Chapter 32

While Konoha prepared for the eventual war with Iwa, Onoki wasn't slouching in the slightest. He knew fully well war with Konoha would end in a resounding defeat, but he wasn't going to back down as it was a matter of pride for him and his village. Onoki already hates Konoha due to the actions of Uchiha Madara, so Iwagakure surrendering to Konoha, their greatest enemy, without even mounting up a solid defence, would indicate the entire Land of Earth had become the laughingstock of the Five Great Nations.

Although Konoha was justified in giving Iwagakure two options, accept our demands or face the full might of Konoha, the other villages would not sit back and let their rival become stronger. With the tense situation between Konoha and Iwagakure most likely devolving into a war, the other major powers in the world were beginning to move.

....

"What's the mission," Indra asked Hiruzen.

"While It hasn't been confirmed yet, our spies sent back a message of a potential secret meeting between Iwagakure and the other three villages. If this is true, it would mean a secret alliance between the four villages," replied Hiruzen, with a frown on his face. "You're to confirm the existence of this meeting, infiltrate it, and eliminate most of the parties involved."

"You want us to kill four kages?!" Indra asked in surprise."

"No," Kagami replied, before explaining the mission to Indra. "The kages would not attend such a meeting, It would be attended by a procession of shinobi from both villages, alongside some of their Anbu's for security. There would be at most 5 shinobi from each village attending such a meeting since it's supposed to stay secret.

Our mission is slightly straightforward, the meeting would be attacked by the Iwagakure Anbu accompanying them, the group from Iwagakure would be spared, while everyone in attendance from the other villages would be killed bar one so they can give a report to their respective Kage's."

Indra smiled as he listened to the explanation of Kagami, it obviously wasn't the first time he had carried out such a covert operation. He had been cooped up inside the village for weeks now and the lack of action was beginning to irritate him. While he enjoyed training the future Sannin, he still preferred direct action.

"When do we leave?"

"In two hours, the report states the meeting is in two weeks, so we expect it to be in a week or less. Indra, you'd meet up with our liaison inside Iwagakure and retrieve an updated report scroll from him, informing you of the location, date, and time," Hiruzen explained.

"That's his information," Hiruzen said, passing a scroll to Indra.

Indra unfurled the scroll containing the picture of the spy, alongside his name, his location inside Iwagakure, and the passcode Indra would need to properly identify himself.

The next two hours quickly went by with Indra informing the future sannins of his departure, he then bought enough food and supplies to last for two weeks, before shrinking and storing them away using Daikokuten. With his preparations done, he left for the agreed secret exit he'd use to leave the village with Kagami already there waiting for him.

"Ready to leave?" Kagami asked.

"Yes, let's go," he replied.

Running at full speed without rest whatsoever, Kagami and Indra reached Kanabi bridge. Although it wasn't the only way to enter into the Land of Grass, the area around the bridge was already under the control of Konoha's shinobi so they don't expect to run into any Iwagakure shinobi around the region.

"From here on, we have to be careful as avoiding detection is paramount," Kagami said to Indra.

Three days later, after much effort in sneaking around with a few close calls, Indra and Kagami entered into the territory of the Land of Earth.

"You'd be on your own from here," Kagami said, coming to a halt. "Retrieve the information and meet me back here," he added.

"Sure," Indra nodded before speeding away.

After getting relatively close to Iwagakure, he erased his chakra signature before shrinking himself. With his destination inside Iwagakure already memorised, he made his way into the village.

After waiting for nightfall, he wore his Anbu gear to protect his identity, before making his way towards the outskirts of the village. Getting to the door of the spy, he tapped on the door, in a code a root member would recognise.

"Who are we?" a gruff voice asked from behind the door.

"The unseen ones," Indra replied, signifying the role of the 'Foundation or Root' to the village.

After a few clicks, a scroll was passed to Indra through a small hole in the door. Taking the scroll, Indra read the scroll, confirming the contents before shrinking it and storing it away.

"Is this accurate?" he asked.

"70 percent," the man replied.

"Good enough," Indra said, his iris then flashed yellow, with an immediate thud resounded from the other side of the door.

Shrinking himself, he then made his way into the house, the body of the root operative with his chakra rods sticking out his body lying motionlessly on the floor.

'I don't expect a sensor to be monitoring this part of the village, but I have to hurry,' he thought to himself, making his way towards the bedroom where the shinobi's wife was sleeping.

Standing above the bed, he summoned a tanto and stabbed her heart with it. Going back to the living room, he carried the body of the man before placing it next to his wife on the bed.

The man was an Iwagakure shinobi disillusioned with his village, when the man approached Konoha with the intention of selling out his country, Danzo recruited him into root and sent him to spy on his village. But now with such a piece of vital information known to Konoha, the chances of a spy being discovered by the Tsuchikage had grown so Indra was assigned with eliminating him to minimise Konoha's involvement. After their mission was done, the Tsuchikage would be suspicious of a spy inside his village but he'd never be able to confirm it.

With his job done, he made his way out of the village, no longer bothered about if his use of chakra had been detected or not.

Returning back to Kagami's location, he passed him the scroll before making their way towards the location of the secret meeting.

The meeting was happening inside a repurposed temple near the border between the Land of Earth and Waterfall. Due to the need to infiltrate the meeting as an Iwagakure Anbu, Indra and Kagami would need to find an opportunity to kill and pose as the Anbu already there before the meeting ends. With that in mind, Indra hid in ambush for the procession from Iwagakure to pass on their way to the meeting location. Not knowing if a sensor is among them, Kagami stayed out of range to not alert anyone to his presence.

After a few hours of waiting, just as he'd expected, the procession from Iwa entered his line of sight. He then proceeded to follow them with Kagami trailing just outside of possible sensory range. Six hours later, his opportunity came with the Anbu guards stepping away to make preparations for camp.

After the accompanying shinobi had gone to sleep, he killed the guarding Anbu operatives with a well placed 'juken' aimed at their hearts to avoid spilling blood. Replacing his outfit with an Iwa Anbu gear courtesy of Hiruzen, he took the mask off the face of the dead shinobi before disposing of their bodies. He then duplicated the mask and then cleaned it intensely before placing it on his face, while Kagami joined him and then did the same.

The next morning, the sleeping shinobi woke up causing Indra and Kagami to tense slightly, but none of them noticed any difference so they packed up and left for the meeting location.