Three cases have been committed one after another; as the saying goes, things don't go beyond three.
The scope of the blame can be big or small, but currently, she needs it to be just enough not to cause too strong a backlash.
If there were ten or eight incidents, things would escalate significantly; not only would the Akatsuki Organization be alerted, but nearby Land of Lightning and Land of Fire would also send Ninja to investigate, which would be more trouble than it's worth.
Frequent incidents are not as good as a slow and steady approach.
Causing trouble three times is pretty much the limit given the current speed of information dissemination in this world.
There are too many rumors; a merchant from the Land of Iron being robbed would be an insignificant matter when it reaches the Land of Rain, and the Akatsuki Organization wouldn't care at all.
With Ino's blame thrown, Deidara will carry it very steadily.
After three incidents, she immediately returned to the Land of Wheat to play dead, waiting for the subsequent developments.
This trip, she collected two 'blame points,' adding to the three she had saved previously, making a total of five 'blame points' in her hand.
She first increased'Seal' from 8 points to 9 points.
She originally planned to save the remaining two 'blame points,' but after resisting again and again, the temporary pleasure of adding points, and the continuous pleasure of adding points, she ultimately couldn't hold back.
One was added to 'Gen,' changing 'Gen' 6 to 'Gen' 7, and the other was added to 'Power,' changing 'Power' 5 to 'Power' 6.
Ino's current stats are Nin 10, Tai 7, Gen 7, Wis 8, Pow 6, Spd 7, Sta 10, Seal 9, with a total attribute of 64.
In terms of Ninjutsu, it's Water Release lv4, Earth Release lv5, Wind Release lv3, Fire Release lv2, Yin Release lv4, Yang Release lv3, Flower Release (Wood Release) lv2.
After waiting two days, nothing happened at all.
Roughly speaking, the Akatsuki Organization, a group of 'bro-mance' enthusiasts, has too high standards, either gazing at the moon in the sky or pondering Tailed Beast, not caring about minor incidents like a few merchants dying.
Ino was very satisfied; this was excellent!
The Fat Prince and Princess Afu officially met, and Ino's part was about to conclude.
She received the mission receipt and was preparing to return to the Village, but unexpectedly, Shikamaru and Choji found her first.
"This is an order from the Fifth Hokage," Shikamaru called her aside and handed her a mission scroll.
Naruto wanted to come over and see, but Choji forcibly dragged him away.
Ino scanned the mission, then nodded, indicating that she accepted it.
She turned to look at Naruto: "Naruto, the Fifth Hokage's order to us is that you are temporarily assigned to Team 10 and will follow us to That Country to carry out a mission."
Naruto had been playing wildly in the Land of Wheat recently.
Now, asking him to go back to the Village and study? What a joke!
He had no idea where That Country was, only nodding vigorously, indicating that he was willing to accept this mission.
Ino bid farewell to her new best friend, the plump Princess Afu, and then led her team out of the Land of Wheat.
Choji tricked Naruto into collecting ingredients, while Shikamaru explained the key points of this mission to Ino, or rather, the hidden information that couldn't be explicitly written.
"On the surface, we're going to participate in That Country's eating contest, but in reality, Team 10's mission is to kidnap the prince of This Country.
This Country is an ally of That Country, and now This Country is preparing to betray its alliance and defect to the Land of Fire.
Therefore, they must rescue their prince, who is a hostage in That Country, as soon as possible.
This is a mission directly dispatched to the Village by the Daimyo from the capital."
Ino nodded as she listened.
Konoha Village in the anime was very bright and a moral paragon, but in reality, they certainly didn't do less kidnapping and extortion.
This wasn't the first time, nor would it be the last.
She gestured for Shikamaru to continue.
Shikamaru said, "The Village received intelligence from a secret source that the Akatsuki Organization has also recently set their sights on That Country.
We heard they are collecting information on Jinchuriki.
The Village believes Naruto can serve as the first layer of bait, and we few are the second layer of bait, to lure the Akatsuki Organization members into making a move.
Then, the Jonin lying in ambush will take them down in one fell swoop."
Ino had no objection to this plan.
The entire plan was both conventional and unconventional, considering all aspects, and it looked like Shikaku's strategy.
However, facing the Akatsuki Organization now, she truly felt uncertain.
Konoha knew too little about the Akatsuki Organization.
Jiraiya, as Hokage, could not easily leave the Village, so the so-called ambush would only consist of Kakashi, Asuma, and a few others.
Whether it would ultimately be effective was truly known only to heaven, but fighting a battle and gathering intelligence on the enemy was also the correct choice.
The Village made her the ostensible captain for this mission, with Shikamaru assisting her, Choji in charge of the eating contest, and Naruto... Naruto's normal behavior was already very eye-catching.
Making the best use of resources, Shikaku's plans were always like this, flawless.
On the way, Ino also began to ponder, the Akatsuki Organization going to That Country? Nothing major happened here, did it?
Now, besides Pain and Uchiha Itachi, she feared none of the others.
Even if it was two against one, and she couldn't win, she could still escape.
This mission was tentatively classified as B-rank, but apart from Naruto, the three of them knew full well that this mission could be upgraded to A-rank, or even higher, at any time.
Not to mention Choji, even Shikamaru was a little nervous.
Ino's composure and Naruto's carefree attitude helped both of them calm down.
Eating Choji's grilled fish again, Ino was quite excited.
Tsunade's food wasn't bad, it was just that drinking heavily and soaking in hot springs every day was really hard on the liver.
Arriving in That Country, Choji signed up for the eating contest.
Then, Naruto, as if by some divine intervention, also signed up for the preliminaries because he heard there was a ramen eating competition as part of it, and all the expenses for the mission were covered by the captain, so he rushed to sign up.
Ino, perched on the eaves, took out a scroll and meticulously recorded the mission expenses, intending to claim reimbursement from the Village leader upon her return.
The registration fee was eighty thousand!
Shikamaru slapped his forehead.
Wasn't the registration fee eight hundred? Is what you're doing a bit inappropriate?
Ino completely ignored his opinion, finished her record, and started watching the competition.
The first round was a steamed bun eating contest.
Naruto was completely out of his depth, only eating two steamed buns before choking and having to drink water.
When his stomach was distended like he was ten months pregnant, the preliminaries finally ended.
The second round was the ramen eating contest, but unfortunately, with wide noodle-like tears streaming down his face, Naruto gritted his teeth, took two sips of soup, and managed to eat one Naruto roll before his stomach absolutely couldn't hold any more.
Ultimately, Choji helped Naruto leave the arena.
They met up with Ino and Shikamaru and began to discuss the kidnapping that night.
The process was extremely simple.
Ino used Genjutsu to control the young lord of This Country.
Then, Naruto left a Shadow Clone to transform into the young lord's appearance to buy time.
The four of them easily escorted the young lord of This Country out of the city.
As they were about to leave the castle town, violent explosions erupted at all three gates.
Ino stopped Choji, who was still savoring the sushi competition and walking forward with his head down, her face full of caution: "Stop, we—"
The sound of these explosions was all too familiar to her.
The concentration of Earth Release Chakra input was different, but the explosion technique was absolutely identical.
If the current explosions weren't caused by her, then they must have been caused by Deidara!
Deidara is in That Country?
Did he intend to come here, or is he here looking for her?
------------------------
I've posted 70+ chapters in advance on Patreon.
Webnovel updates will still be daily, as usual.
It might not seem tempting right now but who knows what the future holds?
[email protected]/SolyuraMT
"And If you're enjoying it, drop a Power Stone for me!"