After a while.
Aoba followed the group to Konohagakure's main entrance.
In addition to these Anbu, there was also a group of people waiting there. Among them was Eaton, who had just looked for Aoba not long ago.
"Eaton-sama!"
When Aoba saw Eaton, he immediately greeted the latter. After all, Eaton had specially come to warn him about this matter, and also said that he would accompany him and protect his safety. Therefore, in Aoba's opinion, it was necessary to say his greetings. However, he did not call Brother Eaton, but Eaton-sama. It was because he had an agreement with Eaton that he would call him brother only in private.
"Follow me. Be careful on the road. After you come out of the village, you may be in danger every moment!" Eaton said with a serious face. No matter what, he was a special Jonin. His strength was still very good, but they were about to face a Ninja War. This was not a matter of individual strength. If they were not careful, they might die here.
"Alright!"
Aoba nodded. He thought the same in his heart. He followed Eaton. If Eaton encountered any danger, he could secretly help. After all, the war was fierce. He had no confidence in these people in front of him. It could be said that they were extremely undisciplined.
These people did not look like they were going to the battlefield at all.
Judging from the expressions of everyone...
Everyone had yet to adjust their spirits because it had happened too suddenly.
All of a sudden.
Question marks popped up in Aoba's head. He was extremely puzzled by Hiruzen's arrangements.
Since they were the first troop to enter the battlefield.
Then they could be said to be the vanguard in this war!
As the saying goes.
The opening shot was vital!
Victory in the first battle can bring good news to the rear, give confidence to other ninjas participating in the battle, and give confidence to those waiting in the village.
But...
Now it looked like.
This was a bit like child's play!
"Brother Eaton..."
Aoba leaned close to Eaton's ear and lowered his voice. He said slowly in a voice that only Eaton could hear, "I don't understand why they sent us to be the vanguard. Is there no one left in the village?"
Aoba asked.
It was not because he was afraid of death.
It was because he felt that this arrangement was unreasonable.
Although it looks like an overall Anbu army, most were not for combat duties. For example, most of the Konohagakure Intelligence Division were sensor ninjas. Such ninjas were more suitable for the rear. You can't let the auxiliary support be a meat shield.
The Jonin in these ninjas were Special Jonin who stood out in some places. However, it was inevitable that their prominent part was not their combat ability. Otherwise, they would not be Special Jonin but Elite Jonin.
In Aoba's eyes, this vanguard army composed of mostly non-combat ninjas did not seem to be rushing for victory but more like rushing to die.
"Didn't I tell you when I was in your room?" Eaton looked around to ensure no one was staring at them before whispering.
"You didn't say it!" Aoba said with certainty. Moreover, when he was in the dormitory, he did not know that things were like this. It was completely different from the ninja war he had imagined.
"Maybe I forgot to tell you. Too many things have happened in the past few days. Listen to my explanation..." Eaton saw that there was still a little time. His face turned extremely serious. As he spoke, he still looked around and said, "Sandaime-sama suspects that a Kirigakure's spy has infiltrated the Anbu but did not find the spy, so he wants the Anbu to fight the vanguard!"
"What?!"
Aoba's eyelids trembled slightly. He roughly understood what was happening when he heard about Kirigakure's spy. According to the information that Eaton had brought over last time, it could be said that Hiruzen had already suspected him(the person who treated Danzo's injuries) as a member of the Uzumaki Clan. After reading the memories of the three Iwagakure ninjas, Satsuma Rentaro, a Kirigakure ninja, was suspected of having a connection to him.
However, there was nothing wrong with this. After all, no matter if it was the so-called member of the Uzumaki Clan or Kirigakure's Satsuma Rentaro, they were all him. Hiruzen suspicions were correct.
But...
Judging from the current situation.
Aoba could easily deduce that Hiruzen suspected that Satsuma Rentaro was a member of the Uzumaki Clan in disguise. This member of the Uzumaki Clan was someone that Eaton knew and thus deduced that it might have something to do with the Anbu.
Theoretically, there was no problem with these deductions.
The problem was...
There was no need to mobilize so many Anbu, right?!
This thing...
Aoba felt like cursing in his heart. He had originally thought it was Danzo's exclusive right to kill by mistake rather than let go, but now it seemed that Hiruzen was even worse!
This kind of decision of suspecting that there was a member of the Uzumaki Clan in Anbu, and pushing the entire Anbu to death, made Aoba speechless. Hiruzen was much more sinister than he had imagined. This was directly borrowing a knife to kill. Whether it was to achieve the final goal or not, Hiruzen's image in people's hearts was still bright and brilliant.
"Can such a decision be passed?"
Aoba's voice was very low. In his heart, he was very surprised and angry. In the past, when he watch Naruto, he did not have much feelings for Hiruzen. Until the Konoha's F4 Edo Tensei come out, Hiruzen was silent in front of the other three Hokage, thinking deeply and guilty. It could be seen that there was something wrong with his heart.
At that time, Aoba only treated these as jokes that were made by the Hokage fans.
Now he was in it.
He felt it even more clearly.
After discovering the problem here, his understanding of Hiruzen became even deeper. At the same time, he also understood why Hiruzen's three disciples, Konoha Sannin, left Konohagakure one after another.
You will see a person's true heart after being with them for a long time!
Anyone with a normal brain would naturally find something fishy about what Hiruzen had done if they stayed with him for a long time.
"Shh!"
When Eaton heard Aoba's words, he immediately raised a finger, indicating that Aoba should not speak nonsense and lower his voice again.
Aoba looked at Eaton's cautious appearance, and his face became serious. He did not despise his cautiousness at all. On the contrary, he felt that caution was an outstanding quality.
Caution can let a ship sail for ten thousand years!
Eaton repeatedly looked around, and after confirming that no one was listening to them, he lowered his voice even more.
"Of course, there are people who object!"
"The first to raise a different opinion is Konoha White Fang, Hatake Sakumo-sama!"
"But..."
"Sandaime-sama said..."
"Anbu is more suitable to test the opponent's strength in this battle!"
Eaton said one sentence after another. Every sentence he said was meager, and he kept staring at the surroundings as he spoke.
Just as Eaton finished speaking.
The voice of the white-robed Anbu rang out. He gathered everyone and arranged for the ninjas here to run forward.
"Aoba, let's not talk about it for now. Just follow me. You must focus on the road and not relax at all. As long as you leave Konohagakure, there is no place where you can be considered safe!" Eaton hurriedly instructed. After that, his figure quickly ran to the front. He wanted to stand in the position of special Jonin.
Aoba looked at Eaton's back.
He didn't say a word.
Aoba already had a rough idea of what would happen in this war. The handling of this vanguard army could be said to be very sloppy and irresponsible.
It was like child's play!
Aoba finally understood why Konohagakure, who was so prosperous after Hiruzen took over, was played like that.
If you fight like this.
If Konohagakure did not lose, who would?
Aoba now feels that Konohagakure does not deserve to win at all!
"Let's go!"
At this time, a ninja patted Aoba on the shoulder. Aoba did not know this person, but he could be sure he was an Anbu member.
"En."
Aoba immediately jumped out, following the team to the battlefield, leaving Konohagakure's main entrance.
Swish Swish Swish Swish...
After everyone left the gate, everyone jumped up and jumped continuously on the tree. Their speed was very fast.
"Huh?"
Aoba was jumping and running with everyone. He suddenly felt that someone was looking at him. Since the moment he came to the ninja world and got Sage Body. As time went on, he mastered it more and more.
As long as someone's eyes were fixed on him, if the eyes were not very natural, he would immediately feel it.
'This gaze was not normal.'
'Who?'
A question mark popped up in Aoba's head, but he could not turn his head right now. Otherwise, if they looked at each other, it would be easy to alert the enemy.
The current situation was that the other party thought he was in the dark, and Aoba was in the open.
In reality.
Aoba was in the dark, and that person was in the open.
A moment later.
Aoba felt the gaze move away and no longer looked at him. He immediately pretended that there was something on his body and looked at that person.
A Hokage Anbu.
Aoba had never seen the appearance of this person. The people here were not wearing masks, but that feeling was definitely not wrong.
Suddenly.
Aoba looked around.
He found many Hokage Anbu.
These people were scattered in the team, with leaders in the front, rear-guards in the back, and scouts on the left and right, who seemed to be escorting them but were actually monitoring them.
To make sure they were all here?
Check if they do anything special?
This wasn't a simple battle, but internal strife mixed in during the war.
The hearts of the people weren't together!
Aoba sighed in his heart. He suddenly thought of a sentence.
To resist foreign aggression, we must first secure the interior!
This sentence was somewhat reasonable. Now that he was in the ninja world, he was different from other ninjas who were ready to sacrifice themselves at any time. He was a person with independent thinking and did not want to be the chess piece of others, especially when the person playing chess was a rotten chess player.
The more he knew.
The more he found out that this place was not simple.
How would other villages be better if Konohagakure had such a story under someone like Hiruzen?
Every family has their own difficulties!
The same goes for the village!
Aoba knew that all the villages would have such problems, but to directly use the first battle to eliminate the dissidents, this behavior was unique to Hiruzen.
Right at this moment.
Another gaze looked over.
This was another person.
Aoba felt the sizing and staring from this person's eyes.
Looks like...
He had already been listed as a target of suspicion!
Aoba didn't know if Eaton had sensed the Hokage's Anbu, but he was almost certain that these people had already noticed him when he was talking to Eaton just now.
If he was Hiruzen, he would definitely instruct these ninjas to focus on monitoring the people who had contact with Eaton.
He had chatted with Eaton at the beginning.
It was inevitable that he would be noticed!
Thinking of this.
The corners of Aoba's mouth curled up slightly, revealing a cruel smile. Since everyone was in the vanguard army and may die at any moment, then they should not return alive.
These Hokage's Anbu were all Hiruzen's absolute supporters. They all belonged to Hiruzen's forces and could be said to be Hiruzen's bodyguards.
Even when Hiruzen handed over his authority and Minato became the Hokage, this group would still be Hokage's Anbu.
Then it would be equivalent to the change of the Emperor, but the imperial guards were still in the hands of the old Emperor. This was like a sharp sword on the throat.
No matter how strong Minato was, he might be unable to constantly prevent sneak attacks and assassinations—at the very least, sending out information to kill people with a borrowed knife.
All of a sudden.
Aoba had already decided.
Since he had already decided that Minato was Konohagakure's Fourth Hokage, he would let Minato choose his Hokage's Anbu. That way, there would not be so many constraints.
As for Hiruzen's wings.
It just so happened that he was going to the battlefield this time.
What a rare opportunity!
"Since you want to find me in this way, then it is impolite not to reciprocate. I will also use the same method to cut off your wings!"
A bold idea for other ninjas came to Aoba's mind. However, he did not receive the education of ninjas from a young age, nor had he been brainwashed by the will of fire. What he thought was beneficial to him. It was something he felt right about.
When Aoba had just made up his mind.
Another gaze landed on his body. This was another different ninja.
"Good!"
Aoba thought to himself, silently remembering the owner of these gazes.
"All of you look over and reveal your identities!"