Naruto: Chronicles of a Fire Ninja - Chapter 338

Chapter 338: Chapter 334: Inside the enemy territory
Kaida melded into the shadows of Kusagakure’s narrow streets, his footsteps silent against the worn pathways. The village’s architecture was a unique mix of traditional wooden structures and newer concrete buildings, all intertwined with the massive grass stalks which went along with the name of the village – Kusagakure – the village hidden in grass.

Under the cover of darkness, these towering plants cast intricate shadows that made perfect hiding spots. That’s why Kaida didn’t even have to transform into a Kusagakure shinobi and just went into the village in his normal uniform, though he had already stored his headband and now wore an Iwagakure headband – a copy he brought along with many other things, just in case he had to go with his second plan.

‘Luckily Kusagakure is really exploiting the Uzumaki family, so even a low-level guard knows their location. Otherwise, I would have had to search a little more seriously. According to the guard’s memories, the Uzumaki family lives in the eastern district,’ Kaida thought, forming a familiar hand sign. “Shadow Clone Jutsu,” he whispered, and a perfect copy materialized beside him having more than 70 percent of his chakra.

“You know what to do,” Kaida muttered to his clone. The duplicate nodded and headed toward the village center, where the elder’s residence stood. Their plan was simple but effective – while Kaida located Karin and her mother, his clone would gather intelligence on the elder who was pushing for an alliance with Iwagakure.

Moving through the eastern district, Kaida noticed the stark difference in living conditions. Unlike the well-maintained central areas from where he had just passed, these streets were poorly lit and showed signs of neglect. Though his Sharingan picked up traces of chakra signatures everywhere – security seals, detection barriers, and surveillance jutsu, though basic, were even present in these run-down places, the same places which didn’t even have proper lighting.

‘Well, even though it is a minor village, that still doesn’t change the fact that it is a ninja village. They are serious about security, even though it is really basic. Covering the whole village in seals must have been tough; I need to make sure not to set off some alarm or something,’ he noted.

Meanwhile, his clone had reached the administrative district. The elder’s compound was a traditional mansion, its gardens meticulously maintained. From his elevated position on a nearby rooftop, the clone observed the guards’ patrol patterns and started making mental notes of the elder’s schedule.

Back in the eastern district, Kaida had his Sharingan activated, looking for the house in the memories of the guard. ‘That has to be them. No one else in this district would have chakra reserves this large,’ he thought, looking toward the house. Inside were two chakra signatures – one, which was smaller of the two, was nearly thrice his chakra reserve, let alone the larger one which was almost 12 times larger. And it had to be noted that none of them were actual ninja, just normal Uzumakis.

With a sigh in his heart, Kaida continued to monitor the house in which the Uzumaki family was living. It was a modest two-story building, its exterior deliberately weathered to appear abandoned. ‘Clever. They’re hiding in plain sight.’ As he drew closer, he detected multiple layers of protective seals – not standard Kusagakure patterns which were laughably simple. No, they were clearly advanced; in fact, they were so complex that Kaida couldn’t even comprehend even 10 percent of the seals, and the ones he could were those which were most likely set by Kusagakure, which were somehow integrated into a much larger and complex array.

‘Definitely Uzumaki’s fuinjutsu,’ Kaida thought, leaving behind any thoughts of entering the building mysteriously and silently taking the ladies out.

‘That looks like a nice spot,’ Kaida thought, looking toward a house in the area which had a clear view of the Uzumaki family’s house but was also not very big. Without wasting any time, Kaida went toward the house, entering it like he owned it.

As soon as he entered, the man inside, a thirty-year-old with a fairly decent build, was spooked by the sudden appearance of someone in his house. But as soon as he saw the headband of the ninja who had entered his house, he quickly went for the pouch in the drawer right next to his chair, most likely for weapons. But he had already made the fatal mistake of looking toward the face of the intruder.

Just below the headband were two glowing eyes, eyes that looked both beautiful and deadly in his dimly lit room, but he was not given any time to either appreciate the beauty or fear the implications of those eyes. His hand froze mid-air, and then he went back to calmly sit at the table.

Kaida gave a cursory read to his memory. ‘Just some genin retired after sustaining injuries, lives alone, wife died, no children… man, you are one depressed fellow. Fine, since I am going to use your home for some time, let me repay this favor to you,’ Kaida thought and put him under a genjutsu. The moment he would wake up, he would feel full of energy and want to achieve something in his life.

Kaida had given him a basic version of the Taijutsu style as well, the one he was using before joining the Uchiha clan. With his already decent chakra reserve, he could become a Chunin, only in a minor village, but still, and also move on with his life.

Kaida patted the shoulder of the man whose eyes closed on the chair itself. He was going to sleep for 12 hours, and even after he woke up, he would just eat, drink, and go back to sleep.

‘I have to remember to bring him out of genjutsu before leaving Kusagakure,’ Kaida thought before placing the man in his room, and then went to the hall from where the Uzumaki family house was crystal clear.

After that, Kaida made a shadow clone to keep watch at the house, while he went to the sofa to get some much-needed rest after a journey of hundreds of kilometers and doing so much work while keeping his Sharingan active most of the time to search for seals or any possible ninja who could find him. This had taken a toll on both his mind and body, so with his eyes closing and two of his shadow clones keeping watch on two of his targets in Kusagakure, a silent night passed in Kusagakure.

…

“What do you mean Iwagakure doesn’t want to share the resources now? It was the deal we had!” the elder spoke in an angry voice.

“Sir, this is what they said. Takigakure is ready to ally with them with just half of the resources you have been asking, so they are thinking of supporting them,” the messenger said.

“And you think Konoha will just sit on their ass if that happened? Our relation with Konoha is still rock solid; there is no way Iwa could openly do that,” the elder said.

“Elder, Konoha is already facing silent attacks from 3 major villages. Do you really think they have time to consider about a minor village?” the messenger asked.

“…”

Sigh

“Looks like I have to show all of my cards for Kusagakure to get any benefits,” the elder said out loud and then gestured for the messenger to leave.

Being the first elder of Kusagakure and second most powerful person in the village, he could easily get a messenger inside the village. Due to that, he was having the conversation with the messenger from Iwa inside his house.

After the messenger left, his son, who was almost 30 years old and was already a Jonin of Kusagakure, appeared from the backdoor of the meeting room.

“Father, Kage-sama gave strict orders about not disclosing the information of those mother and daughter to anyone. Are you really going to go against him?”

“Not for now. They are really useful, and if Iwa or other ninja villages don’t involve themselves in this war, then with just the healing of those two, we would surely win this war. But the problem is if they decide to involve themselves. Because in that case, we will stop having injured ninja, and they will be replaced by dead ones. At that time, those two will lose their importance to us, and we can then trade them for the support of any major village,” the elder said.

“I understand, father,” the son said.

According to them, their conversation was private, but there were two eyes monitoring their every move from the nearby house. Just as soon as the messenger arrived, the shadow clone created another shadow clone and then dispersed itself, sending a message to Kaida about the event.

As soon as Kaida got the memories, he jolted toward the Elder’s house and secured a perfect spot for him to watch the conversation.

Though they had closed the curtains, what were some curtains in front of a 3-tomoe Sharingan? Kaida could easily see all of their movements in detail.

But that was it – he could only see them, not hear them. Luckily, he was not the first person to have Sharingan, and his predecessors also faced the same problems. Due to this, every Uchiha is taught how to read lips. Though Kaida was not in the Uchiha clan from childhood, Shisui had advised him of this training, and he had completed it in the 2-and-a-half-month break as well.

Thanks to that, he was able to get all of the conversation that happened inside the elder’s house.

‘It is not his fault that he wants betterment of his village. Sadly, that will be the reason for his death as well,’ Kaida thought, making up his mind to complete his mission today only.