272 Watch your backs
"Lord Yoshiro, are you talking about the kid Yuta?" Ao asked. He didn't think that the old man would investigate the kid as well. Ao himself had never seen Yuta but he had heard about him from Mei and Kana and to him the kid sounded pretty normal.
"Yes, Yuta...The old man has written here that he has been investigating the kid for the past week or more now." Yoshiro said. Kana and Mei were the ones who were the most curious so Mei quickly asked. "So what did he and his spies find out about Yuta?"
"Nothing" Yoshiro replied which ensued by an awkward silence throughout the entire room. They all expected to hear something shocking but nothing seems pretty anti-climatic. They didn't know how to react to this news. Some were confused but some like elder Wu and AO had pretty serious expressions on their face when they heard the news.
"I don't understand...Why is finding nothing bad?" Toru asked. He looked at the different expressions the elders were making and decided to break the ice.
Elder Wu looked at Toru and said " The old man has always been in charge of intelligence gathering among the bloodline clans. Even the previous Mizukages before the 4th relied on the old man's clan for information so it is pretty hard to believe that they could find anything on a civilian kid.
"Are you saying that kid may have given us a fake name which is why the old man's people couldn't know anything about him?" Santo asked. He knew that his sister had some level of attachment to the kid and hearing this could cause her grief but this wasn't the time to think that.
"No, even if the kid's name is a fake, the old man's people should be able to find something but the fact that they found nothing means that the information of the kid is deliberately being scrubbed away from everywhere. The old man has also written that when his men tried a few risky methods to find out about that kid, they started feeling that they were being watched and followed."
"That sounds dangerous...but did they find out who was keeping tabs on them?" Mei asked.
Yoshiro shook his head and said "His men tried to find out who it was but they ran away. He was able to confront one of them but couldn't see their faces as they were covered. The only noticeable thing was that it was a girl with red hair. She seemed to be the weakest of the 3 of them but before the old man's people could capture her, her two squad mates came back and took her away, and shockingly they didn't kill even a single person.
"The hidden leaf should be behind this right? They are trying to keep his information hidden but they must have been instructed not to kill unless necessary as we are partnering up." Enko said to which AO and Elder Wu nodded "You are right Enko. This is a big possibility but unless we have concrete evidence to back up our claim, we can't confront Kakashi Hatake and the others about this."
"But if we are the hidden leaf's ally now then why are they hiding Yuta's information?" Nana asked. This was the first time she had spoken because she was really confused as to what the hidden leaf is trying to hide.
Santo looked at his sister and said "Nana, we the bloodline clans are the hidden leaf's allies but the Mizukage faction isn't so for now the hidden leaf will be wary of any mist shinobi they see on their turf."
"So what are we going to do now? Seems like the kid is really important for the hidden leaf if they are keeping his identity and information so close. My best guess would be that he is someone related to the fire daimyo or else it makes no sense for them to go to such lengths for a civilian." AO said.
Elder Wu also agreed with what Ao had just said. He knew that the shinobi villages don't give much importance to civilians unless they are rich.
"If he is that important then why did Kakashi Hatake agree to the plan when father told him that they plan to attack the Mizukage faction before the prisoner exchange?" Mei asked.
"They must be planning on handling the prisoner exchange on their own or they could have leaked our plan to attack the Mizukage faction to Moji already to get the kid in return." Ao said. The mood of the entire study room turned gloomy as they heard that.
"I don't think the hidden leaf would sell our information to Moji without even trying to convince us. All of you know that we haven't decided when we will attack them but they even let down their guard even for a second and we attack. Don't hesitate or wait for the exchange to happen. Asami will be the one who will give you instructions while Riko and his men will be in charge of the spies that we are giving them in exchange. If the situation becomes too difficult to handle, all of you will back off and kill the spies so that Riko and his men can enter the battlefield." Yoshiro explained everyone the plan. He then noticed that Ao wanted to say something but from time to time, he was glancing at Santo and his siblings.
"Ao, what is it? I told you, I trust everyone who is now present in the room. You can ask anything freely." Yoshiro said. He knew how cautious Ao is as a shinobi and would choose his words wisely so as to not say a single word wrong. His meticulousness is what made Ao Yoshiro's right-hand man.
"Uh...Lord Yoshiro what about the tailed beasts? The 3 tails has gone missing and the jinchuriki of the 6 tails, Utakata ran away from the hidden mist years ago. I feel that they could be a variable in this and even if one of them interferes in the fight and stands against us, we are doomed."
"What is a tailed beast and what is a jinchuriki?" Kana asked Mei while Santo looked at Enko and Elder Wu. Toru and Nana decided to stay quiet as they saw even their elder siblings knew nothing about this and were asking around.
Elder Wu looked at Santo and said "I will explain it to the four of you later." he then looked at Yoshiro and said "I don't think we need to worry about the jinchuriki of 6-tails. Utakata is not someone who will side with the Mizukage faction. In fact, he left the village because of the crimes of the Mizukage faction. I had tried talking him into joining the bloodline faction but he said he didn't want to be used in a power struggle. I let him go because even I couldn't promise him that he would be used as a tool."
Yoshiro nodded and said "I am sure the old man must be keeping tabs on him so let's not worry about it now. Mei, Kana, and Santo, you three will stay with the leaf shinobis. We still don't know what they have planned to get Yuta back and if you think their actions could harm us then you are allowed to restrain them. Take 2 chunins squads with you as well as guards."
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Mizukage Building.
Moji along with Priest Ji and Jiro were sitting in Moji's office. Moji was reading a few papers that were spread out in front of him. He also had a smile on his face while Jiro and Ji were staring at him.
"This is truly astounding. I never thought those trash shinobis that I sent you would become this strong." Moji said with a smile on his face. 16 out of the 20 shinobis he sent to Ji had arrived last night. Moji had his people test their strengths and their performance improved a lot. They really had reached potentials close to a jonin now.
"I promised you, didn't I Lord Moji? Though 4 of the shinobis couldn't survive the process and died, 16 had successfully completed the procedure. It was thanks to Lord Jiro's instructions that you have gained such powerful people."Ji said as he glanced at Jiro.
Jiro gave a proud smile when he heard that and also accepted the thanks that Moji had offered him but in his mind, Jiro was cursing Priest Ji to death. "This idiot came here by himself and took 20 of Moji's people giving my name. If the experiment had failed and they would have died, Moji would have used this opportunity to get more supplies from me. I don't know why this idiot even wasted the hearts on weak mist shinobis."
Priest Ji had started making moves on his own and Jiro didn't like that. Though he didn't think of this much as Priest Ji had given all the credit to Jiro but Jiro didn't know that the hearts implanted were different than the others.
'Fools hungry for power.' Priest Ji thought as he looked at Jiro and Moji with a smile on his face.
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