68 Chapter 67

Chapter 67

Sasuke looked at the sprawling city before him. Sasuke and the rest of the team waited outside the city for the Suna team. He didn't know who the Suna would send; he only knew the sand siblings. While waiting, they watched over the city, looking for anything suspicious. But Sasuke couldn't find anything and didn't even know what to look out for.

"They have arrived," Kakashi-sensei said as four shinobi appeared.

"Tch, so it is the loser's team," Sasuke commented, as he didn't understand why Suna would send the Sand siblings.

"You said something?" Kankuro didn't take well at Sasuke's comment.

"That's enough," Kakashi stopped Sasuke from replying with another insult. "We will be working together, so we better get along. Remember, we are in the enemy territory. We must be careful as we don't know when the enemy will discover and decide to ambush us."

"We won't start a fight," Sasuke recognized Baki, the sensei of the Sand siblings. "And this team is most suitable for this mission, Sasuke-kun. So, I would appreciate it if you would hide your displeasure and not act like a spoiled child."

Sasuke could only grunt in agreement. He didn't like the Suna shinobi, but it wasn't his place to say anything. He was the shinobi of Konoha, and he should act like one. He would keep his mouth shut from now on, as he didn't want to make any trouble for his sensei and the village. Still, he got interested when Baki said the sand siblings were most suitable for the mission.

"We appreciate your help," Kakashi said, lessening the tension between the two teams. "Our first mission is to investigate the Daimyo. We need to confirm if the daimyo of this land is working with Orochimaru on his own accord or if he is forced."

"How are you going to do it?" Shikamaru asked.

"We split into three teams," Kakashi started planning. "One team will get into the city and see how ordinary people are treated. We must move carefully if the Daimyo is beloved by his people. We don't want to start the aggression of the neighboring country if we have to strike down the Daimyo."

"And the people are dissatisfied with their daimyo. We could use it to our advantage," Shikamaru added.

"If the Daimyo is willingly working with Orochimaru, we can use his people to overthrow him," Kakashi agreed. "The longer we can hide our presence in this country, the better chance we have to take on Orochimaru's forces. Shikamaru, Temari, and Kankuro shall infiltrate the city with Tenzo will be your leader."

"What I will need to listen to no name shinobi from Konoha?" Kankuro didn't look happy about it.

"Be quiet, Kankuro," Baki didn't like how Kankuro talked. "Kakashi Hatake is the leader of this operation, and his word is final."

"Fine," Kankuro relented.

"The second team will consist of Neji, Sasuke, Shino, and Baki," Kakashi continued. "You will stay behind and watch for any shinobi that might appear. We will need to know their appearance immediately. Otherwise, it might jeopardize the whole mission. And lastly, Garra and Sai will join me and infiltrate daimyo's palace."

So far, Sasuke didn't have any problems with the plan. Even though he didn't like to wait behind, he knew that his and Neji's eyes could spot any shinobi from approaching the city. And Shino had his bugs that could discover anyone from hiding, just like their eyes. Sasuke knew that Kakashi-sensei had made this plan carefully and considered many angles.

…

Shikamaru found being stuck with the sand siblings and the unknown Konoha shinobi troublesome. But he kept it to himself, as at least the mission didn't seem to be complicated. They only needed to walk around the city and ask a few questions. Still, he didn't like how Temari looked at him, probably still holding a grudge about the fight in the chunin exams.

He had given her the victory, so he didn't understand why she wouldn't be happy. He could only contribute it to her prideful demeanor that didn't want to accept a win like that. It was too troublesome for Shikamaru to think about it any further. He would never get why certain shinobi must hold on to their pride so much.

"Let's go have lunch." Shikamaru liked how Tenzo seemed to be taking the mission leisurely. "I am starving."

Walking around, it took some time to find a place where they could eat. They did manage to find a sushi place. It was a nice place, Shikamaru guessed. It didn't matter to him as he sat down with others and ordered food. The waiter seemed to be polite and friendly, if a bit fearful. But maybe it was her first day, and she was nervous, so he didn't notice it.

"It looks like a nice city," Kankuro said. "I didn't see anyone suffering or anything similar."

"Maybe it is just this district," Temari replied, not wanting to jump to conclusions.

"Don't worry about it," Tenzo seemed relaxed. He probably has done a mission like this dozens of times. "We will go around the city and see what we can find. There is no need to rush it and act like a tourist. We wouldn't want unwanted attention, would we now?"

"I guess so," Temari and Kankuro didn't seem like they needed to be more convinced.

The food soon arrived. Salmon, tuna, sea urchin, and eel. Everyone got what they wanted, and there was plenty to eat. It was surprisingly good for a pretty empty restaurant. And once the bill arrived, Shikamaru was again surprised at how cheap it was. As Nara clan's heir, he didn't have to worry about money, but he still knew how expensive sushi could be. But maybe he was used to Konoha, so he didn't think much about it.

"Let's stop by the store. I want to buy some walnuts," Tenzo once again directed us away from the streets after leaving the restaurant.

At this point, Shikamaru thought Tenzo liked snacks as much as Choji. Only that Tenzo ate more healthier than Choji. Maybe he should buy Choji snacks with less fat once he returns to Konoha. One had to wonder how Choji would look if he were as fit as Tenzo. Hopefully not as good as Sasuke, as he could only deal with one guy beloved by all the girls in Konoha and outside. He didn't miss how Temari looked at Sasuke.

"I don't see many homeless people. I would say they live quite well," Kankuro said as they walked out of the store with Tenzo having a bag of walnuts. "I would even say that people here have better living conditions than back at Suna."

"What about you, Shikamaru?" Tenzo asked as he broke the walnut shell with his fingers and took out the insides. "Did you notice anything?"

"The streets seem pretty empty," Shikamaru replied, looking around. There were barely any people. "It is midday, so expected to see more people doing errands and stuff."

"Great perception, but that's not all," Tenzo praised Shikamaru before putting the bag of walnuts away. "The prices, both in a restaurant and in the store, were relatively low, too low, I would even say. At the gates to the city, there is barely any traffic, I didn't see not even one wagon with goods enter or leave the city."

"What does it mean?" Temari asked.

"It means that the city is poor," Tenzo answered. "And it is the capital city. One has to wonder how worse it is the further one goes from the capital city. Still, it is hard to say that the city is like this because of the Daimyo. There could be many things that made it like this. We better look around a bit more."

Shikamaru was shocked to hear what Tenzo had learned. And he thought that Tenzo didn't take it seriously and was just sightseeing and buying food. It seemed that Shikamaru was still too shortsighted. He would need to improve himself if he wanted to proudly call himself a shinobi of Konoha. And he definitely can't underestimate others anymore.

…

"They are returning."

Shino's voice woke Sasuke up from his daydreaming. Nothing out of the ordinary has happened, and no shinobi have come through them. It was evident that Shino didn't let his guard down to notice Kakashi-sensei and Tenzo return with their teams. Sasuke rested only because he was running around the city, checking to see if any hideouts were nearby.

"How did it go?" Baki asked as soon as Kakashi-sensei came up to them.

"Should I begin, Kakashi-senpai?" Tenzo turned to Kakashi-sensei and waited for him to nod. "The Daimyo is doing many shady things. Corruption is running rampant. The people are afraid of the authority. They are poor, and many have left for neighboring countries. But there is no way they would rebel against the Daimyo. He holds too much power over these people."

"It is worse than we thought," Kakashi added. "Not only is the Daimyo willingly working with Orochimaru, he goes out of his way to help him. We found many policies that were changed for Orochimaru to set up his village in the country. In exchange, the Daimyo gained the power he wanted."

"What now?" Neji asked.

"We take out the Daimyo," Kakashi replied. "Tonight."

There wasn't much planning as they took action immediately. Kakashi decided they had to cut off all the support for Orochimaru village even if it would expose them. They couldn't find any information about where the village was. Still, from the records, Kakashi concluded that the Daimyo gave a lot of resources to Orochimaru. The worst thing was that the people who tried to leave the country were free game for Orochimaru to capture and do as he wished with them.

They quickly entered the city and jumped through the rooftops to the Daimyo palace. Kakashi could have killed Daimyo himself, but the Daimyo wasn't inside. So, once they reached the palace, Baki and Tenzo quickly subdued the guards on the outside. While Neji used his Byukugan to pin point the guards inside for the rest of them to care for.

Then Kakashi used Shadow Clone jutsu and transformed his clones into guards. They made sure not to hurt anyone else, as it wouldn't serve their purpose to infiltrate the palace and wait for the Daimyo. At first, it was suspicious that there wasn't any shinobi, but after a while, Sasuke concluded that Orochimaru had pulled his forces back, knowing Konoha would retaliate against him.

"Someone is approaching the palace," Neji informed the rest of the team. "He is escorted by two shinobi, chunin level at best."

"Take out the shinobi," Kakashi instructed them. "But do it silently. We don't want to gather any attention. And be careful. They could have cursed seals on them, making them more powerful than we can perceive. Tenzo, capture the Daimyo alive. He might know more information about Orochimaru."

It wasn't a challenge, as Neji quickly defeated one of the shinobi using his gentle palm technique. Not wanting to be looked down on, Gaara captured the other one with his sand. While Tenzo, using wood style jutsu, captured the Daimyo. Sasuke was surprised to see Tenzo use such a jutsu, as he thought that only the first Hokage could use wood style.

"Let's leave before anyone notices us," Kakashi ordered them, and they quickly left the city with the Daimyo and two shinobi in their hands.

Of course, firstly, they confirmed the Daimyo's identity, as they had spent almost two days disguised as the palace guards. Tenzo didn't leave with them as Kakashi had him do something else. Sasuke found it quite anticlimactic, as he didn't do anything the whole time. But there was nothing he could do about it. Once they find Orochimaru's hideouts, then they can probably strike him.

For now, they had to be satisfied with their captives. Once they ran a fair distance from the city, Kakashi left Baki with the prisoners to get information out of them. Sasuke shouldn't be surprised how fast it happened, but he didn't imagine what it meant to be a shinobi. Anyone who wasn't a shinobi was ants to them that they could crush any time they wanted. That made Sasuke concerned about how much damage a criminal shinobi could do to innocent people before he was stopped.

A.N. As always, If you want more, up to seven advanced chapters, you can support me on pa treon. com \ ironwolf852. And if you have any requests for stories, I will only take them on my pa treon.