Chapter 57

Originally, when they received the mission, they were not sure of the identity or significance of the person they were assigned to guard. But now, it was different because they understood they were guarding the fuinjutsu grandmaster. Under Tsunade's orders, even the Leaf Shinobi were not allowed to approach the man; only Shizune made contact with the person. After completing the day's work, the man would return to a tent assigned next to the commander's tent so that no one would disturb him.

As Kazuki was working on the defense barrier, his chakra sense picked up a light fluctuation in a certain direction. The fluctuation was so tiny that even most sensor ninjas would not have detected such an anomaly. Kazuki quickly created a Senbon with his shadows and threw it with pinpoint accuracy toward the target.

The ANBU quickly responded, and one of them immediately dashed forward in the direction the weapon was thrown. Everyone had already drawn their weapons, while Kazuki was patiently waiting for the ANBU elite to return. After a minute, the ANBU flickered next to Kazuki and opened his palm, and on his palm lay a now-dead hornet. Kazuki carefully picked up the hornet and started examining it, then quickly retrieved a scroll and started jotting down a few words.

"Pass this to your commander immediately." Passing the scroll and the dead hornet over to the ANBU, Kazuki continued working on the barrier. Everyone was confused by his actions, but with a quick nod, the ANBU captain asked one of his teammates to deliver the scroll immediately.

In the command tent, Tsunade was having a meeting with the other captains while an ANBU flickered next to the tent's opening. Tsunade quickly waved for him to approach, who quickly delivered the scroll and stepped back. Tsunade knew that this particular ANBU was in Kazuki's guard detail, so she quickly went through the scroll and then looked at the ANBU, who approached again and delivered the dead wasp. Everyone in the meeting was wondering what exactly the scroll contained and was patiently waiting. Tsunade quickly turned to Hiashi and inquired.

"Who is in charge of the Aburame clan within our camp? If I am not wrong, part of the Aburame clan led by their clan head should have been assigned to Jiraiya's side, right?"

"Yes, Tsunade-sama, our camp has Aburame members, and Jonin Aburame Mayumi should be their representative." Hiashi quickly responded as the deputy; he needed to delegate tasks and needed to have such information handy to facilitate the proper relay of commands.

"Quick, have her report to this meeting immediately. Send a report to all Aburame teams that are out on patrol and reconnaissance missions, and have them regroup back at a new rally point; substitute them with other teams that are currently on standby." Tsunade relayed her command to the ANBU, who was waiting for her orders, who quickly complied and flickered to carry out the orders.

"Tsunade-sama, is something an issue?" The captain from the Sarutobi clan couldn't help but ask in concern, to which she simply placed the dead hornet on the table and passed the scroll over to Hiashi so that he could share the details with everyone.

"Hiashi, I will also need a team of your best Hyuga sensor ninjas posted around the camp for barrier guard duty, and I need a group of your elites to accompany the Aburame team that is gearing up as we speak." Tsunade knew that, with the Byakugan, they should be able to track down these troublesome opponents.

"Tsunade-sama, it says that the Kamizuru clan is trying to probe our location, and we will need to act immediately to help keep the HQ location from falling into Iwagakure hands." Hiashi shared the contents of the scroll with everyone in the meeting.

"Yes, this hornet was from the Kamizuru clan. For those of you here who are not familiar with them, they are a prominent clan of bee users within Iwa, similar to our Aburame clan, who use bugs. This hornet was detected not far from our HQ barrier, so the enemy must be trying to probe our location. We cannot have them spread out their bees throughout the battlefield, as we might fall into a disadvantage because, just like the Aburame clan, not everyone can detect their bees, especially our Genin and Chunin, who might easily fall prey to them. So, we need to strike first."

After a few minutes, a young woman in her mid-twenties entered the command tent. She was none other than Aburame Mayumi, whom Tsunade had asked for.

"Tsunade-sama," the Aburame Jonin respectfully bowed to greet the Senju head. With a gesture from Tsunade, Hiashi passed the scroll over to Mayumi, who took it and immediately realized why she was summoned.

"What are your orders, commander? Most of the Aburame members are ready to be deployed, and the few others out on patrol or reconnaissance missions will be able to join us on the way." The Jonin didn't beat around the bush, as she knew the urgency of the matter.

"I will send an elite unit of Hyuga along with an ANBU squad and fifty Shinobi from the Sarutobi clan. I want you to immediately hunt down every Kamizuru clan member that you can find. Hiashi will personally lead the team." And then she turned to address the head of the Hyuga clan: "Hiashi, take your best. Don't worry about pushing into the enemy lines. If you feel that it might lead to a large-scale conflict, strategically retreat, but keep harassing the enemy. I intend to deliver a huge blow if they overextend. I will personally join the battle if the situation escalates." Tsunade was not the type of commander who liked to play a cat-and-mouse game. If the enemy was not willing to launch a large-scale offensive, she would launch one herself to kill the enemies sooner.

"I will assign additional medical scrolls to the attack squad so you guys can be as aggressive as possible, but make sure not to get surrounded. I might need some time to rally our army to launch the counteroffensive. Is that understood?" Tsunade knew that probing the enemy in such a way was foolish. She would not have tried such an aggressive approach if she didn't have access to the medical scrolls.

"Yes, Tsunade-sama, we will complete the mission successfully." Hiashi quickly relayed his orders, while the Jonin from Sarutobi and the Aburame clan followed him.

Within half an hour, close to two hundred Shinobi were rallied, led by Vice Commander Hiashi himself. As they passed by the barrier set by Kazuki, he noticed a chakra signature he was familiar with and turned to observe the attack squad that was leaving the barrier. Kazuki quickly noticed Torune, who was following an Aburame member as part of the attack squad. Kazuki simply observed and returned to his work because he was currently holding a different persona.

Kazuki's original team was temporarily suspended due to the war. Itachi joined the Uchiha to participate in the Kiri battlefield, while Gai sensei was assigned to the Kumogakure battlefield alongside Kakashi. Torune had been assigned by his clan to participate in the Iwa Front.

Although the Aburame team had an idea of what they were looking for, it took them eight hours to find their first adversary from the Kamizuru clan. On the way, they had to engage in a few small skirmishes, which the attack squad easily dealt with. Currently, the entire squad of two hundred Leaf Shinobi is hiding a few miles away from an Iwa sentry outpost. Mayumi and the rest of the Aburame members were using their respective bugs to scout the vicinity to make sure there was no ambush because, by now, the Iwagakure team should have gotten the information that close to two hundred elites from Konoha have been mobilized. The Hyuga were also keeping a watchful eye over their surroundings to avoid being cornered.

"Hyuga-sama, from the initial estimates, we have detected close to eighty Iwa Shinobi in the vicinity. There are four Kamizuru clan members among them. They still haven't spotted us, but they will soon know as we have taken down some of their bees."

As Hiashi was the leader of this attack, Mayumi quickly relayed the information that they had just scouted. The Aburame bugs had a much wider range of scouting due to their bugs compared to the Hyuga. Just as the Hyuga head was about to relay his order, a small voice addressed him from the side.

"Vice commander, I just detected a team of over three hundred Iwa Shinobi approaching in this direction from the east. They are about a dozen miles out." Torune shared the new information. Even among the Aburame, Torune held an advantage because the bugs he handled were too hard to detect. The Aburame clan head had personally asked Mayumi to take care of Torune on the battlefield.

Hiashi was weighing the risks of trying to launch an attack because, with the incoming Iwa troops, they should have somewhere close to more than twice their numbers. So he quickly made a decision.

"Set up an ambush here; half of us will rain down a surprise attack on the outpost and immediately retreat. I am sure the incoming Iwa troop along with those on the outpost will pursue us, and we can catch them off guard." He then quickly relayed his instructions. The best fighters would launch a surprise assault on the outpost and run when they saw the Iwa army approaching. However, before they left, Mayumi personally shared a couple of pills with all the members, including the Aburame in the squad. When asked, she stated that it was the antidote for the poisons that they were going to deploy in the traps.

However, what she didn't disclose was that these pills were something they needed to survive if Torune was to unleash his rinkaichu in the upcoming battle. These pills were specially supplied by Tsunade herself, and even when the Aburame clan tried to reverse-engineer them, they couldn't do so. Tsunade had strictly mentioned it to the Aburame head not to disclose the availability of such pills to anyone unless necessary, as it might help counter a lethal weapon such as Torune.

A few of the Hyuga branch members first consumed the pills because this was how they were raised. Mayumi and the Sarutobi Jonin who saw this behavior chose not to comment, as these were internal clan matters in which they could not get involved.

After Hiashi and part of the team were ready, they quickly moved in the direction of the outpost. Even a couple of Aburame members were going along to counter the bees that were spread out around the outpost.

Inside the Iwa outpost, four of the Kamizuru members were keeping track of their surroundings. They had recently received orders from their commander to locate the enemy headquarters, so most of their clan members had mobilized. Suddenly, all four noticed an anomaly. Their bees, which were surrounding their outpost, were getting slaughtered at a rapid rate. One of them immediately shot up.

"Incoming enemy attack!" However, just when he started warning his comrades, close to a hundred Konoha Shinobi rushed into the outpost.

"[Katon: Gōen no Jutsu]" (Fire Release: Great Flame Technique) The Sarutobi elites made the first move on the enemies by launching a combination of a large-scale attack and an enormous vortex of rapidly expanding flames.

However, the Iwa Shinobi within the outpost quickly organized themselves and launched a counterattack to defend against the incoming onslaught of the torrential flames.

"[Doton: Banri Doryūheki]" (Earth Release: Great Mud Wall) A huge mud wall was quickly raised by the combined efforts of the Iwa Shinobi.

Suddenly, almost the entire outpost was filled with ash. "[Katon: Haisekishō]" (Fire Release: Ash Pile Burning) Most of the Iwa ninja were caught off guard, as they didn't expect the next chain of attacks. The incoming fire vortex was yet to subside, and the huge mud wall did not stop the ash from rapidly spreading into the outpost. Then, close to a hundred Kunai were thrown by the approaching Leaf Shinobi team, each tied with an explosive tag. All they needed was just one kunai to reach the now rapidly spreading ash to trigger it. The elite Iwa Jonin, who was in charge, quickly understood the enemies' intent.