Kapitel 394: The Hidden Stone Village
As the carriage entered the Hidden Stone village, Yami looked around and saw the atmosphere of the village. It was very different than the Hidden Leaf. Stone shinobis were roaming around the streets maintaining order and everything was made of stone. There wasn't much greenery to see but the people looked happy.
'The Hidden Stone has never been invaded and they have mostly been the initiators of attacks rather than being the victims so it is obvious that they aren't facing much problems here. The only problem with them is that just like the Hidden Sand, they are extremely short on resources, and that is why have to get them from other lands.' Yami thought. He was still sitting on the carriage. The carriage took a few turns and stopped inside an empty warehouse.
"Sir, this is a safe place. You can go on your way from here and no one will notice you." The 2nd person said but then he and Yami both heard a shout.
"NO…you ain't going anywhere."
As they looked in the direction of the sound, they saw it was the Big Brother with an axe in his hand.
"Big brother, what do you think you are doing?" the 2nd person asked to which the man replied "He gave you so much money to just get him in which means that he doesn't hold any good intentions toward our village. And you have helped such a person get in?"
"Stop overreacting like that big bro. Everyone in this world looks out for themselves and with this money, we can't just clear our debt but also get new goods to sell." The 2nd person said showing the money pouch as a way to entice his brother with the deal.
"We will do it but not today. I gotta stop this man before he does something." The big brother said firmly as he started to walk toward Yami but just as both the brothers were looking at Yami at the same time, Yami activated his Sharingan.
Even though Yami was called the Genjutsu demon, he hardly used Genjutsu because he thought that if someone can't even match up in strength, why waste chakra with illusions and mind games?
The next second, both the brothers stood in front of Yami as if in a genjutsu.
"It was only you two who came on this carriage. You have been hired by a man who looks like me to escort me out of the hidden stone till the hidden land of hot water. This pouch filled with money is the entire payment for the mission." Yami iterated expecting them to believe what was just told to them.
The two brothers suddenly felt that they had woken up from a sleep.
"Huh? Oh, it's our warehouse. Sir, who are y…." the 1st brother was about to ask when he saw the money pouch and remembered that he and his brother just made a deal.
"Yes Sir, you told us that you needed us to escort you from here to the land of hot water. Can you give more details like when are you leaving and why have you hired us of all people?" the 1st brother asked. While this was happening, the 2nd brother stood to the side without uttering a single word. It was as if the entire deal was done by the 1st brother which assured Yami that the genjutsu was successful and the effect of this would last for days.
"I don't know when I will be done with my work. But if it is done within the next 5 days then we will need to leave. I am just hiring you because you need to be ready to leave at a moment's notice." Yami said which convinced the big brother to a certain extent. It made sense to pay someone for such special service and since the brothers didn't have much to do, they could always be ready to go when Yami came to them.
"I will take my leave now." Yami said as he left the warehouse. He went to the market and got mixed in with the crowd so that no one would see him as a suspicious character. He could've used his summons or genjutsu to get inside the hidden stone but if some skilled guard spots the genjutsu or the hidden stone has some countermeasures in place against certain jutsus, Yami could alert the entire village. With that, it would become hard to approach the Tsuchikage.
'I know the Tsuchikage Onoki won't take kindly to me sneaking inside his village but he isn't a completely unreasonable man. With a little wit and show of force, I might be able to make him listen. First things first let's make contact with the old man. It's not like I have ample amount of time to gather intel and then make a plan to act on it.' Yami thought as he headed toward the big building in the center of the village. It was obvious that this building was the place where the Tsuchikage would sit.
As Yami was casing the big building, he saw a familiar face. It wasn't a face he knew after coming here but someone from the canon. It was none other than the current Tsuchikage's granddaughter and the future Tsuchikage, Kurotsuchi.
She was accompanied by 2 shinobis with whom she kept arguing about something. Yami decided to follow the group for a few minutes to see where it led. He knew that if he needed to pinpoint the old coot's location, only his granddaughter could do it.
As he was following, he could overhear what they were talking. His hyper-sensitive ears due to being a bat summon didn't need any kind of chakra so there wasn't much risk. The only trouble would be excluding all the other sounds.
"Why is he being so stubborn?" Kurotsuchi said in an annoyed tone.
"Miss Kurotsuchi, you need to understand. Now is not the time to go off the rails and confront the Akatsuki." A shinobi standing beside her explained.
"But how can we just let Deidara be when he caused so much destruction and death while leaving our village? I was there…I have witnessed the chaos he caused because of his madness and I won't rest until I bring him to justice. When did our village adopt such cowardice?" Kurotsuchi said as she folded her hands in anger and picked up her pace.
"This isn't cowardice but simply waiting for the right opportunity. We ourselves have employed the Akatsuki a few times to do our bidding and we know the power they hold but not the full extent of it. Attacking an enemy without knowing their full strength would be considered as recklessness and Lord Tsuchikage would never make such a mistake."
"Hmph… Grandpa has gotten old now and his back aches the whole time. I wonder if he can even fight. He needs to let someone young take over so that they can take gutsy decisions. Look at the other villages, the hidden leaf of which everyone is so jealous about, they not only managed to shield themselves from the Akatsuki's attack but they also helped the Hidden Sand when the Akatsuki attacked and took the fight to their hideout. Even the hidden cloud village whom we consider a mutually beneficial ally, has managed to kill an Akatsuki member." Kurotsuchi went on a rant about the Akatsuki. By the time the talks had come to this, Kurotsuchi and the 2 shinobis had reached a residential area. It seemed a little high rise as compared to the ones Yami saw when he entered.
'These residential areas must be for the clans that is why they seem in such a better state.' Yami thought. He couldn't go much further without getting noticed because the number of stone shinobis in this area was high.
Yami looked around and saw a few young shinobis enter a diner that was meant for shinobis and commoners alike. He entered the diner and saw that most of the people there were drinking alcohol and were busy in themselves. Yami went to the washroom and waited for someone useful to enter. This was the only place he could find where not many people came.
'The hidden mist was much more easy to infiltrate due to the forests and vast lands but this village is inside closed walls and heavily guarded by the shinobis of this village. The Tsuchikage really controls every aspect of the village and I don't know how much they have progressed regarding the stone golems so it's better not to sneak in as a commoner.' Yami thought as he heard a man walk in. The man seemed to be a stone shinobi who was very drunk and decided to come here and puke. As he was spilling his guts in the sink, Yami sneaked in behind him and knocked him down.
'Dammit, I can't even kill this one.' Yami said as he dragged the unconscious shinobi to the toilet booth in the corner.
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