Long time no see.

The wind howled, swirling fallen leaves into the air, while sand danced in the air, obscuring the view of both sides and making their figures blurry and indistinct.

Chiyo secretly made a hand gesture, and Ebizo, who had been siblings fighting and living together for many years, understood Chiyo's thoughts almost instantly.

Bang bang bang!

A Scroll was flung out of his hand, and a thick fog immediately billowed out of the forest. Tōka's eyes narrowed, and he immediately locked onto the auras of Chiyo and Ebizo.

Tōka subconsciously thought that the two old guys would summon a powerful puppet, but unexpectedly, the breeze in the forest dispersed the thick fog, revealing a clearing.

There was no trace of the ghostly figure left in the open space; the two who had been preparing for battle had long since fled.

"She ran away??" Tōka's movements froze slightly, his face showing surprise. He hadn't expected that an old man like Chiyo, with such a strong personality, would escape.

Chiyo and Ebizo were fast, but in Tōka's eyes, they were no match for them.

Knowing their locations, Tōka can instantly teleport to their side using the power of her Dojutsu.

In fact, that's exactly what Tōka did.

"Scorpion, what do you want to do?!" But suddenly, a broken steel tail appeared, blocking Tōka's path.

Is that Hiruko's tail?

Tōka raised an eyebrow. It wasn't that he couldn't get past Hiruko's obstruction to leave, but rather that he didn't understand why Xie was standing there staring at him.

"The ninjas from Kirigakure are not far away. It would be best to leave here first." Sasori turned around and walked straight into the depths of the Forest, leaving only a deep and somber figure behind.

A subtle glint One Flash in Tōka's eyes as he stared at Scorpion's retreating figure for a long time without saying a word.

Scorpion's reasoning was far-fetched; they were just two useless old men who could easily escape.

In the sky, Deidara noticed that Tōka and Sasori had already retreated, and immediately controlled the Clay Giant Bird to fly to the other side of the deep mountains.

Having left the boundless sea and entered the mountainous territory of the Land of Fire, Deidara had an obstacle in the air, allowing him to avoid the enemy's sight and significantly reducing the danger. Therefore, he dared to create a Clay Giant Bird and fly into the sky at the first opportunity.

Sasori was very fast, even faster than when they retreated from the Land of Water, seemingly intending to lead Tōka and Deidara away from the Forest where they had encountered each other.

Tōka didn't point it out, quietly following behind Scorpion, keeping a distance of six or seven steps.

Taking advantage of a brief moment of movement, Scorpion secretly glanced back, confirming that Tōka was right behind him, before secretly letting out a sigh of relief.

He didn't know why he did it; it was just an instinctive urge.

Sasori didn't want Grandmother Chiyo Ebizo to face off against Tōka Ebizo; deep down, he wanted them to go as far away as possible.

When they were young, the three of them arrived in the heart of the Land of Fire, no less than twenty miles from the east coast. It was impossible for Mei Terumī of Kirigakure to venture twenty miles further to continue the pursuit.

Scorpion found a spot at the foot of a mountain surrounded by a stream and stopped to rest.

The water gushed out through the gaps between his fingers. Deidara squatted by the river, scooped up a handful of water and splashed it on his face, washing away the dust and the disheveled state of his days of escape.

"Brother Sasori, I can't swallow this insult! I must find a chance to get revenge, hmm!" Deidara shouted, extremely displeased.

Although he seems a bit eccentric, he's not a fool who can't see the bigger picture.

On the Battlefield on the small Land of Water, ever since those two old guys appeared, Brother Sasori has been acting a bit strange. With Sasori's strength, controlling a hundred puppets wouldn't be a problem.

However, at that time, Sasori only Human Puppet the Human Puppet of the Third Hokage and the Fourth Mizukage.

Upon hearing this, Sasori didn't even glance at Deidara, silently gazing at the flowing water before him, maintaining his aloof silence.

"Deidara, what exactly happened during the time you captured the Three-Tails? Tell me in detail."

Tōka was quite interested in the specifics of the battle, if Scorpion still harbored a shred of emotion...

As a chess piece, this is not right!

Moreover, the power that Tōka gave to Sasori, combined with Sasori's own strength, would be enough for Sasori to conquer not only a Small Nation, but even a powerful second-tier ninja village like Takigakure.

If such a powerful fighting force cannot be fully controlled, the consequences will be extremely serious.

At best, it would only result in the loss of some important combat forces; at worst... it's unimaginable.

Deidara glanced subconsciously at the silent Sasori, then shook the water off his hands and got up to walk towards Tōka.

"Actually, nothing special happened, it's just that Brother Sasori seems a bit strange, hmm." Deidara stroked his chin, sat down on a rock next to Tōka, and looked deep in thought.

"What's so strange?" Tōka knew a little about what Xie was thinking, but still wanted to confirm.

"After infiltrating the Land of Water, Brother Sasori and I plan to rest temporarily on an island near the Three-Tails' hiding place."

Deidara carefully recalled...

"When the wounded soldier came ashore from the back of the mountain, he encountered Assassination Squad from Kirigakure Ninja, Rogue Ninja Zabuza Momochi..."

The stream flowed past them, its rushing water drowning out Deidara's whispers. Tōka listened silently, occasionally interrupting to ask a key question.

Along the eastern coastline of the Land of Fire, a group of shadowy figures dressed in tight-fitting ninja outfits flashed by.

"Mizukage, the outposts in Konoha have all been taken down. Should we continue the pursuit?" A Kirigakure Ninja Anbu arrived from a distance to report the situation.

"Did anyone get hurt?" Mei Terumī, not wanting others to know that she had infiltrated the Land of Fire, sent someone ahead to knock out the ninjas from a Konoha stronghold on the east coast.

The outcome for the ninjas responsible for surveillance, facing the Shadow Guard personally led by the Mizukage, was naturally a foregone conclusion.

However, it won't be long before they are discovered by other Konoha Ninja nearby.

"As per the Mizukage's orders, we used Genjutsu to put the Konoha Ninja to sleep before they discovered us at the base," the Kirigakure Ninja Anbu stated confidently.

"That's good. Teams two and three will stay behind to provide backup, team one will come with me." Now that a breach has been created in the cordon on the east coast of Konoha, Mei Terumī naturally intends to continue the pursuit.

However, this time she cannot pursue him as openly as she did in the Land of Water; she can also mobilize forces from other places to provide support.

Having infiltrated the Land of Fire, Mei Terumī could only pursue him secretly.

"Lord Mizukage, continuing this pursuit may not yield any results, and encountering Konoha Ninja could be disastrous," said Ao, the captain of a small Assassination Squad and a member of Mei Terumī's Shadow Guard.

"I have my own plans. You just need to follow orders!" Mei Terumī glared at Ao and said coldly.

Mei Terumī is a strong-willed woman. When the enemy invaded the Land of Water, they swaggered away, and importantly, there were only two of them.

Although it was unintentional, it can be considered as indirectly letting the Rogue Ninja Zabuza.

She... just couldn't swallow this insult.

"Should we inform Konoha first?" Ao had many ideas. Informing someone else on their turf in advance was a completely different matter from being discovered afterward.

Just Mei Terumī was about to set off, she paused, her brows furrowing slightly. Although Ao, as an elder, was not as strong as her, he was very capable in terms of thinking and strategy.

"Inform? Then wasn't all that work for nothing?" Mei Terumī retorted, annoyed.

She had just taken down a stronghold on Konoha's east coast perimeter when she immediately sent word to Konoha about her arrival.

Isn't this just contradicting yourself?

Under Mei Terumī's chillingly murderous gaze, a bead of cold sweat trickled down Qing's temple.

"Just deny it, Konoha won't find any evidence anyway." Blue's eyes darted around, and he immediately had an idea.

"We can send a small team to that outpost and say that we just chased two Rogue Ninja here, intending to inform them, but found that everyone inside the outpost was under Genjutsu."

Mei Terumī narrowed, and she had made her decision. "Second squad, take this letter I wrote to Konoha and present it to the Hokage in person."

"Squad Three, do as Qing says."

Because of the time constraints, Mei Terumī wasn't one to beat around the bush, the letter contained only two very straightforward and indirect lines.

Swish swish swish!!

Three teams, totaling thirteen people, split into three groups and rushed into the depths of the dense Forest.

The sound of rushing stream water was incessant, and the water splashed against Hiruko's clothes, soon wetting her red and black Coat.

From Deidara's words, Tōka confirmed his guess.

"Scorpion, you don't seem to have realized your mistake yet!" Tōka, who was casually leaning against Tree Stump, glanced lazily at Scorpion.

Scorpion continued his unhurried movements, cleaning Hiruko's tattered tail.

Hiruko's tail was specially made by Sasori, capable of blocking all elemental Ninjutsu below rank B, but now it looks so pathetic.

Tōka narrowed his eyes slightly. It must have been Mei Terumī who did it, right? Since it didn't look like a burn mark, it must have been the extremely acidic and corrosive Boil Release.

After a while, Scorpion remained unmoved and ignored Tōka's words.

"That guy Scorpion..." This was the first time Tōka had been ignored; a fleeting Ice Blue halo One Flash in his eyes.

Tōka's guiding principle is to eliminate all factors that could lead to failure, which will then result in success.

Some unstable factors that affect success are also among the series of issues that have been excluded.

"Forget it, you can talk to Nagato about this yourselves." Tōka patted the mud off his clothes and slowly stood up.

It seemed that Sasori was planning to leave. He had his back to Tōka and Deidara, but he was aware of the movements behind him.

Finally, Tōka added a sentence.

"Don't mention me to Nagato. Also, Mei Terumī."

Call!

A gust of wind blew by, and Tōka's figure was blown away like an ink painting. Deidara's eyes lit up slightly. He knew that Tōka was as powerful as a deep pool of water with no bottom.

But I was truly amazed by Tōka's Space-Time Ninjutsu, every time...

"Brother Sasori, what do we do next?" Deidara asked Sasori, turning his head to look at him, remembering Tōka.

"In the Land of Fire, Mei Terumī is just like us." Sasori approached slowly, his low, husky voice ringing out.

He heard everything Tōka said, but he deliberately avoided the question because he himself didn't know how to face Chiyo and Ebizo.

Therefore, when the battle broke out in the Land of Water, Sasori chose to retreat immediately.

"Like us?" Deidara didn't understand Sasori's meaning at first, but seeing Sasori's actions, he knew that Sasori didn't intend to make contact.

Rustling...

After a quick wash, the two continued their retreat in the northwest direction.

A quarter of an hour later, five figures emerged from the slowly moving Forest, and the traces left by Sasori and Deidara were quickly discovered by the stream.

"Ao, they shouldn't have gone far!" Mei Terumī's eyes blazed with anger. They had chased them all the way from the Land of Water, losing many Kirigakure Ninja, yet they hadn't even killed a single enemy.

This was the first time she had ever suffered such a loss!

No, I've learned my lesson the hard way before, from that despicable guy. Suddenly, a Mei Terumī's mind.

"A bunch of bastards!"

Suddenly, a voice filled with intense anger rang out in her ears, startling Qing, who was using her Byakugan to scout for the Art Group's whereabouts.

She quickly turned her head to Mei Terumī, and their eyes met.

"Found it?" Mei Terumī teeth slightly parted.

"It should be this direction," Qing quickly pointed northwest and answered loudly.

"Should?" Mei Terumī raised an eyebrow, adding a touch of oppressive atmosphere to the surroundings.

"They must have gone this way!" Qing straightened up and said immediately.

The black eyepatch covering the right eye socket held a prized possession: a precious Byakugan obtained during Battlefield Third Shinobi World War.

Because they lack the bloodline of the Hyuga Clan, simply transplanting one Byakugan requires significantly more energy and chakra to control.

But these benefits are not without reward. Ao is Sensor Ninja, and the addition of the Byakugan makes him even more formidable.

Having received an affirmative answer, Mei Terumī withdrew her cold gaze, turned around, and headed northwest to chase after them, with a small squad of Kirigakure Ninja Anbu following closely behind.

Just then, something unexpected happened!

The stream flowed backward, the world turned upside down, and everything seemed to be presented as ink on a painting, completely turning black.

As if unseen, a pair of giant hands were tearing the image apart bit by bit; the Forest and the sky were ripped into palm-sized pieces.

On the canvas, countless fragments of silhouettes are arranged and combined haphazardly...

Ultimately, it formed a complete new canvas, which, in the eyes of Mei Terumī and others, was a new world!

A world where heaven and earth are turned upside down, and streams flow backwards!

The five of them were standing in the sky, with Forest hanging upside down above them and white clouds drifting slowly by beside them.

"Is it Genjutsu?" Qing's face darkened, and he immediately stretched out his hands to Hand Seals. "Release!"

With a low shout, the chakra within his body suddenly froze.

The Genjutsu was naturally dispelled...

However, when he opened his eyes again, the scene before him was exactly the same. A small team of four members immediately formed a square formation and Mei Terumī in the middle.

"It's been a long time, Lord Mizukage..."

The sudden sound immediately put everyone present on edge.

"His strength has increased considerably, and he's grown quite a bit." In the space that resembled a drawing on a canvas, a blurry figure slowly emerged...