Shisui had devised a simple yet effective plan. As soon as a scouting squad emerged from their outpost, he followed at a safe distance, careful not to trigger their chakra field. With the Sharingan and Byakugan at their disposal, avoiding detection was nothing more than child's play.
After trailing them for some time, he created two shadow clones. One transformed into a hare using the Transformation Jutsu, while the other remained hidden behind a rock, waiting. The hare appeared just at the edge of the chakra field—close enough to be seen but not enough to raise suspicion. As expected, the squad noticed the small creature, thinking of it as prey for the night, darting forward to catch it.
When the terrain forced them to split around a mountain path, the hidden clone struck. Emerging from its cover, it swiftly cast Genjutsu, ensnaring the three Chunin before they could react.
That left only their leader—the Jonin. For him, Shisui himself moved. Faster than the eye could follow, he closed the distance. Almost like he teleported from one position to another. The moment Juro turned, their gazes met and his fate was decided.
The world around Juro darkened as the illusion consumed him. His breath hitched—suddenly, he was alone, standing in an endless abyss, unable to move or sense anything.
Outside the Genjutsu, his body stiffened, arms slack at his sides, expression dulled. In mere moments, Shisui had taken control of the entire squad.
"Well, it was more anticlimactic than I thought. They didn't even get to retaliate even a little. I see your reputation is not for nothing," Renjiro said.
"Thanks for the praise, Hokuto-san," Shisui said while Renjiro stepped forward, wasting no time. He grabbed Juro's wrist, flipping it over to inspect the intricate seal embedded on the back of his hand. The markings pulsed faintly with chakra in Renjiro's eyes. Since Shisui had deactivated his Sharingan, he couldn't see anything on his hand at all, but from the veins bulging around Renjiro's eyes, he knew that the objective had been obtained.
"Hmm," Renjiro muttered, analyzing the composition of the seal. "Not bad... but not good enough to fool me." The seal had two layers; the upper one, which screamed like a key, was nothing but a cover. If someone copied it, the array would have been activated with a delay, binding that person within without a chance for escape.
With a swift motion, he traced his fingers over the markings, removing the upper layer and memorizing the precise strokes and chakra patterns for the actual key behind it.
A few moments later, he pulled out a brush and ink from his storage scroll. Dipping the brush carefully, he began replicating the seal onto paper. After being sure of the perfection, he looked toward Shisui.
"Everything is ready."
Shisui nodded his head and transformed into the Jonin in front of him. While Renjiro was busy with the seal, Shisui had been trying to replicate the chakra signature of the Jonin as well as his memories, especially the layout of the outpost. After transformation, Shisui looked just like the Jonin with his chakra signature also resembling him, though it was not perfect. If someone focused on him, they could easily tell he was not the same person, but the disguise was as good as it was going to be.
After Shisui was done with the transformation, Renjiro took out his brush and drew the seal on Shisui's hand with masterful precision. The ink glowed faintly before settling into Shisui's skin, fusing seamlessly with his chakra.
"Done," Renjiro said, standing back. "This will hold for about an hour. You should be able to pass through the array undetected."
Shisui clenched and unclenched his fist, feeling the artificial seal merge with his chakra network. "Thanks, Hokuto-san. Now please return and follow through the next step of the plan," he said, giving a basic map of the outpost with the location of the ninja marked in it.
In total, there were 123 ninja in the outpost, an astoundingly large number compared to 31 in the attack force, but the odds were still so heavily in Konoha's favor that it was absurd.
Renjiro nodded and started running toward the temporary base they had created. Being a Jonin-level ninja himself, he didn't need much protection except in conditions like an all-out war where suicide tactics could take the life of anyone without any prior notice.
As Renjiro made his way toward the base, Shisui swiftly dispatched the Jonin and hid his body in the storage seal he had, then placed a dead hare in the hands of the Chunin who first ran toward the shadow clone.
Since his shadow clone was the one who placed them in Genjutsu, it was not difficult for him to manipulate it, since in true sense it was done by him only.
With a thought of his mind, the Genjutsu of the Chunin completed with them circling back to the same place with the hare in their hand.
Shisui then created some distance between himself and the Chunin, appearing like he was waiting for their return, and then with his Sharingan becoming active once again.
In the next second, all three of those Chunin came out of the Genjutsu like everything was true.
"Took you guys long enough? Am I getting too lax on my training?" 'Juro' asked.
"This one was just too agile, sensei," Goro said as he brought up the hare.
"Fine, fine, now cook it soon. We have to return to the patrolling duty too," Juro* said, waving his hand. The Chunins nodded their heads and started the cooking process soon.
...
Renjiro reached the base soon, entering it he summoned every ninja in the base to the meeting location.
"We were able to find out the complete layout of the outpost," Renjiro said, taking out the map sent by Shisui on the table.
"The base has three layers below the ground. At the first one, there are all security measures, surveillance rooms, and training areas. In the second, there are living quarters and rest of living facilities, and at last, there is the storage room, commander's office as well as escape routes. If they managed to use them, we will not be able to catch them," Renjiro said.
"Then we should appoint someone to look out for those routes," one of the Jonin, an experienced leader himself, advised.
"We could have, but they have made a maze-like structure below with thousands of areas they could dive underground," Renjiro said, bringing out the gravity of the situation.
"Then what are we going to do about this glaring weakness?" another Jonin asked.
Renjiro smirked, his voice laced with confidence as he continued, "The commander is already inside. He'll handle anyone who tries to escape... and while he's at it, he's weaving his Genjutsu, pulling some of them under his control. Once we get the signal, we hit them from the front. With the chaos on our side, we cut down as many as possible. We wouldn't want to leave all the fun to the captain, now would we?" He glanced at his squad, his grin widening.
One of the Jonin chuckled, cracking his knuckles. "Then let's make sure there's nothing left for the captain to clean up."
Everyone nodded in agreement and began dispersing from the temporary base. With all preparations complete, only the mission remained.
Moving in such large numbers required absolute caution—one misstep, one premature detection, and all their planning would be for nothing. They couldn't afford to lose the element of surprise.
Meanwhile, if all went smoothly, Shisui would have more than enough time to carry out his part without interference.