"I guess you are fine now?" Byakko said, coming near Kaida. The whole area where they had sparred was now ruined, with various parts burned to crisp, earth turned to other places, and slashes present everywhere.
"Yeah, that technique I used earlier is not something I can use whenever I want, it does some irreversible damage to my body," Kaida said.
"I could guess that much, that technique of yours is really broken. I had to give my all to break out of that," Byakko said.
"I know," Kaida said, a little smug.
"You still lost, brat, no need to boost that little ego of yours," Byakko snorted.
"I am just happy that I am getting you as my summon," Kaida said, a cheeky smile adorning his face.
"I don't remember agreeing to your proposal," Byakko asked, raising his eyebrows.
"What do you mean? You asked me to prove myself, and you just said you acknowledge me. You can't go back now," Kaida blurted out. With what he had seen Byakko doing, Kaida was sure that if he learned even half of the things from Byakko, he wouldn't need to rely on his MS to win the high-level fights, like he had to for now.
"Never appear desperate in a conversation, boy. If you want me as your partner, you have to change a few things about your personality. You have enough power to make many tribes bow to you, but you don't have the demeanor to match that power. We would have to work on that in future," Byakko said.
"I am... wait, does that mean you are going to become my summon?" Kaida asked.
"Of course, I never go back on my words," Byakko said, looking toward a distant peak in the mountain range.
"That's great. Ahem, I mean that's what I was expecting from you," Kaida said, trying to follow Byakko's advice. Seeing his amateur attempt at trying to appear more dignified, Byakko chuckled in his mind.
"Sigh Wait here, I will be back soon," Byakko said before jumping down the mountain, heading towards the biggest mountain in the mountain range.
"So I just have to wait here, guarding your home," Kaida said, particularly to no one. With a sigh of defeat, he took a seat on a nearby boulder which was still somehow intact.
'Such a loss,' he thought, looking toward the mountain peak which was once the symbol of natural beauty, now looking like an overused battlefield.
'Since I have time...'
While Kaida was working hard to get his fated summon, Konoha was also going through a storm in the shadows.
With the combined effort of hundreds of Anbu members and people like Jiraiya, Shisui, and Kakashi, Konoha easily reduced the population of spies in Konoha to 10 percent of their previous number, and even those 10 percent were intentionally left behind to send the message back to their villages.
With the purge complete, Shikaku just maintained a casual security around the border, giving the spies a chance to send the message back to their respective villages.
Normally the spies would never take the risk of sending a message during such a time, but in their mind, there was a very big reason behind the sudden action of Konoha, something that could very well affect their villages.
So they decided to take the risk and send the message about the recent spy massacre in Konoha back to their respective villages, or their masters.
(In Hokage's office)
"With all the known spies either captured or killed, we are now completely hidden from the world. With the selected few who are left behind, it will become clear that all of the spies in Konoha have been cleared. I really want to see the faces of other leaders who would pull their hair to understand the reason behind this," Shikaku said, presenting the report to Hiruzen.
Since he was leading the mission, Hiruzen was not worried about the result of it. What was the matter of concern for him was something else.
"So how high do you think our chances of catching him are?" Hiruzen asked.
"With how cautious he is, and the number of cards he has under his belt, the chances are pretty low, but they're still better than we ever had till now," Shikaku said, taking out a map from his storage seal and presenting it in front of Hiruzen.
On the map, various locations were marked along with numbers written along the markings.
"We have been keeping records of his movements through the year, but not even once were we able to predict his next move—using shadow clones to be present at multiple locations at the same time, targeting small teams or minor villages to get his test subjects and increasing the number of ninja under him as well. He could have a small army under him at the moment for all we know," Shikaku said.
Hiruzen, looking at the result of his failure, only sighed, taking out his smoke pipe from the drawer to make handling the burden a little easier.
"Shikaku, puff this is going to be a very important mission for Konoha. Orochimaru is slowly becoming a threat that will be too big for Konoha to handle. He knows more about the village than most of our elite Jonins, and if he ever decides to threaten us, he will have no shortage of ways to do that. So in a sense, this mission is for the safety of the village. We are going to give our all in this mission."
"I understand, Lord Third," Shikaku said with reluctance, a reluctance Hiruzen completely understood. Orochimaru was still not working against Konoha, at least not directly.
But if this attack failed, he would have a very solid reason and a very good chance to deal an unbearably heavy blow to Konoha, something everyone involved in the mission understood. But it was better to deal with the splinter as early as possible rather than leaving it behind and letting it fester.
Shikaku was really not thinking about skipping the work and taking breaks at all; rather, his brain was focused on all of the possible things that could happen in the confrontations, and most of them were not great, not great at all.
Byakko returned back to his peak after an hour and a half but did a double check after reaching the top. It didn't look like the peak he had left behind when he left.
"Good job, kid," he said, looking toward Kaida who was working on filling the holes created by the claw attack Byakko had used, while another one was tilting the burned soil, which was the result of Kaida's final attack with all of the jutsu he knew.
When the shadow clone who was nearest to Byakko saw him, it dispersed itself, sending Kaida the signal that Byakko was back.
"Took you long enough," Kaida said, flickering in front of Byakko, his hands still dirty from all of the work he had been doing till now.