148- The time I transmigrated to commit war crimes.

The cover of the night blanketed the capital as Asa left the Daimyoo's hall with a smile on his face.

He had just concluded a successful talk with the Earth Daimyoo, where he had passionately pleaded his case.

As he made his way back to his quarters, Asa noticed two guards heading toward the Daimyoo's hall. His brow furrowed momentarily, a subtle alarm sounding in his mind.

But he quickly dismissed it. 'Perhaps just a routine patrol or a shift change,' he thought, shaking off the unease.

Finally, Asa reached his quarters where his team was already resting. They couldn't accompany him to the Daimyoo's hall and were only there for formality.

Asa knew there was no one better, even in the capital, who could provide enough security for him other than himself. His team served more as a symbol of his status than actual protection.

Just as Asa was about to enter, two guards rushed up to him, calling out urgently,

"Lord Asa!"

Momentarily confused, Asa turned to face them. Upon closer inspection, he realized these were the same guards he had seen heading to the Daimyoo's hall earlier. His confusion deepened.

"What is it?" he asked.

"The Daimyoo is requesting for you back at the hall," one of the guards said, struggling to catch his breath.

Asa was surprised and instantly knew the guards were just being polite when they said the Daimyoo was 'requesting his audience.' He understood it was an order, not a request.

Quickly, he followed them, his mind racing.

'Did he already decide on my proposal? That quick? No, with how these guards are apprehensive, something must be wrong. Maybe he changed his mind? That is also not possible because I did my best to ensure he realizes that my proposal was mutually beneficial to both of us.'

Upon reaching the hall, Asa found the Daimyoo and his assistants who had been present a few minutes ago when he was still pleading his case.

There was a new addition to the room, about five people dressed similarly to the Daimyoo's assistants. The Earth Daimyoo was fuming with anger as he saw Asa.

"Asa, I thought that you came here with good intentions. Was all this part of your plans?" he bellowed.

Asa was completely taken aback, not understanding what was going on or what had prompted the Daimyoo's ire. He bowed deeply,

"Lord Daimyoo, I don't know what is happening. I came to the capital to talk to you about my proposal."

"You see! I already said that he would come and pretend that he doesn't know what is happening!" one of the Daimyoo's assistants yelled, his voice shrill with accusation.

This only served to confuse Asa further.

'What the hell are they talking about?' he wondered, his mind racing to piece together the unfolding scenario.

While the Daimyoo was enraged, he realized that escalating this would not help them solve the current situation.

Taking a deep breath, he said,

"You said that you only came to the capital to discuss your proposal, and yet your shinobi killed my nobles?"

Asa's heart skipped a beat. 'Shinobi? Killed nobles?' The accusation hit him like a physical blow.

"Lord Daimyoo," he began, "I assure you, I have no knowledge of such an act. My men are disciplined and would never engage in such treachery without orders. There must be some misunderstanding."

One of the new additions to the room, a man with sharp eyes and an authoritative demeanour, stepped forward. "We have witnesses who saw your men leaving the scene of the crime. How do you explain that, Lord Asa?"

Asa's mind raced. He knew his men well, they were loyal and would not act without his command.

'What happened?' He wondered, but he did not have the luxury to think about that as he had to put up a front and save his men regardless of what happened.

"If my men are involved, they did so without my orders. I would never condone such actions. Please, allow me to investigate this matter personally."

'Is someone pulling the strings?' Asa couldn't help but wonder.

Unaware, Asa was spot on. And it began once he entered the capital of the Land of Earth.

"Are you okay?" Yano, still in his Kurata persona, asked as he nudged Renjiro's shoulder. Renjiro took a moment before nodding his head.

'What the hell was that? I've never experienced such an imposing chakra field. Even Kushina's wasn't that imposing, and she's a jinchuriki,' Renjiro thought.

"Closely study the Iwa shinobi," Yano whispered, breaking Renjiro out of his reverie. Renjiro nodded, still absorbing the shock.

After the delegation passed, the caravan moved to the accommodations they had earlier booked, which were close to the marketplace.

Yano and Renjiro didn't abandon the caravan, with Asa's arrival, they had to modify their plan. The unexpected presence of a high-ranking Iwa shinobi added a new layer of complexity to their mission.

They didn't get a chance to do much during the day, but close to sunset, they finally got the opportunity to make a move.

"Who is Lord Asa?" Renjiro asked once he and Yano were alone. All Renjiro knew was that Asa was a Jounin from Iwa, but from how Yano was behaving, he was sure there was more to it.

"He is an Elite Jounin from Iwa," Yano began, but before Renjiro could even process the fact that Asa was an Elite Jounin, which was vastly different from the average Jounin, Yano dropped another bombshell.

"We have recently received new reports from our spies in Iwa that he is now an S-rank Shinobi since he managed to take down a jinchuriki and hand him over to the village. With him being the son of the Second Tsuchikage, many think he will be the one to succeed the current Tsuchikage Ohnoki."

'Wait, what?' Renjiro thought, overwhelmed by the torrent of information Yano had just dropped.

'He took down a jinchuriki and is Mu's son? Surely he will see our moves from afar, but what is he doing in the capital?' Renjiro wondered.

"So we have to be discrete," Yano said before continuing. "We will both go our own ways to cover more ground. Remember to only use your wind jutsus. The nobles populate the central part of the city."

With that, Yano vanished, leaving Renjiro to his thoughts.

'Is this the reason why Iwa have two-tailed beasts? I always wondered why they had more than one, but this explains it. Asa... the name doesn't ring any bells from what I know of the future, and Ohnoki gave up his position as Tsuchikage after the Fourth Shinobi War, so Asa might have died in between.

I've been relying on my knowledge of the future a lot, forgetting that the future depends on the present. I need to fill in all the information gaps I have,' he pondered, scratching his chin.

'Anyway, how do I go about this?' Renjiro mused until an idea formed in his mind.

He muttered, "In hindsight, having Iwa shinobi in the village might actually work to our benefit. Because if we want to frame them, it would be easier. It might be unoriginal, but thank you, Naruto."

Renjiro smirked as he created four shadow clones. Together with the shadow clones, Renjiro transformed into masked shinobi.

With that, the five of them moved to the central part of the capital city. The noble houses were arranged in rows and columns, and Renjiro chose a column at random, deciding to begin killing anyone he could find on sight.

This was different from the case with the merchants because Renjiro was sure that most nobles were corrupt, or maybe that was what he told himself to deal with his conscience.

Moving silently and efficiently, Renjiro and his clones infiltrated the first house.

Renjiro's wind blades sliced through the air cutting down the unsuspecting nobles with precise, deadly accuracy. Wind bullets followed, ensuring no one was left alive.

Once the massacre was complete, only Renjiro himself left the scene, but his clones stayed behind. They intentionally tampered with the seals present in the houses to alarm the guards.

When the guards arrived and attacked the assailants who were killing their nobles, Renjiro's shadow clones took a few hits to make the fights believable.

"Thud! Thwack!"

The clones staggered under the assault, making their injuries appear genuine before collapsing.

In a cloud of smoke, the shadow clones transformed back to their disguises as Iwa shinobi, making it look like the clones had reverted to their true forms.

"Double deception always works," one of Renjiro's clones thought as it dispelled itself.

=====

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