Chapter 685: The Tsuchikage Goes in Person
Land of Rain, Six Paths City.
A team of ninja wearing Sunagakure forehead protectors entered Six Paths City.
The arrival of the Sand ninja team did not attract much attention from Ninshū or the city's residents.
Ever since news spread that Sōsuke had defeated Hiruzen, Six Paths City had become even livelier than before.
Many people came to buy houses, betting that Ninshū could withstand Konoha's pressure.
If that proved true, Six Paths City would not only become the safest place in the Land of Rain, but possibly one of the safest places in the entire Ninja World. Property prices would surely soar.
There were also many people selling houses, even more than those looking to buy.
Many believed that a small ninja organization like Ninshū would struggle to withstand the wrath of the Five Great Ninja Villages.
Even if its leader was powerful, Konoha would inevitably emerge victorious in a prolonged war.
The people of the Land of Rain were all too familiar with this process. After all, they had experienced it once before.
Besides those hoping to profit from the opportunity, many ninja were curious about Sōsuke, the man who had defeated the Third Hokage, and had specifically come to watch the spectacle.
Naturally, intelligence ninja from various Ninja Villages and other ninja forces were also indispensable.
"This Six Paths City is really lively. How long has this town existed? Three years? It's truly incredible," a Sand ninja exclaimed.
He felt that Six Paths City was even livelier than Sunagakure, despite being merely a town created by a small, newly emerging force.
"Lively? This kind of liveliness isn't a good thing," Yashamaru said, shaking his head slightly.
With the Five Great Ninja Villages currently observing a ceasefire, Six Paths City, which had a major conflict with Konoha, could be considered the center of the entire Ninja World's whirlpool.
Because of the potential Ninshū had displayed, it was likely that not only Konoha, but also the ninja forces surrounding Ninshū did not wish to see it prosper.
"Let's begin the mission. Don't waste time. We don't have much of it," Yashamaru said.
They had come to Six Paths City not to speculate on property, but to drive a wedge between Ninshū and Iwagakure while drawing Iwagakure to their side.
The Sand ninja nodded and began searching for Iwagakure ninja.
In truth, they were not the only small Sunagakure team in Six Paths City.
Another team had entered the city in disguise without wearing Sand ninja attire.
The two teams had different tasks.
Yashamaru's team was responsible for contacting Iwagakure's representative in Six Paths City, explaining the threat posed by Ninshū, and initially expressing Sunagakure's willingness to cooperate.
However, this was only the first step.
Although profit came first and everything else followed, Iwagakure had still cooperated with Ninshū for quite some time. Rasa did not expect Yashamaru to persuade them through words alone.
The disguised Sand ninja team was the true key.
They would frame Ninshū and falsely accuse it of hostile actions, thereby damaging the relationship between Iwagakure and Ninshū.
Once a rift appeared in their cooperation, Sunagakure would increase the pressure, making it extremely difficult for Iwagakure and Ninshū to maintain their partnership.
However, to prevent the operation from being exposed and discovered by Iwagakure or Ninshū, timing was crucial.
If Iwagakure rejected Sunagakure one day, only for an incident involving Ninshū to occur the next, Iwagakure would easily suspect the Sand ninja.
The covert operation and Yashamaru's contact with Iwagakure had to occur simultaneously.
Combined with the Sand ninja's secret methods, this greatly reduced the possibility of exposure.
If Iwagakure investigated, they would only discover that a single Sand ninja team had entered Six Paths City that day and had even sought them out openly.
To minimize the possibility of exposure, the two Sand ninja teams had no direct contact and acted only according to a previously arranged schedule.
Only if one side failed to complete its mission within the agreed time would they make contact and inform the other party that the operation had been temporarily suspended.
That was why Yashamaru said they did not have much time.
Of course, openly searching for someone was not particularly troublesome. Otherwise, the mission would have been far too difficult to complete.
"Hmm? Six Paths City actually has ninja skilled in puppet techniques?" A Sunagakure puppet master jonin was stunned after noticing the arm of a Ninshū ninja.
Although the arm looked remarkably similar to a real one, an artificial limb was still an artificial limb.
For someone like him, who dealt with puppets every day, it was recognizable upon closer inspection.
The Sand ninja puppet master was extremely surprised. Modifying the human body was not a simple technique.
The Ninshū ninja noticed the Sand ninja staring at his arm and originally wanted to promote their surgical procedure.
At present, production was limited, and because only Sasori could perform the surgery, artificial limbs were extremely expensive for anyone outside Ninshū.
However, after seeing the forehead protector on the man's head, the Ninshū ninja abandoned the idea.
Sunagakure was the sacred land of puppet techniques and the most advanced ninja force in the entire Ninja World when it came to puppetry.
Ninshū's artificial limbs were clearly a form of puppet technology.
It would be troublesome if Sunagakure stole their trade secrets.
Although the Sand ninja puppet master was curious, he had a mission to complete, so he suppressed his interest and continued with his task.
Thanks to Yashamaru and the others' swift movements, they quickly found Iwagakure's residence.
At an appropriate moment, Yashamaru revealed his identity as the Fourth Kazekage's brother in law and smoothly secured a meeting with Iwagakure's representative in Six Paths City, Jonin Hikari.
"After gaining control over the Land of Rain, Ninshū immediately launched operations in the Land of Birds. Their ambitions are clearly substantial…" Yashamaru began describing Ninshū's wild ambitions according to the prepared plan.
However, contrary to Yashamaru's expectations, Jonin Hikari did not show embarrassment or anger, nor did he scold Yashamaru for trying to destroy the friendship between Iwagakure and Ninshū.
Instead, he revealed a slightly surprised smile.
Yashamaru paused for a moment, confirmed that he had not said anything wrong, and then continued.
Jonin Hikari politely waited for Yashamaru to finish before speaking.
"You are absolutely right. I feel the same way. I didn't expect other forces to have also noticed Ninshū's ambitions."
Yashamaru fell silent.
Did the relationship between Ninshū and Iwagakure even need to be undermined?
Their cooperation was entirely superficial.
These two forces had not even truly begun cooperating. How was he supposed to incite them to separate?
Yashamaru was somewhat confused.
His grand plan to sow discord had only reached its first step, yet it already seemed to be over.
"Lord Yashamaru."
Just as Yashamaru was about to discuss cooperation between the two villages with Jonin Hikari, a Sand ninja who had been waiting outside hurried over with an anxious expression.
"Excuse me for a moment," Yashamaru said apologetically before walking toward the Sand ninja.
"Something terrible has happened. The other team was captured by Ninshū ninja. The plan has failed," the Sand ninja whispered.
Yashamaru fell silent again.
The plan had proceeded both smoothly and disastrously at the same time.
"Don't be nervous. Iwagakure also appears unwilling to let Ninshū continue growing stronger," Yashamaru comforted him.
If they had been caught, then so be it.
As long as he could reach an agreement with Iwagakure, the mission could still be considered successful.
Yashamaru then returned and discussed many matters with Jonin Hikari.
Both sides criticized Ninshū's ambitions, expressing concern that its growth would negatively affect the Ninja World, which had only recently entered a period of peace.
However, whenever Yashamaru mentioned cooperation, Jonin Hikari became vague.
In the end, he did not give a clear answer and only said that he needed to request instructions from the Tsuchikage.
Yashamaru was not angered by this.
After all, he had come seeking cooperation and had already prepared himself for such a response.
Rather, the current situation was already quite favorable.
Their team had nearly completed the mission on its own.
After seeing Yashamaru off, Jonin Hikari quickly convened a meeting with the other Iwagakure ninja, then sent information about the Sand ninja back to Iwagakure.
"Jonin Hikari handled this very well," Ōnoki said with a smile after reading the report.
Iwagakure also intended to cooperate with Sunagakure, but in any negotiation, the side being approached naturally held more leverage.
Jonin Hikari's response had therefore been excellent.
He had expressed Iwagakure's dissatisfaction with Ninshū while maintaining an undecided and somewhat wavering position.
"In that case, Sunagakure shouldn't be a problem. But opening a path through a small Ninja Village like Kusagakure may be more difficult," Ōnoki said thoughtfully.
During the Third Shinobi World War, Iwagakure had secretly reached a cooperation agreement with the leader of Kusagakure, and the Grass ninja had covertly assisted Iwagakure.
Later, Konoha intervened and disrupted the cooperation between both sides.
The former leader of Kusagakure transformed into a monster and was killed. Kusagakure and Iwagakure turned against each other, and the Grass ninja instead helped Konoha fight Iwagakure.
With Iwagakure's strength, controlling Kusagakure would naturally be easy.
Not every small country possessed a powerhouse like Sōsuke.
But one had to consider the master before beating the dog.
Kusagakure could now barely be considered Konoha's junior, so Iwagakure could not casually use force against it.
In truth, Kusagakure's participation was not particularly important to Iwagakure.
At most, it would save them from sacrificing some genin and chunin as cannon fodder. It would not affect the overall situation.
What Ōnoki truly valued was Konoha's attitude, or rather, the information about Ninshū concealed beneath that attitude.
If Kusagakure firmly refused to attack Ninshū, could that be Konoha's will?
How exactly had Hiruzen lost that battle, and why had he directly allowed Mugetsu to succeed him as Hokage?
"Since we will eventually stand on the opposite side of Ninshū, why not take advantage of our remaining friendship to gather intelligence now?"
A flash of inspiration crossed Ōnoki's mind.
He realized that he had fallen into a blind spot in his thinking.
He had constantly tried to investigate the battle through Ninshū and Konoha.
In reality, as Ninshū's ally, he did not need to do that.
He could send someone, or personally travel to Ninshū, claiming that he wanted to witness the Ninja Master's strength and engage in a friendly spar.
Given the current relationship between Iwagakure and Ninshū, could Sōsuke really refuse?
The relationship between Iwagakure and Ninshū was not like the one between Ninshū and Konoha.
Even if Iwagakure's powerful ninja lost, they could still request that Ninshū keep the result confidential.
This way, they would obtain the necessary intelligence without losing face or causing a sensation like Hiruzen had.
As for whether Ninshū revealed the news after the war began, that did not matter.
They would already be at war by then, so why would they care about a small amount of negative news?
"I'll go myself," Ōnoki decided after thinking it through.
Hiruzen had lost to Sōsuke, so someone else might not be able to test Sōsuke's true abilities in battle.
Ōnoki was confident that his strength was not inferior to Hiruzen's.
Any intelligence Hiruzen could obtain through battle, he could certainly obtain as well.
With that thought, Ōnoki quickly convened a high level meeting to discuss the matter.
After a period of deliberation, most of Iwagakure's high ranking officials approved his proposal.
Although Iwagakure was preparing to turn against Ninshū, they had not done so yet.
What danger could there be in a friendly spar with an ally?
At worst, they would simply bring a few more guards.
Even Hiruzen, who had a grudge against Ninshū, had managed to return to Konoha safely.
There was no reason their Third Tsuchikage would be detained by Ninshū.
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