Smashing his way through the few Kumo shinobi fast enough to cut him off, Shiki, still in his transformed state, led his pursuers into the nearby forest where Mei and Inori were set up along with multiple traps.
"Follow me, we'll pursue but your head on a swivel, he may have companions ready to ambush us or traps ready." The Kumo leader, Shibui, the tanned, bald man with sunglasses, gave his commands while on the move.
His right hand, the silver haired, fair skinned woman with piercing green eyes, Marui, joined him shortly after.
"The enemy is not giving his all, he wants to follow." She cautioned after sensing the lack of effort Shiki seemed to be putting into running.
"He is probably leading us into an ambush but not to take us out, just to create an opening for a clean getaway, he's probably saving his chakra until then." Shibui deduced.
And he was correct, though that was just the camouflage Team 6 was setting up so as to not reveal their true abilities, otherwise, Shiki would have assassinated the target and his guard before disappearing without even alerting the Kumo reinforcements.
The Kumo shinobi group with its two leaders supported by three squads of three chased Shiki, while on the lookout for the expected trap or ambush.
But Team 6's counter sensory abilities were too advanced.
'Water: Hiding in Mist'
Mei unleashed roiling waves of thick chakra dense mist from her hiding spot, covering the entire field of battle.
With that as the signal, before Kumo could properly react, the escaping Shiki weaved a hand seal to trigger the Earth Release traps he set before, causing the ground to collapse and sending the enemy shinobi plummeting into a field of earthen spikes.
With a high level shinobi's agility, they would be fine but . . .
'Ninja Art: Mind Jamming Wave'
With a single subtle pulse, Inori stealthily delayed their reactions by an instant and created an opening Mei did not miss.
'Water Release: Hail'
Large globes of water rained down from the sky, targeting the falling Kumo shinobi.
Not even waiting to check the results of their ambush, all three members of Team 6 scattered and vanished.
*
A day had passed since the attack, Team 6 was already on its way out of the Land of Frost while Kumo had now taken a full account of the previous events.
Despite its masterful orchestration, there were no true killing moves included in Team 6's ambush so with the exception of one unlikely chunin ending up skewered in the spikes at the bottom of the trap hole, the Kumo pursuit squads only suffered light injuries with the stronger members being unscathed.
"At least the client is safe so our reputation can still be slightly salvaged." The Kumo leader, Shibui had spoken, trying to look on the positive side of things.
Alas, said client mysteriously died, not from his wounds, slapping him in the face with reality.
Poison was the obvious suspicion but no traces were found on the client's body.
". . .Considering the day's events, foul play is undoubtable but we don't have any leads to trace." Marui, the second in command, concluded her report to her captain.
"Hah . . ." Shibui rubbed his bald head.
"Suna are the premiere poison experts but this wouldn't make sense for them, the most visible culprit used Earth Release, very skillfully at that, which points to Iwa but the ambush with Hiding in Mist and Water release also points to Kiri."
"The fact that there are no traces of Konoha's presence is suspicious in and of itself considering that there are clues pointing to each of the other three great nations." The Kumo Elite Jonin theorized out loud with frustration clear in his tone.
A few silent minutes passed until the man finally brightened up with a resolute expression.
"Alright! We'll blame Iwa!" He decided.
"Blame?" His second, Marui, questioned.
"We can't know for sure who did it but the appearance of a powerful and skilled Earth Release user is a good enough excuse for us to target them." Shibui explained.
"I see, I am more partial to Konoha but we can't blame them due to lack of tangible evidence and the fact that we would have to admit they got one over us again, staining our reputation even further and boosting theirs." Marui realized.
"Exactly, my instincts point to Konoha as well but those bastards played things so that blaming Iwa would be a much better option for us." Her captain agreed.
And like so, Team 6's mission could be considered a success.
*
Back to the Konoha shinobi, while their assignment was complete, their trials were not yet finished.
Root's appearance during the mission and Shiki's actions meant there was still a problem waiting for them back home.
Namely, what and how to explain to the Hokage and advisors.
"Let's cut out all the dancing around the topic. What do you want to do?" Inori just came out and questioned Shiki.
"Just like that?" The boy inquired with a raised eyebrow.
The Violet Rose kept her silence as affirmation.
"Well, that depends on what you want. If you want to remain loyal, go ahead and tattle everything, if you want a clean break with the Hokage faction, make no mention of anything outside our original mission, however . . ."
"If you want to keep playing the game, other than the power I used to take out the Root squad, you can reveal everything, including my reasoning for not being worried about killing them." Shiki made his response.
'So I either maintain my position and completely lose Shiki's trust and consideration, cleanly and openly switch sides or doublecross Hokage-sama and Danzo-sama and spy on them while feeding them the intel this kid wants me too . . .' Inori considered her options.
Honestly, it was between the second and the third.
She could tell that the trust of her superiors had eroded as did their intent of keeping her around. The Violet Rose was swiftly becoming a disposable pawn with enough unwanted connotations to be "tactfully" disposed of.
So the only question, was how the Yamanaka viewed herself and her future.
Did she want to keep working in the shadows, playing the game of power with spying, betrayals and constant scheming?
Or did she finally earn the right to step into the light and work as an upright Elite Jonin of Konoha, honestly leading her squad of students?
The Violet Rose fell deep into thought.
Moments stretched into minutes as the gears in her head turned on and on, not arriving at an answer . . .
Until . . .
'Who am I even trying to fool? Myself?' Inori internally shook her head with wryness.
"Then I'll "carefully edit" my report." She finally told the boy with a refreshing smile on her beautiful face.
In the end, Yamanaka Inori loved the game.
Rather than continue as a pawn in constant danger of being thrown away, he wanted to keep playing as a valuable piece.
That was just the kind of woman she was.
Inori was good at her job because she enjoyed it.
And trying to swim around in the dark waters of Konoha while working against its leadership was just the kind of job that made her heart race.
+++++
Hey, Author here!
To promote the novel I will be releasing BONUS CHAPTERS on SUNDAYS based on the previous week's power stone count.
100 Power Stones = 1 Bonus Chapter
500 Power Stones = 2 Bonus Chapters
1000 Power Stones = 3 Bonus Chapters
Every earned BONUS CHAPTER on Webnovel will also be posted on Scribble.
Just a reminder that you can read up to a FULL MONTH ahead of this site on pa-treon.
I'm trying to become a full time Author now and I'm not going to be starting any new novels just so I can make sure this one is properly completed.
Find those sweet advanced chapters on pa-treon.com/lusoba without the -