I couldn't spot any problem with the owner of tavern . Both of us sat in one of the corner seats of the tavern, as we listened to the rumors.

'Have you heard that the daughter of Village Chief had an affair with that son of Fisherman? I wonder how Village Chief would react?'

'I heard that Maken-san brought some new wares from his trip to Land of Fire. We should check them out.'

………

……..

People are talking about many rumors and hot topics in the village. None of which seemed to be relevant for us except the Merchant who recently visited Land of Fire.

'Oh! Have you heard Zach-san got rich over a fortnight?'

'Yes! I heard about that news. Recently, he got a big order to forge some things and after that order, his business is on a rise. Money is flowing like water to him.'

'Yeah! He had struck gold this time.'

'Shhh… I have a piece of insider news on Zach's business. I recently went to his shop to get my axe fixed and you know what I saw.'

'What?'

'I saw some scary bald guys with many scars on their faces. Those guys looked like hoodlums, so I immediately avoided them. They carried a very heavy crate with them.'

'What is surprising about this? There are all kinds of people who visit his shop.'

'No, no… the surprising part is I saw a tattoo of an eagle's talon under their neck. The mark was well-hidden but I was able to get a glimpse of it. Hey! Do you think that guy was part of that organization?'

'Shhh…Don't talk such a thing in a public place. We may get marked by those devious guys.'

Kazuko and I have been waiting for such news. So, this confirms the existence of Claw.

"Let's return to our meeting spot. We will meet up with Shisui and Mami to share our side of Intel."

I silently inform Kazuko about our next step. We reach our destination and wait for a while. After an hour of wait, Shisui and Mami shows up. I inform them about my finding and they share their information. Shisui and Mami found nothing unusual on their side.

"Shisui and Mami, both of you will search the shop of Maken the merchant for any clues whereas I and Kazuko will investigate the shop of Blacksmith Zach. It is almost evening now. Let's find an inn for our lodgings and we shall start the investigation during the night."

We found an inn near the merchant's shop. We reserved three rooms. Kazuko and Shisui are sharing a room. Later at night, all of us are ready to investigate as we sneak out.

Kazuko and I sneak to the blacksmith's shop which is at the other end of the village.

Clank…Clank…

Sounds of metal hitting metal echoed on the shop as the blacksmiths are forging something. We sneak in through one of the window as I cover Kazuko and myself in my Camouflage technique. After fumbling around for a while, I find out the location of the storeroom.

There are many wooden crates inside the storeroom. We start to inspect them. The crates had lots of freshly forged Kunais, Shurikens, and various Ninja tools and weapons.

'So, this is what is going on? Kumogakure is preparing for the incoming war. Looks like the tension at borders had reached a breaking point and war may break out any instant.'

I nod to Kazuko as we sneak out of the shop back to the inn. Shisui and Mami were already present there. All of us gather in my room, as we start to discuss our findings. Shisui states his report,

"Nii-san, we searched the shop of the Maken guy. There is nothing suspicious in his shop. So, we went to his house to search for clues and look at what we found?"

Shisui takes out a scroll from his pocket and puts the scroll on the Table. A kanji letter for 'Confidential' is written on the scroll. He was about to open the scroll as I hurriedly grabbed his hand.

"Wait! Don't be hasty."

I start to make some hand signs as I infuse Chakra in my hands. A fuinjutsu seal appears in my hand as it starts to crawl over the scroll. Another seal appears on the scroll as my seal starts to destroy the seal. After the seal is destroyed I pickup the scroll as we investigate.

"There was an explosive seal on the scroll. Thank god Shisui, you didn't open it earlier."

Cold sweat ran down the spine of Shisui and Mami as they heaved a Sigh of Relief.

"But nii-san, I checked the scroll earlier with my Sharingan to detect the presence of any trap. But there was no sign of a trap on it." Shisui asks in curiosity.

"Indeed there is no sign of a trap on the paper. The explosive seal is hidden so well with other seals that even Byakugan and Sharingan can't tell the difference. But it is an entire case for me altogether since I am a Fuinjutsu Master.

I am able to spot the hidden explosive seal as I usually wrote a lot of them. All of my explosive tags are written by me."

'But who could have prepared such a well-hidden trap for us?'

All of us start to speculate over the creator of this trap.

'Hmm! If my suspicion is right, then it is most likely Danzo. In the anime, after the second Ninja war, Kumogakure starts to gather all kinds of Ninjutsus from various villages and clans. Probably, Danzo has set up this trap to blow some of those Ninjas. What a devious plan, if Deidra is aware of this plan he would give a thumbs up to Danzo.'

I shook my head to discard such funny thoughts as I opened the scroll. Inside the scroll is the list of some C and D-rank jutsus which are commonly used by Genins in Konoha. Such Jutsus could be found anywhere.

"This Maken Guy is just the middle-man of the chain. I bet he isn't aware of the contents of the scroll otherwise by now probably he would have blown himself. Let us head out to meet with our informant next morning."

I stop the meeting as all of us go to sleep.

Next day in the morning,

All of us gather again after our breakfast as we move towards the designated location to meet our spy. We reach the meeting spot as we hid over selves and wait for the spy to appear.

After around fifteen minutes, a fat guy with a large mustache and the appearance of a merchant appears at the spot. The fat guy starts to look around as he marks the nearby wall with a weird symbol.

"This is our spy, that is the symbol Hokage-sama told us about. Let us meet with the spy, but make sure to have your guard up. He could be an enemy in disguise too."

I warned all of them as we move out from our hiding spot. We walk up to the spy in our disguise as I move towards the wall and draw another sign. The spy nods towards us we follow him to a remote location before clearing the marks. After reaching to a quiet place,

"You are the shinobis sent by the village, right? You sure took your time, we were supposed to meet yesterday"

"Yes, we are leaf shinobi, and some matters delayed us. Anyway, now guide us to the hideout so that we can do our mission." I reply to the spy.

"Follow me, Wakano is the leader of the underground organization 'Claw'. I am sure you know about it. But, recently I have spotted a lot of Kumo ninjas around his hideout. Here are the details of the underground hideout which I acquired from bribing a member of the 'Claw'."

The spy handouts a scroll with a map on it as he continues,

"Wakano usually spends most of his time underground and his dirty work is carried by his right-hand man. The right time to assassinate him would be during the night when he is busy in his pleasure. Also, if you successfully assassinate him then make sure to meet me once. I also have to complete my mission after all."

"Very well! That's fine. What's your mission is about, and what will you do in case of failure?" I ask the spy as I look in his eyes for his response.

"I will just go in hiding for a while if you failed your mission. As for my mission, I am sorry but I can't reveal its content."

I check his facial expression with my Sharingan as I see no changes in them.

'So, he is speaking the truth. Maybe, Hiruzen has some other plans.'

"Alright! We have reached the place. Now all you have to do is wait for the night to increase your chances of success. My job is done here and I will retreat now."

The spy retreats as we hid nearby and wait for the night to arrive.

Soon, it's night time and we put our plan in motion.

We have already memorized the map as it is pretty easy to infiltrate the hideout with my 'Camouflage Technique'. The jutsu works on others as long as the person is within five-meter of me.

The mission is to assassinate the leader but it is wise to kill the guards too as they may hinder our escape. All of the ninjas are also trained in the art of silent assassination, being a Ninja isn't just performing fancy jutsus.

We silently murdered all the guards with minimum bloodshed. We haven't encountered any Kumo ninja yet and this made me frown. I want to finish the mission and retreat as soon as possible. I am feeling a bad premonition but I can't seem to put my fingers around this.

The room of Wakano is in our sight as we silently approach it. I signal to others with some hand signs as Shisui and Kazuko kill the two guards at the door.

I put my hand on the ground as I try to sense any Chakra disturbance. There is no Chakra disturbance at the entrance as we enter the room. Shisui and I immediately activate our Sharingan as we approach the bed.

The fat Wakano laid on the bed with a naked woman in his arms. I immediately take out my Kunai as I plunge it in Wakano's neck.

No blood is spilled as Wakano turns into a Lightning clone and the lightning made my hand numb.

"Fuck! It's a trap. The target is a lightning clone. Retreat as soon as possible."

Before I could speak any further, a giant bear appears out of nowhere as it opens its mouth. Many Kumo Ninjas start to pour out from its mouth and they surround us, blocking any path of retreat for us.

Without wasting my time, I immediately make some hand signs as I slam my hand on the ground

'Earth style: Abyssal Swamp'

The ground starts to turn in a swamp as all of the Kumo Ninjas get caught in it.

'Earth Style: Rock Pedestal'

A large block of rocks rises from the ground as all of the Kumo Ninjas jump on it. At this point, the room of the Claw head is blown away and many enemies start to surround us.

'Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu'

Shisui quickly some hand signs as he spews out a large ball of fire at Kumo Ninjas. One of the Kumo Ninja who wore the outfit of a Jounin commander immediately make some hand signs,

'Water Style: Water bullet jutsu'

The water bullet collides with the fireball and both of them cancel each other. A large amount of steam covers the area as Shisui starts to flicker around.

'Body Flicker Technique'

Multiple Shisui's appear in the area as they attack Kumo Ninjas. In the meantime, Kazuko and Mami escape the area to locate the real Wakano as Me and Shisui confront the enemy Ninjas.

I threw a shuriken at enemy ninjas and make some hand signs,

'Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu'

The Shuriken multiplies into various shurikens as it hit Kumo ninjas. A giant hand slams on my position. I dodge the attack and look towards the attacker.

The jounin commander stands atop the Giant bear as the bear attacks me. After the initial ruckus, the situation had come to a standstill. I start to scan the Kumo ninjas as they do the same.

There are two jounins, fifteen chunnins, and one jounin commander. I regroup with Shisui as we face against them.

"Two of them are missing. Hurry up and search for them."

The jounin commander shouts to his subordinates as three Chunnin dashes out.

"Not so fast!" I shout as I infuse chakra in my hand as metal wires appear in them,

'Lightning Style: Tension Wire'

The metal wires bind the Chunnins and zap them to death.

"Shisui, I will handle Jounins. You take care of Chunnins."

"Yes, nii-san."

I start to gather Chakra in my right hand as I prepare to launch a

'Lightning Style: Vanishing Rasengan'

The dormant 'Sin seal' awakens and it starts to rapidly absorb my Chakra. My Chakra reserves almost halves by the rapid absorption.

"Damn! Not this shit again!

I curse the seal as I throw the Rasengan at the giant bear. The Rasengan vanishes after I launch it and the Jounin Commander smirks at me.

Boom…

The Rasengan collides with the bear. The bear is blown away by the impact as its body is covered in lightning.

Poof…

The bear summons disappears as the Jounin Commander looks warily at me.

"All of you, stop dilly-dallying and deal with him. He had used up a large amount of Chakra in the previous jutsu." He rebukes his subordinates as they start to surround me.

'Lightning Style: Co-operation Thunder Bomb'

The Kumo commander performs a joint jutsu with the two jounins as a huge lightning orb closes on me. There is no space for my escape.

'Damn!' I start to make some hand signs as I clutch my hand together.

'Wood Style: Wood Locking wall'

I use the recently learned Wood Style technique which I acquired from Yamato. Wooden pillars rise from the ground as they form a Dome to protect me. The dome is able to hold withstand the co-operation jutsu of the Kumo Shinobis as the outer part of it gets chipped away.

"Damn! A wood style user. Kill or capture him quickly. We need to report this to Raikage-sama."

'Damn! I have to get rid of them, otherwise, my peaceful days will be over. It's time to get serious.'

I prick my thumb with my teeth as a drop of blood leaks from it, the wound closes immediately.

'Fuinjutsu : Explosive Blood Carnate'

Lots of fuinjutsu seals start to coalesce as half of my remaining Chakra gets sucked into the blood drop. A vicious-looking creature forms from the seal as it bares it fang at the Kumo Ninjas.

Screee……

"We have to stop him from whatever he is doing."

Before the Kumo Ninjas could react the blood Carnate vanishes from their sight as it appears in their midst.

'Katsu'

Boom…

A large explosion covered the area as a large amount of dust and debris rose in the air. A large column of energy appeared as violent energy dispersed in the sky. A massive crater formed in the place of Jounins as there is no sign of them.

I created this jutsu by deciphering the seal of Ryumyaku and combining it with Fuinjutsu techniques. The jutsu requires a medium to detonate such a large amounts of Chakra. After testing for a while, I could only use my blood as the medium to store a large amount of Chakra.

The immense vitality in my blood helps in stabilization of the Chakra and the entire energy is released in the form of a controlled explosion on my signal. But there is a drawback to this jutsu, the consumption of Chakra is very large and it seems to be the only jutsu capable of escaping from the 'Sin seal' on my hand.

My guess is the blood is part of me and thus the Chakra is technically still in my body. But I have yet to test my hypothesis. I grudgingly looked at the 'Seal' on my hand as I walked towards Shisui. Almost the entire reserve of my Chakra is empty, most of which is sucked by this seal.

"What a powerful Jutsu nii-san. Can you teach me this jutsu?" Shisui is amazed by my jutsu as he looks at me with shining eyes.

Cough…cough…

I coughed to get this attention as I questioned,

"Shisui, have you dealt with those Chunnins, and what about Kazuko and Mami?"

"I have dealt with the Chunnins. It was a piece of cake to deal with them."

"We have killed Wakano too, nii-san. This is the scroll I got form him." Kazuko reply to me as he pops out from a corner.

"Izuna nii-san, your last jutsu is very powerful. Can you teach me?" Mami chimes in as she looks at me with puppy eyes.

"I haven't perfected the jutsu yet and this jutsu requires a large amount of Chakra to use." I shrug them off by revealing the nature of Jutsu.

"Now, let us meet with our spy and inform him of the completion of our mission. Kazuko keep the scroll for a while, I will take it back later."

We walk out of the organization towards the designated spot to meet the spy. My chakra reserves are almost empty, I de-activate my Sharingan to preserve Chakra.

The spy is standing on the spot as he waits for us. He notices our arrival and asks,

"So, you have successfully completed the mission, Huh! You created quite a big commotion for such a mission."

"Your information was incorrect. The enemy laid an ambush with many Chunnins and three jounins. Your misinformation almost cost us our lives. How will you take responsibility for that?" I question him as I raised my voice.

"I said it before I got the information from one of the hoodlums of the 'Claw'. Only their leader was aware of the exact situation. I am sorry for my misinformation. Now, will you be kind enough to show me the scroll you got from their base as it pertains to my mission."

Kazuko looks towards me for confirmation as I nod to him. After my approval, Kazuko walks to the spy and hands over the scroll to him.The spy examines the scroll for a while confirming its contents. After examining the scroll for a while he returns the scroll to Kazuko. As Kazuko is about to return, a sharp glint flash in Spy's eyes as he stabs Kazuko with a sword hidden underneath his undergarment.We are shocked to see this as blood trickles down from Kazuko's chest. Kazuko spurts out a mouthful of blood as he looks at spy in disbelief."Kill them and get rid of their body. I have secured the scroll."The spy takes the scroll from Kazuko's body as he proceeds to run away. Around twenty ninjas in Kumo outfit surround us start to attack. All of them wields Tanto or short blades as they start to attack us.'Lightning Style: Thunderstorm'They all perform a co-operation jutsu as bolts of thunderbolts start to strike toward us. Both Shisui and I make some hand signs,'Wind Style: Violent Wind Breakthrough''Wind Style: Compression Bomb'The jutsus from both sides collide as they cancel each other out. After the first failed attempt, the Kumo Ninjas start to run around us as they encircle us.I have already exhausted most of my Chakra and I can only use Taijutsu now. I fork out a Chakra pill from my pocket as I gulp it down. I have to use Taijutsu to fight them. I have only mastered one gate out of Eight Gates formation and I still haven't completely mastered the second gate of the Eight Gate.It is quite risky to open the gate without mastering it, but I try to open it anyway as I am left with no choice. I hope my healing can cope with the damage caused by the stress of Eight gates."Gate of Opening…Open….Gate of Healing…Open…After opening two gates my speed increases drastically. I draw my Chakra blade and start to attack the enemy ninjas."Shisui I will try to handle twelve enemy ninjas, you take on seven and Mami try to combat one of the remaining ninjas."I try to formulate a combat strategy to buy some time to recover my Chakra. Mami is a medical ninja, so her combat capabilities are the lowest of us all.'Lightning style: Lightning Dragon'A giant lightning dragon attacks me as I coat my Chakra Blade in wind Chakra and attack the dragon to disperse it. All of the ninjas throw many kunais with paper bombs attached to them as they attack me.'Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu'I am able to deflect most of them but some are still able to bypass and stab me as they explode. I dodged a part of the explosion with my speed but the shockwaves hurl me to a nearby tree as I collide with it. The bone of my right arm broke as I used it to cushion my impact. I lie helplessly on the ground as enemy ninja closes on me.Shisui is also pushing himself hard as he continues to flicker around creating multiple afterimages and combat enemies.'Mami. Where is Mami?'I look around to search for Mami, one of the Kumo Ninja is attacking Mami as she is barely holding against him.Slash…The enemy ninja uses a decoy and Mami fells for it. He uses this chance to slash her stomach with his sword. Blood started to leak from her wound as she mumbles,"Save….. me, Izuna….. nii-san."She fell on the ground as a pool of blood gathers around her. Her eyes were wide-opened as she breathes her last. Izuna's thoughts were a mess and he starts to lose his sanity,'The spy betrayed us, I still couldn't believe the outcome of the mission. We put our lives on the line to obtain the scroll just to get betrayed.My team member, my friend died because of this betrayal. Mami and Kazuko lost their life in this mission. Am I about to die as well? Why it has to be in such a way? I still haven't lived enough in this world to die so early. No, I can't die. I won't die. Nooo…..'Rage clouded Izuna's mind as his heartbeat start to increase. His nerves start to pop out as massive amount of Chakra start to gather around his eyes, his Sharingan activates on its own.The Tomoe's in his Sharingan starts to spin rapidly as they began to merge. The tomoes merged together as they formed a five cornered star shape with overlapping sides similar to three triangles crisscrossing each other. The pattern overlaid upon the silver sclera as the star patterns start to rotate.The disturbance in the Chakra activated the 'Sin Seal' as strange totems marks start to crawl out from the seal. The totems crawled all the way to his eye as they start to enter in his Mangekyo Sharingan. The right side of his body gets covered in totems as his clothes are ripped apart.Aaah…Intense pain assaulted Izuna as he clutched his head and start to yell in pain. A large amount of information starts to enter his mind as blood starts to trickle from his right eye.'Mangekyo Sharingan: Limbo Hengoku'A shadow of Izuna starts to form from nearby space as it ripped Reality and materialized in front of him. The shadow has similar clothing to Izuna with the only difference being the shadow devoid of any color. The Shadow floats in front of Izuna as it looked at him.Aaah…The 'Sin seal' activates as the Grimoire appeared once again. The metallic Grimoire floats in front of him as the middle eye on the Grimoire opens. The eight pointy edges around the eye stab in the Limbo and the eye separates from Grimoire.The 'Sin eye' attaches itself to Limbo Shadow and appears on Limbo's chest. Similar strange markings appear from the eye as totem marks appear on Limbo's entire body. The black totems markings start to merge together, a large black Scythe appear in Limbo's hands.The Limbo clutches the scythe as it turns towards the approaching Kumo Ninjas. Without uttering a single word, Limbo starts a slaughter as it massacres the Kumo Ninjas.Panic ensued among Kumo Ninjas as they are unable to locate their assailant. One after another Kumo ninjas starts to die as they tried to dodge the unknown enemy in vain. Limbo butchers them one by one as Izuna stood lifelessly on one spot.Izuna loses consciousness from the chakra drain, the 'Sin Seal' continues to cover his body in totems. A demonic black horn condenses on the right side of Izuna's head as the totems fuse together. Black fumes start to rise from his body as the totems continue to take over his body.The possessed Izuna draws out his Chakra blade. The dark energy starts to cover the blade as the blade elongates and forms a dark longsword. Black fumes and purple flames cover the blade as Izuna swings it around.'Darkness Style: Violent Hell Flame'Izuna stabs the longsword in-ground as purple flames erupt from the sword. Ground cracks as the flames continue to travel beneath the ground. They erupt beneath enemy ninjas as 'Kumo ninjas' are turned to ashes."Demon…it's a Demon."The Kumo ninjas look at Izuna as their blood freezes from fear and their face turns ashen white."Mission failure…I repeat mission failure. We need to retreat as soon as possible."One of the ninjas shouts as they start to retreat.'Darkness Style: Corrosion Chains'Purple corrosive chains come out from Limbo's chest and Izuna's hand as they wrap around the limbs of the ninjas.'Darkness style: Shadow Step'Izuna disappears as he re-appears near enemy ninjas. The heads of remaining ninjas rolled on the floor as their body corrodes to dust. Izuna stabs the Longsword in-ground as he roared,Roarrrr…….Limbo Shadow hunts down the escaped spy as it executes him. The Shadow picks up the scroll as it returns to Izuna. The Sin eye returns to Grimoire as the Shadow merges back with Izuna.The dark totems on his body return to 'Sin Seal' and Izuna turns normal. A faint scent of blood and death permeates in the air, Izuna lays unconscious on the ground.Shortly after, Shisui arrives near Izuna and picks Izuna on his shoulders and starts to dash towards the Village. The tomoes in Shisui's Sharingan start to spin rapidly as they merge together to form a four-point pinwheel pattern Mangekyo Sharingan.Tears and blood start to trickle down from his eyes as he dashes towards the village