Why Didn't I Think of It Sooner?!

That squad had happened to run into Iwa, who had not even split up their forces—no, Iwa, who had shown no intention of splitting their forces at all...

And then there was Konoha, appearing out of nowhere...

Could all of this really have been such a coincidence? No! If not for this transmission of intelligence, everything could have been explained. On Konoha's side, it might truly have been a coincidence. As for Iwa, their encounter could also have been a coincidence, or perhaps they had deliberately left behind an interception squad to buy time for the Iwa forces tasked with seizing the intelligence. Iwa's failure to split their forces, as well as their lack of intent to do so, could be explained by their captain's inexperience. After all, both sides were beginning to suffer manpower shortages, and young, inexperienced ninja were gradually being sent on missions.

But this intelligence transmission made it seem as if someone had deliberately manufactured all these coincidences, deliberately drawing us, Iwa, and Konoha together.

All of this was someone's design! Without anyone noticing, this person had toyed with all three sides in the palm of their hand. What was even more terrifying was that all three of our squads should have been carrying out secret missions; otherwise, we would not have appeared at the edge of this battlefield. In other words, this person—or group—possessed our intelligence: when we set out, our routes, and the contents of our missions.

Everything about us was in this person's hands!

And we still don't know what this person intends to do! It was impossible to imagine what purpose they had in bringing the secret squads of Kumogakure, Iwa, and Konoha together to slaughter one another.

What benefit could that possibly bring them?

*The Third Great Ninja War was already