Hideki looked at Asuma who nodded at him. They both knew that this must be one of Yami's summons but it had now arrived in front of everyone and so the letter can't be hidden from the clan leaders. Hideki opened the letter and started reading it. After a few seconds, he looked at Asuma and said "This letter is from the guy who destroyed the 2 bases and killed those pirates and stone shinobis."
Except for the hidden leaf shinobis, others felt a little shocked when they heard this. This is the first time he had made any kind of contact. They didn't know why he contacted Hideki but they guessed he must have a good relationship with the hidden leaf.
Asuma and Kurenai were confused as to why Yami had sent Hideki the letter knowing that they were coming and why Hideki addressed Yami like that.
"The Genjutsu demon sent that letter?" Riko who had been mostly quiet the whole asked in excitement. For him, the Genjutsu demon was someone he wanted to meet no matter what. The man had done things that the bloodline clans couldn't do for almost a decade.
"Yes, he says he wants to meet me and the other hidden leaf spies from our village." Hideki said. He was a bit hesitant when he said that because Yoshiro and the others didn't know that there were 7 more spies in the hidden mist. \
"Show me the letter" Kakashi said as he went to Hideki and took the letter from his hand. He was searching as to whether Yami left any kind of clues in the letter that could tell him about any alternative message or Yami's aim to send a letter at a time like this.
Kakashi read the letter but he couldn't find anything wrong with it.
"Can we see the letter as well?" Asami asked with a smile. Even she was curious as to what was exactly written in the letter. Kakashi seeing that the letter was written from the perspective that the sender was first time contacting Hideki, understood that Yami wanted this letter to be delivered in front of everyone. He didn't know what yami's motive was behind that. Kakashi also signaled Asuma and Kurenai that it was fine giving the letter to Asami and the other clan leaders.
As Asami read the letter to everyone in the hall, one line caught everyone's attention. It said that 'I have sent the same letters to the other hidden leaf spies in the hidden mist.'
"What does this mean?" Asami asked as she looked at the Old man and Yoshiro for an answer. She at first thought that the twins were about to receive similar letters but it had already been 10 minutes and no other letters arrived.
Yoshiro and the old man looked at Asuma and said "It means that the hidden leaf has more spies in our village other than these three. The calm atmosphere that was just in the hall, had vanished again. When there were no attempts of rescue or information gathering, the clan leaders thought that these were the only spies on the island but now it turns out there were more.
"Can you tell me how many more spies of your village are in the hidden mist?" The old man asked. Mei and the others understood that the old man felt a little betrayed by this.
Asuma gave a heavy sigh as he understood there was no use hiding it from the clan leaders. "There are 7-8 more of them."
"So many."
"Why are 10 spies in our village? What was the hidden leaf planning?"
Whispers started to spread in the hall. They never thought that so many spies have infiltrated their village and they were just happy with catching 3 of them.
"What intention does the hidden leaf have? Like Hidden stone do you guys also want to swallow our village?" Riko asked angrily. He was about to say more but Asami quickly stopped him.
"Riko, do say anything rashly. They are here as an official envoy. Mind your tone." Asami said sternly. She and the other clan leaders knew that even if they felt offended and angry by this, they can't do anything to the hidden leaf.
'Yami what have you done…Because of you now I am in a pinch now.' Asuma cursed in his mind.
Things were going pretty smoothly before Yami decided to throw in a letter and make a mess. He was sure that Yami intended for things to be that way but exposing all the hidden leaf spies was not something that can be forgiven easily.
"Calm down Mr. Riko. The situation of the hidden mist has been very unstable from the time the Mizukage had ordered the slaughter of the bloodline clans. My father must be worried about the
repercussion that it may have on the hidden leaf and the surrounding areas so he must have had them come here. He doesn't make decisions rashly or have any intention of swallowing the hidden mist." Asuma explained trying his best to calm down the clan leaders, especially Riko.
Mei who was now standing beside AO and behind her father saw this as a good opportunity and said "If that is the case then we have a condition if you want things to go back to how they were before the letter came.
"What condition?" Kurenai asked. She didn't know what could be in their hand now. She thought at most the hidden mist will ask for more help or more compensation but Mei said "We also want to come with all of you to meet The Genjutsu Demon. We understand that he might not come forward once he sees any of us but we can't have you guys doing anything behind our backs."
"I agree with Mei…we also want to know why he sent those letters and why does someone like him who is an outsider knows about the other spies and we don't." Asami said.
'Because we told him.' Asuma wanted to say but stopped himself.
"If that can bring back the trust you have lost then sure…we have no problem with taking it with us for the meet." Kakashi said with a smile which confused not only the mist shinobis but also the leaf shinobis. They didn't know why Kakashi agreed so readily to this.
"We all won't come. It could also be a trap laid by Moji. Riko, Asami, and Elder Wu go with Mei and her cousins. Make sure to run away the moment you feel that things are wrong." The old man said.
Toru and Nana knew that they weren't going to be a part of this meeting and they knew how serious the situation was so they didn't even ask Santo.
"The meeting is tonight at 2 am so I think we should start preparing. I am sure the other spies have also gotten similar letters and are waiting for some kind of signal signifying that the letters are authentic." Kakashi said and looked at Hideki.
Hideki nodded and said "We have a signal that will tell them that it is time to meet. I never had to use it in the past but now I think this is going to be useful." Hideki then explained that the signal was firing a firework at the top of the mountain. When that signal is given the spies will meet at the place decided by the message or by default they will meet at the shore behind the local market. As that place was not connected to the main water routes and only the villagers came to wash their clothes, the mist shinobis would never search there.
___________________
Location of the other Spies
The spies who had been dormant for such a long time all received letters. The letters weren't flown into the house by bats like Hideki's but thrown like a dart. The spies tried to search for who threw it but they didn't see the bats looming over them in the dark. Most of them at first thought this was a shot in the dark by the Mizukage faction but then the letter also contained their personal names. This wasn't something that anyone from the hidden mist or stone would know. The spies then saw the firework go up in the sky from the mountain. They all knew that Hideki was asking them to meet at the location specified in the letter they got.
All the spies got to work and began preparing for a conflict or escape. They couldn't just trust the genjutsu demon blindly because he destroyed two bases.
Luckily for them, they didn't have to leave right away and had a few hours to prepare. As they all left in different directions, the bats flying above them also followed them.
Yami who was back in his tavern looked at the firework and then at the bats that were flying above the village. Even though it was pitch black and no one could see them, as their summoner Yami could see them clearly.
---------------------------
To read 16 extra chapters go to my Patreón
https://p@treon.com/lazarus898/
Link in the synopsis as well.