Power Stone Goals from now on: I always post a minimum of 5 chapters. Henceforth the following are the goals:
Every 150 powerstones, I upload an extra chapter.
If we hit top 30 in the 30-90 days power stone rankings, thats 1 more chapter
If we hit top 10 in the 30-90 days power stone rankings, thats 1 more chapter
If we are top 5...well lets get to that first. Happy readings!
Chapter 77: Infiltration
With the standoff against Dark Dream momentarily concluded and the Guildmaster's warning still echoing faintly behind me like a whisper lost in snowfall, I turned my attention to the next task at hand: the location of my assigned quest—a matter far removed from posturing guilds and threats of revenge.
The walk was not long, and the silence was comforting. There were patrols around but none were able to sense me since I had sealed my Chakra, down to Early-Chunin level.
And with my chakra control and Mind's Eye, if someone was about to sense me I could simply move away.
The terrain slowly shifted as I neared the site, the jagged cliffs of the Land of Iron smoothing into high, hollowed-out ridges peppered with metal scaffolding and fortified bunkers.
Large stone platforms carved into the surrounding mountains served as transport.
The air here smelled different—less of frost and ash, more of dust, iron, and faintly sparking ozone.
This was not just a mine. It was a fortress in disguise.
Through the Mind's Eye of the Kagura, I could see what was hidden to most. Beneath the surface-level façade of an industrial operation was a complex web of chakra signatures—no fewer than several hundred Shinobi stationed in carefully layered positions throughout the ridges and adjoining tunnels.
Most were solidly Jonin-ranked, and several among them pulsed with strength I recognized as Elite Jonin, their chakra coiled tightly around their cores like coiled serpents, ready to strike.
They didn't move often, which told me two things: they were confident in their defense—and they knew the value of what they guarded.
The seals etched into the boundary stones of the mountain confirmed that suspicion. High-level Fuinjutsu arrays covered the perimeter, faint enough to be undetectable to non-sensors but interlocked in a manner that, if tampered with directly, would immediately alert command forces stationed deep within the mine.
They were good—precise, compact, and fueled by continuous chakra threads embedded into the earth—but not beyond my understanding.
With enough care and the right angle of approach, I could disable or bypass them without drawing attention.
The central quarry stretched down in spiraled terraces, each level ringed with workers and guards. Despite the scale of operation and the number of hands involved, the ore yield was laughably small.
That told me everything.
The material they were harvesting—dark, crystalline veins embedded deep within the mountain's heart—was something rare, something dense with chakra conductivity.
Only the highest tier of crafting materials reacted like that: resistant to elemental damage, perfect for channeling jutsu, and nearly impervious to degradation over time.
Every chunk of raw ore extracted sparked slightly when touched by exposed chakra—a subtle, flickering shimmer that danced along its surface like lightning trapped in stone.
No wonder the Shogunate kept this place under such tight control.
I watched silently from a distant overlook, observing not just the extraction process but the hierarchy within the workforce—how orders moved, which shinobi answered directly to whom, and where resources were stored post-harvest.
Every detail mattered.
Missions like this were not completed through brute force, but through understanding the shape of the enemy's discipline.
And despite their defenses, despite their numbers, I could already see the cracks.
All I needed was the right moment—to go in and properly investigate the inside.
Since this wouldn't be a potential S rank mission if I simply had to go in and grab an ore...there was definitely something more on the inside.
The translucent barrier shimmered only faintly in the chilled air, its presence masked to any conventional eye but radiating like a slow-burning fire beneath a still surface to my Mind's Eye.
It flickered in my perception like a membrane stretched taut between dimensions, anchored by hundreds of micro-seals that pulsed gently with latent chakra.
To anyone else, it would have been invisible, perhaps even insubstantial, but to me, it was a wall—formidable and alive with warning.
I approached the base of the barrier, stepping carefully through the snow, and unslung a sealed brush from my utility scroll.
My fingers moved automatically, practiced from long hours of repetition. With a single hand seal, I activated the ink well charm and dipped the brush into chakra-infused pigment, its color shifting faintly as it absorbed the ambient energy of the environment.
Then, I began to write.
The scrolls spread like paper petals across the snowy ground, their thin frames delicate against the harsh cold.
In mere seconds, I had drafted over thirty seal matrices—each precise, tailored, layered with logic to override the minute segments of the barrier's flow.
I worked in arcs and fractals, layering interference upon mimicry, and after placing the final slip in a ring around where I stood.
The effect was subtle.
A brief ripple, like light bending through a thin lens, and then a soft crackle as a portion of the barrier faltered.
A hole, no larger than a crawlspace, formed for just long enough to admit me.
I slipped through it like a breath vanishing in the cold.
But not all seals could be bypassed from the outside. There was something foundational to the barrier's structure—something nested deeper, rooted at its source—that continued to scan for elevated chakra levels.
I had circumvented the shell, but the heartbeat of the defense lay deeper within.
So I did what was necessary.
With a controlled breath, I initiated an internal chakra suppression seal.
My aura contracted rapidly, dimming until only the faintest flicker remained. From Mid-Jonin, I sank to Early-Genin, my circuits thinning, power folding into itself like a storm locked beneath a lake.
I felt the difference instantly.
My limbs lost their spring, my breathing took conscious control, and the reflexive sense of pressure I always carried faded to a whisper.
My skin felt heavier.
Every movement lost its edge. But weakness was a mask, and I had worn worse in the past.
Matatabi, I called inwardly, my thoughts brushing along the mirrored chamber that bound our souls together. I might need your chakra at some point.
There was no verbal response—there rarely was—but a subtle warmth rippled across the tether between us, followed by a gentle pulse through the mirror.
That would be enough.
I continued forward, feet barely disturbing the snow, edging along the mountain's curvature until I reached the mouth of the mine.
A procession of carts rolled by, pulled by muted earth-release constructs and flanked by tired shinobi guards whose eyes were more interested in warmth than vigilance.
Carefully, I stepped off the path and pressed my hand to the rock face. With a few signs, the stone parted like slow wax under my palm.
I embedded myself into the mountain's crust, channeling Earth Style to remain hidden just beneath the outer surface, an observer rather than an actor.
From within the stone, I could hear them.
"…This amount is too little," came a deep voice, authoritative and impatient.
"Sir, I don't think we can hit the quota today," another voice replied, nervous but factual. "As you know, the deeper into the mines we go, the harder the ore becomes. And the ore there… it's barely responding to any tools. The chakra resonance is almost null. It's like trying to break condensed lightning."
"Then use jutsu to extract it," the first voice snapped. There was the sound of a clipboard being tapped or checked off, a mechanical gesture devoid of empathy.
"Sir, if we do that, the entire mine structure could collapse," the miner replied, voice tense with the strain of desperation. "We've reinforced it best we can, but that deep layer—it's volatile. Even a small tremor could bring everything down."
The Elite-Jonin didn't reply immediately, and the pause said more than any insult could have. It was the sound of someone weighing productivity against lives—and finding the latter less compelling.
"Then what do you suggest we do?" the Elite Jonin snapped, his voice strained under the weight of more than just leadership. "The Shogun is asking for enough materials to supply the elites with spare weapons for the summit."
He exhaled sharply, the cold biting at his words. "Not only are we severely behind schedule, we still need to give the blacksmiths at least a full day to forge the materials. And even that's already pushing them to the brink of exhaustion."
There was a silence that lingered—no excuses, no arguments, just the quiet acknowledgement of helplessness shared among subordinates.
The Elite Jonin continued, softer this time, but still pressed by urgency. "I know I'm pushing you. But this is out of my hands. The pressure is coming from above. We'll be held responsible if this doesn't come through."
Another long pause.
"I'm coming down with you," he added and made it clear this was no longer a conversation. "I'll follow you into the mines now and see if there's any way I can help."
Footsteps followed.
I heard them echoing through the stone layers, two distinct pairs moving with a purpose.
They were descending further, deeper into the mine's heart, the place where the ore grew too dense for steel to bite and where chakra itself hesitated to flow properly.
I remained still, nestled in the mountain's body like a fossil waiting to awaken.
I weighed my options. My chakra was sealed down to a whisper, and even the act of burrowing had begun to pull at my reserves.
Earth was heavy.
Earth resisted.
Moving through it, even with mastery, was like swimming through silence that wanted to crush you.
Thank the stars I had fully mastered Earth Style: Tunneling Technique, that unassuming C-rank ninjutsu I had picked up what felt like a lifetime ago. Back then, it had been little more than a utility Jutsu.
With practiced ease, I activated the jutsu. My body slipped deeper into the stone, my limbs guided not by sight but by my chakra's sensitivity to density and flow.
The Mind's Eye of the Kagura served as my lantern, revealing areas where I could burrow safely and where to avoid lest I trigger structural collapse or run into chakra sensor threads.
Every movement was calculated, every pulse of energy directed with utmost restraint.
The deeper I went, the quieter the world became. Noise from the miners above faded. The mechanical churn of drills became a murmur, swallowed by pressure and time.
And then, like a sudden gust through a canyon, I felt it—the pocket of space, the cavern that was the mine's most guarded chamber.
I surfaced just beneath the stone floor, no more than a few centimeters of rock separating me from the chamber above.
My body remained fused with the earth, only my chakra perception reaching upward.
It was staggering.
There were dozens—tens of Elite-Jonin stationed in the chamber, their chakra signatures bright and alert, clustered near the walls and arrayed in a formation clearly meant for high-speed intervention.
I scanned the room's chakra layout and counted over twenty smaller pulses. Workers, maybe, or lower-ranked guards, though their energies were erratic and dull from fatigue.
The ore veins, pulsed gently beneath the chamber like the veins of some ancient beast, barely yielding even to the most invasive chakra techniques. The deeper ore seemed to resist not only extraction but interaction—it distorted chakra signals, clouded perception, and radiated a hum that even now scratched at the edge of my mind like whispering static.
There was no way I could enter.
Not like this. Not without being immediately noticed and obliterated in an instant by even a single one of those guards.
I grit my teeth and let the cold stone press into my skin.
Damn it.
I should have learned some genjutsu.
...
Authors note:
You can read some chapters ahead if you want to on my p#treon.com/Fat_Cultivator