Chapter 71: Meeting

"Hahaha, it's good that you enjoyed your food. The official meeting has been decided to be held the day after tomorrow, though you guys will not participate in the meeting since only one guard is allowed.

For now, let's go and rest a little. The effect of the soldier pill may end anytime now," Yukihiro said.

"Okay, Sensei," everyone replied.

Yukihiro then led all three of them to a room in the palace, normally used by guards, since guest rooms were for nobles.

The room contained four beds and a small cabinet near each bed for keeping belongings. There was also an almirah meant to be shared by the people staying in the room.

Since all of them had already had their fill, they went to bed and started meditating while waiting for the effect of the soldier pill to end.

While the three of them meditated, Yukihiro made a shadow clone with more than 70% of his chakra. Though the chances of an attack during their stay in the daimyo's palace were close to none, you can never be sure.

With that amount of chakra, the clone should be able to easily hold on for three days and deal with any ninja up to low Jonin rank. However, mid- or high-level Jonin might handle the clone due to its weakness of dispersing after taking even a little damage. No village would be foolish enough to attack the daimyo's palace.

So, the chances of such an encounter were also close to none. After seeing Yukihiro make a shadow clone, Kaida also made a shadow clone with 80% of his chakra. Though Kaida's clone was significantly weaker than Yukihiro's, in one-on-one combat, it could easily win against any normal Chunin.

After some time, they went to sleep. Due to such high-level fighting and maintaining constant vigilance for two days, they were already at their limit, so for 24 hours, none of them woke up.

The first person to wake up was Yukihiro. He was accustomed to such scenarios, so his body adapted to it.

After one more hour, everyone else also woke up.

"Good morning, Sensei," Ryota said.

"It's already 1:00 PM, Ryota, so good afternoon. Since we have to stay here for two more days for the meeting, you guys are free to explore the village or train in the training area at the back of the palace.

I would personally recommend exploring the city a little bit. You never know when it may come in handy."

"Okay, Sensei, but what are you going to do for these two days?" Kaida asked.

"I will accompany Renji and Hiroto-sama to see if they need anything or if they have to contact Konoha. So, you guys enjoy yourselves," Yukihiro said and left the room.

"So, what are we going to do today?" Yomi asked.

*grrr*

Before anyone could say anything, Ryota's stomach answered for him, while Kiba distanced himself from Ryota like he didn't even know him.

"You traitor," Ryota muttered under his breath.

"Let's go to that shop from yesterday first. There are still many noodles we haven't tried," Kaida said with a smile.

"But I'm not paying this time. My purse is empty," Ryota said in a hurry.

"It's okay, Ryota. This time it will be my treat, so let's eat first and discuss what to do next after that," Kaida said.

After agreeing, they all took some time to freshen up and then headed to the shop.

…

While they were sleeping, an important meeting was going on in Konoha. Upon receiving the message from Yukihiro that they were attacked, Hiruzen called Shikaku Nara, the Jonin commander and one of the most intelligent ninjas in the world.

After half an hour, Shikaku arrived at Hiruzen's office.

"Lord Third, I am still working on the task you gave me yesterday. Please don't give me any other tasks for now," Shikaku said as soon as he entered the Hokage's office.

"This is important, Shikaku, so pay attention," Hiruzen said in a serious voice.

Sensing the gravity of the situation, Shikaku became serious as well. Seeing that, Hiruzen began speaking again.

"The squad that went to the Land of Noodles was attacked by 20 rogue ninjas from Iwa. Their ranks included two Jonin, seven Chunin, and the rest were Genin.

Our team of four was able to defend themselves and even killed 15 enemy ninjas, including a Jonin. The rest of them managed to escape," Hiruzen explained, knowing this from the letter Yukihiro had sent unofficially.

"Who were the Jonins sent on the mission?" Shikaku asked.

Naturally, he was assuming that the squad consisted only of Jonin, which would explain such a result.

"Only Yukihiro, and the rest were his Genin squad. Even I don't know how they pulled that off. We will know more when they arrive back in the village," Hiruzen clarified, noting Shikaku's stupefied expression.

After his initial surprise, Shikaku's face became serious once again as he began thinking through various possible scenarios. Hiruzen waited silently for Shikaku to finish processing.

After some time, Shikaku spoke.

"The most likely scenario is that those ninjas were not really rogue but were just pretending to be so that Iwa could attack us without giving us a chance to retaliate.

And it seems they knew about the deal between Konoha and the Land of Noodles, and even the exact timing of the meeting. Most likely, someone from the Land of Noodles leaked the info.

But we can't rule out the possibility that there may be a mole within Konoha's council or someone related to them."

This was the reason Hiruzen had called Shikaku. Even though he had already concluded that the ninjas were merely pretending to be rogue, Shikaku's insight was invaluable.

Shikaku could easily deduce a situation from limited information. After listening to his deduction, Hiruzen said:

"We can search for that mole later. For now, let's focus on the problem at hand. Should we send reinforcements to Yukihiro's squad or not?"

"Why would we do something so pointless? I'm pretty sure Iwa doesn't want the life of our civil council member. The attack was most likely an attempt to stop Konoha from making any deal with the Land of Noodles.

It was probably an economic attack. Since they've already reached the Land of Noodles, Iwa won't send more ninjas just to kill them.

Even 20 ninjas weren't enough to complete the mission, and they took such losses. I don't think Onoki will send a bigger force just to take revenge. But please order Yukihiro's squad to take a different route back to Konoha and not use a caravan. The rest will be fine."

Hiruzen nodded, and they continued discussing how to search for the mole who leaked the information to the enemy.

(A.N: Thanks for reading ^~^)