Five days later
With Yukina
A recon team made up of Yukina, Kotaro, Ichiro, and Hiro Kaguya was scouting deep in Land of Fire.
Hiro, is a Chunin of the Kaguya clan, he is widely considered one of the clan's most gifted prodigies.
Hiro, thirteen years old, wore the standard Chunin attire of Kirigakure. His long black hair reached his shoulders, and his dark eyes gave him a calm yet sharp presence.
The two red circles marked his forehead, the distinctive symbol of the Kaguya clan, and he wore his forehead protector wrapped neatly around his neck.
Yukina raised her hand, signaling everyone to halt, and her teammates stopped without hesitation.
They all turned to Yukina in confusion, yet she ignored their questioning looks and calmly closed her eyes.
After only a few moments, Yukina's eyes snapped open. "A large number of shinobi is heading toward our headquarters," she said urgently. "We need to alert Fuguki-sensei and retreat immediately."
Kotaro and the others narrowed their eyes at the alarming news. Kotaro tightened his grip on his katana and asked, "How many are there?"
Yukina looked seriously at Kotaro and replied.
"A lot. I could try to pinpoint their numbers, but we will end up wasting time. Their chakra signatures are far too powerful."
Kotaro nodded sharply, summoning a eagle in an instant. He wasted no time as he began writing a message to Fuguki.
After finishing his message, he released the eagle, and his team began retreating toward the headquarters at full speed.
______
10 minutes later
Land of Fire border
Kirigakure headquarters
With Fuguki
Fuguki received Kotaro's message and began reading it. After finishing, he narrowed his eyes and summoned Yukito.
After Yukito arrived, Fuguki handed Kotaro's message to him. Once Yukito finished reading it, he looked up and said.
"Have our forces assembled and prepared for battle. Konoha may have acted sooner than expected, but our strategy remains unchanged."
Fuguki nodded in agreement and immediately summoned all the Kirigakure shinobi in the camp, leaving only a few medic ninjas, some chunins, and genins behind to guard the base.
Once all the Kirigakure shinobi had gathered, Fuguki swept his sharp gaze over them.
"Our recon team has spotted Konoha shinobi charging toward our base. Now is the time for us to crush them."
"Yesterday, I explained our strategy to all of you. It would be a waste of time to repeat myself, so I expect everyone to execute it perfectly. Do I make myself clear?"
"Yes, sir."
Fuguki nodded, a look of satisfaction on his face.
"Good. We're moving out in five minutes. Grab your ninja tools and anything else you need. If any of you are late, I will punish you severely."
After hearing Fuguki's orders, all the Kirigakure shinobi in the camp quickly shunshined away, grabbing their ninja tools and any other supplies they might need.
After five minutes, they stood before Fuguki, the other ninja swordsmen, Yukito, and Zangetsu.
Fuguki's eyes pierced theirs as he bellowed.
"Let's move out."
Fuguki, accompanied by the ninja swordsmen, Zangetsu, and Yukito, led the charge, with the Kirigakure shinobi following without hesitation.
_____
With Yukina
"SWISH, SWISH, SWISH, SWISH."
Multiple shurikens whizzed toward Yukina and her teammates at incredible speed, but they swiftly dodged each one.
"THUD, THUD, THUD, THUD."
Kotaro and the others wore very serious expressions, but Yukina had an elegant smile on her face.
Ten Root ANBU were relentlessly pursuing them.
'It'll be fun facing those ANBU head-on. I can sense that three of them are elite Jonin, while the rest are high-level Chunin. They're far stronger than the Suna ANBU I fought before.'
'Now is not the right time for me to have fun. We need to return to the camp and join the others; I can have my fun later.'
After calming down, Yukina began devising a strategy to deal with the Root ANBU.
After a minute she smirked and said to herself.
'Well, it's time to put the genjutsu Koko taught me to the test. I've never used them in battle before, and this will be the perfect opportunity to experiment with creating multiple genjutsu layers.'
'I never had a chance to practice creating genjutsu layers while training with Koko, but she mentioned that a skilled genjutsu user can create multiple layers.'
'Well, I haven't fully mastered my Yin Release yet, but I believe I can pull it off.'
After making up her mind, Yukina swiftly executed a series of hand seals, muttering under her breath as she did so.
"Demonic illusion: False Surroundings."
The three Jonin ANBU quickly disrupted their chakra flow and broke free from the first genjutsu layer, yet they remained oblivious to the other two layers Yukina had cast.
Yukina smirked when she saw the Root ANBU completely ensnared by her genjutsu.
Under the watchful eyes of Kotaro and the others, the Root ANBU turned right, moving away from Yukina and her team.
Kotaro and the others froze in confusion when they saw this, but Yukina urgently called out to them.
""Don't stop, you idiots! My genjutsu won't last long—keep moving!"
Kotaro and the others quickly snapped out of their daze and followed Yukina.
Ichiro looked at Yukina in surprised and asked.
"Yukina, I didn't know you knew how to execute genjutsu. When did you cast it?"
Yukina smirked when she heard the question and replied.
"I cast the genjutsu a few moments ago. My friend Koko specializes in genjutsu, and she taught me a couple of her jutsus when I was assigned to the border."
"Let's use this opportunity to rush back to headquarters. My genjutsu layers are very fragile, and they'll break free very soon. We don't have any time to waste—let's go."
Kotaro and the others nodded seriously and quickly sped toward the Kirigakure headquarters.
______
With the Root ANBU
After a minute, the Root ANBU dispelled the genjutsu layers, their cold gazes fixed on the distance.
The ANBU squad captain looked at one of his subordinates and asked.
"Did you pinpoint them?"
The ANBU shook his head.
"Sorry, sir, I can't detect them—they're beyond my sensory range."
"It can't be helped. Our primary mission is to collect the Sharingan eyes for Danzo-sama. If our village troops fail to handle Kirigakure forces, we will have to step in."
The Root ANBU nodded to their captain, who then continued speaking.
"Did you figure out who cast the genjutsu?"
"Yes, it was the Konoichi."
The Root ANBU squad captain's eyes turned icy, and he addressed his squad with a voice dripping with killing intent.
"We need to report this to Danzo-sama immediately—she must be the Kirigakure genius we've heard about."
Her genjutsu layers may have been fragile, but she managed to deceive us with low-rank technique—a testament to her talent.
All the Root ANBU squad nodded solemnly. The ANBU captain quickly summoned an hawk and began writing a message to Danzo.
After finishing his message, he released the hawk to fly back to Konoha.
______