Chapter 383: Ambushes!
Bunjiro flickered next to Yugao. Both of them looked at the Kiri Chunin. The Chunin looked at them and said, "Tie me up as usual."
Yugao and Bunjiro nodded. They knew that it was Fumito who was hiding earlier and took over the Chunin's body. In a few seconds, the Chunin was properly tied up. Fumito released his jutsu and returned to his original body. The Chunin had just regained consciousness when he was knocked out by Yugao.
Fumito immediately began reading his memories. After around 10 minutes, he said, "There are 23 ninjas inside that cave. All are Kirigakure ninjas and none have gone rogue. Of them, 4 are Jounins while the rest are Chunins."
A frown appeared on Yugao's face. She muttered, "We won't be able to take on such numbers in a direct conflict. We will have to sneak into the cave and eliminate them silently one by one. But even that will be very risky."
She looked at Fumito and asked, "Did you see the internal layout of the cave from his memories? Is there a way to target the ninjas inside one or two at a time?"
Fumito answered, "I did see the layout. Unfortunately, there is no way to do that as we won't be able to enter the cave without being detected. The cave is covered in numerous seals. They can detect if anyone who isn't a part of their group enters the cave. And there are numerous barriers as well.
This man doesn't know which seals were used. I could read the Jounin's memories, but I doubt they would help much either."
Yugao nodded and said, "I see. We can't infiltrate in that case. We don't have the same Fuinjutsu skills as Captain."
Fumito and Bunjiro nodded. Yugao said, "I guess that leaves us with just one option."
Her eyes moved towards the unconscious ninja. She asked, "Where were they planning on going? And will the others inside the cave be moving out as well?"
Fumito answered, "These two were heading towards a village. Their goal was to steal all the money inside it. As for others, they won't be moving out. They have a rule that only 2 pairs of people can move out at the same time. The rest stay within the cave. The second group is already out. So the others won't move out until the other group returns."
Yugao analyzed for a couple of minutes and said, "Read both their memories. Find out who was in the other group that is outside. Find any other information you will need to impersonate them. You will be the one infiltrating inside the cave."
Fumito nodded and got to work. He ate a soldier pill and began reading memories of the dead Jounin and the unconscious Chunin. In an hour, he had collected all the information that he wanted. He learnt that Mitsuru had moved out alone a couple of days ago.
He stopped reading memories and sat down to relax for a bit while informing Yugao about what he found. Yugao immediately created a basic plan and explained it to Fumito.
A few minutes later, the unconscious Chunin finally showed signs of waking up. Fumito got up. He grabbed a pill and swallowed it. Bunjiro and Yugao did the same.
Fumito looked towards the Kiri ninja and made a hand seal.
'Ninja Art: Mind Transfer jutsu'
His consciousness turned into spiritual energy and entered the Chunin's body once again. At the same time, his body collapsed. Bunjiro caught Fumito's real body while the Kiri Chunin's eyes snapped open.
He looked at Yugao and nodded. Yugao grabbed her sword and cut off his bindings, freeing him. He got up, stretched his body and said, "Look after my body. Keep it at the same location that we were hiding earlier so that I can return to it immediately."
Yugao said, "We will move first. Memorize the location properly. I'll leave a Clone to watch over your body."
He nodded. Yugao and Bunjiro immediately left while carrying Fumito's body. Fumito saw them leave. He waited for a few minutes and got used to the new body. At the same time, he took a kunai and made numerous light cuts on his arms, legs and cheeks. He made a few more preparations.
After 5 minutes, a look of panic appeared on his face and he began running towards the cave. Fear could be seen on his face. As he reached the cave, he glanced towards the spot where Yugao and Bunjiro were hiding and saw his body.
He continued running, entered the basement and shouted as loudly as he could, "There is trouble!"
His loud voice immediately woke up every sleeping Kiri ninja. Fumito continued running towards the central room in the cave while breathing roughly. All Kiri ninjas, including the SealMaster, arrived in that room as well.
The Kiri ninjas immediately noticed all the blood covering his clothes and the injuries on his body. Everyone immediately became serious. One asked, "What's the situation?"
Fumito spoke hurriedly, "Mitsuru-sama was attacked while he was returning here. We saw him fighting with 8 ninjas by himself. So Captain and I jumped in to help him. However, they were too strong for us. They bought an opportunity for me to escape. We have to reinforce them quickly."
His words immediately made everyone's expression grim. The SealMaster immediately said, "We need to se…"
Suddenly he noticed something odd and took a look at the ninja. His eyes had become unfocused as if he was waking up from a sleep. At the same time, he sensed a bit of chakra emitting from his body.
He wasn't the only one. The other Jounins also noticed something odd. Before they could say anything, the Kiri Chunin exploded with a massive bang!
So The explosion was incredibly powerful. Fire and shockwaves immediately engulfed the surrounding Kiri ninjas, most of whom were completely caught off guard. Only the Jounins and a few Chunins managed to react in time and retreated backwards.
13 Chunins took the full brunt of the explosion. Their bodies were blasted into the walls of the cave. Not a single one survived. Another 4 Chunins managed to barely retreat in time. They were still hit by the explosion which left burns of varying degrees on their bodies. The remaining 2 Chunins and the 4 Jounins managed to retreat safely. However, everyone had grim expressions.
One cursed, "That incompetent bastard!"
Another said, "How will we explain such losses to the Mizukage?"
The third one asked, "Was he under a Genjutsu? But who can cast such a strong Genjutsu?"
The SealMaster thought for a bit and said, "It could be Genjutsu or the Yamanaka technique. Regardless, we are in danger. The culprit should be waiting outside for us. We need to prepare for a batt…"
He stopped speaking and suddenly began coughing nonstop. Several drops of blood fell on the ground. Immediately, the others also began coughing. After some time, one of them cursed, "Poison! That explosion also contained poison!"
The SealMaster said, "Our health will get worse with time. We need to retreat into the sea."
Just after he said it, sounds of explosion were heard once again. Soon, tremors were felt as the cave started collapsing. While running inside the cave, Fumito had discretely planted a few explosion tags on the floor and walls of the cave. The cave's structure was already damaged heavily due to the earlier explosion. The new explosions immediately caused the cave to collapse.
Outside the cave, Bunjiro's clone said, "That was a good explosion. The cave is collapsing."
Fumito, who had just returned to his body, said, "It better be. I had stuck 60 Explosion tags on that guy's body. I'm surprised that the cave is still standing despite that explosion. I wanted to use the other tags to ambush them while they were escaping."
Inside the cave, the surviving ninjas immediately used jutsus to ensure that the cave didn't collapse. Using that time, they began escaping from the cave. As they moved, they prepared themselves for a fight. Everyone had a grim expression as the poison was making it difficult for them to move normally.
As soon as they exited the cave, Yugao and Bunjiro along with their clones bombarded them with Kunai that had explosion tags attached to them.
The Kiri ninjas noticed it and immediately made hand seals.
'Water Release: Water Wall jutsu'
Multiple water walls went up in front of them. The kunais hit them and exploded. The water walls collapsed but the explosions were stopped.
As soon as the water walls collapsed, Yugao appeared next to one of the Kiri ninjas who was injured. He turned his head and his eyes widened as he saw several afterimages of her sword. At the next moment, his head was sent flying in the air.
Before the others could react, another head was sent flying. Finally, the Jounins managed to react and counterattacked, forcing Yugao to retreat. However, she was very determined. As Bunjiro and her clones bombarded them with another round of explosion tags, she prepared herself to attack once again. At the same time, Fumito was also looking for an opportunity.
Fujin's eyes glowed as he observed the conflict while standing on a tree branch. He analyzed, 'Hmm, that's good. They were heavily outnumbered and outmatched as well. But by killing many of them in a trap and poisoning the rest, they have a complete advantage now. This mission has been completed almost perfectly. The only imperfect factor was that a bit of luck was involved in how they found the cave.
Still, both Yugao and Fumito are good enough to be Anbu Captains. Not many Anbu Captains would be able to replicate such a result.'
The Kiri ninjas were fighting desperately while retreating to save their lives. They absolutely hated Yugao and the others. But unknown to them, an even stronger enemy was watching them.
Actually, not one, but two. Unknown to Fujin, another terrifying ninja was hiding and watching the fight.
Juzo watched Yugao cut down 4 Kiri ninjas while thinking, 'They were supposed to be my targets… But that ninja's sword style… They are from Konoha. I don't know why Akatsuki needs money, but my mission will fail if the Konoha ninjas leave with their bodies.'
Yugao had just completed her second round of attack and was forced to retreat once again. However, before she could relax, she immediately slashed her sword to her right. A much larger sword clashed with her sword!