Meeting Them

After Yuzuru transmitted this urgent, important, and very common piece of information, he immediately left the cave entrance and plunged into the dark, rainy night alone.

He no longer concealed his movements, but ran wildly without restraint... Opportunity knocks but once, and now is not the time to hesitate. Of course, he had to run for his life.

As he swiftly moved through the jungle, in the northern part of the Land of Rain, a ninja wearing a special forehead protector resembling a helmet, a rebreather mask, a black cloak, and wielding a giant scythe was fighting against Iwagakure's Jinchuriki.

Even with a two-on-one advantage, the Jinchuriki under normal circumstances were no match for Hanzō. After all, Iwagakure's Jinchuriki was not a perfect Jinchuriki, and these two Jinchuriki were quite young, making their combat power even more insufficient.

Facing Hanzō's pressure, the Jinchuriki were forced to "transform," and even a light transformation was not enough.

Amegakure's Hanzō could be considered a "miniature Senju Hashirama" of this era. He was in his prime, and his strength was unfathomable.

The strength of his power also shaped Hanzō's magnanimous spirit. He was now a ninja with "great ambition" and even a perspective that overlooked the entire Shinobi World.

Unfortunately, a near-god is not a true "God of Shinobi," and Hanzō's goal could never be achieved in the end... No matter how brutal the war, the Five Great Shinobi Villages still stood above the other villages.

Over at the Konoha camp, although it was already late into the night, Orochimaru had not yet rested. He was alone in a tent, holding a scroll and quietly reading by the flickering candlelight.

He appeared calm, but his thoughts were as active as his shadow dancing in the lamplight.

Suddenly, Orochimaru seemed to realize something. He narrowed his eyes and looked into the distance... Had something happened over there?

Of course, he couldn't see anything from here, but he had ways of obtaining information.

During the battle earlier that day, he had left several summoning snakes at different locations on the Land of Rain battlefield for surveillance. This method of surveillance was better than nothing, as summoning beasts could only maintain their presence in the real world for a limited time, but it could sometimes play a crucial role.

So, he immediately formed hand seals to perform a summoning. Then, a communication snake abruptly appeared before him.

"..."

Huh? Did he summon the wrong snake?

Orochimaru was a little confused. He was an adult, so how could he make a mistake when performing a summoning technique?

Next, the summoning snake spat out two scrolls from its mouth.

"A message?"

Now Orochimaru seemed to understand something, but who could send him a message through a summoning beast from Ryūchi Cave? Wasn't he the only ninja connected to Ryūchi Cave?

Orochimaru suddenly realized that he wasn't as special as he thought.

He first unrolled the first scroll and found that the information came from a ninja named Yuzuru, who was from Torifu Akimichi's squad. He had been separated from the main Konoha forces during the previous battle in the Land of Grass and was trapped in the Land of Rain.

Currently, Yuzuru was trying to find a way to pass through the Land of Rain and return to the Konoha front-line camp... He hoped that the recipient of the communication scroll would inform the Akimichi captain.

Orochimaru didn't care whether Yuzuru could return safely. He keenly grasped the key point:

"This ninja knows that the message could reach me, which means he has a connection to Ryūchi Cave and knows that I have a connection to Ryūchi Cave."

However, the latter was quite normal. Although ordinary ninjas couldn't even utter the words "Ryūchi Cave," who didn't know that Orochimaru could command summoning snakes?

Orochimaru set the scroll aside and then unrolled the second scroll. The information on this second scroll was something he had to take seriously.

"So that's it, the Jinchuriki are active... Is this the source of that heart-pounding feeling I just had?"

After all, Orochimaru was a Konoha ninja. He could no longer sit still. He took the two scrolls and went to the command center to meet Mitokado Homura, who was on duty that night.

The technology in the Shinobi World was also constantly developing. Konoha at this time did not have the battlefield-wide chakra monitoring capabilities that were deployed during the Fourth Great Ninja War. The current Konoha could not yet produce the large, water-ball-like device used back then.

But such a large commotion, even a keen ninja could sense something. So, when Orochimaru arrived at the command center, ninjas were already reporting the abnormal chakra reactions on the battlefield to Mitokado Homura.

"Orochimaru? What is it?" Mitokado Homura asked immediately upon seeing Orochimaru.

"I've received a piece of intelligence here, regarding the Jinchuriki's activities."

Orochimaru got straight to the point and handed the two scrolls to him.

Mitokado Homura took the scrolls and quickly read them. He glanced at the sensing ninja and then immediately said to a guard ninja, "Go find Torifu Akimichi."

The ninja left quickly, and soon, Torifu Akimichi was brought back.

A major battle had just ended, and Konoha had lost many ninjas. Therefore, they had temporarily adopted a tactical contraction in their operations, with a considerable number of ninjas staying in the camp.

"Torifu, is the missing ninja from your squad named Yuzuru?"

"Yes, what happened?" Torifu Akimichi hadn't expected to hear Yuzuru's name from Mitokado Homura.

Could Yuzuru still be alive? The Akimichi captain was slightly agitated.

Yuzuru had been missing for several days with no news, essentially categorized as "dead without a body."

"He's still in the Land of Rain. This is the intelligence he sent back."

Torifu Akimichi took the scroll and was stunned after reading it. He hadn't expected Yuzuru to be able to send back such important news, but... how was it sent back? Was it related to Orochimaru?

The person who could engage in a fierce battle with a Jinchuriki, even forcing them to the brink of losing control or going berserk, and thus unleashing a deadly move like the Tailed Beast Ball, should be Amegakure's Hanzō. Danzō's previous plan seemed to have succeeded... Torifu Akimichi thought silently.

After all, the intelligence about the Jinchuriki's activities had been passed from Konoha to Amegakure.

If Hanzō could hold off the Jinchuriki, it would naturally be good news for Konoha.

In addition to the intelligence, Yuzuru also explained his escape route on the second scroll and requested that Konoha dispatch a ninja squad to enter the Land of Grass for a rendezvous...

Normally, a ninja like him wouldn't qualify for a rendezvous, but now it was different; he possessed valuable intelligence.

After all, he "personally" witnessed the great battle of the Jinchuriki.

"Yuzuru should know more details. My squad can go to meet him..." Torifu Akimichi said immediately.

However, Orochimaru suddenly spoke up, "No, it's better we go to meet him."

"?"

Torifu Akimichi was a bit confused. He knew Orochimaru somewhat and didn't recall him being the "helpful" type.

"This message was passed to me, so I have reason to ensure the other party returns alive."

Orochimaru wanted to figure out Yuzuru's connection to Ryūchi Cave, and his curiosity was getting the better of him.

To him, this was even more important than any Jinchuriki intel.