Ebizo, Lord Danzo Sends His Regards

"Impossible. Impossible."

In the Wind Country, inside an abandoned village, Pakura stared blankly at the documents in her hands.

Hidezawa, Yugao, and Shisui, who was constantly putting eye drops into his eyes, paid her no attention.

The battle the day before had been anything but easy for them. Sasori's puppets had been numerous, vicious, and extremely dangerous!

Most importantly, that bastard could even use his puppets to fly.

While Sasori only had to think about how to fight with his puppets, Hidezawa and the others had far more to consider.

Most importantly, they could not let Sasori escape. That alone had consumed a tremendous amount of their energy and Chakra, though thankfully, everything had gone rather smoothly.

"Besides, we should be thanking Sasori properly now."

Hidezawa swept his gaze over the abandoned house. If nothing unexpected had happened, Sasori had probably wiped out this village while stocking up.

And it was precisely because of his identity, as well as the Third Kazekage "figure" he carried around, that Kabuto had gotten an opportunity.

Besides, if things went as expected, Sunagakure should be conducting a massive manhunt for him by now, right?

"How are you? Feeling better?"

While Hidezawa was inwardly thanking Sasori for his "contribution" to their cause, Yugao walked over and sat beside him.

"I really didn't expect this mission to be so troublesome, or for something like this to happen."

As she spoke, her gaze swept over Pakura, who was still staring fixedly at the documents in her hands. Only after a moment did she turn back to Hidezawa.

"You really are impressive."

"I've always been impressive, senpai."

Hidezawa shrugged, then said with a laugh,

"If I weren't a little impressive, how could I protect you, senpai?"

"I wasn't only talking about fighting."

Yugao pursed her lips and immediately changed the subject.

"I meant that you actually guessed Sunagakure's arrangements and intentions."

"That's right. You really are amazing."

Shisui poked his head over from the side. He had not asked how they had obtained the documents.

At the very least, he did not think Hidezawa would dare fabricate something like this. Besides, Hidezawa came from that department, so perhaps he had some channels.

But for Hidezawa to understand Sunagakure's situation so thoroughly without any special intelligence was truly not something an ordinary person could do!

"Alright, enough about how impressive I am. Let's think about the aftermath."

Hidezawa shook his head and rubbed his chin.

"We have more or less gathered the intelligence we need. We should also start considering what comes next and how we'll leave."

Although they had thrown Sunagakure into complete chaos, they seemed to have completed their mission no matter what.

That was also why Shisui trusted Hidezawa's intelligence. After all, it had to be submitted. Fabricating something like that could get people killed!

"Of course."

Shisui nodded, but then he remembered something and asked somewhat indirectly,

"Then what about your plan? And how do you intend to deal with Pakura?"

The plan was naturally to weaken Sunagakure. Shisui had been looking forward to bringing some glory to Uchiha.

"You'll learn about the plan later, senpai. As for Pakura, of course we'll return her."

Hidezawa was somewhat speechless. Wasn't the plan already more or less complete? Why did this guy's brain work quickly one moment and slowly the next?

But Hidezawa had no intention of explaining much. He merely looked at Shisui and Yugao, pondered for a moment, then spoke.

"However, there is something I need the two of you to do now."

"Go ahead."

Neither Shisui nor Yugao had any intention of refusing. They had already recognized Hidezawa's abilities in every aspect.

Whatever idea Hidezawa had now, barring anything unexpected, they would support it!

But Hidezawa's next words made both their expressions freeze.

"Why haven't they shown up yet?"

In an oasis near the River Country in the Wind Country, Ebizo stood waiting with a frown.

He still vividly remembered that battle. He had seen the Third Kazekage's puppet, as well as the person he could scarcely bring himself to believe was real!

"Was it you, Sasori?"

Ebizo fell silent. He was thinking about how to tell his sister about this, as well as how to minimize the impact of the matter.

But that very night, someone named Hideyoshi had suddenly requested to see him, told him this location, and handed him a kunai.

The kunai bore an obvious Konohagakure standard-issue mark. While it was nothing particularly significant, and many villages could forge such a thing, Ebizo did not dare let down his guard in the slightest at this time, especially since the one called Hideyoshi had used a Shadow Clone!

"Konohagakure... how deeply are they involved in this?"

Ebizo felt extremely uneasy, but after weighing the various interests at stake, he could only choose to believe it. So he had set out overnight and come here.

But the wait had worn down his patience. Just as he began to wonder whether he had been deceived, he finally saw two figures walking toward him!

"That is..."

Ebizo raised a brow. One of them wore a mask and seemed to be Anbu, while the other was...

"Pakura?"

Pakura had been captured by Konohagakure's people?!

Ebizo's face darkened, yet he also breathed a sigh of relief.

At least Pakura had been found. That was not bad news.

"Lord Ebizo, hello."

Before long, they arrived before Ebizo. The masked Hidezawa spoke calmly.

"You're from Konohagakure?"

Ebizo sized up the man before him, then said in a deep voice,

"You have some nerve, coming to Sunagakure to cause trouble. Should I admire you, or should I kill you?"

"That depends entirely on what you think, sir."

Hidezawa spoke indifferently. He glanced at the silent Pakura before continuing.

"After all, Anbu are lying in wait everywhere here. With a single order from you, sir, I can be surrounded. But are you sure you want to do that?"

"You think Konohagakure will acknowledge your identity after causing so much trouble?"

Ebizo remained unmoved. An Anbu coming to the Wind Country to stir up chaos—once exposed, that was practically the same as being dead!

Unless he could escape back home, in which case everyone could tacitly pretend nothing had happened. But whatever occurred within another village would never be acknowledged.

"Konohagakure naturally won't, but I don't represent Konohagakure alone."

Hidezawa decisively shook his head. He had dared to come face-to-face with Ebizo not only because he had some confidence in his own strength, but because he had other methods as well.

"And sir should also trust our professionalism. We have already grasped most of the intelligence we need.

Once you make a move, some information will be sent out. After all, I represent someone important in discussing cooperation with you."

"What have you learned?"

Ebizo's expression was somewhat displeased, but seeing how certain the man before him was, he still asked.

That was exactly what Hidezawa had been waiting for. He immediately put on a solemn expression and softly said,

"Lord Ebizo, Lord Danzo sends his regards."

"..."

Fuck, it was Danzo?!