"This is really..."
For a moment, Seimei didn't know what to say.
Back when Takigakure Village lost the Seven-Tails, they didn't make such a big fuss, did they?
But thinking about it, it made sense. When he made his move on the Seven-Tails, the Third Great Ninja War had just ended not long ago. No one wanted to trigger the Fourth Great Ninja War, especially a small ninja village like Takigakure.
During the Third Great Ninja War, the Land of Waterfall didn't become a central battlefield. Firstly, because of its unique terrain, which wasn't suitable for large-scale battles.
Secondly, it was because Takigakure Village had a tailed beast as a deterrent.
When the risks outweighed the benefits, naturally no major ninja village would invade them. At most, they would just pass through.
However, if the Fourth Great Ninja War were to be triggered by them, then one of the battlefields would definitely be in the Land of Waterfall.
Just like the Land of Rain and Amegakure during the Second Great Ninja War, this was an unspoken agreement among the five great ninja villages. They wouldn't allow small ninja villages to grow stronger, nor would they allow them to defy their will.
As for the so-called terrain limitations...
That was just because the major ninja villages hadn't made up their minds yet. Once they truly decided to wage war in the Land of Waterfall, the terrain wouldn't matter at all.
Ninjas weren't ordinary people. Their adaptability and resilience to the environment were far beyond what ordinary people could compare to.
So, it was normal for the Land of Waterfall to become a battlefield.
In addition, the loss of the tailed beast meant they lost their only means of deterring the major ninja villages. Naturally, they would be even more cautious about doing anything that could be misunderstood.
Therefore, after the Seven-Tails was stolen, although Takigakure Village investigated for a while and had a few leads, it ultimately came to nothing.
There was no way around it. That was the tragedy of small ninja villages – they had to swallow their anger and move on.
However, Iwagakure Village was different.
As one of the five great ninja villages and the village with the largest number of ninjas, they wouldn't easily admit defeat.
They had the ability and the confidence to conduct a detailed investigation into the person who made the move in secret.
And sure enough, as Seimei was receiving the memories of his shadow clone, on the other side, Onoki received the preliminary investigation results.
...
Land of Earth.
Iwagakure Village.
Night.
Inside the Tsuchikage Building in the center of the village.
Onoki's small figure sat in a large chair.
He flipped through the report in his hand while listening to the report of an Anbu ninja below.
"Reporting, Third Tsuchikage-sama, based on our post-incident analysis and the investigation over the past two days, we can basically confirm that the person in the shadows had been targeting the village's Four-Tails for a long time. They secretly planted pawns in various cities, specifically watching Lord Roshi's movements."
Below, the Anbu ninja gave a summary first.
Hearing this, Onoki didn't even lift his head and said, "Continue."
"Yes, sir!"
The Anbu ninja below responded, and without any unnecessary words, immediately explained their investigation process.
He said, "According to Black Serpent's report, we know that in Black Rock City, the one who targeted Lord Roshi was a bounty ninja. Before being subdued by Black Serpent, the bounty ninja made a move to send a message.
We have reason to suspect that the enemy learned of Lord Roshi's whereabouts through him.
Then, they quickly arrived, killed Black Serpent, and followed the clues to catch up with the others, wiping out the entire Black Serpent squad and finally capturing Lord Roshi."
At this point, he paused, then continued, "But there's a problem here. How did that bounty ninja know that Lord Roshi would appear in Black Rock City?"
"Initially, we suspected an internal problem, that someone had leaked this information.
To this end, we investigated all departments and personnel who might have known Lord Roshi's itinerary this time.
But unfortunately, we didn't find anything unusual. So, we turned our attention to the outside and, following the bounty ninja's identity, raided several underground black market strongholds.
At first, we didn't find anything. Although there were bounties on Lord Roshi and the Four-Tails in the black market, those were all from a long time ago. No one had posted similar bounties recently.
We realized that our investigation direction might be wrong, so we focused on investigating the identity of this bounty ninja.
Finally, during one investigation, we discovered that another bounty ninja who had interacted with him in the past had also mysteriously disappeared.
Following this lead, we continued to investigate and found that not only these two bounty ninjas, but also bounty ninjas and some rogue ninjas who were active in various other cities had also inexplicably disappeared, and..."
Hearing this, Onoki finally raised his head and asked, "And what?"
"And, the time of their disappearance is all concentrated within these past two days."
The Anbu ninja below replied with a stiff upper lip.
"Killing people to silence them? Covering up their tracks?"
Onoki said.
"Yes, sir, that's what we think too!"
The Anbu ninja below nodded and said, "The enemy most likely didn't have Lord Roshi's exact itinerary, only knowing that he might be traveling recently.
Then, by casting a wide net, they planted spies in various cities to look for similar individuals, and finally, the mastermind behind the scenes would confirm.
Now that the person's goal has been achieved, they killed everyone in the network to prevent our tracking."
"Hehehe~, very good. They captured the Four-Tails, killed our people, and they even dare to come back. They really don't put our Iwagakure Village in their eyes!"
After listening to the Anbu ninja's narration, Onoki suddenly sneered.
After laughing, he asked again, "What else? What have you found out about the enemy's abilities and identity?"
Although Onoki's voice was calm, it sounded like a volcano about to erupt in the ears of the Anbu ninja below, putting immense pressure on him.
Forcibly suppressing the agitation in his heart, this Anbu ninja replied, "Reporting, sir, based on our investigation and analysis, the enemy should not belong to the other major ninja villages. Even if they do, this operation should not have been authorized by the higher-ups."
"Is it because of those bounty ninjas and rogue ninjas?" Onoki asked.
"Yes, sir!"
The Anbu ninja below nodded and said, "The quality and abilities of these ninjas are too poor. If it were instructed by the higher-ups of other villages, they could have made more detailed arrangements."
Hearing this, Onoki remained noncommittal and simply said, "Continue!"
"The enemy should possess a space-time ninjutsu that allows for ultra-long-distance teleportation. This can be seen from their rapid appearance and disappearance."
This time, Onoki nodded in agreement.
Below, the Anbu ninja continued, "Furthermore, this space-time ninjutsu shouldn't be the Cloud Village's 'Heavenly Transfer Technique,' which places extremely high demands on the human body's endurance."
"Is it because he left with Roshi?"
Onoki asked after a moment of thought.
"Not just Lord Roshi, but also those ninjas who disappeared in other cities."
The Anbu ninja below nodded, then shook his head, saying, "According to our investigation over the past two days, the time of disappearance for these people in the adjacent area is roughly the same.
In other words, the enemy most likely also used that space-time ninjutsu during this process, and the teleportation was likely done with shadow clones or similar clones.
These clones have limited endurance and couldn't possibly use space-time ninjutsu like the 'Heavenly Transfer Technique,' which requires extremely high physical endurance."
"Oh, if that's the case, then there seems to be only one possibility..."
Onoki pondered for a moment, then looked up through the office window towards the direction of Konohagakure Village in the southeast, and murmured, "'Flying Thunder God Technique'?"
(End of this chapter)