After quietly running around the post in the swamp, I returned to my previous course and, moving close to the road, avoided unnecessary attention. The city I needed in the Land of Trees was only a three-hour run from the border, so it wasn't difficult to find it, despite the darkness.
I only ran past the turn I needed once, not noticing it behind the trees that abruptly changed the flat terrain, but I noticed in time that I was going somewhere wrong, if I was to believe the map — in unfamiliar terrain, I preferred to check it more often — after which I turned back and, already moving along the road, ran in the right direction.
The map was not overly detailed, and there was certainly no detailed plan of the city on it, but despite this, the trader's family had taken the trouble to make a small note in the margins describing the location and appearance of the house of the partners Sauri was supposed to visit, so I found the right place fairly quickly.
The large three-story stone house, of which there were fewer than the fingers on one hand in the northern part of the settlement, and a large warehouse nearby, could be seen from afar.
The rest of the city was separated by a stone wall, so I jumped onto the roof of the house opposite and, hidden by the darkness, assessed the security. Four fighters with spears and in decent chain mail were walking around the perimeter in pairs, and among the chakra users, I could sense only a lone genin who would not be able to fight off even a small band of ordinary bandits, slightly inferior even to my students at the very beginning in terms of chakra volume. Quite the expected level of the world's assholes. It would be easy to get into the house.
And then I thought — on the one hand, I could just show up and demand the information I needed about Yoru-san's arrival and departure, but it was early evening and the owners would hardly want to report to some stranger from the mountains, spending a lot of time trying to convince me, but on the other hand, I could sneak in quietly, quickly find out everything I needed, and keep it, leaving no traces of my visit, even if it meant dealing with one of the inhabitants of the house. To be honest, I liked the second option much better.
Silently jumping over the fence without disturbing a leaf, I slipped through the garden like a shadow and found myself near the wall, out of sight of the guards. Climbing up the wall to the second floor, using a thread of chakra to open the window and sneak inside was even easier.
Then I simply made my way to the first occupied room — the arrival of a business partner, who had probably been staying there for several days, would have been noticed by all the residents, as would his departure — and, using a tried and tested method, picked the lock on the door and entered the room. Judging by its size and rather sparse furnishings, it belonged to some kind of servant.
Approaching the elderly man on the bed silently, I shook him by the shoulder.
"Ugh, wh-what?"
As soon as he woke up and opened his eyes, I slapped the pre-prepared fuin on his forehead, causing him to flinch and freeze as soon as the chakra in it activated and entered his body. Looking into his completely empty and motionless eyes, I nodded with satisfaction.
"Did the trader Yoru Sauri come here with his goods?" I asked him.
"Yes," was the monotonous answer I received a few seconds later.
"Did he leave here safely?" was my next question.
"Yes."
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