This plan wasn't proposed by you, was it?

Everyone present understood Uchiha Sou's words perfectly well: this guy wasn't giving them any choice in the matter at all!

Disagree? No problem!

Find your own way back; we have a mission to complete and won't be keeping you company.

While that sounded fine on the surface, the problem was that this group of people was in such a wretched state.

On top of that, with their camp having been raided, who knew if Kirigakure reinforcements were already on their way?

How far could this band of remnants possibly run? If they were caught, they might as well have just died back there.

And to look at it from a darker perspective, suppose—just suppose—

Suppose Uchiha Sou and his team, out of concern for the influence of Hatake Sakumo and fear of their own intelligence leaking, decided to act.

In that case, would they even need Kirigakure to do the job?

After all, in this godforsaken place, there were no other Konoha people around!

Therefore, even though they were incredibly depressed—having just escaped the jaws of death only to run into a pack of hungry wolves, who could be happy about that?—they had no choice.

However, as they followed Uchiha Sou's team, they all noticed Anko trailing behind them.

This put them slightly more at ease; after all, while Anko wasn't known to everyone, at least in this neck of the woods in the Land of Whirlpools, everyone knew exactly who she was.

This is a summons from Orochimaru-sama!

Once they realized this, they didn't dare harbor any more dissatisfaction; even if they had any, they had to keep it bottled up.

After all, with Orochimaru-sama's disciple in tow, this was likely Orochimaru-sama's stance.

Perhaps because of this, they all started listening to Uchiha Sou obediently.

"Captain So, what do we do next?"

However, after they left the camp and wandered through the forest for three days, the pineapple-haired Nara Rukawa, truly at a loss for what to do, couldn't help but ask.

Nara Rukawa was a chunin, but as a member of the Nara clan, he held significant prestige within the team, and his own strength was quite decent.

Don't let the fact that he was a chunin fool you; that was only because he had inherited the fine tradition of the Nara clan—he was simply too lazy, which meant his mission count never met the requirements, leaving him with no hope of becoming a jonin.

Of course, he had no desire to be a jonin anyway.

Being captured this time was purely a stroke of bad luck; he had run into two of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist while on a mission.

The end result was that his teammate from the Akimichi clan was killed in action, and he and his teammate from the Yamanaka clan were captured and subjected to the baptism of the Great Memory Recovery Technique.

Now, although they had been saved by Uchiha Sou's team, wandering aimlessly through the forest like this made him feel uneasy.

"I personally suggest we find a place to rest and regroup. Although we can all still hold on, but..."

At this point, Nara Rukawa signaled with his eyes for Uchiha Sou to look back; clearly, those lagging behind were the rescued Konoha prisoners of war.

Their physical condition was already poor to begin with, and they had been gritting their teeth to hide in the forest for three days to avoid Kirigakure's pursuit. If this continued, they really wouldn't be able to hold on much longer.

Especially the frail medical ninja named Asakawa; he had suffered the most over these three days.

After his chakra seals were undone, he not only had to treat Uchiha Shizuka but also assist the other prisoners. After three days, he was nearly at his limit.

And he was the only medical ninja in the team; if something happened to him, the consequences would be dire!

Uchiha Sou naturally knew their situation, which made him shake his head involuntarily.

Those people from Kirigakure had been truly ruthless, turning the people he rescued into a burden.

However, for the sake of the future, he had to endure this problem. Now that Nara Rukawa had approached him, Uchiha Sou felt it was necessary to have a talk with this guy.

Members of the Nara clan were exceptionally intelligent. While there was a suspicion of stereotyping, their reputation was too great to ignore; perhaps this guy could provide some ideas.

Moreover, even if he didn't prove useful, as a member of those prisoners of war, he could serve as a bridge to mend relations.

"Perfect, Chunin Rukawa, there are some things I would like your advice on as well."

Uchiha Sou said with a smile, then turned his head and shouted.

"Everyone, rest and stand by where you are. Might Guy, Tetsu, you two are responsible for the perimeter. Thank you for your hard work."

"Yes, Captain." Might Guy and Hyuga Tetsu nodded immediately and quickly ran off.

The prisoners sat down the moment they heard the order; they had long since reached their limit.

Shiranui Genma and the others ran over, wanting to see what arrangements Uchiha Sou had in mind.

"Chunin Rukawa, our most important task right now is to find a suitable place to serve as our base of operations."

Uchiha Sou spread a map out on the ground and continued.

"We have quite a few people, so we need to consider food supplies, shelter, and intelligence gathering.

Therefore, we cannot hide in caves. The best method is to find a village or town and use it as a center to better develop ourselves and carry out our subsequent missions."

"A village or town?" Nara Rukawa was stunned by Uchiha Sou's words, then asked cautiously, "Captain So, if I may be so bold as to ask, what is our mission?"

"Collect as much intelligence as possible and use that intelligence to cause destruction for Kirigakure," Uchiha Sou said directly. "If we can tie up the energy and movements of the Kirigakure frontline, that would be even better."

What Uchiha Sou said was the detailed mission brief he had received when he set out; he had repeated it to Nara Rukawa word for word.

But his words caused Nara Rukawa's expression to change instantly. He suddenly felt that he hadn't just fallen into a pit—it was much worse than that!

He was naturally clear and familiar with this mission; even if he hadn't performed it himself, he roughly understood the procedure. Was this mission really supposed to be carried out by so many people acting together?

However, Nara Rukawa forced himself to endure it, after all, Anko was in the team.

He felt that the person before him must have accepted a mission from Lord Orochimaru and wouldn't act recklessly.

Right?

"Captain So, the Kirigakure ninja are entrenched within the large cities." Thinking of this, Nara Rukawa said cautiously, "If we go into the villages and towns, it seems like it would be very difficult to gather intelligence, wouldn't it?"

"That is true, but Chunin Nara, you must look at things with a broader and more distant perspective."

Uchiha Sou shook his head slightly, a smile appearing on his face.

"Admittedly, those Kirigakure ninja are all in the large cities, and with so many of us, we certainly cannot enter easily, but you seem to have forgotten some very important people."

"Very important people?"

Upon hearing Uchiha Sou's words, Nara Rukawa's brain immediately began to spin rapidly. Just who could provide assistance?

It must be said, as expected of a member of the Nara clan, Nara Rukawa figured it out in an instant!

"Captain So means the civilians of the Land of Whirlpools?" Although it was a question, Nara Rukawa's tone sounded exceptionally certain.

In such a situation, it seemed that the only ones who could provide them with any help were those civilians!

"That's right, it is precisely these civilians who hate Kirigakure to the bone." Uchiha Sou nodded with a smile.

But he didn't expect that just as he finished speaking, Nara Rukawa's expression turned ugly, and he subsequently said something that made his own expression look rather unpleasant as well.

"This plan, surely it wasn't proposed by you, Captain So?"

"..."