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Hidden Mist
Kozu Village
Yami disguised as a merchant was having lunch in a tavern in Kozu Village. At first, he was going to the underground prison to tell Hideki and the twins what to do next but after hearing that an envoy from the Mizukage faction was having a meeting with the bloodline factions, Yami decided to change the plan.
'The atrocities the Mizukage faction has committed against the bloodline clans will never be forgiven so I am sure that negotiations are going to fail. But I am sure that Moji knows this too. Maybe he wasn't just trying to leverage Yuta against the bloodline factions but wanted more time. I can't let that happen. When Lady Tsunade sends backup, I will no longer be in the commanding position. I need to do something.' Yami was planning what to do.
He wanted to find out what had happened in the meeting but that would be too risky to do at such times. It would have been hard for even him to enter the prison and meet Hideki because Yami didn't know that the old man was already suspecting something.
After a few minutes, Yami went to the reception and asked "Do you have a room available for a few days?"
The receptionist who was a woman in her forties looked at Yami's disguise who didn't look too poor nor too rich and said "100 Ryo for 1 day but if you take it for a week then you can get it for 550 Ryo."
"Sounds good." Yami said and paid the money to the receptionist. He then took the keys and went upstairs to his room. He used enhanced senses to find out what kind of people live on his floor. Luckily except for a few travelers, all the other rooms were empty. He went to his own and said "I better get a good sleep...tonight is going to be a long night."
After that Yami went to sleep. He was already exhausted from fighting those fanatics of Jashin. After a few hours, Yami woke up. He understood that he had slept for at least 6-7 hours because the entire room was dark. Yami stood up from his bed and went to the window. It pulled the curtains aside and saw that it was already late evening.
"Doing so many things on my own is really tiring." Yami said as he saw the market lit with lamps and people buying and selling stuff. Yami freshened up and went down to the diner of the tavern and sat in a corner. He also saw a few mist shinobis sitting in the tavern talking. From the insignia on their chest, he was sure that they were from the bloodline clans and the people around them also didn't seem nervous which was another confirmation.
Yami ordered his food and started eating it while listening to what the guards were saying. The guards weren't idiotic enough to say something truly important out in the open but from their talks, Yami understood that the bloodline clans had sped up their preparations for the conflict.
Yami sighed in relief as he heard this. He was afraid that the conflict would be delayed but now he was happy to know that it was going in the direction he wants. Yami then paid his bill and left the tavern. Instead of walking on the well-lit road of the market, Yami went into the jungle. After walking for 15-20 minutes he stopped walking. While leaning on a tree he pulled out a folded piece of paper from his pocket. As he open the paper it seemed like a map. There were many markings on the map. Some were green while the others were Red.
On top of each marking, there was a range of numbers written. 'It is good that I took the important documents with me when the mist shinobi Anbus came to kidnap me. These maps were made by Hideki and the other spies. It contains the locations of enemy and ally bases. The ones in green are the bases that belong to the bloodline clans while the red ones belong to the Mizukage faction.
The range of numbers written on them is an approx number of people in that base. Hideki told Yami that this map wasn't complete yet. As many of these places weren't explored yet so no one knew how important they were or what was stored in those bases.
'I have only read books on how such raids were done and the different strategies so my best bet would be to start from where the people are the least.' Yami thought. He was confident in his strength but this time he knew that if he starts doing it himself then it will take a lot of time and many people will escape as well. Backup could also arrive from a different base till that time.
Yami then started following the map and started running toward the enemy base he had just chosen. After roughly half an hour, he reached the fences of that base. To even reach the main gate and enter the base one would have to follow the designated road. Yami saw that the fences were patrolled every 20-30 minutes. The shinobis patrolling the fences were mist shinobis but Yami also saw a few stone shinobis who seemed like the superiors when compared to the guards.
"The stone shinobis must have had the mist shinobis do menial tasks while they take care of the important tasks along with the higher-ups of the Mizukage faction." Yami said as he saw the guards. They didn't seem particularly healthy and were even a little sleep-deprived.
It was almost 9 pm so the entire area was dark and the only source of light was the small lamps which were kept a few meters away from each other. Yami knew he wouldn't get such a good chance again so he scouted some areas and found a tree that was near the fences. He quickly went there and collected a handful of small rocks.
After collecting them, he went up the tree and sat there waiting for the next round of patrolling. And just after 10 mins, Yami heard the sounds of a few shinobis coming that way. As he heard multiple voices, he threw those small stones at the fences which made a lot of sounds.
As the shinobis heard this, their footsteps halted for a second or two, and then Yami could hear them running toward the fence in front of him. He could also hear their voices.
"What could make such a noise?"
"No need to hurry, it must be a rabbit that got stuck in the fence."
"Yea I hope it happens. These stone shinobi bastards don't let us sleep or eat properly."
"Let's go fast or if one of them reaches first then we will get scolded again."
The guards kept talking as they were running near the fence. Within 5-7 seconds, 4 guards came to the fence. They looked at the fence for a few seconds and then went closer to inspect it.
"This is where the noise came from right?" one of the guards asked the other one who nodded and said "Yea...that's what it sounded like to me."
"To us as well. The animal must have escaped already."
"Damm we lost some good meat then. Now I feel hungry suddenly."
That's when one of the guards crouched down near the fence and said "Wait...this looks suspicious"
"What do you mean? Stop behaving like an investigator. We are just guards." the guard standing beside him said.
"No...look here there are small stones here. They must have made the noise. It wasn't some animal. Maybe someone from those filthy bloodline clans threw these" the wannabe investigator said.
"Ugh...so what? We will go and kill a few of them in a few days to get all the frustration out of us...haha" the other guard said and everyone laughed until they heard a voice from the other side of the fence.
"I will give you a way to vent your frustration."
All the guards looked in the direction from where the voice came.
"The voice came from this tree." a guard said pointing at the tree Yami was sitting on.
That's when the 4 of them saw bright red eyes look down on them from the tree.
"Who are y..." before the guards could complete what they were saying, Yami had put them in a genjutsu. Yami then jumped from the tree and crossed the fence, he landed in front of those 4 guards.
Yami didn't say anything and those four saluted him and said "Captain, what are you doing here?"
Yami took out a bundle of paper bombs and handed a few to each one of them and said "I want you to plant them on each pillar of this base and detonate them at the exact time."
"Captain but why are we abandoning our base like that? And there are people inside. I don't care about those stone shinobis, but our people are there inside."
"ARE YOU DEFYING A DIRECT ORDER?" Yami said in a firm voice making the 4 of them turn stiff.