Chương 80: Chapter 80: Espionage 

The coded radio signal repeated in Tonbo's ear. 

Togekei's warning confirmed what Tonbo expected: Danzō's operatives had acted behind his back. 

"Restless fools," he murmured. "Do not ruin this mission." 

Completing an assignment of this level would earn at least ten million ryō, more than his annual base salary and enough to support further research. Money mattered, but discovery mattered far more. If Nagato mobilized Amegakure against them, fifteen days of careful work would vanish and four Konoha shinobi might vanish with it. 

Tonbo did not yet know what Iwao and Murakumo had sent or where. He descended into the earth and moved rapidly toward the hidden chamber. 

He considered intercepting the transmission, then rejected the impulse. A messenger already beyond his perception could not be recovered without abandoning the infiltration. More importantly, revealing that Togekei had warned him would destroy their only quiet advantage. For now, Tonbo would let the Root agents believe their deception remained intact. 

Beyond the Land of Rain's border, several cloaked Root shinobi waited around an open scroll. One maintained a receiving technique while the others guarded him. 

Tiny black mice emerged from the ground and approached the prepared formula. As each touched the scroll, its body dissolved into lines of written intelligence. 

"We finally have useful results," the unit leader said. 

The message described the squad's underground approach and identified rainfall as the carrier for Amegakure's sensory network. He rolled the report, tied it to a messenger hawk, and sent the bird toward Konoha. 

When Tonbo emerged through the chamber wall, Iwao turned toward him without surprise. 

"Were you detected, Captain?" 

"No. After half a month, we have meaningful progress. I determined the operating principle of the village's sensory technique. Our next step is to counter it, then penetrate the organizations that possess actual information about Amegakure's leadership." 

Murakumo allowed genuine admiration to enter his expression. Their own analysis had only established that the rain carried the detection field. Tonbo had already learned how that field distinguished intruders. 

His success also served Root's hidden purpose. The farther he opened the path, the closer they could move toward the Rinnegan. 

"We remain concealed while I develop the countermeasure," Tonbo continued. "Living indefinitely underground will degrade our air, supplies, health, and judgment. Once we begin operating above, every unnecessary disturbance will make later intelligence work harder." 

All three acknowledged the order. Togekei gave no indication that he had sent the warning, and Tonbo gave no indication that he received it. 

Tonbo assigned ordinary maintenance tasks while he evaluated the chamber. Iwao reinforced the ceiling, Murakumo checked the tunnel alarms, and Togekei renewed the air-exchange seals. Their movements revealed no obvious breach. Whatever the operatives had done was already complete, which made observation more valuable than accusation. 

In Konoha, Danzō read the report delivered by his agents. 

The scale of the rainfall technique impressed even him. Sustaining a sensory field across an entire country required reserves worthy of the legendary Rinnegan. He had not considered the rain because the continuing chakra cost appeared unreasonable for any ordinary shinobi. 

"Deliver this to the research unit," Danzō ordered. "Develop a method of bypassing the detection within fifteen days." 

He did not know that Tonbo was conducting the same work beneath Amegakure—or that the squad captain now knew his agents had transmitted the discovery. 

Danzō studied the described patrol patterns alongside the sensory principle. If Root could cross without detection, he could place agents near the source before Hiruzen decided diplomacy was safer. The Rinnegan was too valuable to leave under the control of an unknown power, especially one occupying a country at the center of three great nations. 

Five days later, Tonbo completed a working method. 

He instructed the others to fortify the chamber, prepare traps along both escape tunnels, and remain ready to respond to a coded signal. 

"You found a way through," Iwao said. "Will you teach it to us?" 

Togekei also looked toward his teacher. He understood the sensory principle but had not found a solution within his own techniques. 

"The method depends upon a secret genjutsu that none of you can reproduce," Tonbo answered. "Maintain concealment and do not leave this chamber without my signal." 

He merged into the wall before they could press him. 

The explanation was true but incomplete. Tonbo could not trust the Root agents with either the technique or freedom of movement. Keeping Togekei with them ensured they remained observed, while operating alone reduced the number of signatures and mistakes he needed to manage. 

Before leaving, he altered the concealment barrier so any outbound animal or encoded pulse would leave a trace in its structure. The change would not stop another message. It would tell Togekei what to watch and give Tonbo evidence of the route when he returned. 

Iwao and Murakumo exchanged glances. Their assassination training suggested other ways to exploit the new information, and neither intended to wait for Tonbo to fulfill Danzō's objective on his own. Once again, they prepared to pass a message through the mice. 

Above them, an Amegakure chūnin named Hayakawa finished his daily training and pulled his raincoat tighter. A persistent chill troubled him, as though unseen eyes followed his movement. 

"Too cold," he muttered. "I haven't seen the sun in days." 

The Land of Fire sounded enviable in weather like this, with clear seasonal changes and long stretches of bright sky. Yet Hayakawa did not resent his home. Since God and Lady Angel took power, the Land of Rain had known years of relative peace. Roads were safer, food moved more reliably, and ordinary families possessed comforts once reserved for the wealthy. 

He hurried through the drizzle and entered his home. Warm air circulated from newly installed heating pipes, driving moisture from his clothes. 

Hayakawa looked at the system with gratitude. Under Hanzō, households like his endured the cold however they could. The new administration had extended practical infrastructure beyond the central districts. 

"God has given us a better life," he said quietly. 

A man stood directly within his field of view. 

Hayakawa did not see him. 

When he crossed the room, he adjusted his path around the figure without recognizing that he had done so. His senses received Tonbo's image, voice, scent, and physical presence, but genjutsu instructed his mind to discard all of it as irrelevant. 

Genjutsu: Unseen Presence was one of Tonbo's proudest five-sense techniques. Anyone who perceived him during activation became unable to direct conscious attention toward him. The illusion did not make Tonbo invisible; it made observers continually decide that nothing was there. 

Its weaknesses were serious. Prepared targets could disrupt it. Unusual minds or chakra networks might resist. A distant observer outside the initial field could notice contradictions in the victim's behavior. Tonbo used it only after studying Hayakawa closely enough to judge the risk. 

The technique also demanded continuous precision. Tonbo had to account for every sound, displaced current of air, and accidental touch his presence created. If Hayakawa heard a floorboard creak without accepting the illusion's correction, curiosity could open a gap in the effect. Confidence made the genjutsu smooth; carelessness made it fragile. 

He had chosen this chūnin because the man's duties touched the village's internal administration and because he lived alone. Hayakawa could provide the access Tonbo needed, and Tonbo had already decided that the man would die by his hand before he could report the encounter. Only that certainty made such a brazen use of Unseen Presence acceptable; under ordinary circumstances, Tonbo would never gamble the mission on an illusion with so many possible points of failure. 

Tonbo watched him settle beside the heater and prepared the next stage.