Chapter 59.3- One Thousand Hands

They moved like shadows once they were out of their hole in the mountain, working to cover it silently, quickly, and most importantly stealthily. Now the genjutsu that covered them was entirely Toshiro’s. Kizuru’s auditory genjutsu worked by cloaking one sound as another. Out in the wilds that would have been ideal, but here any sound was going to be investigated regardless and they needed him to preserve his chakra for the next stage of their plan when they would actually need him to be on the top of his game.

Toshiro was superb when it came to genjutsu, but there was a reason Kizuru’s clan was considered to be on the same level as the Uchiha when it came to the art, and within the village they would be needing all of that. Once they reached Iwagakure’s walls, they stopped without touching them. If she was the one in charge of the village she would have at least a few Earth release masters monitoring the wall an all times so she made sure to avoid even thinking about tempering with it. Their point of entry would be far more subtle. They crept along the wall’s circumference until they reached the village gate, and as they got close enough to spot the scouts watching the steady flow of caravans and carriages, they waited until the perfect moment.

One of the scouts turned in the other direction and her shadow snaked out instantly, racing along the wall before grabbing a hold of the other one, forcing him to stay still. He never got to sound the alarm as the next second, Inoken had taken over his body. Inoken’s body fell limp besides them but Shiba wasted no time in sealing him into the scroll Shori had given them exactly for this purpose. She removed her shadow from the first before latching on top the second just as he turned around. Inoken reached out and grabbed the second man by his face while he remained paralyzed before leaning down and capturing that man’s lips with his newly acquired pair.

She detached her shadow once she was certain that the second man was under her teammate’s control as well.

“Okay, let’s go.” She signaled the others and they retreated backwards until they were certain that were out of view of the gate guards.

The wall behind them rumbled until it opened.

“You were right” Inoken said in the Iwa shinobi’s body. Those were words she would never tire of hearing if she was being honest with herself.

“Straight into the village?” She asked about the tunnel?

“Yup. Their anbu use it. It’s monitored, but only by the wall scouts and one other”

“I assume the second you is handling the one other?” He nodded, intense look on his face.

Three minds would probably be stretching it for him, she figured. She placed a hand against the face he controlled.

“Be careful”

“Always” He said, leaning in into her touch before turning abruptly and leading them into the deep.