I founded the "Bragging Cult" in Naruto.

Chapter 56 When taking on side jobs, try not to leave any evidence.

On the border of the Land of Fire, across the water from the Land of Whirlpools, a coastline where many fishermen gather, though it has not become a village, it has a name: Awa.

This is the destination of Jiraiya and his group. Ever since the destruction of Uzushiogakure, fishermen from Awa have been going to the ruins of the Land of Whirlpools to "hunt for treasure".

Especially since the fishing moratorium happened in the first few months, it was a way to generate income during the period when there was no income.

The person who misunderstood the seal this time was a fisherman from Awa named Moyu. However, there wasn't much specific information about him because all the ninjas who had entered Awa to investigate in previous rounds had forgotten their experiences in Awa.

The three of them did not disguise themselves this time, because the target of this mission was not a ninja, or even a human. Disguise would only waste their energy and would not help the mission.

Outside Apo, Jiraiya was teaching the two how to grill fish. Although ninjas shouldn't start a fire to grill fish when on a mission, as it could easily attract the attention of enemies or other wild animals.

But hot food is really delicious.

At least Chenma ate happily; it was much better than the last time he went on a mission outside the village, when he ate soldier's rations for a week.

"Ah~ I'm so full. Minato, wash the cooking utensils. Tatsuma, start a fire and make some tea."

At the junction of the beach and the riverbank forest, Jiraiya lay on the ground, rubbing his stomach, and directed two students without complaint as they went to the river mouth to fetch fresh water.

Minato squatted there and started washing the cooking utensils, while Tatsuma returned to the campfire, started boiling water, and found some tea leaves in his backpack.

They didn't bring any tea with them when they set out. The tea was a gift from a caravan after they helped drive away a pack of wolves the day before. The seasoning for grilling fish was also a gift from the caravan.

They originally intended to give money, but Jiraiya disagreed because it would turn into a commission. Konoha ninjas had to go through Konoha Village as an "intermediary" to accept commissions; they couldn't accept them privately.

Chenma took out three wooden bowls that he had made while waiting for the grilled fish, put a little tea in each bowl, and carefully poured the water into the bowls after it boiled.

Meanwhile, Minato had finished washing the cooking utensils, and the three of them were enjoying tea and admiring the summer sunset.

Sipping his tea, Jiraiya asked, "Have you noticed anything amiss?"

Tatsuma and Minato nodded simultaneously. Jiraiya pointed at Minato and said, "You speak."

Shuimen nodded and said, "There are just too many fishing boats on the shore. It's early August now, the fishing moratorium has just ended, the fish are plump, and the weather has been great lately, with no typhoons or tsunamis."

But all day today, I hardly saw any fishermen going out to sea, nor did any fishing boats return. All the fishing boats were moored on the shore, which is definitely not right.”

Jiraiya nodded, Minato's observation was correct. He looked at Tatsuma and asked, "Tatsuma, what do you think? Is there anything to add?"

Tatsuma shook his head and said, "Without entering Awa, there's really no way to find any more clues. However, I suspect it's an illusion, or a misleading trick to the fishermen's minds."

Jiraiya took a sip of tea and said, "Hmm, but are you all prepared? Don't forget, Awa has thousands of fishing families. Can you handle an illusion that can affect so many people at the same time?"

Tatsuma nodded. He wasn't proficient in illusion magic, but he was quite skilled at dispelling illusion magic. It was just a pity that there were no smartwatches for sale in this world. Otherwise, it would be even better if he could remind himself to use dispelling illusion magic every ten minutes.

"So when do you think is the best time for us to enter Apo?"

Jiraiya asked again. Of course, he wasn't ignorant, but he wanted to test the two students. Tatsuma replied, "Let's go to night. If it really is a ninja beast using illusion to control the fishermen, then its daily routine should be the same as the fishermen's."

Unless this ninja beast doesn't need sleep, or has the ability to cast genjutsu even while asleep.

"Minato, do you agree?"

Minato nodded and said, "That's what I think too."

Seeing that the two agreed, Jiraiya nodded and said, "Then let's rest for a bit now, and set off in four hours."

"Yes!" *2

Tatsuma and Minato began to rest, while Jiraiya kept watch. Four hours later, as it approached 11 p.m., Jiraiya woke the two of them up.

After the two quickly warmed up their bodies and made sure they were in good condition, they followed Jiraiya and headed towards Apo.

Although it was still the tail end of summer, the nights by the sea were quite chilly, which made the fishermen of Awa end their day early and go home to rest.

Arriving silently at the center of Awa, Tatsuma formed the Mukden hand seal and began to use his chakra to sense the surroundings. He quickly shook his head, not finding any unusual chakra.

Jiraiya trusted Tatsuma's judgment completely and, without using his own perception, said, "Actually, this isn't necessarily bad news. Perhaps it's not here right now, which would be a good time for us to investigate."

After thinking for a moment, Jiraiya continued, "Search the surrounding area and find the house of that fisherman named Moyu as soon as possible. Also, check on the fisherman's condition and see if there is anything unusual."

The two nodded, then leaped away in different directions.

About two hours later, the three returned to their original spot, their expressions somewhat strange. Jiraiya looked at Tatsuma and asked, "Did you find anything?"

Tatsuma subconsciously glanced back at the direction he had just searched, then turned and said, "I didn't find Moyu's house, but after checking on the fishermen, I found that they were generally quite weak."

Moreover, there were many stones in the kitchens, and in some cases, there were even stones in the pots.

After Tatsuma finished speaking, he looked at Minato, who nodded and said, "It's similar on my end. I also checked a few households that keep dogs and cats, and their food bowls also contain stones."

"As expected of you, Minato, you're so meticulous."

Tatsuma subconsciously praised Minato, who was a little embarrassed, while Jiraiya's expression suddenly became interesting.

However, Jiraiya quickly shook his head, clearing his mind of distractions, and then said, "I suspect that the tanuki ninja beast used an illusion technique on all the fishermen, causing them to stop going out to sea and instead buy fish from the Moyu family."

But without fishing, there aren't many fish, so it uses illusion magic to disguise stones as fish and sells them to the surrounding fishermen. This "helping others" approach is pretty much the same as before.

Tatsuma and Minato nodded, clearly having guessed this as well, though they couldn't confirm it yet.

"It seems I'll have to come again during the day. I'll spend the rest of tonight looking for Moyu."

Jiraiya issued another order, and the three of them continued to search throughout the rest of the night. Although there were more than a thousand fishing households, they were not so unlucky as to find the last one.

Before dawn, the three left Awa. After dawn, they returned and headed straight for the Moyu family's house. At that time, a lot of people had already gathered outside the Moyu family's house and were queuing up to buy fish.

A middle-aged man who was not very tall, thin and dark-skinned was chatting and laughing with the fishermen. He was none other than Moyou, who had accidentally released the seal on the ninja beast.

Tatsuma looked over and discovered that what was in Moyu's fish basket wasn't a stone, but rather a bunch of fresh, plump fish. For a moment, Tatsuma even considered going over to buy some and try them.

"Duang~Duang~"

Suddenly, Tatsuma and Minato were both hit on the head, and a surge of chakra rushed into their bodies. They froze, and then the fish basket in the distance was empty of live fish.

(End of this chapter)