Chapter 067: An Unexpected Diversionary Tactic?

“Damn it! That woman, Mei Terumi! What on earth is she doing?”
Kado slammed his fist onto the table, roaring at his underlings.
“She keeps promising to provide us with every kind of support, but when we actually need her, she’s nowhere to be found!”
One of his men muttered quietly, “Didn’t they say they’d provide every kind of support except for actual help?”
“What are you whispering about?”
“N-nothing. I didn’t say anything.”
Kado retracted his murderous glare and turned to another subordinate.
“Go, contact Mei Terumi. Tell her that if she doesn’t help, we won’t hesitate to find another way forward!”
Yet when Mei Terumi heard Kado’s threat, she felt nothing at all.
She simply had no energy to spare for anyone else at this point.
“Are those really foot soldiers from the Land of Fire?”
Mei Terumi grit her teeth. “And those samurai—when did they become so skilled? They’re actually able to confront ninja head-on!”
Before her eyes, a group of warriors and foot soldiers clad in the standard armor of the Land of Fire, wielding a variety of weapons, clashed with the Mist ninja.
Everything had begun with a simple harassment attack.
Mei Terumi received information that, near the daimyo’s residence in the Land of Waves, a powerful noble house—one that held considerable sway in the country—had been attacked.
This noble house was supported by Mei Terumi’s forces, and was also an important shield for Kado’s shipping company in the Land of Waves.
If it fell, Mei Terumi would have to go to great lengths to find a replacement, or else she’d have to invest even more resources and dispatch people to guard Kado around the clock.
Kado absolutely could not be allowed to die!
Forced by the situation, she brought her subordinates to support the noble house.
She hadn’t expected to misjudge the enemy’s strength so badly.
By the time they arrived, the attackers had already wiped out the noble house completely.
The enemy had even had enough time to hastily repair the remaining fortifications and launch a counterattack.
Mei Terumi scrutinized the situation, issuing commands on the battlefield.
Beside her, Chojuro drew his long blade, standing directly in front of her, while Ao had already removed his eyepatch, activating the Byakugan.
That Byakugan was a prize taken from a Hyuga clan ninja.
Unless a Hyuga was of the main family, all branch members bore the “Caged Bird” seal on their foreheads—even the clan leader’s twin brother was not exempt.
If a Hyuga ninja died in battle or risked capture, the Caged Bird seal would immediately activate, destroying the Hyuga’s brain and their Byakugan.

This made it clear how difficult it was to capture a usable Byakugan.
“Can you see anything, Ao?”
Mei Terumi asked in a low, tense voice, “Where exactly is our enemy?”
“I can’t see anything at all!” Ao replied, a bead of cold sweat running down his forehead.
If they couldn’t locate their mysterious enemy, they would lose this battle.
Mei Terumi was anxious.
Ordinary people who couldn’t use chakra were certainly no match for ninja in direct combat, but that didn’t mean they had no power of their own.
Take the samurai’s “Shukuchi”—the art of shrinking ground. Used skillfully, their mobility rivaled that of ninja.
And most ninja, while powerful offensively, were quite fragile; a single blade from a commoner could still kill them.
The Mist ninja’s usual techniques—Hidden Mist, assassination arts, and transformation jutsu—seemed utterly ineffective against these civilians.
There must be a mysterious enemy manipulating the situation, allowing these ordinary people to stand toe-to-toe with the ninja!
“Calm down, Mei Terumi.”
Ao, with one eye open, observed the battlefield carefully.
“These ordinary people are being controlled by someone—someone is remotely manipulating them to fight us. Our opponent must be a powerful, highly experienced ninja. That’s the only way these civilians could hold their own against us.”
“How is it possible?” Mei Terumi wondered. “Is it genjutsu? With the Uchiha clan wiped out and the Kurama family nearly extinct, is there any family left in the Land of Fire with such powerful illusion techniques?”
Judging by the enemy’s methods, it didn’t seem like the Uchiha’s genjutsu, which robs people of their free will; it was more akin to the Kurama clan’s illusions.
The Kurama family was another of the Leaf’s clans skilled in genjutsu.
Their illusions were also bloodline-based, manipulating the five senses, which matched what Mei Terumi observed.
If it was the Kurama clan, their genjutsu could indeed heighten the senses of ordinary people, granting them the awareness needed to spar with ninja.
But the problem was, the Kurama’s bloodline limit was rare, and it had been ages since anyone capable had appeared.
Thus, the Kurama family was now almost as extinct as the Uchiha.
“No, that ninja isn’t using genjutsu.”
Ao replied, “They’re controlling with threads infused with chakra… I think.”
“You think?”
“The enemy’s chakra threads are so dense, they’re almost blinding me. All I can see is an impenetrable barrier of chakra!”
Hearing Ao’s account, Mei Terumi cried out, “What kind of technique could possibly achieve this?”
As if to answer her question, a resounding, youthful voice rang out from within the thick mist:

“This is the punishment delivered from on high—the embodiment of the Will to Protect. Go forth, loyal and courageous defenders of your homeland!”
With the girl’s proclamation, countless fine chakra threads shot out from a certain point in the mist.
They sliced through the air like slender swords, heading straight for the Mist ninja.
The Mist ninja watched in terror as the threads, sharp as invisible blades, instantly ensnared them.
They struggled, but the threads were too strong to break free.
At the same time, the civilians clad in the Land of Fire’s armor, under the mysterious ninja’s ocular power, launched a fierce assault on the Mist ninja.
“Lady Mei Terumi! These are people from the Land of Waves!”
A Mist ninja pointed at the foot soldiers and warriors before them.
“They’re all local nobles and farmers! They’re just wearing Fire Country armor and wielding Fire Country weapons! These must be the ones smuggled from the Land of Hot Springs recently!”
“What! So that’s what’s going on!”
Mei Terumi felt as if she’d grasped the truth.
But whatever the truth, the battle was now a brutal melee between the warriors and foot soldiers of the Land of Waves—empowered by a mysterious ninja—and the Mist ninja.
With the augmentation of a powerful force, their attacks were swift and precise; every swing of their weapons created tremendous difficulties for the Mist ninja.
Defeat was not a word in the Mist ninja’s vocabulary.
Refusing to back down, they continued to use the mist as cover, launching a cunning guerrilla assault.
They employed their silent killing techniques and invisibility, suddenly appearing beside the foot soldiers and warriors of the Land of Waves for surprise attacks.
Though they suffered considerable losses, the Mist ninja eventually broke the resistance of the locals.
“Heh, Mist ninja… Land of Water…”
The last standing samurai from the Land of Waves sneered, “Because we’re born in a small nation, does that mean we should be forever at the mercy of you great nations?”
“If you know you’re being controlled, why do you accept equipment from the Land of Fire? Why slaughter your own kin? Why submit to an enemy whose identity you don’t even know?”
Mei Terumi pressed.
“This way, at least I can kill a traitor and one of my enemies, can’t I?”
The samurai drew his blade and placed it to his throat.
“Those who weave plots will eventually be consumed by them. Mist ninja, I’ll be waiting for you in the Pure Land.”
With that, he slit his throat and fell.