Encirclement

The next few days passed in the march. On the fourth day, new activity arose in the Rain Country.

A Ninja Eagle swooped down onto its perch. The Ninja Hawk Squad's former courier ninja was collecting intelligence as usual when he saw the urgent, top-secret seal. His eyes suddenly narrowed, and the drowsiness of the midnight hour vanished without a trace.

He snatched up the intelligence and bolted, releasing Body Flicker after Body Flicker without regard for his Chakra, before rushing into the Intelligence Cipher Decoding Squad.

His colleague needed no explanation. Taking the intelligence, they immediately began working. Within minutes, the decoded report reached Acting Hokage Mito.

Mito, who had only just gone to sleep, stared at the report in her hands and frowned deeply.

Sand Hidden Village has entered the war, Hidden Rock Village has entered the war, Hidden Cloud has entered the war, and Kirigakure has entered the war. Our forces are currently surrounded in the hinterlands of Amegakure. Critical. Send reinforcements immediately.

The situation was extremely perilous.

The various ninja villages had chosen to unite instead of fighting separately as they had before, denying Konoha the chance to defeat them one by one.

Mito immediately thought of sending forces to rescue them.

But how many would be appropriate?

At that moment, the Den Den Mushi beside her pillow rang. Mito answered it.

"Mimi, you already know the situation, right?"

"Yeah," Mimi replied.

"What do you think?" Mito asked.

"Rescue them." Mimi gave a concise answer.

There was no way Jiraiya's forces could be abandoned.

"Are there no problems?" Mito asked.

"It could be a diversion," Mimi replied.

"That's certainly possible." Mito acknowledged it. "We can't neglect the village's defenses either."

"From what we can see, Water, Earth, Wind, Lightning, and Rain have formed a new Five