Success
The infiltration of Sunagakure went relatively smoothly, except for a few minor mishaps during the final inspection phase.
Just as Orochimaru said, no one can do intelligence work flawlessly, because all sorts of unexpected situations can happen in the real world. This is exactly what happened when Shuichi encountered a lunatic who liked to film melons.
Although Shuichi could launch a sudden attack in an emergency, these inspectors might not even be able to make a sound, and he could then use Genjutsu to control them, this would risk exposing him.
So when Shuichi saw that Mitsui had stepped in and resolved the potential crisis, he reciprocated with his own hints. Whether Mitsui believed it or not was none of Shuichi's business.
The process of entering Sunagakure was not easy. Before coming, the Third Hokage had given Shuichi a general understanding of Sunagakure's defensive arrangements. Ultimately, this troublesome method was a last resort.
After analyzing the intelligence, it was discovered that infiltration was not an easy task.
First, there's the method of burrowing underground. Sunagakure is built on desert land, and if we don't take precautions against it, the experts in Earth Release Iwagakure and Konoha will turn the village into a sieve.
Therefore, the underground of Sunagakure was already filled with seals. Although they could not create a Barrier Ninjutsu that covered the entire village like Konoha, they could still cover only the ground.
Another unreliable method is aerial invasion. Not to mention that Sunagakure has people monitoring the sky at all times, Konoha's intelligence also shows that Sunagakure has quite a few experts capable of aerial combat, including the Third Kazekage, his disciple Rasa, and several other Jonin who can use Sand Manipulation Techniques. This is just the information Konoha obtained from the Second Great Ninja War.
If Deidara were to replicate his future actions now, his corpse would probably be cold within minutes.
"Now that I've successfully infiltrated, the mission is more than half complete. How much intelligence I get depends on luck."
Shuichi is currently on the edge of Sunagakure. He knows the address of the intelligence agent's residence, but not the exact location, so he can only wait for the people living there to return.
Before dark, the sound of keys being opened came from outside the front door, and Shuichi, who was hanging from the ceiling, was extremely focused.
"They shouldn't be a ninja; I can barely sense any chakra fluctuations."
When the door opened, a middle-aged woman with an ordinary face and a headscarf walked in. After she finished tidying her shoes and looked up, she felt that something was strange about her today, even though nothing in the house had changed.
Seeing the woman in front of him stiffen and remain motionless, Shuichi, who was using Genjutsu, quickly assessed her condition, including her limbs, physical strength, and other factors, to determine if she was a ninja.
"He's just an ordinary person, that makes things much easier."
The hand seals were lowered, and ordinary people basically couldn't break free from the Genjutsu's shackles, so extracting information through torture wasn't too troublesome.
He guided the woman to the table, Shuichi had already placed paper and pen there. She then obediently picked them up and began to write and draw, including the specific locations of several streets in the village and a rudimentary map.
A moment later, she felt as if she had come to her senses.
"Strange..." She looked at her notebook on the table. "Why did I start writing in my diary as soon as I got home?" Seeing that it was full of conversations with her neighbors, she could only console herself, "Maybe life is too stressful. This is a good way to cope. I can try it again in the future..."
After figuring out the location of Konoha's hidden intelligence agents, Shuichi left the house and stealthily made his way to that location.
Under the cover of night, there were few pedestrians on the streets of Sunagakure, a stark contrast to the atmosphere of Konoha, giving the village an unusual sense of desolation.
Shuichi, transformed into a small black snake, slowly crawled forward, weaving through the corners of various buildings, undetectable to anyone except those highly sensitive to chakra.
After almost an hour, he finally arrived at his destination. Seeing that there was no one around, Shuichi, who had reverted to his original form, flashed into the building.
Shadai is a middle-aged bachelor who grew up in Sunagakure. Although he did not become a ninja, he has excellent skills in repairing ninja tools and knows many ninjas in the village.
However, he was a rather contradictory person. Despite having saved a lot of money, he was not unable to find a wife. Rather, he had visited the Land of Fire many times when he was young and felt that the environment there was much better than that of the Land of Wind.
Given the prevailing customs in Sunagakure, most of the better women married ninjas, and he wasn't very satisfied with the women who were interested in him. Once married, his dream of settling down in the Land of Fire would be shattered, so he spent the first half of his life in a state of confusion.
"Ugh, what's going on? My headache just won't go away lately," Shadai thought to himself, lying in bed, feeling frustrated.
For the past few months, he has been feeling dizzy and lightheaded. He went to see a doctor, but they couldn't find anything wrong. He initially thought it was from being overworked, but even after trying to go to bed early every day, the problem persisted.
While he was tossing and turning in bed, he was unaware that a dark shadow had already approached him. Without seeing anything, he fell asleep.
Upon seeing this, Shuichi knew it was time to begin. He took out a relatively large Scroll from his person; this was an essential item for the operation.
When it was unrolled, it was covered with densely packed spells and characters. This was a high-level Curse Mark Technique of the Anbu. Since Shuichi did not know this, the Third Hokage could only make it into Scroll for him to carry.
He formed several hand seals in succession, then slapped his hand on the Scroll, and the runes popped out and entered Shadai's brain.
"Phew... finally it's untied. I can see if any of the other intelligence agents leaked any information before they were subdued that could prove the Third Kazekage was in trouble. Otherwise, my Special Jonin would be in danger. I don't want to risk going out to investigate myself."
This Cursed Seal is an advanced control technique that restricts the brains of ordinary people. If the Sunagakure's interrogators try to invade Shadai's brain, the Cursed Seal can use the opponent's chakra to completely destroy the brain. It can only be broken by knowing a special technique.
"In August, the Lord Kazekage set up an inspection mission for the Ninja Academy, but it was canceled for some unknown reason..."
"Two months have passed, Lord Kazekage seems to have become mysterious. Several policies that were set have stalled, causing some dissatisfaction among a few ninjas..."
"Shi Jiu said she hasn't run into many friends lately, and she wonders what all those Jonin in the village are doing there..."
As Sha Tu spoke unconsciously, Shuichi kept taking notes. Most of the information came from spies sent by Konoha. The closer to the present time, the more indicative the information about the Third Kazekage's potential problems became.
Upon discovering that the Sha Tu had stopped being mentioned, he knew that this was all the information gathered before the intelligence agents were placed under surveillance.
"Not bad. Although it wasn't explicitly stated that the Third Kazekage was missing or dead, it's enough to prove that something serious happened to the Kazekage. After all, the more forces Sunagakure mobilizes, the harder it is to keep the news hidden." Shuichi was secretly pleased. As long as the Third Hokage kept his word, he should be able to become Special Jonin when he returned.
After dispelling his chakra by placing his hand on the Sha Tu on his forehead, his mission was successfully completed, and now all he needed to do was return to Konoha.
This issue had been considered beforehand. Using Ninjutsu within Sunagakure carried the risk of being detected, so Shuichi prepared a Barrier to shield against chakra fluctuations. He also sent Snake to communicate with Orochimaru beforehand.
After setting up Barrier in the room, he carefully summoned a snake of a suitable size, then used Transformation Technique to shrink himself and enter the snake's belly, leaving a Shadow Clone to remove the Barrier's traces. This rather difficult intelligence gathering mission was thus successfully completed.