Chapter 44: Formation of death

Hearing that there's an unknown enemy moving under the ground observing the camp put both Itachi and Shisui on edge because they thought that Iwa (the village hidden in stone) is trying to make a move against Konoha by establishing contact with these rebellious clans, as for what reason, the answer is simple ...war.

The reason they came to this conclusion is that ninja from Iwa are famous for their mastery of earth-related Jutsu; this is what they guessed this person is using to move under the ground in such a skillful way.

However, I felt nervous for a different reason 'let hope that only Zetsu is around, if other Akatsuki members are around too, this mission will be impossible' I thought as I heard Shisui say with a calm expression on his face.

"We need to make a plan for both engaging and retreating".

'Shisui's really talented; he already regained his calm as the leader to not make us feel even more nervous.

Still, Fugaku really miscalculated our power sending us on this mission, was he really overestimating my strength? Or was it that they suspect that some of the spies in Konoha are too high level and will report any huge deployments? Tch, how annoying we need to purge them soon' I thought as I saw Shisui take out a map and a pen and gave them to me while saying.

"Bakorio, please mark the locations of the stationary sentries you can sense and the route of the ones on the ground on the map".

I took the map and the pen from his hands before I focused on my senses as much as I could to the point I felt I was almost merging with nature 'what a great feeling' I thought as I started marking the location of the camp and the sentries one by one before I put my ear on the ground again to try to detect Zetsu's traveling route but it was pointless because he and his clones kept changing their position randomly.

I gave Shisui the map without the Zetsu's route in it and said "The guy underground is probably a very skilled spy; he changes his and his clones route constantly and only stops in one location for a few seconds before he changes again, I couldn't find any pattern to his actions".

Both Itachi and Shisui sighed at this before Itachi said "That guy is troublesome as for those clans...

I've seen this formation of sentries before when I went to war as a kid with my father, this is a formation used when expecting an enemy attack and you are ready to use any number of sacrifices; you two see how the sentries are spaced from each yet they are all in triangular formations so each person is at least on the line of sight of two others?"

Shisui and I nodded so he continued this time with disgust "But this formation is usually never used unless under extreme circumstances, because different from other formations, at the tip of each triangle, they put the weakest ninja as cannon fodder with their only job is to send a warning before they die or at least let their deaths be seen by the two also weak ninja behind them and it goes on like this, this is so the strong ninja never gets assassinated and they could mount a counter-attack. This formation is called, the triangle of death".

A solemn atmosphere fell on us and we were reminded again how cruel the ninja world can be, we also understood that these clans distrusted Konoha so much to the point they were preparing for war anytime.

'At first, I thought that if the Uchiha clan simply left the village, at least Konoha won't interfere and our only problem will be being targeted by other villages, Now, however, I am sure they would have hunted us down the moment we set foot out of the village..' I thought in anger.

Shisui wasn't inclined on using force on these weak ninjas that probably were forced into this by their clan elders so he picked the best move " infiltrating them while they are on guard like this will only cause a tragedy and we will be quickly surrounded, so I think the best moment to infiltrate is when they are on the move, let observe the changes and try to find any flaws we can use"

"Okay" We both nodded before we started observing the behavior of the sentries but Itachi and Shisui always retreat when they feel they are going to be sensed as for me I heard some conversations.

"Why are they sending us here, I am merely a Genin" a girl with slumped shoulders and a sad face that just finished her watch shift said to her friend.

"At least we are Genin, think about those academy students being sacrificed blatantly like this while saying it's for the sake of the village and clans, I never thought our clans were so disgusting, I wish I wasn't born here" said the friend to this girl with a disappointed look on his face.

"Do you think the village will really attack us?" asked the girl worried about their safety but the other kid simply shook his head "no, what I am worried about is us going to another country and all they are worried about is our village attacking us".

Conversations like this were happening all around the camp, not just from the kids but from their parents too, after all, no one in their right mind would be happy at their kids being sacrificed like this and against who, against the village they grew up in.

Unfortunately, no matter how much people complained, nothing changed because the people in power were drowned in their own delusion that they were doing this for a good reason...

A few hours later, the sun started rising from the horizon bringing with it a new day to the kids of this camp that passed the night under the fear of death, an experience they will never forget and some will even quit being a ninja because of it...

It didn't take long before everyone packed their tents and on their journey, they marched again, but what was surprising is that even while moving they still kept that same formation bringing a frown to our faces until we started noticing something, a flaw.

Such a flaw would never have happened if this was a war but because those clans were in a rush to leave, today it appeared, a simple flaw called experience.

To keep a battle formation working while moving is one of the hardest things and requires a lot of training and experience, something these Genins and academy students and at best some Chunins never had. And it showed because different from when they were stationary, now their positioning wasn't perfect and it created some blind spots.

These blind spots were thanks to the land of fire being a place filled with forests, but even though this was a flaw, it wasn't easy to use or take advantage of, because they will quickly readjust their formation, but that's only when you don't have the Sharingan and so a new plan quickly took form under the cooperation of these three monsters and before long they took action to execute it...