Might Guy in his Monkey Anbu vest returned to the village, he didn't care that his breathing was disordered, he was hurriedly searching for the presence of Eagle and Cat of Team-11.
The first place he searched for was obviously in and around the mansion assigned to the Kumo delegation, which was supposed to be guarded by Team-11. Even after searching the whole parameter of the mansion, he didn't find any trace of either of Eagle and Cat, countless questions were running in his heart, 'Where could the two of them have gone? If they are not here then they should have most likely gone in search of Watanabe, or maybe after the two bounty-nin? But if that's the case then why didn't we meet them? If they are not present here, then only one case is possible!"
Monkey obviously understood that the only other possibility behind their mysterious disappearance is that the two of them encountered the bounty-nin somewhere else and were defeated.
However, he has been trying to avoid thinking of this possibility, because this entails the possibility of something he doesn't want to think about or accept.
But the current situation gives him no other choice, so he returned to the point where Cat and Eagle were stationed, and estimated the possible directions they could have gone, he also ordered some of the Anbu to search for Cat and Eagle.
After a long while of searching, along all the possible routes, the team arrived at the woods past the outer walls.
"Dog and I intercepted the enemy ninja more than a few dozen miles ahead, according to the path that the bounty-nin have taken, he should have passed this forest area first, search the entire forest in this area!"
"Yes!"
With that said, the Anbu got busy in their search.
Monkey himself was not free and continued the search.
Not too long after he received a message from one of the Anbu teams.
Arriving at their spot he felt that the temperature of the surroundings was quite lower compared to other forest areas.
This caused him to doubt and he quickened his pace.
Arriving at the spot, Monkey found an ice tree that was covered in some sort of Genjutsu enchantment which was wearing off as it was being cracked by the sealing masters.
As soon as the Genjutsu enchantment wore off, a hollow Ice tree was revealed, and in the hollow part of the ice tree, he found Hyuga Kuroto in his Anbu gear, unconscious and tied up with several wounds.
Similarly, Uchiha Shisui in his Cat Anbu gear was also found unconscious and tied up in the hollow part of another Ice tree that was also covered inside a Genjutsu enchantment.
The life and death status of both the shinobi unknown…
"Kuroto…, Shisui…!" – in a panic he was unable to keep calm and subconsciously exclaimed the real names of his two teammates.
…
3 days later.
Team-11 was currently summoned to the Hokage office.
Of the four members of Team-11, Hatake Kakashi had his right arm wrapped in bandages, with his face somewhat pale, it seemed that he was injured after the battle.
Hyuga Kuroto and Uchiha Shisui also had bandages wrapped over their bodies, the injuries they suffered at the hands of Uchiha Elites were all cured, the reason for wrapped bandages is the frostbite.
It wasn't strange that both Kuroto and Shisui suffered from Frost Bite given that they were trapped in a cage of Ice tree while they were unconscious.
Among the four members of Team-11, only Might Guy was uninjured and seemed perfectly fine and energetic self.
At this time, Sandaime looked through the report and asked with a tired look, "How is the injury of the two of you?"
"The injuries will recover soon enough." – said Kuroto.
Sandaime nodded, and questioned, "I have read the report, so after you figured out that Watanabe used a shadow clone, both of you rushed towards the Hyuga Clan based on what little memory Shisui extracted from the Shadow Clone, and also used the crow summons to pass on this information to Kakashi and Guy?"
"Yes, but unfortunately it seems that Watanabe never made it to the Hyuga Clan territory and was killed midway, as for the message passed to Kakashi-san and Guy-san, they did not receive the message. By the time crow summon reached their spot, both of them were already gone!" – explained Shisui.
"We reached the Hyuga Clan territory and were confused as there was no sign of Watanabe, after conforming from the Hyuga Patriarch that Watanabe didn't arrive here, the situation was a bit confusing, we thought of coming to Hokage tower to inform this matter but midway we encountered Homusubi if the description is correct, the person appeared to be suspicious, so chasing him all the way, we reached the forest past the outer walls and there had a short skirmish when suddenly two more with similar disguise appeared, we were unable to resist against the three of them and therefore, we were defeated and encased inside ice tree as Guy found us." – explained Kuroto.
"Two more?" – Sandaime had a doubtful face.
"Yes, Hokage-sama, one of them should be Homusubi as per the description, the second one was Suijin, while we don't know the third one, but his element seems to be Wind as he has the symbol of Wind Chakra Nature on the chest part of his cloak and a green mask." – answered Shisui.
"And what about his abilities?" – question Sarutobi.
"He didn't show any aside from Taijutsu, but I estimate that his strength is no inferior to the other two, in fact, from the manner other two behaved in his presence, he seemed to be superior of the thee in terms of hierarchy!" – Kuroto answered while shaking his head.
"His name?" – again asked Sandaime-sama.
"They didn't disclose." – Shisui said.
Sandaime had a frowned expression, initially, they expected that only two were part of this whole incident, but now there is the presence of a third member of Amatsukami!
Sandaime, Guy, and Kakashi can't help but pity Kuroto and Shisui to have to face three such monsters at once, it is no wonder that the two of them went missing for the whole night!
Sighing lightly, Sandaime asked, "And can you confirm that 'Homusubi' had Mangekyou Sharingan?"
Shisui and Kuroto had already discussed this part and, Shisui nodded, "Yes I can be sure of it!"
Sandaime asked again, "Is it possible that Homusubi is actually Uchiha Shinichi behind that mask?"
Shisui replied, "I am sorry Hokage-sama, but the mask that Homusubi wore had seals engraved in them that shielded against both the Byakugan perception as well as the Sharingan perception, so it is difficult to judge given the short encounter we had when they conducted a sneak attack!"
Sandaime nodded and said nothing more.
Taking a puff of smoke, Sandaime thought, 'Watanabe wanted to cause war, but before he could complete what he planned, he was assassinated by the three bounty-nin who have high Kage tier strength, Sarutobi Hiruzen didn't know whether he should be happy or angry.
He is certainly glad that Watanabe's scheme failed, but he is also angry over the matter that Kumogakure dared to plan such a move against Konoha, and yet Sandaime can't do anything to them.
He is also sad over the matter that there are such strong individuals who don't have any scruples of sneaking into Konoha and cause such chaos.
Yet he is also happy that the trouble Konoha would be facing because of bounty-nin would be much less than what Watanabe planned.
At the same time, he is also helpless that he couldn't do anything to either of the three parties.
Sandaime didn't doubt Shisui and Kuroto's report, because facing three such strong individuals is obviously no joke, the entire Anbu unit combined with Uchiha couldn't deal with just two members of Amatsukami, what would just two members be able to do in the face of three members of Amatsukami?
The only thing that worries Hiruzen is the reaction of the Uchiha Clan.
From Hiruzen's perspective, the most likely possibility is that Homusubi is Uchiha Shinichi, yet Fugaku didn't describe this in the report, and based on what the Uchiha Clan has been doing in the past few months, the patriarch seems to be dead set on bringing Uchiha Shinichi back.
Uchiha Shinichi has actually betrayed Konoha and killed so many or root shinobi, Hiruzen can't help but be worried.
While Sandaime was busy in thoughts, Kakashi said, "Hokage-sama, I can't help but notice one thing."
Sandaime turned towards Kakashi and motioned for him to continue.
Recollecting his thoughts, Kakashi said, "The two… no, the three bounty-nin of the Amatsukami, only killed Watanabe during the whole fiasco, aside from Watanabe, they didn't kill even a single other shinobi, even both Kuroto, and Shisui were only left unconscious, and tied-up, encased in ice trees, but not killed, it's strange from the general behavior of a bounty-nin."
Sandaime also had a thoughtful look, he did notice this detail but he also can't seem to understand this pattern of behavior.
Kuroto is okay while listening to this, his face was natural to the situation, and had a frowned expression that also displayed confusion.
Shisui also had a frown, but that frown was for another reason, meanwhile, his heart was beating very fast.
Kakashi continued, "And the same bounty-nin, the missing-nin of Sunagakure and Takigakure, killed five of our Anbu in just one encounter, Suijin, Homusubi, and the third one, sneaked all the way into the village, broke free of several encirclements, went past so many battles, encountered many teams, during the whole fiasco, they didn't kill even a single one of the shinobi aside from Watanabe, there has to be something wrong with this kind of behavior pattern that completely differs from how normal bounty-nin behave!"
Kuroto can't help but look at Kakashi with a helpless expression, 'You are needlessly creating trouble for me Kakashi!'
Kuroto knew that this detail would be noticed sooner or later, and he is really helpless about it.
Obviously, he can't kill the shinobi of his own village if there is no reason to, moreover, if he was to chop down Konoha shinobi like vegetables then there would hardly be any combat power left in the village!
Even Sandaime felt too weird about this behavior pattern, and couldn't help thinking, 'Was the goal of Amatsukami really the bounty on Watanabe's head? Or was it just to transfer the blame of Watanabe's death to themselves so that war and needless bloodshed could be avoided? Or is it that they work in the sort of a fashion where they don't take even a single extra life aside from their intended target?'
After all, Kakuzu and Sasori had no scruples killing!
Thinking of this, Sandaime made up his mind to conduct an investigation on all the missions the members of Amatsukami have completed through the Black-market circle to check their behavior pattern, whether they use the same sort of method and don't take even a single extra life or is it quite the opposite?
With that decided, Sandaime carried out some more discussion about the possible identities of the three and then dismissed the team-11.
After leaving the Hokage office, Kuroto and Shisui bid farewell to Kakashi and Guy.
After walking at a distance, Kuroto said to Shisui, "Select the target as soon as possible!"
Shisui was obviously surprised, "So urgently?!"
"Yes, we don't have many options, Sandaime is suspicious. Although we have built a deterrence of Amatsukami, our actions were still suspicious to him, as soon as we cause some trouble like typical bounty-nin, his suspicions should be lightened, so eliminating a few Uchiha would be the best option!" – After a short pause he continued, "Remember to choose a sibling pair as the first target!"
.
.
Read up to Chapter - 402 on P.a.t.r.e.o.n. Page: p-atreon.com/Milta_translations