"He can't handle a large force. He doesn't have enough troops. But a team of three to five? He can swallow that whole. He has White Zetsu, underground fortifications, and the terrain on his side. Three to five people going in would be like falling into a funnel. The farther they go, the narrower and deeper it gets. By the time they realize something's wrong, there's no turning back."
Neji narrowed his eyes.
"Then Lee is the bait."
"Right," Chisen said. "He didn't capture Lee to kill him. He did it to lure us in. Kabuto doesn't want Lee's life. He wants Konoha to send people to rescue him. Once we send someone, he wins, whether we get Lee back or not. If we rescue him, Kabuto gets to observe our abilities, tactics, and coordination in the process. If we fail, he gains another test subject. Lee's body holds the cellular memory of the Eight Gates Release. To Kabuto, that's research material even more valuable than White Zetsu."
Guy clenched his fists. He clenched them so hard his knuckles went white and his nails dug into his flesh. Blood seeped between his fingers and dripped onto the ground, drop by drop. He didn't feel the pain, or he felt it and didn't care. He stared at Chisen, his eyes even more bloodshot than before, but this time it wasn't anxiety. It was rage.
"You've said all this," Guy said, his voice so low it seemed to rise from beneath the earth, "just to tell us we can't go?"
"No," Chisen said. "I've said all this because we have to go. But we can't go the way he expects.
"We can't send a team of three to five out of Konoha, run straight to the Land of Rice Fields, and plunge