The next morning, at the main gate of the Hot Spring Village, several tall, dark-skinned figures walked in from the gate. Their attire and the symbols on their foreheads all indicated their identities: the ninjas of Kumo Village from the Land of Lightning.
Led by a Hot Spring Ninja, the Kumo Ninjas walked through the bustling streets. The appearance of these foreign ninjas attracted the attention of many people.
They drew more attention than when Minato and the other Konoha ninjas entered the village yesterday. After all, among the five major ninja countries, the people of the Land of Lightning are most different from the population of other countries.
Led by the Hot Spring Ninja, several dark-skinned men walked into a building in the center of the village. Immediately, these men looked at each other and formed seals with their hands.
"Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" The sound of the jutsu being lifted echoed, and the ninjas from the Cloud Village transformed into Minato and his team.
"Minato, are you okay?" Sakumo asked with concern. His original intention was for Minato to recuperate first, but Minato insisted on following them to carry out the mission. Although he usually looked very gentle, when he became stubborn, no one could persuade him. Suzuka also asked about his condition. In the two days after Minato was injured, her personality had changed significantly, perhaps without her even realizing it.
"It's just a transformation jutsu; it doesn't have any effect on me," Minato smiled lightly, waving his left arm. He had changed into clean clothing. "And as the doctor said, my wound seems to have scabbed over." He was now in high spirits, even better than before the injury.
"Monster kid, when we return to the village, I have to let Tsunade take a good look at you," Sakumo said with a soft smile, feeling relieved seeing Minato's lively appearance.
Minato was looking forward to meeting the elder sister of Nawaki, the Senju Princess, Tsunade-sama, who was the disciple of the Third Hokage along with Jiraiya-sensei. If he could meet her upon returning to the village, it would mean he could meet Jiraiya-sensei as well.
"Next time, we will transform into ninjas of Iwagakure, just like this," Sakumo said, making a seal and transforming into a man of ordinary stature. His appearance was not as different as that of the people of the Land of Lightning.
His skin color was a bit yellower than that of the people of the Land of Fire and the Land of Hot Water, but the most noticeable feature was his extremely rare big nose. The shape engraved on his forehead resembled three small mountains, representing the Land of Earth.
Iwagakure got its name from the large areas of rocks and naturally formed rock chasms at its border.
The leader of this generation of Iwagakure, the Third Tsuchikage Oonoki, was the oldest of the current Five Kages and extremely powerful. After finishing the transformation, Sakumo said, "There is another point I want to emphasize. Among the followers of the Jashin Cult, there are not only civilians but also many rebel ninjas from various countries.
Although there are no particularly powerful ones, we must be careful." This battle would definitely be a big fight, and the battlefield was the entire Hot Spring Ninja Village. He could not guarantee that he could always keep an eye on Minato and Uchiha Yoruki and protect their safety.
"I brought you out of the village, so I have the obligation and responsibility to take you back safely. Don't lose your life because of carelessness."
Sakumo has seen many people lose their lives on missions due to carelessness. Minato and Uchiha Yoruki both nodded heavily. The battle the night before was enough to let them know that the battle between ninjas is a fight for their lives.
They finally began to understand why Nawaki and Sarutobi Ao fought so intensely during the Ninja Trial. While most people regarded the fight at that time as a game, they had already seen it as a real fight.
"Okay, let's rest for a while. The probability that Kuriyama Shinzo will come today is very small. It is not so easy to control so many Jashin Cult members who are temporarily summoned at once." Sakumo even suspected that there were spies of the Jashin Cult among the Hot Spring villagers.
Otherwise, even if they gathered forces to invade the Hot Spring Ninja Village, it would be meaningless if they couldn't find the bloody March sickle required for the ceremony. Knowing this level of information means that the Jashin Cult's spies are quite high-level. However, he didn't say this directly in front of Yugimoto Kawahiko.
These are the internal affairs of another village, and he can't interfere. It would backfire and arouse the suspicion of the Hot Spring villagers.
Next, the Hot Spring Ninja Village dispatched almost all its forces to visit every household in the village and explain to them the matters of this evacuation practice. This sounded extremely new to most of the Hot Spring civilians because in this country known for peace, such an event that required the collective migration of the people had never happened before.
However, many people saw ninjas from various countries on the streets and gradually accepted this fact. Many people seemed very unhappy because they were informed that the battle between ninjas might damage their houses.
For this reason, the top leaders of Tang Ninja Village reached an agreement with the Daimyo of Hot Spring Country, and all the losses of the people of Hot Spring Ninja Village would be compensated double by the country and the village. Many people who protested against this gave up.
The villagers of Hot Spring Ninja Village had to leave their homes and go to the shelter. Because they didn't know the specific time of the attack by Kuriyama Shinzo and others, the faster the people were evacuated, the better.
These people, who had never suffered from war, could only eat some simple compressed foods in a crowded environment.
Near dusk, the civilians of Hot Spring Ninja Village had basically completed their refuge, and only three or four figures were left on the originally bustling streets. However, in these empty streets, Hot Spring Ninja ninjas were ambushed in both the light and the dark.
Minato and the other four people from Konoha hid not far from the main gate of the Hot Spring Ninja Village, where Suzuka had opened a small perception barrier. Unlike Konoha, Hot Spring Ninja Village did not have the means to open a protective barrier surrounding the entire village. In the dark, the ninjas were on high alert.
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