Chapter 46:

The boy pouted, but nodded in understanding. He ran off with his friends to play while Nero just looked at the scene with a beaming smile.

Peace, order and happiness was common in small villages like this one.Unlike in Soragakure where nobles owned the ninja and used them for their own gain, here the damiyo and the Kage all had to coexist in some cases uneasy alliances were formed,but oftentimes they kept their relationships proffessional and sometimes friendly. This doesn't mean they didn't sabotage each other in the shadows sometimes.

"Let's go. We have to be in the next town by sundown." Nero ordered his 'employees' and they quickly packed, and went on their way. As night fell, they created a camp and settled in for the night.

During their journey the Kiri ninja remained silent and on guard against Nero. After seeing his power nobody dared to be lax even if he was an ally, they were under atrict orders to report every 6 hours and shouldn't fail under any circumstance.

The escort consisted of 8 jounin and 15 chunnin. All of them were also experienced in battle so as to not drag Nero down. The yongest was Mei, a prodigy who mastered lava and steam style nature transformations at a young age and even engaged in multiple A-ranked mission with an astounding sucees rate. Her battle prowess was stated to be jounin since she had a large chakra pool and multiple large AOE attacks that could decimate groups.

Her personality was also a little fiery, she was the type to excitedly jump into battle at any chance, her guardians had raised her to lust for battle, she was also known as sadistic to her foes.

As for those who worked alongside her, she was the opposite. Her playful nature made her fun to be around and displayed great leadership skills for someone her age.

Her fame wasn't overly big or prominent, but it was enough to earn her the idolisation similar to the future generation of the seven swordsmen of the mist and her death would've definitely caused an uproar in Kiri, there were other similar youths to her in the army sent to Kumo's borders.

It just went to show just how desprate Kiri was to start a war against other villages. Which was strange because although the water country wasn't blessed with resources like the the fire nation it was still better off. But that was on the surface, truthfully due to the initiative to reproduce and have as many bloodlines as possible, Kiri's population had grown exponentially. This was a problem since not only would resources be scarce in the village, the chances of the Mizukage losing control over his forces would also increase.

But if they had something to focus on, a singular and straighforward goal that was war and revenge their population would dwindle and save resources.

A cold but effective plan, Nero understood such a plan,he'd add his own elements to it to suit his taste. People eventually tire and lose their reason to fight, he couldn't have that outcome yet. He needed as many people as possible to be willing to fight for as long as possible.

Hopefully that would extend the war. Eventually they'd tire and lose their reason to fight. Talks of peace would ensue, but Nero would drag out the period of chaos for as long as possible.

Nero's thoughts were halted when Ichigo suddenly showed up beside him, her face looked....worried? To an outsider she may look as cold as always but Nero could see the slight fluctuations of emtions from her eyes.

He looked back at her seriously. Ichigo handed over a black device that lit up and seemed to transfer information directly into Nero's brain.

"Hmm...this is indeed worrying, they waited till all our forces were occupied to advance their plan. The fact that I was also non the wiser makes it worse. They were very careful." Nero mused outloud with a scowl. The dim light provided by the candle casting shadows into his eyes.

Ichigo on the other hand looked down on the floor, she was ahamed. How could she have not noticed this.

"I'm sorry, they stole the sealing cube and locked themselves in the facility. We have already isolated them from the rest of the network. I'll move immediately to retrieve your property." Ichigo spoke solomely, she always seemed like a puppy that was afraid of being cast out by it's master in these instances.

"It's fine, they didn't have the cube. I have long since retrieved it secretly from the facility, what's left is the residual chakra from the zero tails. The real cube is safe." Nero assured Ichigo, the woman sighee in relief. The guilt in hwr eyes also lessened but the fear still remained. Until Nero directly said he forgave her, she couldn't rest easy.

"I can't look your failure though. Not only are you smarter than even some geniuses, you're also gifted with knowlege a dacade beyond anyone else in the organization. How could you fail to notice a virus in our mainframe?" Nero asked sternly,

"I- I have no excuse, I wasn't careful enough." Ichigo took accountability without question. She didn't dare make excuses.

"Fix it then!! He's wasting my resources on this pointless battle of his. Kill him and everyone whose taken his side. Wipe everyone else's memories whem you're done and lockdown the facility. " Nero ordered in slight irritation. He couldn't point at it but something felt wrong.

His foe this time was also a a genius, and thag meant he had planned for every possible contingency, he had years to plan for this afterall.

"I'll do so immediately!"Ichigo replied stiffly , she also shared Nero's concerns on the matter. It alsi didn't help that their enemies chose to attack when they were spread thin.

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Hope you liked reading this. I don't know when I can start posting daily again, but hopefully soon. Till then please enjoy.