The Reason Why

Chūkichi kept patting the Albatross's back, trying to make it fly as fast as possible.

Unexpectedly, Shuichi had already caught up with them and would soon intercept them in the air.

He didn't see the small black dot rapidly approaching from below, but any ninja could sense the intense chakra fluctuations.

Upon noticing the anomaly Chūkichi's eyes widened in shock as he looked down. In his field of vision, Shuichi was flying through the air as if walking on flat ground, without any support.

"How is that possible!?"

As Konoha's signature figure in recent years, Purple Aurora has been a major enemy in defeating Kirigakure on the battlefield, and the village has never stopped gathering information about him.

The opponent's Flight ability must be due to summoning special birds using a secret technique; theoretically, such speed would be difficult to catch up with a living Ninja Beast.

But he didn't use any secret techniques at this moment. Could this Flight ability be another hidden trump card?

The experienced Chūkichi panicked slightly, but his strong will to survive made him immediately struggle and fight back.

"Wind Release: Cannonball!"

After carefully Hand Seals, simultaneously gather chakra in your feet to stabilize yourself, then raise the Albatross diagonally upwards.

Then he turned his head and spat out a series of visible gusts of wind downwards, which slammed straight down on Shuichi's head.

Shuichi smiled dismissively. This person's Wind Release skills were quite impressive, so he decided to give him some face.

He controlled the Magnet Release, dodging left and right to dodge the Wind Ball, and all attacks just grazed past him, only slightly slowing down his ascent.

Seeing that the man and bird were trying to escape, Shuichi immediately attacked with Senbon after successfully dodging, followed by Flying Thunder God Technique to close the distance.

He raised a single finger, aiming it upwards, and lightning shot straight out from the tip, shouting, "Lightning Release: Lightning Blade!"

Puff--

The slender beam of light pierced through the seabird and Chūkichi in an instant, and the strong paralyzing effect caused them to lose control of their bodies.

The Albatross let out a whimper as a large gash was cut open in its abdomen. The fierce winds from the sky cut away the blood from the wound like knives, and in unbearable pain, it suddenly collapsed to the ground.

Chūkichi was about to be thrown off balance by the swaying, but he managed to stay upright using only his instinctive chakra techniques.

Shuichi wouldn't let him die directly; this person must know many secrets, and capturing him alive would definitely yield a lot of information through interrogation.

Then another Senbon shard flew in, hitting its mark precisely as a figure flashed out, striking Chūkichi hard on the back of the head with a palm strike, knocking him unconscious.

Then, they used Steel Wire to lasso the falling person and pull them back, completing the capture of the Jonin alive in just a few breaths.

It's no wonder that Chūkichi was so unlucky; with such thorough preparation, he just happened to run into Shuichi, that monster.

If Konoha sent other ninjas, they probably wouldn't be able to keep up with Albatross's speed in the complex rainforest terrain, and even if they could, they wouldn't be able to do much against it.

Watching the large bird flutter and fall, Shuichi moment and decided not to get rid of it.

Because this is a species unique to the Land of Water, if it were discovered, it would only be associated with Kirigakure, and would have nothing to do with Konoha.

Holding the unconscious Chūkichi in his arms, he returned to the cave where the explosion had occurred as quickly as possible.

The ground here has sunk into a huge crater, and in the center stands a massive stone fist, a masterpiece created by Shuichi using Earth Release Ninjutsu, which will not dissipate anytime soon.

Swish!

He leaped onto his own Earth Fist, draining the remaining chakra within, and the stone pillar quickly melted away.

Shisui, Akiha, and Itachi were all inside the cave. Once the battle broke out, the team would naturally move towards this side. They now needed to discuss their next move.

"I've caught this guy. How many others are still alive?" Shuichi asked, putting Chūkichi down.

Shisui replied somewhat embarrassedly, "There were only two survivors; I couldn't capture the leader..."

Knowing he was doomed, Yuta deliberately sought out Taiseki to commit suicide when the underground cave collapsed. His head was smashed to pieces, and he died like a ninja, taking the secret with him underground.

Shisui was too busy ensuring Lady Miyazaki's safety to capture him, and the remaining two were samurai who were standing on the edge of the area. They narrowly escaped death thanks to Shuichi's Ninjutsu.

When Shuichi went to give chase, Shisui had already finished interrogating them for information.

This group consisted of wanderers who had long been active in the Land of Tea. A little over a month ago, Yuta recruited them with a considerable sum of money, and together with the kidnapped Lady Miyazaki, they infiltrated this cave in the Land of Tea and set up camp, even pretending to call themselves the Yellow Sand Group.

However, the samurai were not very clear about these things; they only followed Yuta for money, and they inexplicably stayed underground for a long time.

"It seems these two are the masterminds, employing a combination of overt and covert tactics," Shuichi pointed at Chūkichi and said. "This time, the enemy is quite well-prepared. If we hadn't arrived immediately, they might have prepared a deadly attack based on our intelligence."

"Whether they've hidden more experts in an ambush or devised a clever plan to lure the Sunagakure, the investigation team will definitely get bogged down and be made a fool of..."

The group thought about it and realized it was true. After Jonin were not to be trifled with. If it weren't for a top-tier expert like Shuichi, whose strength far surpassed others, this mission would have been incredibly troublesome.

"The commotion we caused was too great; Sunagakure squad might be arriving soon." Hyuga Akiha frowned slightly.

Having partnered with Shuichi for many years, he has developed many unique abilities under the influence of Shuichi's thinking, such as using his Byakugan to quickly memorize terrain and establishing a special coordinate system to analyze enemy movements.

The Sunagakure we almost encountered earlier moved more like on patrols than on missions, so the anomalies here will be discovered sooner or later.

"That's for sure, so we need to hurry!" Shuichi said to Shisui, "Let's work together and try to figure out the cause and effect. I'll control him to cooperate with your Sharingan Genjutsu."

"Understood!" Shisui's eyes swirled with the Three-Tomoe, and after Shuichi woke Chūkichi, he immediately began interrogating him. "Who are you? Where do you come from?"

"... Chūkichi, a Jonin from Kirigakure, is skilled in Wind Release and Water Release..."

Really!

The four members of Konoha had a sudden realization. They were now almost certain that the Land of Water was behind it all, but what about the Land of Wind?

"Why did you target the Konoha Ninja? And why did you kidnap the Lady of Matsuyama Castle? What's the story behind this?" Shuichi pressed down on the other person's head and asked with narrowed eyes.

"Because the village discovered important... resources, but at the time a squad of Konoha's Anbu happened to be there, and to keep it a secret, we had to kill them..." Chūkichi answered, seemingly in pain, his eyes blank.

"What resources?" Everyone became serious; the crucial point had arrived.

"A Seven Star Tree Forest."

Shuichi and the others' expressions changed drastically, their faces becoming extremely serious; they hadn't expected the matter to be so serious.

The Seven Star Tree is a special tree that can absorb chakra to grow, and it is a strategic resource that is more precious than gold to the ninja village.

This type of tree is extremely important to ninjas. Explosive Tag, sealing Scroll, Chakra Paper, and many other essential ninja tools all require this material to craft, significantly boosting the average combat strength of a ninja village.

While this might be considered a small ninja village with a scarcity of Ninjutsu, even a large ninja village wouldn't let such a precious material slip by.

As a candidate for the next Hokage, Shuichi knows more secrets. Konoha possesses two plots of land dedicated to the Seven Star Tree, which is quite strained for the village's many ninja to use together.

This can be seen from the prices of Explosive Tag and Chakra Paper; Chunin can carry two or three Storage Scroll are generally quite wealthy. Of course... Tenten, that rich woman in the Tenten, is an exception.

If Konoha were to control another Seven Star Tree production area, the price of these ninja tools would definitely drop significantly, which would be great news for the vast Civilian Ninja, greatly improving their survivability.

Shuichi pressed, "Where is the Seven Star Tree located?"

"About 200 kilometers northwest of Matsuyama Castle..."

This is within their Land of Fire! In other words, Kirigakure is secretly stealing their resources without Konoha finding out...

After further interrogation of Chūkichi, they finally learned the whole story.

After Kirigakure accidentally discovered the Seven Star Tree and killed Konoha Anbu to cover it up, they worried that Konoha's subsequent search teams would find the place, so they tried their best to divert attention.

When they sent someone back to the Land of Water to request reinforcements, the Mist Ninja immediately kidnapped the Lady Miyazaki and took them to the Land of Tea, bringing them to the battlefield where they had previously clashed with the Sunagakure.

Then, by ambushing and killing the Konoha Jonin squad, they made Konoha believe that the Anbu and Jonin Kawakami had caused the incident in the Land of Tea.

This shifts the focus away from the Seven Star Tree area, making it more advantageous for Kirigakure if a conflict Sunagakure during the subsequent search.

"That's really insidious. If I hadn't personally intervened, we would have been robbed of our chickens." Shuichi gloomy expression.

Then he immediately cut his finger, drawing blood, and wrote, "Hai-Xu-You-Shen-Wei, 'Summoning Jutsu!'"

Boom--

A somewhat bewildered Kotaro appeared on the scene. Why had he suddenly moved from the garden where he was eating insects?

It wasn't until it saw Shuichi writing furiously on the ground that it realized, "So this is the effect of the Summoning Contract! Shouldn't Itachi or Haku need my help in the battle?"

"Shuichi! You called me out here..."

"Enough with the nonsense!" Shuichi tied the Scroll up and shoved it into Kotaro's mouth, interrupting his muttering. "You immediately dispel the summoning and return, then deliver the information to the Third Hokage, right now!"

Kotaro: "..."

After arriving in Konoha, it learned many chakra usage techniques and finally successfully signed a contract recently. It thought its first summoning would be Kamui, but it turned out to be just a messenger...