"So this is the Land of Wind? The deserts seem to have no end…" Hoka muttered as he gazed at the Land of Wind.
Fujin asked, "Is it your first time here?"
Hoka nodded, "Yeah. I visited the Land of Rivers a few times for missions, but never the Land of Wind. What about you?"
Fujin casually replied, "A few times. It is pretty much the same throughout the country…"
Hoka turned his gaze back to the desert and muttered, "Irrespective of how magnificent the deserts look, I didn't expect Sunagakure to be such a disappointment. They didn't even send an army to confront us. Instead, I only spotted 3 patrol squads, who are cowering in fear."
Renjiro replied, "Don't judge a book by its cover. If they face us in battle, they'll obviously lose. The true terror of Sunagakure appears when someone invades this desert. We had tried it during the Second Great Ninja War, but our losses became too high to sustain the campaign. In the end, we had to retreat."
Konomi, who was standing nearby, heard him and thought, 'Sure, their ambush units are deadly. However, considering what he did against Otogakure, will these ambush squads stand any chance against us? Even though we can't use the exact tactic, I won't be surprised if Fujin comes up with something new and equally crazy.
Sigh, it's a shame Commander ordered us not to attack. Otherwise, the infamy of Sunagakure's deadly ambush units could have ended soon…'
Illumi curiously asked, "What do we do now?"
Fujin answered, "What can we do? The talks should be nearing the conclusion by now. Just have the army pretend to set up a camp until we are recalled."
——
"Orochimaru!!! You can't escape this time!" Manda shouted as he bit down at Orochimaru. As he said, Orochimaru didn't have any route to escape. So, he didn't bother doing so and instead jumped into Manda's mouth, confusing him. Manda quickly clamped his mouth, but failed to harm Orochimaru with his deadly teeth!
"You oaf! Spit him out! He's wasting time inside your mouth!" Garaga yelled as Manda failed to kill or harm Orochimaru. Of course, Manda had no reason to follow a fellow snake's command. Instead of spitting, he tried to swallow Orochimaru entirely. However, before he could do so, Orochimaru disappeared from his mouth.
"He disappeared! It's your fault!" Garaga hissed angrily. They had summoned Orochimaru 8 times continuously and had realized that his injuries were extremely severe and he was nowhere near his full strength. Yet, Orochimaru always found a way to slip away! No matter what tactic they used, they couldn't harm him before he disappeared, causing the snakes to be very frustrated and even more humiliated.
Manda hissed back, "What did you call m..."
"Calm down, both of you!" The two gigantic snakes froze as the White Snake Sage roared angrily. He said, "Neither of you can harm him. This time, I'll make a move myself!"
While the snakes were angry, Jugo and other subordinates of Orochimaru were worried. Though no new wounds opened up on his body, they could sense that Orochimaru was extremely exhausted.
Orochimaru didn't pay any attention to them. His mind was completely occupied by the strange yet deadly battle. He grimly thought, 'There is no way to pacify them. My only hope is to severe this contract… However, it'll be tough, especially in my condition. If I fail, I'll die.
Though I can still revive through the curse seals, it'll be difficult. The few I had taught the method to revive me are already dead. I'm running out of loyal competent subordinates. Even if I somehow revive, my strength will drop too much. No, I can't give up just yet. Dying now will disrupt my plans too much!'
——
"What do you mean you can't contact Grandmaster Renkaze?" Goza questioned in disbelief.
Sunagakure didn't have many Fuinjutsu Grandmasters. If Chiyo, who was retired and never did such jobs, wasn't considered, Sunagakure only had 3 Fuinjutsu Grandmasters in recent times. Not too long ago, one of them went missing along with 1 Elite Jounin and 20 other ninjas in Yamakawa town. They still hadn't figured out what had happened to those ninjas. With just two active Grandmasters remaining, Sunagakure could absolutely not afford to lose another!
Ebizo said, "Calm down. Wasn't Renkaze creating new ambush bases in the desert and with a strong group? He shouldn't be anywhere near the front lines. Why can't you contact him?"
While Sunagakure had several small bases created for ambushing, the possibility of a war with Konoha made them build even more. As such, Renkaze was dispatched with 1 Elite Jounin and 4 Jounins to guard him. Considering that the bases were being created deeper in their territory and they had been moving constantly, it was highly unlikely for Konoha or other enemy villages to target him.
The others realized the same and calmed down. The Anbu ninja answered, "We aren't sure. He was done creating the bases and was resting in Aramachi town. He was supposed to return to the village, but a huge sandstorm appeared due to which he decided to stay there for a couple of days.
We contacted him regularly, but they suddenly stopped replying to any message from the Chakra Transmission Communication device. We've tried 5 times over the last 30 minutes without getting any response. So, we aren't sure what happened."
His words made the council think. After some time, Ryusa muttered, "The Chakra Transmission Communication devices aren't perfect. Perhaps they damaged them somehow."
Tojuro countered, "How could they damage the devices while being safe in a town? We should dispatch the Anbu to find out what happened."
Everyone agreed. Sajo said, "Hopefully, it's something along the lines of what Ryusa said. We can't afford to lose another… Hmm? What are you thinking of, Baki?"
Unlike others, Baki's expression was very tense. In fact, he looked terrified. Sensing everyone's gazes, he muttered, "Don't you find it odd that a sandstorm suddenly appeared in the path Renkaze was supposed to take? The day after the Sandstorm appears, Suzuki Fujin has an outburst in the negotiations and leads an army here. And, today, Renkaze is missing…"
Baki's bizarre hypothesis shocked the council. It didn't take a genius to figure out what he was implying. Tojuro exclaimed, "You mean to say that Suzuki Fujin is the one who attacked Renkaze? That's impossible! He was in the Fire Capital yesterday! It's already remarkable that he could move the army in such a short time!"
Baki replied, "Perhaps. However, we made the mistake of underestimating his chakra reserves during our attack. It isn't ordinary. What if the one who had an outburst wasn't Fujin but his Shadow Clone? He could have left the Fire Capital long back secretly and left a clone behind to fool Yura and Arisa.
If so, he would have plenty of time to enter our deserts, amplify a small sandstorm into a massive one and target Renkaze. And, the army that is rushing in isn't to attack us. Instead, Fujin will carry out the preliminary strikes while the army reinforces him…"
Once again, Baki stunned the council. Ryusa asked, "Do you mean to say he came here alone as the vanguard?"
Goza said, "That's impossible. Konoha has no reason to risk his life in such a manner."
However, Baki questioned, "Is it really a risk? As long as he stays away from our village, can anyone stop him? Our scattered units will just be easy pickings for him."
This time, the council was left speechless by Baki's question. After all, it was true. Who could stop Fujin if he entered the desert? Only Chiyo looked sharply at Baki and thought, 'What a shame… The loss in Konoha has mentally impacted him. I can feel his dread at the prospect of facing that boy again. With such a mentality, he can't reach rank S in this lifetime…'
She said, "We can't blame every incident on Suzuki Fujin. Dispatch Anbu to find out what happened."
——
"This is what?" In the main tent of the Konoha army, Hoka exclaimed in shock as he was looking at a map placed in front of him. He wasn't the only one. Konomi, Illumi and Renjiro were in shock too. Unlike Hoka, they nervously glanced towards Fujin. Renjiro thought, 'Sorry, Shikaku. This is just too much. I don't think I can stop him now. You're on your own…'
What none of them noticed was that Fujin's left eye twitched slightly. He thought, 'Even though I put up an aggressive front, it was just because I was bored and didn't want to spend another month in the Fire Capital. As good as the food was, I need to get back to training. I didn't actually want to go to war and waste another few weeks or months bullying some weaklings. However…'
Fujin glanced at the unfamiliar face in the tent and thought, 'What a strange chain of events. To think something like this would happen… Sigh, this is too much, even by my standards. It's almost as if the Gods want Sunagakure annihilated through my hands for some reason…'
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