'Interesting…' Fujin muttered. Even though he had heard how the base looked from Shikaku, seeing it personally surprised him. Calling what he was seeing as merely a base would be inappropriate. Instead, it was almost a village by itself!
The base was spread over a region with a radius of over half a kilometer. There were dozens of houses and an equal number of facilities to train the ninjas. All of them were spread over the base. There were also a couple of patrol camps some distance away from the main base.
In addition, hundreds of seals were inscribed around the base. They served various uses, but the main uses were keeping the base hidden and warning the Kumo ninjas if someone tried to break into the base.
Even though these bases were no secret, Ay had paid a lot of attention to ensure that their inner workings stayed a secret. No village had been able to send their spies inside any of the ten bases. In fact, Kumo had uncovered a few spies who took too much risk and ended up exposing themselves. Konoha was only able to get the details when Jiraiya paid a visit to the Land of Lightning.
Fujin analyzed, 'The influence of Jiraiya's attack is quite visible on the way this base has been constructed. Even though there are only 103 ninjas here, all are spread out across the base. So, a single attack can't wipe them out like how Jiraiya killed over 250 ninjas in a single attack back then. Under normal circumstances, wiping out everyone in such a base would be very difficult. Unfortunately for them, Kumo decided to target me…'
Fujin chuckled and created another small base underground. He retrieved the Chakra Transmission Communication device and informed Konoha that he was in position. Shikaku told him to wait there until further communications and asked him to rest well.
Around half a day later, in the middle of the night, Ay, Bee and the others reached a spot close to the town where Fujin and the rest were last spotted. A man bowed respectfully and said, "It's good to see you, Raikage-sama!"
Ay quickly said, "Enough pleasantries, Itaru. Tell me where Suzuki Fujin is."
Itaru nodded. He was a spy Kumo had placed close to the borders of the Land of Fire. In time, he had become quite capable and was completely trusted by the Noble in that town. As a result, he was able to get the information very easily. Of course, this was the very reason Shikaku chose that town.
Konoha sent Suzuki Fujin along with 4 other ninjas. I didn't find any information on them, so they might be from their Anbu. I believe all four are at the Jounin level. They headed out to eliminate the rogue ninjas around half a day ago. We haven't heard back from them yet."
Ay frowned and asked, "If it's just some rogue ninjas, why did Konoha send more ninjas along with Fujin?"
Itaru answered, "The rogue ninjas also destroyed a couple of villages. They also have to rehabilitate them. Suzuki Fujin might leave once the rogue ninjas are eliminated while his subordinates take care of rehabilitation."
Ay nodded and said, "Alright, tell me the location of those rogue ninjas."
Itaru immediately handed Ay a map that had a marked location. Ay observed, 'Hmm, I suspected that it would be close to the borders of the Land of Fire. However, this place is a couple of dozen kilometers away from their border. They don't want to be too obvious, huh? Oh well, let me see what scheme you're cooking this time, Hokage!'
He said, "Good work. Return and continue your work."
Itaru nodded and immediately left. Ay turned his gaze to others and said, "We'll move immediately. Stay on guard. If Konoha has set a trap for us, it can become very risky. Be prepared to retreat if I order it. Also, don't go too far away from the group. Especially you, Bee!"
Everyone nodded and the group immediately headed towards that location. However, they moved slower compared to their traveling speed prior. All 8 of them were very careful, paying full attention to the non-existent trap. Soon, they reached the location on the map. It was a large cave. They all hid themselves while observing the cave from a distance. Confusion appeared on everyone's faces.
One of them said, "As expected, something is off. If they were here to eliminate rogue ninjas, why aren't there any traces of battle here?"
Another responded, "Perhaps the Konoha ninjas killed them without giving them any chance of retaliating. Regardless, this is very suspicious."
Ay turned his gaze towards the Fuinjutsu Grandmaster and asked, "Do you feel any seals here?"
The Fuinjutsu Grandmaster shook his head and answered, "No, Raikage-sama. I don't feel anything off. There might still be some seals, however, they wouldn't be enough to trap us."
Ay frowned and ordered, "Inspect closely. It's fine even if your chakra leaks."
The Grandmaster nodded and concentrated chakra in his eyes. He inspected the cave for a few minutes. Finally, he said, "Raikage-sama, there aren't any seals outside the cave. I didn't see any seals inside the cave either. There are a few explosion seals just behind the entrance along with some sensory seals to activate them. There is also a seal that I don't recognize, however I don't feel any danger from it."
All the Kumo ninjas frowned. Even Bee forgot to rap as he muttered, "So few seals? What are they planning?"
The Grandmaster said, "I don't think these seals were planted by Konoha. Someone might have just used this cave as a base and planted a few seals in case anyone tried to sneak in."
Ay wondered, 'So, is this a trap or not? What game is Konoha playing? Did they really send Fujin on a normal mission?'
He said, "Send a Lightning clone and see whether there is anything else hidden."
The Grandmaster nodded and followed his orders. His Lightning clone avoided the explosive tags and entered the cave. He inspected the entire cave and didn't find anything.
Finally, he returned to the entrance and thought, 'There's nothing here. No seals, no signs of fighting and even no signs of anyone living here. These explosive seals and that unknown seal are the only things here… What is Konoha up to? Or is Raikage-sama just paranoid?'
He observed the explosive seals for some time while analyzing, 'Unless activating these explosive seals leads to some sort of cascading seals. However, does Konoha have anyone who can hide seals so well? Hmm, they were very close to Uzushiogakure. I should inspect this just in case.'
He stepped close to the explosive seals and retreated a few steps. Immediately, a dozen explosive seals went off, blowing the entrance up! However, there wasn't much destruction. The cave was still intact.
"Hmm?" Outside the cave, the Grandmaster suddenly exclaimed. Ay asked, "What did you notice?"
The Grandmaster answered, "That unknown seal dissipated due to the explosions."
Ay frowned. The Grandmaster's Lightning clone appeared and reported, "Raikage-sama, there weren't any seals inside the cave. There is no trap here."
Ay thought for a bit and said, "I guess we were too cautious. We'll inspect those two villages to see if we can find Suzuki Fujin."
Everyone nodded and immediately moved.
In Hiruzen's office, Hiruzen and Shikaku were looking at a tag that was burning. Hiruzen chuckled and said, "The Raikage finally reached that cave."
Shikaku smirked. There were no rogue ninjas. Instead, he just had an Anbu squad do some mischief and force Yugakure to issue a rank S mission. They had returned to Konoha a long time ago!
Shikaku said, "I'll tell Inoichi to pass a message to Fujin and Fumito."
Hiruzen nodded. A couple of minutes later, Fujin heard Inoichi's voice, "The Fourth Raikage has reached the cave. You can begin. Good luck."
Fujin plainly replied, "Alright."
He turned off the device and put it back in the scroll. Eating a soldier pill, Fujin muttered, "Time to debut another technique never seen in the ninja world!"
Fujin exited the base and appeared above the ground. He was still a couple of kilometers away from the base. A couple of Shadow Clones appeared next to him. In the blink of an eye, he disappeared again, moving towards the base at a blinding speed!
Despite the large number of seals around the base, no one detected Fujin's movements. In the blink of an eye, Fujin reached the center of the base and slammed his right hand on the ground.
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