Reiko and Hisato collapsed to the ground. They were knocked out cold! Even though they possessed the strength of a real Jounin, they were completely outmatched by Hoka. Not only did they fall short in speed and abilities, but they were also under heavy pressure and had to act constrained to avoid attracting any attention.

These factors made the battle even more unfair. To make matters even worse, Hoka wasn’t arrogant due to his various advantages and hid a Shadow Clone underground even before the duo reached that area. So, the poor souls stood no chance.

A few ninjas appeared behind Hoka, looked at the two unconscious ninjas and exclaimed, “You already got them, General?”

Hoka nodded and ordered, “I have sealed their chakra points, but add proper seals on their bodies and bring them to the commander.”

Hoka’s subordinates immediately got to work. Before they could leave, a squad led by Konomi appeared as well. She looked at the unconscious bodies and said with a smile, “Good work, Hoka.”

Hoka smiled and replied, “It’s all thanks to your and Illumi-san’s divisions establishing a perimeter.”

The two interacted cordially while the captured rebels were brought to Fujin. However, Hoka overlooked one thing, though it could be attributed to how good Konomi was at controlling her expressions. Even though Konomi interacted cordially, she successfully hid her jealousy from Hoka.

She sighed internally while thinking, ‘No matter at what level we are, people in power always prefer to give control and credit to their friends and family. Even though I couldn’t kill Kagero, I could have captured these two with ease and improved my reputation. Yet, this task was also given to him. I can’t even say anything as they take 3 spots from the 5 leaders and even have a good relationship with Illumi.

Sigh, I hope that Fujin has some plans for me other than just supporting these two. Otherwise, I’ll have to work hard by myself once again…’

Since Konomi was a ninja from a civilian background, she hoped that she would finally receive more opportunities from Fujin, who was the council member representing all civilian ninjas. Unfortunately, she was only disappointed so far.

“What is the current status?” Ashigaka Hiroshi asked grimly. Due to the sudden disappearance of several ninjas, Kusagakure was on high alert. They immediately convened a council meeting.

An elderly man answered, “Currently, 41 ninjas are missing. All were patrol groups operating to the South of the village. I suspect that this is Kagero’s scheme. He might be planning an attack from this direction.”

Another countered, “We can’t be sure. This could also be a diversion. Perhaps he wants us to focus on the South while he ambushes us from the North. Even though we won the last clash, we must not underestimate him!”

The elderly man replied, “It doesn’t matter what his plan is. Don’t forget that we have asked Konoha to eliminate them. We only need to maintain our defensive position and we will win. However, we need to take steps to check what happened to our ninjas and also ask for Konoha’s help for the same. Hiroshi-sama, did Konoha accept the proposal?”

Hiroshi frowned and said, “I still haven’t heard from them.”

The mood in the council became solemn. If Konoha didn’t accept the proposal, this troublesome situation would be the least of their worries as it would signify that Konoha had weakened and Iwagakure could drastically increase their support to the rebels!

Suddenly, three knocks were heard. Everyone gazed towards the door as Hiroshi said, “Come in.”

An Anbu ninja walked in, handed Hiroshi a scroll and reported, “Hiroshi-sama, we have received a message from Konoha. They have accepted the proposal.”

Sighs of relief were heard throughout the council room. A huge pressure had been lifted off their shoulders. One council member exclaimed, “That’s great news! Who did they send? Is it Suzuki Fujin?”

Hiroshi nodded and said, “Yes. As we expected, they diverted their 3000-strong army here. Suzuki Fujin is leading it along with his Sensei, Senju Renjiro. With them here, they can’t start a war against Sunagakure suddenly.”

Hiroshi glanced at his Anbu and nodded. The Anbu immediately left. Hiroshi turned his attention to the council members and said, “We’ll co-ope…”

He was suddenly interrupted as another Anbu ninja broke into the council room! Unlike the previous Anbu ninja, who knocked politely, this one directly rushed into the room with zero regard for anyone’s authority. Yet, instead of being angry at the lack of manners, every single Council Member became serious. Entering in this manner signified that the Anbu had news that had to be reported immediately! Even a second’s delay couldn’t be afforded!

Hiroshi asked, “What’s the matter?”

The Anbu ninja answered, “We received an urgent message from our base outside Tsuchioka! A Konoha platoon appeared and said that Konoha’s army had eliminated the rebel camp in Tsuchioka. 350 rebels were killed while Reiko and Hisato were captured alive!”

The eyes of every council member, including Hiroshi, widened! In order to maintain the element of surprise, Fujin had asked Shikaku to delay accepting the proposal. As such, Fujin’s army had already dealt with the first enemy group several hours before Kusagakure knew that Konoha had accepted the proposal. ꭆ

The Kusagakure Council Members had just learnt that Konoha had accepted the proposal. Not even a minute later, they learnt that Konoha had already eliminated close to 30% of the rebels and captured two of their leaders! Their shock was justified.

Before they could snap out of their shock, the Anbu ninja continued, “They also said that they captured several other ninjas who they suspect to be from the rebel camp. However, since they weren’t sure, they have just captured them and all of them are unharmed. They want to transfer them to us so that we can identify the traitors and deal with them.”

Hiroshi instinctively felt something was off and became suspicious. He asked, “Did they say how many ninjas they captured?”

The Anbu ninja nodded and answered, “45!”

Immediately, every single council member realized what had happened. After the surprise passed, some were bewildered, some were stunned, some became angry and a few chuckled.

One council member cursed, “So that’s how our ninjas went missing! That kid still infuriates me!”

Another seriously said, “This must have been their plan. They purposefully delayed informing us so that their army could move stealthily. They likely captured everyone they came across while marching across our country. Reiko’s group should have been caught off guard. Regardless, as long as our ninjas are unharmed, we shouldn’t take offense.”

A third member said, “I don’t know whether I should be happy or be concerned. While the rebel’s loss is undoubtedly a piece of joyous news, the fact that Konoha could march across our country secretly is extremely worrisome. They could have marched straight to our village and we wouldn’t have known!”

Hiroshi nodded and said, “We can only be happy that they used it against our enemy and not us. Besides, Konoha wouldn’t openly attack a minor village. It would be a huge blow to their reputation and soft power. If they have to settle some matters, they’ll act in the dark like they always do. We don’t need to be concerned about their intentions for the time being.

However, this is a wake-up call for us to improve our capabilities. If Konoha could march across our country undetected, then others could do too. Once the rebels are dealt with, we’ll work on improving ourselves in this aspect.”

Everyone nodded solemnly. Hiroshi looked at the Anbu ninja and asked, “Anything else they reported?”

The Anbu ninja replied, “Yes. They said that they’d soon be marching into Kagetani and were predicting that Kagero and Tsuchiro’s forces would come together. They have advised us to deploy our forces to the East and South of Midorino to ensure that the rebels don’t scatter into our country and create a hidden danger.”

Frowns appeared on several faces as they quickly began analyzing this particular information.

Not far away from the destroyed rebel camp, Fujin and others had set up their camps. Fujin and other leaders sat in the main tent while others rested.

Yamanaka Shin reported, “Commander, Reiko sent four messenger birds to Kagero from the time we attacked till General Hoka captured her, each message providing greater detail. The fourth bird was intercepted by ninjas on our perimeter and I have confirmed that the message in it was the same as her memories.

So, the enemy should know that this camp was attacked by one division of Konoha. Since they wouldn’t receive any more communications, they should be aware that their forces were eliminated or captured.”

Hoka sighed, “They were able to send a message despite all our preparations…”

Fujin casually replied, “That’s to be expected. They wouldn’t have survived so long if they couldn’t do even this. Regardless, our tactic was quite successful. To eliminate a force of 350 ninjas and capture their two leaders without a single casualty is an excellent start to our campaign.”

He turned his gaze to Shin and asked, “I suppose the fourth message stated that there are three and not just one division.”

Shin nodded. He was about to speak when Hoka asked, “Why don’t we fool them by pretending to write messages? After all, we have their memories.”

————

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