Under the cover of night, the peaceful silence of Sakai Town, one of the many towns in the Land of Wind, was shattered by a frantic shout.
"Intruders!" The voice rang out, urgent and filled with alarm.
The town's sensors, alerted by the tampered seals on the town's walls, had immediately detected the presence of unauthorized individuals.
Panic rippled through the town as guards scrambled to their positions, their feet shuffling rapidly across the ground, the sound echoing in the night air.
The sensors, only two in number, swiftly confirmed the intrusion. Their confirmation added a layer of urgency to the already chaotic scene as guards donned their armour and gathered their weapons to protect their town.
Even the town's leader, Rie Hōki, the matriarch of the Hōki clan, was not spared from the disturbance.
Rie Hōki, a formidable woman in her late forties with sharp features and an air of authority, was in her office, meticulously going through documents.
Her concentration was abruptly broken when her younger sister and aide, Nori, burst into the room.
"Sister, we're under attack!" Nori's voice was breathless, her eyes wide with panic.
The Hōki family was a matrilineal shinobi clan, renowned for their medical-nin prowess and skills in information gathering. They were one of the founding families of Sunagakure, entrusted with the governance of several towns in the Land of Wind, including their headquarters, Sakai Town.
Unique to the Hōki clan was their all-female bloodline, a result of the biological inability of the women to give birth to male children, even when intermarried with other clans.
The urgency in Nori's voice snapped Rie into action. She rose from her desk, her mind racing.
As the leader of the Hōki clan, it was her duty to protect her people. The clan's reputation as elite information gatherers of Sunagakure was at stake, and any failure would bring shame upon their entire lineage.
Quickly, Rie summoned a beast, a massive scorpion with a stinger dripping with poison. The beast's exoskeleton glistened under the moonlight, casting an ominous shadow.
Rie mounted the scorpion and charged towards the site of the disturbance, her heart pounding in her chest.
By the time she reached the location, the assailants were already disappearing. She caught a fleeting glimpse of their masked and cloaked figures just before they vanished into the night.
The only distinguishing features she could remember were that two of the three figures were blonde, while the other had brown hair.
"Where did they go?" Rie muttered, frustration creeping into her voice. She turned to her sister.
"Nori!"
Nori, understanding her sister's unspoken command, immediately activated her chakra field, her eyes closing in concentration.
She expanded her senses, searching for any trace of the intruders. Seconds ticked by in tense silence but to no avail. Nori opened her eyes,
"I-I can't sense them," she stuttered, her voice barely above a whisper.
Rie's fists clenched in anger. "How could they just disappear?" she shouted.
The frustration in her tone was palpable. As information gatherers of Sunagakure, the Hōki clan prided themselves on their ability to detect and prevent such situations. This failure was not just a breach of security but a direct blow to their honour and reputation.
As Rie looked around at the assembled clan members, who had joined her in confronting the assailants, she sought any explanation for what had just transpired. The faces of her clan members mirrored her confusion and frustration.
Surveying the scene, Rie's eyes widened in horror as she finally saw the extent of the damage to the town.
Rei's heart became heavy with a mix of relief and despair. Relief, because none of her clan members or the citizens of Sakai had perished in the attack.
Despair, because the infrastructure of her beloved town lay in shambles. The hospital, the school, the granaries, and the water tanks—essential facilities that kept the town running smoothly—were now buried under large mounds of earth.
She took a deep breath, steadying herself. The weight of her responsibilities as the clan leader pressed down on her shoulders. She needed to stay strong for her people, to lead them through this crisis.
After several minutes of gathering her thoughts, Rei finally managed to summon the strength to walk back to her office, one of the few non-residential buildings still standing in Sakai.
Inside the dimly lit office, Rei retrieved a scroll and quickly penned a message detailing the attack and the dire situation in Sakai. Once the message was complete, she made a series of hand signs. With a poof of smoke, a small scorpion, no larger than the palm of her hand, appeared before her.
"You know what to do," she instructed. The scorpion coiled its stinger around the scroll, securing it tightly. With another puff of smoke, it vanished.
"I hope he gets this message early," Rei muttered.
She knew that time was of the essence. With the message sent, she steeled herself for the daunting task ahead, remedying the situation in Sakai and restoring some semblance of normalcy to her town.
Hundreds of meters away from Sakai, in the vast, windswept desert, a kunai lay lodged in the sand, almost completely covered by the shifting grains.
Suddenly, three figures appeared out of thin air above it. One of the masked figures, a male, pulled back their mask and said.
"They almost got us this time," he remarked.
Another figure, a female, removed her mask and nodded in agreement, "Yes, and I used a majority of my chakra this time,"
The third figure, also a male, took off his mask and looked at his companions, "Don't worry, we only have one more place to visit before we head to the capital," he reassured them.
These three masked figures were Minato, Sama, and Hiro. Sakai had been the fifth village they had targeted in the last three days. Their mission was clear: to cripple the daily activities of strategic locations in the Land of Wind. While they did their best to minimize casualties, the destruction they left in their wake was substantial.
As Yano and Renjiro began their work within the capital, Minato and his team took a different approach, systematically targeting key points as they made their way north towards the capital city.
Minato understood the delicate balance of their mission, the Land of Wind's deep-rooted animosity towards Iwagakure and the Land of Earth as a whole meant they needed only a slight push to provoke a larger conflict.
By choosing isolated towns in the south, they aimed to contain the news until it was too late for an effective response.
Minato's strategy was clear, by the time they reached the capital, both Sunagakure and the Daimyo would be acutely aware of the chaos unfolding.
Attacking a city controlled by Sunagakure's information gatherers ensured that the Kazekage would be alerted swiftly. As they moved from town to town, Minato thought, 'Yes, news travels fast, but we work faster.'
Hiro, still bent over to compose himself, struggled with the effects of Minato's teleportation technique. Despite having been teleported numerous times over the past three days, the technique still made him dizzy, a condition exacerbated by his depleted chakra reserves.
The continuous use of the Earth-Style: Earth Burial jutsu to sink and bury buildings had taken a toll on him. Teaching the technique to Minato and Sama had been necessary to share the burden.
Sama, always focused on the mission, turned to Minato and asked, "So when are we going to the next destination?"
'Wait she asking about the next part and I am here trying to catch my breath?' Hiro wondered.
Hiro, though annoyed by her impatience, kept his thoughts to himself. He was determined to prove his worth and refused to let the intensity of their work discourage him.
"We will be—" Minato began, but then he abruptly stopped. His expression shifted from calm to alarmed as he sensed something off. Without another word, he vanished, leaving Hiro and Sama in a state of confusion.
Hiro, not turning to Sama, asked, "Sama, do you think Minato disappeared because Yano-sama and Renjiro are in danger?"
"So you purposefully let your clones be discovered?" Yano asked, studying Renjiro's face and body language.
Renjiro nodded, "I also ordered them to use the few earth-natured jutsus that I knew here and there to fully paint the picture that Shinobi from Iwagakure attacked the nobles.
It's a deception within a deception. At first, they would suspect the Iwa Shinobi in the city, but after they notice that most of the damage caused was by wind jutsus, they'll eventually conclude that Suna Shinobi did this. Them concluding this on their own would make them less likely to even think that someone might be impersonating Suna Shinobi."
Yano felt a shiver run down his spine. 'That is frightening and also smart,' he thought.
The sheer ingenuity of Renjiro's plan forced him to compare Renjiro to his own clan head, a notorious schemer. He was in awe of Renjiro's idea and couldn't help but start seeing him in a different light.
'With the way he is quick on his feet plus his wits, he might be a good candidate for…' Yano's thoughts trailed off as he was interrupted by Renjiro's question.
"What's next? Have we completed our mission, or do we need to stay here?"
"No," Yano replied, shaking off his thoughts.
"First, we will wait and see how the capital reacts. With Asa being here, they might first suspect him. Once we have gauged their response, then we can decide where and when to apply pressure or just leave."
Renjiro nodded, and they both made their way back to the caravan's quarters. As they did, Renjiro couldn't help but think, 'I already have a present waiting for Asa the next time he goes to the Daimyo's court.'
In his quarters, Asa was in the middle of a crisis. The guards and shinobi in the capital city had already determined that his squad was not responsible for what happened to the nobles since they had not taken a foot out of their quarters, which were closely monitored. Despite this, Asa couldn't shake the feeling of a noose tightening around his neck.
'What is happening,?' Asa thought, pacing back and forth.
'No, this cannot be happening. I had been planning for this for a while. After I defeated the Four Tails and handed it to the village, I knew that I needed to strike first and get the Daimyo's support. So who is planning against me?'
'Is Onoki scheming against me? I am not sure whether he knows what I am doing, and even if he knew, he wouldn't bother doing anything since he always looks down on me because I only have a Kekkei Genkai while he has Dust Release.'
Asa stopped and looked around the room. His squad was quiet, each member deep in their own thoughts.
One of his squad members, Okuma, finally spoke up. "Lord Asa, what should we do? The guards have nearly vindicated us, but the fact that the people identified near the homes of the dead nobles were shadow clones is a problem."
Asa clenched his fists, 'With the murders being shadow clones makes me think that maybe Konoha is involved. Or maybe Ohnoki paid some mercenaries to frame Konoha?' His mind raced with possibilities.
"We need to stay calm," Asa said, trying his best to reassure his squad
Okuma nodded, "Understood, Lord Asa."
Asa continued to pace, 'If it's Konoha, they would need a very good reason to interfere here. They wouldn't risk a conflict with the Land of Earth without significant cause. On the other hand, if it's Onoki, he would need to be very subtle. He wouldn't openly attack his own shinobis unless he had a plan to benefit from it. But why use shadow clones? Unless…'
Asa stopped, his eyes widening as a new thought occurred to him. 'Unless Onoki wanted to create confusion and make it look like Konoha was involved. But that's a risky move, even for him. No, there has to be more to this.'
Asa was deep in his thoughts, trying to piece together the fragmented puzzle of the conspiracy against him when he was disturbed by an attendant.
The attendant, dressed in the traditional garb of the Daimyo's court, bowed slightly and gestured for Asa to follow him. It was time for Asa to report his findings to the Daimyo.
Asa knew this wasn't a benevolent gesture from the Daimyo. While it might appear that the Daimyo was giving him a chance to clear his name, Asa understood the underlying ploy.
The Daimyo was setting the stage to wash his hands of Asa should he make any mistake regarding this matter. The court officials were like a pack of beasts, waiting to pounce on any sign of weakness or failure from Asa.
As Asa walked through the grand corridors of the palace, he thought ruefully, 'It seems that the Daimyo has already made his decision on my proposal.'
Nevertheless, Asa had vowed to himself that he wouldn't give them the chance to undermine his cause. Failure here would give Onoki the justification he needed to eliminate him once and for all.
Upon entering the Daimyo's hall, Asa was greeted by the imposing figure of the Daimyo seated on his ornate throne. The hall was filled with court officials, all of whom turned their scrutinizing gaze on Asa as he entered.
"Asa, I hope that you come with good news," the Daimyo said immediately as Asa entered the hall.
Asa bowed deeply, "Yes, Lord-Daimyo," he said, his voice steady. "After investigating the matter, we found out that the shinobi responsible were from other villages."
The Daimyo raised a brow, "Why and which villages?"
Before Asa could respond, a snide remark came from Usui, one of the high-ranking officials in the Daimyo's court. "Now he wants to blame another village."
Asa felt a surge of annoyance but kept his composure. He ignored the remark and continued, "The assailants were all clones, and after eliminating them, we found out that they were shadow clones."
The hall erupted in murmurs. The revelation that shadow clones were involved pointed unmistakably to Konoha, as the technique was widely recognized as one of their specialities.
The Daimyo's eyes narrowed. "What are you trying to say, Asa?"
Before Asa could answer, Usui interjected again, "Konoha cannot be involved here. Asa is just trying to distract us from the fact that he came here to the capital to commit these acts."
Ignoring Usui's interruption, Asa continued, "Lord Daimyo, the killings were committed using wind chakra nature. So it is either shinobi from Konoha or Suna behind this."
"Suna must be behind this!" a voice shouted from the assembled officials. Given the cold relations between the Land of Wind and the Land of Earth, this conclusion was expected.
No one argued against this until Usui spoke again, "Why are you idiots falling for this? Asa was clearly behind this attack! He is trying to kill us before he..." Usui couldn't finish his statement because the atmosphere in the hall shifted dramatically.
A heavy, oppressive presence filled the room as Asa flared his chakra. The sudden change in the atmosphere silenced everyone, and all eyes turned to Asa.
=====
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