106 Saboteur

Mizuki, Guy, and Neko, accompanied by his ninken Usagi, all rushed towards their mission goal, using the cover provided by the forest to obstruct themselves from discovery.

Unfortunately, time was not a luxury that was in their possession, and as such, the group was forced to move under daybreak as opposed to under the cover of night, and the extra stealth that it provided.

However, this merely meant that the group had to keep more vigilant of their surrounding as they advanced, and it was a necessary sacrifice so that they could perform the actual job itself during the dark hours of the night.

Mizuki reviewed the letter that they were given by the Hokage himself in his head.

Thankfully, they were not to destroy a bridge like some saboteurs in the anime.

Between Zabuza and Haku dying on one, and Obito getting crushed on a mission having to do with another, Mizuki was convinced that whatever god issekaid him here also gave some kind of primordial curse to bridges of all kinds.

Rather, the group's responsibility was to sabotage a facility that was responsible for the majority of the production of Kumo's fuinjutsu based items, such as paper bombs.

Their orders were simple.

Seize whatever they could.

Burn down the rest.

Upon hearing what their mission would be, Mizuki was ecstatic.

After all, in a facility such as this, there was bound to be some material that Mizuki sought after more than anything in the world.

Fuinjutsu research from Uzushiogakure.

And although it was technically a "mystery" as to who destroyed the village, it was fairly obvious that Kumo at least had a hand in it. As did several of the other notable hidden villages.

As for the whole ", these documents are classified and should not be viewed under any circumstances" part of the letter?

Mizuki remembered a famous phrase from his favorite movie back on earth.

Mizuki: "More like guidelines than actual rules"

All he would need to do is create copies of the scrolls before he arrived back in Konoha, and keep his knowledge of them an absolute secret.

Trade tiny bits of information to Orochimaru for exorbitant prices and voila, a perfect strategy.

As for how he would keep the whole ordeal secret?

Well, Mizuki had a plan for that too, although he would reveal that until later.

As the group made their way further towards the location of the base, the group god changed into the atire included with the previous message, a Kiri uniform with hunter nin esque masks.

They could not afford to waste any chakra with a transformation jutsu, nor reveal themselves in the event that the jutsu came undone somehow.

. . . . .

The group spent the rest of the day travelling, only stopping for a short ten minute break to refill their water canisters and consume a couple of food pills before heading back on their way.

Finally, as the hours rolled by and the scenery changed, the group finally arrived at their desired location, a little otherwise unasuming clearing in the middle of the forest.

Mizuki: "You are sure this is it"

Neko: "Positive"

The information about the base and everything in it was provided by a "trustworthy source" according to the Hokage. Most likely a double agent of some kind.

And whilst Mizuki was cursing Hiruzen in his head for using a source with such little reliability, in the end, his conviction to complete the mission remained unwavering.

The temptation provided by the potential Uzumaki scriptures was just too strong.

Neko: "It was stated that the entrance here is hidden as a tree branch of some kind"

Saying those words, the group of three shinobi began walking around the grove, experimenting with different branches to see if they could find the secret entrance.

Twenty minutes passed, and the sun just began to set when Guy became the lucky one to discover the secret entrance, with a tree trunk pulling away to reveal a tight spiral staircase after Guy tapped against a blunt end of a nearby tree.

Mizuki: "Ok, this is now just a blatant ripoff of The Princess Bride."

. . . . . .

The group of three shinobi descended the set of stairs as quickly and quietly as possible, with the door automatically closing behind them after exactly ten seconds.

The area was not *completely* unguarded, but the security, considering that it was a secret base of some kind, was laughable.

Neko was able to quickly able to knockthe first guard at the entrance unconcious, making sure that one saw his kiri mask and attire before instantaniously forcing them to join their friend with little to no effort, allowing for the group to procede down the halls unopposed.

As they left the area, Mizuki made sure to sap chakra off of the two guards, bringing Mizuki back to full capacity from that which he had expended on the journey here.

The facility itself was divided into two parts: The Labs, where the tests were performed and most of the Fuinjutsu Masters stayed, and the Library, where scrolls were stored, and which could only be accsessed via key, which not even the Fuinjutsu masters studying here possesed.

Lucky for them, the ones who did possess said key, happened to be the guards who they had already dealt with.

Upon entering the library, the three shinobi were greeted with a squad of five guards, all of whom seemed relatively relaxed.

After all, who would be able to find this place?

Needless to say, it took Mizuki mere moments to deliver them all to the blissful land of dreams, as Mizuki, similar to Neko, also made extra sure to allow for the guards to catch glimpses of his mask for a quick moment before delivering the final blow.

Upon finishing up dealing with the guards, Mizuki was greeted with shelves and shelves of scrolls, which caused Mizuki to try his damnest to stop the ear to ear grin from spreading across his face.

Whilst most of the scrolls were regretfully not Uzumaki, but rather, unique Kumo fuinjutsu, such as the Iron armour seal, used to seal away the eight tails.

Still, this did little to hamper Mizuki's enthusiasm, as he had just discovered a goldmine of new jutsu.

As Mizuki had his storage scroll, it was relatively easy to simply dump the scrolls into his own, still with plenty of room to spare afterwards.

Mizuki spent all of his time and effort for three days and night non stop to create this scroll on his back after all, it used a unique unsealing and sealing jutsu, making it not only more sturdy, but also much more secure compared to normal scrolls.

Additionaly, the scroll had massive amounts of space, easily approaching one hundred meters cubed.

After finishing shoveling the scrolls into his own, Mizuki, Guy, and Neko all layed down paperbombs at strategic locations so that the structure would collaps.

They then quickly rushed through the hallways, sprinting towards the other side of the facility, their objective to kill the remaining shinobi inside the facility before blowing the entire place up.

Although, as they were in the midst of their mission, something seemed...off.

As if everything was too easy.

Regardless of how complacent kumo had become, surely it had not been enough to space so few and such incompetent guards.

Right?

Mizuki pushed these thoughts to the back of his mind, deciding to start worrying about them only after they had finished the mission.

Soon enough, the group of shinobi were stealthily working their way through the labratory section of the facility, quickly and painlessly ending the lives of the fuinjutsu masters via using his chakra scalpel to sever the nerve endings in their brains.

However, as Mizuki did so, a slight sigh escaped his lips.

Mizuki: "Such a shame. I would have loved to pick their brains about Fuinjutsu, and perhaps steal-*cough* learn a couple of their jutsu"

Although Mizuki would have loved to simply enclose the unconcious bodies of the shinobi and take them back to the leaf for his personal research, he simply could not.

Living things took extra chakra, not to mention how it would be a pain to somehow force them to eat and drink.

And if they ever woke up, the seal would automatically forcablly release.

Translation: Taking all of the researchers would create many more problems then it would solve.

With those words, Mizuki continued on with his comrades, stealthily taking out one fuinjutsu master after another, collecting the research materials they were using, before finally placing a couple of paper bombs inside of the room and moving on.

As for why these so called "masters" did not notice them?

that was also very simple.

In order to prevent distraction and accidents, the walls of each lab were soundproofed, and coated in a special formula so that no chakra below a certain level could escape.

This left the trio with an opportunity to ambush, and succsesfully surprise, every single opponent they came across.

Finally though, after a long while, they arrived at the last room.

Mizuki: "I'll take this one alone, after all, you guys got your turns to try to raid some of the labs alone yourselves."

Neko: "No problem, Don't take too long"

Neko had a slight smile on his face.

They had all made agreements to be able to raid at least one mini lab on their own.

That way, when they reported to Konoha, they could extort the system and add "single handedly stormed a section of a secret base" to their repetoire.

Hopefully, this would allow them all to get better jobs in the future, and work towards their recomendations as jonin.

However, Mizuki had *different* ideas...

. . . . .

Mizuki quickly burst through the door before knocking out this researcher, unlike the others he had killed.

Mizuki quickly got to work, sealing the man within his scroll before carrying on doing on the normal routine.

Although he could not carry all of the researchers within the seal, he could make do with just one, as although the chakra cost was severe, it was still manageable.

Next, Mizuki looked around the lab, quickly realizing how unique it was.

Every Lab they had entered was slightly unique, as they were studying different topics.

Some, had samples of blood and ink, others had kunai and unique ninja tools.

But this one..

If Mizuki did not work with Orochimaru, he would have found this sight before him disgusting.

The researcher was experimenting with truth seals, and so, he did most of his experimentation on . . . live subjects.

Judging by a quick peek at the notes on the table, The researcher would test fuinjutsu by having them be told a code by a fellow staff member and then using the fuinjutsu on them to seal it.

From there, he would try everything he could to get them to crack.

Everything.

After packing up the scrolls and notes, and placing a few strategic paperbombs, Mizuki went outside and told them the situation.

After confirming it himself, Neko gave his orders.

Neko: "They have been tortured to a point where they are no longer themselves anymore. After we leave and the Kumo forces arive, there's no telling what they will do."

Neko: "Judging by the look in your eye, I assume what you should do."

Mizuki nodded his head before approaching the test subjects all of whom were malnurished and looked horrendus.

Mizuki carefully explained their current situation to them before giving them a choice.

Either they would let them free and allow them to do as they pleased, or he would grant them a swift, clean, and painless death, alongside a marked grave.

As most of the subjects were too far gone to have any will to live by that point, most of them chose the latter option.

Although a couple did still have enough will left in them to refuse, Mizuki simply nodded and told them to raid the living quarters of the researchers for rations and necessities before leaving.

As for those who did choose the latter option, all of them stated their names and a phrase which they wished to be dedicated on their gravestone before accepting their fate.

Similar to the researchers, Mizuki used the chakra scalpel technique to sever the nerve endings from their brain, effectively killing them instantaniously.

As soon as Mizuki finished one of the test subjects, he created an earthen coffin using his doton before engraving what they wished onto it and then sending it back into the earth.

Eventually, over the course of around twenty minutes, Mizuki accomodated all twenty of those who requested it.

. . . . .

Mizuki closed the door behind him, a complicated look in his eye.

Whilst he was initially overjoyed at the abundance of fuinjutsu he had discovered, executing twenty people did a lot to bring down one's mood.

However, Mizuki quickly realized he had no time for such emotions, as he heard a low growl eminate from Usagi, who was now gone from outside of the lab, as was Neko and Guy.

Mizuki quickly rushed towards the source of the noise, the bottom of the staircase, only to see all three of them there, with grimaces addorning both Guy's and Neko's faces.

Mizuki: "Don't tell me . . ."

Neko: "You guessed it. This was all an ambush. Apparently they are confident in reclaiming the scrolls, and they are willing to sacrifice those fuinjutsu masters in order to use us in order to get information about wherever we are from and our jutsu."

Mizuki quickly tried to peer through the now open door, which he could just barely see through the gaps in the staircase, only for a grimace similar to his teammates to adorn his face.

Mabui and Samui were back.

And this time they brought company.

One company of thirty shinobi each.

Mizuki: "Fuck."