Naruto: Yoshio Namikaze Of The Magnet Release - Chapter 24 Preparation and opportunity

Another day, another morning. Although the morning at first glance may have looked like any other morning, what was special about today, was that it was the day where preparation for the soon upcoming invasion would really begin. As such, much like with his other major decisions and objectives, Yoshio needed to lay a plan for the occasion… The only problem that was apparent, would have to be the fact that before he could lay a detailed plan, he needed to know about the enemy first.

The downfall of Uzushiogakure had always been a major mystery in the original series. The only thing that was really known about it, was that Uzu was attacked by the combined forces of multiple major villages, and that it was destroyed before any aid from Konoha could make it there.

Having seen the security system firsthand, really made Yoshio wonder how the walls of the village had been breached. But that could wait for now, since it was much more important to find out how the enemy even made it to the wall… Despite their relatively peaceful ideology and their refusal to participate in anything war related, assuming they weren’t directly involved, the citizens of Uzu were anything but unprotected.

On top of the wall, shinobi were stationed in watchtowers every two hundred meters. This made it to that no spot was watched by less than three different watchtowers at all times. Due to the position of the village, most of the village wall was surrounded by forests, but even then, the height of the wall and the watchtowers on top of it, made it possible to watch the waters all around the island.

All of these factors, combined with the protective seals and barriers, made Uzu an absolute stronghold, that would know if someone was coming, no matter which direction they came from. The only two unknown factor Yoshio could think about would be Isobu, the three-tailed beast and the third mizukage… The third mizukage’s abilities were mostly unknown, due to the simple fact, that since the formation of the village, no one who had faced him in battle, lived to tell the tale.

As for why he of importance… it was two simple words; Gengetsu Hozuki, the second mizukage… In the entire world of Naruto, up until the birth of prodigy shinobi the like of Itachi Uchiha and Shisui Uchiha, Gengetsu was the undisputed top master of genjutsu, both due to his personal talent in the art, but also because of his infamous clam summons, who further improved the power of his genjutsus.

The most relevant suspicion about him though, had to be the rumors, that he managed to sign the summoning contract for the clams after the death of Gengetsu, with could potentially use genjutsu to mask the enemies approach to Uzu, even fooling the much sought after mind’s eye of Kagura with the help of nature chakra… After all, no one really knew how many summons had access to senjutsu techniques, not even the toads who were the first ever summons.

Isobu was an issue for the same reason. Although the current jinchuriki wouldn’t be a perfect jinchuriki, know through the knowledge that Killer Bee was the first ever perfect jinchuriki, there was still a chance that they could use some of frightening genjutsu potential Isobu possessed.

‘They would definitely be a problem, but it explains how the enemy forces made it to the wall, Isobu could probably also destroy the wall with a tailed beast ball, not to mention the four other tailed beasts who could be assisting as well… Though if the kage are smart, which they probably are, they wouldn’t bring their jinchurikies, since the Uzumaki is well known for their sealing, Mito being the so-called “inventor” of jinchurikies… They would be sealed away and potentially lost forever within a minute of the invasion starting.’

Know, or at least theorizing, how the enemies made it to the wall was one thing, responding to it was another. Seeing that it was just past noon, Yoshio decided to go walk around the village, also using this as an opportunity to leave his flying thunder god marks all over the place… Even though he couldn’t use the technique fully yet, with daily training he might be able to during the invasion.

Exactly because he couldn’t use the technique fully yet, there were no reason to place seals on any and every available surface, not to mention that the mark one technique wasn’t nearly as effective at using this method as the mark two version. As such, Yoshio decided to place a total of five seals in each district, which, in case needed, would allow him to reach any part of Uzu within a few seconds… if he could figure out the technique that is.

As for the original thoughts of detecting the enemy… he gave up. Why? Because no matter what he came up with, be it a seal or some fancy sensing method utilizing his magnet release, it would all be either fooled by the same things as the mind’s eye of Kagura, so instead he chose to invest his resources into something more productive, such as training the flying thunder god technique.

After a few more hours of wandering around the village, Yoshio finished placing all the seals. What he didn’t expect though, was that he would catch a glimpse of a suspicious moving shadow, who he, upon investigating, recognized as an ANBU from Konoha… But. It was not just any ANBU. No, it was a blank masked ANBU… How could he tell. Simply from the fact, that he recognized the persons chakra signature, being the same as a regular civilian shop owner from Konoha.

And there was only one person who had militarized unregistered shinobi within Konoha… And he just gave the perfect excuse, the perfect opportunity, one that would solve soooo many problems… Walking through the door into his shared living room, he found Sakumo sitting in the sofa. With events aligning like this, he would be a fool not to take advantage of it, and so he did.

“Nee, Sakumo-sensei, I know Konoha had ANBU and stuff, but I was wondering, do you know if Uzu has anything equivalent?” “Hmm, what brought this up? I do know a bit about the systems that are in place here in Uzu, but why do you want to know?” “Well, when I was just outside, I sensed a signature I recognized from Konoha, so I was wondering if we had, like, a shared ANBU or something like that?”

Hearing his student’s reason, Sakumo suddenly got very suspicious. As a high ranking jonin, who had even been commander of the Suna front, he knew all to well what the ANBU’s roles were in the war, and where they were supposed to be… and Uzu was not one of those places…

“I have never heard of such a system, but maybe the old monkey decided to strengthen the relationship with Uzu further… Did you perhaps manage to see which animal mask the ANBU wore?” “Well, uhm sensei, the ANBU was wearing a blank mask, I know Konoha uses the animal system, so maybe he is a special operator?”

Of cause, Yoshio knew exactly who and what the supposed ANBU was, and he was certain Sakumo did as well, but without being experienced in neither politics nor large scale military strategies, he left the decision up to Sakumo, though he was pretty sure what he would do, having learned a few things about his behavior during his still short time as the man’s apprentice.

Not a second later, his hypothesis was confirmed… “Yoshio-kun, you managed to learn the basics of Dan’s special sprit transformation technique, right?” he received a nod. “Would you be able to bring or relay a message to the port on the mainland, or is it too far away?” “I don’t think I could make it, I would run out of chakra too fast, but the technique is anchored in the body, so if my body were to be constantly supplied with chakra, I think I could make it across”

“We can arrange that… This information is highly sensitive, and cannot be delay for when we head back, so I can’t write a letter, and I can’t send someone to relay it, as the voyage to the mainland would take too long… Therefor, I’m sending you to relay this information to someone I know, who is stationed near the harbor. I will prepare for you to leave later tonight, so gather up as much strength as possible until then”

‘Yes, since I’m the one to relay the message I can change the message to include mention of the coming invasion’ “Hai, sensei I will go gather my missing chakra, but who am I supposed to find on the other side?” “Hmm, I didn’t tell you? Well, it’s one of my former teammates, due to an illness he is not able to use chakra consciously, so he instead trained hard in taijutsu. Unfortunately, without using chakra, he is not able to be promoted to chunin, so he is still a genin, but he is fast and trustworthy”

“sounds like an amazing person, though it is unfortunate with his illness. Since I’m going to meet him, could you tell me his name, sensei? It would make it much easier to locate him…”