Anya soared swiftly, riding the Hawk Puppet while carrying two passengers. Their hair whipped wildly in the wind—one black, one purple—like strands of sunlight caught in a breeze.
Haku, who knew Anya well, could clearly sense her urgency. Somewhat puzzled, he reached out and gently patted her shoulder, trying to calm her down.
By this time, Haku had already removed his mask. When Anya turned her head, she saw deep concern in his eyes. Realizing her own anxiety, she took a few deep breaths and slowly eased off the speed.
The temptation of controlling one of the Five Great Countries' ninja villages was simply too great—it had made it difficult for her to stay calm. Truthfully, the Third Kazekage had been gone so long, another day or two wouldn't make a difference anyway.
After a long journey, Anya arrived at a dense forest and came to a stop. This was the location specified in the mission. Surprisingly, ten Anbu were already gathered there. After glancing at Anya's mask, the leader stepped forward to greet her. "Night, hello."
"Nightingale, hello," Anya returned the greeting before asking curiously, "I remember the mission only mentioned you; how come so many other Anbu have shown up?"
The Anbu, codenamed Nightingale, replied solemnly, "All the ninjas stationed at Konoha's Temporary Stronghold have been killed. When Hokage-sama learned of this news, he increased our presence here to investigate and find the killer."
Anya asked gravely, "Are you certain everyone is dead? Was anyone missed?"
Nightingale replied confidently, "No. I've done a thorough check. All are confirmed dead."
Sighing heavily, Anya said, "Then go back and inform Hokage-sama. Prepare for war with Sunagakure Village."
"What? Why?" Nightingale's voice was filled with shock and confusion.
"Each of Konoha's strongholds has a complete staff, including shinobi trained in evasion and extraction, specifically meant to return an intelligence report. If they were all eliminated, it means the attacker not only understood them thoroughly but also possessed overwhelming strength. In this area, only Sunagakure meets both conditions."
After hearing Anya's analysis, Nightingale quickly realized the seriousness of the situation. Just as she prepared to leave, she noticed Anya remained still. She couldn't help but ask, "Since we've confirmed everything, aren't you returning to the village with us?"
"I'll stay for now," Anya replied. "This is just my speculation; I can't be 100% certain. My mission remains gathering intelligence to verify its accuracy."
"Well then." Nightingale hesitated slightly before taking out a mark and handing it to Anya. "Be careful, Night. Since you've decided to stay, take this mark. It connects you to the operative codenamed Gardenia. She will pass any information she gathers to me. Her location is…"
At this point, Nightingale whispered the location into Anya's ear. Then, over a dozen Anbu disappeared without a trace.
Haku asked, "So what now?"
"Don't rush. Let's eat first. There's a small town not far from here, and the food is quite good."
After arriving at the location, Anya's mindset had completely calmed down. She made her way into town with her two companions.
Once again at the familiar spot, after ordering meals for the two, Anya headed alone to the Aimashi Room casino. This time, she didn't use her card tricks—just played a few rounds to try her luck. Winning more than losing wasn't bad at all.
Anya casually tossed the money she won to the restaurant owner.
The restaurant owner, upon receiving the money, happily accepted it and added a few extra dishes as a sign of gratitude.
After finishing their meal, Yugao, who had been silent all along, finally couldn't help but ask, "Captain, why do you seem so unconcerned?"
"Getting upset won't help," Anya replied, resting her hands behind her head while leaning back on the chair. "Actually, Sunagakure Village's intentions have already become pretty clear. I think they probably suspect Konoha was involved in Kazekage's disappearance. Considering the grudges carried over from the Second Battle, their hostility toward Konoha definitely runs deeper than what they hold against Kumogakure."
Yugao asked confusedly, "Then why are we staying here?"
"Very simple—gathering intelligence," Anya said, pointing at a group of merchants dining nearby. "This is the closest town to Sunagakure Village. These traveling merchants usually have their ears to the ground when it comes to anything happening in Sunagakure Village. Therefore, this town is the perfect place for collecting information. This task, Yugao, I'm assigning to you."
"Me? All by myself?"
"That's right," Anya confirmed with a nod, then pulled out the mark that Nightingale had given her earlier and handed it directly to Haku. "This is the mark left by an undercover agent known under the codename 'Gardenia.' With this, you can make contact with her. Her current location is in Sanshouo Hanzo's area. I'm sure she has considerable knowledge about Sunagakure-related intelligence. Haku, this mission belongs to you."
Without hesitation, Anya assigned tasks to both of them.
Haku accepted the mark and asked, "What about you then?"
Anya's gaze calmly looked into the distance as she spoke, "As for me, naturally I'll be heading straight into Sunagakure Village itself. No matter how detailed an intelligence report might be, nothing beats actually seeing things with your own eyes."
Noticing that Haku wanted to protest, Anya cut him off with a shake of her head. "Enough talk. Carry out your orders. Regardless of how the intelligence gathering goes, we will regroup here five days later."
"Yes, understood."
The three split up and set off in different directions. Anya rode atop the eagle puppet, making her way directly toward the Loulan Ruins. From the very beginning, she had no intention of personally collecting Sunagakure intelligence, hence bringing along her squad members to handle such tasks. Of course, there also was a bit of personal motivation behind it because compared to Kumo's Battlefield, intelligence work generally came with significantly lower risk.
Following the directions given in Sasori's letter, Anya arrived at the area surrounding the ruins within half a day's travel time. A barrier had been set up here, clearly indicating that Sasori still was absorbing energy from the Ryumyaku.
After breaking through the barrier, Anya quickly stepped inside.
"Who's there?" A wary voice called out, and simultaneously, several kunai flew toward her direction.
Anya deflected the kunai and removed her mask. "It's me."
The person who emerged was none other than Mabui. Seeing Anya, she clearly still harbored resentment and gave her a sharp glare, saying unhappily, "Oh, it's you, Yunbai."
Anya found her look kind of amusing and couldn't help teasing, "Since we're both in the Organization now, how about we stick to codenames, 'Secretary'?"
"Sure sure sure, whatever you say, Lord Megatron," Mabui replied with a face full of despair.
Anya stopped there and asked, "Where's Red Spider?"
"He's still sitting by that Ryumyaku Chakra Control Seal. Hasn't moved in days."
"I'll go check it out."
With a single leap, Anya landed right in the heart of the ruins. The place was littered with crumbling buildings, some half-buried in sand and dirt, as though they had been leveled to the ground by a powerful sandstorm.
Sasori was seated inside one of the Seals. His face occasionally twisted in pain, taking on a fierce expression. Sensing someone approaching, he opened his eyes, glowing with divine light, and broke into a delighted smile. "Big bro Kurotsuchi, you're here!"
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