"What?!" Chiyo's face filled with shock and fury as she demanded, "Kosa was captured?"
The Sand Shinobi intelligence officer nodded. "That's right. Amegakure has sent over Lord Kosa's forehead protector. We checked it—it does bear Lord Kosa's ninja registration number!"
Chiyo's expression shifted like a kaleidoscope. She was furious and anxious, even a little resentful toward Kosa. Yesterday, you were talking about being able to advance and retreat at will. Today, you got captured—and by Hanzo of the Salamander alone. That slap in the face came way too fast!
Ebizo pinched the bridge of his nose. "Did the Rain Ninja make any demands?"
"Uh, they demand that we withdraw from the Land of Rain and sign a non-aggression pact!"
Chiyo was still deep in thought when Ebizo spoke first. "Absolutely not!"
Chiyo cast a puzzled glance at the stern-faced Ebizo but said nothing. She knew her younger brother had always been farsighted. As Sunagakure's strategist, his judgments were rarely wrong.
After the intelligence ninja withdrew, Ebizo finally spoke under Chiyo's questioning gaze. "The Sand Shinobi are already at the edge of a cliff. No matter what, we cannot retreat!"
"It may look as though we could still send troops through the Land of Rivers after withdrawing from the Land of Rain, but if we retreat while at a disadvantage, it will confirm that the Sand Shinobi were defeated by the Rain Ninja. By then, the Rain Ninja will rise by stepping on us. Ordinary people may even come to believe that Sunagakure is unworthy of being one of the Five Great Shinobi Villages. That would be fatal to the Sand Shinobi!"
The sources of shinobi village missions mostly came from wealthy merchants and nobles. Their assessment of ninja was based on a village's reputation. The Land of Rain bordered the