On the side of Team 6, the only orthodox sensor remaining, Inori, had been treated to quite a violent show.
Seeing her star pupil clad himself in a super dense mass of raging beastly chakra and utterly eviscerate a squad of Root elites without giving them the slightest chance of resistance, had certainly been an experience.
'What even was that?' She wondered.
'It has a few similarities to a jinchuriki transformation but it does not look like any of the known ones . . .'
'Did he find a powerful chakra beast somewhere and then decided to seal it in himself or was this Mito-sama's arrangement? The Uzumaki clan is certain to have a few chakra beasts sealed away in their vaults.' Inori theorized.
It did not matter though, she had an important decision to make.
'Shiki had no need to reveal that form in my proximity, he knows I sensed everything . . . Does he want to see whether I report to Hokage-sama or not?' The Violet Rose internally questioned.
'He did say we can say and report as we wish back in the village but his attitude towards us, especially me, will definitely change accordingly.' The gears in her head kept turning.
'If I do tell, he will probably not be outright hostile but he will never see me as a trustworthy ally, much less a true companion . . . But not reporting the killing of the Root squad at least is actual treason.'
'I need to talk to him alone.' Inori decided.
She could not make a call without an honest heart to heart with the boy, there was simply too much at stake.
With her own matters internally sorted, at least for the time being, the Violet Rose's attention turned back to her two reasonably shaken students.
They always knew Shiki's did not have as much respect and reverence towards Konoha leadership as they did but the outright dismissal he showed was something they had yet to realize.
The signs of the boy's stance were in fact there but loyalty to the village and its leaders was so engraved into their psychology that they subconsciously assumed Shiki would be similar to a degree.
Now that he outright killed shinobi under the direct command of an elder, the two girls realized they were at a crossroads and their minds were filled with confusion.
Personally, their feelings pointed towards Shiki but the education instilled into them all their lives told them that this was betrayal of Konoha and its values, it went against the Will of Fire itself.
But they were not given any more time to think as the boy had returned.
"Shiki!" Mei immediately called out, a worried look on her face, her Sharingan still active from her previous outburst.
"That's me." The boy replied with a clearly unworried demeanor.
"This is not the time to joke around! What you just did is treason!" The bespectacled girl declared but not in an accusatory way.
It was clear she was more worried about how to cover for him than about the actual crime, a fact noticed by the other two teammates.
"No I didn't." Shiki simply replied.
Confused and speechless expressions were the reply to what the girls considered a blatant lie.
"Root shinobi do not officially exist, records of their existence are wiped and they live in the shadows for all their lives, barring a few exceptions." The boy began explaining.
"As such, I, quite literally, killed "nobody"."
"And that, my comrades, is not a crime." He smugly concluded.
"You really think that crap will fly!?" Mei questioned with exasperation.
Inori was grateful that the Uchiha girl was asking all the questions, she wanted to know too but suspected Shiki would not be nearly as happy to respond.
"It will. It's not like the Hokage has a choice." The boy claimed.
"What do you mean?" The Uchiha asked with disbelief.
"Advisor Danzo now revealed secret village intelligence about my movements twice to an enemy village, that's treason too yet nothing happens to him despite all the other suspicious crap he pulls daily." Shiki started.
"Why is that?" He rhetorically asked.
"Because he is the Hokage's closest friend and right hand man so his crimes are always forgiven and covered up. This is pretty much an open secret amongst Konoha's upper echelon."
"With Mito-sama behind me, the Hokage cannot afford to accuse me too hard, not to mention that this mission, his peace supposed offering, was poisoned."
"And so, taking advantage of the fact that Root personnel does not officially exist, The Hokage will make it as if nothing happened at all." Shiki concluded.
"That's why I don't care much if you tell the village everything. They can't officially do anything to me either way."
"And if they try unofficially, then they can't blame me when the people involved disappear." The boy casually added.
The three girls were once again shocked by the dismissal and hostility Shiki showed towards the village leadership but they also began realizing something.
The game was always being played, they were simply unaware of their roles as pawns.
Not Inori, she was aware of her role and content with it until recently.
'It is actually terrifying how fine I was with being used by the higherups for whatever end they saw fit. I guess knowing a lot of indoctrination doesn't stop it from being done to you.' The Yamanaka thought to herself.
"Let's take care of the mission Shiki. I want to talk with you but we can save it for the way back." She declared.
"Fine by me." Shiki shrugged.
"Best you let me handle it though." He added.
"No. It's a team mission, we'll handle it as a team." Inori countered.
"My jutsu can be subtle, Shinka has her near undetectable, untraceable Kochu and Mei can just stick to water release. If push comes to shove, we all have means that will not be tied back to Konoha." She reasoned.
"Fine, fine." Shiki relented.
Internally though, there was no denying he was relying more and more on himself and nothing else.
The boy's trust in others was in short supply and it seemed to only be getting worse.
"So how do you want to play it?" He asked.
"We'll do an Iwa frame job as you initially suggested." Inori started.
"As Iwa shinobi, while Earth Release is not their only method, it is their specialty and their most trusted tool so you'll be the main attacker."
"First, Shinka will use her Kochu to stealthily poison the target, ensuring his demise, then, Shiki will stage a single large strike with Earth Release and retreat regardless of effect."
"Shinka should be able to easily pull out undetected but Shiki will purposefully let himself be trailed along a preset escape route where Meio and I will be posted up."
"I'll use my jutsu to scramble them for a moment, allowing Mei to strike effectively with her Water Release, after which we all vanish in the chaos." The Violet Rose concluded the plan.
Her three students nodded in agreement and all of them purged the complicated circumstances from their mind, focusing on simply bringing the mission at hand to a successful conclusion.
+++++
Hey, Author here!
To promote the novel I will be releasing BONUS CHAPTERS on SUNDAYS based on the previous week's power stone count.
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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.
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