Chapter 281 - Trouble on the Horizon

Fire Country.

A team of 10 ninjas were moving through the trees in the Land of Fire. Most of them were wearing worn out attires while a couple others had strange outfits. Each one of them looked unique with some even looking strange. The most prominent one in the group was a woman who had dark eyes, light blue hair and was wearing a green dress.

She was at the front of the group and wore a stern expression. 'He should be up ahead. If it wasn't for my Lord's orders, I wouldn't even bother with him… Still, I wonder why Lord Orochimaru made a move on his former teammate after all these years? Could it be because of the village? Well, it doesn't matter.'

At that moment someone nearby interrupted her thoughts. "Guren. Why do you think Lord Orochimaru wants us to find him now? Won't his mission in the Leaf village be in jeopardy?"

The woman identified as Guren glanced sideways and spoke in a cold tone. "Our task isn't to question his orders. You would do well to remember that."

"Yes. Of course. Forgive me." The man quickly became quiet and the group continued in silence.

They soon reached a small hill and looked down at the forest below. Guren, who was in front, made several seals and immediately several pink crystal birds began to emerge from her hand. They flew high up in the air and disappeared from everyone's view. A moment later a tall crystal in the shape of a mirror emerged out of the ground and images began to appear on it.

'So that's her long range jutsu used for spying and observing a territory. The mirror shows the images the birds see and most people can't detect the crystal creatures because of their high altitude. Evading that is not going to be easy.'

Some of the members looked at the jutsu from behind. They were studying it and trying to assess its strengths and weaknesses.

As Guren focused, soon an image of a person she disliked appeared on the screen. 'There he is.'

As she scouted the area with her special reconnaissance technique she saw something that made her lips curl upwards. 'Looks like he's not that great at his job after all. My Lord will no doubt be displeased with this… Hihihi… ohh I can't wait. Time to pay him a visit.'

—-

A lone figure with ash grey hair and glasses was slowly making his way through the small road in the dense forest. As he traveled in the direction of the Leaf village his thoughts were on Mizuki and the commotion that should be happening in the village.

'The perfect time for Lord Orochimaru to strike his target. Mizuki is an excellent sacrificial piece. With the commotion he's caused by now, the whole village would be focused on containing the threat and securing the village. Lord Orochimaru would no doubt have attacked Tsunade by now. With the information on the patrol routes he'll be able to easily avoid anyone and get to the final location. In the meantime I'll have to keep an eye on the shinobi movements in the village. I need to alert my lord if anything unexpected happens.'

The moonlight radiated through the thick foliage and Kabuto's smirking face could be visible. As he slowly made his way forward he came upon a small clearing. He kept walking but soon he slowed down.

His eyes narrowed and he suddenly stopped. His senses picked up a disturbance in the ground and the next second he jumped to the side, evading a large sharp pink spear that burst out of the ground where he had stood previously.

Kabuto's eyes widened as he looked at the structure that just tried to kill him. 'This jutsu. It's her.'

The medic spy didn't have any more time to question the situation before he was attacked again. Kabuto jumped and evaded the attack spears two more times before his ears picked up the sounds of sharp objects flying towards him.

He immediately made seals and coated his palms with chakra and deflected the pink sharp shuriken. Once he was sure there were no more attacks, he looked around, slightly tense.

"Come out Guren!" Kabuto shouted, ready for another attack.

"Hahaha…" A mocking laughter came from the darkened forest and soon a figure emerged. "What's with the face Kabuto? Aren't you happy to see me?"

Kabuto narrowed his eyes as he looked at the blue haired woman. He disliked her very much and didn't know why she was meeting him here like this. "Why did you attack me? What's the meaning of this? Are you trying to kill me?"

"Oh come now. If I wanted you dead, I'm pretty sure I could do it easily… And besides, if you couldn't even handle that much, you really don't deserve to be on Orochimaru's side."

"What are you doing here Guren? We shouldn't be meeting like this?" As Kabuto said the words he sensed the arrival of multiple other people. He looked at them and saw that they were prisoners of his master.

'Why are they here? What's going on?' Kabuto was silent as he calmly gazed at Guren. 'What's this woman up to? Especially tonight.'

The blue haired woman chuckled as she looked at the bespectacled ninja. "I have a new task from Lord Orochimaru. You have been ordered to return to your laboratory and wait for further instructions. The lab our Lord graciously built for you."

Kabuto was surprised when he heard that. 'Orochimaru wants me to abandon my position at the Leaf? But why now? Even if the Leaf is on high alert, I haven't done anything to gain their attention. So won't this be a waste?'

"Is this because of what's happening tonight?" Kabuto asked her cryptically.

"Yes."

"I've been gathering intelligence on the village and its shinobi strengths for the last few years. It's still not completed so abandoning my cover would be a waste now-"

"Hahaha…" Guren couldn't help but laugh hearing Kabuto's excuse.

"What's so funny?" Kabuto narrowed his eyes as he heard the mocking tone in that laughter.

"You're not as slippery as you think. You already screwed up. You're pathetic." The last words were said with a sneer and Kabuto was taken back.

"What are you talking about?"

Guren sighed and she became serious. "I'm saying, your cover has already been blown."

Kabuto was shocked and narrowed his eyes. "What makes you say that?"

"Because I'm pretty sure the two rats that've been following you are part of the Leaf's Anbu."

The second Kabuto heard this he turned to look behind him.

Meanwhile the two Anbu members who were hidden a short distance behind Kabuto were also shocked. 'She knows. And based on their numbers, it's best if we escape with the information we have now.'

Just as they made that decision they sensed several presence coming from behind them. A fireball jutsu immediately struck where the 2 Anbu were hiding and it forced them out.

Guren noticed the Anbu following Kabuto with her jutsu and made the decision to split the 10 members with her into two teams to ambush the Leaf ninjas.

Kabuto was shocked when he saw the masked ninjas. 'How long have they been following me? How did I not know this?'

Despite the questions that were raised in his mind, he immediately focused and chakra appeared in his palms. "We can't let them leave here alive."

"Yes. I agree." Guren jumped and stood near Kabuto and narrowed her eyes.

"Crystal style - Crystal prison."

The Anbu were skilled and quickly evaded the deadly jutsu. At that moment several other members of Guren's team began to attack.

The Anbu easily incapacitated the ones that came near them with Taijutsu but the next moment they had to defend against multiple Crystal spears heading their way.

Even though the 2 Anbu dodged, the speed of the attack caused several shallow injuries on their bodies. "What kind of jutsu is that?"

"She must have a special Kekkei Genkai."

The two ninjas saw the amusement on their enemies' faces and understood the situation. "She's toying with us." One of them said and the other nodded his head. He looked around and noticed the grim situation. "We need to make sure the information reaches Lord Hokage. No matter the cost." "Agreed."

The next instant they faced the two teams and went through multiple seals. 'Wind style - Dust expansion.'

A powerful gust of wind blew in all directions kicking dust and small earth and covered the whole area. In the cover of the dust multiple shadows rushed out in all directions.

"Where are they?" "Where did they go?"

One of the members on Guren's team spread his arms and the tip of his fingers opened up. "Air pressure Cannon."

An explosive wind rushed out and cleared the dust allowing them all to gain visibility again. They looked around and saw that neither the 2 Anbu nor Guren and Kabuto were present at the scene.

"Where is Guren and Kabuto?" One of them asked and suddenly they heard an explosion coming from a short distance away. All of them rushed over and saw the two Anbu ninjas heavily injured and kneeling on the ground.

The two black ops ninjas of the Leaf were analyzing the woman in front of them. 'Her strength is formidable and along with her special Kekkei Genaki, she's going to be trouble.'

Kabuto and Guren kept track of them even through the smoke and quickly engaged them in battle. The Anbu, while skilled, quickly lost against the combined might of the two and was in a serious state. Orochimaru's spy looked at the two ninjas and took note of their appearance.

'How did they know about me? Was it Danzo?... No. These two don't look like Root ninjas. So they're the Hokage's forces. I wonder… How much does he know about me?'

Kabuto and Guren were standing a few feet in front of them.

"Did you really think that would work? How foolish?" Guren spoke with a smug tone.

Kabuto looked at the two and a sinister smile slowly formed on his face. "I'm curious to learn how much you know about me. You can just tell me or…" His hands slowly glowed green and killing intent slowly emitted from him.

The two Anbu were silent. They wouldn't give up information at any cost and now they realized their time had come. A moment later they made their final hand seal. The next instant they were engulfed in blue flames in less than a dozen seconds their bodies were reduced to ash.

The members who arrived had wide eyes as they saw the scene. "They killed themselves? That's kinda pathetic?"

Guren looked at the two piles of Ash and frowned. "So they're willing to go that far huh." She muttered to herself but Kabuto heard her.

"Of course. Leave no corpse upon death. It's the Anbu code." Kabuto explained looking at the scene with a neutral face.

"Hmph. They got off lucky." Guren remarked.

"Guren. In case you didn't notice, this was a diversion. They used their own lives as a distraction so that their message would reach the village." Kabuto spoke looking at the woman.

Guren looked at Kabuto with narrowed eyes but the next second she relaxed and chuckled. "I'm not as incompetent as you."

As she said the words a small pink object suddenly fell from the sky a couple meters ahead of them. It was a small crystallized sparrow and on its leg was a small scroll. A second later the crystal broke into a million tiny shards destroying the message and the bird inside. She then turned to the ash haired ninja standing near her. "Our lord won't be pleased when he learns that you've let your guard down and slipped up."

"I'll talk to Lord Orochimaru. And whatever consequences come my way, I'll take it. So you don't need to worry about me." Kabuto said with a stern face. He looked at the scene and sighed. "Let's go. There is no point in wasting any more time here."

"Yes. You should head to your lab. I have some other business to take care of."

Guren replied and Kabuto stopped. He looked around and saw the number of people following Guren and frowned. "Why do you need these many people? I doubt it was just for me."

Guren smirked as she turned her attention to the ash haired ninja. "I have another assignment in the Land of Fire."

"What assignment?" Kabuto knew of Orochimaru's plan to kidnap Tsunade but he knew nothing beyond that and he was curious.

"Let's just say that I have a package I need to extract. A special delivery for our Lord." The blue haired woman chuckled seeing Kabuto's expression and soon the whole party left the area.

A couple minutes later, several meters away a small green bird popped its head out the bushes. Seeing that there was nobody around it immediately took off in the direction of the Leaf village.

Kabuto and Guren failed to realize that the sparrow they killed was merely another decoy.

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Author's Note.

It's starting. I've been looking forward to writing this arc for a long time… how long? Well since Daichi Joined Tsunade as her student…