Gaku was grateful for his cover identity as Chinatsu’s pimp, Jimii, but he didn’t take the job expecting to enjoy it. Turns out, spending his days in high-end men’s clubs, sipping on expensive alcohol, wasn’t a terrible way to spend his evenings. Perhaps he had judged the snobs too harshly.

Chinatsu was happy with Gaku’s ability and paid him a fair commission for his services—one he didn’t have to share with the team and used to get some really good, choice booze, and other creature comforts. He pulled a fat cigar from his robes and almost took out a kunai to remove the cap but caught himself and used a proper cutter to snip the cap. He sparked his lighter and toasted the tobacco end before igniting the cigar and taking a big puff.

The waiter came with a drink and spoke to Gaku as he set it down.

“Mister Fumito would like to talk to you in his private room.” The waiter slid a paper slip with a room number beside the glass.

Gaku hid a smile. He could sit in these clubs and bars with the owners aware of who he was because their members and clients wanted what he could provide. The Fumito fellow was now a target that he needed to vet for Chinatsu.

It was time to get to work. As the waiter turned to leave, Gaku stopped him.

“Hey, boy. What’s he like?” said Gaku. He could market Chinatsu to any man, but it was always nice to know what the target wanted so he could use that in his pitch and maybe even give Chinatsu some information she could work with later.

“Lose the cigar; he doesn’t like the smell,” said the waiter after telling what he knew about Fumito.

Gaku tipped the boy for his information, put out the cigar, and downed his drink before going to the room number on the paper slip. As he walked, he stealthily weaved hand seals. A veneer of chakra covered his body, erasing the smell of booze and smoke from his mouth and body. He popped a breath mint as an unnecessary precaution just to make sure.

He stopped in front of the door and took a deep breath. He relaxed his shoulder, leaned his neck forward just a smidge, stood up a bit less straight, and stretched a broad smile on his face.

He knocked on the door before entering the private room, which was set up like a lounge. It was clear that Fumito was planning to meet some friends and had fit Gaku in before they arrived.

“Ah, good day, Master Fumito. You’re the picture of good health,” he said. Jimii was much more upbeat than Gaku.

Fumito was the usual client demographic for Chinatsu. An older middle-aged man, wealthy, and someone who didn’t mind using his wealth to feel powerful and important by having the beautiful fawning over them.

Sex itself was about the power.

“I’ve heard that there’s a new beautiful woman in the city,” said Fumito, a bald man with a pot belly, who was dressed sharply, making him look much more presentable.

“Lady Chinatsu has a rare ethereal beauty that is quite hard to find,” Gaku passed some photos to Fumito. “Her beauty extends beyond her visage. She’s full of grace and poise, her every movement refined to reflect everything exquisite about womankind.”

Gaku smiled when he saw visible interest bubble up in Fumito. He didn’t think he needed to say more because few women in a town like Yu so close to the border could match her beauty, and none worked as courtesans.

“All of these pictures are with clothes,” said Fumito.

Gaku wanted to sigh deeply. Did mystery no longer mean anything?

“Lady Chinatsu’s naked visage is for the eyes only… A reward and privilege only for those who prove themselves to be men amongst men, those who prove to her that they’re true men,” said Gaku.

The wealthy in Yu were considered the highest class in the city. They not only had money, but they also had power in the form of owning businesses that employed the people. They directly exerted influence over others’ lives, but ever since the enemy had occupied the city, they had been knocked down from their thrones, replaced by a new power, one they couldn’t even dream to dethrone.

Power was a potent drug. Once someone had a taste, it was easy to get addicted. The wealthy men in Yu, who always had been at the top, wanted to feel powerful; they were used to it—but things were different with a foreign power controlling their house—and having a beautiful woman like Chinatsu giving all of her attention to them was the dose of power they craved.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Gaku decided to hammer in the last nail.

“Lady Chinatsu was quite famous in the capital,” said Gaku, gaining Fumito’s complete attention. “She had several admirers in Daimyo’s court, known for her singing and her skill with the shamisen.”

Chinatsu, not being a Yu native, had an exotic charm to herself. Her being from the capital city was a real value point for country bumpkins like Fumito from Yu. A courtesan from their country’s beating heart, someone who walked within the Daimyo’s court, was a pull no one in Yu could deny.

“I would like to meet Lady Chinatsu,” said Fumito, his eyes now stuck to the photos.

Gaku’s smile couldn’t grow bolder.

“Anything for you, Master Fumito. I’m sure Lady Chinatsu would be elated to meet you.”

———

.

Gaku parted with Fumito after discussing future plans. He didn’t need much as Chinatsu’s pimp. One meeting per week made her more than enough money because she charged an exuberant amount on an hourly basis—and if every client spent 2-3 hours with her—she essentially earned just as much as he was earning at his peak as a Hidden Steam chunin. And she was already doing two meetings per week. If it continued, she would earn double what he made.

Life was indeed unfair.

With the meeting set up, his job for the day was over. As Gaku was about to leave, he saw a group of men across the hallway. He didn’t even need to guess. The way they walked and the weapon pouch hanging from their backs was enough to identify them as shinobi.

He quickly crossed the hallway and followed the shinobi to see them enter a private room.

A waiter passed him, Gaku grabbed him by his shoulder. The waiter was a decently sized guy, but Gaku lifted him off the ground with ease before he placed him beside himself.

“Who’re those people?” he asked.

“T-They’re shinobi.”

“Are they regulars?”

“I… think one of them has been visiting for the past two months. They said he’s a chunin. He brings a group with him sometimes.”

Gaku released the waiter’s shoulder, handed him some money, and let him go. He walked closer to the room and tried to listen, but the door and walls were thick enough to prevent the sound from leaking.

This was a chance to establish contact with the enemy. If he could market Chinatsu to the chunin and somehow make him a regular, there was a chance they could get some information from the chunin through Chinatsu. A direct line like that would be more valuable than the information Takuma had been collecting through his recon and stakeouts.

He turned away from the door. He had to check the plan with the team and get Anko’s approval to proceed. But then Gaku stopped and turned around to face the door.

He could do it now. He had to do it now. It would take time for Chinatsu to build a rapport with the man, and who knows how long it would take to get some valuable information. They couldn’t delay this. If he backed off today, who knows when the chunin would return to the club and when Gaku would get to bring up Chinatsu.

Gaku decided he was going in.

It was better to listen to their praises rather than ask for permission.

He released a deep breath, and at the of it, he put on the biggest smile with energy lighting up his face.

And with that, he knocked on the door.

———

.

“You did what!?”

At Chinatsu’s house, Anko yelled at Gaku after he told her he had managed to set a meeting between Chinatsu and an enemy shinobi.

“That’s great!” said Chinatsu as she came downstairs to the dining room and gave Gaku a kiss on his cheek. She turned to Anko. “This is a good thing; why are you scolding him?”

“Because we don’t know what kind of person he chose,” Anko glared at Gaku in displeasure. “He might be a chunin, but we didn’t vet him. He might be the violent kind; we can’t guarantee your safety, but we can at least try to reduce the risk. He might have a possessive stalker personality and might get forceful.

“There were a dozen steps that he outright skipped without a word of consultation.”

Other than Takuma, the entire team was present in the dining room and were waiting for Gaku to return so they could eat together. But then he reported about his progress and made dinner an afterthought.

Chinatsu gazed at Gaku, who shrugged. She turned to Anko.

“Don’t worry, I can handle him. He might be a shinobi, but he’s still a man,” Chinatsu said as she sat down on the chair beside Gaku. Her every movement was sensual. “You have your skills, ladies; I have mine. I know how the inside of a man’s mind works, and I know what strings to pull to get what I want.”

“You’re a civilian, Chinatsu,” said Iori. “We can’t put you at more risk than you’re already.”

“Oh, please, I wouldn’t have agreed to do any of this if I was scared of the risk,” Chinatsu scoffed. “I want to do this… I have to do this.” A dark look flashed past her face before she smiled and leaned into Gaku, who hugged her.

Chinatsu hadn’t left her very successful courtesan career in the capital to help them at Yu for no reason. She had personal reasons to help. Chinatsu’s brother was a Hidden Steam shinobi killed in action during the war. He was only a genin at the front lines and was unlucky enough to meet his end on the battlefield.

Revenge was Chinatsu’s motivation. Any help she could provide, she was ready to contribute—even if that meant abandoning her cushy life and putting herself in great danger for shinobi, who weren’t even from the Hidden Steam.

“Let me do this,” said Chinatsu.

Anko gazed at Chinatsu with a complicated expression. The look of revenge in Chinatsu’s eyes felt so familiar. It was a horrifying mirror. Anko had her life destroyed and her reputation ruined probably forever. There were scars that’d never healed, and the flames of revenge would continue to burn until the day she saw Orochimaru’s corpse with her own two eyes.

Anko sighed,

“Very well, if that’s what you desire… but only if Takuma signs off on it.”

Gaku looked severely displeased by her decision, and she could understand why. Due to their relationship, Takuma took a comb through each and every one of Gaku’s proposals, and if he found any legitimate error, he would scrap the proposal. They worked together, but they had real friction between them.

Anko didn’t have the heart to refuse Chinatsu her purpose, so she dumped the decision on Takuma, hoping he would do the right thing.