"Without Yugito, our casualties might have tripled." The Elite Jounin said. Everyone agreed with him. Darui thought, 'It's a good thing that Mabui stopped me from going alone. Otherwise, even I could have died… Especially if they had any way to know what has happened here.'
The Kumo army continued treating their wounded, sealing the dead ones and finding the missing ones. While they did, Mabui contacted the five Anbu squads she had dispatched earlier. Unfortunately, she lost contact with one of them. One of the other four squads reported that they had already reached close to the base and seen that a part of the base was blown up and 4 dead bodies lay nearby.
Mabui solemnly thought, 'I sent 3 squads to their death. The one squad that didn't respond was headed towards a base where I hadn't sent a squad previously. They must have fallen into the trap as well.'
Mabui's mood became heavy. Her orders had caused the deaths of 4 Anbu squads. She quickly adjusted her mood and thought, 'No, I can't let my emotions affect me. Even though it's not official, we're pretty much at war! A war that we're badly losing. I need to contact Raikage-sama.'
She quickly used the Chakra Transmission Communication device to talk with Ay and informed him about the traps and the state of Darui's army. To say that Ay was shocked was an understatement. He nearly burst out in rage but controlled himself understanding how serious the situation was.
Ay asked, "What about the remaining 4 bases?"
Mabui answered, "I have given them the orders to disband. They should mix among common civilians very soon."
Ay replied, "Good. Ask Darui's group to return as well. I'll check the 5 bases while returning. Once they analyze the situation, get the details of the trap from them and inform me."
Mabui replied, "Yes, Raikage-sama."
Seeing Ay's solemn expression and feeling the rage he was controlling, Bee seriously asked, "What is the situation there, brother?"
Ay replied, "Their target wasn't our village. They targeted our bases. Everyone in the base Dodai was looking over is missing. Darui led an army to check but fell into a trap. He's fine but several of our ninjas are dead. Not to mention, we aren't able to contact 5 more bases and they likely have similar traps."
Bee and others were shocked to hear that. None of them expected Konoha to make such a move. Ay roared, "Increase your speed, everyone! I'll crush every Konoha ninja still on our lands! They're mistaken if they think they can get away with this!"
Half an hour later, C returned to Darui's side and said with a tired expression, "We have healed everyone to our best abilities. Unfortunately, 12 have serious injuries. We will need to take them back to the village to properly treat them."
Darui sighed and said, "What a mess. Mabui said that the remaining 4 bases have successfully disbanded. We'll head back to the village and plan what to do next."
Everyone was distraught on hearing that. Even though everyone in the army was slightly fearful of the unknown enemy, they wanted to fight for their village and earn pride for Kumogakure. However, they didn't run into any enemies. Instead, they fell into a trap and lost 67 capable comrades! Hundreds were injured to varying degrees. Everyone felt terrible.
Darui sighed understanding everyone's thoughts. However, there was nothing else he could do. If they fell into another trap, their entire group might be wiped out. With the 4 bases disbanded, they didn't have any reason to head there. As for the remaining 5 bases, the Raikage's group would reach there faster than them. So, Darui had no reason to head there.
He could only mutter, "I'm sorry. I led us all into this trap."
C shook his head and said, "There was nothing you could do. We were completely outplayed. We can only get stronger and more capable so that this doesn't repeat."
Everyone nodded, agreeing with C. The Kumogakure army finally began their retreat. Needless to say, the morale of the army was quite low. With hundreds of ninjas having minor injuries, they no longer moved at the same speed at which they marched there.
15 minutes after they began their retreat, a sensor in their vanguard frowned and said, "There is someone up ahead."
The ninjas around him frowned as well. The Jounin next to him asked, "Just one? Do you recognize the chakra signature?"
The sensor shook his head and said, "No. And his chakra is very erratic. I can't get an estimate of his strength."
The Jounin frowned and ordered another ninja, "Inform Darui-sama about it."
Darui and others quickly learnt about it and looked at C who activated his chakra field. He frowned and said, "The chakra signature is indeed very erratic. Whoever it is, that person isn't moving and might not be aware of us."
Yugito said, "Since it's just one person, it couldn't be an ambush. However, we still need to be careful in case another Fuinjutsu trap is laid for us."
Jin said, "Don't worry, I'll take every precaution. We won't fall for such a trap again."
Darui nodded and said, "Good. Let's go check out who that person is."
Darui led Samui, C, Yugito, Jin and a couple of other Elite Jounins forward. They carefully traveled for around half a kilometer while checking for any traps en route. To their relief, there were no seals. The rest of the army followed them.
However, when they finally lay their eyes on the individual sitting in their path, every single one of them was dumbfounded. For a while, none of them knew what to make of the situation in front of them!
"Who's that?"
"What's he doing there?"
"Why is he roasting chicken here?"
"Is he deaf and blind? He hasn't even looked at us!"
The Kumogakure ninjas began questioning doubtfully for they had seen the strangest thing in their entire life! In front of them was an individual wearing a long black cloak with a demon mask covering his face. He was sitting without a care in the world while roasting a chicken! Despite the presence of over 400 Kumo ninjas so close to him, he didn't even glance at them and continued roasting the chicken!
Jin chuckled and said, "After living for nearly 8 decades, I didn't think I'd see something so strange. What a fascinating individual!"
A tick mark appeared on Yugito's forehead as she questioned, "Is he purposefully ignoring us?"
She suddenly shouted, "Hey you! Who are you? And what are you doing in the Land of Lightning?"
To her surprise, that individual didn't even turn his head in her direction and continued roasting the chicken! Being ignored in such a manner made Yugito both flustered and enraged. She exerted her chakra and shouted, "Stop ignoring me!"
A little bit of Matatabi's chakra leaked when she shouted. It made the demon-masked individual finally turn his head and look at them. Yugito felt a pair of eyes inspecting her very carefully. The individual finally opened his mouth and muttered in a jagged but archaic voice, "That's an interesting chakra… Brings back some memories…"
The Kumo ninjas were surprised. None of them expected to hear such words. What surprised them more was his tone. It felt as if he had no interest in any of them.
The individual turned his attention back to the chicken and sighed, "So many complicated questions and so few answers… How long will it take to solve these? How many more mysteries will appear once I solve them? Sigh…"
He released another long sigh and said without taking his eyes off the chicken, "Leave. I'm not in the mood for a fight."
His tone was so dismissive and filled with a blatant disregard towards the Kumo ninjas that everyone who heard it was offended. Once they got over their surprise, the Kumo ninjas in the back began cursing.
"That bastard!"
"Who does he think he is?"
"How dare he treat us like pests?"
The Kumo ninjas were quite distraught and demoralized from what had happened in the base. Now that they came across someone asking for a beating, they wanted to vent their frustrations.
Unlike them, Darui and his group controlled their emotions. All realized that something was off with the situation. They weren't sure whether the person in front of them was confident in taking them on or just bluffing. Darui wondered, 'Questions? Mysteries? What is this old man blabbing about?'
Darui softly asked, "Old man, are you sure that there are no seals?"
Jin nodded and said, "Yes. There are no seals around here. However, both his cloak and mask are densely covered in seals. I can't see which they are though."
Darui nodded and calmly asked, "Could you tell us who you are and what you're doing here? Also, did you notice any small group of ninjas moving around a few hours ago?"
Despite being asked so politely, that person continued to ignore Darui. Instead, he took the roasted chicken off the fire. Darui sighed and muttered, "I don't want to disturb your dinner but we need some answers. Sorry, but I'll need you to come with us."
He grabbed his sword. The remaining Kumo ninjas grabbed their weapons as well. While they wanted to vent their frustrations, none of them dared to drop their guard considering the deadly trap they walked into not too long ago.
Despite being so heavily outnumbered, the masked individual didn't panic. Instead, he sighed in disappointment and muttered, "Another unsolved mystery... Why does every era have fools who run to their deaths? Is there any answer? Or is it just the way of the world?"
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