Gari and I were going back to our camp after failing to capture our targets.
"So how are you going to deceive Tonja from going alone to death while we go to Land of Rain without letting him discover?
You know he is not a 10 years old kid who believes in everything they hear." Gari asked me.
"Well, I haven't thought about it either. Maybe you could transform to a messenger bird and create this whole fake act about receiving a new mission to go to Land of Rain from Onoki, in front of him. How does that sound?" I asked Gari.
Gari just shooked his head and disagreed with me.
"He is not an idiot. We don't have Tsuchikage's stamp to make the whole thing believable. Also, creating faking Tsuchikage's order is equal to 20 years of jail. Too risky."
Gari made very reasonable denial. Therefore I didn't try to disagree with him.
"So then what do you think we should do?" this time I asked him as I run out of the idea.
"I suggest we confront him directly and ask to be a bait for us while we escape." Gari made some damn bold suggestions.
"What?? Your idea is more ridiculous than mine!! Who would be a bait to die?"
"Listen to me for the second, Genji. Even if we manage to deceive him, I am sure he will realize we abandoned him later shortly and might even backstab us.
That's why we should be honest and ask for his cooperation. I am sure he too knows about Konoha pursuers, and we might not make it.
Kitsuchi is the son of Tsuchikage-sama. As Iwa shinobi, we must protect him no matter what. Since out of loyalty and kindness, he would agree to be a bait as long as we accept his last requests.
Genji, I know you are still not agreeable, but trust me on this one. I have a feeling that it would work out" Gari reasoned his plan.
I looked up at the sky, thinking about Gari's reason. I couldn't think of an idea, and Gari's direct approach seems doable. I raised my hand and agreed to Gari. I guess I should trust Gari once this time and let him do the job.
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We returned to our camp safely. The rest of our squad were still replenishing their chakra. Hizashi Hyuga stilled alive and was tied at the corner.
Since he didn't have a bird seal yet, we took out his Hyuga eyes safely without killing him. As for why I didn't kill him was because of his bloodline. He can easily become a top tier s*x slave in Iwa.
Gari and I asked out Tonja privately to tell him our plan. I just let Gari talk while I stand behind and be ready to move out, in case Tonja get over sensitive and attack.
Gari spoke to Tonja for roughly 10 minutes. I could see Tonja's face was getting darker and darker.
Tonja became quiet and lowered his face after finished listening to Gari. I mean, anyone would be emotional after being told off to be a bait and possibly die.
After another 10 minutes of silence, Tonja got up suddenly. Surprisingly, Tonja just showed his smile and just laughed.
"Hahaha, alright. I will be a bait for Konoha pursuers while you guys escape. Don't worry about it. This all happened all because of me from the start. I should be responsible for this." Tonja spoke.
I gotta applaud for his loyalty and decision for sacrificing himself. I am starting to see why Onoki and Hiruzen are prioritizing the will of their respective villages.
"I have a request for you guys. If I die, I want you guys to take care of my little boy. He would be turning into 7 this year. His mother died giving birth to him, and he has only me.
I asked the orphanage to take care of him temporarily when I left for this mission." Tonja said.
"Alright, what's your boy's name?" I asked.
"His name is Han. Just only Han. Take care of him for me if I die."
'What?? Han? Isn't that five tailed Jinchuiriki's name? Holy fuck! He is Han's dad. But isn't Han suppose to be an orphan? System, explain now.'
System: "He is indeed five tailed Jinchuriki's dad. He died by Nawaki and Konoha kid geniuses during the pursuit. But the host and host's squad's appearance interrupted his death."
'Well, it seems like he is destined to die here anyway.'
"Okay, we will take care of Han for you," Gari accepted Tonja's request.
After agreeing with Tonja, we gave Dan's hair and blood, a mask coated with Hizashi's blood, and bits of our clothing.
Tonja didn't hesitate and parted immediately there without saying a word to our squad.
We went back to our squad and told them Tonja had another mission and left ahead. Obviously, Kimiko, Kan, and Gin didn't believe us, but dumb Kitsuchi did.
"If he is gone, then what about our mission? Did I fail or pass?" Kituschi asked.
"Yes, you passed. You can now go join the war. In fact, we are going to the frontline straight now. Don't ask any more questions." I ordered.
'Hey, system. Do you have earth style jutsu that can erase our smell or scent from dogs or bugs in the database? I think I saw one other day.'
System: "Yes, Host is mentioning "Earth style: Earth cover jutsu." This is C-rank jutsu which covers the user's whole body with the earth. This jutsu was made especially to prevent users from being scented by dogs or bugs. However, this jutsu slows down the speed of the user greatly and easy to learn."
'Well, ok. Give me the scroll. I will learn now.'
It took me like 20 minutes to learn the jutsu. I am really grateful for my talent for chakra-control. I performed this jutsu to everyone, including Hizashi.
Now, this will prevent Konoha pursuers from detecting us and focus on Tonja or confirm Dan and Nawaki's death or finding the missing heirs instead.
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(2 days later)
Sixty Konoha pursuers consist of 30 Anbu and 30 clan members from Uchiha, Nara, Yamanaka, Akimichi, Inuzuka, Hyuga, and Aburame clan found the group of Konoha kids.
One-armed Minato, blind Fugaku, and tired Hiashi never been this relieved to see a large group of Konoha shinobi before. They now know how scary the war is. One lost his proud eyes, one lost a dominant arm, and one lost his sibling.
They ran away instantly from their temporary camp when they saw a signal sent by Shikaku and have been wandering around the forest until now.
60 Konoha reinforcements got intel from them and started searching for Shikaku trios and Nawaki. After 2 hours of searching with dogs, they found Shikaku and his team inside the deep cave.
They also found last Anbu's corpse and the abyss where Nawaki fall. They concluded that Nawaki Senju is dead and 20 shinobi to retrieve his corpse.
They were shocked that just a group of Iwa kids could kill 3 Anbu and heavily damage Konoha's geniuses.
But the surprise didn't end there when they found Dan's corpse. Dan was considered one of the elite Jounins in Konoha and strong enough to be a candidate for Hokage.
And boom! Here, they never imagined Dan would die by a group of Iwa kids, no less than 15 years old.
A few hours later, they finished their searching. They calculated the loss and it was just beyond horrifying. Especially Dan and Nawaki's deaths and abduction of Hizashi.
This was a huge loss to Konoha and big, big, and big news. They instantly sent reports using top tier message bird to Hokage, asking for more reinforcements and border lockdown.
They didn't dare to underestimate Genji and others as they freaking killed Dan!
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(Hokage Office)
Hiruzen was piping his smoke while worrying about Nawaki and other Genin's safety. He didn't expect such a low-rank mission would turn out to be dangerous. What did Onoki send such high-level shinobi for a low-level spy? Did that spy get some incredible intel or something?
He promised Tsunade that Nawaki will be absolutely safe, and the next thing he got was Nawaki got captured. To make sure Nawaki is safe, he arranged 60 elite ninjas all above the Chunin level.
He also heard Dan was there too, that should take off worry from Hiruzen but no news for 2 days gave him an uneasy feeling.
Suddenly the secretary just stomped into the office without even knocking. Hiruzen didn't get angry at the secretary for such rude behavior as he knew only at emergency his secretary would come stomping.
"Hokage-sama, Emergency top tier messenger bird from the rescue team arrived. It says that... it says that...." Secretary couldn't finish his sentence.
This got Hiruzen impatient and hurried secretary to say.
"Hokage-sama, according to our rescue team, Konoha Geniuses have been all severely injured while 3 of Anbu are dead.
Minato Namikaze lost his arm, Uchiha Fugaku lost both of his eyes, Inoichi Yamanaka has been severely burned, Choza Akimichi's arms have been disabled, Shikaku Nara has bruises from falling high place, and Hiashi Hyuga is the only one fine.
As for Hizashi Hyuga, he has been abducted alive.
Also, we suspect that Nawaki Senju has fallen to a deep abyss and died. Still finding his corpse.
Lastly....lastly, Dan-sama found dead. His upper body has been melted by lava while there were signs of the explosion all over his body.
Furthermore, we have found that Iwa shinobi are all just 6 teenagers along with the spy. None of them are found dead and they are currently on the run.
The rescue team request the complete lockdown of the border and ask for more reinforcements to capture Iwa shinobi." Secretary finished his report while looking at Hokage.
Hiruzen dropped his smoke pipe from his mouth out of shock.
Hiruzen felt like he was listening to a pile of bullshits.
Most of Konoha's young geniuses have been disabled. Hyuga got kidnapped! Nawaki is dead!!! Dan is also dead?!!!!! And shit all of these were done by just 6 Iwa shinobi kids and spy??? Just what kind of monsters are Iwa raising??
Hiruzen couldn't just believe Dan died that easily. He was planning to pass him his hat after this war.
"Pass the order to every border patrols in Konoha-Iwa border to lock down the border completely. Tell them not even a single ant is allowed to leave!!!
Also, order 100 Anbu to go support the rescue team, in searching for those Iwa shinobi. No matter what, you must find them." Hiruzen ordered Secretary.
After sending out the secretary, Hiruzen called Anbu commander.
"What is it that you called me, Hokage-sama?"
"I wanted to pass down my will to you before I go confront death. In case I die, I recommend my student Orochimaru to be my successor. He is smart and genius, I am sure he will bring Konoha to victory."
"What do you mean, Hokage-sama? How can you say those words? You are the strongest and we Anbu will protect you from any danger even if we risk our life." Anbu commander swore.
Hiruzen just shook his head.
"You won't be able to protect me. Even if I deploy whole Konoha shinobi, you guys can't stop those two. The two strongest women in the world!!!!
Now I have to go confront them about the recent sad news.
Remember my will!! If I die, Orochimaru is my vote."
Saying the word, Hiruzen slowly walked towards Senju's mansions.