A group of four black-haired unremarkable men carefully moved through the forest—examining every surrounding detail. Suddenly each felt something and jumped aside.
"Who are you strangers?!" an angry voice rang out.
Each man in the group warily turned their head trying to determine the enemy's location—but the voice seemed to come from everywhere.
"I am Hidetaka Sazuhiro—captain of team eighty-seven from Hidden Leaf village—and you?" the Root Anbu scout group commander said—trying to contact other teams and request reinforcements but all communication was blocked.
"This is Nakayama Family territory and I ask you strangers to leave peacefully. We are peaceful and violate nothing but won't allow strangers invading our home," Kenshin said authoritatively—projecting his voice from all sides.
"Alright—allow us to leave and we won't bother you," the commander said—deciding not to get into conflict with an unknown opponent. In his long life he had seen much but this was the first time in such an incomprehensible situation. He had already assessed the danger of the trap they were in and understood they couldn't escape easily. Before Kenshin's arrival they had tried leaving this territory several times—but whatever they did nothing worked; the Root scout team always returned to the same place.
"Only no tricks—I'd hate killing a Root shinobi group and quarreling with your leadership. You understand me—Yamada Norio?"
Hearing his real name Norio broke into a cold sweat. For the first time in long while he was scared and immediately said in a trembling voice respectfully: "Y-yes sir—I understand. Forgive us for disturbing you!"
"You're free. Next time if Konoha wants to talk—send an official representative. We're not enemies and will be glad to cooperate with Hidden Leaf village," Kenshin said a bit more kindly—deactivating the formation allowing the Root squad to leave without much trouble and disappear deep into the forest.
*****
"But how did they bypass primary detection formations?" Kasumi asked surprised—sitting on a tall tree crown.
"All in their clothing. It's all covered in concealment fuinjutsu. Likely made against sensor shinobi but for some reason worked on our formations too. I managed to study these fuin structures a bit—so formations will be improved soon," Kenshin said seriously—not lowering concentration while following the Root shinobi group.
"What are they doing now?" Kasumi asked. She was very displeased someone from outside decided to disturb their peaceful life and wanted the strangers to leave quickly.
"All three groups united and apparently deciding what to do next," Kenshin replied—not lowering concentration.
"If they decide to attack none will leave alive. Under Patriarch's Aura I can handle them alone!" Ichiro declared—receiving father's displeased look.
"Don't get cocky. Root shinobi are professionals; I wouldn't be surprised if these three groups could destroy several Jonin. We could deal with them without much trouble but destroying three Root teams would attract huge attention—which could ultimately cost our lives."
"You're right father—sorry…" Ichiro said guiltily. Even for the incredibly stable psyche of Kenshin's sons it was hard resisting primitive worldly vices like pride. So Kenshin occasionally had to bring all arrogant sons back to earth.
Kenshin said nothing—only focusing on the Root shinobi. Several minutes later they still decided to retreat—having no order to destroy the Nakayama Family. They already learned the approximate location of this mercenary group's base and gained valuable information that these mercenaries were quite strong.
Seeing the strangers leaving Kenshin relaxed a bit—following them for another half hour through two crows and a falcon until they left the forest; only then could Kenshin breathe fully.
"Strangers left but we have little time. Ichiro—you and your group are responsible for my protection tonight. Tomorrow Fifteenth's group will replace you. Need to hurry and relocate as soon as possible," Kenshin ordered.
"You've barely slept the last few days anyway!" Kasumi declared. She completely disliked the thought her beloved man exhausted himself so much.
"Nothing terrible—if we hold out I'll have plenty of time to rest," Kenshin replied smiling—stroking his third wife on the head. She wore a smooth hood with small sticking out "ears"; he barely held back a smile stroking her.
At that moment he first wanted so strongly for a daughter to be born. Though wives somehow gave him tenderness and affection he knew a daughter's love for father would be an incomparable experience; at that moment he decided to figure out this issue no matter what.
Kasumi looked with slight surprise at how tenderly Kenshin stroked her and how tender a smile adorned his face at that moment. She had never seen him so tender—so didn't even try interrupting this state—enjoying his affection.
"Ahem… Let's go Kasumi—work awaits," Kenshin said slightly embarrassed—flying with his wife to block B-4 where much work remained.
******
"How interesting… What happened in this forest that these unprincipled Root puppets retreated in horror…?" Hyuga Hideo muttered surprisedly.
Initially he wanted to explore this forest where according to available information the Nakayama Family base was located but even his quite developed and strong Byakugan worked with large distortions—not giving full information.
An hour earlier when Hideo already wanted to go deeper and explore this strange place more thoroughly he noticed one Root shinobi group—and over time the other two. He had no doubt these were Root shinobi—only they wore so many fuin blocking any scanning.
If not for his quite developed and strong Byakugan Hideo couldn't even notice them at a kilometer distance. But being one of the strongest shinobi of the Hyuga branch family noticing several hiding Chunin was no trouble.
Seeing Root bloodhounds he decided to simply observe. When they fell into a "trap" Hideo's surprise knew no bounds. Inside a small forest section real chaos reigned. Everything was so distorted he rubbed his eyes several times.
Before his eyes four Root shinobi behaved like idiots—rushing first one way then another running in circles. The only thing that came to mind was strongest genjutsu but he knew how strong the psyche of any Root shinobi was—so desire to enter territory with such powerful genjutsu decreased dramatically.
When all bloodhounds safely retreated and reunited with allies then after discussing something left the forest Hideo was deep in thought. He didn't know what happened inside or how dangerous this area was—so decided to return to Konoha and observe what Hidden Leaf village would do regarding the Nakayama Family.