38 Investigation

I couldn't spot any problem with the owner of tavern . Both of us sat in one of the corner seats of the tavern, as we listened to the rumors.

'Have you heard that the daughter of Village Chief had an affair with that son of Fisherman? I wonder how Village Chief would react?'

'I heard that Maken-san brought some new wares from his trip to Land of Fire. We should check them out.'

...…

.....

People are talking about many rumors and hot topics in the village. None of which seemed to be relevant for us except the Merchant who recently visited Land of Fire.

'Oh! Have you heard Zach-san got rich over a fortnight?'

'Yes! I heard about that news. Recently, he got a big order to forge some things and after that order, his business is on a rise. Money is flowing like water to him.'

'Yeah! He had struck gold this time.'

'Shhh… I have a piece of insider news on Zach's business. I recently went to his shop to get my axe fixed and you know what I saw.��

'What?'

'I saw some scary bald guys with many scars on their faces. Those guys looked like hoodlums, so I immediately avoided them. They carried a very heavy crate with them.'

'What is surprising about this? There are all kinds of people who visit his shop.'

'No, no… the surprising part is I saw a tattoo of an eagle's talon under their neck. The mark was well-hidden but I was able to get a glimpse of it. Hey! Do you think that guy was part of that organization?'

'Shhh…Don't talk such a thing in a public place. We may get marked by those devious guys.'

Kazuko and I have been waiting for such news. So, this confirms the existence of Claw.

"Let's return to our meeting spot. We will meet up with Shisui and Mami to share our side of Intel."

I silently inform Kazuko about our next step. We reach our destination and wait for a while. After an hour of wait, Shisui and Mami shows up. I inform them about my finding and they share their information. Shisui and Mami found nothing unusual on their side.

"Shisui and Mami, both of you will search the shop of Maken the merchant for any clues whereas I and Kazuko will investigate the shop of Blacksmith Zach. It is almost evening now. Let's find an inn for our lodgings and we shall start the investigation during the night."

We found an inn near the merchant's shop. We reserved three rooms. Kazuko and Shisui are sharing a room. Later at night, all of us are ready to investigate as we sneak out.

Kazuko and I sneak to the blacksmith's shop which is at the other end of the village.

Clank…Clank…

Sounds of metal hitting metal echoed on the shop as the blacksmiths are forging something. We sneak in through one of the window as I cover Kazuko and myself in my Camouflage technique. After fumbling around for a while, I find out the location of the storeroom.

There are many wooden crates inside the storeroom. We start to inspect them. The crates had lots of freshly forged Kunais, Shurikens, and various Ninja tools and weapons.

'So, this is what is going on? Kumogakure is preparing for the incoming war. Looks like the tension at borders had reached a breaking point and war may break out any instant.'

I nod to Kazuko as we sneak out of the shop back to the inn. Shisui and Mami were already present there. All of us gather in my room, as we start to discuss our findings. Shisui states his report,

"Nii-san, we searched the shop of the Maken guy. There is nothing suspicious in his shop. So, we went to his house to search for clues and look at what we found?"

Shisui takes out a scroll from his pocket and puts the scroll on the Table. A kanji letter for 'Confidential' is written on the scroll. He was about to open the scroll as I hurriedly grabbed his hand.

"Wait! Don't be hasty."

I start to make some hand signs as I infuse Chakra in my hands. A fuinjutsu seal appears in my hand as it starts to crawl over the scroll. Another seal appears on the scroll as my seal starts to destroy the seal. After the seal is destroyed I pickup the scroll as we investigate.

"There was an explosive seal on the scroll. Thank god Shisui, you didn't open it earlier."

Cold sweat ran down the spine of Shisui and Mami as they heaved a Sigh of Relief.

"But nii-san, I checked the scroll earlier with my Sharingan to detect the presence of any trap. But there was no sign of a trap on it." Shisui asks in curiosity.

"Indeed there is no sign of a trap on the paper. The explosive seal is hidden so well with other seals that even Byakugan and Sharingan can't tell the difference. But it is an entire case for me altogether since I am a Fuinjutsu Master.

I am able to spot the hidden explosive seal as I usually wrote a lot of them. All of my explosive tags are written by me."

'But who could have prepared such a well-hidden trap for us?'

All of us start to speculate over the creator of this trap.

'Hmm! If my suspicion is right, then it is most likely Danzo. In the anime, after the second Ninja war, Kumogakure starts to gather all kinds of Ninjutsus from various villages and clans. Probably, Danzo has set up this trap to blow some of those Ninjas. What a devious plan, if Deidra is aware of this plan he would give a thumbs up to Danzo.'

I shook my head to discard such funny thoughts as I opened the scroll. Inside the scroll is the list of some C and D-rank jutsus which are commonly used by Genins in Konoha. Such Jutsus could be found anywhere.

"This Maken Guy is just the middle-man of the chain. I bet he isn't aware of the contents of the scroll otherwise by now probably he would have blown himself. Let us head out to meet with our informant next morning."

I stop the meeting as all of us go to sleep.

Next day in the morning,

All of us gather again after our breakfast as we move towards the designated location to meet our spy. We reach the meeting spot as we hid over selves and wait for the spy to appear.

After around fifteen minutes, a fat guy with a large mustache and the appearance of a merchant appears at the spot. The fat guy starts to look around as he marks the nearby wall with a weird symbol.

"This is our spy, that is the symbol Hokage-sama told us about. Let us meet with the spy, but make sure to have your guard up. He could be an enemy in disguise too."

I warned all of them as we move out from our hiding spot. We walk up to the spy in our disguise as I move towards the wall and draw another sign. The spy nods towards us we follow him to a remote location before clearing the marks. After reaching to a quiet place,

"You are the shinobis sent by the village, right? You sure took your time, we were supposed to meet yesterday"

"Yes, we are leaf shinobi, and some matters delayed us. Anyway, now guide us to the hideout so that we can do our mission." I reply to the spy.

"Follow me, Wakano is the leader of the underground organization 'Claw'. I am sure you know about it. But, recently I have spotted a lot of Kumo ninjas around his hideout. Here are the details of the underground hideout which I acquired from bribing a member of the 'Claw'."

The spy handouts a scroll with a map on it as he continues,

"Wakano usually spends most of his time underground and his dirty work is carried by his right-hand man. The right time to assassinate him would be during the night when he is busy in his pleasure. Also, if you successfully assassinate him then make sure to meet me once. I also have to complete my mission after all."

"Very well! That's fine. What's your mission is about, and what will you do in case of failure?" I ask the spy as I look in his eyes for his response.

"I will just go in hiding for a while if you failed your mission. As for my mission, I am sorry but I can't reveal its content."

I check his facial expression with my Sharingan as I see no changes in them.

'So, he is speaking the truth. Maybe, Hiruzen has some other plans.'

"Alright! We have reached the place. Now all you have to do is wait for the night to increase your chances of success. My job is done here and I will retreat now."

The spy retreats as we hid nearby and wait for the night to arrive.

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