"While the team on night watch was patrolling today, they suddenly heard jackals howling. That's something rarely heard under normal circumstances."
"We sent people to investigate at the time, but the jackals ran extremely fast, and they couldn't catch up."
An Anbu reported truthfully.
Ebizo's brow furrowed even deeper. Chiyo had also picked up on the issue, and her brow creased as well.
"So that was when they infiltrated. Why wasn't it reported then?"
The Anbu looked miserable as he explained with some grievance, "Although the howling drew our attention at the time, it was only for a brief moment."
"Other than that, there were no unusual developments, so we didn't think it was appropriate to disturb you two."
"This is a critical time for the village. Even the slightest—"
"Enough, Sister."
Just as Chiyo was about to reprimand him further, Ebizo spoke up and interrupted her.
His tone was filled with helplessness.
"If it was really as I suspect, then they can't be blamed."
At that, Chiyo's brow tightened further as she looked solemnly at her younger brother.
"Ebizo, have you discovered something?"
When it came to finding clues from the smallest traces and deducing accurate intelligence, no one in all of Sunagakure could compare to her brother.
Ebizo did not answer immediately. Instead, he moved closer to the hole in the ceiling and examined it.
There were still marks left by Gaara's sand attacks.
This was also the only place bearing traces of Gaara's attacks.
That indicated the two had fought for an extremely short time, with the victor decided in an instant.
Moreover, the enemy had used a kunai to suddenly appear in that position, then thrown another kunai at Gaara. After it was blocked by sand, Gaara launched a counterattack.
But unexpectedly, the opponent had been