hotmtlnovel Chapter 118 Reactions from All Parties
Chapter 118 Reactions from All Parties
Chapter 118 Reactions from All Parties
"What did you say? The mission has gone missing?" The outpost garrison captain felt like his head was about to explode. How could this be? Was fate playing a cruel joke on him?
As a Jonin, he knew how much effort the village had put in to form an alliance with Sunagakure, but at this crucial moment, the delegation had disappeared. The garrison captain felt like the sky was falling.
"Explain all the details to me one by one." The garrison captain suppressed his anger, each word seemingly squeezed out from between his teeth, which were grinding together.
"Because a patrol team went missing yesterday, Lord Angusa was worried about an ambush, so he sent a few of us to impersonate the delegation and scout ahead—" The returning ninja recalled the events and reported the details to the garrison captain.
"—We waited there as agreed, but almost half an hour passed and the delegation still hadn't arrived, so we hurried back to report."
After hearing the Chunin's report, the garrison captain was now certain that the envoy group was indeed in trouble. He didn't dare delay and quickly ordered a message to be sent to the village explaining the situation. He himself led a team to the area where the envoy group and the scouting team had separated, searching for any possible clues.
However, they didn't have to search too hard. With such a large area of traces of ninjutsu release, the garrison captain found the battle scene in no time.
Looking at the terrain, which had clearly been cleared and altered by a large-scale earth-遁 (earth-遁 is a technique used in Chinese magic to change terrain), the garrison captain was speechless with humiliation. What an arrogant enemy! Assassinating the delegation was one thing, but they even had the leisure to handle the scene so meticulously.
His hands were clenched into fists, his fingernails digging deep into his palms from the excessive force.
"Dig three feet into the ground and see if there are any more clues!"
At his command, the Sand Village ninja who had followed him began to fight, but to the captain's disappointment, they found no valuable clues.
The Sakumo Squad mainly used physical techniques to resolve battles. Their only weakness was the glass ground, which Taiyi sank into the ground and then smashed into pieces with his Earth-Splitting Palm. Furthermore, the earth flow river stirred it up and mixed it with the surrounding land.
In this way, even if Sunagakure saw it, they would only think it was an ordinary piece of glass. So after searching for a while, they only found some scattered puppet fragments and poisoned kunai, and finally confirmed that this was indeed the place where the mission met its demise.
With a heavy heart, the garrison captain returned to the outpost, reported his latest findings to the village, and ordered his men to relay the message to all the outposts. The alliance had failed; who knew what other changes the two nations would face next? But strengthening defenses was certainly the right thing to do.
While Konoha's Sakumo squad was busy evacuating the Land of Birds, and Sunagakure's garrison captain was eager to investigate the delegation's whereabouts, on the other side of the Land of Birds, Iwagakure's envoy, Koto, was already quite impatient.
What should have been a proper alliance meeting has now turned into a one-man show by Iwagakure. What, do they really think the people of the Land of Earth are all as honest and simple as rocks, without any temper at all?
"Haven't we found any envoys from Sunagakure yet?" Huang Tu said impatiently to the observing ninja.
"No trace of anyone has been found yet, Lord Yellow Earth."
It seems something's happened in Sunagakure. I wonder if Sunagakure changed their minds or if there's some other reason. Now the old man is going to have a headache again.
Thinking of his old man's frantic state, Huang Tu was no longer in a hurry and wanted to go back as soon as possible to inform him of the news.
"If we explore another 50 kilometers and they still don't come, we'll go back."
97
"yes!"
However, no matter how the Iwagakure ninjas investigated, the Sunagakure messengers never came.
Having found nothing, the Hidden Rock Envoy had no choice but to return to the village. As they left, Huang Tu glanced back in the direction of the Land of Wind, a premonition welling up inside him—next time they came, there might not be so many people.
One day after the assassination of the Sunagakure delegation, Sunagakure finally received the message from the front-line outpost. The entire village of Sunagakure was in an uproar, like a school of fish that had been bombed with a depth charge.
All high-ranking officials in the village were notified immediately, regardless of their position, that they must come to a meeting to discuss how to deal with the situation.
The village had spent a lot of time and manpower to promote the alliance with Iwagakure, and even traded a large amount of controlled materials to Iwagakure at cost price for this purpose. Now that all these initial investments are about to go down the drain, everyone is on edge.
The huge conference room was now full of people: the heads of various departments, the members of the elders, and even Chiyo and Ebizo, who were gradually retiring to the second line, were all present.
Before the meeting even started, there was no one to restrain the crowd, and it was quite noisy. People were huddled together in twos and threes, whispering and discussing what to do next.
The only two people who remained relatively calm were Chiyo and Ebizo. They were sitting upright in their seats, resting with their eyes closed, but their constantly trembling eyebrows indicated that they were not at peace either.
Just as the meeting room was getting noisier, the door was suddenly flung open, and the atmosphere inside abruptly froze as everyone looked toward the door.
The Third Hokage, wearing the Kazekage hat, slowly walked into the conference room. Everyone's eyes were immediately focused on the Kazekage. Once the Kazekage sat in the main seat, the room fell completely silent. Everyone looked at the Kazekage expectantly, waiting for him to speak.
"I believe everyone is aware of the situation regarding the mission. So, what are your thoughts?"
As Fengying spoke, hushed discussions broke out in the meeting room again, but as time went on, the discussions gradually turned into arguments, and everyone's tempers flared up in unison.
At this moment, a martial arts elder slammed his fist on the table and stood up abruptly: "This is clearly Iwagakure's betrayal! They took our supplies and benefits, and then turned around and attacked us!"
He pointed towards Iwagakure and cursed the Third Tsuchikage without any restraint: "That bastard Onoki, he's even capable of hiring bounty hunters, what else can't he do? He has no dignity whatsoever for a great nation. Besides, who else could be so precise as to evade all the outposts' reconnaissance?"
"Absurd!" the intelligence chief immediately retorted. "If Iwagakure wanted to break the agreement, they could simply refuse the alliance outright. There's no need to risk their reputation. In my opinion, this is more like Konoha's doing. Have you forgotten the news from Iwagakure a while ago that they injured a Konoha spy?"
Perhaps by then, our alliance with Iwagakure would have already been exposed.
"Who knows if the information provided by Iwagakure is true or false? Maybe Iwagakure deliberately leaked it to Konoha," the martial arts elder retorted.
"Stop arguing!" Chiyo suddenly interrupted the argument, her aged voice carrying an undeniable authority. "Although I also hate Konoha, have you ever thought about Kumogakure? That Raikage, that brute, is very wary of Iwagakure."
"Would he just stand by and watch Iwagakure ally with us, then divert excess troops to deal with them?"
At this moment, Ebizo, who was standing next to Chiyo, nodded slightly and added, "Don't forget, Kumogakure has been quite restless these past few years. They're the ninja world with the most underhanded tactics right now. Didn't they even disguise themselves as Iwagakure to ambush us a while ago?"
Chiyo and Ebizo were not so much expressing their opinions as they were filling in all the possibilities. After they finished speaking, they closed their eyes to rest and stopped participating in the discussion.
After a brief silence following their speeches, the meeting room erupted into an even more heated argument. Gradually, several camps emerged in the room.
The moderates believed that the status quo should be maintained and that further alliances with Iwagakure should be avoided, as it would be a thankless and troublesome endeavor.
The militant faction believes that external forces must be behind this and that the culprit must be found and severely punished. This faction is further divided into those pro-Iwagakure, pro-Konoha, and pro-Kumogakure. In short, everyone holds their own opinion.
Watching their endless arguments, without even a concrete solution, Feng Ying's temples throbbed, and his fingers unconsciously tapped on the table, faster and harder with each tap.
"Enough!" Suddenly, Feng Ying stopped tapping, his eyes flashing with cold light, and the entire conference room fell silent instantly.
"Sandstorm, as the intelligence chief, personally lead a team to Iwagakure again to confirm their attitude." The Kazekage's voice was as cold as icy iron sand. He looked around at everyone and said, "Notify the border troops to enter a state of combat readiness and be prepared for any possible attack from Iwagakure."
Send more professional investigators to the scene to see if they can find any more clues. I need to know who did this!
Although the Kazekage sent someone back to Iwagakure and ordered the troops to be on guard against Iwagakure, it was clear to anyone with eyes that the Kazekage still hoped to maintain the alliance with Iwagakure.
This can be seen from the fact that he sent the intelligence chief, a pro-Iwagakure militant, as an envoy. Therefore, everyone in Sunagakure kept quiet, some secretly pleased, and others silently gathering their strength again.
And the Sand Village's massive war machine silently accelerated its operation under this order.
Compared to the anger of Iwagakure and the frustration of Sunagakure, Konoha's Sakumo squad completed their mission with ease, successfully disrupting the alliance between Kaze and Tochi. All of this made the squad members happy.
Their return to Konoha proceeded smoothly, guided by the Byakugan.
Two days later, the four-person team returned to Konoha, which they had been away from for many days.
Looking at this harmonious and peaceful scene, and recalling the precarious existence they had faced when they ventured into other countries, Taiyi had a new realization: without the sacrifices of others, there would be no peace and prosperity today.
Now I've become one of those carrying the burden, but everything I've done is worthwhile.
"Let's call it a day now. Everyone should go back and get some rest. You all cooperated very well on this mission."
Upon entering the village, Hatake Sakumo immediately disbanded the squad. The squad had only been formed temporarily for the mission, and now that the mission was successfully completed, everyone had to return to their original mission-related lives.
No one objected; it's common for ninjas to split up and reunite for missions, and even Taiichi had worked with others before. After saying goodbye, everyone headed home immediately.
As the team leader, Sakumo Hatake headed straight for the Hokage Building. For S-rank assignments like this, he always reported directly to the Hokage in person.
In the Hokage's office, having heard that Sakumo's team had successfully completed their mission and returned, the four high-ranking officials of Konoha gathered once again to hear Sakumo's report.
"—That concludes this mission, Hokage-sama."
The Hokage flipped through the two scrolls that Sakumo had handed over. One was a detailed report of the mission, and the other was a storage scroll containing the spoils of the mission—the corpses of Ichisuna and Kazegiri, as well as many puppets that had been damaged at the time.
This could be considered the biggest gain from this operation, aside from the mission itself. The corpse of a Jonin, and especially the corpse of a high-ranking Sunagakure official, allowed Konoha to obtain a wealth of useful information, including details about ninjutsu and Sunagakure's activities.
Even if some confidential information in their minds is protected by sealing techniques, it is still possible to analyze some hidden information about Sunagakure from some everyday matters, such as the amount of missions and prices, which can reveal the current state of Sunagakure.
In particular, there are those broken puppets. As one of the most skilled ninjas in Sunagakure's puppetry techniques, his puppets must be among the newest and best in Sunagakure. Konoha can study the strengths and weaknesses of Sunagakure's puppets from them, laying a good intelligence foundation for possible future battles.
Besides these, the most anticipated aspect of this mission is the performance of each member of the team.
Sakumo Hatake may seem conventional, but he actually plays a crucial role. Without him restraining so many of the puppets, the others would not have been able to end the battle without taking any damage and quickly.
Although Minato Namikaze has only recently learned the Flying Thunder God Technique, he has already been able to apply it in actual combat, and its future effects are promising.
Although Hyuga Hizashi was only a member of the Hyuga branch family, through this mission, the Byakugan's abilities were further enhanced, and its detection range exceeded that of most main family ninjas, which will be a major weapon in future wars.
The most outstanding performer this time was Taiichi. Whether as a medical ninja or a combat ninja, he has already reached a high level of expertise, and he can be described as an all-rounder in ninjutsu.
Given time, his achievements will surely surpass Tsunade's, after all, Tsunade at his age was far from reaching his level.
Hiruzen Sarutobi turned to the other three elders beside him, "What do you think? What will Sunagakure and Iwagakure do next?"
Koharu Utatane and Homura Mitokado shook their heads at each other. What could they say? They had done all they could. What Sunagakure and Iwagakure should do next was up to fate.
Danzo, however, was frowning and deep in thought. After a while, a slight smile appeared on his sinister face: "I think Sunagakure and Iwagakure missed the opportunity to form an alliance before, and they won't have that opportunity again."
"Oh, Danzo, do you have any new information?" Mitokado Homura asked curiously.
"We just received news this morning that the Hidden Cloud Village dispatched a force of 100 ninjas towards the Land of Earth the day before yesterday."
"Sending this many ninjas to the border is pointless!" Koharu Utatane looked puzzled. What could these few ninjas do? They weren't going to fight, so adding so few people wouldn't make much difference.
At this moment, Hiruzen Sarutobi seemed to understand Danzo's meaning: "You mean, this is a warning from Kumogakure!"
"Yes, I didn't understand the significance of Kumogakure's actions at first, but considering the failure of the Wind and Earth Alliance, I figured it out!" Danzo said smugly. "Kumogakure has obviously also received news of the failure of the Wind and Earth Alliance."
Adding this few people wouldn't provoke an overreaction from Iwagakure, but it would also let Iwagakure know that Kumogakure was aware of their and Sunagakure's underhanded dealings. If they continued, the next ninja sent to the border wouldn't be 100.
Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu carefully considered Danzo's words and discovered that this was indeed a possibility.
If that's the case, then the crisis arising from the alliance between the two nations can be said to have been averted.
"Although we successfully thwarted the alliance between the two factions, it also exposed our current lack of strength. In the coming period, I have decided to strengthen the training of the village's ninjas, especially those who have already shown talent, and increase the allocation of resources to them."
Upon hearing this, Danzo's face immediately darkened. Could you, Hiruzen Sarutobi, be any more shameless? Why didn't you just say you'd give Taichi more resources? You even suggested increasing ninja training and specifically mentioning ninjas who could showcase their talents. You're blatantly hoarding resources for your own loyal ninjas!
At this point, Danzo was already filled with prejudice against Taiichi, and he would think the worst of anything related to him.
Naturally, Danzo, having been provoked once again, was now brewing an evil plan in his mind.