"While the situation is unfortunate, we cannot be of much help in this matter." Inori declared, her tone firm and without doubt.
In such important matters, there was no room for wavering.
The Rinha folk seemed disappointed but not at all surprised, however . . .
"Why!?" Tenki, a little wrapped up in his emotions, could not see things as clearly.
"As Konoha shinobi, taking missions without informing the village is already a bad idea. But doing so in another's territory?" The Violet Rose merely shook her head.
"But you're planning to help Tomoe-dono, Ema-san and Beni-chan already! Is thi-" A glare of deadly intent from Inori prevented Temki from continuing with his tirade.
"That is different and if you're going to air out that business to anyone who will listen, then perhaps we need to rethink that plan." The Yamanaka warned.
Tomoe's gaze immediately sharpened as those words came out and even Ema's expression became more austere.
If information that sensitive began to get out, the risk of helping the Kurogane ladies would jump up immensely.
All it would take for the mission to become unfeasible was for the enemy to catch on and get a cooperative official from the Land of Iron to warn them preemptively.
That way, Team 6 would no longer be able to play dumb and insist they were helping a Land of Iron clan against an usurper with no rights of succession.
So long as the Shogunate there made its stance clear, any interference would be a direct attack of their sovereignty.
As such, keeping things as close to the chest as possible was imperative.
"M-My apologies. I lost my composure." Tenki apologized for his mistake and, considering his involvement with the Rinha clan, everyone decided to give him a pass.
"As for why we can't help . . ." Inori still decided to explain things, just in case.
"For Konoha shinobi, operating in the Land of Wind is a big risk. Especially when dealing with relatively known shinobi clans, one of them even being formerly a clan of Sunagakure." Kairi showed he understood the problem.
"That's right." The Violet Rose nodded.
"In the worst case scenario, it could set off a war between the two villages, especially since the political climate of the world is getting hotter and hotter these days." She added.
Everyone could understand that, but there were also certain parts she did not mention.
'Konoha can't afford to give other nations a reason to declare war.' Shiki thought to himself as he heard his sensei's words.
'Making excuses to start a war is one thing but clear justification allows enemies to more easily garner support from the Daimyo and the population will not be as quick to become war weary.'
'With our village and the Land of Fire being the most prosperous target in everyone's mind, we have to avoid showing any openings, including giving the enemy actual reasons for war.' The boy analyzed.
Of course, as Konoha shinobi, outing their village's situation, even if it was not that big of a secret in higher circles, was not something they were going to do, as such, Inori did not go into a lot of detail.
*
The caravan only hung around for a little while longer after that but still long enough for Shiki to handle all the tasks he set for himself in the Rinha Village.
First up, there was the latest item on his list, investigating the clan's state and the intensity of their conflict with the Shirogane.
As it turned out, things were not nearly as bad as Kairi and his son Kaiki had made them out to be, perhaps they intentionally put things in a way that would draw more pity so as to increase their chances of getting help.
The truth however, was that casualties were low and ever since the Rinha started being more careful, the Shirogane haven't been able to get almost no one.
Shiki also got his memories of the Shirogane's lore from his previous life sorted and, while they did have something that interested him, their so-called Master Puppet, he figured they were still in very early stages of development.
In other words, it was too early to target them.
'Maybe after the Second Great War . . . I'll be older and more powerful with a lot more freedom to act on my own then, not to mention war is a great originator of innovation' The boy thought.
'The Shirogane will be more profitable to attack at that time and the Rinha might be in greater trouble, more eager to pay up for someone like me to solve their problems.' Shiki deviously planned.
As for his other targets in the village, their records and genetic samples, they were also handled.
The records were easy with Enlightened Mind's Eye, he just had to sit and meditate within the village and nobody could even notice he was stealing their secrets.
After Shiki's awakening to his bloodline legacy, his Yin and Yang affinities began to develop much faster as a result of his spirit being fully unlocked and his body evolving in concert.
This moved up Yin Release and Yang Release on the boy's priority list and the best way to train those two and the most useful skills for them were Genjutsu and Medical Ninjutsu respectively.
And for the latter of the two, the records and secret techniques of a clan specialized in Medical Jutsu who often was seeked out by shinobi that did not belong to major villages, were a most valuable resource indeed.
The multitude and variety of samples from these foreign shinobi combined with those from the Rinha shinobi of the village were just as important though if not even more.
They were however, much harder to get since Shiki had to physically infiltrate their storages, a risky endeavour.
But, as previously stated, the boy had been working on his Yin Release since his awakening and with Inori's help, sensei and student and developed a new Genjutsu based on the Violet Rose's Hiding in Dreams Jutsu.
It was a great technique for infiltration but more than that, for Inori, it was a step in the direction of reconciliation with her student.
After all, even if he had technically forgiven her for her part in their botched first C rank mission, the boy was still much more guarded and cautious with her, even if he barely showed it.
And for good reason. She herself would probably have a worse and even more auspicious attitude in his place.
Back to the new jutsu however, its specifications made it perfect for Shiki's current objective.
The teacher and student pair named it Meikyo Shisui, literally meaning "Clear Mirror, Still Water", a genjutsu inspired by a technique from an anime he saw in his previous life.
Much like Hiding in Dreams, Meikyo Shisui was a genjutsu meant to conceal one's presence but, while the former was meant for use in battle forcing opponents to constantly flare and disturb their own chakra to keep track of the user, the latter was useless in this regard.
Any big flare of chakra, even one from just using a powerful jutsu rather than an active attempt to break the genjutsu, will immediately disable it.
As such, in battle, the ease with which it is broken makes it unusable, leading to Shiki classifying it as incomplete.
For infiltration however, it was practically perfect.
This is tied to its two main traits.
One, the jutsu conceals all signs of not only the user, but anything they are trying to hide, even other objects and people.
Concealed targets cannot be seen, smelled or heard and even sensory jutsu as well as dojutsu, unless honed to an extreme degree, will be unable to detect the user.
The second trait was its tracelessness. Even sensory shinobi and dojutsu users will find it nearly impossible to detect they are in a genjutsu without things like context clues.
This being the case means that outside battle, in cases of infiltration where no is expecting to be hit with genjutsu, Meikyo Shisui is virtually unbeatable unless the user attacks, goofs up or is plain unlucky.
So, sneaking into the Rinha storage and taking a very small portion of each sample, small enough to go unnoticed, was nice and easy.
Stealing secrets completely undetected went without a hitch.
Or so Shiki thought.
To this point, he had still not realized, there was one individual capable of sensing his Enlightened Mind's Eye, not to mention Meikyo Shisui.
+++++
Hey, Author here!
To promote the novel I will be releasing BONUS CHAPTERS on SUNDAYS based on the previous week's power stone count.
100 Power Stones = 1 Bonus Chapter
500 Power Stones = 2 Bonus Chapters
1000 Power Stones = 3 Bonus Chapters
Every earned BONUS CHAPTER on Webnovel will also be posted on Scribble.
Just a reminder that you can read up to a FULL MONTH ahead of this site on pa-treon.
I'm trying to become a full time Author now and I'm not going to be starting any new novels just so I can make sure this one is properly completed.
Find those sweet advanced chapters on pa-treon.com/lusoba without the -