The Strange Sunagakure, The Truth -- Danzo Gets Tricked!

As Uchiha Jin spoke, everyone's expression turned grim.

If this guess was true, then things would get troublesome. They couldn't just stop procuring supplies, could they?

While their appearances could be hidden with transformation jutsu, their chakra natures couldn't be changed. They were afraid that Root's spies had already memorized their chakra signatures.

"Let's relocate first."

"We'll discuss other matters later. We have enough supplies for now, so let's find a safe place first."

"The Land of Rain is vast. As long as we're careful and cautious, I don't believe Root can find us!"

The others nodded in agreement.

After all, they didn't know what else they could do.

Soon.

They moved to a mountain hollow thirty kilometers away, surrounded by a lake and a vast dense forest.

However, it was unfortunate.

They hadn't even been there for two days before they encountered another squad of Sunagakure ninja.

Furthermore, after interrogating this squad of Sunagakure ninja, they received even worse news: Sunagakure had dispatched an additional six hundred ninja from the village to find this squad of Konohagakure ninja.

Although these ninja were of average strength, they had no other missions and were simply conducting a wide-ranging search for their small team.

These ninja were required to contact the Sunagakure camp every two hours. If they failed to contact them within the time limit, they would be listed as missing, and other Sunagakure squads in the vicinity would establish a encirclement based on the missing squad's last known location, with all surrounding Sunagakure forces converging on them.

"What, are they crazy?"

"What kind of benefits did Danzo offer to make the Sand ninja this insane in pursuing us?"

"Deploying so many ninja just to find our small team?"

Nara Shikaichi cursed loudly.

The intelligence obtained from this squad of Sand ninja was utterly incomprehensible to him.

Uchiha Jin, who had awakened his Sharingan at five years old, was indeed a genius, but he didn't deserve such a seemingly insane pursuit.

Uchiha Jin was also slightly taken aback, then immediately felt that something was wrong.

Let alone his displayed strength not being worth it, even Danzo wouldn't dare to do this. After all, Konohagakure and Sunagakure were at war. Such an action would be no different from suicide.

It was important to remember that with Sunagakure's large-scale actions, the ninja on Konohagakure's front lines would eventually find out. If Danzo couldn't provide a reasonable explanation for using such methods against his own village during wartime, would the front-line ninja revolt?

Even if Danzo was truly an idiot, Sarutobi Hiruzen wouldn't dare to authorize Danzo to do this!

"Something's not right!"

"Let's retreat towards Konoha's border. Even if the situation becomes too dangerous, we can return to Konoha at any time."

Uchiha Jin spoke again.

The current situation was unclear, but he still vaguely felt that this wasn't aimed at him.

It wasn't that he was looking down on himself; a mere five-year-old Uchiha prodigy didn't warrant this level of pursuit!

However, he couldn't quite grasp the truth of the matter, so he felt it was best to play it safe for now and head towards the border between the Land of Rain and Konoha.

Even if the situation turned out to be bad, they could still flee to Konoha.

He didn't believe that at this critical juncture of the war, Danzo would dare to defy public opinion and attack him directly in the Land of Fire, in Konoha.

Three days later.

After countless battles, their squad finally reached the border between the Land of Rain and Konoha. Takada Fujiwara glanced at the Konoha camp not far away, then tentatively asked, "From what we've gathered, Lord Jiraiya is in charge of the Land of Rain battlefield. Should we return directly to the front-line camp now?"

"Our mission, I don't think there's much of a problem!" Kakashi said directly. "When I accepted the mission, Jonin Sawada had already given me Pakura's intel. We can submit it directly upon our return."

Nara Shikaichi remained silent.

He was curious about what Uchiha Jin would do.

As for Uchiha Jin.

His expression was grim. At this moment, he truly felt unwilling. He could have used this mission to delay time and grow stronger slowly, but was he going to give it up just because of this bizarre situation?

Just as he was contemplating, Nara Shikaichi's expression changed, and he immediately used a summoning jutsu.

Upon receiving the letter from the ninja hawk again, Nara Shikaichi's expression changed drastically.

"Jin, take a look."

Uchiha Jin was somewhat confused.

But he still took the letter from Nara Shikaichi's hand. After reading it, he couldn't help but slap his forehead.

"Danzo, this guy is truly useless!"

"No wonder the Sand ninja were going crazy trying to capture me. It turns out Danzo dug his own grave!"

"Damn it, this is disgusting!"

Uchiha Jin let out a bitter laugh.

It turned out the truth of the matter was indeed similar to what he had guessed. Initially, Danzo and Sunagakure had reached a deal, planning to use the Uzumaki clan's Fuinjutsu as the price for a transaction, in exchange for Sunagakure helping him kill Uchiha Jin.

The whereabouts of Uchiha Jin's squad would be provided by the hidden Root.

But then, something went wrong!

Although Sunagakure desperately needed the Uzumaki clan's Fuinjutsu, as other ninja villages possessed Tailed Beasts, they didn't have specialized Fuinjutsu like Konohagakure.

However, it was the same for them.

Sunagakure's current Jinchuriki, Bunpuku, had long since made peace with their own One-Tail, so they had no immediate need for Fuinjutsu.

And a mere five-year-old Uchiha prodigy was not something Sunagakure truly took seriously.

On the contrary.

Their true target was actually Danzo himself!

Of course, to be more precise, Sunagakure wanted to escalate the situation, making Konohagakure aware of their dealings with Danzo, thus causing the Uchiha and Konoha's higher-ups to clash.

To put it bluntly!

They wanted to instigate a war between the Uchiha and Konoha, and then launch a surprise attack on Konohagakure when it was in chaos!

That was why they had proactively dispatched ninja to the Land of Rain, making such a big show of wanting to completely eliminate Uchiha Jin. If they could take out this Uchiha prodigy, that would be great, but even if they couldn't, they could use the opportunity to publicize their dealings with Danzo, ensuring as many Konoha front-line ninja as possible learned of it.

By then...

If the Konoha front-line ninja learned that their Elder Danzo was making deals with the enemy, selling intelligence to try and kill their own people, then even if the Konoha front line didn't collapse, no one would dare fight desperately for the village.

Moreover, with the Uchiha's stubborn nature, they might even start an internal conflict with Konoha's higher-ups.

No matter how you looked at it, this was better than a simple transaction!

The current situation was relatively simple. It was precisely because of Sunagakure's bizarre actions that Jiraiya and Minato Namikaze infiltrated the Sunagakure camp. After obtaining this intelligence, they immediately reported it to Sarutobi Hiruzen.

Then...

Sarutobi Hiruzen was utterly enraged!

They were fighting a war on the front lines, and Danzo was pulling this stunt from the rear?

He could imagine the devastating blow this would deliver to Konohagakure if it were leaked!

Therefore.

He directly imprisoned Danzo, personally apologized to Fugaku Uchiha, and was now having Nara Shikaku deliver a message for their squad to immediately abandon their mission and return to Konohagakure for rest and recuperation.

And they absolutely had to ensure Uchiha Jin's survival.

There was no other way!

Uchiha Jin was currently equivalent to the core of the formation. Although Sunagakure's main target wasn't him, his continued survival was extremely crucial.

If Uchiha Jin were to truly die on the battlefield, and this incident was related to Danzo, then it would be strange if those hot-headed Uchiha didn't explode!