Hiruzen nodded and said, "Yeah. Let's hope that Onoki follows common sense and doesn't act irrationally. Keep a close eye on the situation. If the situation worsens, deploy any tactics you can to inflict heavy losses on Iwagakure as soon as the war starts.
That would deter Iwa from escalating the situation, or at least slow them for some time, allowing us important time to reaccess the situation and mobilize our forces appropriately. Also, call Renjiro here. Call Eagle as well. He will act as Renjiro's deputy and both will lead tomorrow's army. If a war starts, then they could inflict high damage quickly."
Shikaku nodded and left the office. He sent messengers to call for Renjiro and Eagle.
In Training Ground 23, Fujin dispelled his clones. Over the past 7 hours, he had frequently dispelled his clones to get their experiences and chakra and created new ones to continue training. His right arm hardened once again. Winds began flowing around it.
The amount of times the winds hit his arm was very low compared to when he had started. Fujin flickered and punched at another tree, stopping just before his fist hit the tree.
The sharp winds around his fist bombarded the tree, creating thousands of cuts and a few holes through the stem. Though the tree still stood, it looked like it might split into two with just a small force.
Fujin observed the damage and thought, 'Much better. Currently, I'm only being hit around 22 times per second. I should be able to reduce it to zero in a few more training sessions. The damage also has increased. It looks like I'll be able to add this attack to my arsenal soon.
Unfortunately, my chakra is too low right now. I'll go to meditate again. After my chakra recovers, I should be able to train for another session before the effect of this soldier pill is over and I'm forced to take a long sleep.'
Fujin immediately flickered towards the Anbu Training Facility.
Shikaku returned to the office with Renjiro and Eagle after some time. Both Hiruzen and Shikaku briefed them on the situation and properly explained the plan they had come up with. Renjiro and Eagle immediately understood the severity of the situation.
Both immediately got to work. In order to have the ability to quickly inflict damage on Iwa, both used their connections to call multiple veteran Jounins to assist them during the mission. Neither called in Fujin as they knew that he needed some time to rest.
Land of Waterfall -
At midnight, a thousand ninjas snuck out of Takigakure in search of Iwagakure ninjas who had long left. So they didn't find any enemy en route. Before dawn, the Takigakure forces reached the village where Iwa forces had clashed with Fujin. They were welcomed by a massive fire, covering the entire horizon!
Before leaving, Iwa ninjas had eliminated any and all traces of combat. The ground was brought back to normal. All the holes dug due to Fujin's Vacuum Bullets or craters formed due to explosions or changes due to other Earth jutsus were fixed.
The only thing they couldn't hide was the massive forest fire Fujin's and Kurogane's combination attack had created. Though they could douse the fire, they weren't confident of hiding the traces.
Kitsuchi had analyzed, 'Fixing this is impossible. I can't raise so many new trees in the blink of an eye. What we could do is douse the fire and bury the burnt trees deep underground. This will remove all traces of the fire.
But, it will leave a lot of flaws. For one, the people familiar with the surroundings will notice a huge patch of forest missing. Also, since the fire was shot from the skies, it is possible that others noticed it as well. Leave it. I'll let this forest fire spread. Hiding it will raise more questions than solving them. Besides, Iwa isn't known for Fire jutsus anyway. It might align properly with our cover."
Kitsuchi decided against dealing with the Forest Fire. So for over a day and a half, the fire had been spreading throughout the area. Millions of trees had burnt down. Even more wildlife was escaping the area.
Despite the nighttime, the Taki ninjas didn't have any cover of the night due to the light from the massive fire! Fortunately, the forest fire was a long distance away from the village and was spreading in the other direction. The Taki ninjas tried to hide as much as they could and moved towards the village, encircling it slowly.
Taking utmost precaution, they stayed some distance away and kept an eye on the village. They hadn't expected to find anything and were planning to send clones first and then a few weaker ninjas to inspect the village. However, to their surprise, they spotted a few people moving in and out of the village. The people looked like normal villagers.
Confused, they decided to inspect properly. One brave Jounin, Kegon, along with a few genins were sent into the village to inspect. Kegon inspected the people and interacted with them.
He thought, 'What the hell is happening here? These people all look fine. The village itself has no damage at all! It's almost like nothing has happened here.'
Kegon quickly found the old village chief and said, "What happened here?"
The village chief quickly recognized his headband. He immediately said, "We are not sure ourselves. A few days ago, a few ninjas appeared in our village. They captured us all and did something. I and everyone else fell unconscious. We don't remember anything after that.
We woke up around a couple of hours ago and were scared by the massive fire outside. Fortunately, our village is safe from it. Also, nothing from the village was stolen. We decided to fill our stomachs first as everyone was hungry and planned to send a messenger to the Ito family after Sun rose."
Kegon was confused. He thought, 'What the hell? Their falling asleep should mean that Iwagakure ninjas used Genjutsu on them. But why did they keep everyone in the village alive? What were they planning? And where are those Iwagakure ninjas?'
He looked at the village chief and asked, "Do you remember what those ninjas looked like?"
The village chief tried to think, but he couldn't recall any face. He said, "I can't recall anyone's face. But I remember one thing."
Kegon asked, "What do you remember?"
The village chief answered, "They all wore a headband on their foreheads, just like you. But the symbol was different. It looked like a leaf. Like the symbol of Konohagakure."
Kegon's eyes widened on hearing that. He became serious and thought, 'Does he mean to say that Konoha was behind this incident? Or did Iwagakure try to set them up by disguising their headbands?'
He thought for a bit before deciding, 'I can't make a decision on this matter. I will have to report it to the advisors.'
He said, "You don't need to send a messenger to the Ito family. Stay in the village and check whether everything is in place. If you remember something else, contact me."
The village chief nodded. Kegon asked similar questions to others in the village. However, everyone he asked gave the same answers. He left the village and reported what he found to the advisors hiding outside.
The advisors were also stumped by the information. But they decided to ignore it for the time being and decided to inspect the village. A couple of SealMasters were sent to check the village for any seals.
Iwagakure -
A few hours after the Taki army reached the village, Kitsuchi returned to Iwagakure. The forces with him would return to the village in smaller batches to avoid any suspicions.
In order to show that Iwa had nothing to do with the incidents, Kitsuchi didn't deploy any forces on the border. He wasn't worried about Takigakure attacking their borders. If they did, then Iwa would hit back hard and Konoha wouldn't have any righteous excuse to help Takigakure.
Kitsuchi entered Tsuchikage's office. Onoki looked up and saw him. He said, "Good to see you back…"
A frown formed on his face as Onoki asked, "Why is your expression so down?"
Kitsuchi sighed and said, "Everyone leave."
Immediately, all the ninjas and the Anbu in the room left. The doors and windows were shut and the secrecy seals were activated.
Onoki asked, "What happened in the Land of Waterfall?"
Kitsuchi said, "We lured Suzuki Fujin into the trap. But nothing after that happened as per our plan."
Kitsuchi narrated the fight against Fujin to Onoki. Onoki's eyes widened. His expression became serious as he learnt the full range of Fujin's abilities. He muttered, "Vacuum jutsus, a Summon that can fly and is equivalent to an Elite Jounin in power, high Fuinjutsu attainments, 47 Jounins…"
He went silent for a minute. Despite having seen so much, the details were still too much for Onoki to digest easily. A well-planned trap that was created by Kitsuchi and overseen by him was broken. They suffered heavy losses and only received more information in return.
