Organization: Akatsuki Leader: Yahiko Ideals: Nonviolence. They hoped to resolve disputes and create peace through communication. Membership: Fewer than ten. Threat level: C Recommended response: A group of idealistic young people who will most likely be swept away by the waves of the great war in the Shinobi World. They pose no immediate threat to the village. Observation is recommended. Recorded by: Aoki Tsuki (Chunin) Location: Daimyo's residence
That was Aoki Tsuki's record of the meeting. He classified the potential threat each faction posed to the village into five grades: S, A, B, C, and D.
The organizations they had crushed a while ago had merely been some of the more active ones.
Many organizations were neutral, while some others were so strong that even Amegakure could not readily move against them by force.
After three years of personal training under Jiraiya, Yahiko and the other two were no weaklings. In any case, Aoki Tsuki did not believe he could beat any of them.
Based on the actual circumstances, they should have been rated at least B, but he had given them a C.
He did not mind covering for his future employer, provided it did not put him in danger. After all, he was still being evaluated and was only a prospective subordinate of Lord Hanzō.
The most important skill for a working man was knowing who paid his wages.
After his shift, Aoki Tsuki handed the record to his captain, Jonin Shinonome. Shinonome took it, glanced through it, and looked disdainful.
"Hmph, a few wet-behind-the-ears brats dreaming of ending war through communication. How ridiculous!"
"Yes, they must never have experienced the pain of war to make such grand claims. Good luck to them."
"People with such childish ideas will come to grief sooner or later. Pay them no mind. We need to focus on the organizations that can threaten the village."
Shinonome had something in mind.
Aoki Tsuki immediately understood. "Sir, do you mean the Iron Fang Group?"
Since the last attack, relations between the two sides had grown even more delicate. They distrusted and blamed each other.
Yotaka's reasoning was that the fighting last time had been so fierce, yet Shinonome and two squad members had taken so long to arrive. They must have delayed deliberately, with no concern for the daimyo's safety.
Shinonome, meanwhile, believed that Yotaka and the others were shielding Iwagakure and were in league with the attackers.
"That's right. On the surface, the Iron Fang Group is made up of rogue ninja, but in reality, they may be a proxy Iwagakure is backing in our country.
"Their goal is to undermine Amegakure's rule from within and keep our country in a prolonged civil war.
"Then it will become a vassal of the great nations and a casualty of war."
On this point, Konoha, Iwagakure, and Sunagakure had remarkably similar goals. A weakened, war-torn Land of Rain was what the Lands of Wind, Fire, and Earth wanted.
"Are you planning to gather evidence that the Iron Fang Group is colluding with Iwagakure?" Aoki Tsuki asked tentatively.
Doing so would secure the daimyo's full support and officially force the Iron Fang Group out.
Then they could wipe the group out.
"Exactly. Starting today, I want you to keep the Yotaka Squad under constant surveillance. Ideally, you'll obtain some crucial intelligence," Shinonome instructed sternly.
What the hell? Is this a job for a human being?
The Shinonome Squad had been in contact with the Yotaka Squad for so long without getting any intelligence, yet Shinonome was sending a Chunin who only knew how to cut people down to do spy work.
That's a leader for you, shamelessly dumping work he can't do himself on his subordinates.
Aoki Tsuki had no choice but to grit his teeth and agree, though he did secure the right to move about freely.
That meant he no longer had to stay at his post all the time.
The Yotaka Squad surely had to contact headquarters regularly. If he could get his hands on their communication scroll, he might discover something.
A competent leader, in principle, would not readily pass pressure on to subordinates, but would break the work down and assign each person a part of it.
But if the people above dumped their pressure on him and he didn't pass it along, wouldn't he become the one left holding the bag?
That evening, Aoki Tsuki called Mieko, Ryōta, and Shinichi to his room just before their shift. With a solemn expression, he said:
"Listen, I have a secret mission for you... You must overcome every obstacle to complete it."
Mieko, Ryōta, and Shinichi: ...???
A while later, the three went to their posts with heavy thoughts, their earlier readiness to slack off completely gone.
Mieko had it a little easier. She was a sensory ninja, so gathering and analyzing intelligence fell within her area of expertise.
Ryōta and Shinichi, on the other hand, were complete novices and kept scratching their heads.
This kind of intelligence-gathering work took time and patience. The less he understood, the more he needed to stay calm.
He couldn't panic.
Aoki Tsuki continued his guard duties while ordering his squad members to keep a close eye on the Yotaka Squad's every move.
He was waiting for the enemy to show an opening.
The Shinonome Squad had been unable to solve this for so long. If he came in and solved it immediately, wouldn't that make everyone else look incompetent?
He absolutely could not do something so detrimental to team unity.
The project had to get done, but he also had to slack off.
So every few days, he went back to report the project's progress to Jonin Shinonome, keeping his leader in command of the overall situation at all times.
Mieko recorded the Yotaka Squad's daily activities. The young girl's job had now become watching them around the clock.
Her reports mostly concerned their daily routines, such as when they ate and went to the bathroom.
There was no valuable information.
Half a month passed, and after dragging its feet over the previous attack, the daimyo's residence finally issued a statement:
"We strongly condemn the assassination attempt on the daimyo by unknown forces. The Land of Rain has its bottom line, and any despicable act that violates the ceasefire terms will ultimately bring consequences upon its perpetrators.
"Heaven sees all that man does. Do not drop a rock on your own foot."
This also told the attackers that whatever their objective, the Land of Rain would not fall for it.
We're following our "hearts."
This left the Root members operating in the Land of Rain dumbfounded. If this could be tolerated, what couldn't?
They didn't know what to do either...
A concealed underground cavern served as Root's main base in the Land of Rain.
"Lord Ryoma, what brings you here in person?"
"Iwagakure recently declared war on Konoha, and the Third publicly rebuked Lord Danzo. This was all caused by your incompetence. From now on, I will take full charge of matters in the Land of Rain."
"Yes, we are guilty and willing to accept punishment."
"What exactly happened last time? How did both missions fail?"
"After several rounds of probing, we had worn the Iron Fang Group and the Amegakure ninja down. But in the two days when we decided to make our move...
"The target squad suddenly changed its defensive strategy. We had no way to take the daimyo without alerting them.
"We had to attack head-on..."
"I see. It seems the enemy is unexpectedly troublesome."
After learning what had happened, Aburame Ryoma realized that the situation in the Land of Rain was more complicated than he had expected.
Root had already lost quite a few skilled operatives in its plan to set Iwagakure and Sunagakure against each other.
As a result, they had no advantage in numbers when they attacked the daimyo, and every one of their enemies had been tough.
That was why they had failed.
"Any recent news?"
"Yes. Although the daimyo of the Land of Rain has declared neutrality, our intelligence personnel discovered that Amegakure has been secretly mobilizing supplies. Its exact intentions are unknown.
"Also, the campaign against rebel forces in the Land of Rain has intensified. Iwagakure appears to be behind the Iron Fang Group."
"I see. Halt operations for now. I need to investigate."
Aburame Ryoma called a halt to every plan currently underway.
Root's plan had succeeded in bringing Sunagakure and Iwagakure into conflict. Amegakure had shown restraint, as could be seen from its withdrawal of border troops from the combat zone.
He recalled Danzo's instructions before he left: No matter what, we must not let Amegakure declare war on Konoha, much less ally with either the Land of Wind or the Land of Earth.
"In that case, our only choice is to further heighten the conflict between Amegakure and Iwagakure."
Two days later, Aburame Ryoma arrived in Kyoto, the capital of the Land of Rain. That night, under cover of darkness, he successfully infiltrated the daimyo's residence.
His infiltration abilities were unmatched within Root.
He soon found the first defensive perimeter and surveyed its entire outer edge.
"They've secured all four directions, with every entrance in view. Hmm? There's a sensory ninja too. No wonder..."
Even if he used Earth Release to infiltrate underground, he could not avoid the close guards. He also had to watch out for the sensory ninja's irregular scans.
"This must be the target I'm supposed to eliminate-Aoki Tsuki."
His blue hair stood out even in the dark.
Aburame Ryoma did not rush to act, instead observing him for an entire week.
That night.
A Kikaichū flew silently toward Aoki Tsuki.
Aoki Tsuki was immersed in cultivation. Being on duty now was the same as cultivating for him. Sometimes he sat for an entire night without feeling tired in the slightest.
He could now enter a state of perfect tranquility with ease. In his meditation practice, he could also hold the afterimage of a candle flame steady in his mind for as long as ten minutes.
His mental power had become more condensed than before, and his perception of his surroundings had improved considerably.
As the saying went, "Not a feather can be added, nor a fly alight."
No slight movement around him escaped his notice. Right now, for example, a small insect had landed on his shoulder.
"Wait, why does this bug look so familiar? This is..."
Smack...!!
He reached out and slapped it dead.
"You Konoha bastards, I've found you. Come on out."
"I didn't expect your senses to be so sharp. No wonder you were able to kill so many of our people," Aburame Ryoma said in shock.
A Kikaichū could land on a ninja silently and go undetected, especially in a noisy environment like this rainy night.
That was enough to show how strong his opponent's perception was. The intelligence had made no mention of it.
"I've never killed anyone from Konoha. Don't make things up."
Aoki Tsuki had only killed Sunagakure ninja, Iwagakure ninja, and rogue ninja. Amegakure and Konoha were still allies on the surface.
He couldn't take the blame for that.
"You know exactly what I'm talking about. Nobody gets to kill our people without paying a price. You wouldn't want your mother to get hurt, would you?"
So the information was leaked after all?
There was no way Konoha had no spies in Amegakure, so Aoki Tsuki was not surprised.
"Hmph, I never give in to threats. If you don't tell me what you want, I'll call for help."
A ninja would not compromise easily.
Give in once on something like this, and there would be countless times after that. Aoki Tsuki had already decided to check the people around him when he returned to the village.