Mu and the Third Raikage felt the same way. Their villages already had Kage. How would authority be divided if they returned?
Both men were satisfied with their successors and did not want to return to their villages and undermine those successors' influence.
Sasori's eyes were now brimming with life. It was as though he had found his soul.
Or—found where he belonged!
Inoichi wondered what ninjutsu Chiyo had used to make Sasori change like this.
But none of that mattered anymore.
Inoichi asked Sasori, "Sasori, can you tell us where Liao Wu's base is hidden?"
Sasori said little, but his answer was precise. "Hozuki Castle!"
Shikaku's eyes lit up. "So it really is Hozuki Castle. Just as we suspected."
The Ninja Sect's strategists had long suspected that Liao Wu was highly likely to establish his base in Hozuki Castle.
First, the Grass Village had sided with Madara and Liao Wu, then vanished. They had suspected that the Grass Village had gone into hiding.
The most likely place for the Grass Village to hide was its isolated island overseas—Hozuki Castle.
Second, after its founding, the Ninja Sect had captured many rogue ninja and wanted to send them to Hozuki Castle, the joint prison once established by the Five Great Nations.
To this day, no one had ever escaped from Hozuki Castle. Its prison had never disappointed the Five Great Shinobi Villages.
But precisely because no one could escape from Hozuki Castle, all its contact with the outside world went through Grass Village officials.
Hozuki Castle was also on an isolated island overseas, far from the mainland. Closed off and secluded, it was an ideal place for outlaws to carve out their own domain.
The Ninja Sect had wanted to imprison the rogue ninja in Hozuki Castle, but its officials had