Chapter 28

A week had passed since the Tsuchikage ordered the lockdown of the village. They spent most of the time searching for the intruder but couldn't find anyone, and everyone was accounted for so they reluctantly ended their search. Although the fallout meant everyone was under more scrutiny than usual.

....

'An entire week!! Seven whole days had passed and these guys haven't done anything worthwhile!!' I've been forced to eat sweets because I ran out of food six days ago and I couldn't leave the village to acquire more because I've spent every waking hour watching the Tsuchikage and the Iwa elder tasked with contacting the Himeyuri group. 'Ahh!! If I could just use my Byakugan to search around, I could have been done by now.'

Letting out a quiet sigh, I prepared myself for the monotone job of watching an old man go about his day.

'Now he's taking off his clothes again. What has my life turned into.'

Letting out another sigh, I exited the room. 'Come to think of it, he does this every day at the same time. Could he be hiding something in there? I mean, who takes off their clothes in their room and then walks naked to the bath?' I wondered.

'Should I go check?' I contemplated. I wasn't knowledgeable enough about jutsu to be sure there wasn't one that required the caster to be naked.

'Ok, I'm taking a peek,' I prepared myself.

"He's gone?!" I exclaimed upon entering the room again.

'Come to think of it, I just assumed since this was a bedroom, I didn't need to check every inch of it. But why did he get naked first though?!'

I proceeded to check the entire room but I couldn't find anything remotely suspicious. Although I was confused at how the man disappeared from the room without seeing him, there was nothing to do so I waited for him to return from wherever he went.

*Whoosh*

After waiting for thirty minutes, steam started pouring into the room before condensing into a human form.

'Is he some kind of steam human?' I wondered as the old man's form appears out of the condensing steam. 'It feels like boil release, but different, Interesting. Although this would make it harder to follow him to wherever he goes to.'

After the old man returned, I continued my usual day of accompanying him everywhere he goes to, other than the bathroom. Today, I got a much-needed break as towards the end of the day the old man went to the Tsuchikage to give a report.

"Tsuchikage-sama," he saluted the moment he got to the office.

"Soeki, has everything been sorted?" Onoki asked.

"We're still negotiating, Tsuchikage-sama," replied Soeki.

"Get it done fast, Soeki. The operation is very important to the future of Iwagakure."

"Tsuchikage-sama..."

"Get it done or I'll do it myself, Soeki." Onoki exclaimed. "You can leave," he added, dismissing him.

"Yes, Tsuchikage-sama," replied Soeki before leaving the room. Although it was obvious he still had more to say.

The next day, I was prepared to accompany Soeki to what I assume is his meeting with the Himeyuri group. Seeing him take off his clothes, I kept my gaze on him, the moment he turned to steam, I ran outside and watched the sky for his steam form to gather.

'There!' I exclaimed, racing after the misty form of Soeki.

Soeki was fast in his steam form, and due to my miniature form, I had to put in an extra effort to keep up with him. After what felt like an hour of running, Soeki shot towards one of the many mountain ranges in the Land of Earth before transforming back to his human form at the entrance of a random cave.

Taking a sit on his shoulder, Soeki slowly walked into the cave but was forced to stop as a sword pressed against his neck.

"It's me," He exclaimed with his hands up.

"Were you followed?" A gruff voice asked.

Soeki shook his head in return.

The pair walked for five minutes deeper into the cave before stopping in front of what looked to be an abandoned living settlement.

Although I felt someone appear behind Soeki, I didn't react and just waited for the interaction between Soeki and the kunoichi that appeared.

"My shinobi said you wished to see me, Soeki-san," the kunoichi said, her voice coming out sweet but it felt wrong to my ears.

"Hmmm, I wonder why you brought in an extra guest too, Soeki-san," the kunoichi said, a soft smile spreading on her face.

"I...I... didn't, I came alone. I swear!" Soeki replied, his fear of the woman clear to see.

'She can't be talking about me right?!' although I wasn't overly worried since my chakra was completely hidden.

With a smile on her face, she sashayed towards Soeki before grabbing his chin, letting her perfectly manicured nails stroke his cheeks.

"I can feel your blood flow, your heart rate is increasing, Soeki-san," she stated, brushing her lips against his ear.

'Gross.'

"Is it due to lust?!" she asked. "Or fear?!" she added. Releasing Soeki's face, she then brought her face close to where I was perched.

'Is this some kind of sexual thing? why would she say she could feel his blood flow?!' Although it sounded unusual I ignored it as I couldn't make heads of such a statement.

Taking her face away from Soeki's right shoulder. "Forgive me, Soeki-san. It seems I was mistaken," she said, the smile not leaving her face.

"I'm guessing you want to inspect the products?" she finally asked, the weird atmosphere dissipating.

"Yes," Soeki vigorously nodded.

'What a weird man, I can't tell if he's aroused or scared of her.'

"Well, I'd have loved to do that," she said, with Soeki getting visibly excited, obviously not completely hearing what she said.

'I can feel the 'but' coming,' I thought, letting out a sigh due to how Soeki was dancing to her tunes.

"Well, you see, due to how long you delayed, the price has gone up," she said, deflating the bubble that was Soeki's excitement.

"That wasn't our agreement!!" Soeki yelled but shrunk back immediately. "Sorry...." he whispered.

Letting out a chuckle, she replied. "It's either that, or we let Konoha know about our little operation in the Land of Fire."

"You wouldn't want that now, would you?, Soeki-kun" she sultrily added, slightly brushing her manicured nails on his lips.

Right as she touched his lips, I felt a trace of her chakra enter his body. But I didn't concentrate on that as I felt whatever mission they carried out had something to do with the missing or dead Senju's.

"Y...you...cant do that," Soeki stammered.

"Well, that depends on you," she replied, her tone not changing in the slightest.

"Th...they will kill you."

*Hahaha*

She laughed at his face, "Do I look like I'm scared of Konoha, or is it the Blood Fox?" she asked. "I wonder if my blood is thicker than his," she randomly added.

"But Iwagakure on the other hand. Would they survive another war with Konoha?" she asked, obviously taunting him. "I hear the Blood Fox of Konoha is especially brutal. How do you think he'd kill you if he finds out what you did? I'm guessing he'd kill your entire family.... your children.... your clan....."

The more she spoke, the paler Soeki got, and It was now obvious to me they had something to do with the Senju. I felt my blood boil but I reigned myself in, I'd kill them later but I needed to confirm the products they were referring to weren't living Senju clan members.

Staring at the kunoichi with anger, i could see her face getting red with visible excitement displayed on it. I paused as her eyes darted to the spot on Soeki's shoulder I was seated for a second but it quickly moved away.

'Did she just look at me?' I wondered, due to how quick it happened I wasn't sure she did.

"How much do you want?" Soeki finally asked.

"An extra 200 million. And it's not negotiable."

After deliberating for a few seconds, Soeki replied. "Fine!"

"Good, Soeki-san," she replied in a chipper tone.

.....

After leaving the cave, I accompanied the trio to a random port in the Land of Earth before boarding a boat out to sea.

After ten hours of sailing, we arrived at an island that I guessed wasn't marked on any known map. Disembarking from the boat, stilled perched on the shoulder of Soeki, I observed the island, careful not to miss anything.

"Welcome to our base, Soeki-san," the kunoichi said, offering her hand to Soeki.

"This way," she added, leading him deeper into the island.

'This!!!' I felt my chakra almost go out of control.

The parts of the island we've passed were filled with young children that were obviously not here of their own free will. I controlled my anger as I still couldn't do anything yet.

The kunoichi stopped at what looked to be a training field. "This is where we trained new recruits," she said, pointing at the empty field.

After walking for a few minutes, she stopped at an empty area with other shinobi joining us.

"What's the meaning of this Aiyuri-san," Soeki demanded as we were now surrounded by almost a hundred shinobi.

'Twenty of them S-rank including Aiyuri, the rest of them are insignificant,' I thought, analysing the perceived strength of the shinobi surrounding us.

"I can sense you, Senju Indra, the Blood Fox of Konoha," she stated with a gleeful expression.

'She knows who I am, so there's a spy in Konoha,' I concluded immediately.

I dropped down behind Soeki. Returning to my original size, I summoned a chakra rod.

*Puchi*

The chakra rod appeared in his heart, killing him.

"Since you already know of me, I guess I won't be needing the mask," I stated, shrinking the mask directly off my face.

"How did you know I was on his shoulder?" I asked the now heavily breathing kunoichi.

"Your blood, it's the most delicious one I ever tasted," she replied.

'The traitor is a medic-nin then.'

"It would have done you well to be scared of me," I stated, appearing behind her with my tanto charged with lightning.

'Blood Burst'