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Ryoichi and Team Oni reached Konoha's camping area. It was a camping area in name only because the whole area was turned into an impenetrable fortress with EARTH STYLE with countless seals littered around which is also one of the reasons Hidden Villages doesn't attack each other bases. Shinobis are a class that can overcome the gap of strength with enough preparation, and Fuinjutsu is one of the biggest weapons a Shinobi can prepare.
There are many differences Ryoichi has noticed in this world from the original series. And the use of seals and EARTH STYLE like that is also one of the details that were different from his memory. Bases weren't built like that, but now that Ryoichi thinks it was a normal thing for people who could manipulate Elements.
"Wait outside I'll deliver the Hokage's letter to the Commander," Oni said to his team and entered the commander's tent without waiting for their response.
Team Oni waited for their captain while observing the Shinobis moving around the base. They silently hear what the roaming Shinobis were conversing to get a rough estimation of the current situation.
Oni exited the Commander's tent after relaying Hokage's orders, it took him ten minutes to do so before he joined his team back.
"We are infiltrating one of Kumo's checkpoints. We have information they are holding our Shinobis captive there." Oni said in a hoarse voice which by now Ryoichi has realised is his disguised voice.
"Why? Did someone important got captured?" Ryoichi asked. He knew that Anbu doesn't do rescue missions especially suicidal ones like this one.
"…An important member of the Nara clan has gotten captured and for a clan known for their intelligence they are surprisingly not very calculative."
"So we can't just kill him, huh?" One of Oni's team members asked coldly. The Anbu was wearing a crow mask and from its stature, she was a woman.
"No… they want him alive."
"Cheh! So we have to sacrifice ourselves because a pussy can't take his life." Another spoke with a surprising level of annoyance in his voice. He was a tall man with a salamander mask.
Others also had the same thoughts but they didn't express it as openly.
"What are you talking about? When we chose to become Anbu we already gave our life for the village." Oni spoke coldly, his voice deviated from his ever-hoarse tone, but that also made all the Anbus remove their thoughts as they realised their mistakes.
"Now if you are done wasting time let's go."
""HAI!!!"" Team Oni nodded and immediately took off.
While the Team was conversating Ryoichi was analysing them. His eyes glinted when he saw Oni's emotional fluctuation.
He has been profiling important members of Anbu like Oni, Fox, and Wolf for some time now.
He needs to know everything about them if he wants to bring them to his side. He didn't want to even miss the smallest of Information, and knowing what made them tick was the most important.
'Oni… A Senju who probably grew up hearing the tales of the Senju brothers and their Will of Fire, but unlike many he also saw the sacrifices the two brothers as Hokage and his clan behind them made which in turn also made him believe that the village's interest comes above every other's, Hokage and clans included.'
Ryoichi has almost completed profiling the three most important members of Anbu, and among them, he concluded Oni was the second easiest to bring to his side with Fox being the first.
The problem was the Wolf- Anbu's vice-commander.
'That old man is from the previous era, he cares little about Village, and whoever Tobirama chooses his successor he would blindly follow them.'
Ryoichi had few ways to convince him, but if that didn't work then Ryoichi would have to use a different approach.
"Enemies at the north, around 4 kilometres approaching fast, five Shinobi with Chunin Chakra, seems like a patrol team." The team's senor, a squirrel masked Anbu warned which halted the team's movement.
"Hide." Ordered Oni, causing everyone to disappear.
Ryoichi appeared on the tallest tree he could find and sat leisurely while watching the Kumo Shinobi that appeared at their original location.
"Where are they?" Asked one of the Kumo-nin.
"I think the tree fuckers ran again." Spoke another Kumo-nin.
"Careful they could be hiding, we still don't why there are so many Konoha-nin surveying the area." Said the one who looked like the leader of the group.
"Come on cap why would they risk their lives other than that fat fuck we have caught."
"Yeah! Who knew that pig was the son of the biggest weapon supplier of Elemental nations."
Ryoichi who heard the Kumo-nin speaking muttered "So they are calculative…"
Oni never said a Nara got taken Hostage instead he said a member.
'Biggest weapon supplier, huh?' Ryoichi thought as he watched the Kumo-nin retreat. He waited for the senor's signal, and when he got the signal, he climbed down the tree and regrouped with others.
"How are we doing this?" Asked one of the Anbu.
Oni paused for some time before speaking.
"We need someone to sneak in. We don't have the necessary information to execute this mission."
At Oni's word, everyone's head turned towards Ryoichi who took the clue and nodded his head.
"I'll go look over."
Ryoichi then disappeared and started Flickering towards the Kumo's checkpoint. He easily passed the patrolling Shinobis with his stealth and appeared before the stone building.
His eyes scanned the building with his Haki actively spread out, Ryoichi noted down the locations of the captives and turned to leave but stopped when he felt a thin Chakra layer washed over him.
"A senor…?"
Ryoichi interest peeked as he immediately realised how they got found.
Realising the threat of the sensor, Ryoichi tracked back the location. He found a small room with an old blind woman sitting in seiza while sipping tea.
Ryoichi's eyes roamed around the room, noticing all the seals controlled by the woman.
'Is this the control room?' Ryoichi assumed, he knew a core existed to manage the thousands of seals from hurting allies but had never seen it with his own eyes.
Acting on his thoughts he raised his index finger and a thick drop of inkish black liquid fell on the floor.
The liquid got divided into hundreds of smaller drops and entered the seals. It started to infect and corrode the seals like a computer virus, and in just a few minutes Ryoichi felt a connection formed with the thousands of seals loitering around the area.
The woman who was calmly sipping the tea jumped panickly, her Chakra spread quickly trying to find something.
'She was controlling the seals…' Ryoichi analysed as he saw the woman's action. Just as the woman was going to shout for help, Ryoichi threw a kunai that precisely struck right in the middle of her forehead, swiftly killing her.
Ryoichi also noticed he was quite close to the captives and thought of rescuing the target by himself, but decided against it since he couldn't use stealth while carrying someone.
With nothing else to do Ryoichi returned to the gathering point.
"You're early…"
Ryoichi ignored Oni's comment and relayed the information.
"So what you're saying is that the biggest problem are the Fuin seals, right?" Asked the salamander-masked Anbu.
"When did I ever say that?"
"This brat!"
"Enough!" Oni's voice stopped the Anbu from speaking before he questioned Ryoichi.
"What do you mean by those words?"
"It means exactly what I said, I have a method to take over the seals, you guys just need to care about dealing with Kumo-nins."
"How would you do that?" Oni asked with curiosity dripping from his hoarse voice.
Rhoichi raised his arm, showing his dragon tattoo that moved as if alive on his hand.
"It's a method I came up with to take over enemy's seals and use it against them."
"Whoa! So it wasn't a tattoo." Asked the ever-emotional sensor- the squirrel-masked Anbu.
Ryoichi ignored the comment and motioned them to follow him. He slowly led them through detection seals while avoiding the bigger patrolling groups and simultaneously taking down smaller ones.
Their methods were surgical as they didn't even let them noticed how they died let alone inform their comrades. And since Ryoichi had killed the Shinobi that had detected them before, it became even easier for them.
As they reached intersection point near the building, Oni ordered the group to split.
He ordered Ryoichi to release the prisoners and Salamder to lead them outside to Squirrel who would lead them to the path that Oni and the other seven Anbu would secure.
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[AN: If you want to read more go to my Patr*on/41_Claws. There are 10+ advance unedited chapters on it…]
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