The shadows

ch31

Naruto was heading towards Kiri with his team. When he first brought the matter to Danzo, they discussed strategies for a while. The best solution was to go with a team and also have Uchiha on the team.

When his clone gave him the memory, he was confused. Mei and her rebel forces had finally got their hands on some factual information. Naruto knew that Yagura was under a sharingan genjutsu, but he couldn't just say it without any evidence.

He also didn't want to bring attention to the Uchiha and possibly cause a war. Instead, he tried planting clones in hopes of them getting captured. These clones were supposed to act as guards in the Mizukage tower, and if they got captured, they were to give the same vague information.

That they heard whispers coming from Mizukage's office at night. That there were times as if he was talking to himself. That sometimes they could hear another voice coming from the office. That they suspected that someone was controlling their Kage.

There was, of course, a bit of variation to their information. After some effort of getting the first clone captured and putting the idea in the rebel forces head, all he had to do was to also spread this information across the other guards as a rumor.

Finally, the idea had taken root, and the rebel forces were all comparing information. How Yagura's attitude suddenly changed, and he became a completely different person. There were many rebels who used to be in high positions and close to Yagura.

Now they had the question of breaking the genjutsu. None of them were able to get close enough to him to break the genjutsu, and there was also the fact that Kiri was not an expert in this subject.

The rebels couldn't possibly ask for help from another nation since other nations were benefitting from the civil war. But Naruto's clone was ready. He had a meeting with Mei when he informed her that he had connections in Konoha and could set up a route to negotiate with the Hokage.

And that was why Naruto was now heading toward Kiri with his team. Kakashi, Yugao, Shisui, and Itachi were chosen for the team. Kakashi was officially in charge and responsible for negotiations, and Itachi and Shisui were there for genjutsu expertise.

Yugao was there for backup in case there was a confrontation, and Naruto was a seal master who could get them out of sticky situations. Of course, Konoha couldn't fully trust the Kiri rebels.

Naruto had to pretend that it was one of his summons who was the infiltrator, but it wasn't that hard to make up a story that satisfied both Hokage and Danzo. The team was only there to make the first contact.

They were not going to act unless Kakashi ordered so. They were going to negotiate terms and send the results to Konoha, and only when Hokage and the council came to an agreement were they to proceed.

Currently, it was nighttime, and they were camping in a clearing. Their perimeter was secured with seals and traps so they could all use the rest. They would reach their meeting point by mid-morning, so they wanted to rest before going forward.

Naruto was tired from the overuse of chakra in his feet, so he was now sitting on the ground while Itachi was applying a salve to his feet while Shisui was lecturing him.

"For the last time, Shisui. I'm fine. I even told you when I needed rest. My tenketsu are just sore. I will be fine by the morning." Naruto said, rolling his eyes.

"Healing by morning doesn't mean you have to endure the pain. Your body is still growing, and you shouldn't stress your tenketsu so much. I don't want to hear it anymore. If you are tired, you will tell us, or I will carry you princess-style wherever we go." Shisui said. Naruto also heard Kakashi snort and Yugao holding back laughter. Itachi finally finished with the salve and wrapped a bandage over his feet.