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Chapter 105: Lack of Information?
Ryosuke couldn't pinpoint when it began, but he noticed that more and more people were rallying around him. Initially, his thoughts were very selfish; he just wanted to live peacefully in this world and experience the beauty of cultivation. However, after gaining a family and a blood-related clan, he slowly started to change.
First, it was Hinata, then her father, Hanabi, and other family members. Now, even some people in the branch family were willing to give everything for him. These individuals all held a place in Ryosuke's heart. They were no longer strangers who couldn't stir his emotions.
Before, he was alone. But now, he wasn't. Perhaps it wasn't just Hinata who was growing up and taking on responsibilities; even Ryosuke himself was unknowingly shouldering some hopes and duties.
After the battle in the canyon, Hizashi imparted some knowledge that wasn't taught in school textbooks. The Root's operations leader dispatched a member of the Hyuga clan to leave the canyon and explore the dense forest farther away, while the others stayed behind to complete the post-battle tasks.
Generally speaking, in a surprise attack plan like this, the enemy will always leave some people outside. If the situation turns unfavorable, they will retreat early and pass the battle situation to those behind the scenes. And if the battle goes well, they will join the fray. Although no one explained this to Ryosuke, he could roughly infer their intentions from Mitomon En's arrangements.
"Thank you for your hard work. After returning to the village, I will ask the Sandaime for the necessary compensation."
Everyone had witnessed Hyuga Tamao's performance, and as the person in charge of the entire alliance team, Mitomon En made a promise to him. Lying on a lawn on the cliff, Tamao nodded weakly. The major wound on his severed arm and the minor wounds on his body had been treated by the team's medical ninja. However, compared to these visible injuries, the internal problems in his body were more severe.
After regaining control of his body, Tamao almost fainted. Not to mention the pain from the wound, he felt as if his whole body was lying on railroad tracks, being crushed back and forth by a train. Even moving a finger caused intense pain in several parts of his body. Although he didn't know what Ryosuke had done with his body, judging by the looks of those around him, he must have done something great.
"When we get to Sanno Village, let's settle him down first," Hizashi suggested to Mitomon En, remembering Ryosuke's instructions. "He is in this condition; there's no way he can go to the Land of Waves with us."
"Of course, I will have the nobles of the Fire Nation arrange the best local treatment for him until we return," Mitomon En nodded. Sanno Village was the meeting point they had agreed on with the Fire Nation delegation, and it was the village closest to the sea. Once they reached there, they would be close to setting out to sea for the Land of Waves.
Speaking of Sanno Village, the ANBU captain next to them expressed concern, "I don't know... whether those nobles were attacked." The power that was secretly protecting them had been exposed in the previous battle, so there was no need to hide it any longer. They had thought the real battle would begin near the Land of Waves, after setting out to sea. But unexpectedly, a surprise attack occurred within the Land of Fire, involving such a large number of ninjas.
"Once we have confirmed the identities of these ninjas, let's hurry on our way," Mitomon En said, rubbing his eyes with a headache. If those nobles, who were extremely concerned about their image and valued their lives, were really attacked by ninjas, there would definitely be a big fuss. They could only hope that those behind the scenes remembered the rules: ninjas cannot attack nobles, and everyone plays their own game.
"Mr. Advisor, we have confirmed the identities of all the relatively intact bodies. Among them, the identities of almost all ninjas are unclear and have not appeared in any of our Konoha's files. There is only one person we can verify, but he is indeed a ninja from the Sand Village," an Anbu reported after a while.
"This person is called Ikeda, a jonin from the Sand Village. According to our Konoha's intelligence, he appeared in the Third Ninja World War. But he has not been seen active in the ninja world for some time, and the craftsmanship of the two puppets is also the special technique of the Sand Village."
Carrying a corpse, they reported the situation. Both Mitomon En, Hizashi, and the ANBU captain fell silent. Their minds were in a mess. First of all, it was certainly impossible to assume that these people were from the Sand Village just because they were wearing the village's forehead protectors.
Ryosuke felt there was something fishy about this matter. Hizashi and the others, having been ninjas for many years and with their levels not being low, could more or less see that something was wrong with this matter. Given the current situation, the Sand Village, which should have been an alliance with them, sending a large number of ninjas to attack and kill their alliance delegation, was not right no matter how you looked at it. It was unprofitable and could even affect their own situation. And in this process, they also used Wuying's people as human bombs.
All of a sudden, the attack became complicated. Was it someone from the Hidden Mist Village who was behind this, or was it really someone from the Hidden Sand Village who did it, or... was there a third party force that had not yet shown up?
"Anyway, let's get on with our journey," Hizashi said after a while of silence. "There's no point in hesitating here. Let's take these bodies with us, and then we'll find out when we meet the people from Sunagakure and confront them face to face."
"Right," Mitomon En nodded and agreed to his proposal. The team rested for a while and then set out on the journey again. Unfortunately, the Root captain and the Hyuga who had just left did not find any useful information, nor did they find any trace of the enemy.
Until the team left the cliff for a while, Ryosuke's figure slowly emerged from the rock wall of the canyon. Just now, while they were resting, he went down to the bottom of the valley alone and observed the corpses that had fallen and were smashed to pieces during the battle. But unfortunately, he didn't find any useful information from those people.
"It's really watertight. Except for the information they wanted us to see, everything else was handled cleanly," Ryosuke thought while taking a soldier's ration pill to restore his strength and chakra. He continued to slowly hang behind the team.
This incident is complicated, but it is not that difficult to understand. There is no doubt that the ultimate goal is, of course, to destroy their alliance. However, because the forces involved are too large and the intelligence too little, there is no way to determine specifically how many forces are there to stop their alliance this time. But if this incident was not done by the people of Sand Village, then perhaps the team from Sand Village that was preparing to go to the Land of Waves to participate in the alliance meeting was also attacked.
Ryosuke only hopes that... the people from Sunagakure can be calmer and not give up this alliance just because of a raid.
(End of this chapter)