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Chapter 671: Shikaku\'s Mind Games!

So, he couldn\'t brazenly leave thousands of marks. Instead, he had just left a handful when no one was looking at him, each being over 50 km from the other. Fujin immediately disappeared, teleporting around a hundred and fifty kilometers away. He teleported a few more times and reached into the Land of Frost.

Fujin finally stopped and thought, \'Hmm, this was the last mark I made while chasing Hidan. The place where I fought Kakuzu shouldn\'t be too far from here. Oh well, just another couple of hundred kilometers to reach the Land of Lightning.

According to Shikaku\'s plan, I need to enter the Land of Lightning, move close to the base closest to the border between the Land of Lightning and the Land of Frost and hide myself waiting for his signal. However, I should be reaching there in around 6 to 8 hours from now…\'

Fujin chuckled. The distance between the Kumogakure and Konoha was very large. Normal ninjas would require around 4 to 5 days to make such a long trip. Even an Elite squad would still require around a couple of days if they consumed soldier pills. Since Fujin had a flying summon, Shikaku counted on Fujin to reach there in a quick time without exhausting himself. However, he couldn\'t have imagined that Fujin had mastered the Flying Thunder God jutsu!

Fujin decided, \'I\'ll keep the communication device inside the scroll. Once I take it out and activate it, Inoichi will be able to sense my location. Since I have around six hours, it\'s time to do some setup…\'

Fujin continued moving towards Kumogakure. As he ran, he left a Flying Thunder God mark on trees along his path every now and then. He stopped 50 km from the border. Fujin found a quiet spot, weaved a few hand seals and slammed his hand on the ground.

\'Earth Release: Camp jutsu!\'

A massive underground camp was created around 50 meters under Fujin\'s feet. Fujin disappeared into the ground and entered into the base. He looked around the base and nodded while thinking, \'Hmm, this should do. I\'ll make some changes here and apply some seals to keep this base hidden.

Once done, I can use this base as a retreat point. If something goes wrong during the mission or if I need to take a break to recover my chakra, I\'ll return here. And, my clones can use this base for that purpose…\'

Fujin made up his mind and got to work. A few hours later, Fujin frowned and opened his eyes. He was long done with setting up the base and was meditating. When he activated his Space Time Sensing Technique, he noticed something odd.

Fujin thought, \'What speed! All 8 of them are traveling at such a fast speed!\'

A smirk appeared on Fujin\'s face as he chuckled, "Looks like Ay is on the move. I wonder what expression he\'ll make when he returns to the Land of Lightning."

He could imagine how sorrowful Kumogakure would be by the time he was done. Hiruzen and Shikaku\'s plans were too ruthless. Fujin thought, \'Considering the future, there isn\'t a need for this attack. After all, Kumo would be our ally in the next Great War. My actions would weaken the Allied Shinobi Force. However…\'

Fujin shook his head and muttered, "Who asked them to go after my head?"

The only reason why Kumogakure fell into this trap was because they wanted Fujin\'s head. So, Fujin had no qualms in causing them pain, especially considering how much effort Shikaku had already put in. As for weakening the Allied Shinobi Force, Fujin didn\'t particularly care much about it.

After all, Kabuto was no longer alive. His dead body was in one of his scrolls. Without the Edo Tensei summons, the White Zetsu army wasn\'t that scary. Obito\'s forces would be weakened far more than the Allied Shinobi Forces. Not to mention, Fujin had only made one move to alter the future. He still had a few more to make!

A few minutes after Ay\'s group passed, Fujin exited the base. He transformed into a Kumogakure ninja and began moving towards the Land of Lightning.

While Fujin and Ay were on the move, Mabui received another messenger bird. She read the information and thought, \'So, Suzuki Fujin is heading into this town. However…\'

A grim expression appeared on her face as she analyzed, \'Everything about this seems off! How are we able to get all the information so easily? Even though he didn\'t hear any specifics of the mission, would someone like Fujin openly say where he is going?

Even though he is still young, it is highly unlikely that he is this careless. All the clues only point out that this is a trap! Our spies might have been compromised and Konoha is likely intentionally leaking this information to them because Konoha wants Raikage-sama to go there! That said…\'

Mabui had a headache as she wondered, \'If this is an attempt to trap Raikage-sama, why is Konoha being so obvious? Aren\'t they afraid that we\'ll just refuse to take action and their trap will fail?

No, there is no way Konoha would make such a foolish mistake. Raikage-sama was correct. Even if it is a trap, killing him and his brother would be extremely difficult. Even if Konoha defeats them, they won\'t be able to kill them. So, Konoha\'s target is most likely not Raikage-sama. Instead, it is something else. But, what could that be?\'

Mabui wrecked her brains but couldn\'t understand what Konoha\'s plans were. She asked Darui to ensure that Kumogakure\'s defenses were airtight before conveying the information in the scroll and her analysis to Ay using the Chakra Transmission Communication device.

Ay frowned as well and thought, \'That town is very close to the Land of Fire. It\'s the perfect place for Konoha to secretly move and hide a large number of ninjas. Is Konoha banking on my confidence to lure me there and kill me the same way my father was killed? Can they afford such losses at this time? Or is this just a stratagem to make me apprehensive of ever making a move on a Konoha ninja?\'

He thought for a bit, looked at one of his subordinates and said, "Once we reach closer to that town, sense continuously. It might be a trap set by Konoha and Yugakure to make a move against me. Ensure that nothing escapes your eyes."

The Elite Jounin, who was also a sensor, nodded. Ay turned his eyes towards another subordinate and instructed, "You\'ll keep an eye out for seals. If Konoha has secretly moved a large number of ninjas to attack me, they\'ll hide them using seals. If you feel anything off, inform us immediately."

That Elite Jounin nodded as well. He was one of the four Fuinjutsu Grandmasters in Kumogakure. Finally, Ay turned to Bee and said, "If either of them notices something off, use Tailed Beast Bomb to blow up that area. Let me see what strategy Konoha has to block the Tailed Beast Bombs."

Before Bee could rap, one of the Elite Jounins nervously asked, "If this is indeed a trap, should we still fight?"

Ay snorted and answered, "Why would we do something so foolish? We\'ll just retreat. If Konoha dares to chase us, Bee will keep tossing Tailed Beast Bombs on them as we escape."

While Ay was confident in his abilities and didn\'t fear facing Hiruzen, Orochimaru, Jiraiya, Tsunade, Fujin and other Konoha ninjas by himself, he knew that even someone like him would end up dead if tried to foolishly fight all of them at the same time. The reason for his confidence was that he could just turn around and escape if it was indeed a trap. With Minato no longer alive, he didn\'t believe that anyone in Konoha had the capability to stop him from retreating.

Just like Mabui, Hiruzen and Shikaku also received a scroll from a messenger bird. It was from a spy they installed in Kumogakure. As he read the message, Hiruzen smiled and said, "The Raikage has taken the bait. He left Kumogakure."

Shikaku smiled and said, "Good. Now we just have to wait for some time. Knowing the Raikage, he\'ll rush to that location in under a day. I\'ll ask Fujin to make a move after 16 hours."

Hiruzen nodded and said, "If Kumogakure doesn\'t pull back their ninjas, then Fujin will have enough time to go for a couple of rounds. He should eliminate at least 6 bases."

Shikaku replied, "Yeah, let\'s hope so. Such a loss will keep Kumogakure under check for some time. I\'ll ask Eagle to make a move. He\'ll start cleaning up Iwagakure\'s spy network at the same time Fujin starts."

In a few hours, Fujin reached the base that would be his first target. He stayed some distance away and observed the base without activating his chakra field. A slight surprise appeared on his face as he thought, \'Interesting…\'

[A/N: Next Chapter - Slaughterhouse!]

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