Anya took out another scroll and successfully summoned the Third Kazekage.
Looking at him now, he was no longer a puppet. His entire body seemed almost identical to how he had been in life. If not for his dull eyes, Anya would have actually believed he'd truly returned from death.
Testing by pinching the arm and cheeks, the texture felt nearly indistinguishable from ordinary flesh. In other words, this was essentially a living shell — incredible power drawn from Ryumyaku energy.
Activating the Sharingan, Anya easily observed the chakra flow within the Kazekage's body. At its central vortex was a concentrated mass of chakra — this must be the Ryumyaku energy Sasori described. Indeed powerful. Its amount even surpassed that of the Raikage, rivaling a Tailed Beast (chakra beast sealed within a ninja village). Therefore, using Magnet Release, Anya now possessed an ultimate puppet capable of going head-to-head with the Raikage — perhaps even wearing him down to the point of collapse. After all, puppets never tire.
After examining the Third Kazekage again, Anya broke into a satisfied smile. He hadn't expected a mere afterthought to yield such monumental results. It had indeed been the right decision to pull Sasori out of Sunagakure Village.
Wait...
Anya's gaze locked onto the Third Kazekage as a wild idea surfaced in his mind.
Sunagakure didn't know about the Third Kazekage's death — they only knew he had gone missing. If so, then it should be possible to revive him, by using [Spirit Transformation Technique] to enter his physical body.
At this thought, Anya's heart pounded rapidly. That's right, controlling the Kazekage would mean controlling the entire village itself.
I could make the whole Sunagakure work for me. Even Sasori might return there someday, perhaps even establishing Sunagakure as Zero Organization's third stronghold — a place nobody would ever suspect.
Once this idea emerged, Anya couldn't stop thinking further. After careful consideration, he became certain it would work. The Third Kazekage's sudden disappearance could easily be blamed on the Loulan Ruins. The only remaining challenge was accurately replicating his speech patterns, expressions, mannerisms, and personal habits — these would take some practice, but Sasori should already be familiar with them.
I need to leave to find him. This matter cannot wait. The sooner the Third Kazekage returns to the village, the less suspicion it will raise. Time is also needed to prepare the site at the ruins. Everything must go off without a hitch.
Now, how to leave this place? I'll need a good reason, can't just run off like a deserter.
The very next day, Minato arrived at the battlefield. After finishing his mission at the ruins, he wasted no time returning to the village. When the Third Hokage assigned him a new task, he refused repeatedly, insisting on coming to Kumo's Battlefield. For him, the peace of Konoha was the most important matter. Eventually, the Third Hokage was convinced and sent him here.
Meeting his friend once again, both felt delighted. Lightly smiling, Minato said, "See? I got here as fast as I could."
Nodding, Anya replied with a grin, "I know, you're the fastest."
After the greetings, Minato immediately asked, "How's the battlefield situation?"
Anya responded cautiously, "It's come to a deadlock. Kumogakure is very strong overall—especially the Raikage. He's extremely powerful. In all of Konoha, probably only the Hokage could match him in battle."
Minato immediately caught on and asked, "Did you two fight?"
"Yes," Anya answered, recounting the entire battle to Minato.
After listening, Minato's expression darkened as well. This was truly a dangerous opponent. Even with Anya's terrifying sword techniques, he hadn't been able to kill the Raikage. Although Minato himself was a Wind Release ninja, he feared it would be difficult to land a one-hit kill too—he'd have no choice but to maneuver around the enemy.
A blue Rasengan lit up in Minato's hand as he sighed, "It's still under development. If I can incorporate Chakra Nature Transformation into it, I might actually stand a chance against the Raikage."
"Who says peace ever lasts? All these years, you've never really had time to rest either." It wasn't hard to see why Minato had built up such a huge reputation in the village—just look at how many missions he'd taken on. Anya roughly estimated that over the past few years alone, Minato must have completed nearly 500 missions. That number was staggering—it suggested he practically worked nonstop throughout the year.
"Yeah," Minato mused with a smile, "Once this war ends, Jiraiya-sensei said he'll take me to Mount Myoboku to study Sage Arts. Then I'll finally have time to finish developing this technique."
Clearly, Minato had great confidence in himself.
But Anya wasn't convinced. By the time this war ends, you'll probably end up as Hokage yourself. Then your schedule will only get tighter. Just look at how fast the Third Hokage aged—even though he's still middle-aged, he looks like an old man.
"This is something the Hokage asked me to give you," Minato said, pulling out a document and handing it to Anya.
Anya opened it with curiosity, his heart leaping with delight—now that's what I call perfect timing! It turned out to be a transfer order. The Third Hokage believed that now that Minato had joined the Kumogakure front, keeping Anya stationed there any longer would be a waste. Thus, the document reassigned him to Sunagakure for intelligence work.
Apparently, during his recent mission among the ruins, Minato noticed that Sunagakure—having gone through its own wartime struggles—had largely recovered already, preparing aggressively, clearly readying for battle.
Such behavior right now was suspicious. After all, Kumogakure's second wave of attack had just been repelled by Sunagakure. Logically, Sunagakure should choose to recover instead—but judging from their actions, they were clearly gearing up for another war.
The Third Hokage ordered Anya to investigate precisely to determine who Sunagakure intended to target. Though the Konoha leadership had agreed that Sunagakure likely aimed to retaliate against Kumogakure, no one could be certain until the last moment.
Perfect! Anya accepted the assignment without hesitation, saying to Minato, "Water Seal, this place is in your hands now."
Minato asked, "Should we bring your squad members along as well?"
Anya hesitated for a moment before replying, "I'll respect their decision. Even if they choose to come, I'd only take at most two people. After all, this is intelligence work—fewer people are better."
Minato nodded in agreement, "True."
Once the squad members had gathered, Anya quickly explained the mission and said she'd only be taking two people with her.
Without a doubt, Haku immediately stepped forward. The other three hesitated, clearly thinking they were needed more here on the battlefield.
Anya didn't mind at all. Just as she was about to leave with only Haku, Yugao stood up and said, "Captain, I'm going too."
Anya gave Yugao a slightly surprised look. In her opinion, sharpening her sword skills on the battlefield was more important than going along on an intelligence-gathering mission. Truthfully, Anya preferred Inoichi Yamanaka for this task.
But since Yugao had volunteered, Anya didn't say much. She simply nodded and said, "Then let's move out together. Shisui, Inoichi, anything could happen on the battlefield—remember, survival comes first. Don't try to be a hero."
They both replied in unison, "Yes."
Anya summoned the Hawk Puppet, climbed aboard with the two women, and headed toward Sunagakure Village.
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