At dawn, in the wilderness of eastern Land of Wind, a slender figure raced forward with her body lowered.
Ever since Skywalker had opened a passage through the mountains of the Land of Rivers more than a decade ago, the climate of the Land of Wind had gradually returned to normal. Though it was not as lush and forested as the neighboring West Forest region, the endless desert had vanished, and the ground was slowly being claimed by wild green grass.
The figure using the tall grass to conceal her tracks was Pakura, heading toward her mission site. After leaving the military camp alone yesterday, she had carefully skirted the Mist Ninja defensive zone and infiltrated eastward through the Land of Wind. Perhaps because the Mist Ninja had been distracted by Sunagakure's defending forces, she had smoothly evaded their reconnaissance all along the way.
After traveling for an entire day and night, she had drawn close to the agreed location. It lay at the border between the two countries. Before the war began, it had still been Land of Wind territory, but it had now been occupied by Konoha.
Pakura's secret mission was to negotiate with Konoha's Shinobi Army at the border and persuade them to support Sunagakure in a pincer attack against Kirigakure's army.
Pakura had many doubts about this mission. As far as she knew, Konoha's forces in the West Forest region should have been very weak. Their only combat strength was Tianxing Fortress, which could barely defend itself. Even if the two sides had formed an alliance, Konoha should not have had the means to support Sunagakure under such circumstances. Furthermore, although she was one of Sunagakure's higher-ups, she had always fought on the front lines and was not skilled at negotiations. Why had the leadership sent