After breakfast everyone went about their business. Kenshin, Kasumi, and Natsumi went to install formations; Aya looked after Natsumi's baby; Hitomi familiarized herself with new medical drugs that became available with the new level of "Create Refuge" ability.
By lunch Kenshin completely finished strengthening the outer wall—deciding to rest and after some time felt an outsider enter the outer perimeter slowing down.
"Ichiro—mobilize all four teams; if this is a Konoha messenger bring to the negotiation hall!" Kenshin commanded—raising alert level to "yellow," putting on a tight-fitting mask and instantly activating the exo-suit. At that moment he looked like a classic "ninja" from his past world—in a slightly more futuristic style with excellent aerodynamics.
"Yes!" Ichiro reported—quickly heading forward. Like all squad commanders he had a perimeter breach notification formation on his exo-suit and every five seconds could view data from the problem section.
All sons took this alert extremely seriously—dividing into two parts and moving toward the supposed enemy. Following Kenshin's precepts they kept distance and didn't forget safety—skillfully moving through the forest covering rear.
*****
Hyuga Hideo quickly reached the destination but remembering the forest section ahead was Nakayama Family territory decided to slow down so as not to be considered an enemy.
He deliberately went on this "task" alone—considering extra ears would only interfere in negotiations and weaker shinobi in escort would become a burden in battle.
After some time he felt something strange but couldn't understand what. As if someone saw him but even under Byakugan he couldn't notice anyone. He began thinking this mercenary group left these parts in one day. He couldn't explain the absence of buildings and life signs within five kilometers otherwise.
He noticed the large group of shinobi at the last moment—when they were already a hundred meters away. At first he didn't even believe his eyes. In his memory this was the first time a huge group of low-level shinobi remained invisible to his Byakugan.
"Who are you and what business do you have on Nakayama Family land?" an emotionless voice rang out—apparently the commander of all these shinobi.
"Didn't know these lands belong to you. A week ago they belonged to Kadzoku Watanabe," Hideo said with a smirk but seeing no one appreciated his quip switched to business.
"I am Hyuga Hideo—authorized messenger of the Hyuga clan and Hidden Leaf village. Now take me to your lord," Hideo said seriously. Though trying to restrain himself and be impartial toward this mercenary organization his dislike leaked out slightly. But Ichiro and others didn't care what he thought of them. They were ready to destroy the threat if he suddenly showed aggression.
"Alright—follow me; father will meet you," Ichiro said calmly—turning and heading toward.
"Father?.." Hideo thought surprised but stayed silent—following Ichiro until finally exiting onto a wide gravel road leading straight to a quite impressive fortress.
*****
Receiving information from Ichiro that a messenger from Konoha Hyuga clan arrived Kenshin ordered all women to hide in a twentyfold strengthened lounge—which he spent over an hour strengthening; all sons weaker than Chunin to hide in the gym.
At that time Kenshin once again double-checked and activated the result of merging psionics and formations. He called it "Appearance Change Formation" and making sure it worked perfectly—with a light smile began waiting for the guest.
Meanwhile Hyuga Hideo couldn't believe his eyes again. Literally several kilometers from where he was stood an incredible size fortress he hadn't noticed earlier even with Byakugan. At that moment he didn't want to escalate the situation—so refrained from activating Byakugan but after negotiations intended to check everything again.
He was led through the gates then along a path inside a building Kenshin specially prepared for meetings. It had nothing technological except lighting formations easily disguised as fuinjutsu. Otherwise the small one-story building resembled a small aristocrat's house from Kenshin's home world's middle ages.
For Hideo everything around was unfamiliar and possibly even "wrong." He couldn't understand exactly what but a huge number of details in this house were completely alien to his perception. He had been to other countries many times and seen local interiors but now everything was different. In all houses he saw before there was something common—experience accumulated over centuries that couldn't help being passed along the chain to neighboring countries preserving many details unchanged.
In this building Hyuga Hideo subconsciously noticed a huge number of details alien to this world. As if the architect who built this house and the designer who decorated it had a school isolated from the rest of the world with thousand-year experience. But he only noticed the general "wrongness" without characterizing what it consisted of.
"Before you meet father remember: no sudden movements or you won't leave here alive," Ichiro stated emotionlessly—Hideo only raised an eyebrow in surprise. He couldn't understand where such an insignificant mercenary organization got such arrogance but decided to stay silent. He had long outgrown the age when offended by such threats from weaklings; the youth before him he considered nothing but a weakling who barely stepped into Jonin rank compared to himself.