CH_7.40 (258)

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———

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The team stalked their way into a manor that was confirmed as the residence of the ROOT team in the dead of night. Despite their timing, getting into the mansion was a struggle because of the city-wide lockdown. There were hyper-vigilant shinobi stationed at every street corner and building in preparation for the upcoming invasion.

Some parts of the city were practically abandoned because the civilians had been evacuated out of their homes and forced to move to the far side of the village—as far away from the side which would be attacked—to keep them safe from getting caught in the crossfire. With the number of shinobi involved, there would be considerable property damage regardless of both side's desire to minimise damage.

The lights in hallways had been on since before the sun completely set and had remained lit even after midnight.

"There is someone keeping an eye on the mansion," Daiki whispered into the wireless comms.

He noticed two shinobi hiding in the shadows, stalking the mansion just like they were doing. They were far apart from each other, covering different vantage points. He spotted them when he had taken a round of the property to get a better feel for their surroundings.

"Only two?" Anko asked through the comms.

"I only noticed two."

"Should we get rid of them?" asked Kameko.

"Let's wait and observe for now." Anko paused for a moment. "It seems like the Hidden Frost doesn't trust them and are having them monitored. They might be a problem when we go in; we will have to take care of them. Team A will take the one on the right; Team B takes the other one."

The team had split themselves into two parties. Anko and Daiki were on Team A. Takuma, Rikku, and Kameko were on Team B. Iori was near the front gates of the city so she could quickly rush to deliver the information.

———

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Inside the manor, Kon and his team were getting to leave. Their house staff had been sent away to evacuate with the rest of the civilian population. His team had been going through the building with a fine-toothed comb to erase all and every trace of their existence. It was standard procedure when an ANBU team needed to disappear from a location they had been residing in.

"Sir, we've detected a few individuals on the property."

Kon was packing up his belongings when his subordinate came in with the information that he was expecting.

"How many?" he asked.

"Five individuals. Two of them are alone on either side of the building and there's a group of three."

"Five? That's more than a lot."

With an invading force nearly on their doors, Ebi would need every man to mount a proper defence. Putting five men to monitor him was wasting his resources, and Kon didn't consider Ebi to be a man of emotion who would make such a decision just because he didn't like him. And yet he couldn't deny that there were five men on the property.

"Well, putting any men on us was foolish to begin with. It's not like they can stop us," said Kon as he looked at the large property out of the window.

He had brought six people with him to Yu. One of them had died during their ambush of Takuma, which left five people. Two of them could easily contest against a combat-focused chunin while the other three were more than any average genin handle. Even if Ebi had put five men on him, there was no way they could match his team's firepower. The moment the Hidden Leaf hit the city, he and his team would be free to leave.

"Should we take care of them, sir?"

"Leave them be, there's no benefit in getting rid of them. But if they overstep their bounds..."

Kon gave his subordinate a look who nodded before leaving.

———

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Yumi was a Hidden Frost genin stationed at the corridors on city walls. She clutched her bo-staff nervously as she looked out towards the landscape outside the city in front of her. Everyone had been told that the city would be attacked today and given that she was at the wall, she was part of the first line of defence.

She had ground experience with shinobi combat, but this was going to be unlike anything she had ever faced. An entire army of shinobi would be attacking the city and she was at the forefront. Even if she was ordered to fallback for any reason or wanted to desert, she was at the furthest point and would need to travel a long distance rife with danger if she wanted to escape.

She touched the thick walls that protected the city; it was made by shinobi and provided her with some sense of security—and she was above ground, which put some distance between her and the invaders.. Moreover, two of four jonin were also stationed on the wall, which was the biggest protection she could ask for.

"H-Hey, I s-see something."

Someone fifteen metres away shouted as he looked out with a fearful expression on her face.

The landscape outside Yu was flat greenland. There were trees, but they weren't dense enough to cover the entire land, leaving no way to hide while approaching the city. Yumi widened her eyes as she leaned against the ledge and squinted. That's when she saw a huge crowd of shinobi dressed in Hidden Steam red running towards the city.

"T-They're here," she stuttered and then shouted, "Sound the alarms!"

A few seconds later, loud and harsh bells were ringing to announce the arrival of the enemy.

———

.

Outside Yu, the shinobi of Camp Banana and the Hidden Steam's forces laid their eyes on tall walls that protected the city. They were all dressed in Hidden Steam colours and were moving in formation towards the city. After six hours, they had finally arrived at their destination and the tension was palpable.

The chunin had begun their final go-throughs with their teams. Shirakumo was in the front of the forces and was preparing internally to give a speech to motivate the forces when one of the genin manning a radio ran up to him.

"Sir, we have a message."

The genin held up the speaker of his radio pack on his back and a familiar voice crackled,

"This is Genin Iori serving under Chunin Anko as part of the precursor mission. Reply if you're picking up this frequency. Over!"

Shirakumo recalled the fuin-nin part of Anko's team and gave a nod to the genin to reply.

"We can hear you, Genin Iori. Please proceed. Over."

Iori's urgent voice sounded out from the speaker."Thank god! I thought I was doing something wrong. I have critical information regarding the enemy—"

Shirakumo thought something had gone wrong and they would need to make some urgent last-minute adjustment when Iori dropped a bomb he wasn't expecting.

"—In the time since we sent our final report, we managed to assassinate a jonin and four chunin. The enemy has been unable to replace them, and are thus weaker. Please make suitable adjustments as the enemy is now weaker than what we previously reported. Over."

There were quite a few people around Shirakumo who could hear Iori's words, and they all looked at each other in shock. The precursor team had managed to kill... a jonin? It was utterly unbelievable as even if the entire team banded together, they wouldn't stand a chance against a jonin.

Shirakumo took the radio receiver from the genin and paused for a moment to gather his thoughts before speaking, "This is Jonin Shirakumo. Can you confirm that you just said that you killed one of the jonin... Over."

Iori's response came almost immediately, "Yes, sir! The jonin was killed in an explosion at a gathering. The death was confirmed! Over."

"... Understood. Good job, Genin Iori. Over," said Shirakumo. He looked at the genin as he handed the receiver back. "Contact Jonin Toridasu—Forget it, I'll go to him directly."

Shirakumo leapt across dozens of people and landed right in front of Toridasu who had a sheen of sweat on him.

"Did you hear?" Shirakumo asked.

"Yes," Toridasu nodded as he practised cyclic breathing. "Do you need my help?"

They had five jonin against their four jonin. They were evenly matched before, but now Toridasu's assignment was dead, leaving him free to help other jonin in their fights. It was such a massive game-changer that it more than covered up for the enemy's advantage of being behind walls and having a better strategic position.

"No, don't help any of us. Instead support our troops."

Toridasu looked at Shirakumo for the first time and raised his eyebrow.

Shirakumo continued, "Clear out the enemy chunin and genin. Kill as many as possible, as quickly as possible. Even if their jonin are somehow able to push us back, they won't be able to hold the city because they won't have the foot soldiers necessary."

Killing the enemy jonin would also mean freeing the city, but Shirakumo was thinking about the safety of his own people. If they had Toridasu supporting them, not only would the casualties on their side be much lower, it would pressure the enemy jonin to flee as without their troops, they wouldn't be able to control the city even if they somehow were able to push them out.

Jonin were much more durable and were hard to kill—their fights lasted longer— and as long as the jonin were fighting, the genin and chunin would continue to fight as there was always a chance as long as the jonin were alive. But as the troops held hope for that, casualties from both sides would continue to rise.

Shirakumo did not want that to happen; he would rather protect his troops than take out enemy jonin.

Moreover, the mission wasn't to kill the jonin and weaken the enemy; it was to take back the city.

"You are soft," said Toridasu, making Shirakumo frown, "but... this is not the Land of Fire, and I'll take care of my men when they're far away from their home."

Shirakumo breathed a sigh of relief. Toridasu could've rejected his idea and imposed his own will, but he was relieved that Toridasu was cooperating.

"I'm ready," Toridasu said as he removed his haori and threw it to a nearby genin. "Time to invade a city."

———

.

Takuma had been sitting cross-legged behind a hedge with his eyes closed for the better part of an hour when the sound of sonorous bells reached his ear. He opened his eyes and looked in the direction of city gates.

"It's started, they're here," Takuma said in the comms.

"What?" said Kameko, who was ten metres away from him.

Kameko and Rikku were positioned on either side of him, ten metres away from him. He removed his earphones and pointed to the sky, asking them to hear the faint bells—but before either one of them could follow up his instructions, Anko spoke up through the comms.

"We're going to be active in sixty seconds. Kill the Hidden Frost shinobi on your side as quietly as possible before proceeding towards the manor. Over."

All of them did a quick equipment check and got ready to fight. Before they packed away their comms as they would get in the way, Takuma announced to Rikku and Kameko, "I'll take care of the Hidden Frost shinobi. Just follow me."

Both of them looked at him for a moment and made a quick decision as the seconds ran down.

"Okay," said Kameko.

As Anko started the ten second countdown, Takuma put the Hidden Frost shinobi in his sights. He imagined a mask over his face and the phantom feel of his warm breath against his skin—it was comforting and blocked out unnecessary thoughts and allowed him to focus on what was in front of him. He could see the shinobi's back, who had no idea that he was behind him. It was a common phenomenon—people who watched a place lost sight of their own surroundings as they were focused on their target.

"3...2...1... Go! Go! Go!"

Takuma ducked out from the bush hedge and ran towards the shinobi to close the distance between them as Rikku and Kameko followed behind him.

He raised his hands and weaved hand seals.

Earth Release: Hiding in the Rock Jutsu

Rikku and Kameko were surprised when he disappeared into the ground without a warning.

He was gone for a full four seconds, but then he emerged a couple steps behind the Hidden Frost shinobi, who heard him appear behind and turned back—but it was too late as Takuma pulled the shinobi's head towards his chest while covering the mouth with the hand and then slit the throat with a kunai before quickly following up with a stab at the heart.

It was all so quick that by the time Rikku and Kameko arrived, the shinobi was long dead.

"Let's keep moving."

———

.

Inside the manor, everything was packed up and the ROOT team was ready to leave when the bells announcing the arrival of the enemy forces went off. Kon and three of his men were sitting in a room while the other two were keeping an eye on the two Hidden Frost shinobi who were monitoring the manor.

"Should we move out, sir?" asked one of Kon's subordinates.

"Yes, we should," Kon replied, sighing.

Objectively speaking, the mission to convert Yu to the Land of Frost's side couldn't be seen as success. He and his team had done a great job at the start to develop feelings of displeasure and abandonment towards the Land of Hot Water, all the while slowly making them comfortable towards the idea of joining the Land of Frost. It was tough when the shinobi supporting the Goharu Family were acting like tyrants, but he had managed to work with what he was given.

Things only went south when the damned Takuma entered the situation.

Kon clicked his tongue.

Even though the cockroach hadn't shown up much during his time in the city, his impact had been huge. He had spread too much chaos, disrupting the lives of civilians, and causing them to feel less secure under the new rule. The amount of damage he had done in the short amount of time had rolled back a significant amount of his progress.

It had taken a long time to build that positive image. Takuma's arrival and meddling destroyed the vast majority of that work. However Kon wasn't worried that this mission would reflect harshly on him. With the Hidden Leaf forces invading the city to take it back for the Hidden Frost, it didn't matter how he did. He could spin the narrative in his support—that he did his work properly at high competence, but the Hidden Frost forces weren't able to defend the city, making his contribution moot.

Did he think that Ebi would be able to defend the city? No. The moment the jonin was killed in the blast, they had lost. The most Ebi could accomplish was to punish the other side by killing their shinobi, but keeping Yu was a pipe dream.

"Sir, the shinobi monitoring us just killed one of their own. Over."

The radio comms on the table crackled as one of Kon's subordinates keeping an eye on the shinobi reported in.

"What?" Kon uttered, confused.

Then the second subordinate outside tuned in.

"Sir, two new unknowns just spotted. They killed the shinobi monitoring us. Over"

The ROOT agents in the room all stood up. Clearly something was wrong when two people who were monitoring them were just killed within ten seconds of each other.

"It's him..."

They all looked at Kon who spoke barely above a whisper.

Kon knew that the Hidden Leaf would know about ROOT's presence in Yu, and that ANBU might accompany the invading forces. Because they were in hiding, on the run, he had excluded the possibility that the Hidden Leaf team already inside the company would after him. But just like Ebi suspected him of leaving the city, they had also suspected him of leaving and were now targeting him before he had the chance to leave.

"It's Takuma... He is coming for me."

Kon wasn't scared. Not at all. In fact, he was excited. He wanted to kill the thorn in his side, and he wasn't going to miss this chance when it was being served up right in front of him.

He started to laugh and continued laughing while his subordinates stared at him in silence.

.

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