Unrelenting Shikamaru

Asuma along with his team and Kurenai's was standing in the lobby of the guest house. He knew that Kurenai would take her time to get ready and there was still half n hour for the meeting to commence. But he didn't know what was taking Kakashi so much time.

"How much time is Kurenai Sensei going to take?" Kiba asked as he looked at Kurenai's room's closed door.

"You are an idiot Kiba. Miss Kurenai is here as an envoy and she is a lady so she has to wear the appropriate attire for this. She can't wear her usual clothes." Ino reprimanded.

Asuma looked at his own clothes which were his usual flak jacket on the folded shirt. He felt that Ino was indirectly taunting him. Before he could say anything to her the door of Kurenai's room opened and she walked.

"WOW" Kiba was the one to shout first after seeing his Sensei like that. Kurenai giggled as she heard that and then saw the jaw-dropped Asuma standing like a statue behind the kids.

"K-Kurenai Sensei..y-you look really beautiful." Hinata also complimented her sensei. This was the first time she had seen her as well.

Kurenai smiled at that and thanked Hinata for her compliment. She then looked at Asuma who smiled awkwardly and said "Y-You look good Kurenai."

Hearing this everyone including Kurenai just gawked at what Asuma had just said. Kurenai was definitely expecting more than a 'look good' compliment.

"You definitely know how to get women Asuma." A sarcastic voice came from behind. Everyone knew that this voice was Kakashi. Asuma looked embarrassedly to the ground because he knew he had fucked up big time and Kakashi would always come at such an opportune time.

Asuma took a deep breath to get back his composure and said "Where have you been? You haven't come here with your students doesn't mean that you can roam around."

Kakashi laughed and said "Oh I was just seeing the surroundings and stopped to help an old lady. That's why I got late."

"Hm...Naruto did mention that you make reasons like these every day." Shikamaru said which Kakashi ignored and looked the other way which made Shikamaru smirk.

"We should get going in a few minutes." Kurenai said and signaled Asuma and Kakashi. Asuma understood and said "Kids This is the first time you will be attending a meeting like this. Everyone in the room with you during that meeting is high-level shinobis so you need to watch what you say. No matter what is being talked about, don't say anything, and don't even change the expressions on your face. We don't have to give any kind of information until the alliance is made."

Shikamaru who seemed a bit confused by this quickly asked "Sensei, what could genins like us know about that would be important to them? And you are saying as if there is definitely something that will make us turn our heads."

Asuma and the other jonins weren't surprised that Shikamaru had hit right on the nail. Asuma looked at Kakashi to which Kakashi nodded and said "It is better that they know or else they won't be able to keep their composure in that room. The ones sitting there will be the clan leaders and they can't even read seasoned spies...they will quickly notice even if these kids skip a heartbeat."

The kids kept looking at the jonins as if they didn't understand a single thing. Choji leaned toward Ino and asked "Are you understanding anything they are talking about?"

Ino shook her head and said "I leave the thinking part to Shikamaru...I do not need unnecessary headaches...It's bad for my skin."

"Can you guys tell us what is happening?" Kiba asked as he looked at Asuma and Kakashi. The other kids had the same question on their faces.

Asuma nodded and said "I can't tell you everything but only the key points that you need to know. The mission to create an alliance with the bloodline clans and to find out what the Mizukage faction is doing wasn't our mission. This mission was given to Yami Uchiha as his first solo mission."

"WHAT?" Shikamaru shouted. No one had ever seen him lose his cool and even Asuma was a little shocked to see this.

"But he is only 10 years old. Giving such a mission to him...wouldn't it be a better option to keep him safe till he reaches his peak strength. I have heard my father say that Yami is a prodigy with skill and mind, unlike the shinobi world, has ever seen." Shikamaru said. It was rare for him to see his father complimenting someone, so he took every word of his father seriously.

"Yes but Lord Tsunade felt that getting out and gaining experience would be better for him. How long do you think we can hide a talent like him? So Yami came to this island with Kana, Santo, and the other 2 siblings. Kana and Santo are the same ones that you guys met today. So while traveling here, they were attacked by mist and stone shinobis. The Terumi siblings along with their guards were handling the situation but it was too much for them so Yami put the mist and stone shinobis in a genjutsu which made them all kill themselves."

"A genjutsu this strong? Dad told me that genjutsu doesn't do physical damage." Ino said as she looked at Kurenai who was one of the village's well-known experts.

Kurenai nodded and said "Yes that is the case but Yami has reached such a point where he can make people believe that they are not in a genjutsu and even perform double genjutsu seamlessly. Yami's genjutsu is so strong that even pain can't bring you out of it."

"So that's what those clan leaders will be talking about?" Shikamaru asked.

Asuma shook his head and said "No...that's not the only thing Yami has done here. He also posed as one of our spies' nephew. The spy along with 2 of his students had infiltrated the Terumi mansion and got kidnapped. The Mizukage faction also found out the spy's identity and we don't know how. In the end, the Mizukage faction sent their Anbu and kidnapped Yami.

"WHAT?? Yami got kidnapped?" Ino asked as she looked wide-eyed at Asuma which even scared the 30-year-old Jonin.

"Asuma don't create unwanted complications. There are already enough." Kurenai frowned as she looked at Asuma.

"Yes, I meant that they sent people to kidnap Yami or as he is known Yuta here. Yami then had someone he knew take his prison in place and escaped." Asuma said and he saw Ino deflating in relief.

"Now the main thing." Asuma said to which the usually quiet Shino interrupted "There's more?"

Asuma and the 2 jonins nodded and said "Yes Yami also slaughtered 2 bases that belong jointly to the Mist shinobis and the stone shinobis killing a lot of their people and a commander which is at the level of an Elite Jonin. That's all the information that we have got from Yami up until now."

The jonins expected the lobby to become noisy after the kids all heard this but they were quiet...too quiet. Kurenai looked at Kiba who is mostly the enthusiastic one but even he seemed quiet.

Kiba looked at Kurenai and said "He has already surpassed us by a lot Kurenai sensei...I don't think I can ever beat him...much less stand up to him."

A loud sigh escaped Shikamaru's mouth as he said "We always knew that Yami exceeded us by a big margin but now it seems he has even surpassed the level of an Elite Jonin. I really don't know what to say."

"Humph...what can you? My Yami is that strong and I always knew that no one can defeat him."Ino said proudly.

"The hidden mist has already given him a name and it has spread all over the island and probably even beyond that." Kakashi said. This was new information for Asuma as well as Kurenai.

Kakashi nodded and said "That's why I had gone out. Turns out they call him 'The Genjutsu Demon' or 'The Red-Eyed Demon'. His presence and constant siding with the Bloodline clans has boosted the morale of the bloodline clan shinobis by a lot and even the Mizukage faction and Stone shinobis are at bay because of this or else they would have already attacked by now. One of my sources told me that the medium-sized base that Yami raided that night, contained a considerable amount of weapons stored so now the stone shinobis aren't as ready as they were and new shipments are being ordered from the hidden stone village."

"I don't think this is a coincidence...Yami must have planned this but with this rate, he can easily cripple the Mizukage faction and the bloodline clans can win. Then why did he report all this to the village and ask for help? He is the type of guy who likes to work in shadows." Shikamaru asked but Kakashi stopped him and said

"Everything has a right time and you will have the answer to this question when the time is right. For now, let's leave for the meeting. Someone must have come here to get us to the mansion." Kakashi said and turned around to walk down the stairs.

Far away from all this, Yami was standing on top of a hill with 8 bats in front of him and all of them had a letter tied to their legs.

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