As Nick Fury was executing Plan B, bombing the Sound Ninja base, Steve Rogers and his team drove up to the gates of the Hidden Mist base.
Their mission was to provide an additional layer of security for the S.H.I.E.L.D. operation.
Fury wanted to commission the Mist Ninja to protect S.H.I.E.L.D., in case the Sound Ninja retaliated or sought revenge. He didn't contact Mist Ninjas in advance, fearing that it might compromise the mission.
Led by Haku, Steve Rogers and his team entered the estate and met the Mizukage, Mei Terumi.
Hendell Dobi, who was responsible for the negotiations, spoke up, "Ms. Mei Terumi, I'm Hendell Dobi, an agent with S.H.I.E.L.D. We have a mission we'd like to commission the Mist Ninja for."
Mei Terumi smiled and said, "A mission commission, huh? Tell me more about it."
Hendell began explaining the details of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s request to Mei Terumi.
…
Meanwhile, at the Sound Ninja Base-
Three minutes had passed with no movement detected from the ruins below.
The helicopters circling above activated their infrared scanners. After a thorough scan, no signs of life were detected.
Following Nick Fury's orders, the helicopters deployed ropes, and soldiers began descending.
Outside the base, a large number of armored vehicles had surrounded the area. Fully armed soldiers quickly emerged from the vehicles, secured the perimeter, and began searching the devastated Sound Ninja base alongside the helicopter troops.
…
In the Summoning Realm-
The Sound Ninja Four were looking quite disheveled, having just escaped to this place from the base.
Kidomaru turned to Tayuya and asked, "What exactly happened? Why did you say it was an attack by S.H.I.E.L.D.?"
Despite his anger, Kidomaru needed to know who the enemy was.
After all, Sound Ninja had previously collaborated with S.H.I.E.L.D., and based on what they knew, S.H.I.E.L.D. shouldn't have had the guts to attack them.
Tayuya, with a grim expression, replied, "Before the attack, three S.H.I.E.L.D. agents visited us. At the time, you and Sakon-Ukon weren't there."
"They demanded that we hand over Michael, who had been captured by Dosu Kinuta. They threatened that if we didn't hand him over, we'd regret it."
"Michael was someone Lord Charles wanted. How could we possibly agree to their demands? So, I flatly refused them."
"I never thought they would dare…"
Seeing Tayuya's gritted teeth, Kidomaru turned to Jirōbō.
Jirōbō nodded, "Yes, that's true."
"And from the looks of it, Dosu Kinuta and the others likely didn't survive this attack. They're probably dead."
Kidomaru cursed, "Damn it!"
"It's definitely because S.H.I.E.L.D. knew that Lord Kimimaro was taken away by the Kirigakure. That's why they dared to attack us."
"We need to retaliate. Kill them all."
"Let them know that the Sound Ninja aren't to be messed with."
"Since they dared to bomb our base, their stupid headquarters building won't be standing for long either."
Jirōbō and Sakon-Ukon also spoke up, "Kill them all."
At this point, Tayuya said, "Should we report this to Lord Charles?"
Upon hearing this, the other three paused.
They thought that maybe there wasn't a need to report the attack to Lord Charles, as long as they could retaliate and not suffer losses.
But the fact that the three Sound Ninja might be dead—that was different. After all, they were people that Lord Charles had brought in. Not informing him would be disrespectful.
After all, their lives were given by Lord Charles.
Kidomaru was silent for a few seconds before saying, "It seems we should try to inform Lord Charles and confirm whether it was really S.H.I.E.L.D. that attacked us."
"We need to understand what exactly is happening at the base right now."
…
Elsewhere in the Summoning Realm-
In a location far from where the Sound Ninja Four were-
While S.H.I.E.L.D. was attacking the Sound Ninja base, Charles Doyle had already arrived in the Summoning Realm to collect the blood cores handed over by the Akatsuki Organization.
This time, the one delivering the blood cores to Charles Doyle was none other than Konan. It was Konan herself who had taken on the task of delivering the blood cores.
"My Lord, these are the blood cores we've collected over this period."
As Konan handed over the box, it was clear that there were quite a few inside.
"We've collected a total of 1,000 blood cores during this time."
Hearing that it was only 1,000, Charles frowned slightly. This number seemed a bit low, especially considering it was from the Akatsuki Organization.
Noticing Charles's reaction, Konan explained, "My Lord, based on our experiments, humans who have just been bitten by vampires do not immediately turn into vampires."
"It takes up to a week for them to fully transform into vampires."
"If they are killed during this period, they do not have blood cores inside them."
"Furthermore, newly turned vampires also need to experience a full moon night to generate a blood core in their bodies."
"Because of this, our previous actions didn't yield any blood cores."
"Once we identified these patterns, we realized the situation. That's why it took some time, and we only managed to collect 1,000 blood cores."
After hearing Konan's explanation, Charles understood that the formation of blood cores also required time.
"You've done well."
"I didn't expect that it would take such time for blood cores to form. This number is impressive, considering the circumstances."
"Since the full moon is a factor, let's have you turn in blood cores once a month from now on."
"Yes, Lord Charles."
At that moment, a notification from the system sounded in Charles's mind.
Ding! Kin Tsuchi, Dosu Kinuta, and Zaku Abumi under Charles Doyle's command have died!
Hearing this, Charles was momentarily stunned.
Looking at Konan in front of him, he didn't immediately enter the system space to check but instead said:
"Continue with your tasks; I have something to take care of."
"Yes, My Lord!"
After giving his instructions, Charles immediately reversed the Summoning Jutsu and returned to his room.
Back in his room, Charles immediately entered the system space and checked the notification he had just received.
Opening the notification, he saw Dosu Kinuta's phantom figure appear in front of him, playing a brief scene.
In the room, a scorching blast wave and red-hot heat swept over Dosu Kinuta, who didn't have time to react and was instantly killed.
Watching the three-second replay, Charles frowned slightly. Is this a death replay?
The next second, the phantom of Dosu Kinuta shattered before him, turning into ten fragments that then merged into the ninja recruitment pool.