōki and Kaji as well— but I'm a bit tied up, so would you mind passing on their portions for ?"
Hato's expression darkened.
"I'm afraid you're too late," she sighed. "Hōki was killed by a Konoha shinobi two and a half years ago, and his wife, Kaji-chan, died soon after from grief. The matter was suppressed, so I'm not surprised Sanshō didn't hear about it."
Talk about awkward…
"Er…" said Sakura, not quite sure what to say. "I'm sorry to hear that."
"Don't be," said Hato briskly. "Why don't you step into my shop? I doubt you ca all this way just to deliver curry." Official source is novel{f}ire
…
Incidentally, Sakura had to admit that sealing scrolls were remarkably practical when it ca to food delivery and to the transport business in general. No matter the size or weight of the cargo, it would always arrive farm-fresh inside a scroll that could fit neatly inside your pocket!
There might be real money to be made there, Sakura thought, if only most shinobi weren't so hopelessly old-fashioned about offering services that didn't involve cutting soone's throat.
She just hoped her future career options wouldn't be limited to soldier, dic and pizza delivery woman.
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