Chapter 27: Last Two Brain Cells
Shogo POV
Making a decent seafaring boat was more difficult than Benishi had made it seem. Halfway through I started to question whether he knew what he was doing as he… I don’t really know how to describe it… knitted the wood together, I guess. Then he had me go back and find him some leaves to create a sail.
Every single leaf I brought back was scrutinized by Benishi for what seemed like forever before he decided whether it was good enough to be added.
I got sent back and forth for fucking leaves at least twenty times. By the time Benishi was done building this small raft with me doing all the heavy lifting too, the already small amount of forestation on the island was now completely devastated.
Mostly from my many temper tantrums which honestly were very warranted given my building insanity from Benishi's constant blabbering.
The guy doesn’t know when to shut up even when I tell him to, repeatedly! I thank my lucky stars that he finally went fucking silent while we were sailing on the raft. Apparently, he needed to concentrate so he could calculate the trajectory on how to use the tides and the wind or some shit.
Anyway, that gave me some peace and quiet for a couple hours and then the asshole somehow fell asleep on this choppy ass water so even more time without just constant random facts or existential questions. I used the time to arm myself with makeshift weapons which include two stick spears and small pointed rocks that I sharpened against a bigger rock.
Not the best weapon arsenal however it’ll have to do as all my shiny cool stuff was lost at sea.
*Yawn! *
I turn around from sharpening my weapons to see Benishi standing up and stretching himself out.
"Good on you Shinobi-san! Thinking ahead and arming yourself when I haven't even briefed you on your enemy yet!"
He gives me an extremely patronizing clap that makes me want to bury one of these rocks into his fucking skull.
"What fucking enemy? Don't we just have to find your pare- the Wutaruis couple and off the both of em?"
Benishi chuckles at my question,
"As foul as those two individuals are, they're far from stupid enough to not have at least some securi-"
*COUGH! COUGH!*
*HACK*
*Spit! *
"Sorry about that, although, I feel as if the condition of my lungs is doing quite a bit better with all this fresh ai-"
"Yeah, yeah get on with telling me about this security those dickwads have hired already!"
If I didn't cut in then Benishi would've went on a whole fucking hour-long rant about his fucking lung condition.
Benishi continues on with the debrief visibly offended by my interjection,
"How rude! Anyway, to make a long story short, those cretins hired an authentic Thunder Monk of old as their personal bodyguard, he is an old man named Raiden. I'm sure they would have preferred to hire foreign ninja, but of course you all are either fighting to change your society or fight against it at the moment."
There's no way I just heard this dude right. Did he just say a legendary thunder monk is their bodyguard? He has to be pulling my fucking leg.
"Oh, Haha very funny, you pasty bitch! Now get serious and tell me what I'm really up against!"
Benishi's smile drops off his face and my stomach starts to do flips,
"This is no laughing matter, Shinobi-san. I'm going to need you to defeat or at least slow down a monk that hails from one of the ancient lightning and thunder monasteries at the top of the mountains in Lightning Country."
I feel a lump beginning to form in my throat making it hard to swallow. I remember reading stories about the monks of the Lightning and Thunder monastery. Hana had forced me to review a brief history of all the current countries in the world from A to Z.
The monastery is a sacred place of worship for devout followers of the lightning and thunder gods, Raijin and Fūjin. The religion is so ancient that it dates back to before chakra was first recorded!
The mantra of the monastery is that the key to a sound mind is a body that can weather any storm. Apparently, that means routinely training your body to the point of vomiting blood for these monks.
There's even a story of one monk in training climbing to the peak of the tallest mountain in all of lightning country in the middle of a violent storm to mediate and he end up surviving getting struck by lightning, ten fucking times.
It is said very few monks survive the ten-year training period that they take up on their 21st birthday. However, the ones that do survive are said to be capable of incredible martial art feats.
Lightning Monks, a monk that focused on the teachings of Raijin, are said to be able to make a human heart explode with strikes faster than the eye can see.
Thunder Monks, a monk that focused on the teachings of Fūjin, are said to possess the ability to make noise so loud that it will cause those near them to have their brains leak out of their ears.
Apparently, they are capable of all this shit... WITHOUT USING ANY CHAKRA!!!
I’M FUCKEDDDDD!!!!!!!!
To make matters even worse, according to Benishi, the guy guarding my two targets is old! Meaning he might be proficient in both the teachings of Raijin and Fūjin!
Shit! Knowing my luck this fucking guy might end up being one of the damn gods in disguise! Oh, I can see it now, some old dick head with a straw hat and glowing white eyes shooting lightning at me from afar while laughing.
"How in goddess name did they manage to hire a damn monk trained in ways before chakra even existed!!!!?????"
Benishi just shrugs,
"Their absolutely horrible personalities aside, they possess extraordinary resources and connections across the world."
*Cough! * *cough! *
"And worse, they have the brilliance to use every single one of those connections to the fullest. We will likely never get another shot like this, as this is the most vulnerable, they have allowed themselves to be in quite some time. This operation needs to be executed quickly and with the utmost precision."
Benishi looks directly into my eyes, putting emphasis on his last sentence. I can only nod to show the seriousness of the situation has not been lost on me.
He nods back and claps his hands together,
"Good! I'm glad we're both on the same page."
Then he sits towards the middle facing me and crosses his legs. Benishi adjusts the sail a bit and looks out to the horizon. He mumbles a bit to himself and addresses me again,
"We have about an hour and a half left at sea before we get to the outskirts of my home island. We're going to spend that time trimming that fat of the plan I've come up with because I would like to have your input on a couple of things…"
We spent the next hour planning how we would approach getting on to the island and assassinating the targets without alerting the island people of my presence at all.
Honestly it was just Benishi rattling off his crazy convoluted plans and I injected some points that would make the whole operation simpler.
Well at least for me individually.
Since I'm the fucking one that has to fight a legendary warrior without any real weapons!
The sun is starting to go down and the shore of the island is just off the horizon.
I look at Benishi who has been scratching some last-minute calculations into the wood of the raft for the last twenty minutes completely in his own little world.
If this is how he gets into the zone before a big operation, I'd hate to see how he would play a round shogi. It's probably just constantly waiting for him to jot the perfect strategy down on a piece of paper.
Math is so gross.
"Hey! It's time to leave the boat, the shore is close."
He ignores me and continues his scribbling.
*Tsk! *
Annoyed at Benishi's continued lack of response, I walk to the middle of the raft and stomp a huge hole into the middle of it. My actions finally get something out of the nerdy jackass,
"You absolute buffoon! I was this close to finishing-"
Not caring about whatever math or physics shit he is doing, I grab him by the back of his shirt and proceed to take off toward the island, letting the meticulously built raft sink to the ocean floor.
