The following two days showed a drastic rise in activity as a surprisingly large number of shin.o.bi clans within the Land of Mountains were converging onto Kagero Village.However, they weren"t alone. Apparently, the Land of Wind wasn"t prepared to let go of the deal and expecting an imminent attack by Konoha had sent reinforcements to help set up defensive measures and strengthen Kagero"s fighting force.
According to Akata"s estimations, it should measure well above a thousand combat ready shin.o.bi, yet there was no way to be sure as on the second day of observing an unnatural sandstorm appeared, which like a natural barrier surrounded the entirety of Kagero Village hindering their attempt to gather information.
At another mission, Akata had experienced the danger this jutsu held and cautioned them to remain outside its perimeter. It was a widescale contact-type perception ninjutsu able to detect intruders and prevent most sensors.
Koda, who turned out to be the eagle-masked sensor, had tried but wasn"t able to see through it and the same held true for Fuzen, much to his own surprise. Entering his realm of darkness, he could see nothing besides one uniform shadow encompa.s.sing the entire village. There were no distinct shapes of buildings, rooms or people. Nothing showed. To his vision, it appeared like everything had melded together and become part of the same ent.i.ty.
In order to scout, Akata had their current three-man team monitor the main road leading into the village. It was a tedious yet necessary a.s.signment since it would help the Hokage plan a course of action when he arrived with his force.
With his shift over, Fuzen teleported back to their cave just time to join Akata and Koda"s debate on their next move.
"We should go meet up with the Hokage. It should be about time for them to arrive anyway," Koda argued.
"You"re right, I suspect it won"t be long until they manage to find this cave with the rate their guarding perimeter expands by the hour," Akata nodded her agreement. "Gaijin, can you teleport us somewhere below the ridge we pa.s.sed over here?" She pointed to a location on the map.
"Sure, but it wouldn"t surprise me if Suna already has placed a guardpost up there. It"s defensible and has excellent sightlines to see approaching enemies."
"That"s what I"m counting on," she gave him a wicked smile hot enough to make a weak man c.u.m. "Knowing the Hokage, he wants to launch a surprise attack and to do that..."
"We need to destroy their outposts so we can avoid notice," Fuzen finished for her.
"Exactly! Now, let"s get going. Find me, someone, to kill."
Letting Akata and Koda follow him into the realm of darkness, Fuzen moved east towards the ridge she"d indicated and rematerialized them inside the shadows of a tree-crown.
While Akata appeared unfazed by the trip across his shadow realm, Koda wobbly stance suggested he hadn"t been as fortunate.
Fuzen was about to comment when Koda held up a finger in warning. "Not a single word!"
Realizing the mistake of his sudden motion, Koda awkwardly jumped away to another tree branch almost slipping in the process and removed his mask just in time before he started vomiting.
Akata and Fuzen watched him in disgust and wanted no part of what he was going through.
When he finished, Koda put on the mask and returned to his previous spot. "I"m not doing that again anytime soon."
"Hmm... It"s the first time anyone has reacted this badly. Perhaps if we do it a couple more times you"ll get used to it?" Fuzen said.
Kado shook his head. "I"ll stick to running, thanks."
"Well, suit yourself," and directed their attention upwards. It was plenty a distance away, meaning there was little chance the enemy having a sensor skilled enough to detect them. "Up there atop the mountain, I found two squads stationed, twenty-five in total."
Fuzen patted his chest. "Now, how are you going to reward me?"
"How about I cut off your thing and serve it to my cats when we return."
"You wouldn"t dare!"
"Neither thought my previously cheating boyfriend. If you see him ask how that went."
Fuzen looked to Koda, seeking an answer.
"That was before my time in the team. However, I did hear a couple of rumours about a fellow jonin who had a close call losing his dear love muscle," he shrugged.
Fuzen unconsciously shielded his crotch, protecting his own and multiple other women"s future happiness.
Akata smirked seeing Fuzen"s sudden insecurity. "We can"t have any stragglers contact other squads meanings we have to be quick. Koda, I want you to circle around them and dispatch anymore fleeing the scene, while Gaijin and I arrive from the front. Sound good?"
"If it"s only the two of us they shouldn"t be able to react in time before we"re both materialized," Fuzen approved.
Kado nodded his agreement as well. "I"ll head out then. Give a minute to get in position..." He glanced up the mountainous terrain. "Scratch that, make it two minutes before you head in," and left with a heavy sigh.
Waiting two minutes, Fuzen left along with Akata.
Atop the rock face, the two squads of Sunagakure and the Land of Mountains were standing on guard surveying the surrounding area beneath them.
The Suna jonin in charge went over the improvised fortification they"d built and felt satisfied with the result. He felt quite confident that even if an enemy force twice their size attacked, they should be able to hold out long enough for reinforcement to arrive. Unless of course, the stories were true and there was an enemy shin.o.bi capable of striking from the shadows.
Hearing a rustle behind, he turned slightly alarmed. The uncertainty was starting to get the best of him.
"Sir, I think you should say a few words. A couple of the guys are scared. They"ve all heard the caravan tales and with it being in the middle of the night, shadows everywhere..." his second in command let the suggestion hang in the air and retreated back to his post.
Left alone, the Suna jonin cast a quick look around the circular fortification created using earth jutsu. The shin.o.bi"s on break were the ones worst off, two of them visibly trembling.
Taking a deep breath, he called attention to himself. "HMM, HMM... Listen up, people! We"ve all heard the stories but you know how we shin.o.bi tend to exaggerate our war stories. There"s no way a single person could have done what"s described, like come on guys!" He held up his hands for them to see. "Fists emitting the sound of a beating heart and capable of pa.s.sing through anything like it was air, attacking with speed and ferocity of a tiger, moving between shadows at will –"
"But what if they"re true?" A young voice interrupted him.
He tracked the voice to a small figure hunched over in the darkness, probably scared as h.e.l.l. "The Phantom Beast does NOT exist! And even if true, we"re prepared. Do you think this sword of mine is a joke!?" The jonin unsheathed the sword strapped to his back.
"Oh, I don"t know about that. However, it is going to be useless against me." The cloaked figure rose to his feet and let the hood fall.
"It"s him! I recognize the tiger-mask, it"s the Phantom Beast!" A panicked screech entered the night.