Chapter 7: Cat
//4 years later//
Under the dark night sky, a group of individuals are gathered around a campfire inside a cave. They have a total number of 4 people.
They all wear black coats with hoodies that cover their heads. And to make sure they don't get recognized, they wear blank masks with varying colors of dark shade.
They are waiting for rain to fall down so that it's easier to cover their tracks as they continue on their journey which they predicted would be a few minutes from now.
A guy with a black mask pulled out a map and spread it on the floor for everyone to see. "Let's see. Based on the humidity and the clouds, the rain will last for only 6 hours. We need to get out of the Land of Fire before that time."
"But that would be difficult. Even at top speed, at the very least, it will take us 8 hours because of the security. There's also a huge chance that they have already noticed our activity. I wouldn't be surprised if a group of Konoha anbu is already on our tail." The red masked said.
The black masked ninja shook his head. "That's assuming we will be taking the same route we got here."
He paused, then traced a route on the map, from Konoha to the continent at the top left of the map, then continued. "Like you said, it took 8 hours to get here from the Land of Earth. It's only thanks to the rain yesterday that our tracks were easily erased."
He then traced the north perimeter of Konoha, covering the area near the Land of Earth (north west) and Land of Lightning (north east).
"Initially, we had planned to take a detour around the Land of Earth but we didn't expect it to be heavily guarded as well when coming here. We can infer that konoha is very wary of Iwagakure and Kumogakure so we can't risk using the same route again.
Fortunately we had White to scout the area around the Land of Wind beforehand and it looks like there's an open route that can be easily infiltrated according to the report delivered by his messenger lizard.
…From this moment forth, stick to using wind release techniques. Those smart bastards will probably realize where we really came from in no time with our obvious disguise to throw them off. But do not concern yourself about that, our lord will take care of it himself. After all, they don't have concrete evidence since we avoided any encounters and only used earth release thus far. All they can do is grit their teeth while we walk away like nothing happened."
Hearing his plan, the other 3 nodded their heads.
Even if they are to be found out that they just detoured around different nations to trick their enemies, as long as they got back safe, their mission is a success. They can just use the same excuse of the villages they sloppily disguised as, claiming that they got framed themselves.
After a few minutes of waiting, the heavens finally heeded their call and a heavy rain fell upon them.
The group stood up and nodded at each other. They created a [wind release clone] each and have them run in different directions as they continue to their real destination.
The clones will only last for 10 minutes but that's enough to buy enough time and confuse their enemy.
…
//6 hours later//
The group slowed down their pace as they got nearer and nearer the intended destination. They can't be rushed at this point as it might be just a trap so they need to see White first to confirm the location. Although the message was already verified through encryption techniques and exclusive handwriting they have practiced for years, it's still better to be careful.
The sun began to rise as the rain died down and the land covered in sand greeted them. There are multiple posts made out of rocks guarding the perimeter of the Land of Wind but it seems like White has already taken care of the guards as they seemed to not notice them.
From one of the posts, a figure jumped and landed in front of them. He wears the same cloak and has a white mask.
With a series of hand signs his identity was confirmed by Black.
"Captain, I have successfully put the guards under genjutsu. They will think that it's just a normal day." White said.
"Alright, good job. Alright guys, let's-"
Before Black finished his sentence, White suddenly closed the gap between them and tore his cloak, revealing multiple explosive tags.
Black cursed in his head as he jumped away from the blast. But the explosion was too close to him and his left arm was blown to pieces.
"Argh!" He growled as he looked around to see his squad mate. They are all lying on the ground dead, with half their bodies gone.
'A traitor?!!'
White is one of the best, if not the best, genjutsu users in their village and has 13 years of experience in the anbu. What's more, the Uchihas in Konoha were already wiped out except for a traitor and they made sure that Kakashi the copy ninja was out of the village before executing their mission. This made Black immediately dismiss the possibility of White being manipulated using a powerful genjutsu.
In the fog of sand created by the explosion, a silhouette of a person could be seen through. He is 5 feet in height and has a small frame.
"Impressive. You're quite good to be able to react in point blank range."
A cold voice propagated from the figure.
The sand smoke dissipated, revealing a figure of a child. He has black hair, wearing an anbu uniform and an animal mask. Contrary to his appearance, under the mask is a gaze of chilling black eyes.
'This kid is dangerous.'
Black quickly realizes who he's dealing with. Konoha is a place that produced many geniuses that carved their names in the ninja world. And if this kid is an anbu at such a young age he is undoubtedly one of them.
With a bird hand seal, he infused chakra on his right hand. Right after, he hit his left shoulder multiple times with his finger to stop the flow of blood. 'Looks like I will have to blow my cover.'
Just after saying that, the kid blinked probably because of the sand. Seeing the opportunity, Black quickly launched himself towards the kid with a [Body flicker].
As he closed the gap between them, he pulled his wakizashi sword out of his coat, channeled lightning chakra to it, then sliced through the kid.
The kid just stood there as he opened his eyes. When Black is already face to face with the kid and his blade is about to cut the left side of the kid's neck, bloodied red eyes with 3 tomoes each stare back at him.
He was shaken to the core as the first word that came to his mind was 'Itachi?!!'
He couldn't believe that those eyes still exist in Konoha and his mind is clouded with countless possibilities.
The kid lifted his left arm and slightly changed the direction of the blade. He did it so fast that a veteran anbu like Black didn't even see it.
As Black's body followed through the motion of the slice, before he could do anything, he was thrown a few meters away with a kick. For a small frame, the attack was very heavy.
Realizing the disadvantage, Black decided to avoid a head on battle and just to focus on escaping.
He weaved a series of hand signs and blew a gust of wind from his mouth. This created a mini sand storm to block his opponents view.
Black doesn't know how effective it is but his enemy is not a Hyuga and there's a limitation on how Sharingan vision can penetrate objects.
With a masterful use of lightning release, he channeled it to the sole of his feet to increase the speed of his [Body flicker] and quickly flee.
Lightning is the hardest to control among the 5 main changes in chakra nature; thus, this is all he can do unlike the Raikage who has a refined method of doing such.
'I need to report to Raikage-sama. Uchiha Itachi, to think he's still affiliated to-.'
Before he could continue, he was suddenly frozen in place and he couldn't move a single muscle. He looked around his body and countless centipedes, cockroaches and other insects were swarming his body.
'Shit!! I was caught in a genjutsu with those damn eyes!' Black exclaimed internally and the person who he thought was Itachi appeared before him.
"Haha, you think killing me is all it takes? I already sent the goods to my lord, it's already too late." Black said.
"Goods you say? Is this what you're talking about?" An infuriated voice rang from behind.
He has a 6 feet tall frame, probably in his late teenage years. He has long black hair, wearing the same anbu uniform and a different animal mask. Under the mask are pale white eyes that can seem to see through everything. And on his right hand is a small scroll.
"Cat, I successfully retrieved it. Just Like you said, they tried to ship it away through the shortest route to Kumo before they even retreated using a messenger lizard. Fortunately, it was still within my byakugan range." The white eyed man said as he handed the scroll to Cat.
The kid, who Black thought was Itachi, who is now identified as a Cat, uncurled the scroll and did a series of hand signs to unlock it. A second later, a small container came out of the scroll.
"Good job, Bird." Cat replied.
"Fuc-" Black tried to curse but he was met with a knee on the solar plexus by Bird. He pummeled him to the ground again and again, breaking several bones and puncturing some organs.
Black has no choice but to endure the beating, he can't really do anything at this point because of the genjutsu.
"Alright, that's enough. We still need to extract information from this bastard."
Hearing Cat's words, Bird finally stopped. After all, despite their age gap the kid in front of him is still his superior.
'To think these kumo bastards would still dare to steal the Hyuga's eyes after failing many years ago. They really don't respect the treaty and the Hokage anymore.' Cat thought to himself
"Anyway, the guards I had put under genjutsu will be waking up anytime now. Let's report back after cleaning this mess."
Bird nodded his head and complied with the order.
…
After handing the Kumo ninja to the Torture and Interogation division, the two report back to the Hokage. Although Cat can extract the information himself with the help of his sharingan, it's not within his jurisdiction as an anbu.