Breakout

Inside an abandoned hut, Danzo and the members of Team 7 rested briefly around a fire.

In fact, on the morning Kagura and the others set out, Konohagakure had already sent a diplomatic demand to Sunagakure.

The newly appointed Third Generation Hokage furiously condemned Sunagakure for infiltrating Konoha with spies.

Of course, politicians were the same everywhere.

Faced with Konohagakure's anger, Sunagakure expressed regret over your side's loss of an important item.

But as for the espionage accusations raised by your side, there was absolutely no such thing.

Yes, you knew the thief was one of my people, and that person was fleeing in our direction.

But doing it was one thing; officially, they could never admit it, even under threat of death.

Yet Sunagakure's higher-ups had not expected that those were precisely the words Hiruzen Sarutobi had been waiting for.

Not long after Sunagakure's reply, Konoha Jonin set out en masse, using ninjutsu to teleport directly to the border between the Land of Rain and the Land of Sand.

Since you refused to admit he was one of yours, there was nothing wrong with me sending people to guard the border, was there?

Moreover, these Jonin were all Inside the Land of Rain and had not crossed the border.

Sunagakure had no way to respond to such actions.

After all, they had not entered your territory, and they truly were pursuing a criminal unrelated to you.

From any angle, Sunagakure had no justifiable reason to send people to meet him.

This was the hidden war between great nations.

Sunagakure's decision to expose its spy and carry out the theft at this time had its own considerations.

It was, in truth, a test for the newly appointed Hokage.

A test of this new leader's style and habits.

They simply had not expected Hiruzen Sarutobi, who had always presented himself as a dove,

to be so decisive and forceful in the face of this crisis.

Caught off guard, Sunagakure could only swallow this bitter loss.

The Jonin stationed along the border had essentially declared Shota Futa's chances of returning to Sunagakure over.

And not long ago, Danzo had received word from the Anbu.

The Anbu members at the forefront had already encountered Shota Futa and fought a battle with him.

What no one had expected was that Shota Futa had gathered a group of experts jointly assembled by Sunagakure and Amegakure at his side.

Both sides had suffered considerable losses in that encounter.

Yet Shota Futa had still managed to escape in the end.

The good news was that after tracing Shota Futa's route, the Anbu had roughly deduced his likely hiding place.

All that remained was to wait for the reinforcements to arrive, then surround and capture him.

It was precisely because of this information that Danzo had decided to find a place to rest and regroup.

That was how they had ended up warming themselves by a fire in an abandoned house.

Kagura took a ration that had just been heated from beside the fire and bit down hard.

After being roasted over high heat, the hard ration had developed a crisp outer layer.

Meanwhile, Tsunade and the other two had closed their eyes nearby, seizing the chance to rest.

After all, the past two days of nonstop travel had drained much of their energy.

After poking at the fire before him with a piece of firewood, Danzo spoke expressionlessly to Kagura.

"I estimate that more Amegakure Ninja will definitely come to intercept us later.

"If that happens again, I will leave you behind and break out alone.

"At that time, I hope you can delay the enemy as much as possible."

Hearing this, Kagura looked up at him. After thinking briefly, he nodded in agreement with the suggestion.

After all, he understood clearly that sending all their Jonin to seal off the border looked undeniably forceful.

But such a measure had a time limit as well.

Leaving aside how long Sunagakure could endure such an arrangement,

sending out all of their high-level combat forces would also leave Konoha in a vulnerable state. Konohagakure had to guard against attacks from other interested parties as well.

So overall, they had little time left to capture Shota Futa.

Under these circumstances, getting Danzo to the scene as quickly as possible was clearly more important.

Seeing Kagura nod, Danzo secretly let out a sigh of relief.

He knew that although he was nominally the Team Leader Teacher,

the true core of the entire team was Kagura before him. If Kagura did not agree with his strategy, carrying it out later would likely prove difficult.

After resting for an hour, they extinguished the fire and set off forward once more.

Not long afterward, within a Stone Forest formed by towering rocks,

Kagura and the others were once again surrounded by enemies.

Danzo raised the Kunai in his hand and knocked away a Dart flying toward him, his brow furrowing.

Clearly, more people had been sent to obstruct them this time.

And the enemies clearly knew their strength now.

After driving them into this Stone Forest, they did not show themselves. Instead, they hid among the Stone Piles and launched harassing long-range attacks at them.

It had to be said that in this Rainy Day environment, the Amegakure Ninja skilled in Water Style possessed a uniquely favorable advantage.

Whenever Danzo charged toward an enemy, they would immediately use Water Style and hide in puddles or ponds.

Then the others in the distance would hurl a barrage of Ninja tools, forcing Danzo back to where he had started.

Clearly, these people had been ordered to keep them pinned here.

Looking at the stalemated Battle situation Before his eyes, Danzo Looked Towards Kagura.

Kagura immediately understood what he meant. He was signaling for help in breaking through the encirclement.

But Kagura was troubled as well, because he had no suitable ninjutsu at the moment to break the deadlock.

It was not that he had none, but the Tailed Beast Cloak state and Chidori were both unsuitable to reveal before Danzo.

And the Fire Release the Uchiha Clan excelled at could not display its proper effectiveness in this Rainy Day environment.

As for a Dōjutsu like Kotoamatsukami, he did not mind using it before Danzo.

The problem was that the hazy rain already limited the use of Dōjutsu. Moreover, the other side refused to fight them head-on, leaving him no chance to use it.

After thinking it over, he made a gesture to The Other Three.

Tsunade and the others instantly understood his intent and nodded at him.

Taking a deep breath, four Shadow Clones suddenly appeared at his side.

The moment the Shadow Clones appeared, they charged in four different directions.

Clearly, the Clones were meant to draw fire. The five of them suddenly sprinted at high speed in another direction.

Just ahead of their advance, several enemies suddenly rose out of the water.

After fighting for this Period, Kagura and the others had clearly adapted to this way of appearing through Water Style.

Tsunade leaped high into the air, then smashed downward violently, sending all the enemies before her flying.

It was her famed technique—Heavenly Foot Kick.

Kagura also drew his Kunai and took the initiative to meet the remaining enemies.

Orochimaru and Jiraiya followed Danzo on his left and right as they continued forward.

However, they had barely taken two steps when a massive number of Kunai and Shuriken appeared ahead.

The enormous number of Ninja tools poured down on the three of them like a torrential rain.

Orochimaru immediately stopped and swiftly formed hand seals.

As he puffed out his cheeks and exhaled, a tremendous gale erupted.

The storm instantly blew away every Ninja tool before them. Danzo and Jiraiya did not slow down in the slightest, directly breaking through the area swept by the gale.

Just as the two were about to leave the Stone Forest, the enemy's final wave of interception finally appeared.

Two Ninja stood atop the last Stone Block. As they formed hand seals, Hundreds of arrow blades made of water condensed in Mid-air.

The Water Arrows had barely formed before they shot toward the two in an overwhelming barrage.

In a Rainy Day environment, Water Style ninjutsu was clearly strengthened, its power and speed far greater than usual.

Looking at the huge number of attacks before them, Jiraiya suddenly flashed in front of Danzo.

After a simple One-handed Hand Seal, his Silver Hair suddenly began to grow wildly longer.

In the blink of an eye, that Silver Hair transformed into hard armor, completely covering both him and Danzo.

"Clang, clang, clang!"

The sounds of metal striking metal rang out without end. Those seemingly sharp water blades struck like they had hit an iron wall.

Aside from leaving a few white marks on the fortress formed from Silver Hair, they could not penetrate its defense at all.

After a mere Tens of Seconds, the seemingly endless barrage finally ceased.

At That Moment the attack stopped, an opening suddenly appeared in the silver fortress, and Danzo shot out like a Cannonball.

His figure flashed. A Ninja blocking the way suddenly changed expression and clutched his throat in terror.

But his actions clearly did nothing. Blood still burst between his fingers.

In the instant they passed each other, Danzo had already dealt with one enemy.

The last Ninja's Eyes contracted at the sight. He no longer held anything back, throwing every weapon on his body at that Black Shadow.

Looking at the several Kunai flying toward him, Danzo could have easily deflected them, but in order to escape faster, he Dodged aside.

Without Paying Attention to the enemy before him, he pushed off the ground and finally left the Stone Forest.

Yet it was at that moment that an accident occurred.

With a pained cry, a column of blood appeared from Jiraiya's chest.