Chiga's Plan

"Caw-caw!"

Just then, two low caws from a pair of ravens drew the Rock Shinobi's attention. Soon, the caws echoed one after another.

"Caw-caw!"

"Caw-caw!"

A moment later, more than a hundred ravens suddenly flew out from the surrounding woods, circling and cawing in the air.

The four men's expressions changed in alarm, but when they realized it was only a flock of ravens, they relaxed again.

Yosuke said irritably, "This flock of ravens again."

Looking at the flock, Sida, the squad leader, also frowned.

That disobedient Red Rock Boar had not only killed five villagers, but also disturbed a flock of ravens' nest, forcing them to face the ravens' retaliation.

Although they had not taken it to heart, the thing they feared most during a mission was an accident, no matter how minor.

"Caw!"

However, after another caw, the ravens scattered in all directions, and the entire forest quickly fell silent again.

A trace of unease flashed through Sida's heart. He said, "If no one comes by tomorrow night, we must withdraw! I estimate that the villagers here have already sent a mission request to Konoha!"

Yosuke immediately said, "Captain Sida, this mission is extremely important. According to our preliminary intelligence, our spy obtained Konoha's border defense deployment map!"

The short figure also cut in, "Exactly. Given this village's financial situation, it can only be a C-Rank Mission at most. That means Konoha won't send any powerful shinobi here. We should still be able to buy some more time."

"Captain Sida, stay a little longer. Konoha can't possibly care about the deaths of a few villagers!"

This mission was of an exceptionally high rank, and the reward was also extremely generous. None of the three team members wanted to give up on it, so they all tried to persuade him.

Faced with their objections, Nakamura suddenly shouted, "Obey orders!"

"Yes!" The three men answered helplessly.

Half an hour later, with the ravens' return to the village, Chiga and Kushina also walked out of the room.

The ravens landed and dropped four small stones at Chiga's feet.

A trace of delight flashed across Chiga's face. He was becoming increasingly pleased with this raven.

After tossing the raven a piece of dried food, Chiga asked Kushina, "What do you think, Teacher Kushina?"

Kushina closed her eyes and remained silent for a moment. Then she suddenly opened them, her eyes filled with killing intent.

"Kill!"

Since becoming the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, she had not experienced a life-or-death battle in a long time, and the frustration in her heart had been building for ages.

Though Kushina yearned for peace, anyone capable of becoming a shinobi would have some bloodlust in their heart.

At the same time, two ANBU appeared in front of Chiga and Kushina.

Kazuma said to Kushina, "Kushina, we were lucky. We ran into this guy right after leaving the village."

A corpse wearing a Konoha shinobi uniform was hanging upside down from Kazuma's back.

Kushina stepped forward and lifted the corpse's face, but she did not recognize him.

She questioned the two ANBU with her eyes. When they both shook their heads, she stopped dwelling on it. Once they brought him back to Konoha and handed him over to the Yamanaka Clan, they would know everything.

Kushina searched through the shinobi's pockets and pulled out a scroll. When she opened it, her expression changed dramatically.

"The Grass Country border defense deployment map?!"

Her words shocked the two ANBU as well.

There were quite a few small countries between the Land of Fire and the Land of Earth.

These small countries were essentially battlefields for the two great nations, stages on which they displayed their respective military might.

Although these small countries had shinobi villages of their own, they were helpless before the great nations. All they could do was spread their legs and try to assume the most comfortable position possible.

The Grass Country was one of the main battlefields.

Konoha had also established quite a few strongholds in the Grass Country. While monitoring the Land of Earth's movements, they also served as defenses against an attack from the Land of Earth.

"Luckily, we intercepted it. If a war really breaks out, our losses would have been enormous."

Kushina sighed in relief.

Heiha nodded and said ruefully, "It seems the Shinobi World, which has enjoyed peace for only a short while, is about to descend into chaos again."

At present, although there were occasional clashes along the borders, things were far better than during a full-scale war. It could barely be defined as a period of peace.

Yet the Land of Earth was actually trying to steal Konoha's border defense deployment map for the Grass Country.

Whether intentional or not, this was enough for Kushina and the others to believe that the Land of Earth was already preparing for the next war.

Everyone fell silent for a moment before Kushina spoke first. "We can worry about the future later. For now, let's deal with that squad of Rock Shinobi in the mountains."

As she spoke, she turned to Chiga and asked, "Chiga, how do you think we should deal with them?"

Chiga glanced at Kushina and noticed the testing look in her eyes.

After thinking for a moment, Chiga said:

"Once they realize the mission has failed, they definitely won't linger to fight us. The moment they discover us, they'll run. With this mountain range, surrounding a four-man squad is impossible with so few of us. If we let them escape, things will get very troublesome."

"Exactly!"

Heiha nodded in agreement. "So what do you have in mind?"

Chiga continued, "So, we have to make them flee along the route we choose!"

"Then what should we do?"

Chiga smiled at Kushina. "Teacher Kushina, this is where you need to use your specialty!"

"Oh?" Kushina was stunned. Then, curiosity appeared on her face. "What do you need me to do?"

"Multiple Shadow Clone Technique! They have no idea how many people we brought. Use a large number of your Shadow Clones to feed their sensory shinobi false information, causing them to misjudge the situation and believe that Konoha discovered the theft of its intelligence and has deliberately surrounded them."

"We can reduce the number of Shadow Clones in one direction. That way, they will definitely choose that point for their breakout."

"As for us, we only need to wait quietly for them to run straight into us. We can even set traps. They might suffer casualties before the battle even begins."

"I see. I understand now!"

After hearing Chiga's plan, Kushina's eyes immediately lit up. Without her, this plan would have been impossible to carry out.

It seemed that her disciple understood exactly how to make use of their side's strengths.

"Highly feasible!"

The two ANBU, Heiha and Kazuma, nodded one after another after hearing the plan, agreeing with it.

"Kushina, you found yourself a fine disciple!"

Compared with his perfunctory praise earlier, Kazuma was far more sincere this time.

It was quite impressive for a newly graduated shinobi to possess such analytical ability.

P.S. There's one more chapter. I'll post it at noon. Something came up, so I had to go home for a while and delay it.