Chap.53 I'm weak? you underestimate me too much

The guests arrived in elegant wooden carriages and beautiful horses, escorted by their guards and a few genin from different villages. The nobles exchanged pleasantries at the entrance as they greeted their friends with smiles and an even bigger smile at their competitors.

The genin, on the other hand, had their guard up against the others. The common guards were not a threat to them and they just hoped that the night would pass without incident.

"Miki! Is it true that Tony-sama made today's meal? —Asked one of the young people who accompanied his parents to the party— Are you sure you didn't meet an impostor?

-It is not! —Miki was a little upset that her friends will doubt her.

Okay, so at first she got carried away and lied about it.

But her dad somehow managed to hire the real thing just in time!

Since the lie came true, she had nothing to fear.

"I hope so, I'm tired of the same dishes every time," another girl sighed. "Home cooks are good, but they don't know how to make anything other than traditional food."

"Not to mention we have to wait for the poison taster to do his job." I can't remember the last time I ate a meal fresh out of the kitchen.

"If your dishes are as good as the rumors say, I'll try to hire you as my family's cook."

"Hey, don't get ahead of me!" That was exactly my plan.

-And mine.

—You can forget about that —Miki raised her nose as she mercilessly destroyed the plans of her friends — From what my servants have told me, Tony-sama made a unique exception because she owed my father a favor. This banquet will be unique!

"Too bad, that would have been nice." One of them shrugged and looked around her. "It seems everyone is already here, should we go inside?"

"Sure," Mike nodded. She moved towards the entrance and gave some applause to attract the attention of all the guests— Thank you for your patience, since all the honorable guests are present, she without further ado invited them to enter and start enjoying the banquet.

The guests perked up and began to enter the area designated for the banquet, the front lawn.

-Amazing!

-What a creative!

-Is that a chocolate horse?

—Is it normal for food to emit its own light?

Gasps of astonishment were not long in coming. An elegant and careful distribution at each table, the colors and smells of the starters were in harmony with the surrounding flowers, the names of each guest were written in an assigned place on a paper crane and the lighting was good enough to appreciate the scene, but not too much to make the stars disappear from the sky due to light pollution.

"I'm glad everyone was able to come to the modest dinner hosted by my daughter!" —Hizo made his appearance at this moment from the top of the garden stairs, dressed in one of his best kimonos— Initially I wanted to exchange a few words with everyone, but I think we all have knowledge of who has prepared today's dishes. The famous cook who was praised for his creations during the chunin exam of the leaf village, Tony. So let's skip the formalities and enjoy our freshly cooked food!

Some of the guests agreed while others were inwardly surprised, believing that it was nothing more than a bluff. The genin accompanying their clients tensed. Although they had only heard that the person who cooked today's food was a somewhat prominent ninja from Konoha, it didn't take away from the fact that he was a chunin. His rank was higher and thus a greater potential threat than the genin from other villages.

The question now was: where was that chunin?

"For a moment I thought you were going to go down with those nobles with a stick up your rear," Tayuya commented, amused by Tony's position.

—They asked me for a banquet and they already have it, I am not obligated to put up with their questions and false cordialities —answered Tony lying on his back with his head resting on Karin's thighs, at her request (almost by force)— Have you found something?

—After several inspections, we found out that there are thirty ROOT ninja hiding in the surroundings —Anko informed while enjoying a dessert made by Tony— We can confirm that each one has the strength of a chunin and it would not be strange if there were some jonin to coordinate their numbers.

"That's strange." Tony frowned, sensing that something was wrong.

It was too much of a stretch to send out those numbers and strength levels just to catch him, right?

—I think it's actually pretty obvious what's going on —Tayuya said and everyone turned their heads in her direction, wanting to hear the reason— From what Anko has told me about that bastard Danzo, I have an idea of what he wants to do. A single plan with multiple results and they are all negative for you.

"And what would it be?"

—I don't doubt that they will try to capture you once they act, but I don't think you are their only target —Tayuya explained with a serious expression— I think you are the PRIORITY target to be more exact. From their numbers, I think there's a high chance that while they're dealing with you, they're also trying to kidnap Karin at the same time they're taking us out.

-That?! —Karin didn't expect to be a target after this time.

"That's not all, is it?" —Tony kept looking at Tayuya— You said there were multiple results and they are all bad

-That's how it is. Let's say we've managed to thwart their plan to deal with the four of us, most likely this will lead them to frame us as traitors to the village.

—You mean to change their gaze to Hizo, his daughter and the noble guests —Anko understood what he meant.

-It is very probable. The mission is too easy and if the client dies, he'll have an excuse to imprison us all and in the short period between our entry and release, he'll make us disappear. If we don't even return to the village after so many nobles died, he can manipulate and use that fact against us as well. And that's not all.

-There is more? Even Tony didn't think there were more hidden plots.

"Again, imagine that we even managed to keep the nobles safe from the attack of an 'unknown enemy', what do you think will happen?

"Will the genin from the other villages attack?" Karin asked, getting everyone to look at her in surprise.

—Exactly, redhead —Tayuya smiled— The death of the genin is not a big deal, but so many dead and from so many villages, it will make Tony and us earn a wake-up call from the bingo book. This will make leaving the village more dangerous and give us more reason to stay within Danzo's grasp.

"In short," Tony summed up, "Danzo's plan is to deal with us. If that doesn't work, he will try to attack the nobles and declare us traitors to the village or make us disappear during imprisonment. And even if we manage to protect the nobles, they'll shift their target to the genin to put a target on our backs in the other villages and force us to stay within Konoha's walls.

"A plan like that could only occur to that man," Anko sighed annoyed.

Tony wanted to add something, when suddenly he received a message from the System.

[Ding! An emergency mission has been declared!]

[New Mission: Remove the rotten apple from the basket!]

[Description: You have uncovered Danzo's hidden and seemingly infallible plan. The man has come to the conclusion that if he can't get his hands on you once and for all, it's best to destroy you before you grow too out of his control. Fortunately, you have allies who have managed to unravel the threat and you took precautions before leaving the village. It's time to think about how to counterattack!]

-Eliminate all enemies without leaving any alive. (Not completed)

-The client and 70% of the nobles must survive. (Not completed)

-No more than 40% of the genin present can die. (Not completed)

-You and your team must return safely to the village. (Not completed)

-Present real evidence against Danzo to the Hokage. (Not completed)

-Kill Danzō Shimura! (Not completed)

[Reward: ???.]

[Note: Due to the unique circumstances, the reward can only be obtained if all the quest objectives are met. At the same time, the reward will be unique.]

—It seems that Danzo still thinks that I'm just a weak chunin with some money in his pockets —Tony narrowed his eyes when he saw the mission— I already sent someone for the tests before leaving, he just needed to make sure that no ROOT can escape She plunged into her thoughts and her eyes rolled.

Minutes later, a plan began to take shape in his mind and a creepy smile spread across his face.