Chapter 56

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"The envoys from the Land of Wind and the Hidden Sand Village were attacked?"

Upon hearing this news, the Daimyo of the Land of Rivers was incredulous. Just a few days ago, those people were arrogantly warning that he, the Daimyo, might be attacked, but now, they were the ones in trouble.

"Not a single survivor?"

"No, and the bodies left behind were all from the Land of Wind's Daimyo's mansion; not a single body from the Hidden Sand Village was found," an official within the Daimyo's mansion reported.

Ninja corpses can reveal a lot of information, so Sakumo, after killing the remaining individuals, took all the bodies with him.

"Quick, inform the Land of Wind and the Hidden Sand Village. Tighten security in the Daimyo's mansion, and don't let any mistakes happen anytime soon!"

The Daimyo of the Land of Rivers was genuinely frightened. If even the ninjas from the Hidden Sand Village were dead, could he be next? He wanted to secretly flee but feared being watched by those from the Leaf at all times.

After a moment, the Daimyo of the Land of Rivers bit the bullet and ordered his official, "Tell the people from the Hidden Sand Village to come over sooner and send more people; we can talk about everything they propose, provided they send more reinforcements!"

"Yes, my lord."

The official hurriedly went to make arrangements, also tightening the security patrols around the Daimyo's mansion, striving to ensure not even a bird could get in.

The stricter patrol orders also affected Yoichi. What was usually a relaxing job suddenly became busy; he typically let his shadow clones handle the guard duty while he and Kakashi did some information gathering.

Now, there was no time to slack off, as all areas were on high alert, leaving no place to wander.

Initially, Kakashi had some moral principles, but under Yoichi's persuasion, he suppressed them.

Guarding for a long time, even the places where he rested were patrolled by other samurai.

However, these two days were not without gains. He used the skill twice on the guards of the Daimyo's mansion, acquiring spirit energy both times.

This stolen spirit energy, unlike the chakra stolen from Mina, merged entirely into Yoichi's soul, significantly boosting his spirit energy.

With stronger spirit energy, his Sharingan became even more intuitive to use.

Yoichi, who had recently evolved his Sharingan to three tomoe, felt that casting genjutsu had become easier and more potent after stealing spirit energy twice.

He hypnotized a samurai guard from the Land of Iron with his Sharingan genjutsu without the victim noticing. Even after waking up, the guard would not remember being under the influence of the Sharingan's genjutsu.

And to facilitate physical contact for the stealthy theft, Yoichi got along quite well with the guards of the Daimyo's mansion.

While on patrol duty, Kakashi suddenly whispered, "Captain, why has the defense suddenly strengthened? Is someone really going to assassinate the Daimyo?"

"It's definitely out of fear that they've tightened security, but as for what they're afraid of, I'm not sure since I haven't gone out to gather information recently."

Yoichi shook his head, having spent much time just trying to locate the Daimyo's mansion treasury, which was also difficult to infiltrate.

In the following days, Yoichi and Kakashi found themselves immersed in long-term guard and patrol duties.

Still, Yoichi found opportunities to steal from the samurai every day. Besides stealing clothes and a samurai sword twice, the other three times he stole were all body energy.

After each theft, the samurai he stole from would collapse to the ground, while Yoichi felt lighter and gained a significant amount of strength.

Stealing body energy three times made Yoichi's body stronger.

This ability was perverse, and Yoichi even considered targeting strong ninjas for theft, thinking that with some luck, he might steal a Kekkei Genkai.

But stealing was somewhat risky.

---

"Captain, the Daimyo's mansion's security seems a bit lax today, aside from the regular guards, some seem to have already rested," Ryosuke observed after studying the map of the Daimyo's mansion for a long time.

This was possible because the Land of Rivers Daimyo's mansion lacked sensor ninjas, allowing Ryosuke to freely use sensory jutsu to track the movements of chakra-trained samurai.

Another ninja in the squad asked, "Why is the security relaxed today? Could it be a trap?"

Ryosuke stroked his chin, saying, "It's possible, but it could also be because the heightened security in the past few days left many without proper rest. The person I used Mind Body Switch Technique on showed no signs of a trap. Captain, what should we do?"

He was only providing the information he had gathered; the final decision was up to Sakumo.

"This is an opportunity."

After pondering for a moment, Sakumo spoke gravely, "Although we don't know how the Hidden Sand Village learned about our mission, those people have lost contact with the Hidden Sand Village for five days, and the Daimyo's mansion of the Land of Rivers must have informed them."

"The longer we wait, the less chance we have, so we act tonight!"

Although they had intercepted the Daimyo's mansion's messengers to the Land of Wind twice, the lack of communication for five days meant the Hidden Sand Village must suspect their people were in trouble.

"Get ready, and let's proceed with the plan we've established!"

"Yes, Captain."

After the others acknowledged, they hurried to prepare.

Sakumo looked at the sky; he had carried out many dangerous missions before, but never felt as anxious as he did today.

Then, shaking his head, he stopped dwelling on it, planning to request a long vacation after this mission to spend quality time with Kakashi.

The night was pitch-black, with clouds covering the moonlight.

Inside the Daimyo's mansion, lanterns and electric lights were the only sources of illumination; otherwise, guarding in the dark night would be much more challenging.

Suddenly, Yoichi sensed chakra fluctuations not far outside. His spirit energy, now stronger, seemed more sensitive to chakra.

The next second, explosions sounded from outside.

These explosions, like a signal, instantly woke the slumbering Daimyo's mansion.

Kakashi immediately reached for his short sword, but Uchiha Yoichi said, "Don't rush. Just follow the mission orders."

Despite saying this, Yoichi didn't lower his guard. The noises of battle indicated that tonight would not be quiet, fortunately, they weren't guarding the Daimyo directly, or they'd have to confront the enemy head-on.

Then, a figure suddenly leaped from the wall and quickly rushed towards them.

Yoichi cursed his luck internally but still took out ten shuriken, throwing them in a 3-3-4 pattern.

The shuriken collided and rebounded in the air, creating a barrage that attacked the intruder from all angles, some even striking from peculiar directions.

"Uchiha-style shurikenjutsu?"

Sakumo recognized the shuriken technique instantly. He drew his short sword, deflecting the incoming shuriken one by one. Then, the guard defending suddenly drew his sword and charged at him.

Clang!

The short sword, the sound of the wind blade, and the faint thunder echoing on his body, Sakumo was all too familiar with this technique.

This was his White Fang sword technique!

(End of Chapter)