A immediately shouted, "Who is spreading such nonsense?"
Mabui replied, "I believe it's the same group that spread the earlier rumors, Raikage-sama."
Inazuma interrupted their conversation and said, "Stop speaking among yourself and tell us whether it is the truth or not. Losing 255 ninjas will be a huge loss even during wartime. We have never ever had such a loss during peacetime."
A looked at Mabui and said, "Inform them."
Everyone in the room got a bit nervous. As they expected, A was hiding something!
Mabui said, "We haven't received any communications from Hari since this morning. I have dispatched Darui's squad to check whether they are fine. We will need to wait until they return to find out if something has happened or if the communications have been cut off somehow."
The room got restless on hearing that. They began feeling that those ridiculous rumors had some truth to them. One of the elders complained, "A, how can you hide such huge news from us?"
A snorted, "Messages not reaching is a very common thing. I didn't think there was anything to be concerned about. You old fellows need to stop wasting your and my time on the rumors Hiruzen is spreading and instead prepare for war!"
However, Inazuma argued, "First we need to know the truth of this incident. If our ninjas have all been killed, then we won't support the war. Instead, our focus should be on getting justice for the lives of our ninjas."
Every leader in the room agreed with him. They discussed important matters for some time before ending the meeting.
After they left, A's rage went through the roof! Mabui quickly said, "Calm down Raikage-sama!"
A said, "These old cowards are the reason why I couldn't launch a full-scale offensive against Konoha during the Hyuga incident. These bastards will stop me again this time too!"
Anger could be felt in his voice. He looked at Mabui and said, "Send a few more squads after Darui. Hiruzen must be scheming something to spread rumors like these!"
Mabui nodded and left.
Later that day, the negotiator group that had left Kumogakure a few days ago reached the location of the mine. However, they were shocked by what they were witnessing.
One of them asked, "Hey, isn't this place supposed to be a mine?"
The person next to him nodded, "It is. And more than 250 ninjas are supposed to be guarding it!"
The ninjas in the group immediately began inspecting the place. They searched a lot but didn't find a single ninja on the site! The mine was destroyed as well. They immediately began sending messages to Kumogakure!
After sending messages, they moved away quite a distance from the site and set up a camp. The entire group was highly alert.
Around the same time, a small toad landed in Hiruzen's office and handed him a scroll. Hiruzen opened and read it. A small smile formed on his face. He said, "Takao, call Fujin here. And you can go home."
Takao nodded and left.
Hiruzen analyzed, 'Now every move I planned has been played. A's position will be a mess. He shouldn't be able to start a war. If he tries to blame Konoha, I will refuse the fact that we took any such mission to the mine. The only loose end is that he might have the dead bodies of Katsumi and Ryota. If he does, he can use them as evidence. Though even if he does, I can think of a dozen methods to turn that against him and turn the situation in our favor.'
Though it was getting late, Fujin was still in the training ground. Sweat could be seen on his face and his breath was heavy.
Fujin calmed himself down and bit his thumb making it bleed. He made the snake hand seal once again and slammed his hands on the ground.
'Summoning Jutsu: Rashomon'
A large gate with a frightening demonic face on it appeared from the ground in front of Fujin. Fujin began breathing heavily once again but a smile could be seen on his face. He thought, 'Great. I managed to successfully summon it 5 times in a row! This jutsu can be considered as being learnt.'
He made a hand seal and a Shadow clone appeared next to him. The clone flickered on the other side of the gate and shot a Vacuum Cannon at it. The Vacuum Cannon hit the gate right at the center. It caused a small dent in the Rashomon gate up couldn't break through it.
Fujin was surprised. He analyzed, 'I didn't think that this jutsu would be able to make a dent in Rashomon. Is my Rashomon weaker?'
Fujin thought for a while but couldn't reach any conclusion. He thought, 'The only memories of Rashomon I have are Orochimaru and Hashirama using it. Both are in a different league compared to me and they were trying to stop Kurama's attacks. Leave it. I haven't seen anything stop my Vacuum Bullet so far. This strength should be plenty fo..."
Fujin suddenly got alert and looked towards his left. His eyes began glowing blue as he thought, 'What is he doing here?'
Fujin's clone and the Rashomon gate disappeared. In a few seconds, Takao appeared in his eyesight. Takao saw Fujin and said, "Fujin, Hokage-sama has called you to his office."
Fujin said, "Alright. Thank You for delivering the message."
Takao observed the training ground. The Rashomon gate had disappeared, but Takao could see how ruined the ground on the training field was and how tired Fujin looked.
He said, "Fujin, losses happen frequently in our life. Being a ninja is tough. Don't blame yourself or overwork due to it. Otherwise, you might hurt yourself."
Fujin nodded and replied, "Thank You Takao-san. I will keep it in mind."
Takao nodded and left. Fujin sighed, 'I am more worried about my life. I can't possibly rest. Besides, the pressure seems to be good. Rashomon is quite a difficult jutsu. Still, I managed to learn it in less than 3 days.'
Fujin left towards the Hokage building as he analyzed, 'Now, what exactly does Hiruzen want from me to call me so late in the night?'
Fujin arrived in the Hokage building and knocked on the door of Hiruzen's office. Hiruzen said, "Come in."
Fujin entered. Hiruzen was alone in the room. Though Fujin didn't know, even the Anbu ninjas weren't in his office.
Fujin said, "Takao-san said that you called, grandpa."
Hiruzen nodded and said, "Take a chair and seat in front of me Fujin. I want your opinion on something."
Fujin grabbed a chair and placed it in front of the desk. Though his actions were normal, in truth, Fujin was very nervous.
Hiruzen placed a sheet of paper in front of Fujin as soon as he sat down and said, "I received this news a few minutes ago."
He placed another sheet of paper on the desk and said, "I received this news today as well. Read these two papers and tell me your thoughts about them."
Fujin was confused by Hiruzen's actions. He had thought of a lot of possibilities, but he never imagined that Hiruzen wanted him to analyze some reports.
Fujin grabbed the first sheet of paper and began reading. Immediately his eyes widened at what was written. He looked at Hiruzen in disbelief but Hiruzen didn't have any expression on his face. Fujin began reading again. The paper mentioned that the chakra metal mine was completely destroyed and no one was around the mine.
Fujin immediately began reading the second paper. His expression became peculiar on reading it as it mentioned the rumors spreading through the land of Fire. Fujin easily figured out that they were talking about him.
He couldn't help but wonder, 'I am this awesome? Why didn't I know about it? I don't think that even the children of the Sage of Six Path were this amazing!'
Reading the two sheets of paper relaxed Fujin a lot. He knew that everything on those 2 sheets was planned and executed by Hiruzen. His worries faded away knowing that Hiruzen didn't plan to cower once again.
Hiruzen asked, "So, what are your thoughts on these events, Fujin?"
Fujin looked into his eyes and said in an innocent tone, "Grandpa, if the things written here are true, then you need to promote me to Elite Jounin rank immediately and pay me the rewards for a few rank S missions."
