Along with Uchiha Jin's words, everyone's expression was very ugly.
If this guess was true, then things would be troublesome next. Surely they couldn't just stop procuring supplies, right?
Although their appearances could be hidden using the Transformation Technique, the nature of their chakra could not be changed. What they feared most was that those spies from Root had already memorized the flavor of their chakra.
"Let's move first."
"We can talk about the rest later. We have enough supplies for now, so let's find a safe place first."
"The Land of Rain is so vast. As long as we remain careful, I don't believe Root can still find us!"
Hearing this, the others also nodded.
After all, besides doing this, they had no idea what else to do.
Soon.
They relocated to a mountain hollow thirty kilometers away, surrounded by nothing but lakes and a vast dense forest.
However, what a pity.
They stayed here for less than two days before they ran into another squad of Sunagakure ninja.
Moreover, through interrogating this squad of Sunagakure ninja, they obtained an even worse piece of news: in order to find this squad of Konoha ninja, Sunagakure had dispatched a full six hundred more ninja from their village.
Although the strength of these ninja was ordinary, they had no other task other than casting a wide net to search for their squad.
Every two hours, these ninja needed to contact the Sunagakure camp. If they missed the contact time, it would be classified as missing, and then the surrounding Sunagakure squads would immediately set up an encirclement based on the missing squad, with all Sunagakure ninja in the vicinity rushing directly over.
"Are they out of their minds?"
"Just what kind of benefit did Danzo offer to make the Suna shinobi deal with us so frantically?"
"Mobilizing so many ninja just to search for our squad?"
Nara Shikaichi cursed angrily.
The intelligence extracted from the mouths of this Sunagakure squad simply made it a bit hard for him to comprehend.
A five-year-old Uchiha who had awakened his Sharingan could indeed be considered a genius, but surely he didn't warrant this kind of frantic, desperate hunting behavior, right?
Uchiha Jin was also slightly startled, and then instantly felt that something was not quite right.
Leaving aside the fact that the strength he displayed didn't warrant this, even if Danzo had lost his mind, he wouldn't dare do such a thing. After all, Konoha and Sunagakure were in the middle of a war, and this kind of behavior was no different from suicide.
One had to know that with Sunagakure moving on such a large scale, the ninja on the Konoha front lines would find out sooner or later. If Danzo couldn't give a reasonable explanation for using such methods against his own village during wartime, then just wait and see whether the front-line ninja would revolt.
Even if Danzo really was an idiot, Sarutobi Hiruzen would never authorize Danzo to pull something like this!
"The situation doesn't look right!"
"Let's retreat toward the Konoha border. Even if the situation really becomes too dangerous, we can still return to Konoha at any time."
Uchiha Jin spoke once more.
The current situation was not very clear, but he still had a faint feeling that this didn't look like it was meant to deal with him.
It wasn't that he looked down on himself, but a mere five-year-old Uchiha genius truly didn't match this level of hunting operation!
However, as for what the truth actually was, he was somewhat unable to figure it out for a moment, so he felt it was better to play it safe for the time being and run to the border between the Land of Rain and Konoha first.
Even if the situation turned south, they could still run toward Konoha.
He didn't believe that at this critical juncture of war, Danzo would dare brave universal condemnation to make a direct move against him within the Land of Fire and within Konoha.
Three days later.
After countless battles, their squad finally reached the border where the Land of Rain and Konoha met. Takada Fujiwara glanced at the Konoha base not far away, and then tentatively asked, "Judging from the information we've gathered, the Land of Rain battlefield is under the charge of Lord Jiraiya. Are we returning directly to the frontline camp now?"
"As for the mission we're carrying out, I don't think there will be much of a problem!" Kakashi spoke directly. "When I accepted the mission, Jonin Sawada had already given me Pakura's intel. We can just submit it directly after going back."
Nara Shikaichi did not speak.
Instead, he was curious about what Uchiha Jin would do.
And regarding this.
Uchiha Jin's expression was extremely ugly. At this moment, he was truly unwilling. Originally, he could have relied on this mission to buy time and grow stronger gradually, but was he just going to give up directly because of such a bizarre situation?
Just as he was thinking, Nara Shikaichi's expression changed, and he directly performed the Summoning Technique.
Retrieving the letter from the ninja hawk's grasp once more, his expression instantly shifted like a dye shop.
"Jin, take a look."
Uchiha Jin felt somewhat puzzled.
Yet he still took the letter from Nara Shikaichi's hand, and after he finished reading it, he couldn't help but slap his own forehead.
"That fellow Danzo really is trash!"
"No wonder Sunagakure went crazy wanting to catch me—turns out Danzo screwed himself over!"
"Damn it, this is so disgusting!"
Uchiha Jin offered a bitter, continuous smile.
It turned out that the truth of the matter was indeed similar to what he had guessed. At the very beginning, Danzo had indeed reached a deal with Sunagakure, preparing to use the Uzumaki clan's Fuinjutsu as the price in exchange for Sunagakure helping him kill Uchiha Jin.
As for the whereabouts of Uchiha Jin's squad, they would be provided by the hidden Root.
However, later on, a problem arose!
Although the Uzumaki clan's Fuinjutsu was indeed something Sunagakure desperately needed—after all, while other ninja villages possessed Tailed Beasts, they didn't possess targeted Fuinjutsu like Konoha did—
At the same time, however.
Sunagakure's current Jinchuriki, Bunpuku, had long since reached a reconciliation with their One-Tail, so they had no use for Fuinjutsu for the time being.
As for a mere five-year-old Uchiha genius, Sunagakure actually didn't take him seriously at all.
On the contrary.
Their true target was actually Danzo himself!
Of course, to be more precise, Sunagakure wanted to escalate the situation, allowing Konoha to discover their transaction with Danzo, thereby causing the Uchiha and the Konoha high command to turn on each other.
To put it plainly!
They wanted to instigate a war between the Uchiha and Konoha, and launch a direct sneak attack on Konoha when the village fell into chaos!
That was why they had taken the initiative to dispatch ninja toward the Land of Rain, making such a grandiose display of wanting to thoroughly wipe out Uchiha Jin. If they could eliminate this Uchiha genius, all the better; even if they failed to kill him, they could still use the opportunity to publicize their transaction with Danzo, letting as many front-line Konoha ninja as possible learn about this matter.
When that time came...
If the Konoha front-line ninja learned that their own Elder Danzo had made a deal with the enemy and sold out intelligence in order to get their own people killed, then even if the Konoha front lines didn't collapse, presumably no one would dare risk their lives for the village anymore.
Moreover, given the Uchiha's stubborn single-mindedness, there was a good chance they would engage in internal strife with the Konoha high command.
No matter how one looked at it, this was far better than a simple transaction!
As for the current situation, it was quite simple: precisely because of Sunagakure's bizarre actions, Jiraiya and Minato Namikaze had penetrated deep into the Sunagakure camp, obtained this intelligence, and immediately reported it to Sarutobi Hiruzen.
And then...
Sarutobi Hiruzen flew into a complete rage!
The front lines were fighting a damn war, and you, Danzo, were pulling this behind the scenes?!
He could imagine just how heavy a blow it would be to the entirety of Konoha if this matter were leaked!
Therefore.
He had directly placed Danzo under confinement, personally apologized to Uchiha Fugaku, and now had Nara Shikaku send word for their squad to immediately abandon the mission and return to Konoha to recuperate.
Furthermore, they had to ensure Uchiha Jin's survival.
There was no helping it!
Uchiha Jin was essentially the anchor point of the formation now. Although Sunagakure's primary target wasn't him, his well-being at present was still of the utmost importance.
If Uchiha Jin really died on the battlefield, and this matter turned out to be related to Danzo, it would be a wonder if those hot-headed brutes of the Uchiha didn't explode!
Before you continue