"Captain, it looks like a squad is rapidly approaching us!"
Behind Iwagakure, a team member beside Motoda spoke with a grim expression. His voice was even trembling slightly.
Even without the reminder, Motoda had already noticed the blurry figures of a squad not far ahead.
This squad was moving quickly, rapidly closing the distance between them.
At that moment, every member of Motoda's ten-man squad noticed the force steadily advancing toward them.
Now that they were closer, Motoda could clearly make out their highly distinctive attire.
Green flak jackets—the mark of Konoha among the Five Great Shinobi Villages.
When he saw this squad appear, Motoda had considered resisting. After all, the enemy force appeared to number only around a hundred. With the advantage of the terrain, his ten-man squad might not be able to stop them completely, but they could at least inflict some damage.
However, when Motoda noticed blurry figures appearing on both flanks of that squad, he immediately abandoned the thought of resistance.
If it had only been one hundred-man squad, they might have chosen to fight. But if two or three squads appeared at once, their mere ten-man squad had no chance of stopping them.
Fortunately, he promptly led all his men to give up resisting and surrender directly to Konoha.
Though doing so might feel somewhat humiliating, at least they would keep their lives.
Furthermore, Ōnoki had gone missing from Iwagakure, and several elders had stepped forward to take control.
The arrangements those elders had made in secret were not particularly obvious, but many Iwagakure shinobi had still seen through them. Motoda was one of them.
His squad had never previously been assigned to keep watch behind the village. Yet they had suddenly received orders to come here.
Motoda had been deeply puzzled at the time,