Meanwhile, inside the Hokage's office in Konoha.
Tsunade was taking advantage of the rare downtime to drink and chat merrily with Jiraiya.
Beside them, Shizune held Tonton in her arms and kept urging Tsunade not to drink too much.
Just then, a cat-masked Anbu appeared before them in a Body Flicker.
"Hokage-sama, this is intelligence regarding Lord Lin Fan obtained by our Anbu operatives in the Land of Rivers. Please review it!!!"
Shizune immediately took the intelligence scroll and handed it directly to Tsunade.
"Hm, Lin Fan already killed Sasori of the Red Sands from the Akatsuki? Well done!!!"
"It seems the mission to find Gaara in Sunagakure should be over soon."
Tsunade smiled in satisfaction.
She was clearly quite confident in Lin Fan's strength.
But at that moment, the cat-masked Anbu ninja continued.
"The latest intelligence indicates that Sunagakure of the Land of Wind has assembled a large force of ninja and entered the buffer zone, the Land of Rivers."
"They are currently rushing toward the location where Lord Lin Fan and his opponent are fighting."
"Are they preparing to retrieve their village's Kazekage, Gaara?"
Holding Tonton, Shizune spoke with a puzzled expression.
Tsunade drained the cup of strong liquor that had just been poured for her.
"That should be the case, but we absolutely cannot let our guard down because of it."
"The so-called alliances between the great nations of the ninja world will become nothing more than scraps of paper in the face of profit!"
Tsunade said sternly.
Jiraiya and Shizune beside her both nodded in agreement.
To help Sunagakure recover Gaara, Konoha had dispatched a powerful force led by three elite jonin: Lin Fan, Kakashi, and Might Guy.
In particular, Lin Fan was young and possessed tremendous strength as one of Konoha's future pillars. It was