Chapter 92: Chapter 91: Distraction
Under the shroud of darkness, five figures moved silently through the dense foliage of the forest. They were clad in matching grey cloaks and from the way that they were flickering, it was clear that they were Shinobi.
Each figure wore an animal mask with the first figure having a cat mask on. Beside them was another figure donned a wolf mask, while the three figures following closely behind them, wore tortoise, leopard and a fox masks.
The group of shinobi moved to the forest and eventually emerged into a vast expanse of grasslands stretching out before them. After a couple of metres, the group stopped.
At the forefront of the group, the shinobi wearing the wolf mask turned to their side and signalled to the figure adorning the leopard mask. With a nod, the fox shinobi stepped forward and made a set of hand signs.
As the final hand sign was formed, a ripple passed through the air distorting the view before them. The grassland transformed into a rugged valley dotted with numerous caves. There were torched lights scattered all over, clearly this was the base of an organization.
The valley stretched out below them, and they were lucky that they were close to the edge of a sheer cliff granting them a commanding view of their surroundings.
With the genjutsu broken, Leopard made a hand sign as he erected a barrier around the valley as Wolf asked, "Cat, how many people are there?"
Cat activated his chakra field and after a few seconds, answered, "There are around a hundred and fifty people in the base,"
Wolf nodded, "How many Jounins?"
"Eight," Cat replied.
Wolf Absorbing the information as she contemplated their next course of action. With the number of their enemies now known, the group would need to adjust their strategy accordingly, ensuring that their approach was well thought through.
"You all know what to do," Wolf said to her four companions who dispersed in different directions, disappearing into the shadows of the night. Wolf remained behind and focused her Chakra.
Slowlyclaws began to emerge from her hands, extending outwards. With her preparations complete, flickered to the darkness of the night. The masked group only had one objective, and that was to eliminate every person in the base.
What followed could only be described as a massacre. Wolf descended upon the unsuspecting guards stationed at the perimeter of the base. Her movements were swift and calculated, her claws slicing through the air with lethal efficiency.
The guards, caught off guard, had little time to react as Wolf unleashed her fury upon them. One by one, they fell before her with their cries of alarm muffled by their predator.
As the last of the guards fell silent, she did not stop and walked into the base to continue her slaughter.
A similar, though less bloody, scene was happening in other parts of the valley as each member of the group executed their assigned tasks with ruthless efficiency.
Tortoise, who was a Yamanaka, infiltrated a room where several unsuspecting victims lay asleep. With a swift hand sign, he used a jutsu that targeted their nervous systems, snuffing out their lives without a sound. The victims had a better end to their lives than some of their counterparts as they died in their sleep.
Fox, a member of the Nara clan, used one of his clan's techniques that extended his shadow and bound his victims eventually strangling them to death. With how quick and efficient the process was he moved on from cave to cave just like Tortoise.
The remaining members of the team carried out their own missions with equal determination. While they were not from any renowned clans in Konoha, that did not stop them from matching their colleagues' body count.
After close to three hours, the only living souls were the masked figures. With the base now under their control, the masked figures ransacked the entire base, looting anything they deemed useful. They gathered supplies, weapons, and information, leaving no stone unturned.
As they were ransacking the rooms, they entered rooms where their senses were assaulted by the overwhelming stench of death. Rows upon rows of lifeless bodies lay before them, arranged in an order similar to what Renjiro's squad had discovered the day before.
Wolf said with a sombre tone. "We need to gather the bodies and store them," she instructed, "We'll sort them back at the village."
The masked figures set to work and stored the lifeless bodies with care. there were countless bodies, twice as many as the people who were alive in the base a couple of hours ago.
Fox was the first among them who finished first, giving him time to think. "Something doesn't feel right," he muttered.
Tortoise noticed him deep in thought. He couldn't see it through the mask but since he had known Fox since his early years, he knew him like the back of his hand.
As Tortoise approached, Fox felt a voice in his head, "What is wrong Shikaku?"
"Inoichi," he responded silently, they were on a mission so this was the best way they could communicate without exposing their identities "Something about this feels wrong."
Tortoise, who was Inoichi Yamanaka, furrowed his brows in contemplation and asked "Why do you say that?"
Fox, who was Shikaku Nara, hesitated for a moment, grappling with the swirling doubts that clouded his mind. "The cult's power," he explained, "It doesn't match what expected. They should have put up more of a fight. They also killed people in Konoha, so they must have already prepared for our retaliation, but it seems we caught them off guard."
While Shikaku might have sounded arrogant, Inoichi knew better than to see it that way. He said, "Perhaps this was just a branch of a larger organization, The documents we got could lead us to their main base."
Before Shikaku could respond, Wolf appeared beside them and said, "It seems our work here is done," she declared, "Let's burn this place to the ground before we return to the village."
Back in the village, Fujioka had just informed his squad about the result of their investigations.
"Fujioka-sama, I have been thinking about the case for a while, and I think we might have made wrong conclusions," Renjiro said.
'Wrong conclusions?' Fujioka thought as he squinted his eyes.
"What makes you think so Renjiro?"
'Maybe I am overthinking, but here goes...' Renjiro thought.
"I feel like this case might have been just a distraction," Renjiro began, "We concluded that a cult might have done this, which is where we made our first mistake."
Renjiro looked at his squad members and when he saw that they were intently listening, he continued, "A cult, especially one that deals with human sacrifices, would want to remain under the radar. Murdering civilians in a village like Konoha seems out of character."
"So you are saying that the cult group was framed?" Kagami asked.
Renjiro nodded, "Yes, but I don't know by who."
"The anbu is already handling this case, so whether your doubts are true or not, it won't really change the situation," Fujioka said.
"If the group was indeed framed, then it means that the remaining missing civilians are alive," Hae added
"Yes, if they do not get any bodies of the missing civilians, then the murders we discovered were just distractions."
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