Chapter 673 : Terrifying!

‘Both Darui and Yugito are here. If they're here, who's in Kumogakure?’ Fujin couldn't help but wonder in surprise. He had anticipated Darui or Yugito leading an army but didn't think Kumo would send both of them when neither Ay nor Bee were in the village.

Fujin thought, ‘Kumo is very brave. To be without a rank S ninja when they're facing an unknown threat… I suppose they're just confident in their defenses then. Not really surprising I guess. Their barrier team is quite strong. And they should have several Elite Jounins and hundreds of Jounins in their village along with those ridiculous tools. Anyway, now that these two are here, should I continue with my plan or should I change it and infiltrate Kumo first?’

Fujin fell into thought. On one hand, he had a very good plan prepared. If he continued, he'd be able to kill another 300-odd Kumo ninjas and might still be able to infiltrate Kumo. On the other hand, the opportunity in front of him was very good as well. Even if Darui and Yugito rushed back at their full speeds, they would require at least a couple of hours to return. The Raikage's group was several hours away as well. So, Fujin could roam unobstructed inside Kumo for a few hours.

Fujin analyzed, ‘If I go to Kumo, then killing everyone in the remaining bases would become very troublesome. Since Darui's group fell into a trap, they'll likely disband the bases. Normally, that would have been fine and I'd still be able to hunt them. However, if I spend time inside Kumo, they could retreat to nearby cities and villages and mix among civilians. I can't attack the villages openly or it'd be a declaration of war… Hmm…’

After thinking for a bit, Fujin decided, ‘Ah, leave it. From what Shikaku said, killing everyone in just 3 bases would be enough to consider the mission completed. Killing everyone in 5 bases would be excellent. I have already killed everyone in 6 bases and who knows how many died from Darui's group. That is sufficient.

Even though I can kill more Kumo ninjas, there isn't any gain for me. By comparison, raiding Kumo could provide me with several benefits. I'll head towards it. Sigh…’

Fujin sighed and muttered to himself, ‘I didn't think I'd get such an opportunity. I should have sent a clone to mark places close to Kumogakure. I'll need an hour to travel to Kumo from the nearest Flying Thunder God mark…’

Fujin thought for a few seconds before deciding, ‘I'm interested in seeing what Darui would do. Perhaps I might be able to get some entertainment.’

Fujin chuckled and teleported a few kilometers away. He created a Shadow Clone and sent him towards Kumogakure. Meanwhile, he waited to see what Darui would choose to do.

In the base, Darui contacted Mabui. She was shocked by everything Darui said. With a grim expression, she thought, ‘Everyone in that base is missing and Darui's army fell into a trap that even old man Jin couldn't detect? How did that happen? Don't tell me that's what happened to the three squads I dispatched earlier!’

As she expected, Darui said, “Contact the 5 Anbu squads you sent to the other bases and inform them about the trap. Inform Boss as well. He could check upon those bases on his way here.”

Mabui replied, “Yes, I will. What are you planning to do next?”
Darui thought for a bit and asked, “Can you contact the remaining 4 bases?”
Mabui answered, “Yes.”
Darui sighed in relief and said, “That's good. Order them to disband. Everyone should move separately in squads of 4 and head towards nearby towns and villages. They'll hide there until further communications. If they don't receive any orders, they should start heading back to the village after two weeks.”
Mabui replied, “Alright.”
Darui paused for a bit before saying, “Tell Boss that I have a hunch that Suzuki Fujin is involved in whatever is happening here. I'm not sure who else is involved. However, we have fallen prey to a deadly scheme!”
Mabui's expression became grim as she replied, “I'll convey it to him.”

The two finally stopped talking and deactivated the Chakra Transmission Communication devices. Yugito frowned and asked, “How could Fujin have been here? Wasn't he in the Land of Hot Water? How did he get here so quickly?”

Samui answered, “He has a flying summon. I think Konoha openly showed him off to tempt Raikage-sama and Bee into going there. He must have flown here while they were going there. Perhaps others from Konoha traveled along with him on his flying summon. It could have even allowed them to scout our bases allowing them to make the appropriate move.”

Darui immediately said, “It's just a hunch. We can't declare everyone dead until we find their bodies.”

Samui nodded solemnly. The three of them turned their heads towards an old man who was walking there while being assisted by a couple of ninjas. Burns could be seen on his left leg and right arm.

Darui respectfully said, “Are you fine, Elder Jin? Sorry, I had to bring you here despite your age.”
Jin sighed and said, “I'm fine. However, I failed. So many of our capable ninjas died due to my incompetence.”

Jin was one of the four Fuinjutsu Grandmasters in Kumo. He was in his late 70s and had served Kumo faithfully for decades. So, everyone respected him. However, his heart couldn't help but ache on seeing the casualties around him.

Yugito frowned and asked, “How come you didn't detect the explosive seals? There must have been tens of thousands of them.”

Yugito wasn't questioning Jin's ability or accusing him of being careless. Instead, she was genuinely confused. It was extremely difficult to trap a Fuinjutsu Grandmaster with Fuinjutsu. They would always detect a vast concentration of seals instinctively just like how Fujin discovered the trap Kitsuchi laid for him.

Jin answered, “The reason I failed is the seals we inscribed while making the base.”

The eyes of Darui, Samui and Yugito widened as Jin continued, “Every base has hundreds of seals to improve the defenses. Whoever laid the trap used those seals to hide a large number of stealth seals which in turn hid that ridiculous amount of explosive seals.

That is why, I couldn't detect them. Even though I instinctively felt that there were a lot of seals here, I thought that they were the same seals we inscribed here as they were all I could see. Whoever did it was quite ingenious to make use of them in this manner.

If it was done in just a few hours, then whoever did it is a terrifying genius at Fuinjutsu. If it was indeed someone from Konoha, then we need to be very careful in any future conflicts with them. Otherwise, we could lose a large number of ninjas in a similar manner several times.”

Darui and the rest had solemn expressions. To be able to fool a Grandmaster was an incredible feat. It was also terrifying. How many Grandmasters did any village have? Kumo had only 4. All were treasured and they would rarely go out on the battlefield unless they were accompanying the Raikage.

So, the Sealmasters would be the ones accompanying armies during wars. However, if a Grandmaster wasn't able to detect the trap, how could Sealmasters do it? The difficulty of attacking Konoha went up by a notch!

Darui muttered, “The ability to create such traps is alone equivalent to a rank S ninja…”
Others agreed with him. Samui said, “Didn't Iwagakure's message say that Suzuki Fujin was very close to becoming a Grandmaster several years ago? Do you think that this was set up by him?”

Darui's eyes widened. He replied, “It could be possible. Not to mention, using so many explosive seals is consistent with his style…”

Jin shook his head and said, “From what I hear, he is only 16 years old. He might be involved in creating this trap but it's unlikely that it was entirely his creation. However, if it was just him, then his threat is no lesser than the Fourth Hokage's!”

Everyone's expression became solemn on hearing it. As they were discussing, an Elite Jounin appeared and reported with a grim expression, “Darui, 43 ninjas have died. And, 24 are still missing. Since we can't sense them, I'm afraid that they're dead as well and are buried somewhere here.”

The moods of Darui and the rest became heavy. It was a painful loss. Since they didn't know what exactly happened to the ninjas stationed in the bases, it piled upon their misery.

Jin sighed and said, “The losses are still far lesser. Since the trap was dependent on our seals, they could only lay the explosive tags close to them. Not to mention, this army is an Elite one with every squad being led by a Jounin.

Many of them were able to neutralize most of the explosive tags near them before they set off. The ones who couldn't do so jumped high up in the air to avoid getting directly hit by the explosion.”

The Elite Jounin nodded, “Yes, that is the case. Among the 43 dead, only 18 were blown up by the Explosive seals. The rest died due to stones piercing through their vital organs at a high speed due to the explosions. A few also died due to suffocation caused by the large amount of soil entering their respiratory system.

Of course, if Yugito hadn't acted quickly enough, then it would have been terrible. Not only did her chakra save a few dozen of our comrades, but it also shielded others by stopping the high-speed debris that could've hit others. Without her, our casualties might have tripled.”