Author's Note:
Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal was given to Root members to ensure no information about the organization or Shimura Danzo was leaked
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Swish
Suddenly, a ninja wearing an animal-style mask appeared in front of them, and said in a loud voice, "You two, the mission has changed, Danzo-sama has an order."
Kamiya Kazuki and Yoshida Taro instinctively knelt on one knee and lowered their heads. "Yes!"
Immediately though they both exchanged a look and reacted at the same time. It was impossible for Root members, who had the Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal, to call Danzo's name out loud.
Therefore, the two of them made a hand sign at the same time and sped up the flow of their chakra.
"Genjutsu, break."
"Genjutsu, break."
Puff
The moment the illusion shattered, Uchiha Tonan spat out a mouthful of blood, and his Sharingan automatically deactivated. Bloody tears spilled from the corner of his eyes.
Namikaze Minato and Hatake Kakashi immediately ran to his side to support him. Seeing Tonan's miserable appearance, Kakashi glared at Kazuki and Taro, his hand reaching into his bag to tightly grab a kunai.
Minato, who was always temperate in his demeanor, too was furious. He asked Kazuki and Taro with a standoffish look, "It's just a test, why did you have to forcefully break the genjutsu?"
Tonan hastily waved his hand and weakly interjected, "It's alright... it's me who didn't think it through. I forgot to tell senpai the code to stop the test. This was the only way for them to break the genjutsu."
Kazuki wanted to make an apologetic expression, but since he always had an impassive face, he didn't know how to. Therefore, he just bowed to Tonan and apologized, "Sorry, we didn't expect your genjutsu to be so potent. Out of instinct, we subconsciously broke it forcibly. Your Sharingan genjutsu is truly powerful."
Tonan smiled with a pale face and shook his head, "Senpai, you are praising me too much. If the enemies are on guard and keep their eyes shut, I can't accomplish anything."
When everyone present heard this, they couldn't help but frown a bit.
Kakashi and Minato both thought, 'Tonan's too naïve. He divulged such vital information to others.'
Kazuki and Taro looked at each other without batting an eyelid. Kazuki handed the map to Tonan and said, "This is your map." He then gestured at Taro, who took out three thumb-sized tubes with a small red button from his bag.
"This is a signal flare, one for each person. Release it when you come into contact with the two lords. At that time, everyone must immediately head to its location for support."
Since Tonan didn't argue with the two, Minato and Kakashi also kept their peace. In any case, they did apologize and their action didn't seem intentional. The three of them took the signal flare from Taro and put them in their bags.
"Tonan, rest for a bit, I'll carry you." Minato thoughtfully carried the weakened Tonan on his back. The five people advanced towards the Land of Fire border.
For about two days, the group was dashing across the forest. According to the map, after a short while, everyone would part ways and take off to their respective garrison towns. Along the way, Tonan was contemplating the abnormal aspects of this mission.
The first was the mission itself. An S-ranked mission that needed both Anbu and Root captains...
This was around the time that Hatake Sakumo was going to die, which implied this mission was most likely to fail. Unfortunately for him, even though he had worked hard for so long, he had not gained Sakumo's acknowledgment. Though he learned much about the Samurai spirit from Sanbo Motoyoshi, he had yet to find a suitable time to have a conversation with Sakumo alone.
'Am I really going to miss out on a big fish like Sakumo? No, if I can't get his acknowledgment, I should stop his suicide. Either way, once he acknowledges me, with his glass heart, it shouldn't be too difficult to put him to death.'
There was one more point Tonan found fishy and it was regarding the two strange teammates for this reinforcement mission. Tonan had used the Hell Viewing Technique to see through their deepest fears but he didn't find much.
Fortunately, the genjutsu continued, which indicated those two did have people or things they dreaded, and from the illusion, it was obvious Danzo was one of them.
Coupled with their usual paralyzed faces, it was practically certain they were Root ninjas. Tonan wouldn't dare to relax his vigilance in front of the subordinates of a villain like Danzo, who stopped at nothing to do evil.
Especially since he knew that Orochimaru was already experimenting with the Sharingan. There had been no news of missing people in the clan recently, so Danzo might be lacking Sharingan now. But the Uchiha ninjas joined the Konoha Police Force and it was a bad idea for Danzo to make a move within the village.
Wasn't he the best prey then?
Three hours later, the group had already reached closer to the Land of Fire borders. As per the plan, the five of them parted ways and headed towards the towns according to their maps.
Tonan, however, kept an eye out. Some of his white pigeons followed Kazuki and Taro from a distance.
After about half a day, Tonan arrived in his designated town. This kind of a place that was closer to the border, was typically not prosperous. Most of the civilians engaged in farming and some simple business activities.
Being a border, the Land of Fire soldiers were stationed here and some genins, who had accepted C-ranked missions, were also here. Most of these genins were relatively older and had no promotion prospects.
Although the reward for a C-ranked mission was not too high, it had long-term stability, and there was also a certain amount of profit. Tonan greeted them briefly and checked into an inn following the duty captain's arrangements.
He put the tea leaves he carried along into the teapot, mixed it with water, and boiled it on the gas stove.
After that, he waited calmly. No matter how strong Sakumo was, he would have just about entered the Land of Rain. Calculating the distance and the inevitable battles along the way to rescue the hostage, it would take about seven or eight days for anything to happen.
He didn't need to be anxious. Since he knew the original plot, he knew Sakumo would fail this time. He just didn't know one thing — Sakumo chose to give up the mission to save whom.
The person he saved also blamed him so it was unlikely to be Kakashi or Minato. From this hypothesis, it could only be the three Root Ninjas involved in the mission.
"Now that I've not gained Sakumo's acknowledgment yet, should I first get rid of those two teammates? But then, the mission might not end up in failure. I do have time to figure things out."
Tonan's thoughts made him smile. He got up and lifted the steaming teapot from the gas stove, and returned to the table.