The First Step of the Plan

"Why don't we just sneak in and capture the daimyo? Then we can force them to hand over the Land of Honey," Rock Lee said.

"Exactly! Lee, you're so smart!" Guy chimed in.

Shikaku shook his head. "That won't work. If the daimyo is killed, the country will fall entirely into the hands of the ninja. It's like the Land of Fire. If its daimyo were killed, the Third Hokage would become the one in power. The daimyo is just a figurehead, when you get down to it."

"Oh, I see..." Lee nodded, looking a little disappointed. "We're the same age, but I can't come up with clever ideas like Yin Xiang."

"Yin Xiang really doesn't seem like a kid his age," Neji added. "He's so different from us. He's like a mature middle-aged man with a face our age."

While the people in the cave were still discussing Yin Xiang, he had already caught a villager who had just left the village. The man seemed to be going out to gather something, but that didn't matter to Yin Xiang. He knocked him out, took his appearance and belongings, tied him up, and hid him away before heading for the gate.

"Hey, didn't you just leave? Why are you back so soon?" The two ninja at the gate clearly recognized the man. After all, he had only just gone out.

"Ah, I forgot to bring a few things, so I came back to get them." Yin Xiang acted as if he were in a hurry, as though he'd left something important behind.

"All right, but we still need to see your entry permit," one of the ninja told him.

"Entry permit?" Yin Xiang panicked, but kept up the act of searching through his bag. At last, he found a piece of paper in the man's bundle. It was labeled "Entry Permit" and bore the name Ju-u Ishihiro. So that was who this man was.

"Here it is, here it is." Yin Xiang calmly handed over the permit. The two ninja checked it, registered him, and let him into the village.

Once inside, Yin Xiang let out a breath. "That scared me. Good thing I took this guy's bundle. The villagers all know me, and I'd never even heard of needing an entry permit before."

After successfully entering the village, Yin Xiang found a secluded corner and changed into someone else's appearance. Then he went into a tavern, ordered a jug of wine, and sat in the corner to listen. Taverns were good places to gather information.

"Ever since the village changed hands to the Honey Shadow, it hasn't been the same," one of the two men at the next table said with a sigh.

"Stop complaining. Ordinary people like us are lucky just to be able to drink these days."

"The ninja in our country have no backbone! The war's barely started, and some of them have already defected! They're a bunch of cowards!"

"Hey, keep your voice down!" The other man hurriedly covered his companion's mouth to stop him from saying more. "You've had too much to drink. Do you know what things are like now? Do you want to die?"

So there were defectors.

Yin Xiang took a small sip of wine. It seemed that aside from the change in who held power, nothing else in the country had changed. The residents were still the same.

"Come on, let's go. Honestly, don't get us into trouble." The man who had covered the other's mouth pulled his drunken companion away. Yin Xiang followed them. He might be able to learn quite a bit from the man.

The man escorted his drunken friend all the way home, then started back himself. When he reached a quiet spot, Yin Xiang dashed forward and knocked him out. He slung the man over his shoulder, pretending he was the one who'd drunk too much, and carried him to a deserted corner.

Then he waited for the man to wake up. He hadn't hit him very hard, so it didn't take long.

"Y-you! Who are you? Are you a ninja from the village? I'm sorry, I'm sorry! Those things he said were all his fault. I had nothing to do with it! Please spare me, sir!" The moment he woke up and saw Yin Xiang, he began wailing.

The noise was starting to annoy Yin Xiang. "Enough." He shoved the man to the ground. "I'm not a ninja from this village. I have a few questions. Answer truthfully."

"Yes, yes! I'll tell you the truth!" the man hurriedly replied.

"How many ninja from this village have defected?"

"Two jonin and four chunin. I don't know about the genin, sir. I'm telling the truth!"

"So there are five jonin and twelve chunin now..." Yin Xiang thought. "What about the daimyo of the Land of Honey?"

"He was captured and locked up in prison. Everyone in the village knows about it."

"What happened to the former Honey Shadow?"

"The Honey Shadow died in battle. He was killed by ninja from the Land of Filling. Now the entire Land of Honey is in the Land of Filling's hands."

"Good. Don't tell anyone about this, or I'll come back and kill you." Yin Xiang had never killed anyone, but the look in his eyes was enough to fill the man with fear.

"Yes, yes! Don't worry, sir. I won't tell anyone!" The man hurriedly agreed.

After that, Yin Xiang vanished before his eyes with the Body Flicker Technique. "Five jonin and twelve chunin. If they send two chunin to deal with the bandits and the chunin go missing, will they send a jonin to investigate?" Yin Xiang walked along, resting his chin in his hand as he pondered. Then he changed into someone else's appearance and went back to the place where missions were posted.

He spent fifty thousand ryo posting a mission to deal with bandits. It really hurt to part with that much money. Yin Xiang wasn't short on cash, but fifty thousand ryo was still a substantial sum. He'd definitely have to make that old Third Hokage reimburse him when he got back!

After posting the mission, Yin Xiang bought a large amount of supplies, then used the Flying Thunder God to return to the area near the cave. He'd left Flying Thunder God marks both near the cave and in Honey Flower Village, so now he could travel freely between them.

"I'm back." Yin Xiang set down everything he'd been carrying. "I haven't had cooked food in ages, so I bought some roast chicken and duck. We'll still have to stick to food that keeps well after this."

"Great! I was about to turn green from eating all that dry rations these past few days!" Lee was delighted to see the food. Everyone else was just as happy.

"How did it go, Yin Xiang? Did you find out what we needed?" Shikaku asked.

Yin Xiang leaned against the wall. "More or less. Two jonin and four chunin have defected. I still don't know how many genin there are, but I've already posted the mission. Ninja should show up here by tomorrow at the latest."

"You gave them this cave as the mission location?"

"Mm." Yin Xiang nodded. "Now we just wait for them to come charging in."

"This is only the first step of the plan. By the time they realize what's happening, they'll have already suffered heavy losses." Yin Xiang's lips curled into another smile. Shikaku smiled faintly as well, and Yin Xiang stole a glance at him.