The misty morning sun cast a mystical glow over the forest as the group of 6 shinobis, blending seamlessly with the shadows, jump silently from one tree branch to the other.
Their footsteps barely disturbed the leaves, their breathing barely audible, as they moved with precision, their eyes scanning the surroundings for any signs of danger or detection.
About 400km West of Tanzaku Quarters, and 800km West of Konohagakure. Mizuna and his group are scouting the area around the borders of the land of fire and the land of rivers as per the mission they have taken a while back
"Remember one of you should always activate a byakugan and scan the surroundings even the grounds below us"
"Finally some action, you made us all stay at home yesterday while you enslaved all the Hyugas"
"you were the only one that stayed home and slept Aunt Kimi, they all went out and went to different food stalls"
Mizuna then looked at Hiyori, Asami, Hirabi and Miss Jonin. They smiled at him
"huh? They did?" Kimi then looked at the other shinobis
"yeah you must be so tired you didn't notice them leaving, letting everyone rest yesterday was a good decision on my part"
"but you didn't rest son, you enslaved 23 Hyugas and it took you almost half a day"
"five of them were Jonin so it took a while but it's worth it"
"What did you ask them to do?" Hirabi asked with a worried expression. Mizuna looked at her and said "Don't worry I only told them to be on standby at Tanzaku Quarters and look for high-rank mercenaries" and smiled "I-I see" Hirabi smiled back with a red face
"eldest young lord may I ask why do you need mercenaries?"
Mizuna looked at Miss Jonin and said "As you know mercenaries are greedy and selfish, their loyalty depends on how much you pay them. Losing one or twenty of them is better than losing one from the Hyuga clan"
"I see" All the Hyugas smiled after hearing his answer even Kimi
"Also I can't always link my actions to the Hyuga clan. If we keep raiding with just this group someone will eventually point a finger on us. I'll create my personal Anbu squad composed of Jonins with different techniques and Kekkei Genkai and make them my diversions"
"The power of the Hyuga clan is also my deterrent against other clans of Konoha, If I kept sending them out for missions some of them would eventually die. I can't weaken the ones serving as my shield with my own hands"
Hiyori, Kimi, Asami, Hirabi, and Miss Jonin nodded
"That's wise of you my son, just like your father"
Mizuna missed the tree branch he was supposed to jump onto and fell after hearing what she said
*thug*
Clouds of dust covered the area where he landed. He then looked at his mother apologetically
'I'm sorry Mother I can't tell you that he's still alive, as you said I'm a son of a wise man, I'm probably a result of one of his experiments at gaining more power'
'As for enslaving you and Aunt Kimi like the others, I won't do that unless you force me to. Because the two of you are the anchors that help me keep my sanity in this crazy new world of mine
Hiyori who saw her son's sad expression jumped down and hugged her "What's wrong? Did you think about your father?"
"haha y-yeah you can say that". Hirabi who also misunderstood Mizuna becomes teary
Kimi jumped down and approached the two and said "I didn't know you're this soft-hearted little twerp" while patting his back with a teasing smile
The silent procession of shadowy figures moved swiftly through the forest, their black-clad bodies blending seamlessly into the shadow of the trees surrounding them, their soft breathing and rustling leaves the only sounds breaking the stillness of the forest
Asami signalled the group "Stop, I see shinobis fighting over there" She then pointed towards a certain direction
"Byakugan" the group froze after witnessing a horrific scene
A group of shinobi, their faces masked and their bodies eerily silent, were attacking the villagers, some of whom were still alive, lay in pools of blood, screaming and pleading for mercy
The group watched in horror as the shinobis continued their ruthless killing spree leaving a trail of destruction and death in their wake
"Mizuna are just gonna stand here and wait?" "Shouldn't we do something?"
Asami and Hirabi looked at Mizuna. He shook his head and said "No we only come here to scout not engage in combat"
"b-but look at them, they need help"
"The two of you are only chunin you probably didn't notice but there are 10 Jonin in that group and about 40 chunin"
Mizuna then placed both of his hands on top of their heads. Hirabi's face becomes red as a tomato "The two of you will surely die if we go there, and maybe some other Jonins in our group too. It's not worth the risk"
"You two are stationed in Konohagakure so you haven't witnessed something like this but this is happening everywhere sometimes even inside the Land of Fire"
"Why don't you transform into a Jinjuriki And attack them? I'm sure they won't be able to even scratch you"
"There's over 50 enemy shinobis there, I won't be able to kill them all. If even one of them escapes, news that Konoha might also have the seven-tails will surely spread because I'll be coming from this side, let's not complicate things further for us"
Asami and Hirabi looked down
"Those shinobis seemed to be from the land of wind"
Mizuna then looked at Hiyori, Kimi and Miss Jonin, and they nodded agreeing with what he said
"Let's go back and report this, we completed our mission with this information"
Thank you for reading this chapter! ^_^