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Chapter 108: The Easiest Way to Solve the Problem
The wet, wrinkled body of Ryosuke had fully recovered. He had also taken out clothes from a sealed scroll and put them on. After arriving on the island, he drank some fresh water and ate some wild fruits, finally relieving the fatigue and nausea from crossing the sea.
On the thick branch of a century-old tree, Ryosuke, now refreshed, had an apple while leaning against the trunk, looking straight ahead. In front of him was an extremely dense and dark forest. However, with his eyes, he could mostly see the Land of Waves.
Not daring to observe the quick-witted jonin and sensory ninjas directly, Ryosuke carefully extended his observation range, selectively confirming the locations and approximate numbers of each village's forces. By doing so, he ensured there were no enemy forces outside the alliance around.
"If I were the enemy, what would I do?" he pondered. While secretly observing the situation on the island, Ryosuke tried to think like the enemy.
The attack missions only appeared in the teams of Konoha, Sand Village, and the Land of Bears, which suggested that the enemy didn't have enough people and capabilities to attack all teams simultaneously. Except for Konoha, which suffered almost no losses and annihilated all the enemies, the other teams paid a huge price and won a miserable victory.
So now, in the eyes of other forces, Konoha was suspected of orchestrating this drama to some extent. However, it would be difficult for members to split the alliance plan based on this divisive tactic.
"So, if you want to solve a problem, you have to find the person who created the problem first," Ryosuke concluded. This was the most intuitive, simple, and crude idea of a ninja. If it were Ryosuke planning this sabotage, he certainly wouldn't have done it this way. But now he had to think from the enemy's perspective.
Ryosuke's gaze swept across all the forces and focused on the center. Then,he le his body falll from the branch, as if he had not sat firmly. But just before hitting the ground, he performed a flip and landed quietly on his toes.
With a subtle burst of energy, he crossed a long distance in the blink of an eye. The next moment, when the chakra in Ryosuke's body gathered soley at his feet, he had left the dense forest and was heading towards the center of the Land of Waves within a few breaths.
"What's wrong?" asked an Anbu ninja, noticing the unusual behavior of a Hyuga ninja responsible for investigating the situation east of Land of Waves . The Anbu ninja stood in front of him vigilantly, assuming a fighting stance.
"Nothing, it turned out to be a hare," the Hyuga ninja replied with an awkward smile, explaining his strange behavior.
"In which direction?" the captain of the Anbu, who had been hiding in the dark since entering the Land of Waves, appeared upon hearing the commotion. "The current situation does not allow for mistakes. I'll send a few people over to take a look."
"There," the Hyuga ninja pointed in a random direction. Several Anbu ninjas instantly rushed to that location. The ANBU captain also returned to the dark.
Returning to his post, the Hyuga ninja felt uneasy. It wasn't the noise of the hare that made him act strangely but rather seeing Ryosuke heading to the center area alone. However, under the close watch of the Anbu around him, he couldn't afford any abnormal behavior. He just hoped Ryosuke wouldn't cause any trouble.
On the other side, Ryosuke carefully avoided the Konoha camp. He had relied on the Byakugan and the help of the Hyuga clan to stay at the back of the team unnoticed. However, approaching head-on would test his stealth ability. Among the many veteran Chunin and Jonin in Konoha, Ryosuke didn't feel confident sneaking in without being noticed, so he chose to sneak from the edge of the Land of Snow's camp towards the ancient castle at the center.
The Snow Ninjas were gradually trained by Fenghan Nutao in recent years and did not have rich inherited knowledge. Although they could display considerable strength with special ninja tools, their own ninja qualities were not very high. Thus, Ryosuke felt confident sneaking past them.
As expected, when Ryosuke passed by, the Ninjas from the Land of Snow didn't notice his presence, nor did the Snow Ninjas responsible for investigating the surroundings.
Ryosuke smoothly arrived at the ancient castle. Gato was at the top level, preparing for the next consultation meeting on the alliance plan. The three jonin he had hired were guarding him right beside him. Apart from them, there was no one else on the top floor. Ryosuke approached and observed.
Looking down, the middle floor was where the meeting would take place. It was quiet, with almost no people. The bottom floor had the most activity, with retainers and wanderers of the Seagull Shipping Chamber of Commerce acting as servants, setting up tables and chairs, as if preparing for a meal and a dance party after the meeting.
Everything seemed normal, but with the experience of the exploding human puppet last time, Ryosuke did not lower his guard and continued to observe everything carefully with his Byakugan. He checked every table, chair, and person. There were no puppets or human bombs among them. Could he have guessed wrong?
Ryosuke continued to observe in confusion. Gato was the core of this alliance plan, and his industry would serve as a rope to bind several countries together. If there was no way to destroy the alliance from the ninja side, they would most likely target the Seagull Shipping Chamber of Commerce.
Regular ninjas, under the negotiation and agreement between the nobles of the major countries, typically did not attack ordinary people. However, if Gato and the others were killed, no one would know who did it. Even though everyone would suspect the truth, without concrete evidence, it would be hard to address it openly.
Just like when the Hidden Cloud Village sent people to Konoha to kidnap someone, if the Hyuga hadn't captured the person, it is very likely the Hidden Cloud Village would not have compensated and might even have retaliated.
At this moment, Ryosuke's gaze suddenly stopped at Gato on the top layer. He seemed to realize what those people's plan was. Sure enough, his guess was correct. The mastermind behind the scenes was planning in the simplest but most effective way. As for the one behind this, Ryosuke had a suspect in his mind.
(End of this chapter)