"Hehe…what can I say? I am popular that everyone sends me letters" Kakashi joked to which Asuma coughed and said "Ahem…Kakashi I don't think this is the right time to joke." As he glanced at the clan leaders staring at Kakashi.
Kakashi stood from his chair and walked near the window. He first took the letter from the bat that Yami had sent. He then took the letter that came from the village. He could recognize that this bird was the village's fastest messenger which means whatever is written in that letter is urgent. The bat then flew away but the bird stood on the window.
"Can you read Yami's letter first? We would like to know if he found anything. Although it hasn't been more than 2 hours since we separated, he must have gotten some important information which made him send the letter." Asami said.
"Choji give the bird something to eat and drink. He won't stay here for long." Asuma said to which Choji nodded and took out some meat from his bag to feed the bird. The bird also understood what Asuma was saying and it made some noise and flew beside Choji.
As for Kakashi he set Tsunade's letter aside and opened Yami's letter. Everyone could see that the letter was very long which surprised them. 'What did he find to write so much? Yami normally keeps his letters brief.' Kakashi thought.
Seeing the curious look on everyone's faces including the 2 genin squads, Kakashi decided to read the letter aloud. After every few seconds, the expressions of shock became more and more intense on the faces of everyone gathered there. Even the leaf and mist shinobis guarding the doors and other entrances of the tavern from the inside were shocked and looking at each other.
"K-Kakashi It is hard to believe what Yami has written in the letter." Riko said to which Yoshiro nodded and said "He is right. Demon heart and blood crystal? What are these things? We have never heard about them, not even in our old scriptures."
"Actually Yami had already informed Lady Tsunade about this and even sent a few hearts to her for testing. That's the reason Lady Tsunade sent all 3 of us here. I am sure the letter she has sent now will give us some kind of solution to counter the demon hearts. As for the blood crystal, even we are hearing this for the first time." Asuma said. He then looked at Kakashi and asked " Do you have any intelligence about this? Yami hasn't explained anything in the letter."
Kakashi nodded and said "Which means even he is in the dark about this. I am sure he is curious enough to find out what it is but time is of the essence. What do you think our next step should be clan leaders?" Kakashi asked as he looked at the clan leaders sitting in front of him.
Seeing that they didn't give any answer immediately, Kakashi decided to open Tsunade's letter. It was the letter from the Hokage and it was addressed to Kakashi and not the bloodline clan leaders so they wouldn't dare tell him to read it loudly but they focused on Kakashi's eye trying to guess if the contents of the letter were good news or bad.
As Kakashi read the letter he nodded a few times which was a positive thing but when he came to the bottom of it, his expression suddenly dropped. Everyone could see the slight paleness in his expression and the sadness in his eyes. Kurenai looked at Asuma signaling him to ask Kakashi or at least ask for the letter. But before Asuma could say anything, Kakashi held the bottom part of the letter and burnt it. He didn't burn the entire letter but only a few lines written at the bottom. These were the lines that had changed Kakashi's face.
Asuma felt it was very odd and said "Kakashi, what happened?"
Kakashi took a deep breath and looked at Asuma as he said "Here…read the letter to everyone. Lady Tsunade has written about her tests on the demon hearts."
Asuma took the letter from him, and his eyes landed on the burnt part. He could see that something was written there but he couldn't even make out a single word as Kakashi had completely burnt that part.
Asuma then began to read the letter "Although the hearts were destroyed, Yami had given me enough samples that I could understand what had happened to them and what they actually do to a certain extent. At first, I thought that it was using some kind of drug but this is a totally different energy that the heart has been nourished with. As per Yami, the user of the heart gets tattoos on his body and shows increased strength but my understanding is that these hearts are just in the development stage. They are increasing the person's strength using their own life force and sanity as the price. Although a shinobi's life is longer than others, on average if used for many years it could reduce a person's life by 30-35 years but the worst part is sanity. Anyone who has been nourished with this ominous mysterious energy will succumb to his/her inner demons and behave maniacally. As this energy is not produced in the heart or the body nor does the host absorb it from the surroundings like chakra, I have found a solution to neutralize it." Everyone including the clan leaders had a happy moment when they heard that
"Unfortunately, none of you over there are capable of doing it including Yami." Asuma read the next line to which Mei quickly asked "What does the 5th Hokage mean? What does it require? We will try to get it as fast as possible." Mei spoke in a little desperate tone but it was understandable. They already had their hands full with the mist shinobis and hidden stone shinobis and out of nowhere these cultists appeared with demon hearts as powerups. The dream of a liberated hidden mist seemed to be getting farther and farther for everyone."
Asuma nodded and read further "I am saying this because I tried everything I could think of and the only thing that had successfully neutralized the energy was nature chakra. I do not know if anyone from the hidden mist has attained Sage mode so I don't think it will be possible to do it. Even I am not able to handle sage Chakra. Luckily Katsuyu sent a wisp of it toward the heart and made the ominous energy go away. The only ones I know who are able to use Sage chakra are Jiraya and Orochimaru as they both are sages. I have sent a letter to Jiraya's last location but I am not too hopeful that he will reach in time as he is always changing places. For now, I can only tell you to handle the ones with the demon heart with strength more than them. That is the only way or else use some strategy to worsen their sanity. I am sure Yami will think of something to do with that weakness of theirs." Saying this Asuma stopped reading and placed the letter back on the table. The clan leaders started discussing what to do next when the old man looked at Kakashi and asked "If you don't mind me asking, what was written at the bottom of the letter? I just want to know if it was connected to our conflict?"
Kakashi shook his head and said "No…it had nothing to do with the conflict or the hidden mist." Kakashi then looked at Zabuza and asked "You have a way to contact Yami right?" As Zabuza nodded Kakashi said "Tell him to come here personally and not send any clones. I want to talk to him face to face. Now that the strategy to deal with those cultists is face to face, we will need to create a plan together and even act together."
Zabuza didn't like taking orders from Kakashi but he knew that he was the only one capable to contact Yami and this wasn't a time to throw a tantrum so Zabuza nodded and started writing a message on a piece of paper.
Asuma then looked at the clan leaders who seem to have almost finished their discussion and asked "What have you guys decided? As it was written in the letter, avoiding conflict today would be the most beneficial in the short run. What have you guys chosen?"
Yoshiro nodded and said "Yes, it would save the lives of our shinobis but their ritual would succeed which could cause god knows what. If they are already this strong and still helping the Mizukage faction and hidden stone, it means that the reward for completing the ritual will boost their strength further creating a problem for everyone."
The old man nodded and said "Yes we will attack and the attack will start in one hour. We don't want to give them time to plan things." The old man and the other clan leaders stood up as he said that. Everyone else in the tavern understood that the war they have been waiting for for the past half a decade has finally arrived.
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